BlaiseCooks!

Pasta and Potatoes with Mint, Steak and Salad

2009-03-10T12:18:00.002-05:00

Recipe for Pasta and Potatoes with herbs and pine nuts

1/2 pound peeled and cubed Idaho potatoes
1/2 pound pasta of a size similar to cubed potato (mezze rigatone, rotini, penne, farfalle)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 bunch of mint (approximately 40 large leaves or more)
1 bunch of parsley, leaves and only tender portion of stems
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 - 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

When cutting the potatoes, keep in mind that you will be cooking the cut potatoes in the salted boiling water as the pasta. So, try to cut potatoes to a size similar to that of the pasta. As a rule of thumb, 1 3/4 in x 3/4 cube of potato will cook approximately in the same amount of time as rigatoni. To be safe, you can boil the two starches separately in the same water, but pay attention to the time. Once you can match up the sizes and cooking times, you can cook the pasta and potatoes together and dump them together in colander.

Before anything, find time to toast your pine nuts. You can buy them already toasted, but I like to have complete control over how toasty I want them depending on the dish. Also, if you want to candy pine nuts and they are already toasted, it may be hard to candy them without them getting over-toasted. The process is simple. Spread pine nuts out on foil-lined baking tray and bake at 325 degrees. Keep and eye on them. After about 7 - 10 minutes they will start browning. Once they start browning, they only need another couple of minutes. Shake pan several times during the baking.

Alternatively, you could put pine nuts in an iron frying pan over medium high heat. Shake pan frequently until pine nuts are toasted. Approximately 5 - 10 minutes.

While pasta/potatoes are cooking, chop parsley leaves and mint. In the video, I coarsely chopped the herbs, but on second thought, I recommend you chop them finely, but not minced. Much more flavor that way. Set aside.

Next, steam green beans or microwave frozen French green beans from Trader Joe's on high for 4 minutes. Set aside.

After potatoes and pasta are finished, al dente please, toss immediately with olive oil.

Then toss with finely chopped herbs, green beans and toasted toasted pine nuts.

Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese on top and serve.

Recipe for Steak and Salad

Keep it simple. Buy locally raised, grass-fed (if possible) beef free of administered antibiotics or hormones. Liberally salt with coarse sea or kosher salt and black pepper. Pan sautee over medium high heat in a lightly oiled hot pan. For a one-inch thick delmonico, estimate 6 minutes a side for rare, 8 a side for medium rare and 10 for medium to well-done. But please, have mercy on such a fine cut of beef and keep it pink.

As for salad, keep it simple. Nice mixed greens dressed with fine olive oil with a sprinkling of coarse salt. Perhaps a splash of vinegar (your choice) or citrus (lime, lemon, orange). If you go with the lime or lemon, consider adding candied pine nuts to the salad. Toss with your bare hands gently until all the leaves are coated with dressing. Enjoy!

California's Proposition 2 regarding Animal Welfare

2008-11-05T23:29:00.002-05:00

My reaction to Proposition 2 in California was one of immediate annoyance. I saw it as a ridiculous 'feel-good' way of improving animal husbandry that will actually, in the long run, benefit the same factory farms most people would like to see eliminated. Additionally, the small farmer who is already raising animals the 'right way' doesn't benefit from this prop at all. Right now, he or she has a powerful marketing claim that is used to differentiate small farm meat from factory farm meat. Even before the rules and regs resulting from prop 2 are implemented in full, huge meat producers will have all the 'feel-good' marketing in place making it even harder to distinguish between factory farm meat and local, small and humanely raised meat. Coupled with this further blurring of the apparent differences between these processes, consumers WILL pay more! Why not just start paying more now and buy your meat from local, sustainable and humane operations in your state. Your purchase there is so much more effective than the warm and fuzzy feeling you got when you pressed the YES! button next to Prop 2 in the voting booth. You've changed so little with your vote thanks to your tunnel vision.

Making a Sourdough Bread Starter

2008-09-13T18:57:00.005-05:00

A starter is a soupy mix of flour, water and yeast that sits in room temperature for 3 - 4 days fermenting and also attracting any wild yeasts and bacteria present the air. These yeasts and bacteria effectively "sour" the starter. Once the starter is a little bubbly and is pleasantly fragrant, smells a little like beer and bread, the starter is refrigerated and is the key ingredient to sourdough bread. Equal parts of flour and water are added to the starter as portions are used in baking, helping to sustain the starter for months if not years.

Texas-Style Barbecue Beef Brisket

2008-09-13T18:45:00.004-05:00

Tipping my hat to Cook's Illustrated, I demonstrate their version of this Texas classic using only a Weber kettle grill. This often unsung and often disparaged cut of beef is full of flavor and can be sufficiently tender if cooked properly. Similar cuts that are equally sniffed at by the "steakhouse" crowd include hanger steak, butcher's cut (now popularized as a flatiron steak) and flank steak. Rolled and stuffed flank steak has helped lift the flank from the ranks of the unsung, but it is fundamentally a "cheap" cut of beef.

New Videos for Fall 2008

2008-09-12T22:02:00.003-05:00

I'm back from my long stay in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, and I'm ready to rev up the video camera. I am still very consumed by the demands of my company, Local Pastures, but I plan to squeeze in a video from time to time. Hopefully weekly. I look forward to your frequent visits.

Basic Sourdough Bread Rolls

2008-09-12T21:34:00.004-05:00

Recipe

In KitchenAid (or other brand) mixer bowl, combine,

2.5 cups (375 gr) all-purpose flour
1 heaping teaspoon of instant yeast
2 teaspoons of table salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 cup room temp. water
3/4 cup sourdough starter (use any starter you wish. Video of making a starter available on this blog)

Mix with paddle until dough gathers together. Add water or flour by the tablespoon if dough is too dry or too wet respectively

Once gathered, remove paddle, scraping off all dough, and replace with dough hook.
Knead with dough hook on medium speed for 3 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a floured suface. Sprinkle top of dough with a little flour to absorb any surface moisture. Knead until dough is silky smooth or smooth as a baby's bottom. The dough may already be sufficiently kneaded, so don't knead any more than you have to by hand.

Place in a container and cover with dish towel or container cover. DON'T LOCK DOWN LID!

Allow to rise for two hours or until dough is doubled in size.
Punch down dough and let rest for 10 minutes.

Turn dough onto floured surface and form into long log, approximately 24 inches long and 2.5 inches wide and high.

Using a pastry scraper, cut dough into 16 equal pieces.

Place dough balls onto a foil-lined baking sheet with coarse corn meal sprinked on top of it.

Bake in oven at 400 degrees for approximately 15 - 20 minutes. If making a double batch, place one sheet in the top third of the oven and one on a rack in the bottom third of the oven. After 10 minutes, reverse sheets top to bottom and front to back for even baking.

When golden brown, remove sheets and place on cooling racks. Allow bread to cool. Enjoy.

Potato Chips

2008-07-11T06:50:00.013-05:00

I grew up hearing about the evils of potato chips. My father and some in the media vilified this uniquely American snack food for all of its empty calories. The exercise revolution was just under way and an obesity problem was not yet even on the horizon. It is unclear to me what, exactly, triggered all this invective towards potato chips and not, for instance, Oreos or Tang. Years have passed and literally hundreds of new products compete with potato chips. Gone are the days when potato chips were so ubiquitous that one company, Charles Chips of Eastern Pennsylvania, used to deliver them to your home in nifty metal cans!

Now I have two daughters who are impulsive about their demand for snack foods, but don´t actually like them that much. The other day I bought them 1 small bag each of Lays Classic Potato Chips here in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. They can´t eat plaintains all the time, after all. (We are spending 7 weeks here learning the language and culture of Mom´s homeland.)

As a matter of course these days, I absentmindedly read the nutritional information on the empty bag as well as the ingredient list. I was shocked! Did you know that potato chips only contain potatoes, oil and salt? Lays apparently ignores consumers´ demand for hydrogenated oils, monosodium glutamate, dextrose, artificial color, sodium acetate and numerous other delicious ingredients that are apparently required to make just about every other snack cracker or chip on the market. Do you realize what this all means? As far as snack foods go, the All-American Potato Chip is the most wholesome product out there.

How did this happen? I thought potato chips made you fat, gave you zits, caused indigestion and eventually killed all those who ate them on any regular basis. Perhaps in the past potato chips were fried in hydrogenated vegetable oil, ie: dreaded trans-fats, but then again every refridgerator in America contained at least a pound of neon yellow margarine, ie: dreaded trans-fats.

We are a health obsessed nation that doesn´t eat very well. We always look for a demon in our foods to exorcise and then we rely on nutritionists and free-lance journalists to play the role of Father Damien, shouting "The Power of Our Collective Spirit Compels You,", "The Power of Our Collective Spirit Compels You,", "The Power of Our Collective Spirit Compels You,". Then the demon sets up shop in the marketing departments of the big food companies and tells them to brag about his demise. And exactly what have they bragged about over the past 25 years! Their food has no fat, no sugar, no carbohydrate or 25 grams of protein! You would think that all we humans have any right to consume are glass after glass of Shaklee´s protein shakes.

Yes, we finally identified what I do believe is a bad product, trans-fats, but the 40+ yr path we took to eliminating hydrogenated vegetable oils from our diet laid to waste just about every natural ingredient we had consumed since the beginning of time; protein, carbohydrates and most importantly to this discussion, animal fat.

Most people I speak to still assume that animal fats are by definition trans-fats. They were so indoctrinated into the notion that margarine was the perfect substitute for butter and crisco for lard that when the margarine and crisco were vilified for containing trans-fats people assumed this vilification applied to the animal fats they replaced 40 years ago. Animal fats just can´t get a break except from the late Dr. Atkins.

Go ahead and eat your potato chips and enjoy them. However, also take the advice of Michael Pollan, the great food writer and educator, who recommends that we shop only on the perimeter of supermarkets where all the whole foods are sold. In those middle aisles is where one will find all those packaged products with bright shiny labels laying claim to our nation´s recent dietary conquests. These same products in very small print on the back of the package will have ingredient lists full of formerly, currently and eventually vilified products. No one really knows if these ingredients could kill you or rats in concentrations one million times that of normal consumption. If you´re worried, ignore those products and snack on the only whole food available in the snack aisle, potato chips.

Maduros

2008-07-02T09:08:00.010-05:00

It´s becoming clear that platanos make up a big part of a Dominican´s diet and mine. It seems everything I like is made from platanos. Maduros, tostones, mangu and mofongo. Add to that the guineos, and it´s pretty much all about bananas. Anyway, I made a short, low quality video of making maduros for you before I had my coffee. I fry up a dozen of these a day for Emilia and Lina. They can´t get enough of them. Maduros have become their one and only staple in their diet.

The video only shows part of the process. I´m just using a camera that has a 1 minute limit on video. I don´t have editing software, so I´m working on perfecting the 1 minute, single take cooking video.

And a Photo Montage

Los Guineos (Small Plantains/Bananas in the Dominican Republic)

2008-06-21T08:43:00.012-05:00

The smaller cousin of plantains, the green guineo is peeled and boiled whole and eaten as a starchy side dish with fried pork. When green, plantains or platanos are peeled, sliced width-wise, fried, removed from oil, flattened with the bottom of a glass and then re-fried until golden and soft all the way through. Plantains are more available in the States now, but the small guineo is still scarce.

When the small guineo turns yellow, it becomes sweet and is eaten like a typical banana would be eaten. It´s a different experience, though. Unlike the "American" banana, the yellow guinea has a skin as thin as a peach. Probably one of the reasons you don´t see these - they´re too easily bruised. The fruit is half the size, but inside looks a lot like a banana. Though similar in flavor, the texture of the small yellow guineo is silky smooth like a homemade pudding. That same texture also makes the boiled green guineos such a wonderful experience, too. So when you visit the Dominican Republic, seek out these little guineos, green and yellow, and be sure to include them in your daily dining rituals.

The East-West Divide on Organic and Natural Meat

2008-03-25T14:12:00.024-05:00

After reading "The United States of Arugula", a history of what made the U.S. a gourmet nation and speaking to friends in Eugene, Oregon recently, I have concluded that the Western United States is light years ahead of the East Coast when it comes to organic products, in particular organic and natural meats. I plan to write another article about the differences between organic and natural meats, but for the purposes of this article I will use the term natural as a catch-all phrase for organic, natural, grass-fed, free range, and/or hormone-free and antibiotic-free meat.

Why is it that after each food scare, most recently the recall of 180 million pounds of beef from a slaughterhouse in California, the renewed clamor about going "organic" or back to the "old-fashioned" ways of farming rises to, at best, a distant thunder. And then subsides! Why are so many people willing to risk their health on a product that even under the best of circumstances shouldn't make up the large portion of our diet that it does? And finally, why do residents in West Coast outposts like Eugene OR, Seattle WA and San Francisco CA and all localities between them seem to embrace natural meats so much so that natural meat can be found in corner stores at relatively reasonable prices? It's time that the East Coast, mainly Boston to DC also known as the Northeast corridor, gets its act together. This will require producers, middlemen, retail outlets and consumers to create a supply chain as distinct, entrenched and seamless as that of conventional meat. Eventually, the East Coast's demand for, consumption of and dedication to natural meat will rival that of the West Coast's.

There will be three phases of this trend or movement; Economies of scale phase, Trickle-down phase and the Protest of the Proletariat phase. In the Economies of Scale phase, the educated and affluent will be targeted. They already make up the majority of natural meat consumers, but they are still a largely untapped market. Right now the net is cast so wide with many small producers and literally millions of advocates. Unfortunately, most of these advocates can't afford to buy enough natural meat and most of the producers have no scale to lower prices nor an integrated system to get their products to the necessary number of retail outlets. This catch-22 can only be overcome by increasing demand from the segment of consumers with the most money to spare. As they demand more product and pay the associated premium for that product, producers will start producing more and eventually reduce their costs as they create economies of scale.

However, even when the price of natural meats becomes competitive, many "resisters" will continue to believe that the meat is too costly, too snobby or too earthy-crunchy. This won't last long, though. In the Trickle-Down phase, many consumers in the upper-middle and middle classes will determine that they are missing out on something special. Whether it's keeping up with the Jones' or simply becoming more aware of the benefits of natural meat, this group will add more money and muscle to the supply chain. People will choose to eat less meat so they can afford better meat or they will simply sacrifice elsewhere in order to make natural meat a regular part of their diet. At this point, somewhere between 50 - 75 % of the population will become net natural meat consumers. In other words, they will make natural meat 51% or more of the total meat they consumer. This trend will eventually meet with resistance by those who are only willing to buy meat at the lowest possible price. This is true regardless of quality or even if the price differential is just pennies per pound.

Fortunately, the cries of injustice will break down this final barrier. Meat, regardless of quality, is considered a staple of the American diet. When 150 million Americans start eating organic and natural meats on a regular basis and the media coverage of the benefits of these meats over conventionally produced meats becomes omnipresent, the other 80 million Americans will begin to cry foul, shouting "Food Injustice!"

"Food Justice" has become quite a buzz phrase over the past 20 years. According to Bryant Terry, the founder of the youth-based, not-for profit B-Healthy,food justice assumes access to healthy food is a human right and enforcing this right requires organized responses that are locally driven and owned. Perhaps I’m naïve, but once the word gets out that half of our population is eating inferior and possibly toxic meat while the rest of us stay healthier and live longer, capitalism will do all the heavy lifting from that point on. Intervention from within and without by a laundry list of activist groups to end this injustice won’t be necessary.

This article assumes that everyone, at some point, will become net natural meat consumers in the United States and perhaps 100% natural meat consumers. This may seem "pie-in-the-sky", but meat is a staple of the American diet and access to it is considered a birthright. Something so important to the American way of life should be of the highest quality. Right now consumers confuse specific breeds and USDA quality grades with quality. Breeds offer marginally different flavors and grades offer degrees of tenderness, juiciness and flavor as well. But what about the quality or healthfulness of the fat itself? What about residual traces of hormones and antibiotics in meat? What about the treatment of the animal, the environment and the farmer for that matter during the lifecycle of one head of livestock? None of these questions are answered when you buy Certified Angus Prime Beef. Organic answers some of these questions and a new formalized certification for natural meat may answer even more. I hope you want to know those answers as you begin your journey from conventional meat to natural meat.

Why Do Chain Restaurants Persist?

2008-03-21T20:34:00.004-05:00

The other night a friend and I were eating sushi at a local Media restaurant, Margaret Kuo's on State Street. We had a lot of time on our hands to talk as is typical when you sit at any bar, sushi or otherwise, and our discussion turned to chain restaurants. My friend was particularly perplexed why people would wait two hours to eat at a P.F. Changs instead of some quality Chinese restaurants in the immediate area. P.F. Chang's is trendy and has a nice atmosphere, for sure, but what is the allure of an eating establishment that has no real connection to the area, doesn't compete on price except with other chain restaurants of its caliber and requires long waits on weekend nights? Naturally, I started to think about Wal-Mart and Home Depot and what those stores mean to shoppers and the communities they serve.

Communities resisted the entrance of these Big Box stores vehemently when there appeared the possibility that civic resistance could stem the tide of these "local small business" wreckers. In the end, though, we have all accepted their presence and only squawk occasionally about their treatment and pay of workers. These stores are where we all shop now for hammers, blankets, convenience food, music, toiletries and lumber among other things. And yes, small businesses did close, but for good reason. They couldn't compete on price and selection. This argument doesn't apply, however to chain restaurants.

Chain restaurants like Friday's, Appleby's, Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's and others aren't considered fast food restaurants, but their business model isn't much different. In fact, they have standardized the formula for success so much that once the SYSCO semi pulls away from one, it backs up into the next one 100 meters away in the same shopping center. Ironically, no one protested the entrance of these restaurants over the past 25 or so years. They embraced them with enthusiasm and outright worship. This even though they put many local, good restaurants out of business, but not for the obvious reason; price. Let's face it, these restaurants are no bargain. Additionally, they tend to overfeed you, an unfortunate selling point, and serve food that only appears to be gourmet or 'home-cooked' when, in fact, it's assembled with most of the same ingredients you'd find at cheap hotels and institutions such as schools, hospitals and company cafeterias.

I think the American people have been duped. The same protesters that tried to block Wal-Mart and Home Depot from setting up shop in their communities happily dine at these pseudo-fancy restaurants and measure success by the amount of food they heap on a plate. Unlimited bread sticks, soup and salad anyone? While at the same time the local restaurants which have only improved over the past 25 years as the overall demand for better food has increased, struggle, then wilt, then die. It is our duty to patronize these fine restaurants. By doing so we are supporting our neighbors and communities and not paying any more to do so. Low Prices Always is irresistible to the consumer particularly when the products we purchase are so mundane to our lives. Necessities, if you will. This even goes for food as we seek bargains at supermarkets.

But dining out is a totally different experience for us. For many, it's a special occasion, a treat, a luxury. That's why the big chains don't compete on price. They have dedicated most of their revenue to marketing, location selection, interior decorating and some gimmicky theme. This is duplicated 100's of times, producing economies of scale that bring in big corporate profits. Good for them, but they are killing those local business so many of you cried for when those businesses were pharmacies, hardware stores and lumber yards. No one seems to care if it's the local Italian, Chinese, Mexican or Continental restaurant that goes out of business even though many offer better food, often at a better price and with a personal touch that can't be duplicated by large chains. Taking this to an extreme, have you ever felt special ordering a Big Mac and fries and a McDonalds? I doubt it.

So before you go wait for two hours at P.F. Chang's spending even more money at the bar out of boredom, consider a local eatery. At best, the big chains should be one of many restaurants you choose from when making dinner plans. If you want to save your downtowns, main streets or local neighborhoods, find a new BYOB that's received good reviews from friends and the media and spend your 'two-hour wait' beer money on a couple good bottles of wine, call a couple friends and have a meaningful, intimate dinner for four at your very own community's very own restaurant.

Apple Pie

2008-03-20T20:02:00.003-05:00

Recipe Ingredients

Crust

2 1/2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
2 sticks / 1/2 pound unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and refridgerated
2 T sugar
1 t salt
ice cold water

Process all dry ingredients until mixed
Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Just remember, less is more.
Drizzle into feed tube 1 T of cold water and pulse.
Continue this step until dough begins to gather together and pack along the outside of the processor bowl.
Dump dough onto counter top and divide in two. Smear sections of the dough with the heal of your hand until all dough has been smeared. This creates ribbons of butter throughout the dough and results in flaky crust.
Wrap each half of dough in plastic, flatten into a disc and refridgerate.

Filling

Peel 7 apples and cut all four sides away from core. Discard core.
Slice each chunk into this pieces. The thinner the slice, the more likely the apples will soften as fast or faster than the crust cooks. Don't get carried away, though. 1/8" slices will work fine. Just avoid 1/4" or fatter.
Place in bowl and mix with apples,
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 t vanilla
2 t cinnamon (In video I say 1T, but I think cutting this down to 2t is better. A subjective decision, though. Go with what you like.)
Juice of 1 lemon.
Toss thoroughly.

Remove dough from refridgerator and unwrap.
Place dough on floured surface and flour a rolling pin.
Roll out 1 dough into a circle approx 1/8" thick. Halfway through the rolling, flip over dough to minimize risk of dough sticking to countertop.
Drape dough over 9" pie plate and trim away excess.
Prick bottom of dough several times with fork.
Pour apple mixture into dough-lined pie plate. Apples can mound up higher than top of pie plate, but don't try to pack in too many. The apples will shrink so you don't want too few apples.
Roll out second dough and lay over apples. Crimp top and bottom crusts together.
Cut steam vents into top of dough. Feel free to be decorative when doing this.
Bake pie in oven at 375 degrees for approximately 1 hour.
When you can really smell a delicious apple pie throughout your house and the crust is a beautiful golden brown, the pie is done.
Allow to cool and serve plain or with your favorite vanilla icecream. Garnish with a mint leaf. Enjoy.

Moussaka

2008-03-12T12:54:00.002-05:00

Moussaka just out of the oven. Smells as good as it looks!

Recipe (differs in proportions from recipe in video)

Ingredients

3 # eggplant
1 # ground lamb
3 T olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T tomato paste dissolved in,
1/2 cup white wine or 1/4 cup white wine and 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped canned whole tomatoes
1 T dried oregano
salt

Bechemel sauce
8T (1/2 cup, 1/4 #) butter
1/2 cup flour
4 cups whole or 2% milk
2 egg yolks (optional)
2 oz kasseri cheese or other gratable mild greek cheese (optional)

Instructions

Trim ends off eggplant and slice lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices.
Sprinkle with kosher salt and set aside in a colander for 1 hour to leech out bitter juices.

Meanwhile,

Heat olive oil in large saute pan and saute onions until softened.
Break up ground lamb into pan and brown, periodically breaking apart large chunks with back of wooden or metal spoon.
Add garlic and stir into meat.
Add tomato paste/wine mixture and saute for 5 minutes.
Add chopped tomatoes, lower heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
Meat mixture should be quite sticky and dry at this point.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Clean out pan.

Rinse eggplant and layout on paper towels. Cover with another layer of paper towels and press out as much water as possible.
Add 1/4 cup olive oil into pan over medium high heat.
Saute eggplant slices until golden brown on each side, adding oil as necessary. Remove from pan to paper towels to absorb excess oil.

Instructions for bechemel sauce

Heat butter in heavy bottom sauce pan large enough to hold 2 qts of sauce.
Once butter is melted, add flour to make a roux, stirring continuously until flour begins to brown or you can smell the flour cooking. If you want darker bechemel, feel free to brown the flour more to make a darker roux, but this optional.

Pour milk in slowly and stir continuously until all the milk is in pot and the roux is completely dissolved in mixture.

Bring sauce to a slow boil, stirring all the while. Once boiling, lower heat to simmer and stir bechemel until desired thickness is achieved.

Remove from heat and mix 1/4 cup of sauce into the two egg yolks and grated cheese. This will temper the yolks, preventing them from curdling when poured into the rest of the bechemel.

Add tempered yolk/cheese mixture back to sauce in pot and stir constantly with a whisk until cool. Or after mixing, transfer sauce from pot to bowl.

You want to be able to pour the sauce, but you don't want it runny. A consistency similar to runny pudding is a good rule of thumb.

Assembling the dish.

Place alternating layers of eggplant and ground meat into a 8" x 8" dish coated with non-stick spray.
The first and last layer should be the eggplant. This recipe should give you enough for three layers of eggplant and two layers of ground meat.
After finished, pour as much bechemel sauce over the dish as you can without letting it overflow.

Place dish on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for approximately 45 minutes. I always judge the doneness of these dishes by smell. Once I can smell the moussaka, I know it is very close to being done. The top will be browned and there will be bubbling along the sides and in the corners.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes and serve directly out of dish with a good crusty bread. Use the bread to mop up you plate.

Credit Card Company Perpetuates French Food Myth

2008-03-12T08:35:00.002-05:00

There's a new ad on television and the total premise rests on the misguided notion that fine (read French) dining means tiny portions and patrons leaving the restaurant hungry. The couple in this particular credit card ad looks down at their plates, look up at each other and then run out to a convenience store of all places to load up on a bunch of snack foods. Apparently, it’s just as easy to buy a bag of potato chips with your credit card as it is to pay for a $300 French dinner.

When I dine at a fancy French restaurant, such as Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia, I barely can sample the desserts that are wheeled out on a cart and included with the prix fixé meal in unlimited amounts. The appetizers and entrées at lunch, no less, are exquisitely prepared and presented dishes that taste like they were delivered direct from Paris.

True, you don't get a mountain of pasta or rice with a slab of beef or overcooked boneless chicken breast. Is our goal, though, to feel full from a distended stomach full of carbos? That isn't worth even the price tag at Friday's or McDonald’s for that matter. Why turn a special occasion into another day at the trough no different than any dinner you can prepare blindfolded at home? One goes out to eat, I hope, to enjoy a nice meal, service, atmosphere and company.

Of course, there is always the question of money. Yes, fine dining is an expensive endeavor. For those who can afford it, there is no excuse not to take advantage of it. For those who are a little less flush with cash, I have a few suggestions.

First of all, you can limit dining out so the fewer times you do dine out you can splurge more. Second, learn how to cook a few special meals. Staying at home to eat will become a more enticing option and learning how to cook will also make you a more discriminating restaurant patron. Knowledge is power. Finally, with a little research and word of mouth you can substitute fine for authentic and seek out small ethnic restaurants. You may sacrifice atmosphere and location, but many of the traditional dishes at these restaurants have become the foundation of so many other tony restaurants ‘downtown’.

I don’t begrudge the credit card companies trying to drum up business by getting you to use your plastic more. I just don’t think there is any need for them to perpetuate myths. We must eat for sustenance, but we also eat for pleasure. Discover the true pleasures of eating well and check all of your preconceived notions with your coat and start rediscovering great food.

Pork Ragu with Juniper Berries

2008-02-27T13:22:00.005-05:00

Recipe to Follow. Sorry for the delay, but I wanted to get this posted asap. It's been a while. Look for more soon.

Traditional Hummus Tahini & Spicy Hummus Tahini

2008-01-22T10:37:00.001-05:00

Here it is, folks. I didn't leave out the tahini this time. I also made a spicy version with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Check it out.

Recipe for Traditional Hummus Tahini

1 can of chickpeas or equivalent weight of rehydrated dry chick peas
2 cloves of garlic
Juice of 1/2 of lemon or more depending on your taste
1 tablespoon tahini - use more or less depending on taste

Add all ingredients to a food processor and begin to process. Pour a thin stream of olive oil into feed tube until ingredients begin to blend. Turn off processor and scrape down sides. At this point you can add more oil, citrus or plain water to bring the hummus tahini to the consistency you desire. I used water, but feel free to experiment. After desired consistency is achieved, add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Chipotle Hummus (Tahini)

Juice of 1 lime
1/4 c olive oil
1 can chipotles in adobo sauce

Process all of the above ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Remove all from processing bowl except for approximately 1 heaping teaspoon.

Follow directions for traditional hummus above. Be sure to scrape down sides of bowl a couple of times while processing. 30 seconds to 1 minute of processing should be sufficient. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve in a shallow dish garnished with chopped cilantro and spicy olive oil.

Homemade Soft Caramel

2008-01-20T08:30:00.000-05:00

Ingredients: 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 cup corn syrup, 1/2 cup sugar, 2T butter. Stir all in cool pan being careful not to spash mix up on the sides of pan. Bring to boil over med heat and wait until temp hits 248. DO NOT STIR OR SWIRL after initial mixing. Pour into greased mold. Allow to cool, invert mold to release caramel. With a large chef's knife, cut caramel into appropriately sized pieces.

Hummus Tahini

2008-01-05T00:28:00.000-05:00

I've been harassed so much about my hummus and its lack of tahini (sesame paste) that I am going to shoot another 'hummus' video. I assure you that this version will contain the ingredient whose absence from my first video created such a groundswell of protest.

Holiday Cookies for Sale Experience

2007-12-28T08:22:00.000-05:00

I undertook this project in an attempt to begin defining how my skills and blog could translate into a small income-generating business. Since I had never done anything like this before and the window of time to receive orders was so small, I kept it low-key. I'd like to say that posting this on my blog resulted in thousands of orders, but it did not. The reason I posted it was so my customers through word-of-mouth advertising could quickly view what I was selling. And it did serve that purpose well.

Though my sales were on the tepid side, I was concerned that a major marketing push just in my local community would have resulted in me failing to deliver the goods, if you will. This did not happen, of course, but I learned how quickly I could have found myself in that situation. I consider this a pilot and now I know exactly how many orders I can handle if I undertake a project like this next Christmas. In the meantime, I'm working on similar, but smaller offerings for Valentine's Day and Easter. I haven't worked out the details yet, but keep checking the site. Thanks especially to my friend Minh. She wins the salesperson of the year award for my nascent company!

Holiday Cookies for Sale!

2007-12-03T13:44:00.000-05:00

THIS OFFERING IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE FOR 2007. LOOK FOR SIMILAR OFFERINGS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. THANKS TO ALL WHO SUPPORTED MY EFFORTS AND MANY THANKS FOR SUCH POSITIVE FEEDBACK.

I'm making 1, 2 and 4 pound trays of cookies this year for my local audience. Sorry to all my Australian fans. Mail order will have to wait until next year! The two larger trays are depicted below along with a pic of each individual cookie. All trays will have an assortment of these 6 cookies and will be wrapped in clear cellophane and tied up with a bow. Contact me for any special orders you may be interested in, for instance, a tray of only rugelach.

All cookies except spritzers (press cookies) contain pecans or almond flour. Spritzers contain almond extract.

"Spaghetti and Meatball" Sauce a la Clemenza

2007-11-22T09:42:00.000-05:00

For the sauce

4 cans Tuttorosso Whole Peeled Tomatoes (35 oz cans)
(Feel free to substitute your favorite tomatoes, but remember most cans are 28 oz. Therefore you will have to use 5 cans of those.)
2 onions, halved
2 - 4 cloves of garlic
1/2 bunch parsley
1 4 oz can tomato paste
4 anchovy fillets
3/4 - 1 cup olive oil

Place all ingredients in a large (12 qt) pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer.

Sautee 2 # of sweet sausage until well browned on all sides. Remove sausage and juices from pan to deep dish. Deglaze pan with 1 cup of red wine. Scrape bottom of pan well to remove all burnies and bits. Dump deglazing liquid into sauce pan. Wipe out pan with paper towels. Pour 2 cups oil (preferably olive oil or olive oil/grapeseed oil mix) into pan and return to heat.

For the meatballs

1 # meatloaf mix
2 pieces of white bread, crust removed and broken into small pieces
1/4 cup whole milk
2 T chopped parsley
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 egg
freshly ground black pepper
salt
bread crumbs

Soak bread in milk for 10 minutes
Add all other ingredients and mix thoroughly with your hands
Spread crumbs in plate
Roll meat into golfball size or smaller balls and coat in crumbs
Fry in 325 degree oil until golden brown all over
Remove to paper towels to drain

By this time, the onions and garlic should be completely softened and thus purged of all of their flavors. Remove onions, garlic and parsley (and any other flavoring ingredients you may have thrown in on your own) at this point.

With a wand mixer or food processor, process sauce until smooth. I recommend the wand because of the quantity of sauce. If you are making a quarter batch, the food processor may be more practical.

Once processed, add all the sausage and meatballs to sauce and simmer for many hours.

Freeze all you won't use in pint or quart containers.

Simple Thanksgiving Day Dinner

2007-11-15T22:46:00.000-05:00

Simple Thanksgiving Day Dinner

Follow my simple rules and Thanksgiving won’t be the stressful mess it always seems to be. First of all, the actual dishes prepared for Turkey Day are about the simplest we make throughout the year. The key is to focus on a few that you as the host want to make and have others bring the remaining dishes. This has to be done with a little forethought, though. When guests ask what they can bring, tell them what to bring. “Could you bring a pumpkin pie?” Or, “Since you make that yummy cole slaw, could you bring that for the dinner?” And don’t accept no for an answer. I recommend you have guests bring cold dishes or those that don’t need to be refridgerated. Avoid having guests bring dishes that have to be re-heated. The oven is already occupied! By the turkey, no less. You as the host should prepare the following dishes:

Roasted Garlic Turkey, Gravy and Cornbread Stuffing adapted from Jacques Pepin

Cranberry relish/chutney adapted from the recipe of the back of the Ocean Spray brand cranberry package

Mashed regular or sweet potatoes

These recipes are simple and allow you to impress your guests and have fun at your own party, too!

Roasted Garlic Turkey

Ingredients

1 12 pound turkey (brined if possible. See my video on brining chicken)
2 cups chicken stock
1 head of garlic, cut in half horizontally
1 teaspoon salt (if you don’t brine turkey)
1 teaspoon black pepper
4 onions peeled and very coarsely chopped
4 carrots peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
1 teaspoon starch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon soy sauce

If you don’t brine turkey, rinse bird thoroughly under cool water and pat it dry with towels. Place turkey breast side up in roasting pan (on a v-rack if you have one) and roast at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until nicely browned.

Remove pan from oven and flip turkey onto breast using silicon oven mitts or folded up kitchen towels, Strew vegetables around turkey and place both halves of garlic head inside turkey cavity. Reduce oven temp to 325 degrees and roast for 1 hour.

Add chicken stock to roasting pan and bake turkey for another 30 minutes. Turn off oven and let turkey rest for 30 minutes to an hour. This is when you would put in your cornbread stuffing.

Shortly before serving dinner, remove turkey from oven, place on serving platter and return to oven. Remove veggies with slotted spoon and place in bowl of food processor. Strain pan juices through a paper towel – lined funnel into a wide-mouthed mason jar or pyrex measuring cup. Let rest for 5 – 10 minutes and than ladle off as much fat that has floated to the top as possible.

Pour skimmed juices into processor and process with veggies until smooth. Transfer to small sauce pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Add starch/water mixture, stirring until thoroughly incorporated. Simmer for 1 more minute, cover and remove from heat.

You are now ready to serve your turkey!

Cornbread Stuffing

I prefer to make my own cornbread, but whichever bakery-bought cornbread you like will do. Try to avoid cornbreads that are too sweet or too greasy.

I like this recipe because it incorporates one of my ‘leftover makeover’ techniques. You can use fancy ham for this stuffing, but I prefer just to open up a pack of lunchmeat ham I have for my young daughter and slice that into ribbons for this dish.

4 T unsalted butter
1 onions, peeled and coarsely chopped. Use two if you don’t have scallions on hand.
2 ribs of celery, diced
5 scallions, washed and minced
12 oz of cornbread
1 cup frozen, canned or fresh corn kernels
2 t herbes de Provence
½ t freshly ground black pepper
3 oz ham, cut into ½ inch pieces
¼ cup chicken stock

Melt butter in skillet

When hot, add onions, celery and scallions and sauté over medium high heat for about 3 minutes.

Transfer veggies to bowl and add crumbled cornbread, corn kernels, herbes de Provence, pepper, ham and the chicken stock. Toss lightly to avoid further crumbling of cornbread and place in 6 – cup loaf pan.

Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 20 minutes or longer until browned on top and hot inside. Remove from oven and set aside until ready to re-heat in oven with turkey.

If making a day or more in advance, refrigerate until Thanksgiving Day and remove from fridge in the morning. Place in oven with turkey after oven has been turned off. (See turkey recipe above.)

Cranberry Relish

1 large orange, washed
1 bag of fresh cranberries, washed in cold water
¾ cup to 1 cup sugar

Quarter orange, skin and all, and then chop quarters into 4 or 5 pieces each.

Add to bowl of food processor with bag of cranberries and sugar. Process until desired consistency is reached. Can be made 5 days in advance.

Mashed Potatoes or Sweet Potatoes

1 5 lb bag of yellow potatoes or sweet potatoes
1 T salt
½ cup heavy cream (add more if you really like it decadent)
½ stick unsalted butter (ditto)
1 t black pepper

Peel potatoes and cut into 1 inch chunks, approximately.

Add to large pot with salt and cover with cold water.

Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer.

Temper cream with a couple tablespoons of the boiling water to avoid curdling cream. To do this, simply stir the hot water into the cream. A little hot water hitting a lot of cold cream is a lot better than a little cream hitting a lot of boiling hot potatoes!

When potatoes are fork tender, remove from water with slotted spoon and place in metal bowl or double boiler. Add butter, cream and black pepper. With a heavy duty whisk or potato masher or, if necessary, a sturdy fork mix ingredients until smooth.

Place metal bowl or dbl boiler over another pot with simmering water 1 hour prior to serving potatoes. If you need to transfer the potatoes to another bowl for serving, make sure you heat up serving bowl by filling with boiling water and letting sit for 3 minutes.

If you are using sweet potatoes, sprinkle mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar and a few pat of butter just before serving.

Ceviche

2007-11-02T15:56:00.001-05:00

Recipe for Ceviche

Ingredient List

Peruvian popping corn
2T lard or olive oil
1 sweet potato
3 Firm Tilapia Fillets
Juice of 2 limes
Zest of 1 lime
1 tomato diced
1/2 onion finely diced
1 clove garlic minced
1 jalapeno finely chopped
Several sprigs of cilantro
1 Avocado
Salt
Black Pepper
Olive Oil

Boil sweet potato until fork tender. Set aside until cool. When cool, peel and cut into 1/2 slices. Slice slices into 3 - 4 '1/2 inch wide sticks' depending on size of sweet potato.

Heat 2 T lard in pan. When hot, add 1/2 cup of Peruvian popping corn and cover with lid. Once popping picks of steam, shake pan a few times over heat and then remove from heat and leave covered. Set aside.

Cut Tilapia fillets into 1/2 inch dice, taking care to adjust for thickness differences between the two halves of each fillet. Place in cold bowl and return bowl to refridgerator.

Prep the Vegetables
Dice 2 tomato
Finely dice 1/2 onion
Mince 1 clove of garlic
Finely chop one jalapeno
Separate cilantro leaves from stems. Discard stems.

Take bowl of Ceviche from fridge and pour lime juice over tilapia and two generous pinches of salt. Toss gently until well mixed.

Add vegetables and whole cilantro leaves to tilapia and toss gently a few times. Take care not to crush the tomato dice in the process.

Set aside for 15 minutes to 2 hours. It can cure overnight, but the beauty of Ceviche is the quickness of the meal and the joy one gets from eating such fresh and lightly cured fish.

While tilapia is curing, cut avocado in half with sharp chef's knife. Remove pit by holding half with pit in one hand and hammering gently into pit with knife. Rock knife back and forth while gently squeezing avocado half. Discard pit.

Scoop avocado out of skin with large soup or serving spoon. Dice avocado.

Place ceviche on plate and surround with diced avocado and sweet potatoes. After sprinkling kosher or sea salt on corn, sprinkle corn all over ceviche and other items on plate. Drizzle fine olive oil over fish and avocado. To finish dish, sprinkle everything with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Baking Cherry Pie With My Two Daughters

2007-11-01T21:52:00.000-05:00

\WARNING - THIS IS NOT AN INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO. ATTEMPTING TO BAKE YOUR OWN PIE BASED ON THIS VIDEO COULD BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH!

Classic Lasagna

2007-10-29T16:23:00.000-05:00

Recipe

Ingredients
1 pound uncooked lasagna noodles (I used Ronzoni)
2 pounds ricotta
8 - 16 oz shredded mozzarella (not fresh)
1/2 cup pecorino romano grated cheese
1 qt homemade tomato sauce (see recipe under "Sauces, Stocks, Stews and Soup")
1 pound meatloaf mix - equal parts beef, veal and pork
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
Olive Oil
Salt
Black Pepper

1. Chop onions
2. Mince garlic

Sautee both in hot pan with 2 T of Olive Oil

3. after 1 minute, add ground meat, breaking it into smaller and smaller pieces with a wooden spoon as it fries.
4. While meat is cooking, combine ricotta and grated mozzarella in bowl. Stir together adding salt and black pepper to taste. (Some people add an egg at this step, but I don't like the consistency it creates.)
5. Boil lasagna noodles
6. Defrost tomato sauce if previously frozen
7. When lasagna pasta is finished, fish out of water carefully and lay flat over paper towels spread out over a counter. The paper towels will absorb excess moisture.
8. In a 9 in by 12 inch pyrex dish or the equivalent, place about 1/2 cup sauce in bottom.
9. Layer 3 noodles slightly overlapping, then 1/3 ricotta mixture, then 1/2 cup of sauce. Cover with another layer of 3 noodles. Add 1/2 the ground meat and another 1/2 cup of the sauce. Alternate these layers ending with a layer of noodles on the top. Spread remaining sauce on top of noodles and sprinkle 1/4 cup of grated cheese on top.
10. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.
11. Check progress at 30 minutes and if liquid at bottom and edges of the dish is not boiling, bake for another 10 minutes covered.
12. Uncover dish and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes making sure pasta on top doesn't get crunchy.

Pears Poached in White Wine

2007-10-24T09:51:00.000-05:00

Earlier I posted a video of poaching pears in red wine. I love how the pears look with the deep red stain from the wine, but it's hard to get the pear uniformly colored. I decided to poach in white wine this time using 2 cups of sugar with 1 bottle of dry white wine. The flavor of the pears was somewhat thin due to the poaching process taking from the pear all those great flavors that make the poaching syrup so delicious. But if you serve the pears coated in a thickened syrup with vanilla ice cream, you get all the right flavors and textures in every bite. No video today, but I do have some photos.

Spicy Olive Oil

2007-09-16T22:51:00.000-05:00

Forgive me for neglecting this recipe back when I made the Spanish Tapenade. This should always be in you pantry. You'll get addicted to it fast! This recipe comes from Peter Reinhart's cookbook, "American Pie." It's a fantastic book about making all kinds of pizza and some recipes for flavorings and toppings of those pizzas. Peter traveled around the world eating pizza for this research, but most of the time he teaches baking at Johnson & Wales University. I make it sound like I know the guy, but I've never met him. I hope to some day. Click here to visit his site http://peterreinhart.typepad.com/

Spicy Olive Oil

Ingredients
1 cup Olive Oil
4 t red chili pepper flakes
4 t sweet or smoked paprika (See inset photo for brand I use)
1 large clove garlic, peeled
1/4 t salt (optional)

Place oil, chili flakes, paprika and garlic in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. It won't bubble like boiled water, but the pepper and garlic will appear to be deep frying. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool for 30 minutes. Strain oil through a paper towel lined funnel into a jar and let oil cool completely. Cover and store in refrigerator for up to two weeks. Bingo, you're good to go. And look at that beautiful color.

The oil is almost as red as the can of smoked paprika!

Notes: I store this in my pantry for weeks if not months without any flavor issues.

Spicy Steamed Clams with a Touch of Pesto

2007-09-16T18:22:00.001-05:00

First, buy a bag of 50 clams and keep them on ice until ready to cook. I use whatever is available. Today it was Maine Ocean Clams. They are about the size of little necks. That's the size you want to shoot for.

Rinse each clam under cold water and place back on ice. Discard any clams with broken shells or open shells that won't close after tapping them against side of sink.

For this recipe, you will need:
50 clams
2 T pesto
4 T garlic
1/3 cup spicy olive oil (or more) (See spicy olive oil recipe)

Make a batch of pesto and set aside or defrost a couple of "ice" cubes of frozen pesto. View Caprese Napoleon post (August 8, 2007) for details.

In a large pot, preferably 12 qt, but 8 qt will do, pour in 1/3 c spicy olive oil and place over medium heat.

While oil is heating, finely chop 4 cloves of garlic.

Put 1/2 of the chopped garlic in pot with oil and saute until glassy, about 2 minutes.

Increase heat to high.

Add all 50 clams along with 1/4 cup of water or white wine and 1 T of pesto, give a little shake of the pot and then place lid on top of pot.

While clams are steaming, line a large funnel with paper towels and place over bowl or wide-mouth jar. A china hat works, too, but probably still needs to be lined with paper towels. The simplest way to do this would be to fold the paper towel corner to corner to create a triangle. Then fold the two corners on the longest side together to form a triangle with three equal sides. Separate one fold of paper from others to form a paper funnel and place inside funnel or china hat.

After about 5 minutes start looking at the clams. Once a large majority of clams are open, remove pot from heat.

Remove clams with a slotted spoon and place on previously heated platter.

Pour all broth in pan through lined funnel.

Pour strained broth back into pan and place pan back on burner at high heat and return to a boil.

Add 2T chopped garlic and 1 T of pesto to strained broth along with the 50 clams.

Give the pot a few good shakes and remove from heat.

Ladle clams and broth into individual bowls and serve with crusty Italian or French bread for mopping! Alternatively, you can put hot pasta in the bowls and ladle broth and clams on top of that.

Notes:

The funnel business is all about removing the sand. And to remove that, you also remove all the garlic and evidence of pesto. That's why the same amounts are added back to the strained broth. If it's too garlicky for you, start with 1 T in the steaming and 1 T of garlic in the strained broth. Don't skimp on the pesto because it gives the broth a nice color.

This works well over pasta, but the broth is naturally real watery and best suited for mopping with good crusty bread. I also like to keep the bottle of spicy O.O. by my side. I usually add more to my broth after the fact and, of course, adding the oil to the pasta works, too. I'm not a big fan of serving bread with my pasta, but of course, do what you want. Try it both ways and see how you like it. I would love to hear about your results. Until next time.....Blaise

Five Spice Chicken Recipe

2007-09-13T18:42:00.000-05:00

Here I go again with another text entry. I'm just trying to keep my blog more current. I would post a video daily if I could, but that isn't physically, logistically or artistically possible! Anyway, I wanted to share the following recipe with you that I put to the test this evening.

First buy Five Spice or, better yet, grind your own. There are several different versions of five spice, Chinese, French, Tunisian, but you can experiment with either. Two recipes follow:

Tunisian
1T black peppercorns
1T cloves
1.5 t cardamom
1.5 t ground nutmeg (be careful, this is one of the reasons you want to use five spice sparingly. This can be cut back to .5 t without losing too much nutmeg flavor.)
1 t ground cinnamon

Place all in a spice (or coffee) grinder and process until powdery. The best coffee grinder I've found for both grinding coffee and spices is the basic Krups model.
Click here to view grinder - http://www.krupsonlinestore.com/product_detail.asp?T1=KRU+203%2D42&MENU=&SKW=coffee%20grinder

Chinese
2 t szechuan peppercorns, roasted in dry skillet over low heat until aroma released
8 star anise
6 cloves
1.5 T fennel seeds
1 T ground cinnamon

Place all in a spice (or coffee) grinder and process until powdery. Be careful when removing lid. The szechuan peppercorns could burn like hell if inhaled.

Slice 1# boneless chicken breast in half horizontally. Lay breast flat on cutting board and slice in half with blade of knife parallel to counter. Alternatively, place breast between two sheets of wax paper or disposable cutting sheets and pound gently with rolling pin.

Once you get the chicken to an even thickness of about 1/2 inch, coat on each side with five spice rub. Sautee over med-high heat in 1 T grapeseed oil. Place in pan right as oil begins smoking. Turn after 3 minutes on one side. Sautee another 2- 3 minutes, remove from heat, place on a warm plate and cover with foil for 5 minutes.

Serve with rice or cous-cous and a salad.

Cuisine et Dependance , Montreal CA - Restaurant Review

2007-09-13T09:10:00.000-05:00

This is about 3 weeks late, but I hemmed and hawed about the value of a traditional blog entry. I know how much people dislike reading text on a computer screen, so I'll keep this short. Cuisine et Dependance in Montreal is an upscale restaurant that makes all of their patrons feel relaxed and downright homey, like in a diner. I read about this restaurant in Bon Appetit and thought I'd visit it with my wife on our family vacation. B.A. praised the food and the chef, but it was a summary, grouping C et D with other great spots in the "hot new neighborhood" - The Plateau - in Montreal. Yes the food was good and at times great (the least I'd expect considering dinner for two with wine runs around $160 including tip), but what most impressed us was the friendliness of the service, the generosity of the owner and sommelier and the general sense that they wanted us to have the best experience possible. The restaurant is modern and somewhat minimalist, but doesn't sacrifice atmosphere for this decor. The wine was tremendous, a Chateau de Chaminey Mercurey 2002 (White), that was priced at $70 on the menu. At Total Wine in Delaware, the price was $27.00 and considering the weak dollar and Canadian "sales" taxes (15%) I'd say $70 is a reasonable price for a restaurant in Canada to charge. Now, to the food. Both my wife and I found the food in Montreal a little lacking. It didn't matter if it was a Mexican joint or an upscale restaurant. The sheer quantity of restaurants in downtown Montreal is very impressive and the selection of different types of ethnic foods matches that of New York. I can't quite put my finger on what exactly is missing in the food up north, but, to borrow from the preferred language of the Quebecqois, it's a certain je ne sais quoi! With that said, I'd recommend Cuisine et Dependance without reservation. But don't forget to make reservations in advance! Visit them at http://www.cuisineetdependance.ca/

Pasta Primavera a la Blaise

2007-09-06T23:16:00.000-05:00

Another flexible recipe for my loyal viewers. I grilled carrots, fennel and green beans and then tossed them with penne pasta, cubed sharp provolone, 3/4 cup olive oil, salt, pepper and whole basil leaves. As you will see in the video, I was a little disappointed. I make suggestions for improvements in video, but I will add some more here.

First, use plenty of vegetables, almost rendering the pasta to a supporting role in the dish. Make sure you get the veggies nice and grilled. I grilled mine just fine, I just wanted to reinforce that. Make sure you use plenty of salt in pasta water and also sprinkled over veggies prior to grilling. Adding garlic raw or sauteed, as I say in the video, will help it. Just avoid overdoing it. The last time I made this dish I think I used 2# of green beans and 3 # of carrots. This time I used less and for that I am going to send myself to my room with no supper! That's a nod to a great UK movie review whose podcast is available at the following address: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/kermode/rss.xml

Anyway, I digress. As you all know, I love making meals with whatever I can find in my fridge and this pasta primavera is perfect for that approach. You just need quantity and selection. I think I had enough variation in ingredients, just not enough of them. Just be careful, though. Don't use mushy veggies like eggplant or tomatoes. Though they add lots of flavor, once grilled they will fall apart when tossed with the pasta. This will create a sort of sauce that will change the whole idea of this dish from light and refreshing to heavy and de-freshing???

Poached Pears

2007-09-03T09:52:00.001-05:00

A classic dessert that can be served in a variety of ways. Easy, but impressive.

Ingredients:
1 bottle of red (or white) wine
12 peppercorns
1 t vanilla extract
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup sugar (optional, not in video, but recommended)
Juice of 1 lemon (not in video, use remaining juice from lemon used to rub pears)
9 - 12 small pears, forelle for instance
whipped cream, ice cream, melted chocolate or any accompaniment of your choice

Add first 4 ingredients to pot large enough to hold 9 - 12 pears
Bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer.
While poaching liquid is being brought to a boil, peel, cut bottom of pear so it sits flat and core each pear. Rub each pear with cut half of lemon. Take care not to break stem of pear. This helps with moving pears in and out of poaching liquid and has aesthetic appeal. Place pears in simmering liquid and poach covered until fork tender.

Caprese Napoleon

2007-08-08T23:05:00.001-05:00

A Microplane Testimonial

2007-07-26T21:08:00.000-05:00

Grapefruit Custard Tart from the Inn at Little Washington

2007-07-26T20:29:00.000-05:00

Making the crust is not featured in the video. It's a simple press-in crust made from 2/5 cups finely ground pecans, 1/2 stick (4T) of butter, melted, and 3/4 cup sugar. Mix it all together, press into pie plate and bake for 10 min at 400 degrees. I think a better crust would be 50/50 ground pecans and crushed graham crackers. It would give the crust a little more cohesiveness which I like in a crust. It's up to you.

Recipe

Ingredients are shown in chronological order so some may be repeated later in a recipe. This is the case with the grapefruit juice in this recipe.

2t gelatin
3T grapefruit juice
4T butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
4 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup grapefruit juice
zest of one grapefruit
2 - 4 oz chocolate, preferably dark chocolate
1 pecan crust (see recipe above)

Sprinkle gelatin over 3T of grapefruit juice and set aside
Melt butter in 2 qt saucepan over medium heat
Mix in sugar until dissolved
Add orange juice, 1/2 cup of grapefruit juice, cream, eggs and zest.
Stir to combine and reduce heat to medium low
Continue stirring until custard has thickened and lightly coats the back of a wooden spoon
Once custard has thickened, scrape gelatin mixture into custard, stir to dissolve and then set aside off heat.
Allow to cool to room temperature

While custard is cooling, melt chocolate in dbl boiler or microwave until it is runny like chocolate sauce
With a china bristle brush available by the 10pk at Home Depot for about 3 bucks, brush chocolate onto cooled pecan crust. Cover all surfaces except top edge.

BEFORE ALLOWING CHOCOLATE TO COOL (Video indicates otherwise), pour cooled custard into pie crust.
Place pie in refrigerator until set, approximately 2 - 4 hrs later.
Garnish with whipped cream and mint sprig or leaf.

Note: I used canned whipped cream in the video and I'm sure you all looked on in horror. Normally I whip my own for the obvious reasons, but the cream available that day was just not fresh enough so I didn't want to take any chances. Though the food I prepare for video technically doesn't even have to be eaten, I treat my on-camera time as if I were preparing for actual guests.

Pruning Basil to Feed You all Summer Long!

2007-07-19T06:22:00.000-05:00

Penne Pasta tossed with Beets, Beet Greens and Mint topped with Prosciutto

2007-06-19T07:56:00.001-05:00

Recipe

Ingredients
1/4# sliced prosciutto
1/2 cup olive oil (extra virgin preferred. More if you prefer, up to 1 cup.
1 bunch beets with greens still attached
1 bunch mint
1/2 cup Parmesan or Parmesan/Romano mix
1# penne pasta (whole wheat adds nice flavor to this dish)
3T salt

1. Cut beets from beet greens.
2. Place beets in Pyrex dish and bake at 400 degrees until soft.
3. Allow beets to cool then peel skin from beets.
4. Cut beets into sticks the size of your pinky finger. Set aside.
5. Wash beet greens and chop coarsely.
6. Cut away all the fat (white) from the sliced prosciutto
7. Chop prosciutto meat (red) into thin ribbons. Set aside.
8. Chop and discard stems from mint then coarsely chop mint leaves.

9. Bring 4 qts of water to a boil. Add 3 T of salt with 1 pound of penne pasta. Stir until pot returns to a boil and then replace lid offset by a couple of inches to avoid overflow of starchy, boiling water. Should cook in approx. 10 - 12 minutes. Before draining pasta, reserve 2 cup of cooking liquid. Pour 1.5 cups of the boiling water into your serving dish. The remainder can be used if the final tossed pasta needs a little more creaminess.

10. While pasta is cooking, heat 1/4 c of oil over medium heat.
11. Add prosciutto fat until translucent then remove from the pan with slotted spoon. Set aside.
12. Add remaining oil and bring heat to medium high.
13. Add beet greens and stir in pan for a couple of minutes. Reduce heat to low and cover for 5 - 10 minutes.
14. Once greens are completely wilted and soft, add beets and stir in pan to mix and heat through.
15. Off heat, add chopped mint leaves and stir until wilted.
16. Dump hot water from serving dish.
17. Toss sauce with penne and grated cheese in warmed serving dish.
18. If pasta looks dry, toss pasta with some of the reserved cooking liquid.
19. Add 1/2 of prosciutto and toss gently with pasta. (I did not do this step in video)
20. Sprinkle remaining prosciutto across top of dish and serve.

Rib Roast Showdown

2007-06-13T08:26:00.000-05:00

Rib Roast ready to be aged in refridgerator

Aged Rib Roast Roasted in Oven at 425 degrees to an internal temp of 130 degrees. Note the difference in size between the fresh, raw roast and the roast after aging and baking. All that concentrated beef flavor.

Remember, the beef in the video below was grilled over propane gas burners. I only had photos of roasts done earlier in the year. Sorry.

Strawberry Rustic Tart

2007-05-18T10:34:00.001-05:00

Recipe

Ingredients
2.5 cups all purpose flour
3T sugar
1 t salt
2 sticks/.5 pounds/16T cold butter cut into little pieces
1/3 cup + 1T ice cold water and more if needed.
Your favorite strawberry jam (make sure the fruit is the first ingredient on the label's list of ingredients)

Steps
1. Put all dry ingredients in food processor bowl and pulse to combine
2. Spread half of the butter over top of flour mixture. Pulse 3 - 4 times
3. Spread remaining half of butter over top of flour/butter mixture. Pulse until mix has the coarseness of bread crumbs.

DO NOT OVER MIX. YOU'RE BETTER OFF HAVING A FEW BIG CHUNKS OF BUTTER LEFT THAN TURNING THE MIX INTO SPACKLE

4. Drizzle water over top of mixture. Pulse just until mixture begins to gather together.
If dough (now it's dough) is dry or dusty looking, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing each time.

You should be able to pick up pieces of the dough now and mold it like playdough with your fingers. It's important to note that the dough at this point will still be just hundreds of little chunks of butter mixed with flour, sugar and salt.

5. Dump the dough onto counter top and beginning with the edge furthest from you, smear sections of dough across the counter top with the heal of your hand. This creates ribbons of butter that separate thin layers of flour resulting in an incomparably flaky crust.

The amount of smearing you do is a bit arbitrary, but limit it to 2 go-arounds. After first smear, scrape dough together into a loose pile and follow step 5 one more time.

6. Gather dough into a ball and divide in half.

7. Flatten each half into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes. At this point dough can be frozen for up to 3 - 6 months.

The purpose of this step is to make sure the butter in the dough remains nice and hard. The softer/warmer it is, the more likely dough will stick to the rolling pin and counter top.

8. Remove dough from refrigerator, unwrap and place on floured counter top. Sprinkle flour on top of dough and begin to roll the dough from the center to the edge going around the dough like the changing positions of a clock.

9. Once dough is acceptably round and approximately 1/8 inch thick transfer to cookie sheet.

If you prefer thicker crust, feel free to leave it a little thicker. Just remember that the recipe makes enough dough for 2 pie crusts, 1/8 thick and big enough to fill a 9inch pie plate with a little extra to spare.

10. Spread the jam over the top of the dough leaving a 1 inch border of dough uncovered.

11. Fold border of dough over jam-covered dough. The more folds you make around the tart, the more circular the tart will be. This will require more trimming of excess dough where each fold ends and the next begins.

I don't concern myself with the actual geometric shape. The more "unique" the shape, the more clear to the eater that this baby is homemade. After the first bite, even the most particular guests will forget about the shape of the pie.

12. Brush top of crust with milk and sprinkle with sugar. This will help brown the top of the tart nicely.

13. Bake at 375 degrees for approx. 30 minutes.

Bon Appetit!

Aged Beef Rib Roast

2007-04-28T06:45:00.000-05:00

Revisiting Hummus

2007-04-17T22:22:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I showed you how to make hummus thanks to a food processor. In that video, I used cans of chick peas from Trader Joes. I've always found that the quality of canned chick peas really vary from one brand to another. I also know, but didn't mention that the best chick peas are dried chick peas. A day after my hummus video I made another batch of hummus using dried chick peas. It's not like I never have made hummus from dried (and rehydrated) chick peas. It's just that I couldn't remember if dried make a noticeably better hummus than canned. They do and the memory of this second go around with hummus makes my mouth water as I write this. I'm not sure why it's so much better, but let me tell you a couple of my tricks.

First of all, use plenty of salt in the water for boiling the chick peas. For a 1 pound bag of chick peas I use at least 1/4 cup salt. I know this sounds like a lot, but the chick peas soften quickly and are perfectly flavored right off the bat. In fact, when I processed the rehydrated chick peas and other ingredients I didn't need to add any more salt.

Second, after the peas are softened and cooled, but still in the water, I work them through my hands squeezing them gently to remove their skins. My goal is to remove all the skins, but that is tedious and unnecessary. As the skins are sloughed of the chick pea, they rise to the surface of the water. Periodically, I scoop off the skins and then return to squeezing the chick peas. I don't even know if this makes a difference because I've never done a side by side test. If I do, I'll report my results right on the blog.

Third, this is optional (as is the skin removal BUT NOT THE SALTING OF THE WATER), but processing the peas while still warm with the other ingredients allows you the option of eating "naturally" warm hummus. It's absolutely delicious and I would venture to say it's almost a unique experience. Of course, if you're entertaining, you would have to time your preparation just right. Try it some time, though, and I think you will like it.

My recommendations for the best hummus you can possibly make then are:
Dried peas instead of canned
Use plenty of salt when rehydrating the beans
Slough off as much of the skins of the softened chick peas as possible
Process hummus while peas are still warm and have a go at warmed hummus. Delicious!

Ham and Olive Pasta Sauce

2007-04-15T07:51:00.001-05:00

Chefs' Knives - How to decide which is best for you

2007-04-15T06:04:00.000-05:00

Hummus - Keeping it real simple

2007-03-29T17:48:00.000-05:00

Brining and "Eighthing" of Chicken

2007-03-17T19:09:00.000-05:00

Brine and Quarter Chicken

Coconut Cookies

2007-03-17T08:57:00.000-05:00

Recipe

Coconut Cookie Recipe

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Toast for 8 - 10 minutes in the pre-heated oven:

1 cup sweetened, flaked coconut (Baker is a typical brand)
(Check progress frequently and stir flakes or shake pan each time)

While coconut is toasting, add to mixer bowl:

2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened
1 scant cup sugar (basically 1 cup less 1-2 Tbsp)
1/2 teaspoon salt

beat on medium speed until light and fluffy

Add:
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

beat on medium speed until combined

Add:
1 egg

beat on medium speed until combined

Add:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups coconut powder, available in Indian and natural foods stores

beat on low until just combined

Add:
toasted coconut

mix on low speed until just combined

Form dough into balls about the size of ping-pong balls and place on a cookie sheet.
Because dough will be partially frozen before baking, dough won't spread much. Therefore, you can easily bake 15 cookies per sheet. When sheet is full, put in freezer for 30 minutes. Bake in oven for 12 - 15 minutes, checking for browning after minute 12. Cool tray on rack for 1 minute and then transfer cookies to rack and allow to cool completely. Store in airtight containers. Enjoy!

Spicy Spanish Olive Tapenade

2007-03-12T23:02:00.000-05:00

Recipe

Add to food processor bowl:
6.5 oz green spanish olives with pimento
2T to 1/4 cup olive oil or spicy olive oil (see spicy olive oil recipe)
Pulse for 1 second 4 or 5 times
Add to food processor bowl:
1/4 cup purple raisins
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds or pine nuts
Pulse for 1 second 2 or 3 times
Add to food processor bowl:
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
Pulse for 1 second two times
Transfer mixture to serving bowl.
Stir in:
Black Pepper
2T to 1/4 cup Locatelli Romano or Parmesan Cheese
Serve with pita chips, crusty Italian bread or flatbread. You can also toast thinly sliced Italian or French loaves of bread and then spread with tapenade for a stunning bruschetta.

Duck Ragu, Endive Salad and Chocolate Blini

2007-03-06T13:02:00.001-05:00

Kalamata Olive Tapenade

2007-03-06T09:12:00.000-05:00

Kalamata Olive Tapenade Recipe

Add 6.5 oz kalamata olives (or one drained 13 oz jar)to food processor
Pulse 3 - 4 times
Add,
1/4 cup dark raisins and
1/4 cup pine nuts
Process for 3 seconds
Add,
2T to 1/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove minced
2T chopped yellow onion or shallots
Process for 3 seconds
Transfer tapenade to bowl and stir in,
Black Pepper
1/4 cup Locatelli Romano Cheese

Remember, the ingredients and quantities are very flexible. Add pepper flakes to make this spicy or leave out the raisins if you don't want any sweetness. Also, the longer the tapenade sits, the more the flavors fuse. If you plan to serve immediately, make sure garlic is really minced before going in the processor and feel free to add more onion.

I would love to hear some of your own variations to this recipe. Leave a comment! Thanks.