Corduroy Orange

Angstrom and I stumbled upon this place as we wandered the streets in the hours between when we arrived in New Orleans and when we could check into our rental. Drawn by the promise of oysters and seafood, I made a dinner reservation on a whim, a decision that ranks among my better recent decisions.

The oysters were fresh and delicious, the gumbo thick and rich, the crab rice and crab pasta impeccable, the thrice-cooked potatoes luxurious in their simplicity, and the carrot sticky toffee pudding with cream cheese ice cream just as good as it sounds.

Our waiter’s schtick included a joking reference to us not liking the oysters based on how quickly we devoured them, and I rode the bit through the meal, telling him each course was worse than the last as he collected my empty dishware from the table.  We both knew the truth, though: the meal was fantastic and anyone who has the opportunity to dine here should do so.

Pêche

800 Magazine St.

New Orleans, LA 70130

Pecherestaurant.com

This is a fruit-filled variation on a sour cream coffee cake that my mother makes.  I’ve added whole grains in the form of the oats and fruit in the form of the raspberries.  I baked it in a 9 x 13 cast iron pan from Lodge but you could bake it in a bundt pan just as easily.

Tuesday, I finally made a chicken fried steak that I really enjoyed, with a crispy breading and really great flavor, the sort of steak I would be pleased to get at a truck stop or diner.  Somethign that, when I brought it to the table, both of my kids asked me if it was chicken.

Of course, I did it on a Tuesday when I didn’t even get home from work until 5:00 and had to launch straight into dinner prep to get it all done before bedtime, so I don’t have any pictures.  But I’m writing it up anyway so I have a reference for what I did next time I go to make it (including a note to myself: take pictures!)

You probably don’t remember– I barely do!– that back about 14 years ago, I looked at what the Industrial Maraschino Cherry Complex does to produce their maraschino cherries.  It seemed complicated.  I gave it very little thought.

Then, in what must be the most first world of first world problems, I ran low on cherries to garnish my Manhattans.  Heavens to Betsy, whatever is one to do?

As it turns out, I have been stocking my freezer for a pandemic for years. So I dug into the back, where about 18 months ago, I stashed a rather large bag of tart cherries that I bought so I can make a cherry pie on a whim, and I figured, how hard can it be to make sugar-preserved cherries for garnishing?

I boiled a couple of cups of them in a simple syrup made from .67 cups each water and sugar.  The syrup turned red.  I poured them into a sanitized mason jar.  I added a couple of teaspoons of lime juice to cut through the sugar and also guard against crystallization as they sit in storage.

They’re good. Not perfect.  But good enough that I feel no need to buy artificially dyed cherries again– which ain’t half bad for version 1.0!

I’ve been trying to perfect my doughnut recipe for at least 3 years now.

That sounds more impressive than it actually is; I’ve probably only made them a half dozen times in that stretch.  But each time, I’ve discovered something that didn’t quite work the way I wanted it to and come up with a piece of the puzzle on my next attempt.  And now I finally have a recipe worth writing down and remembering.

The yeasted dough is light and flavorful.  It takes a glaze or spiced sugar quite nicely.  It’s absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious sliced open and spread with a bit of jam, even if I still haven’t conquered a technique that lets me inject jelly into a pocket in the center.  In short, it’s finally worth writing down.

A couple of notes that are important to getting this recipe to work correctly:

• flour type matters: For this recipe, all-purpose flour is the right choice. trying to use bread flour makes the finished doughnut a bit too chewy.
• knead minimally: A bit of kneading will bring the dough together. But too much develops the gluten too much. So, just so much and no more.
• the size of dough balls matters: It’s tempting to say close enough is close enough. But for the dough to cook predictably, so that you can have 3 or 4 doughnuts all in the pan at once and know that they are all done at the same time, you want to pull out your scale and weigh them out to 3 ounces each. Precisely.
• make the hole in the center bigger than the finished hole should be: Because as the bread cooks, it will rise and the hole will shrink. And the hole helps them cook all the way through, as they are exposed to more oil.
• make the discs flat for jelly nuts: Too thick and they don’t cook all the way through.
• the oil temperature matters: too hot and the doughnuts get overdone on the outside before they are done in the center. Too cold and the doughnut gets greasy. 375 when the doughnuts go in, this will drop the temp to 350 for cooking. Just what you want.
• temp the doughnut to make sure that it’s done: It’s easy to pull the doughnut too soon and then you bite into the center and find it’s still doughy. Use your instant read digital thermometer (I recommend Thermoworks’ Thermapen. If you’re left handed, it’s worth it to get the MK4. I get nothing for suggesting this. I just like their product). Aim for about 180 degrees in the center.
• Have your toppings ready for as soon as the doughnuts come out of the oil: You want to coat the doughnuts with the spiced sugar or the glaze while they are still hot and fresh, or the toppings won’t stick.
• let the oil recover between batches. The time you spend glazing or sugaring the freshly cooked doughnuts is probably sufficient. But double check the oil temp before you put each round into the grease.
  Yeasted Doughnuts

  Ingredients:

  • about 8 cups of all purpose flour
  • 2 Tbl Kosher salt
  • a couple good fistfuls brown sugar
  • A nice shake of cinnamon
  • A bit more brown sugar–maybe a couple Tbl
  • 2 Tbl dried yeast. The regular stuff. Not the instant stuff.
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 stick (8 Tbl) butter
  • 120 degree water– not quite 4 cups. Enough to bring the dough together.

  Technique:

  1. Combine the flour, salt, first instance of brown sugar, and the cinnamon together in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Pull out about a cup of the mixture and add the second instance of brown sugar & the yeast to it.
  3. Add about a cup of the 120 degree water to this. Stir a couple of times and let it sit for about 10 minutes to make a sponge.
  4. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a small bowl and then beat the melted butter into it. Stir this into the large mixing bowl of flour etc.
  5. When your sponge has sat and is nice and foamy, stir it in with the flour, egg, butter mix. Heat your water back up to 120 degrees (check the temp!) and then stir in enough of it with a wooden spoon. When the dough comes together, pour it out onto a well-floured surface and knead just enough to bring it together.
  6. Wash and dry your big mixing bowl. Put the dough into it, coated with just a little bit of olive oil. Cover with a dish cloth and leave in a warm area for an hour or so while you go watch cartoons, read the newspaper, do some laundry, or whatever else it is you want to tend to while you’re letting the dough rise. The contestants on teh Great British Baking show always fret over their stuff during bread week. I always suggest to my television that they should have brought a crossword puzzle with them. They never listen.
  7. Divide the risen dough into 3-ounce pieces. Shape them into balls and let them rest for about 20 minutes while you make the glaze and the spiced sugar. Also heat up the cooking oil in a deep cast iron skillet. If you’ve got my stove, you want the oil to heat on about level 4, bumping it up to 6 or 8 as you approach cooking time. But you’re going to have to do some experimenting with your stove.
  8. Shape the doughnuts by gently pinching and turning to make a hole in the center. You know what they’re supposed to look like.
  9. When your oil hits 375, add doughnuts to the Fry 4 doughnuts at a time if you’re using my skillet. Your pan might call for more or fewer. I tried to figure out the magic time, but it was all by visual cues. And verified that they were ready by taking their internal temperature.
  10. Glaze or sugar the doughnuts as soon as they come out of the oil.
  11. Repeat until they’re all done. For my $0.02, the glazed are fantastic hot but the spiced keep better as leftovers. You can microwave them before serving for a second go-round.
  Glaze

  • Zest from a couple of clementines.
  • Juice from said clementines
  • Powdered sugar

  Spiced Sugar

  • Granulated sugar
  • Cinnamon
  • Cardamom
  • Nutmeg

So, back in 2006, I was featured in a 2-artist show at a gallery in Lawrenceville and haven’t shown any artwork publicly since.  Seeing as I’m not doing much of anything with this page, I figured I’d put up a couple of shots for the 3 people who still have this on their RSS Feed (hi, Janice!)

Back in 1997, I had an idea that I could paint in words.  I’ve been spending the odd evening since sometime in 2000 trying to follow through on the concept.  Here are 2 of my more recent works; click on any thumbnail for a larger image:

All Your Life, You Were Only Waiting For This Moment To Arrive

Personal reflections in swirls of color; a blackbird emerges from the center, ready to take flight.

24″ x 30″, oil on canvas,

2018, available

Fuck You Warhol, You Never Even Liked This Town

Musings on Warhol’s tendency to settle for 65% of an idea (peeing on metal) instead of taking it all the way there (peeing on metal to make a picture) and also thoughts on how fervently the city Warhol rejected (Pittsburgh) has adopted him as their own.  The end result, a cityscape of Pittsburgh as viewed from the North Side.

24″ x 30″, oil on canvas

2017, on hold

Ceramic Face Bowls

In addition to painting, I sculpt in clay.  My work in this medium tends to consist of whimsical faces built into the side of hand-thrown bowls.  Decorations come from multiple clay bodies being built together; all work is unglazed.  Samples shown below are all approximately 6″ in diameter and 3″ high.

2017, stoneware, available

I’m normally not one for cooking shows.

I don’t particularly like to watch someone get yelled at for not having food ready on time or for it not being up to par.  If I wanted to experience that, I’d still be working at {redacted}.  And, when I watch main courses, I usually wind up heckling my TV screen, telling it that whoever is on screen cooking is doing it wrong.

So, I was somewhat skeptical when my friend Sara suggested I check out the Great British Bake Off.  ”It’s really fun,” she said.  ”They make this amazing stuff, and it’s still high pressure, but because it’s British, everyone is very polite about everything.”

She’s right.

I mean, I don’t know what I would think if I were a pastry chef (I still might wind up heckling the screen).  But since I am largely inexperienced when it comes to the realm of baking, I wind up taking notes about what I see on screen.  Homemade phyllo?! Tips for making puff pastry! Wait, are they making English muffins from scratch?

And, the judges, while tough, are very even-tempered and level headed.  There might be a few tears at the end of each challenge; but no one can ever say that they’ve been mistreated.  It’s charming, really.

And, I’ve been inspired to bake different things than I might otherwise.  Last night, for instance, I did a braided yeast bread with dried cherries in one of the braids, raisins in the second, and dried cranberries in the third.  I never would’ve conceived of that 3 weeks ago.

Apparently, the BBC favorite was picked up by PBS in 2014 and has become incredibly popular in the meantime.  For those of us who are slow on the uptake, though, you can binge watch on Netflix.

On your marks, get set, BAKE!

Not that this has anything to do with cooking, but for whatever it is worth, I find the rhetoric coming from our president incredibly frightening.  The news media has always played an important role in keeping the public informed about the goings on of the world.  I am glad that they continue to do their jobs and to bring facts to light.  It is complete insanity to block reporters from respected an legitimate news organizations from a briefing.  It is up to every one of us to stand up for the truth and for the reporting thereof in any way we can.

I could never bring the point home as well as John Oliver does in this clip, Trump vs. The Truth: https://youtu.be/xecEV4dSAXE.

Please watch, please share, please buy newspapers, please speak out in any way you can against the dangerous rhetoric spouted by the liar in chief.

(Radiator Pasta in Angstrom Sauce)

One of the first things I learned when I worked at Lidia’s was that pasta sauce can encompass a whole range of possibilities beyond tomato, alfredo, or cheese.  So long as there’s some liquid component to tie everything together, pasta can serve as a vehicle for all kinds of flavors.

This recipe was a huge hit with the whole family, especially Angstrom.  It was when he ladled his third helping onto his plate that I realized it was a real winner and probably deserved to be written down.  Because his enthusiasm prompted me to write it down, I’ve named it in his honor.

Ingredients

• 1 large onion
• about 2 cups finely chopped mushrooms (I used a mix of maitake and crimini)
• 1 leftover baked sweet potato
• about 2 cups leftover pot roast, with its liquid
• 1/4 leftover roasted cabbage
• chicken stock as needed to adjust consistency
• Salt and pepper
• butter

Instructions

1. Make a pot roast dinner, with baked sweet potatoes and roasted cabbage as the side dishes.  Save the leftovers at the end of the meal
2. Dice an onion and cook it in butter in a #10 cast iron skillet with salt, pepper, and aleppo pepper, stirring occasionally for 5-10 minutes or until it has started to take on some golden brown.
3. Push the onion to the outside of the pan and add a bit more butter to the well in the center.  Add diced mushrooms with a pinch more salt.  Cook, stirring occasionally (after initial browning period, they can be stirred in with the onions), for 10-15 minutes or until they have taken on some golden brown.
4. Deglaze the pan with some bourbon.
5. Add diced or mashed sweet potato, sliced cabbage, pot roast, and chicken stock (about 1 cup) to the pan.  Stir together and let simmer while the pasta cooks.  Adjust the consistency as needed with more chicken stock and/or some of the salted cooking water from the pasta.  (This is a trick I learned from Lidia’s—the starch that cooks out of the pasta helps to thicken the sauce and the water helps to thin it out.  I know it sounds weird to go after both ends of the spectrum at once, but it really does work)
6. I used radiatori pasta because the grooves in the pasta help to pick up the sauce and the flavor.  It would also go well with fusilli or a wide ribbon like papparadelle.

Nine years ago, back before either of my kids had even been imagines, and I had all the time in the world; in a post most notable for its grammatically-correct use of five punctuation marks in a row, I had indicated that I saw very rare use for a garlic press.

I stuck by my guns for quite some time, and have gotten quite adept at peeling and mincing garlic, but I am coming around to where the mainstream has been for quite some time: it really does make things quicker and easier to crush garlic with a press than it does to peel and slice by hand.

One thing I have discovered, though, is that rather than crush the garlic directly into the frying pan, it makes a lot more sense to crush into a prep bowl.  That way, you have all the time you need to crush (in my case, at least) a dozen or two cloves of garlic for whatever you’re cooking, without the first garlic into the pan burning before the last clove is crushed.

When it comes to garlic presses, though, I am on the quest for the best press.  Mine is fine, it does the job; but I feel like there might be a better option out there.  The brief research I have done so far shows a huge range of prices, from less than $5 to just about $45.  I checked Cooks Illustrated, hoping for a budget-friendly option, but they recommend a $40 model.  This seems like a steep investment, and so I hold out hope that there is a less-expensive but highly-functioning option out there somewhere.

Lacking the budget to buy and test all of them, please leave a comment to let me know if you have any recommendations (for or against) a particular brand, source, or style.  I’ll aim to identify a few different options and give them a whirl to see how my current model stacks up against others’ favorites.