Corduroy Orange

Happy summer!  I hope everyone is making the most of the season and getting fresh foods from local farmers.  If you’re in Pittsburgh, there are farmers’ markets options around the city, every day but Sunday.  This interactive map from the Post-Gazette can help you locate an option convenient for you.  If you can, visit a couple options so you can increase your range of options–not all markets have the same vendors!

Last week, I was lucky enough to be hosted by PASA to cook at Farmers at Phipps, the Wednesday market at Phipps Conservatory in Oakland.

I won’t be at the farmers’ market this week, but will return on July 1, so please come out and support your farmers if you can.  I’ll be on hand to give tips on using ingredients you might not be totally familiar with, and samples of whatever I can concoct from the ingredients the farmers have on hand (the mystery basket: I won’t know what’s in it until it’s presented to me).

Last week, I made several different dishes with the ingredients that were on hand, but this was perhaps my favorite: a sweet rhubarb and goat cheese omelette.

Don’t let the ingredients scare you—there was one guy who stopped by the tent to see what I was cooking.  When he heard, he started walking away.  “That’s way too cultured for me,” he said, “I don’t know that I’d like it.”

“I can’t guarantee you you’ll like it,” I agreed.  “But I can guarantee that if you don’t taste it, you’ll never know if you like it or not.”  He tasted.  He liked it.  Maybe you will too.  But, feel free to substitute flavors.  I used rhubarb because that’s what was available.  But we’re in raspberry season by now, with blackberries and blueberries to follow.  Either of those would make great substitutions for rhubarb though they would need to be cooked much less.  If you don’t have goat cheese, cream cheese would work.  But a local goat cheese would make it that much better.

One ingredient you shouldn’t compromise on is eggs.  There are so many more local egg options I’ve seen on the market today as compared with even three or four years ago.  What had been an item on the fringe is starting to seem a little more mainstream, which is a great development.  Get some local eggs, your taste buds will thank you for it.

Sweet Rhubarb and Goat Cheese Omelette

* 1 stalk fresh rhubarb, diced to approximately 1/4-inch pieces

* 2 local eggs

* brown sugar, to taste

* vanilla (optional)

* 1-2 tablespoons goat cheese

* oil or butter to cook in

Get two pans hot: one a cast iron or non-stick pan for creating the omelette, the other a good saute pan for cooking the rhubarb.

Saute the rhubarb in a small amount of oil or butter.  As it softens, add a sprinkle of brown sugar—maybe a couple of teaspoons or so.

Beat the eggs lightly with a very small pinch of salt, just a touch of brown sugar, and about 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, if you’re using it.  Add oil or butter to the omelette pan and let the fat get hot.  Pour the eggs around the bottom of the pan in a thin layer.  As the omelette approaches doneness, add the rubarb filling and dot the surface with goat cheese.  As the egg just barely reaches the point where it is set, roll the omelette out of the pan onto a plate.  Garnish with fresh berries if desired and serve immediately.

Variations: If using fresh berries, add the sugar into the butter or oil, and then add about half of the berries you intend for the omelette.  The juice they release will combine with the sugar and prevent it from turning into hard candy in the bottom of your pan.  When adding this filling to the omelette, add in the other half of the berries and let them heat up with the omelette (if using strawberries, cut large berries in 1/2 or 1/4).

There’s no reason to limit your mint julep consumption to the first Saturday in May.  This drink is tasty no matter whether or not there’s an equestrian footrace afoot.  I’ve discovered a very simple variation on the drink that makes it even better than it was before: replace the simple syrup in a mint julep with pure maple syrup.  MMMM, MMMM!  Tasty.  I encourage all responsible adults over the age of 21 who enjoy whiskey to give it a try.

As a reference for all who don’t have the julep recipe memorized:

* 6-8 mint leaves
* 1 tablespoon cold water
* 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
* 2 ounces of your favorite bourbon (which should exclude Jim Beam from the possibilities; I recommend Eagle Rare, Knob Creek, or Maker’s Mark)
* ice

Muddle the mint leaves in the bottom of the glass.  Add the water and maple syrup and stir well.  Add the bourbon and top with ice.

Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint if desired.

I got some beef ribs and some stuff called boiling beef that looks like ribs.  What the heck am I supposed to do with them?

Braise them and they’ll be beautiful.  Especially if you make a barbecue sauce to go on them and finish them on the grill.

First, season them.  I like a nice chili rub: salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin, and paprika.  Throw in a couple more kinds of pepper if you have them on hand; just adjust the toal amount of pepper used to match your idea of how spicy they ought to be.  I like to mix my spices together and taste them alone before I add them to my meat, just to make sure I like the combination of flavors.  At that point, I adjust as necessary.

So, rub your ribs with the spices and sear them quickly in a very hot cast iron skillet.  Transfer the ribs to a pan with a rack and a vary tall lip, cover them, and put them in a 250F oven for about three hours.  I repeat: make sure the pan has a tall lip–these ribs will drip a whole bunch of fat as they cook, and you don’t want it to land on the floor of your oven.

I like to save this fat when the ribs are done cooking.  You can pour it off into a mason jar and store it in your fridge.  This’ll be really good lard to saute with.  Also, if you happen to make a beef pot pie, you can use it as the fat for the pie crust to really pull the flavors of all of the layers to pull together….

As soon as you take the ribs out of the pan— deglaze the skillet with a bottle of good, dark beer.  Be quick!  You don’t want the stuff that came off the ribs to burn!  Stir with a wooden spoon to gather the fond of the bottom of the pan.  Bring the beer to a b oil then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Let the beer cook down.  When it’s reduced by two-thirds, whisk in some ketchup, mustard, molasses, pure maple syrup, and the spices you rubbed the beef with (minus the salt).  Whisk smooth, taste, and adjust to your liking.

Once the ribs have finished braising, slather them with the barbecue sauce you made and hit them onto a hot charcoal grill right quick to caramelize the sauce on them.  Devour with gusto (and a cloth napkin handy).

Mix together salt, black pepper, white pepper, coffee, and habanero pepper.  Rub on steak (strip steak, tenderloin, etc.) and sear quickly on each side in a hot cast iron grill pan.  Once grill marks have been hatched into each side, turn off heat and cover pan.  Let sit 2-3 minutes.  Flip steak, recover and let sit an additional 2-3 minutes.  Serve medium rare.

Omgits (pronounced \äm-gits\) is a traditional Callipygian lamb preparation that involves a slow, careful braising process that yields some of the tenderest, most flavorful meat you could ever ask for.

Just kidding.  Not about how good the meat tastes, but about where the name comes from.  Really, the name omgits just comes from the reaction I had when I first tasted the result (”Oh my god, it’s the sh*t!”).  But as delicious as the final result is, this lamb ought to be traditional something.  So, next time you happen upon a couple of lamb shoulder roasts, pick them up and make this dish a tradition in your family.

In the recipe that follows, all measurements are approximate.  If you want it spicier, add more pepper.  If you want it milder, use less.  But, I recommend using the multiple forms of pepper in order to achieve a more complex flavor.

I used Pom Wonderful brand pomegranate juice, mainly because they found my blog and sent me a free sample of their juice in the hopes that I would write about it (they were right).  I haven’t tested their juice against other brands in terms of the results you might expect–but this recipe does require 100% pomegranate juice, not a juice blend.  Pom Wonderful claims in their promotional literature that some other brands of pomegranate juice are not pure juice even though they claim to be—so let the buyer beware.

Additionally, I used Penzey’s brand crystallized ginger.  I have tested multiple brands of crystallized ginger and have found a wide range of quality between different brands.  Penzey’s has been my favorite and I reccommend it.

Please note: lamb shoulders are small.  Anticipate that this recipe will yield about 2 cups of finished meat.  It won’t be a main course, but it makes an excellent side dish or an amuse-bouche that can’t be beat!

Without further ado, the recipe:

Omgits!

• 2 tablespoons whole black pepper
• 2 tablespoons whole white pepper
• 2 tablespoons whole green pepper
• 2 teaspoons whole coriander
• 2 teaspoons whole Chinese Schezuan pepper
• 1 teaspoon whole fenugreek
• 5 whole allspice berries
• 3 whole cloves
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped finely
• 16 ounces 100% pomegranate juice
• 2 lamb shoulder roasts

Combine all whole spices and grind in spice grinder to medium-fine consistency.  Combine with ground spices and chopped crystallized ginger.  Rub most of the spice rub onto the lamb shoulders, reserving about 2 tablespoons.

Heat a cast iron pan that is large enough to comfortably accomodate both roasts and has a tight-fitting lid.  Sear the roasts in hot oil in the hot pan.  When all sides of the roast have been browned, pour off any excess fat, cover the shoulders in the hot pan, and put them into a 250 F oven for about 3 hours.

Meanwhile, combine reserved spice rub with pomegranate juice.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Let simmer, stirring occasionally, until greatly reduced (should coat back of a spoon).

When the lamb has finsihed braising, pour the accumulated juices in with the reduced pomegranante juice and let simmer for about 15 minutes until reduced slightly.

Put lamb meat in refrigerator, uncovered, until cooled to the point that you can handle it comfortably.  Pick all meat off of bones, discarding fat.

Combine shredded meat and pomegranate-lamb sauce.  Let cool, uncovered, in refrigerator.  When cool, cover, and let sit overnight or longer to allow flavors to mingle.

To heat for service, bring to a simmer in a saucepan and let simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Serve immediately to rave reviews from your friends and/or family.

Hey, Pittsburghers!  Pirates season is starting soon (the home opener is on April 13).  With the same team on the field as last year, I don’t think anyone really has expectations for better results than the bucs have been posting for the past fifteen seasons—but there’s a silver lining to that cloud of losering that hovers over our beloved hometown team: according to CNBC, the Pirates offer the lowest beer prices in the major leagues.

Not that anyone should interpret that as meaning ‘inexpensive;’ a 21-ounce beer (from a major brewery) will cost $4.75—almost $0.25 per ounce.  A call to the Pirates did not yield any word on what a beer from Penn Brewery will be going for at the park this season.

But, take heart—outfield grandstand seats are still just $9 a ticket, and, according to PNC Park policy, “Guests are permitted to bring bottled water and food that may fit into a 16″ X 16″ X 8″ soft-sided bag. Water bottles should not exceed 24 ounces in size, and must be clear, plastic, sealed and disposable.”–so except for a couple of beers, once you’re in the park, a fan on a budget need not purchase any other concessions to enjoy a meal at the game.

I recommend roasted vegetable salsa and a bag of tortilla chips as a tasty way to enjoy some nachos.

Or make some pulled pork barbecue (season, sear, and cook a pork shoulder at 300 F in a cast iron dutch oven for 3-4 hours, shred it, and toss with your favorite barbecue sauce) and pack the meat, cole slaw, and buns in separate containers to assemble your own barbecue sandwiches at your seat.

I’m not a big fan of luke-warm or cold- dogs; (in fact the only way I can really enjoy a hot dog is by smothering it with so much mustard that’s all that I taste), so packing frankfurters into the park doesn’t really make much sense.   But thinly sliced hot sopresatta would be a great ballpark snack.

If you’re looking for something a little more healthful, summer is a great time to enjoy a salad made with local greens.  Pine nuts, crumbled blue cheese, and a mix of dried cranberries and montmorency cherries creates a blend that goes great with a spritz of fresh lemon juice—thereby eliminating the need to carry a bottle of salad dressing or to wilt your lettuce by dressing it ahead of time—just cut a couple wedges of lemons and put them in the same container as the salad.

Cookies always make a great portable dessert.  And nothing makes you friends faster than passing around a tin of homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Unless it’s passing around a tin of homemade chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips—now there’s a tasty confection!  Plus, having at least one component of the meal that you can share will help alleviate the dirty looks you’ll get from your neighbors who are shelling out hard cash for food that’s not as good as what you packed in.

Tell you what—you buy the tickets (make sure you get one for Aurora, too—I’m sure she’d want to come) and I’ll make the food.  If you really want a game day feast, I recommend getting something in sections 9-13.  I’d cook a nice meal for tickets like that.

Apparently, there’s some big to-do in Washington, D.C. today.  In honor of the occasion, I’ve reached into my copy of The White House Cookbook for a recipe that can be brought into modern times and enjoyed all around.

Figuring that some sort of hand-to-mouth pastry would be appropriate for the party atmosphere of the day, I decided to update the recipe for Puff-ball Doughnuts:

As it appears in my 1902 edition of The White House Cookbook (page 302): “These doughnuts, eaten fresh and warm, are a delicious breakfast dish and are quickly made.  Three eggs, one cupful of sugar, a pint of sweet milk, salt, nutmeg, and flour enough to permit the spoon to stand upright in the mixture; add two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder to the flour; beat all until very light.  Drop by dessertspoonfuls into boiling lard.  These will not absorb a bit of fat and are not at all rich, and consequently are the least injurious of this kind of cakes.”

As adapted for the modern kitchen:

Quick Doughnut Drops

* 3 eggs
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 cups milk
* a small pinch of salt (optional)
* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 5 1/2 cups flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder

sugar mixing for tossing doughnuts with:
* 1 1/4 cups sugar
* 1/4 cup cinnamon

Heat up a couple of inches of cooking oil in a heavy pot over a medium-low flame.  As the oil heats, beat the eggs with the sugar, then add the milk.  Combine flour, baking powder, and spices together, then beat into the liquid mixture.  When you have combined all of the dry ingredients, the dough should be thick enough that your spoon will stand upright briefly.

Use two spoons to scoop portions of the dough into the hot oil.  The oil should be hot enough that the batter floats when added to the oil, but not so hot that the doughnuts turn dark brown too quickly.  Let the doughnuts cook 2-3 minutes on one side, then turn them for another 2-3 minutes of cooking time.  Doughnuts should be golden brown and cooked through when removed from the oil (if in doubt, cut one in half to make sure that it is totally done).

Toss the doughnuts with the cinnamon and sugar mixture, and serve immediately.  Great for breakfast or any occasion!

All I knew about roast goose before I roasted mine was a story that my dad tells from time to time about how when he was a kid, his cousin (Janet, I think, if I remember correctly) visited from college, and his dad decided to spit-roast a goose in her honor.

The story:

I obviously wasn’t around for the meal, but I can imagine the preparations that went into it.  Lew probably measured the heat at various intervals from the coals to determine exactly where the bird should be placed, and had several heights pre-arranged with holes drilled into a piece of sheet metal in case the bird needed to be moved while it cooked.  He had probably measured the goose to determine its exact center of gravity, and skewered it so that it would turn on a precise rotation.  And, the turning mechanism for the skewer was probably an old turntable that had been co-opted for the purpose of cooking outdoors.

(more…)

Start cooking at kickoff, and these beans and rice will be ready to serve at halftime!

Pregrame:

* cut: 2 cups onion, 1 cup celery, 1 cup bell pepper, fresh hot pepper to taste (for most people, probably 1-2 banana or jalapeno peppers, or the equivalent), and 5-6 cloves of garlic.

* Assemble: 1 can beer, 2 cans beans that have been drained and rinsed, 2 cubes chicken bullion, and a hot cast iron pan with a tight fitting lid. The best way to heat the pan is probably to put it over low heat while you’re cutting the veggies.

* 15 minutes before kickoff: pour enough vegetable oil into the pan to coat the bottom, and sprinkle it with ground pepper. Add the onions into the pan with a small pinch of salt. Keeping the heat very low, put the lid back on the pan and greet your guests as they arrive.

* While the announcers are introducing the starting lines, add the rest of the veggies into the pan with another small pinch of salt. Stir them in with the onions, and put the lid back on. Head back toward the TV to watch kickoff.

During the first quarter:

* During the first commercial break: turn the heat up to full and crumble the chicken bullion cubes over the vegetables. Stir the pan constantly to dissolve the bullion into the vegetable juices, and to keep the veggies from scorching. As the game is coming back on, pour the can of beer over the veggie-bullion mix. Leave the heat at full.

* During the second commercial break: Fill the empty beer can with water, and add half of it in with the veggies and beer, along with all of the beans. Stir a few times to get everything mixed together, ease the heat back to medium, and put the cover on the pan.

* Feel free to skip the next couple of commercial breaks. There’s so much liquid in the pan at this point that everything ought to be doing fine. In fact, kick back until quarter-time and enjoy the company of your guests.

Second Quarter:

* At quarter time: give the beans a stir and make sure there’s still plenty of liquid. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of rice.

* 10 minutes real time into second quarter: duck into the kitchen and stir the rice into the beans along with the second half of the beer can full of water.

* With 1:30 left in the half: check on the rice. It’s probably about done. Turn the heat off underneath it, stir it, and put the cover back on.

Half time:

Serve at halftime, and enjoy!

Dear Corduroy Orange -

A friend of mine is interested in buying Beaver from his local Farmer’s Market and cooking it up, since it’s not a meat you often see for sale.  This also means he’s not sure how to prepare it.  He’s been looking at various receipes, but based on your knowledge, are there better ways to prepare this type of meat?

Thanks,
Curious in STL

I thought you could go to jail for trying to buy beaver on the street.  Wait, no, that’s for trying to rent it.

Seriously, though, I didn’t even realize that beaver was a meat that could be purchased, so I’d be interested in how it tastes.  I have absolutely zero experience with beaver preparation, so I don’t know that I’d trust my expertise in this area.  I do know, however, that it is a rodent; and I’m pretty sure it has some healthy musk glands that i assume the butcher responsible for dressing the carcass will have removed.

In general, though, I anticipate that it would have a somewhat strong flavor, and that the best results could probably be achieved by braising it (such as a stew or a pot roast).  As such, my recommendation is to season the beaver with salt and pepper, sear the beaver in a large cast iron pot, browning both sides.  Remove the beaver from the dish, and add a chopped onion, about a half dozen whole cloves of garlic, a handful of dried shiitake mushrooms, a bit of diced butternut squash, and perhaps some diced, peeled apple (season the vegetables with some salt and pepper as well).  Return the beaver atop this bed of vegetables.  Add enough vegetable stock (I’d hesitate to use beef or chicken stock because you don’t want to interfere with the taste of the beaver itself.  On the other hand, using plain water would likely dilute the flavor of the finished product) to cover the vegetables and go about halfway up the meat.  Bring the stock to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, cover, and let cook for three hours.  Serve with an accompaniment of mashed potatoes if desired.

Please let me know how your friend prepares his beaver, and how it comes out in the end.