Corduroy Orange

This was a tasty dinner that Aurora and I had last week: butternut squash with chorizo and apples.  It was one of those throw-it-together dinners that worked so well I should’ve been taking notes as I went along except that would have distracted me from my cooking. Maybe I should get a mini recorder and keep a verbal reckoning of what I do, but that’s just me thinking with my fingers.

I started out with a tube of chorizo sausage and some butternut squash and a cast iron pan heating slowly over a low flame.  I diced the squash as the pan heated up.

Once that was done, I browned the sausage in a cast iron pan, breaking it up as it cooked with a wooden spoon.  Because the squash didn’t need my complete and total attention, I used the scraps of it that remained to get some rice started cooking: 2 cups of rice with 4 cups of water and some salt into a pan, bring the water to a boil.
When the sausage had just about fully cooked, I added in my diced squash with a sprinkle of ginger and some cinnamon.  I stirred it all together with the squash and then set about dicing my onion.  When I had the onion cut, I tossed it in the pan and stirred it around with everything else.  The rice water’s boiling so I turn the heat down and put a lid on it.  Bag says 20 minutes but I always set my clock for less time—it’s better to turn the heat off before the rice absorbs all the moisture and let it coast to the end—it’s an easy way to avoid the rice crust at the bottom of the pan.
I ran down to the basement to poke around my apples.  It’s been cool enough down there that they’re all keeping pretty well, so I just grabbed a couple at random without noting what they were.  If you’ve got a cellar where you can keep them, though, I encourage you to buy a supply from an orchard close to you in late October/ early November and house them into the cooler winter months so you have some of fall’s flavor to coax you through the winter months.  I decided not to peel the apples; they wouldn’t be cooking long.  I cut and cored them and added them into the cast iron.

The rice timer goes off, so I crack the lid and check the consistency—close enough to let it coast; I put the lid back on as soon as possible.  I stir the squashage applion mixture with teh wooden spoon–the apples seem cooked but not yet mushy, so I serve it.

Aurora decides to try her own presentation.

Both plates are attractive and we had a fun meal.

Inspired by a dish I watched chef Norraset Nareedokmai of Silk Elephant and Bangkok Balcony cook (research for an article I wrote for Table Magazine), I decided to try to steam a whole fish in a savory sauce. While I didn’t achieve quite the same quality of results that Nareedokmai achieved with ease, I had fun in my attempt and it came out well, even if I did hit a few bumps along the way. I’ve documented my effort so you can repeat the experiment. Though once you’ve done so, I’d definitely recommend visiting one of Nareedokmai’s restaurant and trying some of his authentic Thai cuisine.

(more…)

I’ve made a couple of batches of these lately and everyone I’ve served them to has agreed that they’re very good, though the folks with whom I work insisted upon calling them muffins instead of cupcakes. Truth be told, I’m not sure where the muffin-cupcake line is drawn, but in my mind once it’s got frosting on it, it’s a cupcake. Unfrosted, though, these could easily serve as breakfast muffins—but if I were cooking them for that purpose, I might ease back a bit on the sugar: using only 1 cup instead of a cup and a half of maple syrup.

If the maple syrup is a bank-breaker for you (as it would be if you’re trying to buy maple syrup in the grocery store), you’ve got two options: either buy your maple syrup in bulk (1/2 gallon or more) from a wholesaler or a producer, thereby getting a better price; or substitute brown sugar for the maple syrup. Under no circumstances should you substitute imitation maple syrup, which, quite frankly, is crap: maple flavored corn syrup, ick!

The cranberries are probably my favorite feature of this recipe. They steam in the batter and come out plump and sweet. A little shopping tip for you: stock up on cranberries now and freeze them right in their package, then enjoy fresh cranberries the whole year.

(more…)

The more I cook, the more I realize that the best results follow from understanding the concepts, methods, and ingredients, and applying that knowledge; as opposed to using exact recipes every time.

True, when it comes to baking, much has to be measured precisely.  But even then, it’s the ratios of basic ingredients that must remain constant, with wide variations possible based on additions or changes to flavoring ingredients.  Such was the case with the gingerbread waffles I made today.  I took a basic waffle recipe and added a good bit of cinnamon to it—perhaps a couple of teaspoons; about 1/8 as much each cardamom, ginger, and allspice; plus a shaving of nutmeg and a good shake of maple sugar–probably a couple teaspoons of that, too.

While I was cooking my waffles and putting them in a 200F oven to keep warm, I heated up some of the sweet butternut squash, apples, and cranberries I had made last night.  To make it, I sauteed half of a butternut squash (diced) in about 1/3 cup of butter.  When the squash was starting to soften, I added three peeled and diced apples, a good cup of cranberries, and about a half cup of brown sugar.  I let the mixture simmer until the cranberries were soft and starting to pop.

We had it as a slightly sweet side dish with our dinner, and saved the leftovers.  Upon reheating, the mixture seemed to be a bit too dry to serve as waffle topping, so I added maple syrup until it had a good flow to it, and spooned it over waffles for service.

Combine a tasty autumnal breakfast with an extra hour of sleep and a game of backgammon over breakfast, and you’ve got the start to a happy day.

I should’ve taken a photo of this one.  I’ve still got one more mango, so maybe I’ll make another sundae tomorrow and snap a picture of it and add it in to this post.  The basic idea is pretty simple, though: line a banana split dish with thinly sliced mango.  Add three scoops of coffee ice cream, drizzle with chocolate syrup, and top with crushed walnuts.  Surprisingly, the coffee and mango flavors match incredibly well.  Chocolate, of course, goes well with both, and the walnuts add both flavor and texture to make this sundae
a no b rainer for those rare occasions when you have both a mango and coffee ice cream on hand.

I made perhaps the best cup of iced coffee ever this morning, thanks to some prep I did yesterday afternoon.

First off, it’s important to know some of the background behind iced coffee.  You can’t make it the same way you make iced tea, by simply pouring hot tea over ice.  When you do that with a cuppa joe, the result is a weak, tepid cuppa crap.  Some people (coffee shops, especially) get around this by doing a cold-brewed coffee.  I get around it by making coffee in advance and letting it chill in the refrigerator overnight.

By itself, though, that’s not enough for a fantabulous iced coffee.  Additionally, you have to take sweetening into account.  I like my hot coffee black, but my cold coffee requires some sweetening and some milk.  Sugar does not dissolve well into iced coffee.  Some people use artificial sweetener instead, because it does dissolve well.  I have no patience for this imitation sugar and its displeasurable aftertaste, so I stubbornly use real sugar, or, if I’m on my game, make a simple syrup to use in my coffee.  Even with a sugar syrup, though, you’re still not quite to fantabulous.

I reached fantabulous by making a coffee syrup for my coffee.  I took 1 1/2 cups from a full pot of coffee, mixed it with about 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and brought it to a boil.  As it heated,  added a couple of shakes of cinnamon and a few runs across the grater of nutmeg.  I let the syrup simmer for about ten minutes, poured it into its own pyrex container to cool, then added it back in with the regular coffee and put it in the fridge overnight.

This morning, I poured a cup of the sweet, cold coffee over a few ice cubes and a bit of milk.  The result is a sweet, subtly spiced iced coffee the likes of which are not available at any coffee shop I know.  Nice guy that I am, I’ve decided to share my secret with the (small portion of the) world (who reads this blog).  Take advantage of my generosity and make yourself a fantabulous iced coffee.  You’ll be glad you did!

Salt and pepper lamb shoulder chops and lay in a shallow casserole dish large enough to accommodate all chops in a single layer. Wash several sprigs of mint and mince the leaves. Mix with R.W. Knudsen Just Tart Cherry Juice and pour over the meat. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Grill the meat over medium-hot coals until medium-rare. As the meat cooks, pour the marinade into a saucepan and reduce on the stove until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.

This is one of those instances when a recipe is more a way of doing things than a recitation of exact quantities of necessary ingredients. Really, when it comes down to it, unless you’re baking, exact quantities of ingredients aren’t really required—it’s more a matter of knowing the proper techniques and having an idea of what things match well together. Also, it’s important that key ingredients not be substituted. In this case, the recipe calls for R.W. Knudsen Just Tart Cherry Juice. This shouldn’t be replaced with a sugary cherry juice cocktail, or even Knudsen’s Just Black Cherry Juice. The acidity of the Just Tart Cherry Juice is important to achieving the best results.

I got my first local tomatoes in my CSA shipment yesterday, accompanied by a healthy bunch of cilantro, some thai basil, and some corn (among other inclusions). As far as I’m concerned, though, those (along with a couple of garden-fresh hot peppers) are the most important parts for today, as I set out to make salsa.

(more…)

I hope you have perhaps already tried roasting broccoli and cauliflower because it really does produce a better result than boiling or steaming it. And I’m sure you have experience hard boiling eggs. When you take the two dishes and combine them creatively, you wind up with a darned tasty salad.

(more…)

I know what you’re thinking: “What’s counter-intuitive about strawberries and rhubarb? They’re a natural match!” And you’re right—the two together are the all-time classic late spring duo. It’s the other portions of the pie that were a bit risky in the implementation, but paid off in the full, rounded flavor of the finished product.

I had some pie crust left over from a quiche that I had made a few days prior. All I had to do was thaw it and roll it out—almost like a ready-made crust, just that I did the work for myself ahead of time. Thing was, as a special touch for the quiche, I had made a curry crust. But, what the heck, I figured. Curry has cinnamon in it, along with several other spices; let’s give it a whirl!

Then, as I was tossing together the strawberries and the rhubarb, I got to thinking about the strawberry-basil combination that one sees every so often that is decent enough to keep it occasionally springing up. I’m not entirely sold on the combo myself, but that some people really dig it was just a short step away from me thinking about the possibilities of strawberries paired with my favorite herb: oregano. And so it was that I made a strawberry-rhubarb pie with oregano in a curry crust. That’s what I mean by counter-intuitive.

(more…)