Astoria's Amateur Gourmet

Quick Chicken Marsalla a la James

2007-02-25T16:36:00.001-08:00

So, last night I decided I wanted to move away from the soups and stews and move to something a little different. I like to at least try to use ingredients that I don’t have to shop for and purchase. This reads, “whatever is in the house” with hopefully only a quick bodega run in between to replace the sprouting garlic or get another can of stock. I never seem to have enough stock, no matter how promiscuous I am with jars in friends’ freezers. It’s one of those mysteries that’s up there with where does the other sock go and why are hotdogs ill-matched in count to their buns per package.

So, having of course eaten chicken marsalla, but never making it (plus figuring if I have to look it up on the internet I should hang up my knives) I assembled the following ingredients.

• 1 small package of shitake mushrooms. I think any wild mushrooms (heck even canned mushrooms) would have worked great, and I think next time I’m going to up the quantity of mushrooms considerably.
• About a ¼ bottle of an inexpensive white wine. The wine guy told me that the $6.99 Pinot I was standing in front of was quite good for the buck. Since I know very little about wine other than when I have drank enough, I trusted him.
• 2 defrosted skinless chicken breasts, butterflied. I wouldn’t suggest pounding them out flat as you actually want the breast to sustain some cooking time while the sauce comes together
• 1 shallot, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced. (When in doubt, useth more garlic. Spiticus 2:49)
• About a cup of chicken stock or broth
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of butter. If mixing meat and dairy is an issue for you, I think a slurry of cornstarch and water could do the trick as well, though you’d lose out on the creaminess.
• About 3 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. You might need a little more or less depending on the veggies and chicken absorbency, so keep more nearby and adjust.
• Juice of ½ lemon

Now, I had intended to flour the breasts ahead of time. I got absentminded and that didn’t happen. If you want you can flour the chicken first, seasoning the flour with a little kosher salt and ground black pepper. Judging by the fact that I think it came out quite nicely without this step, I would say its pretty non-essential. I did however manage to remember to salt and pepper them.

Brown the butterflied chicken breasts in a little olive oil. Remove from pan and set aside on a dish. Now in the remaining oil toss in the garlic and shallot and brown.

Once the aromatics brown, dump in the wine (I’d say about a fourth of a bottle or 1 cup. I’m not sure I did it by eye), and scrape up the happy brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat down to about medium low (4 on a gas stove) and let a lot of the alcohol and liquid cook out. This shouldn’t take more than minutes I would say.

Add the stock and the mushrooms and salt and pepper the sauce a bit. I let it cook down, uncovered, for about 10 minutes at this point. I then squeezed the juice of half a lemon into the pan, cooked. Quick stir, then back into the pan with the chicken breasts, nestling them into the sauce, and cover. After probably 15 minutes (maybe a bit less), pull a piece of chicken out and test for doneness just by cutting down the middle. You’re looking for white and juicy. I removed the chicken again to the dish, added the butter (or cornstarch-water) and gave it a stir another 5 minutes.

I like to put a piece of chicken atop a little mound of rice and then ladle some sauce over it.

Mangia!
James

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Carrots and Mushrooms

2007-02-19T18:49:00.000-08:00

Sorry once again for the delay folks. I was hoping to get some food pics for the blog in Mexico, but that didn’t pan out. I was too busy swimming with my new sea-lion friend, the polyamorous Monico. Since my return to New York, however I’ve been experimenting with smaller cuts of beef on the bone. Today, I’ll concentrate on the short rib stew I made.

This attempt had some room for improvement, but even as it was I think I am on to something. After getting short ribs from the butcher (not Dimitri unfortunately, but this guy was ok), I headed to the local bodega for my veggies, formulating a braised dish in my mind. I’m going to call this a concept recipe, not because no one has ever thought to braise short ribs, but because I didn’t consult the internet and promised to eat whatever came out. I’ll note what I think needed a little tinkering and what went as hoped. All in all, I’d have been happy had I been making this for guests.

As is my MO particularly in the winter, when I prefer comfort foods, this recipe calls for only one pot.

What I used:

2 lbs of short ribs, straight from the case
1 small organic onion chopped fine
1 shallot minced fine (I think I could have left this out)
3 gloves of garlic minced fine
@5 organic carrots, chopped into ¼” pieces
1 package large garden variety white mushrooms, sliced thickly
2 ½ cups organic beef broth (I think next time I will use less, maybe 1 ½ to 2 cups)
1 cup red wine (the wine store lady had no idea what to use, so I guessed on an Argentinean merlot)
1 small can navy beans, drained
1 large leak, coarsely chopped (I’m on the fence on this one, I’m not sure if it added much to the dish)
A slurry of about a tablespoon of corn starch and just enough water to dissolve
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
About 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

First I browned the salted and peppered short ribs in the oil, some parts were still pink since its hard to brown them with the bone still in evenly on all sides. I removed from the pot and in the remaining olive oil and beef fat I browned my onions before tossing in the garlic and shallot and allowing these to likewise brown.

I then threw in the leak. While this didn’t seem to be a big flavor component, it did slow the browning of the aromatics because they are so full of water. While they sweated down in the oil with the onions and garlic and shallot I threw the rest of the veggies in except for the beans, which I totally forgot about until the last minute. Had I thrown the beans in at this stage I don’t think the results would have been that different given the flinty outside of the beans. I guess it depends if you like the beans more intact or more creamy in the finished stew.

I let all of the veggies, still on high heat, brown and soften, stirring often, before adding the brown ribs back to the pot with the wine and the stock (broth in this case). I turned the heat down, salted and peppered the pot a bit more and then plopped in the bay leaf. I gave it a quick stir and then set my timer for 2 hours. Every so often I would stir, taste, and adjust salt and pepper. Since the stew seemed a little thin I added the slurry of corn starch when there was 10 minutes left on the timer.

After two hours the meat was falling off the bone, the veggies were nice and soft (in the case of the leaks they had almost disappeared). I served one rib atop cous cous and then a ladle of the veggies and beans over the top.

What was nicest was the texture and flavor of the beef, the carrots and mushrooms were the right texture, and the beans were a nice added element. As noted above, it could have been a bit thicker. Maybe less broth at the beginning stage or maybe more corn starch slurry towards the end could have fixed that. Live and learn. Also, as noted as well, what was with the leak? It all but disappeared and I don’t know if it needed to be there. The shallot was hard to pinpoint as well. Was it there? Did it need to be there? I wasn’t sure.

As for the seasoning, maybe some fresh thyme? The bay leaf was all that fell into the pot other than salt and pepper, so maybe it could have used a little more oomph. Any ideas folks?

All in all, second guessing aside, what I came out with was a nice winter stew that I was more or less happy with. If it doesn’t come out to your liking, the other downside is you will have a ton of it. Leftovers for days is the rule when I cook anyway, so this is no surprise. Anyone want any? J

Mangia folks,
James

Green Beans with Accidental Garlic

2007-01-31T21:07:00.000-08:00

My "famous" side dish was at first, or at least I thought, a complete disaster. I, well... I don't know how to say this so I will come out with it... I overcooked the garlic. But, I was a college student, and I couldn't afford to throw the veggies away and start again, so I pushed on. Incredibly, the water from the string beans reinvigorated the garlic, gave it back its life, resurrected it. The garlic took on an almost candied taste, crispy and without a lot of bitterness. So take advantage of this "mistake" and try it at home folks!

You'll need:

A pot of salted, boiling water
about a pound of green beans, haricots verts (pronounced, inexplicably, "harry coh vare" for the French-speaking and "harry cots verts" to those whom will be laughed at), or perhaps long beans that have been cut in half or in thirds. No promises on the long beans, I've never tried using them. Snip both ends off, the easiest way being to take a big handful and line them all up until they are roughly all equal in size (remember drawing straws? Same idea), and then cut both ends off the handful with a sharp knife.
about a half bulb of garlic, finely minced. Again, as I have stressed before, I haven't ever seen garlic over-used.
kosher salt and ground pepper
half a packet of Sazon Goya.
about three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. I like to measure by upturning the bottle and rotating over the pan in three circles.

Flash boil the string beans for about 5 minutes. Green beans have a built-in thermometer that allow you easily tell when they are done. They get reallllly green. Once you see them change from a light green to a hyper-green, they are done. Strain in a colander and set aside

In a large skillet (large enough to take all the green beans), heat the olive oil with a little salt and pepper. You can add a pinch of crushed red pepper too if you like. Throw in the garlic and cook it until it gets brown and crispy. If it looks overdone, its done perfectly! Just don't let it get black.

Throw in all the green beans and toss with a wooden spoon until the skins of the beans blister. Remove with tongs onto the serving dish and sprinkle with the Sazon Goya and then pour all of the oil and garlic over the string beans.

Serve onto plates with tongs, being sure to get some of the garlic on top of each portion.

I favor a nice roast chicken as the protein, and yellow rice. The oil and garlic goes nicely with the rice as a sauce. Simple, unexplainable, mysterious, and tasty.

Mangia!

James

Simple Beef Stew and "Garbage Soup"

2007-01-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I've been out of action for a few days. Lots on my mind, and this is the first chance I have to put pen to paper before a week in sunny Mexico. I'm excited, not only to sip margaritas on the beach, but also to sample the local culinary wares, and I hope to come back with a few pictures for the blog. Below I'm going to sketch out two rather humble recipes that I hold dear to my heart. To call them "gourmet" might be a bit of a stretch, but at the end of the day, what is important is that food tastes great and fights off starvation. What is nice about these two recipes is that they can be tweaked to incorporate left over veggies, with little or no exclusion. Also what is fabulous is that they both require one (1) (ONE!) pot. If you have a ceramic pot with handles that your Mexican grandmother gave you, fabulous! But, if you are like me and try to cook everything imaginable in a spaghetti pot, you aren't dead in the water either. A thinner bottom means lower heat and more checking on your progress, but you are dedicated to putting out good meals right? It shouldn't be a problem.

Simple Beef Stew

1 dinner plate with a mixture of All-Purpose white or whole wheat flour, kosher salt to taste, ground pepper to taste, and about half a packet of Sazon Goya. Check out http://www.goya.com/english/products/product.html?prodSubCatID=8&prodCatID=4 for a picture of the box, it is the second one down. If you'd like you can add a half teaspoon of dried rosemary or thyme to the flour, but I don't.
about a pound to a pound and a half of cubed stew meat. I actually like to buy a Halal flank steak and cut it into about 3"cubes. Why? Halal meat, like Kosher meat, is simply better. I could get into why, but in the end, it just tastes better. Isn't that worth an extra dollar?
1 medium standard onion, minced as fine as possible
about a tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (you'll never see me saying "EVOO" but I do wish I could abbreviate. Curse your perky hide Rachel Ray.)
a pinch of crushed red pepper for kick (totally optional)
2 of the small cans of beef broth or an equal amount of homemade beef or veal stock
1 small (minuscule) Turkish bay leaf. I would even cut a California bay leaf in half since its so much more pungent. I'm going to call this optional because my father HATES bay leaf and much like a shark can taste half a leaf in a pot of food large enough to feed a soup kitchen. If you don't like bay or don't have it, I will never know, and I wont get upset.
about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, or about a half of one of those cute little cans.
here's where it gets interesting, about 2 cups of diced or cubed (depending on your taste and how big a morsel you like on your fork) of carrots, celery, zucchini, string beans, even rutabaga or other tubers and bulbs. Be careful with potato and other starches though as they will suck up a lot of liquid and will add to the cooking time. With this said, I personally like to add about 3 potatoes that have been cut into small cubes. The thing here is to use up the still-good but maybe a little wilted veggies in your rotter, I mean crisper.
About a half cup of frozen peas that have been thawed. I list these separately because... well... you'll see below.

Ok. Put on some music that is good for cooking. I suggest Violent Femmes because they let me bounce around my kitchen and wail poorly sung lyrics into the air. Flour the meat cubes and set aside while "toasting" the red pepper for a few seconds in the olive oil. I like to throw in a little more salt and pepper for no other reason than I like my stew to be tasty. Go figure.

Brown the cubes of meat in the oil on all sides before extracting with tongs and setting aside on a plate. If there is no more oil left, add a little bit more before throwing in the onions and cooking until translucent and soft. Add the veggies (except for the peas) and stir with a wooden spoon until they get a nice golden brown and have softened just a bit. I am NOT going to give you a time on this because it takes a different amount of time each time you do it. This is one of the reasons I think I believe in God. What's that, you might ask? Browning POTATOES? Yeah. Wanna fight about it? Admittedly, though, you might want to add the potatoes a little later than the carrots and celery etc. Nothing should get black and tough.

Add the beef broth to the pot, turn down the heat to low to medium-low, and return the beef cubes AND ALL OF THE JUICE IN THE PLATE. Plop in the bay leaf and let it simmer until the potatoes are falling apart and the beef cubes are... well... also falling apart. I think this is usually about 30-45 minutes, but again; continental drift, the will of God, altitude above sea level, and sheer fate will alter this time, so check on it every so often. I don't usually cover this because I like the beef broth to concentrate, but partially covering it will help the softening process. Once the beef broth is no longer cold (I find cold beef broth a little nasty) taste the concoction and see if it needs a little more salt and pepper. 99 out of 100 times it does. Add a bit more to taste, unless of course you got "lucky" this time.

Once the carrots are tender, the meat is falling apart, the potatoes are soft, and basically all the current elements have achieved true spiritual creaminess, it is time to add the peas. Let them cook for not more than a minute or two.

Last step is to add the tomato paste and stir until it has mixed in well. You will see that shortly afterwards (and by shortly I mean within a few minutes) the pot will turn from a thin soup to a thick stew. Turn off the heat and let it cool a bit. Serve in bowls with crusty bread on the side. Great particularly in the winter!

And on the same vein... Garbage Soup

The meat from 1 left-over roasted chicken, game hen, duck, or goose (after seeing the first draft of this post my girlfriend insisted that the DUCK I used last time made all the difference, so take that into account). Whack the bones with a big knife or cleaver and retain.
1 or two ears of sweet corn, the kernels stripped from the cob and the cob saved.
Just like with the stew, about 2 cups of assorted veggies that have been cubed.
2 small cans of chicken broth or an equal amount of poultry stock in any incarnation. (Do you have grouse stock? I don't know what that tastes like. Give me a call. I want to hug you.)
half an onion, mince
about half a box of spaghetti (broken into fourths), elbows, orrichetti, whatever.

This is even simpler than the stew

First, boil the spaghetti in salted water until a few degrees above al dente. You want it to have a little crunch still.

Cut the recovered meat into cubes or chunks (about 2 to 3" is good, take into account the size you would want on your spoon). Throw this in your pot with EVERYTHING. The onions, the corn, the corn cobs, the poultry bones, the veggies, the onions, and the broth into the pot. Simmer on low to medium low for 45 minutes to an hour. Taste along the way, adjusting the salt and pepper to your liking. Eventually you will sap all the flavor you can out of the corn cobs and bones, probably at about 45 minutes. Remove these elements and discard, and simmer a little bit more. That's it!

If there is any left over, after refrigeration add to a pot with a little more poultry stock and simmer, salt and pepper to taste and re-serve.
Enjoy!

James

The Ever-Evolving Broadway Quick Paté

2007-01-13T15:36:00.000-08:00

Some people shrink away from organ meats such as liver because they are unfamiliar with it or they have been subjected to poorly prepared versions such as liver and onions made by their well meaning parents (“its good for you!!”), or because they simply don’t know how to cook with it. I don’t claim to be an expert yet, but I have found that a simple “Jewish-style” paté, which really doesn’t take a long time to prepare, can be a delicious snack or hors devours at parties along with some nice cheeses, crusty bread, crackers, and wine (a nice bulb of roasted garlic couldn’t hurt either!). Other versions of paté I have heard of from friends and in cook books are far more involved, and take far more time, use calf and even pork livers, and are far more expensive to prepare. I hope to toy with these at a later date, but I hope this simple version will wow and satisfy your guests at your next party.

Nutritionally, paté is intended to fall way short of “healthy”. My chef friend Hack, of whom I am hoping will read this blog someday when time allows, has said “its paté! Its supposed to be decadent!” So I would relegate this dish to special occasions and guests that aren’t too invested in eating “right” every day of the year.

www.nutritiondata.com has listed chicken liver (as seen below) as a somewhat balanced food. However, you will find that the abundance of other fats I add to this dish negate a lot of the health benefits.

*The Good
This food is low in Sodium. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Zinc, Copper and Manganese, and a very good source of Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Iron, Phosphorus and Selenium.

The Bad
This food is very high in Cholesterol.
*see http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20Al.html for full data on chicken liver.

Ingredients
1 pound chicken livers, preferably organic and preferably from the butcher, but store-bought tubs work nicely too
1 tablespoon rendered and strained goose or duck fat (chicken schmaltz works well too)
1 tablespoon butter
1 quick dab of good extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots, minced fine
3-4 cloves of minced garlic
2 tablespoons of dry red wine (I use Cabernet or even Merlot or Shiraz), or just enough to cover the bottom of the pan with the other ingredients already in it. I don’t measure scientifically as I will note below.
Kosher salt and ground black pepper

First, put the livers in a colander and rinse until the blood drains out. I trim them as much as is necessary with a small sharp knife until the connective tissue is gone to prevent tough nasty bits in the finished paté.

I take a clean skillet and put it on high heat, seasoning the bottom of the pan with kosher salt and pepper, about 1 good pinch of salt and a few grinds of the pepper mill. I melt down the rendered poultry fat and butter with a dab of olive oil before browning first the shallots and then the garlic, lowering the heat as necessary to prevent from burning the aromatics.
Then, in with the chicken livers! I let these brown on all sides and cook through. This takes perhaps 10 minutes, but I test them by taking out the biggest piece and cutting in half. It should be grayish throughout with no traces of pink, but not gritty or sandy in texture. Add another pinch of salt to the pan before the next, thoroughly satisfying step.

While shaking the pan gently, I grab the bottle of wine with my free hand and bite the cork and pull it like a grenade, pouring just enough in to cover the bottom of the pan. I cook this down until the bubbling liquid thickens just a bit and the pan smells “winey.” What you really should smell is aromatic shallot and garlic mixed with the bite of wine. Again, its all very unscientific.

I take this off the heat and allow it to cool before pouring the whole pan into the Cuisinart. I pulse this until it is all quite smooth, adding in several steps if necessary. The finished product should be a rather thick paste-like substance with no uneven chunks of liver or garlic or shallots.

I spread this with a spoon onto the center of an outstretched piece of Saran wrap (the blue self sticking stuff works great!!) and fold the wrap over on all sides to form a brick shaped block. Once folded I use my hands to mold the brick tightly, tightening the Saran wrap as necessary. All air should be squeezed out.

Next and final step is to chill this in the fridge overnight or at least 3 or 4 hours.

What you are left with is an attractive and well formed brick of paté that can be easily sliced and spread on bread or crackers. I’m still working on the recipe, but currently I can honestly say it is delicious!

Mangia, and feel free to put in your 2 cents!
James

A Brief Study in Poultry Fat

2007-01-11T20:45:00.000-08:00

Now that’s an inspiring title. Chicken, duck, and goose as well as various other less-often seen game birds have been consumed for centuries. While turkey, a very lean bird, is often eaten on Christmas in this country, the tradition stems more from contemporary availability (and something of a patriotic tie to our Thanksgiving) than anything; it is far more likely that the first Christians (who were still being refer ed to as “The Christian Jews” and living in the Middle East) were counting themselves lucky to be celebrating the birth of Christ with lamb and goose (far fattier animals). In this age of the health conscious American, taste is suffering. Turkey, my fellow foodies, is inherently a bland bird. I say allow these unintelligent fowl frolic and enjoy it only on Thanksgiving. It lacks a major element in my culinary arsenal. FAT!!

This post was inspired by tonight's meal of roasted duck breast, which I prepared in a hot oven with a little rosemary and salt and pepper. It came out a little less crispy on top than I had hoped (though still quite delicious), but the real shame was I was unable to render off any fat. Recently, by contrast, I prepared several duck LEGS in the same manner, and the Pyrex pan I utilized was literally swimming in artery clogging fat. Not one to back down, I removed the crispy legs, patted them dry with paper towels, and then poured the clear liquid fat through a sieve and into a coffee can (my favorite receptacle for this), and popped it (once cooled) into the fridge.

An hour later, this coffee can was half full of solidified, clean fat. I use about a tablespoon of this in a hot clean skillet to fry potato pancakes, saute shallots and garlic for a quick pate (a later post), and to prepare a post holiday breakfast of hamsteak and eggs. These are just a few uses of this semi-solid white-gold.

Norway sees goose fat, rendered and strained in the same way, once spread on toast, as an immune system booster. Kosher grandmothers and chefs alike have used goose and chicken fat in a melted state literally for millenia with onions and spices as a condiment called “schmaltz.” And both the luckier Union and less lucky Confederate armies referred to the fat of geese and chickens, from time to time, as “butter.” Hard biscuits called hardtack were spread with this butter whenever God made it available. There is plenty of historical precedent to enjoy rendered poultry fat rather than butter or olive oil. I say, in moderation, mangia!

Aside from duck legs, might I offer up two other of my favorite ways of acquiring poultry fat for cooking purposes.

1) The Christmas Goose

Clean the cavity of a thawed, butcher-shop-bought goose and pat the entire bird with paper towels. Poke many many holes in the skin through the fat to the muscle on all sides and set on a rack before setting the rack in kind on a deep roasting pan. Toast in a separate pan in a 350 degree oven, a mixture of flour, salt, pepper, and paprika until it turns a golden brown. Let this cool before rubbing down the whole bird, forming a thin coating on all sides.

Now, roast the bird for 10 minutes on high heat (500 degrees!) before turning the oven down to 350 and continuing to roast for 15 minutes per pound, subtracting the 10 minutes it spent sweltering earlier. Every 20 minutes or so, pour the fat in the pan through a sieve and into a coffee can, being careful to use pot holders and being smart enough to avoid touching the coffee can. If this proves to be a two-person job, thank your helper profusely. If this proves to be a two coffee can endeavour, chalk this up as the spoils of war. Enjoy the goose hours (exaggerated) later, it will be delicious, but prize the fat above all else. It will keep forever in the fridge for a long time, and it will be a valuable asset in further cooking endeavours as briefly mapped out above.

2) Old School Chicken Schmaltz

After dissecting a whole chicken and preparing the newly skinned breasts etc. in the normal way, throw the left over skin and fat in a saucepan with about 2” of water and half a roughly chopped onion, salt and pepper. Simmer this on low for a long time, When I say long, I mean 45 minutes to an hour, or until all the water is evaporated, the skin has curled and crisped on the top, and a thick layer of butter-colored liquid fat forms on the top. Pour this through a strainer, you guessed it, into a coffee can and let cool before putting this in the fridge. If there is still a little water at the bottom of the can, you can skim the solidified schmaltz off the top and discard the water.

If you haven't found sufficient reasons to make schmaltz here, googling the word will yield a few thousand other suggestions. And if nothing else, you could present me with a coffee can for my birthday when you are running low on cash for birthday gifts ;-).

After all, if the bird cant keep his fat, you should use it, right?

Peace, love, and goose grease,
James

Ode to the butcher

2007-01-11T09:18:00.000-08:00

Ok. If you are reading this there is a good chance you live in Astoria, or close to it. If not, I might suggest moving here. Short of that, lets hope you have a real-deal, no-bs, old-school butcher nearby. I’m talking sawdust floors (at least in the freezer area). Hopefully, English is spoken with an accent. If Arabic, Greek, Hindi(u?), or Spanish music is blaring in the background, this is another good sign. And, as a rule, if everyone there is related, at least by marriage, you are all set. This is my ode to the butcher’s shop, and the true artisans of food today, the butcher.

Hanging sausages, sometimes the obligatory specialty olive oil or imported olives, cases full of mysterious ethnic delicacies , and always big slabs of meat. Glorious meat.

You would think your average butcher would be a macabre, dour man who hates the world. I am sure there are butchers out there who have wallowed in the fact that they deal in dead animals and have a considerable amount of angst for that reason. I, however, am yet to meet that butcher. As a rule, he is bubbly (mine tells jokes and sings Abba whilst hacking a rabbit into perfect quarters), kind-hearted, and interestingly enough, something of an amateur linguist. Recently I saw a conversation between a mystery-language speaking customer and my new friend Dimitri go something like this. “My Enleesh is bad. Do you have eentinsteen poork? You understand?” “Yeah I have it… for sausage.”

Boom. The man wanted to make sausage. Can you think 1) of wanting to make sausage (if you can, do comment on my blog, some part of me loves you) and 2) that a man who speaks Greek first and English second would decipher broken English to figure this out? How about the fact that he convinced a somewhat distraught customer that the rabbit he was whacking away at was “a mean, angry rabbit… the worst!.... really, don’t be sad.” Or that he was able to blushingly divert the attentions of a flirting Astoria debutant onto me, “yes he cooks! He’s a good cook! For all the guests!”

Whether you need a very nice roaster chicken, oxtail (I cannot help but post on oxtail someday soon), a beautiful steak or a Christmas goose, Dimitri can help. And he isn’t alone. Service of the slicing and hacking variety is expected and goes unpaid for (my fish monger has a tip jar… he does not.) “No really, I can clean up this beef loin myself!” *Dubious, “oh-come-come-now” look* “ok, thanks Dimitri.”

My point of this rambling post is simple. Buy from the butcher. His prices are reasonable. Talk to him… chances are, that really scary looking… whatever-the-hell it is in the case is delicious and he can tell you how to cook it. If his special of the day isn’t ridiculously fresh he’ll tell you so. He is, as a rule, a pillar of the community, and he is worth a weekly visit.

Thanks Dimitri,

James

Roasted Garlic

2007-01-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

Ok... I'm Sicilian. I don't apologize for it. Garlic (and onions) are indispensable, and I would sooner give up drinking beer than give up my garlic. It comes in little mesh bags for just over a dollar with 5 little bulbs smiling merrily in their white skins. Farmer's markets sell organic garlic for far more money, and you wind up using far less of these solid gold beauties. Onions and garlic sauteing in oil are all you need to make your kitchen smell like Gordon Ramsey or Anthony Bordaine popped in to toy around with your pans.

Yes, folks. Garlic is good. It is very good.

Materials!

a large square of tin foil. I buy this stuff by the mile.
an oven at 350 degrees
a little olive oil (no extra virgin you say? Go out and get some. don't skimp here)
a little kosher salt and ground pepper

cut the top off the bulb and drizzle with olive and sprinkle with kosher salt and grind a little pepper over the bulb. Rub this all in with your hands before you wrap it in tin foil and pop it in the preheated oven right on the rack. Let it roast for about a half hour before taking it out with a potholder and opening the wrapper to check it. The garlic inside the skins should be golden brown and squeeze out easily like toothpaste. Seriously!

Anthony Bordaine suggests adding few cloves to salad dressings with raw garlic for bite.

Add cloves of roasted garlic to soup while it simmers (delicious)

Smear on a good piece of steak (or a bad piece!)

Spread on crusty bread with a little bleu cheese and sit with friends and a bottle of wine (the roasted stuff isn't half as stinky on the breath!)

Beat with cream cheese in a food processor for a spread for bread or crackers.

Add to mashed potatoes for garlic mashed potatoes. ANYONE can do it!

Many recipes that call for raw garlic or sauteed garlic can benefit from its roasted cousin accompanying it for an extra layer of flavor and texture.

Did I mention it is good in stew??

Absolute worst case scenario... you burn the garlic. You throw it away. $0.25 cents has been wasted. I can live with that.

Enjoy folks!

James

2 Concept recipes

2007-01-07T20:48:00.000-08:00

As I noted below, last night I cooked for some friends. Luckily I have several Astorians who are willing to try new recipes that I try out, and give feedback as needed. This is a huge boon, as I am inclined, admittedly, to assume everything I come up with is excellent, and I welcome "this needs a little more salt" or "I don't know what to do with the bones in this!" It should also be noted that I flavor a lot of what I cook with pure hunger. Hungry people are more willing to be thankful for anything you cook, but they also admit later that they'd rather you'd make something else next time.

Last night, I had a real hankering to go outside the box, and my grocery bill proved it. I made an appetizer, a pasta that you can sample below, and a soup. My friend Summer's new Cuisinart was the real star of the show, and I utilized it as best I could.

The appetizer was a crab and cream cheese paste on celery sticks.

1 small can of crab meat (I'm sure the fresh lump variety would have been better, but the can is more economical for an experiment) This was simply cooked until warm is a skillet with olive oil, salt, pepper, a few dashes of Tabasco, and paprika for color.
about half a box of cream cheese, softened

I beat this in the Cuisinart until smooth and paste-like in the Cuisinart and spread it on celery sticks. Delicious! Not bad at all for a first attempt!

The soup was a little more dramatic.

Chopped celery root, parsnip, and leeks were roasted in a Pyrex pan at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes with olive oil (extra virgin always), kosher salt and pepper. In a separate foil wrapper I roasted two shallots and a whole bulb of garlic similarly(but still in their skins) in olive oil and salt and pepper. I then transferred all of the roots and them to a pot with 2 cans of chicken broth (homemade would be even better I imagine) and a little more salt and pepper. The roasted shallots were then peeled and thrown in the pot, along with about 3/4 of the garlic that I squeezed in. A little more salt and pepper to taste went in. I then simmered this, covered, until the roots all softened and the broth got a nice brownish color and was very very tasty. I think this took about half an hour, but the softening of the roots might take less or more time depending on all sorts of cosmic factors.

Then, into the washed Cuisinart with all of it! I pulsed this until it was very smooth, and returned it all to the pot. I gave this about another 5 minutes at a simmer before I gave it about 1/2 a pint of heavy cream and let it simmer until very thick.

In a separate skillet, I threw match-sticks of celery root into veggie oil and salt and let them brown quite a bit. Some of the match-sticks even got a bit black, but I found that that didn't really cause a problem. I let them drain on paper towel and seasoned a bit more with salt while still hot before garnishing each bowl with a tongful of the matchsticks. My friends were encouraged to get a spoonful of soup with a few of the crispy matchsticks in each bite.

Since this was a first effort, Id love to get some ideas on how to make both of these essais even better, but I think both were totally worth the effort! Mangia folks :-).

James

Plum Tomatoes

2007-01-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

The Plum Tomato. Whether you get your veggies from an open-air market on 30th Avenue, a renovated C-Town Tow To T, or if you don't live in my cosy little burg at all (gasp), one vegetable will stand out... like a sore thumb. The Plum Tomato. It will be ridiculously cheap. It will be off-color. It will be mottled with squishy spots. And there will be a pile the size of the trash heap in Fraggle Rock of it. Why do I write about it then? Well... its tasty, and it is versatile. Raw, it goes great with roasted peppers, prosciutto and mozzarella. maybe some slices with bleu cheese dressing and iceberg lettuce. Or, even better, as the base ingredient of simple and amazing sauces for beef and pasta. After sauteing a medium standard yellow onion minced fine in extra virgin olive oil with about 4 cloves (or 30 or 96) of garlic add about 6-10 minced plum tomatoes to the pan on medium heat and slowly cook down with kosher salt and ground pepper. A little red pepper too with the onions if you want a little added pop. The sauce will get a nice orangy color once the tomatoes really break down (and unless you are cooking for Her Majesty herself don't worry about the benign and delicate plum tomato skins that will come off). Whereas my grandmother's spaghetti sauce will take upwards of 2 hours (and god bless it), this pasta sauce should be ready, in a saucepan, in just over an hour. Add some nice green olives when the tomatoes go in for a nice sauce to pour atop browned skirt or flank steak before covering with tin foil and popping in a 350 degree oven for a while (rings of white onion on top are a really nice addition here). Id imagine that this would work well with chicken breast or thighs as well.

Or, as I will note below... as a simple addition to a recipe for added pop... or more accurately, squish.

Last night, amongst two other recipes that I feel the need to share (in more than one post), I threw together a simple and cheap meal for friends. Seconds were devoured. Whilst canned clams in my macaroni with clams are the main ingredient, I really think the 1" cubes of
plum tomatoes were the star of the show. When you bit down you got a shot of the clam sauce, with a nice fruity, tart taste melded with a fine texture. You could barely see the bits of cooked down tomatoes in the sauce... but boy could you taste them. This recipe feeds 4 people, and can be stretched proportionately.

1 can minced clams... DO NOT DRAIN
1 can whole baby clams... DO NOT DRAIN
unscientifically measured parsley. Grab a handful of tops off the bunch, then mince fine
4-6 garlic cloves minced fine (although Ive never heard of using too much)
1 medium onion minced fine
1 lemon
4-6 Plum Tomatoes, cut in 1'ish cubes. Don't worry about diligently seeding them... no one will care.
1 pinch or more of dried red pepper
kosher salt and fresh black pepper
1 tablespoon of olive oil (or a little more depending on how fast the onions suck it up)
juice of one lemon (truly the best expenditure of 1/5th of 1 dollar ever made in New York)
1 box of #8 spaghetti

I like to season my olive oil before I heat it. I don't know if there is any scientific or culinary advantage (or disadvantage) to doing it this way, but there you have it. I add a pinch or two of kosher salt with a pinch of red pepper and a couple grinds of black pepper before I turn on the heat and begin to saute my onions and garlic. Once browned, I throw in my Plum Tomatoes, and allow them to break down, stirring to make sure they don't stick to the pot too much. When I start to feel as if I am worried about them burning, I lower the heat to a simmer and throw my two cans of clams, juice and all into the pot with the parsley. Juice of a whole lemon goes in to give a little more acidity and some more oomph. A little more salt and pepper to round it off.

I let this simmer until, well, until it smells heavily of clams. While it is simmering, put on a pot of salted water, and boil a pound to a pound and a half of plain old #8 spaghetti until al denti. Drain (duh) the spaghetti well, and toss it all into the sauce pot. Stir well to combine and serve with a little parsley on top to garnish. You COULD add a little grated parm to the plate, but that would make my grandmother cry, so I encourage you not to. ;-). Enjoy, and as always, feedback welcome!

Titles are difficult... seeing as this is my first

2007-01-03T21:01:00.000-08:00

Ok. So. For those who don't know me, hello. My name is James. I am almost 2 7, living in Astoria and working in finance. I'm Sicilian and Polish if you go back a few generations (Brooklyn really being "the old country.") I live in a beautiful, huge apartment with 2 French gentlemen who seldom see me and no doubt think I am quite strange. I have an understanding girlfriend who definitely thinks I am quite strange, but likes me anyway. I also have many good friends in the neighborhood who know me as "James with the hat," "Hookah James," or "Cooking James."

This blog is going to be about the hobby I am currently most passionate about, and it isn't Kangols or Hookahs. Growing up with my father and grandparents, I had plenty of inspiration as to what food is worth eating and I have my father to thank for my deep-seated belief that cooking isn't a "girly" or laborious endeavor, but rather some of the most fun you can have in your own house that is 1) legal, and 2) polite to talk about later in sensitive company. Now, my friends enjoy and are punished by my cooking several times a week at their various houses, and some even have rendered goose fat in their fridges and various stocks in their freezers to show for it.

In this blog I hope to share some of my madness with you all, and I hope you will share some back. I hope to teach and to learn and to share. Seeing as I'm an only child, I think the hierarchy will be 1) Learning, 2) Teaching, and 3) sharing. Hands off my stuff.

While some of the recipes and ideas I post will be stolen from others (and credited of course), some will be my own, and most will have my own flair. For starters I would like to give you my kumquat and pear chutney (almost entirely my own). Feel free to tell me if it isn't really a chutney, but something else entirely, but do get a saucepan and give it a shot.

You will need:

1 saucepan, or my favorite all purpose vessel, the spaghetti pot (snobbery is only welcome when the food actually suffers).
1 sharp chef's knife (one place you cant skimp)
1 box-grater, microplane, or lemon zester (who are we fooling... get out the cheese grater)
1 tupperware or other plastic container

1 lemon

probably about a cup of white sugar

1 little basket of kumquats (hard to get in Astoria at the moment but most of us work in Manhattan right? Hellooooo Whole Foods). This'll set you back about $4.oo
2 of the softest, least attractive pears you can find (if you go organic you are talking about $2.50)
1 thin pat of butter
a pinch or two of kosher salt

Okie... now the fun begins. Cut the kumquats in half (no giggling). Chop the pears as finely as you can. Now, cooking on high on your Astoria gas stove, toss the butter into the pan and let it melt but not burn. Toss in all of the kumquats and season with a pinch of salt. While you are stirring this around, soon your entire kitchen will smell like a delicious orange, and this when you shake some of the sugar on them, just to cover. Stir more until the sugar melts and let it bubble a little bit. Now in with the pears! Cover these with more sugar just until covered. Grate a little lemon zest into the pot, and then cut the lemon in half and squeeze half of a lemon's juice into the pan. Stir until the sugar melts again and keep stirring until the pears break down and you see little jello-like bits sticking to the pan. You might have to keep cooking this down a bit to evaporate the water the pears give off, but this all depends on the pears. The whole process shouldn't take more than 15 or 20 minutes, but again its not an exact science. While it's still hot, pour into the storage container. Let this cool on your cutting board before putting it in the fridge. In an hour or two it is ready, and it will come out of the can much the same way as cranberry sauce! Its good with ice-cream or as a side dish to poultry or pork chops. Enjoy... feedback is welcome :-)

James