Punk Chef

Getting It Together

2012-01-12T14:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I must say that I am embarrassed. I thought that I could handle this blogging thing and it was starting to look like I was wrong. Until now, that is. In my defense I will tell you that I have had a couple of technical setbacks. I have also experienced a surge in work. Now, though, I am settling into the groove of things and have decided to not let life get in my way. It's past thyme for me to get it together.

In the spirit of getting things together I have decided to let you into my world a little bit. Those of you who have followed my humble blog have left me some encouraging comments. So I would like to show any who are interested what I use to do what I do. My point here is to show you that you don't need a lot of flashy equipment. You don't need to remodel your kitchen and have the hot, new stove and oven installed. The secret, and I truly believe this, is that you must have the desire to make good food. Sometimes we cook a new recipe, or we improvise a new dish and it fails utterly and completely. This has happened to me countless times (just ask my Mom about the pesto pizza and the grease fire). I will eat burned mistakes because I just don't want to waste the food. All of this has not made me want to quit cooking and trying new things. Take heart and persevere, because you will often succeed brilliantly.

Along the way I have picked up a mish-mash of kitchen items that I use to produce all of my food. Some things are very valuable, some were found at garage sales, some were gifts, and many were hand-me-downs. They all work just how I like them, or rather, they all work just how I would like them to. Come into my home and see for yourself.

This is my kitchen. My house is old and funky. The kitchen is small and has no dishwasher. The stove is gas (yippee!) but nothing fancy. 99% of the recipes I have blogged about have been made in this kitchen.

Now, lets have a look at my knives. Your knives are your most important item in your kitchen. This is where most of my money has been invested. A few nice ones were gifts, too. The top two are my most prized blades. They were hand made by Shinichi Watanabe in Japan. The bottom two are Wusthoff Classic (my preferred style of blade that is top quality and widely available). I use the 10" Wusthoff a lot while the smaller one gets most of its use from The Missus or The Kid.

The rest of my blades are a collection of cheap things that work well. The curved blades are for boning and fish filleting. I got them from work (for free!). The paring knives just showed up; the Wusthoff paring knife was a gift and the paring knife with the white handle probably came from a restaurant that I worked in years ago (I've had it for about 15 years, at least). I use these knives a lot because I can just toss them around. If they break, no biggie. For more important jobs I get out the good steel. Oh, I have no idea where the serrated knife came from but they are great to have.

I store my most used knives on a magnetic bar (the Watanabe Blades get their own special box). The rest of my knives are stored in a drawer.

A good knife needs a good cutting board. I like Boos Blocks. I bought one new and refurbished an old one (I got it free) myself.

Once you have something to cut with and something to cut on you will need something to cook in. Pans are good. This is where you can really save some money. Take a look at what I have and I'll show you how.
Garage Sale: $25 for all.

Thrift store finds and hand-me-downs.

Good cast iron pans are great to have. Lodge makes great stuff. Mine belonged to my great-grandmother. They are probably about 100 years old. Take good care of them and they will last longer than you.

The above pots and pans see equal use. My Dutch ovens don't get quite as much cook time but I do use them for small batches of soups, stews, and casseroles. I have a cast iron Dutch oven but since my family is small I usually favor these. They are Le Creuset and I love them (they were gifts).

What shall we stir with? My favorite utensils are wooden spoons.

It's also handy to have some stainless steel spoons and spatulas (spatuli?)

Rubber spatulas and scrapers are a must. I picked some of this stuff up at a local restaurant supply store. If there is one in your area then I recommend you get to know them. They are a great source for new equipment at good, fair prices. I also have some other things in this picture that I use frequently: wire whisk, offset spatula (frosting), microplane grater (citrus zest and hard cheese), a pastry fork for mashing stuff, and a vegetable peeler.

I keep all this stuff in utensil crocks on the counter so that they are always nearby when I cook.

I like to bake. Sheet pans are very handy in this area (another great thing to get at a restaurant supply store). Here are some of my baking needs.

(Okay, I don't absolutely NEED the corkscrew when I bake. But it does come in handy.)

I use these next two items in both baking and cooking. They are not cheap but I have come to find that they are essential in my kitchen. Consider this a good investment.

Finally, I like to keep a bowl of coarse sea salt, fine grain salt, a pepper mill, and a bowl of sugar at hand on the counter.

And when I wake up in the morning I MUST have my tea. Toast is nice, too.

There you have it. These are the items that see most of the action in my kitchen. I have other bowls, bread pans, and various items for various tasks. Most of it I have collected over the years. So go to garage sales, go to thrift stores, ask your Mom if she doesn't need that pan anymore. You don't need to go to the fancy kitchen store and drop $600 on a full set of All Clad and another $1000 on a full set of knives. All you need to do is cook and keep your knives sharp. What are you waiting for? Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I don't own a microwave.

Picture Blog

2011-06-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

Psst...hey, you. Wanna see something really cool? Check this out.

Put the tray in the freezer while you do the next steps.
This is chocolate frosting and black food coloring.

Marshmallows.

Starburst Fruit Chews.

Nuke the chocolate frosting for about 45 seconds, stirring.

Dip.

Thin Chocolate Cookies.

Now it starts to get really fun.

Vanilla Frosting.

Mini Chocolate Chips.

One last dot of frosting.

Pretty cool, huh? This book has all kinds of fun ideas and handy tips. It take patience and practice if you have not done anything like this before. Persevere.

Cinnamon Rolls

2011-05-16T06:36:00.000-07:00

Spring has sprung. After being cloistered in our homes for the winter we venture out into the newly verdant world seeking fresh activity in the clean air. The out of doors beckons us and we heed its call. Fields of wildflowers tempt us to wander through their scented lands, begging us to lie down amongst them and spend a day with a loved one picnicking and making love. The soft evenings practically scream at us, "Come! Come! Cook and dine outside!" And the foods abound. And the libations flow. And we fall pleasantly into the waiting arms of life.

You may be thinking that this is what my life has been like since my last post in, um, February. Don't be fooled. I am just lazy. As much as I would like to live in a Jane Austen novel or a Saveur magazine feature, the fact of the matter is...I don't. Spring in my life means chaperoning elementary school field trips, working, helping The Kid do homework and projects, working, cooking dinner, working, and working. Alright, maybe I'm not so lazy after all. Since my last post, though, I havebeen on a quest!

Sometime shortly after my last post I stopped in a local bakery and purchased a cinnamon roll. I adore cinnamon rolls. For all of my life I have loved a good cinnamon roll. So I was more than disappointed to find my newly acquired snack drier than dry, fairly lacking in cinnamon flavor, and, well, thin. The icing was piss-poor, too. As if that wasn't enough, the center seemed to be missing. How they accomplished this royal mess is beyond me. Then, a few bites into this alleged cinnamon roll, I heard it; The Calling. The path before me was clear. Being left with one choice meant no choice at all. I must find the perfect cinnamon roll.

Surely in this burgeoning Texas city there was a good cinnamon roll to be found. I left the piss-poor purchase in front of me on the table. Heading home I began to strategically plan my quest. Venturing forth into a City of Culinaria I would visit as many producers as possible and seek out the best. The sad part is that I never found the best. Like all good things, the best was to be had at home. We'll get to that in just a bit. First let's see what I found.

There are two basic types of cinnamon rolls in this city, maybe the world. One is the yeasted bread type that is rolled into a log, cut, and iced. The other is more of a pastry dough that gets rolled into a knot-like shape and is coated in sugar. I prefer the former. To be fair, though, I have found a bakery in town that produces a superior version of the latter. When I have to purchase a cinnamon roll it is this latter version I usually get. I find it very shameful that I can't seem to find my preferred version available commercially. Here are a few samples (in the style of what I prefer) of what I found and what I think is wrong with them.

Way, way, way, too much sugar. Zero cinnamon flavor. This one can't figure out if it is a roll or a pastry. The icing is too heavy and overpowers the roll.

The icing on these is too haphazard. The roll is dry and this doesn't let the cinnamon flavor shine through. There is no butter flavor, either.

Seriously? This was labelled "old fashioned" in the bakery case. Seriously?

And so it went. Yes, I found sticky buns and schneckens but they don't count. They're not quite the same. What I want in a cinnamon roll is a bread that is rich with butter, eggs, and milk. I want a bread that is moist and tender; one that will act as a vehicle for the flavor of the cinnamon. I want the cinnamon flavor to burst from the roll but to be in balance with the sugary sweetness. And I want a center. The whole point to a cinnamon roll is the center. Getting to the center of a cinnamon roll should be a journey. Gradually we peel away the layers, savoring each one. We let our senses work during the act. We look and admire the seductiveness. We touch and feel the texture. We take in its scent letting the aromas fill us. We taste each bit, letting the flavor build in our mouths, drinking it all in. Layer by layer we do this. It is, indeed, a very sexual act. If this is what we want when we eat, not just a good cinnamon roll, but anything, why ruin it with something devoid of soul? The only real option is to make one ourselves. Here's how:

As always, we will start with our mis en place. Gather your ingredients, measure them, and make sure that they are all at room temperature.

Cream the butter, salt, and sugar together until they are light and fluffy. You can do this in a mixer but it is such a small dough that I just do it by hand.

Zest 1 lemon.

Mix together the egg, zest, butter, and sugar.

Proof the yeast and add it to the egg/butter mixture.

Mix together the dry ingredients.

Add the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients and mix them together. The mixture will not come together in a ball just yet. It will look kind of gravelly. This is okay. It means that the yeast mixture is evenly distributed.

Gradually add the milk (or buttermilk) until the mixture comes together in a slightly sticky ball. You don't want it to be too wet or it will be difficult to knead, though not impossible to fix. Just add the milk gradually and don't freak out if you don't use all of it.

Lightly flour your work surface.

Knead the dough for about 12-15 minutes. If the dough begins to stick to the work surface use a bench scraper to release it and dust the surface and the dough with a small amount of flour. Don't use too much flour. You don't want to work in too much. The dough should be just a little tacky.

When the dough is done it should still be tacky, sticking to the work surface but releasing on its own. The dough should be shiny and a little silky to the touch.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with a damp towel, and let it rise for about 2 hours or until it is doubled in size.

While the dough is rising go indulge in some kind of adult libation or activity. Or you can be like me and make hummus.

Well, lookee there! The dough is ready.

Gently deflate the dough. Also, spray your work surface with a non-stick spray. Trust me, you will thank me for this little tip.

Turn the dough onto the oiled work surface and lightly dust the top of the dough with flour. Dust your rolling pin, too.

Roll the dough into a rectangle about 14" x 9". Smear about 3 Tbsp. of butter (the amount you have left over in the recipe) all over it.

Mix your sugar and cinnamon together and generously sprinkle this over the surface of the buttered dough.

Roll the dough into as tight a log as you can. I like to start from the bottom, tucking in the edge of the dough as I roll. Some of you may have a lot of experience rolling various things and will be pretty good at this.

Prepare a sheet pan or cake pan. If using a cake pan butter the bottom of the pan and cover it with a parchment round; then butter the sides. If using a sheet pan simply line the pan with a sheet of parchment paper.

Cinnamon rolls should be BIG. I once read another blog and the author made cinnamon rolls that could fit in the palm of your hand; these are for wussies. Don't be a wuss. I cut my long roll into six sections. B.I.G.

Arrange the rolls in your pan and cover them with a damp towel. Allow the rolls to rise for about an hour or until doubled in size. While the rolls are rising go have some more adult fun.

Bake the rolls in a preheated 350° oven for 30 - 40 minutes. After 30 minutes watch them carefully. If they get too brown on top then they will be dry. This means that the center will be dry. This, in turn, means that when you get to the center it won't be like having an orgasm. Where's the fun in that?

If you are using a cake pan then gently separate the rolls and remove them to a cooling rack. Place the cooling rack on a sheet pan lined with parchment for when you frost them.

I like two kinds of frosting: fondant and glaze. Both are made the same way. It is a simple recipe of powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. If you add less milk you will get a thicker fondant icing. More milk will produce a thinner icing that acts as a glaze. The nice thing about the glaze is that it will seep down into the swirls of the roll, further moistening the layers. It's your call here.

Make the icing by sifting the powdered sugar and gently heating the milk. Whisk the milk into the powdered sugar and then whisk in the vanilla.

Working quickly before the icing begins to set, drizzle it all over the rolls. Allow the rolls to cool slightly and let the icing set. Then dig in. Yum.

Cinnamon Rolls

6 1/2 Tbsp. Granulated Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
5 1/2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
1 large Egg, slightly beaten, at room temperature
Zest of 1 small Lemon
3 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 package Instant Yeast
1 1/4 cups Buttermilk, at room temperature
2 1/2 Tbsp. Butter, (combined with the above amount it makes a whole stick)
6 1/2 Tbsp. Demerarra Sugar
2 Tbsp. Vietnamese High Oil Cinnamon
4 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
1/2 cup Half and Half, slightly warmed
1 tsp. Vanilla

Cream the butter, sugar, and salt together. Mix in the egg and lemon zest. Mix in the proofed yeast. Stir this mixture into the flour until it resembles course meal. Gradually mix in the buttermilk until the dough comes together into a ball (you may not use all the buttermilk).

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it for 12 - 15 minutes. Add small amounts of flour to keep the dough from sticking too much. When the dough is ready it will be slightly tacky but shiny. Place the dough into an oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and allow the dough to rise for about 2 hours or until doubled in bulk.

Gently deflate the dough and turn it onto an oiled work surface. Lightly flour the top of the dough and your rolling pin. Roll the dough into a rectangle about 14" x 9". Smear the 2 1/2 Tbsp. butter all over the surface of the dough. Mix together the demerarra sugar and the cinnamon. Liberally spread this all over the buttered surface of the dough.

Roll the dough into a log. Cut the log into six equal pieces. Arrange the pieces on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Cover the rolls with a damp towel and allow them to rise for about an hour or until doubled in bulk.

Bake the rolls in a preheated 350° oven for 30 - 40 minutes. Don't let them get too brown on top. I like a light golden color. Remove the rolls from the oven and allow them to cool while you make the icing.

Sift 4 cups of powdered sugar. Gently warm the half-and-half. Gradually stir the half-and-half into the powdered sugar until if forms a thick icing but is pourable. Stir in the vanilla.

Working quickly before the icing can set, drizzle it all over the rolls. Let the rolls cool a little more and allow the icing to set. The rolls should keep, covered with plastic, for 2-3 days.

Field to Table VIII: Chile Roasted Venison and Hog Legs

2011-02-09T06:54:00.000-08:00

These colder than usual winter months (at least here in Texas) are the perfect time to make...tacos. Actually (at least here in Texas), anytime is the perfect time to make tacos. We tend to eat tacos when it is 20° or 120° outside. And yes, it really can get that hot. It's no wonder that Austin, Texas has a taco stand (mobile or stationary) on seemingly every corner. Most coffee shops either make their own tacos or will have them imported from somewhere close by. I can count four taco joints off the top of my head that are less than 5 minutes from where I am sitting as I type. Toss in the coffee shops close by and that number jumps to seven. Tacos can be found 24 hours a day, too. Tacos are, quite literally, everywhere.

Of course, it's more fun and often more tasty to make them yourself. Here at Casa de Punk Chef we make tacos from just about everything. Leftover chicken? No problemo. Leftover enchiladas? Wrap 'em up, amigo. Black beans are a staple here, too. The Kid's favorite meal is a plate of black bean, cheese, and sliced avocado tacos. He will eat them three meals a day, if you let him (and he has, too). In fact, I ate the leftover half of his taco this morning.

My all time favorite filling is Chile Roasted Pork. I also like to use venison with the same method. For today's post you are going to get the best of both worlds. I have (had) a small venison roast and a small hog roast on hand. So I roasted them together and made one massive plate of meat filling for tacos.

This recipe is really simple. You only have to roast chiles and meat together. Yes, there are other flavorings besides chiles. Putting together the chile rub is most of the work. Clean up afterward is the rest of the work. In between, during the cooking time, your are free to summon your inner Dionysus.

This is a dish that draws more from interior Mexico rather than from the Texas/Mexico border. The seasonings used in many interior dishes are a little more complex than what you may have come to know as Tex-Mex or Border Food. Often there is cinnamon, allspice, clove; spices that are, in American cuisine, more often associated with baked goods and desserts. I love how these spices play in savory dishes, especially with the mild to wild heat of chiles.

The first thing we need to do is make the chile rub. This is not a dry rub. The chiles you will be using are dried, though. Just about any dried chile will work but I like to use a mix of guajillo and ancho chiles. Pasilla chiles are good, too, but they carry a little more heat. So if heat is a concern to you when chiles are involved you may want to research which dried chiles are hot and which are not. Because the chiles are dried we need to get them into a workable state by re-hydrating them in hot water. Remove the stems from the chiles, put them in a bowl, and pour hot (boiling) water over them. Allow them to soak for at least 30 minutes. You should be able to get other things ready for the recipe while the chiles soak. If you are really efficient and have all your prep done then drink a few beers. Stir the chiles every once in a while so that they all get soft.

When the chiles are soft put them into a blender with the onion, garlic, and spices (see recipe below) but reserve some of the soaking water.

Blend all the rub ingredients together, add water only as necessary to keep the ingredients moving through the blades. Don't use too much water as you don't want the rub to be thin. It should be fairly thick. When the sauce is well blended you need to push it through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds and leathery bits of skin. This part takes a while and your wrist and arm will get sore. Just keep working at it. Have a friend help and work as a tag team. You will probably have to do this in a few batches. But don't skip this step because it really helps the texture of the finished sauce.

Discard the remaining seeds and bits of skin.

Now heat a deep pot over medium-high heat and add a little oil, bacon fat, or rich lard to the pan. Let the oil get really hot (to the smoking point) and add all of the chile sauce to the pan. Stir like you have never stirred before. This shit is going to splatter all over the fucking place. The less you stir the more it will splatter. Keep stirring until the sauce begins to darken in color and thicken slightly. It shouldn't take too long, maybe 3-5 minutes. Keep stirring. It may splatter your hands and arms and burn a little. You will be okay. It's only heat. Keep a damp towel handy so that you can wipe up messes with your free hand. Don't wear nice clothes when you do this step. You will ruin them.

Congratulations! The hard part is over (excepting clean up). You made it. I am proud of you. It's almost time to have some (more) beers. First take this wonderful sauce and season it with a little salt. Now spread it all over the meat you are using.

Oh man, this is going to be so good. Add a little beer or water to the pan (if you are using just one cut of meat then you can probably use the pan you made the sauce in), about 6-8 ounces. Cover the pan and put it in a preheated oven at 325°.

Go have some beers. You've earned it.

Check the meat every so often. If it looks dry add a little liquid to it. Otherwise, leave it alone. When it is done the meat will be fork tender, meaning that if you push a fork into it and pull it will come apart in shreds. Allow the meat to cool so that you can pull it apart without burning your hands.

While the meat is cooling, put the sauce into a smaller pan. Bring it to a boil and reduce it so that it becomes fairly thick but still pourable. Season it to taste with salt.

Shred the meat.

There is nothing quite like a pile of slow roasted, shredded meat. Mix the meat and the reduced sauce together. Add a little more salt if needed. My favorite garnishes with this dish are sliced radishes, onions, cilantro, and jalapeño peppers. I pile the garnishes on the same plate with the meat.

Heat up some of your favorite tortillas and go at it. For the record, I like corn tortillas. They have more flavor.

Shawna is so badass she drinks a Coke and a Mountain Dew at the same time.

And that, dear readers, is a Punk Chef Taco Party.

Chile Roasted Pork

4 medium Pasilla Chiles or 2 medium Ancho chiles (about 1 oz.)
4 medium Guajillo Chiles (about 1 oz.)
2 bay leaves, minced
2 Tbsp. Cider Vinegar
½ small White Onion, roughly chopped , plus rings for garnish
2 Garlic Cloves, chopped
1 tsp. dried herbs (marjoram, oregano, Mexican oregano, or a mix)
¼ tsp. Allspice, ground
¼ tsp. Cloves, ground
1 ½ Tbsp Oil or rendered fat
Salt to taste
3 # Pork Butt

3-4 Thinly sliced radishes for garnish
Chopped cilantro for garnish

Preheat oven to 325°

For the chile paste:

Place the chiles in a small bowl, cover with hot water, and let stand 30 minutes or so to rehydrate, stirring occasionally so that they soak evenly. Drain, reserving about 1 cup of the liquid, then transfer the chiles to a food processor or blender.

Finely mince the bay leaves and add them to the blender along with the vinegar, onion, garlic, herbs, allspice, and cloves. Process to a smooth puree, gradually adding the reserved chile liquid (add only enough to keep the chiles moving through the blades). Press the puree through a mesh strainer into a small bowl.

In a large pot (6 quarts) or Dutch oven, heat the oil or fat over medium-high heat. When it is hot enough to make a drop of the puree really sizzle, add it all at once (don’t wear nice clothes while making this; it gets messy). Stir constantly as the puree darkens and thickens, 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat and season with salt.

For the meat:

Cut the pork butt into thick slabs. Lay the meat into the pot with the chile paste, turning it to coat evenly with the paste. Pour ½ cup water (or beer, if you happen to be drinking some) around the meat. Cover tightly and place in the oven.

Baste the meat every 30 minutes or so with the accumulated liquid and fat around it. After about 3 - 4 hours the meat should be fork tender and falling apart easily. If all of the liquid evaporates before the meat is done just add a little more so that you can continue to baste. When the meat is done allow it to rest for about 30 minutes.

Plating:

Lift the meat from the Dutch oven and put it on a large serving platter. Using two forks or tongs shred the meat. Taste the pan juices and season with salt if necessary. Spoon some of the juices over the meat and scatter the onion rings, radishes, and cilantro over the meat. Serve with warm tortillas.

Old Year/New Year

2011-01-11T06:21:00.000-08:00

YIKES!!! Has it really been almost two months since my last post? The holidays are busy for everyone, particularly me. Us service industry folks don't get a lot of rest around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Compounding the busy season with the worst case of the flu/bronchitis/sinusitis (one for each holiday) that I have ever had, well, there wasn't much writing to be done.

Alas, the holidays are over, The Kid is back in school, and my normal work schedule is back on track. More time during the weekdays means I can get back to writing about what I cook. I have some fun things planned for this year that should make Punk Chef a little more exciting and useful. This is due to the fact that The Kid received a small but effective video camera from his Grandma. The Kid has graciously given me permission to use said device for doing some video blogging. This could get interesting.

But today let's talk about the recently passed holidays. I'll pass over Thanksgiving because I was sick, sick, sick. I managed to crawl out of bed for about 2 hours and meet my family at a nice restaurant. It was very pleasant and, perhaps most importantly, easy. No huge cooking production or clean up; just a good meal with family. I have no pictures but the sous vide turkey breast and confit of dark meat was quite tasty. The dinner was had at The Carillon. Chef Josh Watkins is a friend of mine and let me tell you, homeboy can cook. He laid out quite a spread. If you are in the ATX area go and visit him.

Next up was Christmas Eve. We always do Mexican food for Christmas Eve. Tamales, of course, are on the menu. This year The Missus made a wonderful cilantro/poblano pepper pesto. With this we made some chalupas with shrimp and cheese. I whipped up a batch of guacamole. The Kid had black bean, cheese, and avocado chalupas.

After dinner we had to make cookies for St. Nicholas.

St. Nick was very happy:

We kept Christmas simple this year (last year?), too. The three of us just stayed home all day. We had the in-laws over for breakfast and then it was just The Missus, The Kid, and Mr. Cheffy Pants for the rest of the day. We had a nice breakfast, snacked all day, and then had a nice dinner.

Breakfast was good. Traditionally, we make some kind of breakfast bread like French toast or pancakes.

The menu:
Nutmeg Pancakes with Maple Syrup
Apple Wood Smoked Bacon
Charles Dickens Sausage from Kocurek Charcutetrie
Fresh Berries

The sausage was so very, very good. It had seasonal spices of nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and clove; very Victorian. Yes, yes, I know that my profile states that I don't eat meat unless I kill it myself. I made an exception for the holidays this year. And since I have adhered to my rule for two solid years I decided to reach out a little bit and enjoy some of the offerings from local artisans like the Lawrence and Lee Ann Kocurek. Be sure and check them out at the local farmer's market.

I certainly owe some of the success of our Christmas dinner to Boggy Creek Farms. I've been working out a post on them for a while now (I want it to be really good) as they are, in my opinion, the best farmer's market in town. I've been going to them sporadically for years. Carol Ann Sayle is one of the prime movers of this wonderful farm in east Austin. They have glorious produce, eggs, and even some local artisan products that they bring in from other craftsfolks (I think I just made up a word; please don't kill me, Mom). Anyway, the menu, with veggies from BCF:
Lamb London Broil with Chantrelle/Bonarda Demi-Glace
Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes (made by The Missus, because she loves them)
Braised Orange and Purple Haze Carrots
Braised Baby Swiss Chard, Radicchio, and Broccoli Greens
Sister Schubert's Parker House Rolls (shhh...)

Dessert was a nice, little Chocolate Truffle Fudge Bar:

It was nice to have things so simple. Part of me feels like I rediscovered Christmas this past year. I used to get so excited about the holidays. I never minded the traffic or crowds. I didn't mind waiting in line. I always enjoyed just looking at all the decorations, smelling and tasting the wonderful food from various restaurants and bakeries, getting hot drinks when it would get cold. Somewhere along the way I got lost from all that. Part of it may have been adjusting to parenthood. Part of it may have been just getting older. But life is too short to worry about parking places, lines, traffic, and the senseless demands for the hot new presents. I think that The Kid was monumental in my awakening this (last?) year. I got to watch him, as always, get super excited about Christmas. Maybe I started to see a little of my old self in him. Maybe he has helped me to find my inner child and know that it is okay to let it shine. Whatever the reason I'm glad that we stayed home and kept some past traditions alive, maybe started some new ones. It was a good Christmas. Especially since I got to spent the day with The Kid doing this(yes, those are Lego's...all 531 pieces):

By they end of Christmas Day it was all assembled. Everyone was tired and happy.

By the time New Year's Day rolls around everyone is wiped out. What does one do for food? There is the rare occasion when the new year must be rung in with a group of friends and much food. Keeping in line with the Simple mantra this year we did just that: kept it simple. A nice arugula salad (greens compliments BCF) with apples, walnuts, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and EVOO and some little Shepherd's Pies made with left over (way left over) buttermilk mashed potatoes. The Missus took some of the potatoes and sautéed them in LOTS of butter to make some quite delightful cakes of some sort. Brown food tastes good.

No recipe today. Sorry. On the bright side, most of this stuff can be reproduced with minimal thought. Have a great year, everyone. Thanks for reading. Now let's get cooking!

Chilivangelist

2010-11-18T06:42:00.000-08:00

I have spent years working on my chili recipe. Years. For that reason I have never been inclined to give it away to anyone but the pure at heart. I worked hard to get it the way I like it and I felt wrong just handing out the recipe, robbing others of discovery...until now.

For whatever reason, I feel compelled to break my self-imposed vow of silence. I want to share with all walks of life the joys of this most esteemed culinary potion. For it is a potion. Chili is not just some soup of ingredients thrown together in a mish-mash fashion. Yes, Chili is a potion. For it contains the soul of the cook, the potion master. I bet Severus Snape could make a mean batch of the stuff. Ludwig Van Beethoven knew what he was saying when he proclaimed, "Only the pure at heart can make a good soup."

The ingredients must be carefully selected and be of the highest quality. Chili must not contain beans. Chili MUST contain meat: beef, bison, venison, or a combination thereof. If it is made with chicken, you lose. Pork? You live in New Mexico. You put lamb in your chili, you say? Head on back to Morocco. Should you season your dish with cinnamon and serve it over spaghetti, then get your ass back to Cleveland before you get shot. If it is made with beans and Textured Vegetable Protein then you have succeeded in making Bean Stew with Weird.

I have researched the origins of Chili. In the early days of Texas settlers, during the times of cattle drives, there is documented evidence of cowboys concocting a stew similar to our modern day Chili. When food rations became scarce an unfortunate member of the herd would be slaughtered and rationed. The cook would take some of the meat and make a stew with wild herbs and chiles. Over time tomatoes became an acceptable addition to the stew. Beans probably never made it in because they were eaten as part of the former rations. But the first mention of chili comes from the most unexpected place. This discovery caught even me by surprise.

The first historical mention of Chili can be found in the Bible. The book of Genesis:1, 25-26 states the following, "...God made wild animals, cattle, and all reptiles, each according to its kind; and he saw that it was good. Then God said, 'Before I make man I'm gonna butcher one of these here cows, dice some of that sirloin nice and fine and make a good, heapin' pot of chili for that cowboy to eat when I plunk his ass down on this here land.'" Genesis: 2, 3 goes on to say, "God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day he ceased from all the work he had set himself to do. God tasted his chili and proclaimed, 'Dang! That's some good chili! Now I gotta go create the bean. I think I forgot to make that one.' And God farted." So it began with Chili having a divine conception, without beans, and being the first food that man should ever eat. That settles it.

Yes, I have decided to break my silence...sort of. But it is time to spread the Gospel. Here is my recipe in pictures. You should be able to figure this out. That is, if you are pure at heart. Don't worry, I'll give you a few pointers along the way. Be sure not to rush the process. Brown the meat real good and develop a nice fond on the bottom of the pot. Cook the Chili slow so that the flavors can blend well. Make it a day ahead, if you can.

Brown the meat:

Add diced onion, diced jalapeño, and minced garlic. Continue to sauté:

Add some finely shredded corn tortilla. Sauté until the tortillas are soft:

Add some good quality brown ale. I use Bootlegger but Shiner Bock will work fine:

Top the level off with water and simmer to burn off the alcohol:

Let it simmer for a while. Then add the chile powder. Do not use a chile powder blend like Gebhardt's. Use ground dried chiles. I refill a spice jar with Aji Amarillo and Chimayo chiles. Add ground cumin, too. You are, in essence, making your own chile powder blend:
Let the Chili simmer for a while. If the liquid level gets low just add a little more water. Don't add more beer as the alcohol won't cook off and it will create an odd, unfavorable flavor:

After this has simmered for a while add 2 small or 1 large can of crushed tomatoes. I like to use canned tomatoes because they always have a good tomato flavor. Fresh tomatoes only taste good about 3 months out of the year. The rest of the year they taste like tennis balls:

Let it simmer for a good long while now. Don't rush. Kick back and have some beers or tell the kids to 'watch cartoons'. Give it a stir now and again and check the liquid level. It's okay if it cooks down some but don't let it get too thick just yet.

After about an hour or so the Chili should have thickened only slightly. This is where my recipe gets weird for some people. If you think about it, though, it makes sense. Allow me to explain. Deep in the Heart of our esteemed southern neighbor, Mexico, they make a sauce called molé (pronounced 'moe-lay'). It is a wonderful, wonderful sauce that varies by region but is primarily made with dried chiles, nuts, and unsweetened chocolate (sometimes slightly sweet chocolate). I decided to let the idea of molé play into my recipe. At this point you need to add a heaping spoonful of almond butter and a square of unsweetened chocolate. Use high quality chocolate. I have found that Baker's brand leaves a very bitter aftertaste. That is bad. I usually use Ghirardelli Unsweetened Chocolate:

The added bonus (if you are familiar with my oatmeal recipe then you know this; check the blog archives for the post) is that almond butter acts as a thickening agent. Combined with the masa from the shredded corn tortillas the almond butter helps to thicken the Chili into a divine velvety stew. The chocolate just deepens the flavor. Don't use too much chocolate as you don't want that to shine through.

We're almost done. After you have added the almond butter and chocolate add some chopped fresh oregano (about 1 Tbsp.) and salt to taste. Let the chili simmer a bit longer to let the flavors meld. Check one last time for seasoning and serve the Chili or let it cool and store it for the next day. The total cooking time is usually about 3-4 hours; low and slow.

You should taste the Chili throughout the cooking process, even without the salt added, so you can gauge the heat level and chile potency. Make adjustments as they are needed. Follow your heart and you will have a great pot of Chili. Just don't add beans. At least not to this recipe. You don't want to incur the wrath of the Lord. Now chow down. Yum.

Pain Poilâne

2010-11-17T07:49:00.001-08:00

This is a classic French sourdough loaf. It was made famous by a French baker named Lionel Poilâne. Monsieur Poilâne calls this loaf of bread a 'Miche' (pronounced 'meesh'). I think that the word miche translates into 'butt cheek'. I can certainly see Monsieur Poilâne looking at his first loaf and proclaiming, "Il ressemble ma miche." Assuming, of course, that he had one odd looking ass.

Whatever the origin of the name for this loaf it is indisputably one of the finest loaves you can make. It is very simple to make but takes planning, time, patience, and some pretty thorough knowledge of bread. So if you have never made a loaf of bread before you may want to start with a basic sandwich loaf and work you way up from there. It is remarkable that, with this one loaf, Lionel Poilâne built an empire of bakeries in France run by an army of bakers and apprentices.

The ingredients are simple: flour, water, and salt. There is no commercial yeast used in this bread. You will be cultivating your own. Now you are thinking, "I should have learned how to make bread with commercial yeast first." I warned you in the second paragraph. You should have read the whole post before jumping to the pictures and saying, "Cool! I'll get started right now." Read on.

You will need about two weeks to produce this loaf. Most of that time is fermentation time for the starter cultures and is largely hands-off. Think about the day you would like to bake (Saturday or Sunday in most cases), make sure you are free that entire day, and back your schedule up from there.

This loaf is a four-step dough. Step 1 is making a seed culture. Step 2 is making a barm, or starter culture. Step three is making the starter dough. Step 4 is making the final dough.

The dough is very dense and heavy and will require kneading by hand. If you use a mixer the dough will be too large for the mixer and you may burn out the engine. Be prepared to knead using all your shoulder and arm muscles. If you have someone to help with this that will make it easier. For the record, I am in good shape and pretty strong. This was a hard dough for me to knead for 15 minutes. I literally broke a sweat and had to shake out my arms and shoulders pretty thoroughly afterward.

The resulting bread is dense and chewy with a thick, crunchy crust. It makes wonderful sandwiches, toast, and is simply nice eaten plain out of hand. This is truly a master loaf.

Step 1: The Seed Culture
Making the seed culture is easy but takes four days. The first day is a simple mixing of flour and water. Mix one cup of whole wheat flour with 3/4 cup room temperature water in a one quart measuring cup. Note the level of the loose mixture. Cover the vessel with plastic and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

On day two put the seed culture into a mixing bowl and mix in one cup of bread flour and 1/2 cup room temperature water. Make sure that all of the flour is mixed in and moist. Put the seed culture back into the measuring cup, cover it with plastic and let it ferment for 24 hours at room temperature.

When day three arrives you will notice that the culture has risen and may be getting to the top of the cup. This is good. It means that you are cultivating live yeasts present in the air. If you need to move your culture to a larger mixing bowl that is fine. Even if you are not getting a large rise, on the third day you need to discard half of your culture (or give it away for someone else to work with)and stir into the remaining half one cup of bread flour and 1/2 cup room temperature water. Mix thoroughly, cover with plastic and ferment for 24 hours.

(Half of the culture given to a friend. Note the fermenting bubbles.)

By the fourth day you should notice quite a bit of rise, at least 50%. If not, just let the culture ferment for another 12 - 24 hours. Repeat the process of day three, discarding half and adding 1 cup of bread flour and 1/2 cup room temperature water. Cover and let ferment until it has doubled or even tripled in size. This could take as little as 4 hours or as many as 24 hours. The culture should be fairly loose and will start to fall if you shake or tap the bowl.

You are now ready for Step 2, building the barm, or mother culture. The barm consists of the following ingredients:
3 1/2 cups Bread Flour
2 cups Water, room temperature
1 cup Seed Culture

Discard(or give to a friend to build their own barm) all but one cup of the seed culture. Mix together the above ingredients, making sure that the seed culture is evenly distributed and that the flour is thoroughly hydrated. Put the mixture into a ceramic or glass bowl, cover it tightly with plastic wrap, and let it ferment at room temperature for 6 hours. The plastic will begin to swell as the barm ferments and makes gas. After 6 hours, release the gas and reseal the bowl. Put it into the refrigerator overnight. The barm will be ready to use the next day and will continue to be ready for about 3 more days. After that it will need to be refreshed. (To refresh the barm discard half of it and double it with equal parts water and bread flour. You may hold it under refrigeration for up to two months before refreshing it.)

Step 3. It's time to make the firm starter dough. The ingredients are as follows:
1 cup Barm
2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup Water, room temperature

Mix together the above ingredients with a metal spoon so that the mixture pulls together in a ball. Sprinkle some flour on a cutting board and knead the dough for a few minutes until the ingredients are evenly distributed and the ball is thoroughly moist, slightly tacky but not sticky. Ferment the dough, covered, 4 - 6 hours, or until it is doubled in size. Keep covered and refrigerate overnight.

Step 4 (almost there, almost there). This is the final dough. Remove the starter dough from the refrigerator and one hour before you are ready to make the final dough. Gently stir it down as it will have risen some. Turn it out onto a floured board and cut the starter dough into 12 pieces. Cover them with a damp cloth so that they may come to room temperature for one hour.

The ingredients for the final dough are as follows:
7 cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tbsp. Coarse Sea Salt, (yes, use this and not table salt)
2 - 2 3/4 cups Water, lukewarm (90° - 100°)
Semolina Flour or Cornmeal for dusting

You have to knead this baby by hand so I hope that you have been doing push-ups for the last two weeks. In a large bowl stir together the starter pieces (they are large and clumpy; don't worry, be happy), flour, and salt. Stirring with a metal spoon, add enough water so that the ingredients begin to come together in a loose ball. You basically want all of the bits of flour to stick to the ball and not be loose in the bowl. Add more water, bit by bit, if needed. If it gets too wet add a little flour.

Turn the dough onto a well floured board. It will be a mess. This is okay. As you knead the dough it will come together (right now...over me). You will have to knead the dough for 12 - 15 minutes if you are strong. If you are weak it may take 20 - 25 minutes. Either way, if you tear off a piece of dough, stretch it thin, and hold it up to the light it should make a 'windowpane' without tearing. You will get tired and frustrated because the dough keeps tearing. Persevere, young Jedi, for the force is with you. Add just enough flour to your board, as needed, to keep the dough from sticking.

I worked the dough for about another 7 minutes after this 'windowpane' picture was taken. Here is my finished, kneaded dough:

Lightly oil a large bowl. Turn the dough into the bowl and make sure that it is lightly covered with oil, too. Arrange the dough seam side down in the bowl, cover it with plastic, and let it ferment for about 4 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Four hours later:

Gently stir down the dough and turn it onto a lightly floured board. Divide it in half and shape each half into a tight ball.

Lightly oil two bowls and line them with linen towels (not terry cloth). I use spray oil for this. Spray the towels and lightly dust them with flour. Gently put a loaf in each bowl, seam side up, and cover with the overhanging towel. Proof for about 3 hours, or until the loaves have almost doubled in size.

During the last hour of this rise time preheat the oven to 500°. If you have a pizza stone then make sure that it is in the oven for the preheating. If you don't have a pizza stone then you can bake the loaves on an inverted sheet pan. Keep a square metal or glass casserole pan at the ready (more on this in just a bit).
About 3 hours later the dough should look like this:

Gently turn the dough onto a pizza peel (paddle) or inverted sheet pan (what I used) that has been lightly dusted with semolina flour or cornmeal. Score a large # into the surface of the dough. Score quickly and with a sharp, serrated blade so as not to deflate the dough.

While you are scoring the dough heat some water in a tea kettle and put the square casserole pan on the bottom rack of the oven. When the dough is scored put the inverted pan into the oven or slide the dough onto the pizza stone. Quickly pour hot water into the square casserole pan and shut the oven door. Immediately reduce the heat to 450°. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR! After 25 minutes, working quickly rotate the loaves 180 degrees (at this time it is okay to open the oven door) and reduce the oven temperature to 425°. Continue to bake the loaves for another 20 - 30 minutes, or until they register 200° internally (use an instant read thermometer for this). The finished loaves should be dark brown and crusty. The pan of water in the oven helps to produce the steam necessary to build the thick crust. If the loaves are getting too brown on the bottom put a sheet pan over the pan of water to help block the heat. Conversely, if they are getting too brown on top cover them loosely with a sheet of tin foil.

Wait at least two hours before you slice the bread. I sliced mine the next morning. If you look at the lead picture to this post you will see what I had for breakfast that day. It's really good with Nutella on it.

Complicated? No. Complicated? Yes. The ingredients are simple. The timing is not. Should you try this I encourage you to read this post multiple times. Get a good idea in your head as to how this is going to work. Feel free to shoot me some questions. Feel free to shoot me. Look in my post archives and read through (better yet, make) some of my other bread recipes. They are more basic and will give you a good idea of what bread dough should feel like.

For the record, I am going to play around with the flour ratios in this loaf. The next time I make it I am going to use half bread flour and half whole wheat flour in the final dough. Whatever you choose to experiment with, the final dough should register 200° internally.

Also, keep your barm alive. Refresh it once in a while and it will start to take on a nice tangy flavor and aroma that is unique to your home. This is what I love about sourdough bread; it is truly your bread from your yeast. Yum.

This bread recipe was adapted from Peter Reinhart's book "The Bread Baker's Apprentice".

Easy Dinner: Risotto

2010-10-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

Often when I come home I am in a rush to get dinner prepped, help The Kid with his homework, and save the world from a fate worse than total destruction, not necessarily in that order. Sometimes, believe it or not, I just don't want to cook. Going out can be so much easier but the result is never as satisfying as a home cooked meal, no matter how simple.

Sometimes we just make tacos or some other simple dish that uses up leftovers and scraps.

Other times I like to make things that require only one pan or dish. It makes for easy prep, cooking, and clean up. The latter being the most important, especially when you don't own a dishwasher. One of my favorite one dish meals is risotto. The flavor possibilities are virtually endless. I like to load mine up with a variety of vegetables so when it is served with a good salad and a simple protein (or not) it makes a healthy and balanced meal.

Risotto is a rice dish of Italian origin. Like many ethnic recipes it has changed and adapted over the years to the various styles of chefs around the world. There are some technical considerations that remain constant, though. First, you need some kind of hot stock or liquid. The liquid is added to the rice in increments. It is important that it be hot so as not to momentarily stop the cooking process. (I once worked with a chef who added all of the hot liquid at once and achieved great results. I have even done this myself a time or two. For the recipe presented here we will stick with tradition as that is what you are more likely to encounter in other recipes for risotto.) Second, the rice needs to be lightly sautéed so that it will easily begin accepting the hot liquid.

As for flavorings I like to start with EVOO, onion, and/or garlic. Beyond that I will use just about anything: herbs, vegetables, spices, meats, cheese. I have even made a dessert risotto with cream that was served with pears poached in riesling wine. Once you have the basic technique down you'll see how you can do just about anything with risotto.

One last thing. You need a certain kind of rice to make this dish. There are two common choices: Arborio and Carnaroli. Both are a type of rice from the respective regions in Italy. Arborio rice is a short grain with a high starch content. Carnaroli rice is a medium grain with a higher starch content. I tend to use Carnaroli rice as it keeps its texture a little better during the long cooking process. But either one will work so use what you can find. Uncle Ben's won't work, so don't even think about it.

Let's cook. First we will tackle the liquid. Use stock. Any kind of stock will work but I like to use a lighter stock. Vegetable stock is usually my choice. For those of you who know about my distrust of the meat industry you will be able to guess that I don't like to buy meat stocks unless deemed absolutely necessary. The other thing about vegetable stock is that if you have three simple ingredients laying around (most of you have even more) then you can make a vegetable stock with more flavor than anything you can buy on the shelf. It will not take much more than a minute to prep, either. So open your refrigerator and get out a couple of stalks of that celery that is wilting and limp, a large carrot, and an onion. Chop them up (don't even peel the carrot or the onion) and toss them in a stock pot. Fill the pot with water, toss in some bay leaves or whatever fresh herb stems you have on hand. If you have any pepper corns then toss a palm full of those in, too. For what it's worth, in my stock pictured here I used the peels from the carrots and onion in the recipe. That red onion you see was a scrap in the refrigerator.

Turn on the heat, bring it to a boil, and then reduce the heat so that it just barely bubbles but stays hot.

Now let's get our ingredients out and ready for prep. I'm using garlic, onion, carrots, shelled peas, basil, white wine, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. (I bought the peas already shelled and I cooked them for an earlier recipe of risotto. While the peas were cooking I kept stealing some of the cooking liquid and used that for my risotto liquid in lieu of fresh vegetable stock.)

Dice the carrots into a 1/4 inch dice. Mince the onion and garlic.

Pour a little EVOO into a wide pan and set it over medium heat. Let the oil get hot and then gently sauté the onion and garlic until they are fragrant and translucent. Don't let them brown. Stir, stir, stir.

Add the rice and gently sauté it until it is slightly translucent. Stir, stir, stir.

Add about 1/2 cup of white wine. Stir, stir, stir. Cook the rice until all of the wine has been absorbed.

When all of the wine has been absorbed add a scant cup of the stock directly from the stock pot. Just hold a ladle or measuring cup against the side of the stock pot to keep the vegetable chunks from getting into the cup (if you will cut your vegetables in large chunks this will help). Add the stock to the rice. Stir, stir, stir. When all of the stock has been absorbed add another scant cup. Stir, stir, stir. Lather, rinse, repeat. All in all you will probably need about 6 - 8 cups of liquid for 1 cup of rice. I like to make about 10 - 15 cups of stock at a time. Whatever is left over I will save for another use. It's always good to have on hand.

Now comes the tricky part. It's actually not so much tricky as it just requires a good sense of timing. Carrots are hard. We would like them to be soft but with a slight bite to the tooth. In Italy they call this "al dente". We would like for our rice to be the same: cooked but not mushy. At about cup number 4 I put the carrots in with the liquid.

Stir, stir, stir. Continue adding liquid as before.

Taste the rice every now and again. When you can bite into a grain and feel just the slightest crunch in the center then you are probably about 1 cup of liquid away from being done. Add the last cup of liquid and the shelled peas.

Stir, stir, stir.

By now the rice should be done. Chop your basil now. If you chopped it earlier when you did your carrots then it will have turned black by now. Too bad for you. Get some more and chop it fresh. Chop it small. I did a basil chiffonade. If you have mad knife skills like me then you can do this, too. If not, then just chop it as small as you can. I was fortunate enough to have a sous chef on this day to help stir, stir, stir and add the basil.

Grate some Parmigiano-Regianno cheese and stir it in.

Stir, stir, stir one last time before you season to taste with salt and serve, serve, serve.

It really doesn't take long to prep. The total cooking time is about 40 minutes. All the stirring can be done intermittently but needs to be somewhat consistent just so the risotto doesn't stick and burn. That would be bad. If you have any left over then just store it in a container in the fridge. I like to eat it cold but it drives The Missus crazy when I do that. Either way it tastes great and is easy to make. Clean up is a snap, too. Yum.

Risotto with Shelled Peas, Carrots, and Basil

2-3 Tbsp. EVOO
1 cup Arborio or Carnaroli Rice
2 Garlic Cloves, peeled and minced
1/2 Onion, peeled and minced
2 medium Carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 cup Shelled Fresh Peas, cooked
1/4 cup Basil Leaves, chopped small or chiffonade
1/2 cup Dry White Wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
6 - 10 cups Hot Vegetable Stock
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese, freshly grated
Salt to taste

In a wide, shallow pan set over medium heat add the EVOO and let it get hot. Add the minced onions and garlic. Sauté them until they are fragrant and translucent. Add the rice and sauté it until it is slightly translucent.

Add the wine and cook, stirring constantly, until it has been fully absorbed by the rice. Begin adding the hot stock 1 cup at a time, stirring frequently, until each cup has been fully absorbed by the rice before adding the next cup. You will notice that the rice is becoming thick and fairly creamy. Keep stirring so that it doesn't stick and burn.

After about 4 cups of hot stock have been added toss in the diced carrots. Continue to add hot stock as directed above. Keep stirring. The carrots will begin to soften slightly. When the rice is done (it should have a slight bite but not be crunchy at all; nor should it be mushy) add the peas, basil, and grated cheese. Season to taste with salt and serve immediately.

Field to Table VII: Venison Bolognese with Saffron

2010-10-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

It's almost deer season again. My larders are running low as I am almost out of my kills from last year. As the weather has begun to get cooler, the days shorter, I begin making recipes that have long cooking times and deep flavor. I want comfort food. I want slow food.

I have, in the past, had the pleasure of working with Giuliano Hazan. He is the son of Marcella Hazan. He knows his Italian food. At one class we were working together we had a brief discussion about Bolognese sauce. This is the famous pasta sauce from Emilia-Romagna, where Bologna is the capital. Regional dishes that have acquired world renown often have many different variations (like chili in Texas) and almost everyone has their own way of making it. Bolognese is no exception. Giuliano talked about his version and I talked about mine. They were remarkably similar. The difference was that, while his used the standard mirepoix (carrot, celery, and onion), mine added minced garlic and herbs.

For this recipe I wanted to try something a little different. Because I was using venison I wanted to use something that complimented the slight gaminess of the meat. I thought that saffron might be a nice addition with its deep, floral earthiness. I had a little saffron on hand so methinks, "WTF?" I mean, really, how bad could it be?

If you don't have venison on hand then ground chuck will work just fine, with or without the saffron. If you use chuck you will want to drain the fat after you brown the meat. Play around with the herbs and spices but understand the you should use them sparingly. Also understand the nutmeg is common and essential. Don't substitute the butter and milk for anything low-fat, either. There isn't a whole lot of either one and both play an important role in adding body to the sauce and helping to break down the meat.

First things first. Mis en place ou mourir dans la merde. This is French term, when loosely translated means, "Do your prep or die in the shit." (One of my chef buddies actually has this tattooed on his arm.) Mis en place is an actual culinary term. Literally translated it means "to put in place". Chefs refer to their prep work as mis en place, or simply, mise. The term is used in the movie Ratatouille. But I digress. Let's prep. It's really very simple. Put your meat in a bowl and mince your vegetables (mirepoix + garlic).

See? Easy peasy.

Now put your minced veggies into a deep pan or stock pot with the EVOO and butter. Turn on the heat to medium and cook the veggies until they are slightly soft. Don't rush. You'll be here all day making this sauce and getting your house to smell erotically saucy. Take your time.

While the veggies are slowly cooking get your spices together, if you are going to use them.I'm using chopped fresh thyme, dried oregano, and saffron. You may be asking yourself why I used fresh thyme and dried oregano. The answer is simple: because that's what I had. If I had any oregano growing outside I would have picked it and used it fresh. Don't forget to stir the veggies now and again. You don't want them to burn. Burned food tastes bad.

When the veggies are beginning to show slight signs of browning then you may add the meat and brown it. Don't adjust the heat to a higher level. Let it take it's time. Stir it now and again so that the clumps of meat break apart. Pour a glass of wine and don't worry that you are drinking at 10:00 a.m. If you are worried that someone will scold you for drinking wine so early in the morning then just pour it into a coffee mug. Slow food has it's rewards.

When the meat is properly browned it should look like this:

At this point you will add a cup of dry white wine. I like to use a soave or pinot grigio. Stay far, far away from chardonnay. Chardonnay = bad, bad, bad. Why? Because I feel that the nuances of oak, vanilla, butter, and pear that are present (sometimes in sledgehammer proportions) in chardonnay really interfere with, rather than integrate, ingredients in most recipes.

Cook the wine (don't forget to give a stir every once in a while) until it has almost evaporated. Then add the milk and spices, cooking and stirring until the milk has almost evaporated. (Though you can't see it in the picture there is a little freshly grated nutmeg underneath that pile of goodness.)

It's time for the tomatoes. Don't use fresh tomatoes unless you can find them at the peak of their flavor in the summer. This means that you have about a 2 or 3 month window to make this sauce in the summertime. During the rest of the year fresh tomatoes are going to taste like shoes. Use canned whole tomatoes. I bought 2 large cans of San Marzano tomatoes (any brand will work, though). Open the cans and, using a pair of kitchen shears, roughly chop the tomatoes in the can. Conversely, you can put the tomatoes, juice and all, into a food processor and pulse them a few times. Just remember that it is a rough chop. Let the long, slow cooking process break the pieces down. Add the tomatoes to the meat and spices. (Those two whitish things in the pot are Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese rinds. Extra flavor.) Now we get to use my favorite culinary term of all time: cook the shit out of it.

When the sauce starts to bubble turn the heat down to the lowest setting so that the sauce just barely simmers. The sauce will need to be stirred occasionally. You don't want it to stick and burn. I cooked mine for about 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Like I said, take your time. Plan to be at home all day when you make this sauce. The slow cooking time really does let the flavor develop into something so deep that you will suddenly start speaking as if your last name were Soprano or Corleone. Or you may do this. The finished sauce should look like this:

Season to taste with salt. Stir it until you find the cheese rinds and discard them. You have spent a long time making this sauce. You should know that it freezes well so don't be afraid to put half of it in the freezer for another time. When you serve it you want to toss the pasta with the sauce. Use only enough sauce so that the pasta is just coated and the meat is evenly distributed. Don't drown your pasta with the sauce. Top the bowl of pasta with a grating of fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano. Don't forget the vino. A sturdy sangiovese, bonarda, or barbera would be a good match. I also think that a negroamaro or cannonau would be good, too. But really, drink what you like. It will be fine. Oh, one more thing: this sauce tastes better the next day; just something to think about. Yum.

Venison Bolognese with Saffron

1 Yellow Onion, peeled and minced
2 Carrots, peeled and minced
2 Celery Ribs, minced
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
6 Tbsp. Butter
4 Tbsp. EVOO
2 # Ground Venison (or ground beef chuck)
2 cups Dry White Wine
1 cup Whole Milk
2 tsp. Fresh Thyme, chopped
2 tsp. Fresh Oregano, chopped
1/2 gram Saffron Threads
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg, freshly grated
2 large cans Whole Peeled Tomatoes, roughly chopped

Put the EVOO, butter, and minced vegetables in a large, deep pot or stock pot and turn the heat to medium. Allow the vegetables to cook until they are just beginning to brown.

Add the meat and break it apart with a wooden spoon. Allow the meat to brown.

Add the wine and cook it, stirring occasionally, until it has mostly evaporated. Add the milk and spices and cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the milk has mostly evaporated.

Using kitchen shears inserted directly into the can, roughly chop the tomatoes. You can also pulse them, juice and all, in a food processor until they are just chopped but still fairly chunky. Add the tomatoes to the pot and let them begin to bubble. When the sauce begins to bubble reduce the heat to low so that it just barely simmers. Cook the sauce until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 3 or 4 hours. When the sauce is thick season it to taste with salt. Freeze half of the sauce (or more) and serve the rest tossed with freshly boiled pasta (spaghetti, linguine, or some shape, like orrechiete, that catches the sauce) and topped with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Emergency Dessert

2010-09-20T07:46:00.001-07:00

I must credit my good friend and chef, Donatella Trotti, as the inspiration for this dessert. She owns a restaurant in Ft. Worth, Texas called Nonna Tata. If you are ever in the area you must go eat there. But be warned: they only take cash, check, or Euros; they are closed on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday; dinner service begins at 5:00 p.m.; they don't take reservations; and the only have five small tables. But her food is the best Italian food in the area, possibly in the state. It's the real deal.

(Donatella Trotti)

In an earlier post last year I wrote about a dinner I had there with my best friend. We can eat like it's nobody's business and she stuffed us beyond belief. When she sent our desserts (three of them) to the table, one plate was covered with Nutella panini.

So we had already done a fair amount of damage here but you get the idea.

It is no coincidence then, that I grabbed a jar of Nutella while grocery shopping the other day. You know, just in case...
The great thing about this dessert is that you probably only have to buy the Nutella. Everything else you will have on hand.

See? EVOO and bread. If you don't have those two items on hand then we need to talk.
The preparation is simple. Spread some Nutella (don't skimp but don't overdo it as you don't want it to run out the sides when it cooks) on a slice of bread. Top it with the other slice of bread so that you have a Nutella sandwich. Spread EVOO on the top slice and place this side down on a preheated griddle. Spread the new top side with EVOO.

Place a weight on top of the sandwich while it cooks. I use a small cast iron pan but any weight will do. A tea kettle full of water, carefully balanced, will work too. This helps to compress the sandwich. If you are fortunate enough to have a panini press then you can use this instead. Sadly, I am not fortunate; I am old-school.

Don't forget to grill both sides. When the sandwich is done carefully cut it in half, sprinkle it with powdered sugar, and serve immediately. You can even serve it on a fancier plate than the paper plate I am using for the picture.

I was lazy and didn't sift the powdered sugar so it looks like it is covered in meth. Sorry about that.

Remember, this is just like making a grilled cheese sandwich so you can't really screw it up. Unless you burn it. So keep the heat under control and we'll all get out in one piece. Consider using a bread with a fairly tight crumb. Something with big, gaping holes (like ciabatta) isn't a good idea because the Nutella will run out of the holes while it cooks. That would be bad. Other than that any old white bread will work.

This would make an okay breakfast, too. Hell, it would be better for you than biscuits and gravy. Or doughnuts. Or bacon and eggs. I mean, this panini is cholesterol free. Now you have a really good excuse to eat one anytime.

Field to Table VI: Hatch Green Chile Stew

2010-09-10T06:51:00.000-07:00

I must begin with a full disclaimer: I am not that enamored with the Hatch Green Chile. Some people may look upon me with disdain, accusing me of blasphemy or sacrilege. There may be calls for my head, bounties offered for my capture and torture, or worse still, I may lose readers. But I stand by my comment. I just don't quite get the hype over Hatch Green Chiles. After all, it is just a strain of Anaheim Chile. Honestly, I find that the Poblano Chile carries more depth of flavor and, on occasion, packs a good punch of heat. The Poblano is also available year round.

Still, each year when my store promotes the Hatch Green Chile (putting it in everything from brownies to burgers, apple pies to pizza pies, gelato to tacos) I feel obliged to toss something out there for the masses of Hatch Green Chile Disciples. So I present to you my Hatch Green Chile Stew with Posole and Wild Hog. Feel free to make this with Poblano Chiles. I think it will taste a little more...deep.

It all started here.

Needless to say, The Missus was thrilled to have me string this baby up in the back yard and process it.

After butchering the hog I wrapped the various parts for the freezer and use them for various recipes. I decided to use the ribs for this recipe.

This recipe is very easy but you will need to soak the posole at least 6 hours or overnight. Simply put the kernels in a bowl and cover them with water.

But before we start cooking the ribs it is necessary to roast the peppers. I did mine over the open flame of the gas range. You want the skins to be black all over but avoid burning them to a gray ash.

As the chiles blacken (they will finish at different rates) put them in a plastic or paper bag to cool and sweat. This will make the charred skins easier to remove.

Now, let's cook that meat! Much like the venison ragu in an earlier post, we are going to braise the ribs. First, let's sear the meat as best we can. Don't worry if the shape of the rib racks won't allow you to sear it all over. We just need to get some of the surfaces nicely browned.

Now we have a little fond in the pan. This is good. Here at Punk Chef we are fond of fond. For this recipe I took some veggie scraps from the refrigerator and made a simple stock base. I did a rough chop on these and sautéed them with the fond.

Now we can add the ribs back to the pan, add water just to cover, toss in some spices (I used pepper corn and bay leaf), and cover the pot. Bring the stock to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer. Let it cook for about 2 hours or until the meat is tender and can be pulled easily from the bones.

While the ribs are cooking we need to get our onions and chiles ready. Let's slice the onions first and get the tears out of the way. When the onions are sliced sauté them in a little EVOO until they are lightly browned.

Cook the onions slowly so that you can peel the peppers at the same time. Just don't forget to stir the onions every once in a while. I like to peel the peppers over a paper towel for easy clean up. When peeling and seeding the peppers it is important to not wash them under running water. Don't worry if you can't get all the black skin off; this is what gives the stew a roasted flavor. If you wash the skin from the chiles you will wash off most of the roasted flavor, too.

Once we have the chiles peeled, seeded, and sliced we can toss them into the pan with the onions. Let's throw in a little chopped garlic for good measure, too.

When I make stew like this I really like to pump up the flavor of the corn. A good way to do this is to add a couple of tablespoons of masa harina. On this day, however, I did not have any masa harina on hand so I cut two corn tortillas into a fine julienne. If you don't have mad knife skills you could just put them into a food processor and grind them into oblivion. But if you have masa harina on hand then I recommend using that. Add the masa (or tortillas) to the pan with the onions, chiles, and garlic. Cook the mixture until the masa is well incorporated, or if using the tortillas, until they are soft and falling apart.

Put this mixture aside until the ribs are done. When the ribs have finished cooking we need to remove them to a plate to cool and strain the stock.

Now we must cook the posole. Simply add it to the strained stock and top the level off with water so that the posole is covered by about 3 inches. Bring the stock to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer. Lightly cover the pot and let the posole cook until it is tender, about 2 hours. Add more water if necessary.

While the posole is cooking we need to begin picking the meat from the ribs. Once all the meat is removed from the bones we can just add it to the bowl of chiles and onions.

When the posole is tender we just dump the pork, onions, and chiles into the stock. Let the mixture cook so that the tortillas can fully break down and all the flavors can integrate. Season the stew to your liking with salt.

Ladle the stew into bowls and serve with a garnish of chopped cilantro (unless you are one of those people who thinks cilantro tastes like soap) and a lime wedge. Squeeze the lime into the stew and chow down. Yum.

Hatch Green Chile Stew with Posole and Wild Hog

For the stew base:
1 rack Pork Ribs, cut into pieces
1 Onion, chopped rough with the skin left on
1 Carrot, chopped rough
3 Celery Ribs, chopped rough
3 Garlic Cloves, smashed
1 Tbsp. Black Peppercorns
3-6 Bay Leaves (depending on your taste for the leaf)
Water to cover
EVOO
Salt to taste
For the chiles and onions:
6 Hatch Green Chiles, roasted, peeled, and seeded (or Poblano Chilies)
1 Onion, peeled and sliced
3 Garlic Cloves, peeled and minced
2 Tbsp. Masa Harina (or 2 Corn Tortillas cut into a fine julienne)

For the posole:
1 cup Posole, soak 6 hours or overnight

Cilantro and Lime wedges for garnish

Heat the oil in a pot and sear the ribs until they are browned in places. Remove the ribs to a plate and sauté the vegetables until they are lightly browned. Add the ribs and spices. Add water to just cover the ribs and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pot, and cook for about 2 hours or until the meat is tender enough to easily pull from the bones.

While the ribs are cooking roast, peel, and seed the chiles. Sauté the onions over a low heat until they are slightly browned. Add the chiles, minced garlic, and masa harina (or tortillas) to the pan and stir well. Let the mixture cool while the ribs finish cooking.

When the ribs are done cooking lift them from the pot and put them on a plate to cool. Strain the stock and put it into a clean stock pot. Add the posole to the stock and add water (if needed) to cover the posole by about 3 inches. Bring the stock to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer, lightly cover the pan and let the posole cook until it is tender, about 2 hours.

While the posole is cooking pick the meat from the ribs. Discard the bones. Add the meat to the reserved chiles and onions. When the posole is done add the meat, chiles, and onions to the pot. Season with salt.

Serve hot in bowls garnished with chopped cilantro and lime wedges.

"Sticky Coconut Rice with______"

2010-08-12T07:22:00.001-07:00

This one is for you, Jess. You get to fill in the blank on this one. One of the things that I like about making sweet sticky rice is that you can top it with just about anything. The most common combination is to put sliced or diced mango on it. This is very common in various Asian countries. Here in Texas, though, we sometimes have ripe mangoes and sometimes not. So in the peak of the summer fruit season there are myriad choices of wonderful fruits that do well with sticky rice. Some other fruits that I think would work well with this recipe are: blueberries, cherries (pitted), papaya, banana, kiwi, and dates.

We happen to have lots of nice plums at the store so I picked a hybrid called Plumogranate. This is just a regular plum with a deep crimson flesh and juice that is reminiscent of the color of a pomegranate. The flavor is sweet/tart, leaning to sweet. The flesh is firm, providing a nice bite but nowhere near crunchy.

The other nice thing about this recipe is that all you need to be sure you have on hand is a can of coconut milk, plums (or the fruit of your choice), a little brown sugar, and some sweet rice or sushi rice. For this recipe I used the short grain sushi rice available in the bulk department of my store. I like this type of rice because it takes less prep time than the true Sweet Rice (glutenous rice). If you get a package of the latter just be sure that you follow the directions on the package and allow yourself plenty of time to prep. I recommend the short grain sushi rice, though. It is more readily available and a snap to prep.

Measure out one cup of rice, put it into a strainer and rinse it. Agitate it with your fingers while you rinse it until the water runs fairly clear. Drain the remaining water from the rice and put the rice into a bowl. Let it rest on the counter while you prepare the coconut milk.

Shake the can of coconut milk very well and then put the contents into a small saucepan. Stir in 1/2 cup of brown sugar and put the pan over a low flame to gently warm the milk. (The little swirl of brown you see on the coconut milk is the brown sugar. Stir it so that it is completely dissolved.)

Measure out 1 cup of water using the same cup you used to measure the rice (this is how a sushi chef taught me to make sushi rice and I never deviate from his method). Bring the water to a boil and add the rice. Cover and simmer the rice until all the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. Just peek down into the rice, using a spoon to separate the grains, to see if there is any moisture left in the pan. The grains should be translucent and tender.

Pour the sweet coconut milk over the rice and allow the pan to sit at room temperature until the rice has absorbed the milk.

When the milk has been absorbed (this could take up to an hour) you are ready to serve the rice. If you want, though, you can chill the rice and serve it cold. Simply mound the rice on a plate, top it with your choice of fruit, and, if you have a little bit of milk left over (I tend to save about 1/4 cup for garnish), drizzle a little sweet coconut milk around the plate. Yum. I like to eat cold leftovers for breakfast, too. Eat up, Jess!

Sticky Coconut Rice with Mango

1 cup Short Grain Sushi Rice
1 cup Water
1 can Coconut Milk
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 Mango, peeled and sliced (if you want more mango, by all means add it)

Rinse the rice in running water until the water runs fairly clear. Let the rice rest for 10 minutes.

Mix the coconut milk with the brown sugar and put it over a low flame to gently warm.

Cook the rice in 1 cup of water until all the moisture has been absorbed.

Pour the coconut milk over the rice and let it stand until it has been absorbed. This could take about an hour.

Mound the rice on plates and top with mango. If you want, you can save about 1/4 cup of the sweet coconut milk for garnish to drizzle around the plate.

Punk Chef: A Year In Pictures

2010-08-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

A big thank you is in order to my small group of followers and to those who just prowl the blog for helping me to keep doing this. I can't believe that it's been a year already. Here are some of my favorite pics of my food, in no particular order.

Cheers! Let's eat our way through another year, shall we?

Blueberry "Soft"

2010-08-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

O.k., I am back from my vacation. I will have an extensive post coming on that soon but I wanted to get some recipes up first. I have two that deal with my favorite thing about summer: fruit. I love the fruits of summer. I love the peaches and cherries. I love the berries: straw, red, blue, and black. I love the plums, so varied in size, texture, color, and flavor. Oh and the figs! So erotically soft and moist they are.

Mostly I just like to eat them out of hand. My love of baking, though, encourages me to make any dessert that I can. I make pies, crips, tarts, galettes, turnovers, you name it. So today's post will focus on my favorite "short notice" dessert; the crisp.

A good crisp should be just that. Crisp. It should be crisp on top with a luscious layer of soft and flavorful fruit underneath. Over the years I have experimented with various toppings. Often the topping is a type of streusel topping made with oats, butter, flour, sugar, and spices. I eventually settled on using blanched and chopped almonds in place of the oats so that I could get a really good crispy and crunchy topping.

But like I said, this is my "short notice" dessert. So I find that one day blueberries are on sale a the store. So, naturally, I buy some. I bring them home confident that I have all the ingredients on hand to make a crisp. I root through my strategically unorganized spice cabinet and get what I need. Then I mosey on over to the pantry and find no nuts. None. Zilch. I do, however, have rolled oats. They will have to do. Slightly crestfallen, I head over to my workspace and begin prep on my Bluberry Not-So-Crisp.

The nice thing about a crisp is that all you need are a few ingredients, most of which most of you will have on hand. That is why it is such a good dessert to have on short notice. They are incredibly easy to just throw together. I never even use a recipe anymore and, with little enough practice, you won't need one either.

I tossed my blueberries into a bowl and mixed them with a pinch of salt, cinnamon, about 1/4 cup of sugar, a tablespoon or so of black molasses, a little lemon zest and juice, and about a tablespoon of flour to help thicken the juice. Stir it all together and let it rest while you prepare the topping. I like the molasses with blueberries. It give it an old New England flair. I actually got the idea of molasses with blueberries while doing some research on colonial desserts. I came across a Blueberry Grunt that called for molasses and have been hooked ever since. But if you don't like molasses just leave it out and up the amount of sugar slightly. Also, I don't like my fruit desserts very sweet as I like to taste the fruit. I tend to cut back on the sugar quite a bit so if you like your desserts sweeter then up your sugar amount by 1/4 to 1/2 cup, or to taste.

For the topping I mixed into another bowl the flour, butter, oats, salt, and brown sugar. These ingredients are mixed together until they feel like sand with visible clumps of butter.

Once the topping was mixed I put the filling into a baking dish large enough to hold it. Make sure that there is still room for the topping. I spread the topping evenly over the fruit filling.

I baked mine at 375° until the top was nicely browned and the juices were bubbly. I also tend to bake my crisps on a baking pan lined with foil or parchment paper. This way when the juices bubble over the clean up will be easy. Also, the juices won't burn in the oven.

Let the crisp cool before you cut into it. Other wise you will sear the taste buds off of your tongue and you won't be able to enjoy it once it does cool. That would be no fun at all. I bit into this one and thought, "It's not crisp. It's a layer of soft followed by another layer of soft. But, damn, it's good!" So that's why I call it a Blueberry Soft. And good it was. Yum.

The recipe below is for my Fruit Crisp. Should you choose to make a Soft then just substitute rolled oats (not instant) for the almonds. As you can see by my description above and the recipe below there is quite a discrepancy. The recipe below is tried and true. Use it as a starting point to get a feel for how to make a crisp. Soon you will end up winging it like I did with the Blueberry Soft.

Summer Fruit Crisp

FOR THE FILLING:
8 cups mixed fresh berries: blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, cherries (pitted)
1-2 Tbsp. Flour
2 - 3 Tbsp. sugar, depending upon sweetness of berries
½ tsp. finely grated lemon zest

FOR THE TOPPING:
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup melted butter
½ cup finely chopped almonds.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To prepare filling, toss berries with flour, sugar and lemon zest. Set aside.

2. To make topping, in a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, spices and salt. With your fingers mix in butter and almonds. Coarse crumbs will form.

3. Pour filling into a 9-inch square or round pan (do not grease first). Using your fingers, form topping mixture into 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch crumbs and spread over the topping. Bake until filling bubbles and topping is light golden, about 55 minutes. Let cool slightly. Serve.

Yield: 6 servings.

Summer Update

2010-07-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry that I have been away from posting for so long. School is out and The Kid is done with camp. So I haven't had as much time to blog as I would like. I do have some posts coming: Blueberry "Soft", Sticky Coconut Rice with Plums. I love summer and its bounty of fruits and vegetables.

Right now I am away from my own computer and am using that of a friend. My family and I are vacationing in Groton, New York, which is near Ithaca. I so wish that I could load my pictures and share them with you right now. It is absolutely beautiful up here (Ithaca is Gorges). And speaking of summer fruit, we just went to Grisamore Farms, just outside of Ithaca and picked THIRTY POUNDS (30!!!!!) of blueberries!! I will be making some blueberry pies tomorrow. Tonight we are going to eat at the famed Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca.

That's all for now. I haven't forgotten about my Faithful 14 Followers, I've just been busy this summer. I'll be doing lot's of blogging when I get back to Texas. I promise.

Szechuan Veggie Stir-Fry

2010-06-04T08:12:00.000-07:00

If you have been following my blog then you may have the wrong idea about how I usually eat. Most of you (followers) know by now that I only eat meat if I have killed it myself. The one general exception is fish, as I am a truly incompetent angler. Still, I tend to eat red meat about two or three times a month (sometimes less); fish crosses my fork about four to five times a month. I tend to lump pork and fowl in with the red meat category.

So for the rest of my meals I eat plants and their fruits. And cookies. This can be further detailed as legumes, nuts, grains, a variety of leafy greens, and a variety of fruits (sweet and savory) and vegetables. And cookies.

Last night I decided to make a Szechuan style vegetable stir-fry. I borrowed some ideas from my friend Dorothy Huang (she lives in Houston and teaches Chinese cooking classes and offers tours of Houston's Chinatown district). If you are going to embark on Asian style cooking you will need to stock your pantry with some basic ingredients. I keep on hand: Oyster Sauce, Mushroom Sauce, Black Bean Garlic Paste, Sambal, Sriracha, Tamari (or soy sauce), and some hot sauce that my friend, Chef Christina Lee, made. There are myriad other ingredients you can add to your collection but these things have been pretty standard for me whenever I choose to cook something Asian. I also keep a box of cornstarch handy for thickening some of the sauces I make. This is pretty common in Chinese (or Chinese-American) food. So while I generally don't eat a lot of corn-based foods I also figure that a tablespoon here and there is not a big deal.

This recipe is improvised but I will give you a fairly accurate approximation of measurements at the end of the post. Also, feel free to top the finish product with chicken or shrimp, or add in some browned meat near the end of the cooking time.

Oh, it helps to have one of these, too.

For my vegetables I chose green beans, carrots, onions, red bell peppers,Shiitake mushrooms, and ginger. Snap the stems off the beans and break them into 1" lengths. Cut the carrots into small sticks. Slice the onions and red bell peppers. Remove and discard the stems from the mushrooms and slice the caps. Finely mince the ginger.

Set the prepped vegetables aside while you get your sauce ingredients ready. Mix together in a bowl the mushroom sauce, black bean garlic sauce, sambal, and tamari. (I mixed in some of that hot sauce my friend made, too.)

Set the sauce mixture aside and make a little slurry of cornstarch and water (1 Tbsp:1 Tbsp). Get your oil ready. I do the initial frying in canola oil as it has a higher smoking point (it can get hotter) than roasted sesame oil. I use the sesame oil near the end of the cooking time for flavor.

Preheat the wok over high heat and leave the heat source on high. Place a fair amount of oil, 3-4 Tbsp., in the hot wok and let the oil get hot, too. Add the green beans and allow them to fry, turning slightly charred in spots. Don't worry if it seems like there is a lot of oil in the pan. The mushrooms will soak that up.

When the green beans have cooked for about 5 minutes add the carrots and let them cook for 1-5 minutes, depending on how thick you have cut them (thicker = longer).

Keeping the heat source high and stirring constantly you may now add the onions and bell peppers. Sauté them until they are just translucent, about 2 minutes.

Now add the mushrooms and minced ginger. The mushrooms will quickly soak up all the oil. This is where I add about 1 Tbsp. of roasted sesame oil for flavor and aroma. It also helps to keep things from sticking too much.

When the mushrooms start to show some signs of caramelization and the ginger is very fragrant mix the cornstarch slurry into the sauce mixture and pour the whole thing into the vegetable mixture. Stir quickly and continuously so that all the vegetables get coated and the cornstarch can thicken. This step should only take a minute or two.

Serve your stir-fry immediately over rice, garnishing it with a little chopped, fresh cilantro. I squeeze a little Sriracha on my plate at the table because I like a little more heat than The Missus. Chopsticks are optional.

Szechuan Style Vegetable Stir-Fry
1/2 # Green Beans, stems removed and cut into 1" pieces
1 Carrot, peeled and cut into thick batons (match sticks)
1 small Onion, peeled and sliced
1 Red Bell Pepper, cored and sliced
1/2 # Shiitake Mushrooms, stems removed, caps sliced
1+ Tbsp. Fresh Ginger, peeled and minced

For the sauce:
2-3 Tbsp. Oyster or Mushroom Sauce
1 Tbsp. Sambal Chili Sauce
2 Tbsp. Black Bean Garlic Sauce
2 Tbsp. Tamari or Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp. Corn Starch
1 Tbsp. Water

1/4 cup Canola Oil
2 Tbsp. Roasted Sesame Oil
Chopped Fresh Cilantro for garnish
Sriracha for added heat at the table

In a small bowl mix the ingredients for the sauce and set aside. Mix together the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and set aside. Just before stirring the sauce into the hot vegetables mix it with the cornstarch slurry.

Heat a wok over high heat, add the canola oil and let it get very hot.
Add the green beans and fry them until they are slightly browned in spots.
Add the carrots and fry them until they are slightly browned in spots.
Add the onions and peppers, sautéing until they are just translucent. Remember to stir the vegetables continually.
Add the mushrooms and ginger. When the mushrooms have soaked up all the remaining oil add the sesame oil. Keep stirring.
When you notice that the mushrooms are limp and slightly browned, and that the ginger is starting to stick a little, add the sauce (mixed with the cornstarch slurry) all at once and stir, stir, stir. The cornstarch will begin to thicken fairly quickly. When all of the vegetables are evenly coated turn off the heat and serve the vegetables over rice. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro and Sriracha (for more heat).

Serves 4

Argentine Wine Brunch

2010-05-25T07:29:00.000-07:00

There are some days when I end up kicking myself for not bringing my camera along with me when I walk out the door. Sunday, May 23, 2010 was one of those days. On this day I had the great pleasure of working with Matias Michelini, winemaker for Finca Sophenia Wines of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Matias was presenting some of his wines and I was tasked with preparing an Argentine lunch for the class.

Originally we were to have Roberto Luka, President and Co-founder of Finca Sophenia, come and discuss his wines. Due to a previous obligation with the Argentine government Mr. Luka was not able to attend. In his place he sent his winemaker, Matias Michelini (he commented that they were in the middle of harvest as he left for Texas). Mr. Michelini presented four of his wines that afternoon: Finca Sophenia Reserve Malbec; Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon; Finca Sophenia Synthesis Malbec; Synthesis "The Blend" (Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot).

The Reserve wines are priced at $19.99 and are, in my opinion, very good values. The malbec showed a nice nose of dark berries (blueberry, cherry) which led to a nice dark fruit taste with light tannins. What I liked about this wine was the presence of tannic structure. Many Argentine malbecs (mostly those wines in the $10 price range) show very little tannic structure with a lot of fruit coming through. This makes the wines super smooth and very easy to drink. While it is true that is the appeal of these wines, from a chef's perspective it doesn't make for great food pairing. Sure, you can do some things with them but they can be easily over powered or they can easily over power the food. I find these more generic malbecs best for just sipping. Sophenia, on the other hand, has more balance between the fruit and tannins. There is much more depth to the wine in terms of fruit. I picked up some blueberry, blackberry, dark cherry, a little chocolate. The tannic structure of the wine brought out some woody notes (oak? cedar?), and something slightly herbaceous (rosemary?). The finish on the wine lasted a nice long time, allowing me to observe the changing aromas and flavors. I think that if this wine were a French Bordeaux it would have been priced at $40 or more. This malbec received a score of 90 points from Robert Parker.

The Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon had a definite nose of wood (rosemary or cedar) along with some wet stone, blackberries, and raisins. Again, a wine of this complexity for $20 is a steal. There is enough tannic structure to allow this wine to age for several more years, probably through 2015. The palate offered an abundance of sweet and spicy dark fruit flavors, definite notes of cedar, and something like mild green pepper lurking around on the finish. I found that last note really interesting and Mr. Michelini commented that sometimes when grapes are grown at high elevations (4,000 ft.) you can sometimes find these green pepper notes in red wines. This is due to the drastic differences in the night and day temperatures.

Both of these wines were served with a small picada plate (Argentine appetizer or antipasti) of carrots with salsa criolla (puréed onions, bell peppers, vinegar, salt and pepper), cured and aged ham, olive bread, and black olives. This is a typical way to start a meal in Argentina; sit down and enjoy some wine and little bites of food before moving on to the larger courses.

Now it was time to taste the big wines. First up was the Synthesis Malbec. As I stated earlier about the structure of value malbec wines versus the Sophenia Reserve, well, the Synthesis took malbec to a whole different level for the Argentine
style (granted there are other Argentine wines that do this: Luca, Nostros, to name a couple). This wine is a dark, inky purple that seductively comes to you. On the nose you are hit with a wonderful amount of dark fruits and violets. The tannins are very well integrated with the fruit and provide a wonderfully long finish that shows this wine can easily age for another decade or so. It reminded me immediately of some of the wines of Cahors, France, often considered the birthplace of the malbec grape. Though it wasn't quite as strong as a good Cahors it definitely paid homage to it's ancestors. This was a malbec with balls. At $35 it is still a good deal because you get a lot of wine for this price. The wine garnered a 90 point rating from Robert Parker.

I paired this wine with a Pastel de Papas, or potato and meat pie. This is a very common dish in Argentina. It is basically a shepherd's pie (meat filling topped with mashed potatoes and baked). The Patagonia region of Argentina has a lot of Welsh immigrant history. It is thought that the Welsh brought shepherd's pie with them when they immigrated to Argentina and the dish assimilated into the local culture. The Argentine version of this dish is made with ground meat, onions, spices, raisins, olive, and boiled eggs. The filling is topped with mashed potatoes and then the dish is baked. This is where I got one of the biggest compliments of my career. Mr. Michelni was thrilled to have something so authentic and unexpected. He took one bite and exclaimed to the class, "This dish is called Pastel de Papas!" He looked over at me and gave me a big thumbs-up. Then he walked over and looked at the rib eye roast we were going to serve next and said, "You are a great chef." When you can impress the natives then you know that you have hit the mark. I said to him, "And you are a great winemaker. It is a pleasure to work with you."

Then last wine was the Synthesis "The Blend". This wine is a blend of malbec, cabernet sauvignon, and merlot. This is, essentially, a Bordeaux style blend (in Bordeaux the five grapes used are cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, malbec, and petit verdot). In the case of the Synthesis Mr. Michelini uses more malbec than cabernet sauvignon or merlot. His blending style showed how these grapes can really temper each other to make for a softer, more elegant wine. While the 100% malbec wine had a certain roughness to it this wine proved to be more gentlemanly. The blend is 45% malbec, 35% cabernet sauvignon, and 20% merlot. It was aged for 14 months in 100% new French oak barrels. The nose was complex, offering aromas of toast, mineral, earth, and black fruit. On the palate the wine was incredibly opulent, delivering loads of dark fruit flavors and well integrated tannins that gave a long smooth finish. Yes, the wine is $55 but would make any special occasion a grand occasion. I think that if this wine were French it would cost closer to $100. The wine garnered a 93 point rating from Robert Parker.

If you didn't know in Argentina they eat 145 pounds of beef per capita annually. That's a lot of beef. It averages out to about 1/2 pound every day. So of course I served a whole rib eye roast with this wine. And, of course, it was served with a side of chimichurri. You just can't go wrong with that. Once again Mr. Michelini was very happy with the pairing. He liked the beef so much that he asked me what I seasoned it with. When I told him it was just salt and pepper he smiled a knowing smile that said, "When you have good meat don't mess it up with fancy seasonings. Let the beef shine." We seemed to be on the same page. Of course for dessert I served alfajores, a traditional Argentine dessert of shortbread cookies sandwiching dulce de leche. Yum.

If you live near a Central Market in Texas you should be able to find the wines there. If not, check your local wine shop and see if they can procure them for you. You won't regret it. These are good wines.

And just so you don't leave hungry I have provided the recipe for Pastel de Papas. Enjoy!

Pastel de Papas

4 large Russet Potatoes
Salt to taste
3 tbsp. Butter
½ -1 cup Milk
4 large Onions, chopped
3 Tbsp. Grape Seed Oil
1 lb. Ground Beef, lean
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. ground Cumin
4 Hard-Boiled Eggs, sliced
1 cup Black Olives
1 cup Raisins
12 Chicken Thighs, boneless and skinless, browned
Pepper and Cumin

Boil the potatoes whole in a large pot of salted water. When they are easily pierced with a fork drain, cool, and peel them. Add the butter and mash them. Add the milk little by little, stirring constantly until the mixture is still thick but can be spread easily. Season with salt and pepper and leave to one side while you prepare the meat filling. Fry the onions in oil until transparent, add the ground meat and stir to brown. Season with salt, pepper and ground cumin. To prepare
the pie use an oven-proof dish that you can take to the table. Spread over the bottom of the dish the onion-ground meat mixture. Arrange over this the hard boiled egg slices, olives and raisins. Put the chicken pieces on Top. Cover the filling with the potatoes. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Serve immediately.

Serves 8 - 10

Field to Table V: Venison Carpaccio

2010-05-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just hit one out of the park. I'm not really sure what prompted the idea. Maybe it was just me thinking of anything that I could to with venison that was just different. It may have already been done before but I had certainly never tried it. So I just started thinking about the flavors, putting them together in my head. "This just has to work", I thought.

As I have stated before I like to shoot some of the smaller deer as they tend to yield a sweeter meat. Every trophy buck I have ever eaten had a very strong game flavor to it. I'm okay with that but most people I talk with tend to say that flavor steers them away from venison. So this meat I have on hand is from mostly younger doe. And. It. Is. Sweet. So what else can I do with this? Carpaccio!

Carpaccio is an Italian dish that is typically made with beef (tenderloin cuts work well). The beef is cut into thin pieces or medallions and pounded very, very thin. Then the meat is simply dressed with flavors and eaten raw. Carpaccio is similar to beef tartare, a preparation that calls for cutting the meat into a small dice, mixing it with aromatics, and eating it raw.

Some people freak out a little bit at the idea of eating meat raw. But I'm okay with it. Try this recipe with venison or beef. I bet you'll like it.

I started with some venison back strap. I simply cut small medallions from the loin and arranged them on a piece of plastic wrap.

I then took a meat tenderizing mallet and flattened the medallions in to a large disk. You have to do this gently or you will tear the meat to shreds. Also, be sure the when you put the medallions on the plastic wrap that you overlap them so that they will meld together as you pound them thin.

Now gently unfold the wrapping and invert the disk of meat onto a plate large enough to hold it. At this point you simply dress the meat with whatever flavors you want. I used salt, pepper, EVOO, balsamic reduction (balsamic vinegar that has been reduced to a syrup), lemon zest, shallots, capers, grated asiago cheese, and a little arugula.

After consulting with my colleague Michael McGovern (wine steward) I paired two wines with the carpaccio: Chateau Beauchene Chateuaneuf du Pape, and a Minervios (the exact name eludes me right now). Both went exceptionally well with the carpaccio. The CdP brought the game flavor to the fore while the Minervios seemed to "elevate" the same flavor. We ended up agreeing that the Minervios was the better wine with the venison. Any other wine from the Languedoc would probably work just as well: Fitou, Cahor, etc. For whatever reason these wines really stood up to the acidic flavors on the meat. Rather than the acidity killing the wine it just ran parallel to it. A wonderful compliment.

Before I took the first bite my esteemed colleague, Chef Paul Schunder came into the kitchen. I asked him if he would like a taste. He wasn't going to turn it down so we both dug in together. After savoring that bite for a moment Paul looked at me and said, "We'll add this to the list of things that don't suck." That about says it all.

Pain au Chocolat

2010-04-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

Or chocolate croissants. These are wonderful, easy to make, buttery, and full of chocolate. Really, what's not to love? It helps to have some puff pastry around, and homemade is best. If you are making a recipe like, um, venison pie (or chicken pot pie) then you will probably have some pastry dough left over that needs to be used up. That's what happened to me when I made my Easter dinner of venison pie. It could happen to you, too.

All I did was take my remaining half of puff pastry and roll it out into the shape of a rough rectangle.

I then took one of my crappy knives and trimmed the edges of the pastry dough so that it was nice and neat looking. I was starting to feel like a real French pastry chef at this point.

Then I got out my most important pastry tool of all: my Stanley Fat Max 25' measuring tape. I cut some small marks at even intervals on the pastry dough and then cut the big rectangle into smaller rectangles. Symmetry is important here. Now I was starting to feel like a former construction worker-turned-pastry chef in Austin, Texas.

Now it was time for the "Laying on of Chocolate". I had a mixture of Callebaut Bittersweet and 80% Dark chocolate. I put a little chocolate in the middle of each rectangle.

To make the croissant simply bring up the ends of a rectangle and then roll it up.

Place the croissants on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush them with an egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 Tbsp. milk or cream) and place the whole sheet pan in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. While the croissants are cooling preheat the oven to 400°.

When the croissants are thoroughly cool put the pan of them in the oven and bake them until they are puffed and golden, about 30 minutes. Remove the croissants to a rack and let them cool slightly before eating (good luck with that).

Field to Table IV: Easter Venison Pie

2010-04-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

It's amazing what you can do with a couple of these.

Every Easter I want to do something different than lamb or ham. As a recovering preacher's kid I have had my share of lamb and ham on Easter. So one Easter about 3 or 4 years ago I decided to have a butterflied steel head trout stuffed with mushrooms, walnut bread, and Turkish spices. I like to get really outside the box sometimes. So began my quest for the not-so-Easter-dinner. I was off to a good start.

Since that day I have begun harvesting my own meat. If you have been following these posts then you probably know that I have LOTS of venison in my freezer right now (though I have been putting a dent in it). I also have (had) two recipes of puff pastry and a bag of peas. Around this past Easter I was reading a great book entitled "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". In one scene a character makes a 'venison pie' for dinner. There was no description of the dish other than the name. So methinks, "I bet I could do that." And I did. And it was yummy.

First I par-boiled some Yukon Gold potatoes. The were peeled and cut into large pieces. When you par-boil something you are not cooking it all the way. This means that the potatoes were left a little bit hard because they would be baking with the assembled pie. If I cooked them all the way then they would have been mush in the finished product.

The next thing that I had to do was brown the meat. I used 2 lbs. of ground venison. I was in a bit of rush and put a little too much meat in the pan all at once. Do this step in batches so that you get good caramelization on the meat. I added some minced garlic at the end of the browning step.

The next step was to cook the veggies. I used carrots (quartered and chopped), pearl onions (frozen), Shiitake mushrooms (stemmed and sliced), and peas (frozen). I know, I know. Some of you may be shocked that Monsieur Punk Chef is using frozen ingredients. "You kill your own meat but don't blanch and peel your own pearl onions and harvest your own peas?" Nope. Sometimes I take the path of least resistance. Sometimes I also like to use what I have on hand, too. Anyway, back to the egg, or the pie. Sauté the vegetables so that the ones that will take longer to cook go into the pan first. I started with the carrots, adding a little EVOO to the pan.

Then I added the pearl onions. I let these two cook together for a while so that they became well caramelized. I'm also keeping the heat moderate so that I don't burn the wonderful fond developing on the bottom of the pan.

At this point it was time to add the mushrooms and aromatics. I chose bay leaf, sage, thyme, juniper berries (crushed), salt, and pepper. Sage and juniper berries are two of my favorite spices with venison. When the mushrooms are soft remove the vegetables to a bowl and set them aside.

Now add the cooked meat back to the pan and sprinkle about 3 Tbsp. of flour on it. Stir the meat well and let the flour cook until it starts to smell 'toasty'.

When the flour loses it's 'raw' smell add about a cup of strong red wine. I used a Minervois, from the Languedoc region of France (quite possibly my favorite wine producing region of the world). The mixture will become thick so stir it constantly to avoid burning. When the alcohol smell from the wine is gone you can add a little stock or water to make a thick sauce. I added about 2 cups of chicken stock because I had it around.

The veggies went back into the pan with the meat and I added the peas and potatoes (make sure that you are using a very large sauté pan for this recipe). I also threw in some parsley, again because it was lying around and I wanted to use it up. Everything was mixed together very well and tasted for seasoning.

I put the whole mess in a casserole dish that was big enough and deep enough to hold it. I have a large oval Le Creuset casserole dish that works well for recipes like this.

Now for the puff pastry topping. If you can make your own (note to self: blog on puff pastry), that would be best. If you have to buy a commercial brand look for one that is all butter. In a pinch, Pepperidge Farm brand will work but because it is in squares you may have to patch the topping together. No worries, though. It will be fine.

My puff pastry was frozen (but homemade) so I had to let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight. The next day (Easter) I let it sit on the counter until it was fully thawed. Then I put it back in the fridge so that it would stay cold. It is important for the pastry to be cold when you work with it so that the butter won't get soft and cause the pastry dough to stick and tear.

When I was ready to top the pie I cut the loaf of pastry dough in half and rolled out one half into the shape of a large oval; slightly larger than the casserole dish. Be sure that you have a floured surface on which to roll your dough.

Gently fold up the dough so that you can transfer it to the pie. Unfold the dough on top of the pie, tuck the edges in, and brush it with an egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 Tbsp. milk or cream). Cut some decorative slits in the top. Not only do the slits look pretty but they allow some steam to escape during cooking.

Bake the pie in a preheated 375° oven for about 45 minutes or until the crust is puffed, golden, and you can see some bubbles in the pie filling.

Let the pie rest for about 10 minutes and then serve it with garden salad (yes, this time all the greens came from my garden).

I had a bunch of this left over so I took some in to work and fed my staff and volunteer crew on a class that I taught the day after Easter. Everybody loved it and my colleague Louis took one bite and said, "Dude, this is SCREAMING for a Burgundy." I had to agree, though I would have been just as happy with a Languedoc wine. Even though the recipe was improvised it did have a very French accent. Si bon!

Now, what to do with the other half of that puff pastry. I can't refreeze it. I KNOW! I'll make some quick chocolate croissants.

Oatmeal Bread

2010-04-08T08:17:00.000-07:00

A bit more on bread today. I have just completed a series of classes on bread baking. The classes were hands-on so each student got to actually make their own loaf of bread to take home. This hands-on approach was very helpful to them as it let them know what to look for in terms of feel, look, smell, etc.

While I can't convey on this blog the feel and smell of what bread should be during the making of loaves I can show step by step instructions. In my past posts on bread I have just provided the recipes and a little text. Today I'll give you some pictures. Hopefully that will help you further your journey down this wonderful road we call baking.

Today's loaf will be an oatmeal bread. Because we are using a whole grain we need to prepare it for the loaf by softening it a bit. To do this we will make a "mash" of the grains, brown sugar, salt, and fat (oil or butter). Simply mix these together in your mixing bowl and pour 4 cups of very hot water over (I just bring a kettle to a boil and use that) the mixture. Stir it all together so that the sugar and salt will dissolve.

When the mixture has cooled to about 100° (this should take about an hour) you can stir the yeast into it and let the mash sit for about 5 minutes so that the yeast can activate. When the yeast has become active you will start to see small bubble on the surface of the mash. Also, when you stir the mash you will notice that it looks sticky from the yeast doing its work.

At this point you can start adding your flour, 1 cup at at time, until you have a smooth ball of dough.

A note of caution. The dough will become very heavy and stiff. It will be difficult to stir by hand. You may want to do all of this in a standing mixer so you can avoid this:

Ah, there, that's much better:

Keep adding the flour, making sure that it gets fairly well incorporated. Eventually you will get a ball of dough that has pulled together and is slightly sticky. At this point you can turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and begin kneading. Notice that when I say "well floured" that I don't mean a big-ass pile of flour on your board. Just put down enough flour to keep the dough from sticking. If you need to add more then do so. If you add too much you will have not only a big-ass pile of flour but you will also have a big-ass mess to clean up. So add the flour only as you need it.

Now for a few pointers on kneading dough. This is an important step because it helps the development of gluten. What the hell is gluten? This is the protein that gives bread its structure. Gluten molecules are constructed in strands. As we knead the bread the strands become longer and longer. The longer the strands of gluten are then the finer the crumb will be in the finished bread.

For a sandwich loaf like this we want a fairly fine crumb so we will need to knead the dough for at least 10 minutes. I like to knead the dough the following way: gently but firmly press the dough into the shape of a rough oval/rectangle, lengthwise away from you.

Now pull the top down toward you.

Rotate the dough 90°.

Lather, rinse, and repeat for 10 minutes.

Keep in mind that you want to push from the center of the mass of dough to the edges. Also, it helps if you can have a kneading surface that allows you to get your shoulders above the dough. This way you can get some of your upper body weight into the motion and save a little fatigue in your arms.

Now we are ready for the first rise. Shape the dough into a ball and pull a seam together on the bottom of the ball.

Turn the ball of dough over and let it rest for a minute while you prepare the bowl for rising.

Wash the mixing bowl and dry it thoroughly. Pour just a littleoil into the bowl. Seriously, about 2 teaspoons. Rub the oil all around the bowl with a paper towel.

Blot the top of the ball of dough with the oiled towel.

Lift the ball of dough from the kneading board and place it top side down into the oiled bowl. This will ensure that the top of the dough is completely coated with oil. If the dough is sticking to the board then get your bench scraper (or a knife) and use the edge to lift the dough from the board.

Turn the ball of dough over so that the bottom side can be in contact with the oiled surface of the bowl. All of this oiling helps to keep the surface of the dough from forming a tough skin during the rise. It also helps to keep the dough from sticking to the bowl.

Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and put it in a warm place to rise. I like to put mine on top of the stove. The pilot lights provide just enough warmth to let the dough rise at a nice, easy pace.

Now pour some beer into your coffee mug, kick back on the front porch, and watch the kids play. After about one and a half or two hours your dough should look like this:

At this point you are ready to deflate the dough and make loaves. Gently run your hands around the mass of dough and work it back down into a ball. Turn it out onto a well floured surface, shape it into an even log, and divide it into three equal pieces. Shape each piece into a small ball.

Let the small balls of dough rest on the board while you prepare the loaf pans. This simply entails taking about a teaspoon of butter and rubbing it all over the inside of the loaf pan. Be sure and grease the shit out of the pan. Get butter in every little corner, all over the bottom, and all up the edges. I like to use Pyrex glass loaf pans because they are cheap, the cook evenly, and glass cooks a little bit faster than the metal loaf pans on the market. Don't waste money on really expensive loaf pans. Just get Pyrex and be happy that you have more beer money.

Because most of my bread recipes make only two loaves I own only two loaf pans. This recipe makes three loaves. So one of my loaves is always baked free-form. I'll talk about that in just a bit. Let's shape the loaves.

My preferred way to shape loaves is to gently pat one of the balls of dough into a rough oval/rectangle along the length of the board.

Roll the top of the dough toward your body.

Pinch the seam together and turn the loaf 90°.

Bring the ends of the loaf up and pinch these seams together, too. If you have ever rolled a joint then you will probably be pretty good at this.

For a free form loaf simply pull the edges of the dough to the bottom of the loaf and pinch the seams together as best as you can.

Place the loaves in the prepared pans, seam side down. If you are making free form loaves then place them on sheet pans lined with parchment paper (I have a small earthenware sheet pan that I use for my one loaf, so no parchment is required for it).

Now it is time for the second rise. The rising time will be about half of what the first rising time was. You can expect the loaves to be ready to go into the oven in about 45 minutes to an hour. During the second rise preheat your oven to 375°. Cover the loaves with a damp kitchen towel and let them rise in a warm spot. After such time your loaves should look like this:

Place the loaf pans in the oven. If you have a free form loaf then you will need to score the top with a sharp knife. Gently place the blade of a knife on top of the loaf. Without pressing down (you don't want to deflate the loaf) quickly and firmly pull the blade across the top of the loaf.

When all the loaves are in the oven close the door. Do not open the door for at least 20 minutes, if at all. The first 20 minutes of baking time are critical. This is when the "oven spring" occurs. Oven spring is when the yeast gets affected by the extreme heat of the oven causing it to "spring" before it is killed by the heat. This gives the loaves their highest rise. Don't blow it by letting all the heat out of the oven. The Baking Gods will frown upon you and bring misery into your life, possibly casting you into hell. It's not worth it. If you need to rotate your loaves for even baking just wait about 20 minutes to do so. After 35 minutes you can pull a loaf out and check the internal temperature. It the loaf registers an internal temperature of at least 180° then you are done. Remove the loaves from the oven, turn them out of the pans and let them cool on a rack. Wait at least 30 minutes before cutting into one. The bread should look like this:

Good luck and happy baking. As always, comments and questions are welcome and appreciated.

Oatmeal Bread

4 cups Hot Water
2 ½ cups Old-Fashioned Oats (not instant oats)
½ cup Oat Bran
½ cup Brown Sugar
¼ cup Oil (grape seed, olive, nut, etc.)
1 Tbsp. Sea Salt

1 Tbsp. Active Dry Yeast

6 - 7 cups Bread Flour

In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, oat bran, brown sugar, oil, and salt. Add the hot water, stir well, and allow the mixture to sit until the temperature is about 100°.

Gently stir in the yeast. Allow the sponge to sit so that the yeast begins to bubble and become active.

Gradually stir in 2 cups of flour. Continue stirring in one cup at a time until a soft dough forms. Transfer the dough to a well floured surface and knead it for 10 minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel, and let it rise for about 1 ½ hours, or until it is doubled in bulk.

Gently stir down the dough. Shape it into loaves and place the loaves in well buttered loaf pans. Allow the loaves to rise for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until they are coming over the tops of the pans. While the loaves are rising, preheat your oven to 375°.

Bake the loaves for 35 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 180°. Let the loaves cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

Makes 3 large loaves.

On Parenting

2010-03-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

I have a post on bread coming as soon as I get the pictures loaded. Until then I thought that I would share this little parenting experience with you all.

Today I picked up The Kid from school. He is in 3rd grade. I was waiting in the car and ended up waiting a little longer than usual. No worries, though, as we have plenty of time to get to our standing Tuesday appointment. I also have the windows down and am doing some people watching in this glorious spring weather.

Finally The Kid comes and gets in the car. He says to me, "I'm sorry that I'm late, Dad."

"No problem. What held you up?"

"Someone wrote in my book."

The Kid has been reading Harry Potter and carries it with him pretty much everywhere. I say to him, "Someone wrote in your Harry Potter book?"

"Yes. I was erasing it. That's what took me so long to get here."

He shows me the book and I can see along the page edges where something was written and erased. I ask, "What did they write?"

"Fuck."

I know that I can't just burst out laughing at this so I just say, "Oh." The Kid replies, "But what does that mean?"

I want to say to him, "Well, son, 'fuck' is a very versatile word. It is one of the few words in the English language that can be used as a noun, a verb, and an adjective. It really does have a rich etymology." But I can't say that so I settle for, "It's a bad word."

At least he's reading.

And just so you don't leave hungry, here is a very simple brownie recipe that can be thrown together in minutes. You can have great brownies in less than an hour. Try using the brown butter in one of the previous posts. I bet that would be really good.

Brown Sugar Double Chocolate Brownies

1 stick butter, melted
1 c. light brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
½ c. flour
½ c. cocoa
¼ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ c. chocolate chips

Blend butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Add eggs; beat mixture well. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually blend into egg mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread in a greased 9-inch square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan.

Field to Table III: Tuscan Lunch

2010-03-10T09:40:00.000-08:00

In Tuscany, they eat meat. The Tuscans are also very proud of their meat. The famed Chianina breed of cattle hail from Tuscany. Naturally, Tuscany is host to some of the best butchers in the world. It also host some of the best wineries in the world (think Chianti and Brunello). They seem to have it made in Tuscany. It's no wonder that there is such romance surrounding the area in Italy known as Tuscany. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that there are lots of deer and wild boar roaming the Tuscan countryside.

So Tuscany is the inspiration, and perhaps the origin of this recipe I will be discussing today. The recipe, in fact, is an adaptation of one I picked up from a chef in Tuscany. The original recipe called for wild boar but the chef told me that venison could be easily substituted. If neither of those are available then beef would work, too. Like many Italian recipes it is very forgiving and relatively easy. In spite of it's simplicity the flavors are deep and wonderful.

A long cooking time of 3-4 hours is imperative to developing the deep flavor. There are also some steps in the assembly that help deepen the flavor. Getting a good sear on the meat is very important. Also, slightly caramelizing the tomato paste is something that you don't want to overlook. Keeping some of these simple steps in mind will give you a ragu you won't soon forget.

Because I have so much venison on hand I chose to use this. I also chose to use the rib cuts that I like to get. This allows me to add a little more flavor to the sauce by letting the rib bones cook in the liquid.

Either way, you want to cut the meat into manageable pieces so that you can sear the meat without crowding the pan. I can't stress this enough. You don't want to crowd the pan when browning the meat. If you put too much meat in the pan at once it will steam rather than develop a good brown crust. If you are using odd cuts like ribs (as I did) then just brown as much of the exposed meat as you can.

When the meat is browned remove it to a plate and let it rest while you prep the rest of the ingredients. While the meat is resting you want to prepare your aromatics. What we are using is called a mirepoix. This is simply a mixture of carrots, onions, and celery. My mirepoix also contains some minced garlic. Chop the vegetables as small as you can.

Sauté the mirepoix in EVOO until the vegetables start to soften just a bit.

During the sauté process you may notice that the pan is starting to develop some browned bits (also leftover from the meat) on the bottom. This is called "fond" (my apologies for all of the French terms used on such an essential Italian dish). As long as the fond is not black and burned smelling then you want it to hang around. Manage your heat source so that the fond does not burn but just accumulates and gets dark. Now that the vegetables are soft squeeze in some tomato paste (I buy the stuff in a tube so I don't have to deal with moldy containers of tomato paste in my fridge).

Stir the tomato paste in and let it cook so that it starts to add to the fond in the pan. By doing this you are caramelizing the sugars in the tomato paste and further deepening the flavors. After about two minutes you will see a lot of caramelized tomato paste and fond on the bottom of the pan. Now pour in the red wine to "deglaze" the pan and loosen the fond from the bottom. Now all the flavor of the fond will be in the sauce. Nice, huh?

At this point you want to take the meat and add it back to the pan. If any juices have accumulated on the plate while the meat was resting be sure to scrape those in, too. Pour your tomato sauce over the meat and add the last of the aromatics; herbs and spices.

The herbs and spices we are using are bay leaf, sage leaf, and juniper berries. Lightly crush the juniper berries with the blade of your knife before adding them in.

Cover the pot and allow the ragu to simmer for 3-4 hours. The longer you let it go the more tender the meat will be.

When the meat is tender enough to fall apart at the touch gently remove it to a plate and shred it. If you are not using ribs or cuts with bones in them then you can probably skip this step and just smash the meat with the back of your spoon against the side of the pan. Or you could leave the chunks as large as you cut them for a bigger texture.

Stir the shredded meat back into the sauce and let it simmer some more. While the sauce is simmering you can cook your pasta.

Or you can make a little appetizer to munch on. I made bruschetta three ways: traditional; topped with caponata; topped with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, rosemary, and white anchovies. Yum.

Dang, that was tasty! Now that my pasta is cooked I can top it with some of the ragu and a little (or a lot) of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Remember, if you don't have a source for venison (I hunt my own meat) then you can use beef stew meat or beef chuck cut into pieces. But I encourage you to find some venison or wild hog and try it. You won't regret it.

Venison Ragu

2 # Venison, cubed or ground
1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 stalks celery, chopped fine
2 carrots, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
3 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 cups red wine (chianti)
1/2 cup or more olive oil
2 bay leaves
4 sage leaves
5 juniper berries, crushed (available at Central Market's bulk dept. or Whole Foods)
2 Tbsp. parsley
1 28oz. can Crushed Tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the meat in a large pot with a small amount of olive oil until the meat is browned, remove the meat and set aside (brown it in batches to avoid over crowding the pan). Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic to the pan and sauté in olive oil over medium heat until softened but not browned. Add the tomato paste and continue to cook another 5 minutes. Return meat to pan, add salt and deglaze with red wine. Cook 5 minutes, add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and herbs and allow to simmer, covered, over low heat for about 3 hours. Stir occasionally, being careful not to allow the bottom to stick or burn. Serve over pasta or polenta with a good amount of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, Part 2

2010-02-24T07:31:00.000-08:00

Now that we have our brown butter let's make some cookies, shall we? My favorite cookie must be chocolate chip. I don't pack it full of nuts and stuff, either. I pack it full of what it should be packed full of: chocolate. Really good chocolate. For this batch of cookies I used El Rey Gran Saman 70% and some Ghirardelli semi-sweet chips that I had laying around.

The recipe calls for light brown sugar but feel free to do as I do and substitute dark brown sugar. If you can find some light or dark muscovado sugar then that will only enhance your cookie eating experience.

Gather all your ingredients and let them come to room temperature, especially the butter and eggs (did you hear that, Stacie?).

When the butter is at room temperature and has softened a bit, begin creaming the butter with the sugar. You want to beat the two together until the mixture is light and fluffy. This takes about 4 minutes and you will want to stop and scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl once or twice.

Now add the eggs, one at a time. Mix each egg in well before adding the next one. When the eggs are all incorporated add the vanilla.

At this point you want to mix in your dry ingredients so that you get a nice dough. When the dry ingredients are mixed in then add the chocolate chips.

Now you are ready to chow down on cookie dough. Um, I meant, you are now ready to drop your cookie dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. I like to use a scant 1/4 cup size piece of dough because, really, who likes a small cookie? Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes or until they are a light golden color. If you used dark brown sugar then the cookies will be a little darker at the 20 minute mark. Have no fear. Your cookies will reign supreme.

The recipe below is for the standard chocolate chip cookie. Simply use your brown butter in place of the regular butter. The brown butter just makes the cookies taste a little more, well, deep. As I said, feel free to play with the brown sugar, too. I like really deep cookies.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, softened
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Light Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
3 cups Flour
2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 # Bittersweet Chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 325°

Line several sheet pans with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars for 4 minutes, scraping down the sides after 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between additions. Add the vanilla and beat for another minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat for another minute.

Add flour, salt, and baking soda to the bowl and beat until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the chocolate. Mix until combined.

Drop large tablespoon amounts of dough onto the pans, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Cool the cookies on racks.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Pt. 1

2010-02-23T11:01:00.000-08:00

What the hell is "brown butter", you ask? It is joy. It is heaven. It is bliss. It is easy to make. More on that in just a bit. First I feel the need to share the inspiration for this recipe.

We hosted a guest chef the a couple of weeks ago. He was using brown butter for one of his dishes but he was only using the browned milk solids. So once we strained those out of the butter we had a lot of clarified brown butter left over. There was no way that I was going to waste this so I snagged some and thought, "I bet this would be good in some chocolate chip cookies." It turns out I was right. I was remembering a dish I had made about 15 years ago, a brown butter almond torte. What the heck?

So how does one make brown butter? It's very simple. You put a specified amount of butter in a pan and melt it.

Keeping the flame (or heat source) low you continue to cook the butter, stirring it occasionally so that the milk solids don't stick.

After about 3 minutes the butter will start to sputter and pop as the water content cooks out. Making brown butter is like having kids around; as long as they are making noise then you know that things are good. When they get quiet you need to wonder what they are up to. Likewise, when the butter stops making the splattering noises you need to start watching it closely. You are getting close to the browning point. The butter is done when it looks brown and has a rich, nutty, caramel-like smell to it. Be careful, though, as the path from brown to burned is very short.

Now that you have your brown butter you can just cool it and put it into a container. If you are going to make cookies with it then don't strain the milk solids out of it. Put it all in a container and use it like you would in any baking recipe. Don't sauté with it, though, because you will burn the butter.

Stay tuned for part two of the post.

The Kishu

2010-02-23T10:51:00.001-08:00

Once a year, in late January through February, my store gets these wonderful little mandarins. They are called Kishu mandarins and I love them. The Kid loves them, too. He will sit down and eat nearly a full bag of them. Kishu mandarins are small, cute, sweet, seedless, and easy to peel. They are, quite possibly, the perfect snack.

The only other thing that I have done with them was to candy them whole (peels and all) in a cardamom syrup. I did this last year and it was yummy. But mostly I just like to eat them as is. If you live near a Central Market go and get some because you won't find them anywhere else. Central Market has a deal with the grower and we get them exclusively. And you had better hurry because they will be gone in about a week.

Running, running, running...

2010-02-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

Just so you all know, I ran the Austin Marathon on Valentine's Day this year. My official time was 4:51:53. I wanted to come in under 5 hours and made it! I also ran on Team Marathon Kids and raised almost $1000 for them! Thanks to all of my friends and family for their support.

Field to Table: Venison Salad Buger

2010-01-26T06:45:00.000-08:00

I know, it's a goofy name but it just kind of happened that way. We decided to make burgers the other night. Because I try and eat really healthy and because I don't eat meat unless I personally dispatch the animal, I don't eat a lot of burgers anymore. Yet, America loves burgers so I was really excited to be eating one. It's been a long time coming.

So why the name Venison Salad Burger? Well, I wanted to make sure that I got plenty of vegetables on my burger so I pulled out whatever I could find in the refrigerator: lettuce, red cabbage, cilantro, onions, avocado, and tomato. We also had some homemade salsa (it's in the jelly jar in the picture; I didn't put raspberry jelly on my burger) and some homemade Shiner Bock Mustard made by my friend Chef Christina Lee. The Missus was going to make a salad but noticed that I was putting my salad on my burger, hence the name. So get the idea of venison mixed with mayonnaise and stuff out of your head.

As you can see, I have lots of venison in my freezer (along with a bag of peas, some puff pastry and a bag of mice for The Kid's pet snake). To be exact I have 4 1/2 deer and 1/2 a hog jammed in there.

So I thawed out a little bit of the burger grind, seasoned it with salt and pepper, shaped it into patties, and sautéed it in a pan. If you look closely you will notice that I make an indention in the center of each patty. This helps to keep the patties flat as they cook (have you ever cooked a burger patty and it puffs up on you?). Then I simply piled everything on my wonderful bun and chowed down.

The Missus made some lovely "crack" potatoes to go with it. Just boil some potatoes (any kind will work) until they are soft. Then smash them flat, season them with salt and pepper and EVOO, and toast them in the oven at 425° until they are kind of crunchy/crusty. I call them crack potatoes because they are pretty addictive.

About the bun. Whole Foods Market makes these wonderful sea salt and olive oil rolls. It's basically a ciabatta but it has a little more moisture to it, giving it a nice tenderness and chew. I haven't found another roll anywhere quite like them. They are simply divine. Search them out.

The Kid wanted me to take a picture of his plate of food, too. He opts for the Deconstructed Minimalist Burger with a side of pasta dressed with EVOO and fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano. Don't forget the ketchup, either (none for me, please).

Apple Pie

2010-01-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

I usually like to come up with some clever, catchy title for my posts (in hindsight they are usually pretty stupid, though, but who cares?). So as I thought about this post I eventually realized that there is no other way to elicit joy from the dish known as Apple Pie. The words themselves simply drip with flavor. Apple Pie. Yum. Just saying the words makes me smell it, gets my salivary glands working. You must make one before the season is over and all of our apples start coming from South America or New Zealand.

I made one earlier this year, for Thanksgiving dinner to be exact. I will make another one soon. To me, this pastry purely evokes the tastes, aromas, and sights of the fall/winter season. Apple Pie is a very versatile dish, too. It is good warm, warm and a la mode, warm with cheddar cheese on it, cold in the middle of the night standing in front of the refrigerator, and cold for breakfast. The possibilities are virtually endless. So let us begin.

Make your filling first. Because it was Thanksgiving I chose to add some cranberries and a little rosemary to the Apple Pie. This doesn't effect the amount of apples called for in the recipe. But if you don't like the cranberries to be too tart then you may want to add about 1/4 cup more sugar. I like the tartness so I leave everything as is. I also like the filling to be a little thick but not too much so. I stir in about 3 Tbsp. of flour to help thicken the juices.

Put your fruit and seasonings together in a bowl.

Now mix it all up and let it sit while you prepare the crust. This resting period allows the fruit to macerate and release it's juices.

Now for the crust. A flaky crust is a good thing. Fat provides flakiness. Some folks like to use all shortening. But my problem with this is that shortening has zero flavor. None. Zip. To solve this problem some folks like to mix shortening and butter. But I really, really like the flavor that butter provides so I use, simply, all butter. You may sacrifice a little flakiness but with a few tricks that sacrifice will be marginal.

Once you get the crust made it is important that you keep it cold. Use cold butter and ice water when mixing the ingredients for the crust. Also, when cutting in the butter you want to leave some pea-sized bits of butter in the flour. When the Apple Pie cooks these cold bits of butter will begin to melt and release steam. This releasing of steam will help the crust 'puff' slightly like a puff pastry, giving you some nice flakiness. After the dough has been mixed shape it into two balls, one slightly larger than the other. Flatten the balls into disks, wrap them in plastic and allow them to rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. This lets the butter cool down which, in turn, helps develop flakiness.
Now that the dough is resting and the fruit is macerating sit back and enjoy an adult beverage of your choice. Or kill stormtroopers with your son. You could also make the crust first and, while it is resting, then make your filling. But I like the downtime so that I can kill stormtroopers.

30 minutes later roll out the small disk of dough.

Fold it into quarters. Gently lift the dough and place the point in the center of the pie pan. Gently unfold the dough.

Now fill the Apple Pie shell. Be sure and get all the juices into the filling.

Don't worry if the fruit seems like a really tall pile. It will be. As the Apple Pie cooks the fruit will cook down. Because I use all butter the crust is very sturdy. As the Apple Pie cools after it has been cooked the crust will remain tall. There will be a gap between the fruit and the crust. When you cut the Apple Pie the crust will crack and start to fall. It's o.k. Don't worry about it. It's going to be so yummy.

Now roll out the larger disk of dough and transfer it the same way you did with the smaller disk.

Trim the overhanging dough and tuck the top edge of the crust under the bottom edge of crust. Crimp the edges and cut about 6 slits in the top crust so that steam can escape while the Apple Pie cooks. Place the Apple Pie in the freezer for about 15 minutes or in the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes. Remove the Apple Pie and brush the top with beaten egg white. Sprinkle sugar all over the top of the Apple Pie and bake it in a preheated oven. Allow the Apple Pie to rest for about 4 hours before serving (good luck with that!).

Let's look at it again, shall we?

Apple Pie

2 recipes for Pie Crust
2 # Jazz or Pink Lady Apples
2# McIntosh or Cortland Apples
½ cup Sugar, plus more for pie topping
Zest from 1 Lemon
1 ½ Tbsp. Lemon Juice
¼ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Ground Nutmeg
½ tsp. Ground Cinnamon
¼ tsp. Ground Allspice
3 Tbsp. Flour
1 Egg White, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 425°.

Prepare the pie dough as directed, shape into two disks, and refrigerate until needed.

Roll one disk of dough on a lightly floured surface into a 12 – inch circle. Set the dough in a 9 – inch pie pan and gently press it into the bottom and sides of the pan. Allow the excess dough to hang over the lip of the pan. Refrigerate the dough while you prepare the filling.

Peel, core, and cut the apples into ½ - inch thick slices. Toss the apple slices with the sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, spices, and flour. Turn the fruit mixture into the chilled pie shell, creating a slight mound in the center.

Roll out the second disk of dough and place it over the filling. Trim the edges of the dough to about ½ inch past the pan lip. Tuck this rim of dough under itself so that it forms a seal and is in line with the edge of the pan. Flute the edges of the pie with your fingers or seal it by pressing the tines of a fork on top of it. Cut four slits in the top of the pie so that steam may escape. Place the pie in the freezer for up to 30 minutes.

Remove the pie from the freezer and brush the top with egg white. Sprinkle sugar evenly over the pie and bake for 25 minutes or until the top crust is golden. Reduce the oven heat to 375° and continue baking the pie for about 30 minutes more. The top of the pie should be a deep golden brown and the juices should be bubbling. Cool the pie on a rack for at least 4 hours before cutting.

Pie Crust

1 ½ cups Flour
½ tsp. Salt
¼ # cold Butter, cut into pieces
3-5 Tbsp. Ice Water

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter using your fingers until the mixture resembles course sand. Sprinkle the water over the flour/butter mixture one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together in a ball. Flatten the dough in a disk, wrap and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. When you are ready to make the pie, roll the dough on a lightly floured surface into a disk about 1/8” thick.

Field to Table

2009-12-28T18:08:00.000-08:00

Hunting season draws to a close. I must say that this has been a good year. One hog and five deer later my freezer is packed. I'll have plenty of venison to last through the year. And seeing as how hogs are not limited by season then I'll have plenty more of that on the way, too.

I have been very fortunate to be able to do most of my hunting this year with my brother. Disclaimer: He is a much better hunter than I am. I hold him in very high regard. Whenever I have questions about hunting I turn to Bro. He is a veritable encyclopedia on all things game related. He is also a very good shot.

The day after Thanksgiving we went out for a hunt and each bagged a doe. The day after Christmas we went out again. Bro bagged three (3!) and I bagged zero (0!). Oh well, it was still loads of fun. And the fun continues in that I get to cook all of this venison any way I choose.

My first dish was a huge pot of venison chili. I'll surely make some more this winter so a full blog on that will come later. Tonight, though, I cooked up a little venison tenderloin. Are you ready? Good. Then let's take a look at how all this came to be.

It all started here:

This is the deer that I took after Thanksgiving. Tonight I cooked the tenderloins (I know they came from this one because of their size). I had an idea in mind because we had some produce from Boggy Creek Farms and the local gourmet grocery store. Also, the Missus picked up some wonderful chutney at the farmer's market. She ran into some friends of ours Larry and Lee Ann Kocurek. I have worked with Larry a couple of times at my cooking school. Lee Ann and I (and the Missus) actually go way back to one of my earlier chef gigs (c. 1993). It turns out the Kocureks have started their own business, Kocurek Family Artisan Charcuterie (this links to their Twitter page). The chutney had no ingredients list but it looked (and tasted) like figs, raisins, red pepper, mustard seed (?), white wine, vinegar, and sugar. Maybe Larry or Lee Ann will chime in and let us know.

So, the final dish was Venison Tenderloin with Carrots, Dandelion Greens, and Fig Chutney. I also did a side dish of Dutch Creamer Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, and Sweet Onion glazed with Balsamic Vinegar.

Here's how I did it:

I seasoned the tenderloins with salt and pepper and gave them a quick sauté, still leaving them really rare.

When they were nicely browned I let them rest on the cutting board while I sautéed the carrots (I cut them using an oblique cut, which helps them cook a little more evenly).

Then I added some of the chutney with a little water to help loosen the fond (bits of brown food stuck to the pan; remarkable flavor in that stuff). When the liquid was back to a syrupy consistency I tossed in the dandelion greens.
Once the greens were slightly wilted I placed the tenderloins back in the pan and put the whole mess in the oven (350°) while I finished the veggies (about 7 minutes).

I let the meat rest on the chopping block while I plated the veggies. It is important that you allow meat to rest after you cook it (at least 5 minutes for smaller cuts like this). This resting time lets the juices redistribute themselves throughout the muscular structure, yielding a more juicy, flavorful piece of meat. When the veggies were plated I sliced the meat and placed it on top of the carrot/dandelion mixture. Dinner was served. Yum.
Take a good look at that picture. Now scroll back up and look at the picture of the deer. That's a pretty nice transformation, huh?

I feel really good about getting my meat this way, as a hunter. I know for a FACT that there were no growth hormones or antibiotics used in the raising of this meat. I also know that it was raised humanely. Free range? It doesn't get more free range than this.

I also feel very lucky to have friends who own such a wonderful ranch. They don't hunt or lease the land anymore so the deer population has boomed. Realistically, they needed to cull some of the doe from their ranch and they let my brother and me come out to do it. Their land is absolutely gorgeous, too. There are not feeders everywhere (just one up by the house) and there are no deer blinds. When you hunt out there you actually have to "hunt". The deer eat only the natural vegetation on the land and they are truly some of the most healthy looking deer I have ever seen. The meat from these deer is so rich and sweet and tender. As it should be.

I'll be doing more "Field to Table" posts throughout the year. I look forward to showcasing how to cook venison (and wild game in general) and also showing what I do with the bounty from the local farmer's markets (Boggy Creek being my favorite) and artisans like the Kocurek family.

Bon Appétit!

Christmas Eve at Home

2009-12-24T16:11:00.001-08:00

It's Christmas Eve here at the house. I have been banished from my son's bedroom while he and Missus wrap a present, presumably for me. Of course, I am in the kitchen. It is cold outside and I have my warm Fox River socks on. I have a large pot of my very own chai tea simmering so the house smells wonderfully exotic. I am making oatmeal bread. Son and I have made a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough (I swelled with pride when he checked to make sure that the butter and eggs were at room temp.) and soon will be baking off the cookies for Santa.

Dinner will be a simple meal of pasta with Boggy Creek Farms spinach and leftover salmon, BCF arugula salad (supplemented with some baby greens cuttings from our own garden). Chocolate truffles for dessert.

There is no sense of tradition in this menu but that doesn't really matter. What matters is that we are all here together, it's cold outside, and the house smells as if Lady Hestia has set up camp for the night. This is what Christmas Eve should be. I hope that for all who stumble across my humble blog. And especially for my three loyal followers. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, joyful Kawanza, and blessed Yule. I hope that covers everyone. Enjoy the tea.

Yogi Tea

Fill a 3-4 quart sauce pan with water (well, not all the way full but 3/4 full). Add the following:

12 cloves
12 black peppercorns
24 cardamom pods
3-6 cinnamon sticks
A palm full of star anise (optional)
A 2 inch piece of ginger root, sliced into medallions

Bring to a boil and let roll for 10 minutes. Reduce to a simmer, cover and let simmer for 3 hours or so (your house will begin to smell very sexy so be prepared to get it on). After simmering, add 1-2 tsp. black tea (use decaf if you want but the caffeine amount will be fairly marginal) and let sit, covered, overnight.

The next day strain the mixture into a pitcher and fill the rest of the pitcher with water. Don't dilute the tea too much, though.

Reheat as needed. I like to hit mine with a little almond milk and honey. Relax.

Cogitations on Bread

2009-11-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

I was working with my friends Mark and Shirley Brock last night. Mark had mentioned to me that he and Shirley have been making bread from the recipe that I posted ("The Calling" in the blog archives). He really likes the loaf that it makes and mentioned something that I had noticed a long time ago. This loaf stays very fresh for a long period of time.

I can go buy a loaf from any local reputable bakery or grocery store that makes artisan loaves. No matter the place of purchase the result is largely the same. Within a 2 or 3 days I have a loaf that has begun to dry out and stale. The bread recipe that I have posted will produce loaves that are soft and pliable for a good 5 or 6 days, and mold is out of the question.

Now, to be fair, I have to say that I have made loaves from other recipes and gotten the same result; fresher bread for a longer period of time. I'm not sure what is at play here but the moral to this story seems to be, "Whenever you can make your own bread, do so. You won't regret it."

On an unrelated note, hunting season has opened so be on the lookout for a series of posts entitled "Field to Table". I already have one pig in the freezer so I'll have a post on that coming up soon.

Elton John, Cold Fronts, Oats, and Shirley Brock

2009-10-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here listening to Razor Face by Elton John and it got me thinking about oatmeal. I love iTunes. I can sit here in my sweatshirt enjoying the first true cold front of the year, windows open, cool air everywhere, and all sorts of melodies drifting on the frigid drafts. I mean, this is just unheard of this time of year in Texas. I am loving this early (or is it "on time"?) fall weather.

I especially love it because the oatmeal that I like to make year-round tastes especially good when the weather outside is chilly. Did someone say "Chili"? No silly, chilly, as in 'cool'. We'll save Chili for another post later in the winter. So, back to the oatmeal. I should probably be more humble than this but I must say, I make the best oatmeal in the world. I have been told this over and over by countless people of all races, both male and female. What makes it so good? Simplicity. In food, I believe that the best things are the simplest.

I start with steel cut oats. These are whole groats that have been put through a steel mill and chopped more coarsely than the rolled oats many of us grew up with. I cook these in water with some vanilla (bean or extract), Vietnamese cinnamon, raisins, and a dash of salt.

I used to like my oatmeal creamy so I would use a liquid base of cream and water. But at some point I decided to start eating healthier and began looking for other ways to get that same creaminess. Cooking the oats on plain water only brings forth the starches from the oats. So it's not really creamy as much as it is thick and starchy. Skim milk provided much the same texture so that wasn't really working for me, either. Then I stumbled across almond butter. I think it was a vegan friend that suggested this to me. I tried it and have not gone back to cream ever since. The nut butter (just about any nut butter will thicken it, but they all taste a little different so keep the flavor profile in mind) works with the starch from the oats and instantly thickens the oatmeal to a velvety texture. It should be thick but be sure and leave a little moisture in the oats so it doesn't get to thick and gummy. But you can always thin it out with some maple syrup (heh, heh).

Finally, my friend Shirley Brock has been asking me to post this recipe for two reasons. One, she likes to eat it. Two, whatever you have leftover can be made into the most wonderful loaf of bread. Simply take the remaining oatmeal and mix it into the basic white loaf I have in my bread post entitled "The Calling". You will have to make some adjustments for the extra moisture that the oatmeal provides but that just means adding some more flour. When you add the oatmeal to the basic white bread recipe you should end up with three loaves instead of two. On average I usually have about 1 - 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal left from a full recipe. The bread is slightly sweet from the raisins and cinnamon so it makes really good toast and exquisite French toast. Happy baking, Shirley!

Oatmeal

1 cup Steel Cut Oats
1 cup Raisins
4 cups Water
Dash of Salt
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 tsp. Cinnamnon
4 Tbsp. Nut Butter (Almond, Peanut, Etc.)
Maple Syrup

Bring the water and salt to a boil. Add the oats and dried fruit and stir to evenly distribute the ingredients. Reduce the heat so that it just simmers. When the oatmeal begins to thicken stir in the vanilla and the cinnamon. Allow to thicken a little more and stir in the nut butter. The oatmeal will begin to thicken quite a bit. When it has reached the consistency you like remove it from the heat and allow it to sit for 5 minutes. Stir in the maple syrup and serve.

Sweet and Savory

2009-10-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

Recently my colleague, Nancy, and I did a class together called 'Sweet and Savory'. Nancy took care of the sweets and I did the savories. We each did three recipes. In the sweet corner was: Cheesecake with Brandy Glazed Strawberries; Lemon Curd Tart with Blueberry Coulis; and Individual Molten Chocolate Cakes. In the Savory corner was: Spinach Salad with Creamy Feta Dressing, Crispy Guanciale, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes; Seared Diver Scallops with Gingered Butternut Squash Purée and Sage Brown Butter; Porcini Crusted Beef Tenderloin with Mission Fig Demi-Glace and Pommes Parisiennes.

Before we started the class Nancy and I were taking care of our respective prep duties. I have this habit of walking through the kitchen and sticking my fingers into cake batters, breaking off chunks of cookie dough, and just checking out the general quality of whatever sweets are being made. Trust me, it's not easy but I truly feel that I am just the right man for the job. When I tasted the batter for the chocolate cakes the first words out of my mouth were, "Damn, Nancy, how much butter did you put in there?" Needless to say, it met my stringent standards. She shooed me back over to my cutting board before I ate the rest of the batter. Of course, when the first batch came out of the oven I had to sample one and make sure that it was fit for human consumption. Again, it passed.

"Robert, would you go away!" O.k. back to my dressing. I am very fond of this salad dressing because it relies on the cheese to make it creamy rather than mayonnaise, buttermilk, egg yolks, or cream. You simply mash the feta cheese with vinegar until it makes a nice paste and then blend in the spices, oil, and a little water so that you have the consistency you desire. The fat from the cheese and oil is just enough to carry the flavors of the herbs and spices without leaving the palate feeling heavy with grease.

Bacon is pretty common on spinach salads so I decided to use guanciale, or pork jowl. Guanciale is similar to bacon or pancetta in flavor but is just a bit milder. The crispy bits of fat made for a nice texture contrast to the creamy dressing and soft leaves of the baby spinach. The sun-dried tomatoes added a nice burst of acidic flavor to help bring everything together. I re-hydrated the tomatoes in water for about an hour so that they were really soft. I could then just put a little mound of them on the top of the salad. But feel free to hydrate them for lesser amounts of time for a chewier texture. This salad is especially nice for the coming fall weather but would be equally nice in warmer weather.

Scallops are always delightful. In the summer I like to pair them with citrus and avocado or artichokes. In the winter I like to pair them with squash, herbs, and butter. For this dish I simply roasted the butternut squash in the oven. The flesh was then puréed with ginger and EVOO. I melted some Plugra butter (European style with more butter fat) until the milk solids began to brown and the butter took on the nice nutty, caramel-like aroma that is so wonderful with browned butter. While the butter was still hot I tossed in some sage chiffonade and seasoned the butter sauce with salt and pepper. The scallops were seared in a hot cast iron pan for about 2 minutes (max.) on each side. The inside of the scallops was just barely undercooked; so tender!

I picked up the idea of crusting beef with porcini mushrooms from my friend, Chef Paul Peterson. Dried porcinis are taken and ground to a fine dust in a spice grinder. Beef fillets are then patted into the dust and seared over high heat in a little oil. The crust of porcini mushrooms adds a deep earthiness to every bite of the beef. That earthiness can be enhanced by serving the beef with a wild mushroom demi-glace. It can also be contrasted, as I chose to do this time, by using dried figs in the demi-glace instead of mushrooms. The dense sweetness of the figs plays very nicely with the earthiness of the porcini crust. Sear the steaks for about 3 minutes on each side (for a 2-inch steak) and you will have a very tender, rare to medium-rare steak. Don't go too much past this temperature or the steak gets tough and dry and you will have wasted $20.

Pommes Parisiennes, or Paris-style potatoes are simply little potato balls cooked in duck fat. They are wonderful. I cannot say anymore as there are no other words to describe them.

All in all this is a very simple meal to make. And the potatoes that were leftover from the plating for the class? Well, our volunteers made short work of them. Whenever you have the opportunity, above all else, fry your potatoes in duck fat.

Spinach Salad

1 # Baby Spinach
½ # Guanciale, cured or fresh, diced small
¼ # Sun-dried Tomatoes

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add the tomatoes, and remove from the heat. Allow the tomatoes to hydrate for 30 minutes. When the tomatoes are soft cut them into a small julienne.

In a sauté pan set over medium-high heat render the guanciale until it is crispy. Drain the guanciale on paper towels.

Toss the spinach with the feta dressing and mound it on plates. Sprinkle the salad with the crispy guanciale and top with the julienne tomatoes.

Feta Dressing:

¼ # Feta Cheese
2 Tbsp. Red Wine Vinegar
1 tsp. Fresh Thyme, minced
2 Tbsp. EVOO
5 Tbsp. Water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mash the feta with the vinegar and herbs with a fork until fairly smooth.

Mix in the olive oil and water, until smooth. Because feta cheese can vary in moisture, add more oil, vinegar, or water, if desired.

Season with pepper and salt, to taste.

The BLT

2009-09-28T06:43:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist posting this link to something that just really gave me a good laugh. If you are a food blog fan and you haven't come across Kitchenscraps yet, well, enjoy. This is just a great blog.

Short post today but I have more recipes coming this week.

Early

2009-09-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I spent some time growing up in a central Texas town called Brownwood. It was a very small town set in the middle of a few even smaller towns. One of these towns was called Early. I don't know why. I guess it's just one of those funny Texas town names like Hutto, Dimebox, or Concrete.

But this post is not about Early, Texas. It is about the early fall we seem to be experiencing here in Texas. It is now mid-September and under normal circumstances we would still be in the blazing 100's. About 7 years ago we hit 114°. Right now it is about 83° outside. This doesn't usually happen until late-October. So fall seems to have come early this year.

Just before the temperatures really started dropping I saw the first sign. I was walking through the produce department of the grocery store where I work. Shopping for a class I needed to buy some fruit and noticed that we had already gotten Honeycrisp apples from Washington state. This was a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't believe that I was seeing them in early September. We haven't even gotten the New York state apples yet. So I figure that fall is coming early in some of the northern U.S. Then we started getting rain and cooler temperatures. With that I have to welcome the first breath of fall...finally. It has been a brutal summer here so I have no problem with fall getting here now.

This is my favorite time of year. I love the flavors of fall: butternut squash, apples, pears, wild game, beets and other root vegetables. Soups, oatmeal, breads, galettes, and pies will be made aplenty. Friends and family come together to celebrate holidays and enjoy good food and company. So let's start cooking.

P.s. One thing I have learned in this state is that you can never really predict the weather. I hope that it holds. And I hope that it gets bone-chilling cold this winter.

The Grill

2009-09-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

We who live in Texas have a few good reasons to be considered lucky: there is no state income tax, there is a rich cultural history, and you can grill pretty much year round. Of course the downside to all of this is Rick Perry. But I digress. Let's focus on the latter reason.

If grilling is the second most popular religion in Texas then it is second only to football. As I said, we can grill pretty much all year. When the weather is hot we grill because we don't want to heat up the house. When it is mild we grill because we want to enjoy the wonderful weather. When it is cold we grill because we can. In Texas we will grill just about anything.

I did a lunch time class the other day and focused on grilling. The menu: grilled Caesar salad with chipotle dressing, grilled peppers and tortilla strips; grilled steak and onions with Chimayo red chile sauce; grilled banana bread pudding.

I prefer to use charcoal grills because I can get more intense heat and feel like I can control it better. If you use a gas grill be sure and preheat it for at least 30 minutes before you start to cook on it. Either way you go the grill has to be super hot.

I like to use a chimney starter to get my grill going. This allows me to not use lighter fluid. Even when lighter fluid burns off I can still kind of taste it on the food. Barf. When you light the coals make sure that there is a thin layer of white ash coating them. This means that the coals are fully burning and that you will get maximum heat. Also, when using charcoal, be aware of your "hot spots" and how they move around (when using a gas grill you will get hot spots but they don't move so it is easier to find them). To find the hot spots simply hold your hand about 4 inches over the grill and move your hand in a circular motion. You will feel the hottest spots and the cooler spots. You can use the coolest spots to let food finish cooking once it has been seared enough. Just remember, on a charcoal grill hot spots will move as the charcoal burns.

Before cooking scrape any debris off the grill and season it by wiping and oil soaked rag on it. Do this while the grill is hot and be sure to hold the rag with tongs so that you don't burn your arm off. When you place any food on the grill be sure that you oil the food and not the grill. This method will give you the best results when trying to avoid food sticking to the grill. Finally, try not to mess with the food too much when you put it on the grill; only turn it when you need to. Remember that grilling is not rocket science. Most of you are probably pretty good at it, anyway. Just pay close attention to your food and you will be o.k.

And one last thing. There is a difference between Barbecue and grilling. Barbecue is made by smoking meat for relatively long periods of time over low heat and with lots of smoke. Grilling is done by taking meat, or pretty much anything else, and cooking it over very high heat for a short period of time. I sometimes hear people say, "Let's put some steaks on the barbecue tonight." Huh?

Grilled Caesar Salad

2 Romaine Hearts, split lengthwise

EVOO

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 poblano Pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1” strips

¼ cup Queso Cotija Cheese, crumbled

1 recipe Southwestern Caesar Dressing

Fried Tortilla Strips for Garnish

Heat a charcoal or gas grill until it is very hot. Brush the romaine hearts with EVOO, salt, and pepper. Quickly grill the lettuce until it is just charred on both sides, about 30 seconds to1 minute per side (more or less depending on your heat). Lay each lettuce on a plate and spoon some of the dressing over the middle. Sprinkle the cotija cheese around the dressing, top with poblano strips and the fried tortilla strips.

Serves 4

For the dressing:

1 Garlic Clove, peeled

4 Anchovy Fillets

2 canned Chipotle Peppers

1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard

1 Egg

1 cup Parmegiano-Reggiano Cheese, grated

½ cup Lime Juice

1 ½ cups EVOO

Salt and Pepper to taste

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade, put the garlic, anchovies, chipotles, mustard, egg, cheese, and lime juice. Purée until the mixture is very smooth. With the motor running add the EVOO in a slow, steady stream. Season the dressing with salt and pepper.

The Big Dogs

2009-09-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

Once again I had the great pleasure of working with pastry chef Roland Mesnier. For those of you who don't know of this unsung hero Chef Mesnier was the White House pastry chef for 26 years! He served through five administrations: Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II. Before Bush II finished his second term Chef Mesnier retired. He now promotes his two cookbooks "Basic to Beautiful Cakes" and "Dessert University". Both books are excellent and should be in any serious baker's collection. Chef Mesnier has a new coffee table book coming out next fall. The focus of this book is going to be more behind the scenes in the White House pastry kitchen rather than recipes.

Before class started I asked him if he had ever suffered any disasters at a state dinner or some such important event at the White House. "Never. There was never any room for a mistake. Recipes were tested, retested, and tested again before the dinners. If I ever caught anyone on my staff doing something other than the way I asked them to, then they were sent home immediately. There were no second chances...ever." Wow. That's hardcore. If you blow it, you're gone. That's what it is like when you work with the big dogs.

Fortunately our class this evening was not as intense as a state dinner. It went off without a hitch, thanks to Chef Christina dutifully programming the class on the dry erase board. Chef Mesnier and our staff had a wonderful time. Chef Mesnier is extremely talented yet very humble. His passion for his art is clearly evident in everything that he does. When he arrived to teach he came into the kitchen to see what was already done. He made a few corrections to some things and then put an apron on and got to work himself. He really likes being part of the crew rather than just putting on his show. He just loves what he does.

He deftly took the lead on the class and showed us a wonderful chocolate meringue mousse. This dessert was shockingly easy to make yet so, so very good. It is made by melting chocolate and then folding stiffly beaten and sweetened egg whites into it. The mousse is much lighter than a traditional mousse so if you are looking for a decadent but still fairly healthy dessert then this is the way to go. Daniyyel really liked it, too (but not as much as me, I'm just not going to post a picture of my dish room gluttony).

After the mousse he did poached peaches served with red wine sorbet and honey sabayon. Oh. My. God. This makes for the perfect hot weather dessert. Considering that Texas gets plenty of hot weather, some of the best peaches in the world, and fabulous local honey then this dessert just fits right in.

Next up was papaya stuffed with lime mousse and served atop raspberry purée and dotted with lime cream. The tropical essence cannot be missed here and the flavors play together so well. This is another thing that blows me away about Chef Mesnier; he is able to so expertly blend flavors without overloading the dessert with sugar. While all of his desserts were sweet, they were never cloyingly so.

Finally he did Boston Cream Cupcakes. The batter for the cakes was scented with lemon zest which really helped to bring the pastry cream to the forefront. Of course, the pastry cream itself was like silk. I wish that I had bed sheets that felt like that pastry cream. A simple chocolate ganache was piped on top and garnished with chopped peanuts. I think that Christina and I ate about 15 of these babies before we left for the night. Chef Mesnier served the cupcakes with a glass of prosecco and shared a toast with the class. He also acknowledged the professionalism of the our staff. I can't tell you how proud that made me feel; to have a chef of this caliber let us know how much he appreciated our skill and talent. Vive Chef Mesnier!

Africa

2009-09-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

My friend Abou is from Guinea. He lives here in the U.S. and teaches African drum and balaphone (a xylophone-like instrument). Abou and I decided, after my hearing that the food he makes is very good, to get together and do a class on the food and music of Guinea, Africa.

The cuisine of Guinea is very, shall we say, sauce based. Whenever Abou talks about the food he makes he usually says that he is making, "...sauce with rice." The sauce could have anything in it (anything but pork; Guinea is a largely Muslim country so Abou, being Muslim, does not eat pork). Most of the sauces that Abou spoke with me about had some kind of protein, starch, and vegetable in it. He favors fish for his protein, but also lamb. The vegetables and fruits that he tends to use are avocado, yucca root, eggplant, onion, potato, okra, tomato, mango, papaya, etc. I found it interesting that many of the things we have readily available to us here in Texas are similar to what Abou grew up with in Guinea. Climatically the two regions are similar except that it can be hotter and drier in Guinea (Yikes!).

When we set the menu we decided on five dishes: an avocado/potato salad, snapper with yucca root, tuna with chiles and tomatoes, lamb with peanut sauce, and sweet avocado for dessert. Three of the dishes were prepared using Abou's traditional methods. The other two dishes were my own creations/interpretations based on Abou's influence.

As I said, Abou is a drummer. It just so happens that I am a bassist. So we decided to play together at the class. Abou invited his brother, Seny, to play drums so that Abou could play the balaphone. I feel it was a great honor for me to play with Abou and Seny. I have played many different styles of music but this was almost entirely new for me. While I have listened to a lot of African music I have never really had the opportunity to play it in such an authentic setting. We had one rehearsal the day before the class and a little time to warm up just before the class.

We opened the class with a tune, which Abou sang, that translates into "Food is good. We all understand this." Rhythmically this song was very tricky so I had to really stay on my toes. We got through it just fine and you couldn't have had a better start to a class.

The first dish was the avocado/potato salad. This was a simple concoction of the title parts, tomatoes, onions, boiled eggs, vinegar, and just enough mayonnaise to hold it together. What I find interesting about this dish is that it is very similar to the potato salads I grew up with in the church (I am a recovering preacher's kid). When Abou was telling me about this dish I could see the influence that African cuisine has had on American food (especially Louisiana).

Next up was the snapper with yucca root. Abou helped me cook because he does things differently than a trained chef and I wanted to keep it real.Usually when yucca root is in a recipe that I work with it is sliced and fried. This time the root is chopped and boiled like potatoes. The fish is fried in oil and mixed with onions, tomato paste, ground dried chiles, and salt and pepper. The tomato paste is loosened with plenty of water to make a sauce so that when the yucca root goes in the mixture the starchy vegetable won't soak it all up. You want the sauces to be loose enough to serve over rice.

After the snapper I did my version of a similar dish. Rather than frying the fish in oil, though, I cut tuna into steaks, rubbed them with ground, dried chiles, and sautéed them quickly in oil so that they were still rare. I then made a quick tomato sauce in the pan with onions, carrots, garlic, serrano peppers, and crushed tomatoes. The sauce was spooned over rice and the rare tuna was sliced thin and served over the top. A student in the class asked Abou if he would eat tuna as rare as I was serving it. He said, "Yes." I breathed a sigh of relief.

Now it was time for the lamb. This, for me, was the show stopper. The preparation technique was just about the same as the other dishes. But the depth of flavor that this dish has is incredible. We fried the lamb in oil and then added chopped onion, carrot, eggplant, and tomato paste. Water was added to make the sauce and we put some ground, dried chiles in for good measure. What this makes is a stew, really. The lamb cooks for a long time and becomes very tender. The eggplant becomes very soft, almost falling apart, and lets it's flavor run wild through the stew. At the end of the cooking time fresh ground peanut butter is stirred into the stew. This does two things: it helps to thicken the sauce a bit and gives it the most wonderful flavor. I had never heard of doing lamb with peanut sauce before but Abou has sold me on it. The gaminess of the lamb, earthiness of the eggplant, and nuttiness of the peanuts all go hand in hand. When I first cooked this with Abou I asked, "How do you know when it is done?" He replied, "When the oil rises to the top." Got it.

Abou's girlfriend, Lisa, told me a story of eating at home one night. Abou had cooked the usual "sauce with rice" and she wanted something sweet for dessert. She said that they didn't have anything and Abou countered, "There is an avocado in the kitchen." "But Abou, that's not sweet." Abou went into the kitchen and came back with avocado and sugar mashed together and spread on bread. I tried it and it was good. But it also got me thinking, "What if I put an avocado in a standard dessert?" Thus, the avocado crème brûlée was born. We served this just like a standard crème brûlée but, in a bow to Abou, I added a garnish of baguette spread with sweetened avocado. The dessert found a classroom full of new fans. I encourage you to try it.

Between courses Abou and Seny played some great music. I also got to play another time. When we ended the class we played the first song again. I was much more relaxed after such a good time of music and food. "Food is good. We all understand this." Thank you, Abou and Seny.

Avocado Crème Brûlée

1 large, ripe Avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped rough
5 Egg Yolks
½ cup Sugar
2 Vanilla Beans, split and scraped
2 cups Heavy Cream
Turbinado Sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean. Purée the avocado in a food processor and slowly pour in the cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and purée again so that no lumps of avocado are left.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the crème brûlée is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
Remove the crème brûlée from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Divide the ½ of the turbinado sugar equally among the 6 dishes and spread evenly on top. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Repeat this process with the turbinado sugar a second time. Allow the crème brûlée to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Au Revoir Les Belles Cerises

2009-09-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

I'll let this be a short post today as I am sad. For about the past 4 or 5 days now I have not seen any cherries neither in my store on the other store I tend to frequent. I fear that they are gone for the year. The cherries this year have been so very, very good.

I will miss the tarts, cobblers, crisps, pies, galettes, and clafoutis that I have made with them this year. I will miss the demi-glaces and port wine reductions, the braising liquids and sauces. But most of all I will miss grabbing a handful and eating them plain, gnawing the pit like a bone so that I can get every last bit of flesh from it.

On more than one occasion my martial arts instructor and I sat down after our morning training and would consume an entire 1lb. bag of Hood River, Oregon cherries. You have my word that it makes a great post-workout snack. It really helps wash the taste of the Nasty Green Drink out of our mouths, too.

In the not to distant future we will begin seeing cherries from Chile but they pale in comparison so I never bother with them. Until next year...

Tata Too

2009-09-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

Back to the food. Back to Donatella. She has another restaurant in the Fort Worth, TX area called Tata, Too. Clever, huh? About two weeks ago I got to work with Donatella again as she came back and taught a class featuring a light summer menu.

The starter was a panzanella, or bread salad. The simplicity of this dish is what I love (actually, I love simplicity in most food). It is nothing more than pieces of bread tossed with summer vegetables like cucumber, tomato, onions, basil, olives, EVOO, vinegar, salt, and pepper. There, you have the recipe. You can really use whatever proportions that you want. Just be sure and make it about 30 minutes before you plan to serve it so that the bread can soak up the dressing and juices from the vegetables (actually, the cukes and toms are fruits but we won't get that picky just yet).

Next up was the bolognese pasta stuffed eggplant. Again, simplicity is the key to this dish. The bolognese sauce is made with beef and sausage and cooked in crushed tomatoes for a couple of hours. The meat becomes so tender that it just falls apart. When the sauce is done it is tossed with small pasta shells and fresh mozzarella. The pasta and cheese make the sauce very thick so that it can be stuffed into the baked eggplant slices, rolled, and baked again with a sprinkling of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Simply yum.

She also did a plate of summer salad that she made up on the spot. Simply composed of mixed greens dressed with high quality EVOO, salt, and pepper and a wonderful addition of ricotta cheese balls seasoned with thyme and rolled in crushed pistachios this salad provided a wonderful accompaniment to the Italian meatloaf. The meat loaf was done in the traditional style and stuffed with mortadella, carrots, peas, and boiled eggs. (Would you just look at that "Steak" of mortadella?)

The entire menu was very simple; simply summer and simply yummy. It was great to see you again Donatella.

The Big Fat Reds

2009-09-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Fifteen years ago I played in a band. Actually, I played in a lot of bands. I have played many different styles of music ranging from Hip-Hop to Classical. But this band that I played in so many years ago really made an impact on me. So let's go back in time a bit, shall we?

I was working at a burger joint, G.M. Steakhouse, that happened to be very popular at the time. I had actually worked there on and off a couple of times and I happened to be back on. I showed up for a Saturday shift and started getting my grill ready for the lunch rush. I turn around and the day manager comes walking up. He is this big athletic dude wearing Terminator sunglasses, Doc Marten boots, ratty-ass cut-offs, and a Red Hot Chili Peppers tee shirt. His head is shaved and he has a goatee and looks mean as shit (not that I looked any better, I'm just sayin'). "Great," I think to myself, expecting this guy to be a total shithead.

Lunch is served and the burgers begin to fly. I find out that the shithead's name is Eric. I also find out that he is pretty cool. We start talking music and he mentions that he is a rapper. I then have to mention that I am a bass player and that the old guy in the dish room is a drummer named Dave who I have been playing with in a jazz/funk band that just fell apart. Naturally we decide to jam that day after work.

We get to my apartment and I set up my bass. Dave doesn't have any drums with him, just some sticks. So we get out a couple of 5-gallon pickle buckets and he plays on those (Dave can keep a good beat on anything). I play a couple of grooves that I have been working on and Eric starts to rap over it. All the while Dave is totally funkin' out on the pickle buckets. We just know that we have a band. A couple of other friends of ours who worked at the burger joint ended up joining and playing trumpet and sax (to varying degrees of success). Between Eric, Dave, and me, though, we were really feeling the core of something.

Naturally we needed a guitar player and I called my friend Jamie. He was working at G.M. Steakhouse when I first was hired there (actually more than fifteen years ago). I have known Jamie for a long time and he was one of my first friends I made when I moved here to Austin, Texas. When we had the first jam session with Jamie, Eric said afterward that he wasn't sure about Jamie's playing style and that we should keep our minds open to other players. Jamie said that he wanted to chew on our material for a week and give it another go. We set up another rehearsal. Jamie came back and, in the words of the great George Clinton, "tore the roof off the sucker". The core was complete.

As I said, this band made a huge impact on me. We tried anything and everything. Sometimes we just got really weird but always, always, always kept a groove going. This band has always been about the groove. The band (called D'Zyne at the time) really allowed me to write a lot. It allowed us all to write and be truly collaborative. Musically we really grew during the five years or so that we were together.

All things must pass. I eventually went to school to study music more seriously, earning my degree in music composition (classical, you can find a c.d. of my chamber music here or on iTunes). Eric and Dave moved up to New York. Jamie began pursuing his college degrees. We grew up, got married (Dave for the third time), had kids (excluding Jamie and Dave), and became more professional.

While in New York City Dave and Eric kept some of the old tunes alive with a band they had started up there. Calling themselves The Big Fat Reds they did some really good stuff but for whatever reason it didn't hold together. Still, they got some good tunes out of it and kept some of the old material alive.

About 2 months ago Dave, Jamie, and myself all received and email from Eric saying that it was time to get the band back together. He was moving back to town (Dave had already moved back from New York). Well, duh! After fifteen years of gestation this was going to be pretty cool.

We now have about 4 new tunes since our reunion and have really worked up some of our older material. A lot of the old stuff has been polished with new ideas and slightly new arrangements. We are having so much fun playing and writing again. It's not as serious as it was years ago. We only rehearse when we can, once a week at the most. But what impresses me most is the new direction we are taking. Eric is singing more than rapping, the grooves are much tighter, and the ability to communicate both musically and verbally has really matured. Less has become so much more. I'm both glad and proud to be a member of The Big Fat Reds.

We'll be playing at Momo's on Friday, September 18, 2009. See this flyer? Come check it out.

The Galette

2009-09-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

A galette is one of my favorite desserts to make if only for the simple reason that it is, well, simple. They are easy to throw together at the last minute and can be made with just about any fruit you can think of. They can also be savory so you can make them with a sweet potato or butternut squash filling. Use fruit and the leftovers (if there are any) make an excellent breakfast. Use the squash and a slice with a salad is the perfect lunch or light dinner.

I have gotten creative with my galettes and came up with a good recipe that uses cranberries, apples, and rosemary. I have also made one with a chocolate crust and blood orange filling. Should the galette become one of your default desserts then you are limited only by your own imagination.

The crust for a galette is a little sturdier than a pie crust. This is because a galette is free-form, that is, it does not use a pie pan. You simply mound the filling in the middle of a rolled out crust and fold the edges up to contain the filling.

The trick to making a galette is that you have to bake it on a rimless cookie sheet or an inverted sheet pan. Now, pay attention because this is important. BEFORE you fill the crust you must roll out the dough and then lay it on the pan. If you fill the crust before you lay it on the pan you will not be able to move it without tearing the dough. If the dough tears then the juices will leak out as the galette cooks. If the juices leak out then they will burn themselves to the bottom of your oven. So I'll say it again, BEFORE you fill your crust you must roll it out and lay it on the sheet pan. The easiest way to do this is to roll the dough into a rough circle about 12 - 14" in diameter. Fold the circle in half, and then fold it in half again so that it resembles a triangle. Set the point of the triangle in the center of the pan and unfold the dough. Now you are ready to fill it.

You may get a little leakage of juice anyway so it helps to put a piece of foil under the pan just in case. When the galette is done let it cool on the pan for about 15 minutes before sliding it to a serving plate.

Though the recipe below calls for peaches, blueberries, and raspberries, the galette I am holding in the picture is made with figs. As I have said in an earlier post the figs this summer have been orgasmic. I have been using them in a lot of desserts and in combination with a lot of other fruits, particularly apricots. Change the fruit to your liking. A late harvest riesling or Sauternes would be a delightful match with this dessert. Also, a little drizzle of orange agrumato EVOO is particularly yummy.

Happy baking!

Summer Fruit Galette

1 recipe Galette Dough
1 pint Blueberries
1 pint Raspberries
2 Peaches, sliced
2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Lemon Zest
20 Amaretti Cookies, crushed

Preheat oven to 375°

Toss the fruit with the sugar and zest and set aside.

Roll the dough into a rough 12 – inch circle. Fold the dough into quarters and transfer it to the back of an inverted sheet pan. Spread the crushed amaretti cookies in the center, leaving a 3 – inch border.

Mound the fruit on top of the crushed cookies. Gently fold the dough up and over the sides of the fruit mound until the circle of dough is enveloping the fruit but the top is still exposed.

Bake the galette until the edges are browned and the fruit looks bubbly. Be careful of drips leaking through the dough. You may want to place a piece of foil under the sheet pan for easy cleaning of any drips.

Allow the galette to sit for at least 20 minutes before cutting and serving.

Serves 8

Galette Dough

2 cups All Purpose or Whole Wheat Flour or a mix
½ tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. Sugar
12 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (you may use EVOO or other oil)
1/3 to ½ cup ice water as needed

Mix the flour, salt, and sugar together in a bowl. Cut in the butter by hand or with a pastry blade, leaving some pea-sized chunks (you can use a food processor to). Sprinkle the ice water over the top by the tablespoon and toss it with the flour until you can bring the dough together in a ball. Press the dough into a disk and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. Allow to rest while you assemble the ingredients for the galette.

The Calling

2009-08-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, years ago, I received The Calling. Not all chefs are called, but I was. I'm not sure exactly when I heard The Call. It could have been when I became tired of seeing 36 different ingredients on the package of bread that I bought. I tried buying bread from local, top-notch bakeries with varying degrees of success. Mostly, though, their loaves became too stale, too fast. Even then there seemed to be too many ingredients in the loaves. It should be simple, thought I, to make a loaf of bread. I'll need yeast, water, oil, flour, and salt. Thus, my journey into true baking began.

I feel a little like Odysseus, having completed my own ten-year odyssey fraught with the callings of beautiful yeast strains, flours of varying protein contents, starters both ancient and young, and seemingly endless methods. But like all mythic heroes I have come full circle. I have come home. I now make bread of all kinds but my favorites remain the simplest loaves made only with yeast, water, oil, flour, and salt (I add a trivial amount of sugar to feed the yeast as it is proofing).

I have come to favor certain ingredients. My favorite yeast is made by Hodgson Mill. There is slightly more yeast in one of their packages and it leaves a wonderful yeasty flavor to the finished loaf.

My flour is King Arthur; bread flour, all purpose flour, and whole wheat flour. King Arthur flours are higher in gluten than most other flours. For this reason they lend themselves perfectly to bread making. Gluten is the protein that gives bread it's nice, fine crumb. This is why we have bread flours available as they are higher in gluten content.

I typically use coarse sea salt as I like the way the grains don't totally dissolve, leaving you with a nice salty bite now and again. La Baleine is my favorite brand.

As for the oil, I will use various types: EVOO, almond, hazelnut, grape seed, and walnut. Hazelnut is my preference because I like the way that it smells when it bakes and I like the faint nutty taste in the loaf. Try and get your hands on some J. Leblanc nut oils. You will not regret it. I use them exclusively for my breads. For whole wheat loaves that call for an addition of molasses or something strong like that then I will use a more neutral oil as the delicate hazelnut flavor can get lost. You can even use butter if you prefer.

The liquid I most frequently use is water. I do this so that I can keep the bread vegan (I am not vegan or vegetarian but I don't eat a lot of dairy, either). Milk is perfectly acceptable as is buttermilk, cream, and even beer. But my basic loaf calls for only water.

Try this loaf. It is a basic white bread that makes superlative sandwiches, toast, French toast, and bread pudding. Just about anything that calls for a slice of white bread will be made better with this loaf. When you are comfortable with the process of this bread you will find that you don't need to measure the ingredients quite as accurately because you will know the look, feel, smell, and even the sound of this loaf.

The basic white loaf can be kneaded in the standing mixer but I always prefer to take it out and knead it by hand. It becomes a very meditative moment for me. The escape that it provides is really what making bread is all about; Zen through bread. I hope that you are called upon.

White Sandwich Bread

2.5 cups Warm water (100° or so)
1 package Yeast (I use Hodgson Mill)
1 Tbsp. Sugar
4 Tbsp Hazelnut Oil, or EVOO
1 Tbsp Sea Salt
6.5 - 7 cups King Arthur Bread flour

Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the 1/2 cup of the warm water. When it is nice and puffy add the other two cups of warm water, oil, and sea salt. Stir to dissolve the salt.

Add 3 cups of the flour and stir with a fork until the flour is incorporated. Add 3 more cups of flour and stir until the dough starts to come together. You may find it helpful to now switch to a sturdy wooden spoon with which to stir. If the dough still seems wet and is clinging to the sides of the bowl, add a little more flour (1/4 cup) and stir until the dough pulls away from the bowl and comes together in a ball.

Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface (wooden cutting board in my case) and knead for 10-12 minutes. This is my favorite part of making bread. Really work the dough with the heels of your palms while pressing, folding, and turning the dough. Add flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the surface. When the dough is smooth and satin looking drop it into a lightly oiled bowl, top side down. Now turn the ball of dough over, cover the bowl with a warm, damp cloth, and allow the dough to rise (in a warm spot; in a turned-off oven in my case) until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Gently deflate the risen dough, shape into a smooth ball again and divide in half. Shape each half into a ball so that the outside is smooth and satiny. Press one ball into a rectangle and roll the top of the rectangle down to the bottom (like a jelly roll). Pinch the seams together, pull the ends over and pinch those seams together, too. Drop the loaf, seam side down, into a WELL BUTTERED loaf pan (seriously, grease the shit out of it). Repeat this process with the other ball of dough.

Cover the pans with a warm damp cloth and allow to rise, as before (but not in the oven this time) until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes to an hour. While the loaves are rising preheat the oven to 375°.

Bake the loaves at 375° for 35-45 minutes. Do not open the oven until at least 20 minutes have passed and you need to rotate the loaves. The Bread Gods frown on opening the oven too soon. After 35 minutes test one loaf to see if it is done. Turn the loaf out of the pan and insert and instant read thermometer into the bottom. It should read 200°. If your loaf isn't done just drop it back into the pan and put it back in the oven. When the loaves are done turn them onto a cooling rack and wait about 30 minutes to slice.

Makes two 1lb. loaves