Local Lobster

Okay, maybe not. But with the exception of some lemon juice, all the ingredients that surrounded our East Coast crustacean were produced right here in the Midwest.

Needing to pick up some gift certificates for Purple Asparagus’ Corks & Crayons from Dirk of Dirk’s Fish, I knew that Sunday was going to be a fish night. Not until I saw the beautiful tangerine-colored chanterelles from River Valley, did I decide that my Piscean delight would come with claws and a tail.

Having grilled some delicious Black Earth bratwurst for lunch (paired with slaw made from Green Acres red cabbage and pickled Learning Shed’s green tomatoes), we used the last of the fire to give a smoky flavor to our chanterelles and 2 ears of Smit’s corn. We later steamed one lobster and browned the remaining chunk of my unlabeled Blue Marble Butter. While Mike pried apart our lobster, I sautéed a small shallot and 1 tablespoon of finely chopped green onion in a pan. As he sucked on the lobster legs, I chopped the meat and added it to the pan with the kernels of our smoky corn with about ¼ cup of the browned butter, the juice of one lemon and 1 tablespoon parsley.

So how was it? A revelation. Not because of the lobster, which was richly sweet and perfectly cooked. Nor because of the chanterelles, smoky and flavored with summer earth. But the corn. Oh the corn. The corn we wait a year for. This corn is a bare relation to the genetically engineered corn grown far and wide over the Midwest. The corn that reminds you why corn-fed is actually a compliment here in our Midwestern states. Paired with a rich, unoaked Russian River Valley chardonnay, it was the perfect way to end a weekend in mid August.

Photo Courtesy of Public Domains Pictures.net

Healthy Home Tips from EWG

Lots of great things enter my inbox from people I don't know personally. New blog posts, funny articles, calls to action. The following tip sheet from the Environmental Working Group is too good not to share: Healthy Home Tips.

Enjoy and keep healthy!

School's In; rBGH is out

There's exciting news in Evanston for those who care about our childrens' health. Evanston School District 65 is exercising its right to buy rBGH-free milk.

Developed by Monsanto, rBGH or recombinant bovine growth hormone artificially increases milk production by 10-15%. Despite concerns over the risks to both humans and animals, the FDA continues to assert its safety. Many large corporations, including Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Chipotle refuse to purchase milk from cows given rBGH and the Chicago Public Schools has gone with a supplier whose milk is rBGH-free.

With the help of Food and Water Watch, Evanston has given rBGH milk the heave-ho announcing that it will serve rBGH-free milk in its cafeterias starting this autumn.

To learn more about the risks associated with rBGH milk, visit Sustainable Table or The Center for Food Safety's website. For more about the campaign, check out this Local Beet article by one othe Food & Water Watch's Field Organizer.

Damn you Zingerman's

As if I didn't spend enough on the Michigan retailer's website with its selection of varietal honeys, they go along and come up with this.

Strangely, even as a child, I've been able to resist the siren's call of candy. Give me the choice between a potato chip and a chocolate coated something-or-other, I'll take the former every day and three times on Sunday. This holds true with almost every variety, except one. For years, the Snicker's bar has some sort of svengali-like hold over my taste buds. Every Halloween, I routinely pilfer each and every one that my son receives in his goody bag.

So damn those Michiganders up in Ann Arbor. Zingerman's has begun offering the Zzang bar, a Snicker's bar on crack. Honey nougat made from natural peanut butter, rolled in a lusciously-smooth muscavado sugar caramel and topped with butter-toasted peanuts. All of this decadence is enrobed in bittersweet Equadorian chocolate. Thank goodness, it's exorbitantly expensive ($7.00 for 2.5 oz. and worth every penny) or I'd be buying it by the case.

Available online at Zingerman's or at Whole Foods.

Pictures From Cheese, Glorious Cheese

A special thanks goes out to Jennifer Khatchatrian, a.k.a. ecochicorganizer for snapping the following from my recent demo at Green City Market during cheese month.



Pimento Cheese

Makes a little over 2 cups

INGREDIENTS:
1 small red pepper
10 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 ounces goat cheese softened
½ cup mayonnaise, either homemade or best quality commercial
1 pinch of cayenne
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
3 grinds of freshly ground pepper

METHODS: Roast the pepper by charring it over an open flame or by broiling it. When the skin is blackened, remove the pepper and put in a bowl. Cover the bowl and set aside until cool enough to handle. When cooled, remove the skin, stem and seeds. Roughly chop. Combine the pepper, cheeses, mayonnaise and seasonings in the bowl of a food processor. Mix until smooth. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight to develop the flavors. Serve with saltine-style crackers or brioche toasts.




Cheddar-Bacon Popcorn

The bacon-cheddar popcorn is made simply by coating air-popped popcorn with strained bacon grease to taste. Sprinkle on Spice House cheddar powder and fine sea salt to taste.



Cheese Wafers

Makes approximately 70

INGREDIENTS:
10 ounces hard cheese like cheddar or parmesan, grated

METHOD: Preheat oven to 350° F. On a silpat or parchment-lined baking sheet, scoop out teaspoons of grated cheese to make 15 circles. If you want your crackers to be neater, use a 1 ¾ -inch biscuit cutter. Set the cutter on the lined baking sheet and fill with a teaspoon of cheese. Repeat. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until crisp.

What's this? Rutabaga

Root vegetables are some of the most maligned of ingredients known to humankind. And the most reviled of the maligned? The turnip. For centuries, spurned by the well-to-do, the bitter, round, hard root was the staple of many a poor European family. That sulfurous stink probably arouses a certain revulsion and shame in many of my generation and the one preceding it.

The turnip’s biggest problem is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Alas, like Cinderella’s ugliest of step-sisters, the turnip is the last to be chosen. Because the turnip keeps well, we often turn to it only when the growing season is over. Unfortunately, by this time, it’s past its prime. Precisely at the moment we are enjoying the delicacies of Spring or finishing up the last of Autumn’s offerings is when we should try the turnip. The gentle temperatures of Spring and Autumn produces one that's sweet and tender far from the hardened Winter variety.

The turnip’s best chance to change its image is by association with its cousin the rutabaga. Unlike the turnip, the rutabaga, is at its best in early Winter after a period of cold weather has revealed its true sweetness. The rutabaga, or yellow turnip, is a cross between a cabbage and the homely turnip. It can range in size between that of a golf ball and a soft ball and is yellowish in hue shading into fuschia at the root end. While it does have the characteristically turnip-y aroma, it’s balanced by an earthy sweetness. One can only hope that more people will try the rutabaga for the Winter months leaving the turnip alone until its time to shine. Here's a recipe that should engender some love and respect for the rutabaga. Easier than cooking and mashing potatoes, this puree is sweet, mellow and earthy – a perfect counterpoint to pork or roast chicken.



Rutabaga Puree with Crème Fraiche & Horseradish
Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:
3 small rutabagas
1/3 cup crème fraiche
1 teaspoon drained, prepared horseradish
½ teaspoon sea salt

METHOD: Peel and quarter the rutabagas. Place them in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Toss in a firm pinch of kosher salt. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender when pierced with a knife, approximately 20 minutes. Remove the rutabagas from the water to the bowl of a food processor. Puree until smooth. Add crème fraiche, horseradish and salt.

You say ketchup, I say catsup

Ketchup lovers take heed, there's a new player in the house.



To learn more visit, The Local Beet

Flower & Garden Show

For those of you who want to brave the Navy Pier crowds on a nice day, I'll be at the Chicagoland Flower and Garden Show tomorrow demonstrating Carrot-Coconut Soup.

If you can't make it, please enjoy the recipe. Late March and early April are miserable months for those of us who try to eat locally. Spring is no where near the produce section or the farmers markets, but the thought of one more turnip or hard-skinned squash is too much to bear. This soup is a great transition recipe. It's got a sunshine-y color that warms the soul just to see it. It's also a great reminder of sunnier days ahead. While I wasn't able to find any of the freshly dug carrots, I've heard rumor that they're out there. Also, some localvores may still have their carrots in cold storage. With those, add local onions, stock, butter and even cilantro if you're good at growing herbs inside.

Carrot-Coconut Soup
Resist any urge to add more Serrano chile; the heat overwhelms the delicate sweetness of the carrots. I’ve garnished the soup with butter-poached shrimp, but it could easily be replaced with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche and is equally delicious (and beautiful) served without garnish. This soup is also very good when served cold.

For 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:
Carrot-Coconut Soup
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup chopped yellow onion
½ Serrano chili, seeded and minced
1 stalk lemongrass, thinly sliced
A 1-inch slice of ginger, peeled
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 ½ cups sliced carrots, approximately 6 large carrots
3 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade (see recipe in Taking Stock)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup light coconut milk
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Garnish
Cilantro for garnish
12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined (optional)
½ pound unsalted butter (optional)

EQUIPMENT SUGGESTED: A heavy-bottomed 4-quart sauce pan, a food processor or a powerful hand blender, a fine mesh sieve, a 9-inch sauté pan.

METHODS:
The soup: Heat butter in a medium pot over medium heat until the foam has subsided. Sauté the onion, chili, lemongrass and ginger until softened – 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add carrots, chicken stock and cook until the carrots are tender – 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Purée in a food processor or with a powerful hand blender and return to the cleaned pot. For a finer texture, you can force the soup through a fine mesh sieve.

Butter Poached Shrimp: Bring the butter to a bare simmer over low heat in a shallow sauté pan.

Add the shrimp and cook until just pink approximately 4 to 5 minutes.
Finishing the soup: Return the soup to a simmer. Remove from the heat, add the coconut milk and season with freshly ground white pepper.

Serving the soup: Ladle into shallow soup bowls. If desired, garnish each bowl with two butter-poached shrimp and a little cilantro.

Do-ahead notes: The soup can be made and puréed one day ahead and refrigerated or it can be made up to two weeks ahead and frozen.
Second Use: The butter from poaching the shrimp can be frozen and used later to make shrimp and grits.

What's This? Collard Greens

For those of us who try to eat locally year round, greens make up a big part of our Winter diet. Both light greens, like cabbage, and dark greens, kale, spinach and chards, are a savior when tomatoes, eggplants and summer squash are a distant memory. And the great thing about most of these greens is that the cold weather softens and sweetens many greens making them easier to eat and to cook.

The green pictured above is an ancient one, cultivated by the Greeks and Romans. They were brought to America by the British settlers and the name, collard, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for cabbage, colewort. Collards were rapidly adopted by the slaves as a substitute for the greens they knew in Africa. As a result, collards remain a staple of the cooking of the American South. They are also popular in Brazil, where according to an old folk tale, a woman isn't ready for marriage until she knows how to shred the green properly.

Like other dark leafy greens, collards are high in fiber and rich in Vitamin C. Collard greens can be long cooked as is common in Southern cooking or flash cooked, especially in the Winter. Here's my favorite recipe for kale, which is somewhere in between. I add a boost of flavor at the end with a bit of glace - highly reduced veal stock, but this isn't necessary especially when the greens are really fresh.



Quick Braised Collards
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch collard greens
1 tablespoon bacon grease
1 tablespoon veal demi-glace
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

METHODS: Remove the hard stems by folding the leaves in half and cutting them away from the stem. Slice about 1/2-inch thick. Heat the bacon grease in a medium-large saucepan. Add the collard greens and cover with water by an inch. Bring to a simmer and cook until tender, approximately 1/2 hour. You may need to add more water. Drop the glace in and simmer for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

What's This? Burdock

I usually don’t like to include chef-y recipes on my blog. By this I mean, ones with a lot of steps or unusual ingredients. I make an exception when I make something so good out of an ingredient that is as ugly as it is difficult to tame. Even the word, burdock, conjures images of witches over a cauldron stirring potions that will turn their enemies into scaly, slimy beasts. It doesn’t help that it looks like a utensil to be used for this purpose.

Research on the root doesn’t present any more of an appealing image. Burdock is a biennial thistle whose dark green leaves can grow up to 18-inches in length. The edible portion, i.e. the roots, is food for the larva of the Ghost Moth and other Lepidoptera, such as The Gothic, Lime-speck Pug and Scalloped Hazel according to Wikipedia. Over at Botanical.com, Mrs. M. Grieve calls its taste “sweetish and mucilaginous.” Thus, there’s little surprise, that burdock, which was referred to in several of Shakespeare’s plays, has fallen out of fashion in European cultures in recent centuries.

Burdock does remain popular in Japan, where it is known as gobo, and has experienced a slight resurgence of popularity in western cuisine because of macrobiotics, which recommends its consumption. For the rest of us, burdock remains a relative unknown. It’s available at Whole Foods and occasionally through Fresh Picks from Harmony Valley in Wisconsin.

Raw, burdock has a slightly bitter taste, which can be softened by soaking in cold water for 5 to 10 minutes prior to cooking. It also is best thinly shaved either by an adjustable vegetable slicer or with a vegetable peeler. The appearance of shaved burdock, a little like linguine, was the inspiration for the following recipe:



Mushroom Braised Burdock with Soba Noodles, Mushrooms & Fresh Ricotta
Serves 2 as an entrée or 4 as an appetizer

This recipe has such an earthy quality to it because of the combination of the burdock, mushrooms & buckwheat of the noodles. It can easily be converted to a vegan recipe by substituting the butter for oil and omitting the ricotta cheese.

INGREDIENTS:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound button mushrooms, sliced ¼-inch thick
4 burdock stalks
2 cups mushroom stock, recipe follows
2 shallots
¼ cup Madeira
2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
¼ pound soba noodles
¼ fresh ricotta

METHOD: Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until melted. Add ½ of the sliced mushrooms and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook until lightly browned and remove to a bowl. Repeat with remaining butter and mushrooms. Turn the heat under the mushrooms to medium heat, add previously cooked mushrooms, add Madeira, bring to a simmer and reduce slightly. Turn the heat off. Fill a medium shallow bowl with cold water. Scrub clean or peel the burdock root. Shave it with a vegetable peeler, dropping the shaved pieces into the cold water. There will be some waste. Bring a large stock pot full of water to a boil. In a medium saucepan, bring the mushroom stock to a vigorous simmer. Add burdock and cook until tender, approximately 10 minutes. Salt the boiling water and drop the soba noodles in; cook for 6-7 minutes. In the meantime, add the burdock and stock to the mushrooms and reduce the liquid until almost evaporated. Taste for seasoning and add kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Drain the noodles, add to the mushroom mixture and toss to coat. Serve in shallow bowls topped with clouds of ricotta.

Mushroom Stock

INGREDIENTS:
Stems from 2 pounds of mushrooms
¼ cup dried porcini mushrooms
1 sprig thyme

METHOD: Cover the ingredients with 2 inches water in a medium sauce pan. Bring the water to a simmer and cook for 1 hour.

Hope and Change at the Table

An account of the intimate dinner that I cooked for the new First Lady.

On Super Tuesday, we booked our hotel; the night of the election, our plane tickets. Perhaps we were optimistic, but if Barack won, I wanted to be there. I was in Washington for law school in 1993 and on that cold January evening, I saw all the frothy dresses and polished tuxes trotted out for President Clinton and so wished that I too could go to the ball.

There was, however, one small detail that I neglected to remember – I hate crowds. While watching political rallies on the small screen, they always so seem so inspiring – strangers rubbing shoulders for a common purpose. But in reality, they just make me itchy. As the crowd estimates continued to rise after the election, we began to rethink our travel plans. Cancelling the trip was not a possibility. Our itinerary included flying through Long Island to drop off our son, Thor, with my mom and dad. For months, he had been telling friends that he wanted Barack to win so that he could visit his grandparents. Plans had been made, play dates arranged –- it was set. At the very least, we were going to New York.

Taking the money we would have spent on ball tickets, peak hotel rates and all the rest, we booked a suite at the Sofitel and reserved tables at Gotham Bar & Grill, Blue Hill & Daniel. While Barack, in his polished tux, and Michelle, in her very frothy dress danced to “At Last” at one of the many inaugural balls on January 20, we lifted a glass of champagne at the uncrowded Restaurant Daniel on the Upper East Side.

In retrospect, this post hoc decision made perfect sense given that my support for Barack and his campaign were not born as the result of one of his soaring crowd-pleasing speeches, but instead at a similarly intimate dinner that I cooked for Michelle and four of her closest friends.

After the momentous announcement was made on another cold day in early 2007, a smattering of Obama signs began to appear in Chicago windows. It was around this time that I got the call. During the previous October, I had donated a package to Healthy Schools Campaign for their annual benefit. Called “A Sustainable Evening,” it was a multi-course dinner with pairings from Candid Wines. I often donate packages like these to charities with which I’m involved. They’re great PR and surprisingly, given the price they tend to fetch, about a third of a time the bidder doesn’t redeem. This time was different.

Cindy Moelis, a good friend of Michelle’s, had purchased the item. Originally, she’d planned to use it for her and her husband. But as the campaign began in earnest, she realized that over the next few months, and perhaps years, there would be few opportunities for Michelle to spend an intimate evening with her close female friends. Accordingly, the dinner was intended in some respects to be a last hurrah, though one without fanfare – just a simple evening of good friends enjoying good food and wine. Working with Cindy, we developed a menu that took into account Michelle’s taste, the guest’s dietary restrictions and our philosophy of sustainable sourcing. The event was challenging in many respects. Off-site catering has many difficulties, ones that are only compounded when a site visit or even communication with the host is not possible. We also had the time of year to contend with; April, the month of the event, is a sort of netherworld for local eating in the Midwest. The growing season hasn’t kicked in, but the thought of yet one more root vegetable is too much to bear.

Despite these challenges, the event went beautifully. We served a trio of snacks to start: crisp wafers of Wisconsin parmesan, salt-crusted almonds and local radish slices topped with herbed goat butter. The first course was a salad of local baby greens and herbs topped with seared Maine diver scallops and dressed with vinaigrette made from an artisanal California cider vinegar. We served a soup: rich chicken broth, cooked down twice, in it, a single ravioli filled with a mixture of sweet peas, Prairie Fruits Farm goat cheese and grey shallots. The ravioli was topped with a tussle of frizzled Wettstein’s ham and pea shoots. The entrée was seared King salmon filets set atop a potato puree surrounded by a moat of rich red wine sauce made from Lynfred’s Vin de City Red. The filets were garnished with a handful of asparagus tips. In the bread basket, there was rich foccacia, rosemary crackers and country bread — all house made. Our dessert was a rhubarb crème brulee partnered with Meyer lemon madeleines. We finished up with French-pressed Intelligentia coffee and truffles from Coco Rouge.



After the tumultuous primary and campaign, that night all seems so long ago, but I remember Michelle being down to earth and kind. Malia and Sascha were there with the children of the other guests (they all ate pizza and played games downstairs). Malia was thoughtful and composed; Sascha, a pistol. But I particularly recall our departure as I was the only member of our team to get a big hug and kiss on the cheek from Michelle – a moment that I treasure.

I’ve been thinking about this evening in light of the heated discussions in the food community about who should be the White House chef in President Obama’s administration. A “controversy” recently resolved by the retention of Chef Cristeta Comerford and the appointment of private chef Sam Kass to serve under her. Ordinarily, our Sustainable Evening package has a strong educational component. Both the folks at Candid Wines and I really enjoy talking with guests about sustainable methods of production, the farmers, producers and wineries from whom we source and generally about the philosophy of sustainability. In fact, in many instances, the guests sit in the kitchen with us and it becomes an interactive event. While it would have been wonderful to have the opportunity to do this with such a high profile individual as Michelle, when we learned what the intent of the dinner was, we limited the didactic element to a minimum – essentially a description of each dish and a short presentation on the philosophy of our companies. Based upon this experience, I’ve been both amused and troubled by the debate on the role of the White House chef.

Initially, I thought it interesting how so many high profile food writers could misunderstand the role of White House chef. As Walter Scheib, Executive Chef in both the Clinton and Bush administrations, has made clear in his interviews on the subject, the job is not to promote one’s own agenda, but to serve at the pleasure of the president and first lady. As Tony Mantuano told Phil Vettel when asked if he would want the job: "I don't think so," he said. "It'd be like being the chef of a giant hotel. You have to make peanut butter and jelly for the kids, plus private dinners, room service—unless you’re a big corporate hotel guy, I'm not sure you'd want it." Taking the job also means no book tours, no television shows. Imagine the absurdity of Rick Bayless or Art Smith severing ties with their successful restaurants and media enterprises to become a banquet chef.

But what really bothered me was how many titans of the food world were in effect calling upon the Obamas to fire the first female executive White House chef. These demands were particularly egregious when it turns out that she had been doing all along exactly what they were urging. Former White House Chef Scheib has made it clear that Chef Comerford sources locally, uses organic and sustainable products, including grass fed beef and sustainably caught fish. In fact, much of the produce used for the first family was grown in a small roof top garden at the White House. The problem seems not to be that she wasn’t doing the desired thing; instead, it was that she hadn’t become famous in doing so. Doing her job well, discretely and without fanfare was insufficient.

It seems that Sam Kass is the ideal candidate for his new job under Comerford. Obviously, he does his job well, but is also discrete. With the exception of Time Out Chicago, Kass’ name never came up in any of the articles speculating on the White House chef. He also clearly cares about the public good. While I never made it over to any of the Re-thinking Soup sessions at Hull House, several of my friends and colleagues have spoken at them and thought highly of the events. In fact, Kass’ “speech” reprinted in yesterday’s New York Times Well blog introduces two of them — Jean Saunders of Healthy Schools Campaign (the same organization to which I donated my Sustainable Evening package) and Josephine Lauer formerly of Organic School Project. However, in these events, he was bringing in the experts to speak, instead of pushing his own agenda. I think this experience too will serve him well. I would imagine that neither the President nor the First Lady will would want a lecture on sustainable fisheries or the benefits of grass-fed beef each time that they sit down to dinner. The table can be a place for discussion and learning, but for someone with stressful job, its restorative properties are more important. While it’s certainly positive that Kass is knowledgeable about sustainability issues, as Comerford I’m sure is as well, other qualities such as discretion and a sense of duty are equally important in such a sensitive assignment. The role of White House chef is not a bully pulpit. I wish the Kass the best of luck. I would assume that neither his employers nor his new boss will be much of a problem for him. Rather, his biggest critic may well be the public, which seems to prefer a “celebrity” face over a dutiful servant.


Two recipes from our dinner:

Radishes Topped with Goat Butter

INGREDIENTS:
4 ounces goat butter, softened
2 tablespoons mixed chopped herbs (such as basil or tarragon, chives, chervil or parsley)
1 bunch radishes, stemmed and cleaned
Coarse sea salt for garnish

METHOD: Mix together butter and chopped herbs. Slice radishes thinly and soak in cold water. Dry slices and top with goat butter. Garnish with coarse sea salt.

Cheese Wafers

INGREDIENTS:
½ pound parmesan cheese, grated (I use Stravecchio, a parmesan-style cheese produced in Wisconsin)

EQUIPMENT: Baking sheet, silpat or parchment

METHOD: Preheat oven to 350° F. On a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheets, scoop out teaspoon size rounds of grated parmesan cheese. Bake until crisp about 7-10 minutes.

What's This?

The Jerusalem artichoke is a vegetable with an identity crisis. Neither an artichoke nor from Jerusalem, it is instead a native American member of the sunflower family that acquired its name when the French who discovered it in the 1600’s thought that it tasted like an artichoke. The modifier Jerusalem is a corruption of the Italian word for sunflower “Girasole.” Around the middle of the last century, retailers of the tuber, resolved the confusion by renaming it the Sunchoke. Sunchokes are generally light brown and knobby, looking like a cross between a piece of ginger and a Yukon gold potato. Some, like the ones pictured, have a reddish tinge. Taste-wise, they have mild, nutty flavor. Sunchokes are good mashed, steamed, deep fried and even raw in salads.



Sunchoke Chips
Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:
2 large sunchokes or 3 smaller ones
4 cups vegetable oil
Coarse sea salt

METHOD: Heat the oil in a large saucepan to 325° F. While waiting for the oil to come to temperature, thinly slice the sunchokes on a adjustable slicer between 1/8 and 1/16-inch thick. Essentially, slice it as thinly as possible while remaining in one piece. Drop the slices into the hot oil and cook until light brown approximately 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on crumbled paper towels. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and serve.

Going Against the Grain

Growing up in a German family, our daily bread was rarely white. Dark hued rye and pumpernickel were far more common. This was fine with me at least until I went to school. Seduced by the soft, squeezy texture of the white bread found in most of my friend’s lunch bags, I was done with whole grains. When I saw the bright colored, bubbly bag of the wonderful Wonder bread – Yowsa! “Air sots!” my mother would exclaim - not that I understood what those were, I assumed it was whatever gave it that beguiling texture and wan shade. Read more at the Local Beet.

What's This?

This post is the first in a series called “What’s This?” I know that many of my readers, clients and friends either frequent the farmers markets or are members of a CSA (community supported agriculture). In doing so, regardless of your level of cooking skill, you will inevitably come across a fruit or vegetable that’s completely unfamiliar to you. This series is intended to answer the question “what’s this?” and more importantly “what do I do with it?”



At the Green City Market just before Christmas, I picked up some young dinosaur kale from Genesis Growers. Kale is a cold weather green, extreme cold. In fact, its flavor and color is at its best only after a frost. Considered a brassica, kale is related to cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Many people will be most familiar with the flowering variety, which is seen in many a floral arrangement in October and November. While attractive, this is by far not the best use of the plant.

Kale is highly nutritious, with large amounts of beta carotene, vitamin K and vitamin C. It’s relatively high in calcium and is considered to be full of antioxidant properties. It’s also one of the few greens that we can find grown locally into the Winter months. Young kale can be used raw in a salad or sautéed in a little olive oil. Older kale benefits from a long cooking with aromatics such as onions or garlic.

I used my young kale to make a one dish supper with some Polish sausage that we received in our last Cedar Valley Sustainable Valley share. The kale was so tender that I was able to remove the stems as I would do with spinach, by pinching each leaf half together like a book and pulling the stem down and away from the veins.

Polish Sausage Cooked in Red Wine with Young Kale
Serves 3-4

INGREDIENTS:
4 polish sausages
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 bunch young kale, washed and harder stems removed
Pinch red pepper flakes
1 cup red wine
1 cup water

METHOD: In a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, brown the sausages. Remove to a plate. Let the pan cool slightly and add olive oil. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the garlic and cook until fragrant approximately 30 seconds. Add kale and stir to combine. Pour in wine and water and return sausages to the pan with any juices accumulated on the plate. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes and kosher salt and bring the liquid to a simmer and cook until the kale is wilted and most of the juices have evaporated.

I've Got the Blues

At Monogramme, we own a beautiful cheese platter. Made from the top of a barrel that once aged Cabernet, it's quite dramatic and useful when serving a cheese course to many guests. Given our locavore tendencies, we prefer to stock it with locally produced cheeses. In the midwest, we've got such great aged cheddars, Wisconsin parmesans like Stravecchio, and a variety of goat cheeses ranging from fresh logs to aged boules with at least one Camembert-style one thrown into the mix. Up until recently, however, I've been stymied on blue cheeses. Yes, there's Maytag; but I'm just not a big fan - the samples that I've tried recently just haven't the depth of flavor that I prefer in my cheeses. My dilemma was recently solved when our friend, Tracy Kellner began stocking a lovely gorgonzola-style blue called Mindoro at Provenance Food & Wine.



Mindoro is made by Swiss Valley Farms, a cooperative of dairy farmers, in Mindoro, Wisconsin, which is located in the southwestern part of the state. According to their website, Swiss Valley specializes in blue-veined cheeses and the Mindoro plant manager is a certified Wisconsin master cheesemaker.

The Mindoro gorgonzola is a semi-soft cow's milk cheese with bluish-green veins. The taste on the tongue is creamy with crystalline bites. It's full flavored, but not overpowering, spicy at the back of the throat with just the right touch of saltiness. It's great for cooking, but stands well alone or with a few toasted pecans. The Mindoro has been a very popular cheese at our events. And if I these weren't enough reasons to like this cheese, there's always the price: about $12.00 a pound.

Using a little of what I left over from our last event, I made a compound butter to top a Cedar Valley ribeye.



Blue Cheese Butter

1 tablespoon blue cheese at room temperature
1 teaspoon butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon Madeira or Port

METHOD:

Mix together all ingredients and put a dab of it onto a just cooked steak.

The last of the few ounces, three to be exact, went into a souffle, an outstanding way to finish of almost any cheese.



Blue Cheese Souffle
Adapted from Ina Garten's recipe in Barefoot in Paris
Serves 3-4 depending on appetite and size

INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter plus 1 tablespoon for the dish
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese plus more for dusting
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk, heated to 110 degrees on the stove or in a microwave
pinch nutmeg, cayenne
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
5 large eggs, separated
3 ounces blue cheese, chopped
pinch of cream of tartar

METHODS: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 4-quart souffle dish with 1 tablespoon butter and dust with 1 tablespoons parmesan cheese. In a medium saucepan, heat the remaining butter over medium heat until the foam subsides. Add flour and cook for 2 minutes stirring. Whisk in hot milk until smooth and cook stirring for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add 4 egg yolks* one by one. Add salt, spices, remaining parmesan and blue cheeses and stir until relatively smooth (there will likely still be small chunks of blue cheese). Cool slightly while beating the egg whites. Put the whites in the bowl of a stand mixer, a beat on low speed until frothy, approximately one minute. Add cream of tartar and increase the speed to high and let it go until the whites hold a stiff peak when the beater is lifted. Incorporate a 1/3 of the egg whites into the sauce base by folding very gently. Add the remaining egg whites, combining quickly and softly. Scrape the batter into the prepared dish. Place in the center of the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 375. Bake for approximately 45 minutes.

*SECOND USE: The remaining egg yolk can be frozen. Depending upon how you plan to use it, break it up with a 1/4 teaspoon sugar or salt to prevent it from getting gummy.

Organic Wine Match of the Day

Through one of my social networking sites, a Denver-based wine columnist, Randy Caparoso, found me and sent me his daily newsletter on organic wine and food pairings. Thorough and appetite-whetting, his writing is a real treat.

A Chicken in Many Pots

About six months ago, our household signed up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) offered by Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, individuals and families buy a “share” in a local farm that entitles them to a box of products, most commonly produce, selected by the farmer on a periodic basis (weekly, bi-monthly or monthly). Some farmers only offer shares during the growing season, others provide them throughout the year supplementing the local product (at least in states with a limited growing season like in Illinois) with organic fruits and vegetables from California.

Signing up was a minor leap of faith given our previous, experience with CSAs. A few years back, we had ordered a weekly share from King’s Hill Farm. Foolishly, I started our deliveries in March, a few months before the growing season kicked in, so our box was full of California-grown products. This was tolerable until mid-June, at the height of strawberry season, when we were still receiving moldy mangoes as our fruit allocation.

The Cedar Valley CSA was offered through my friend Tracy Kellner’s excellent food and wine shop, Provenance Food & Wine. With her endorsement and the ability to participate for a limited time (3 months), we signed up. Each month, we would pick up a monthly allotment of meat. Since then, we’ve purchased a second six-month term – a testament to the high quality of their product.

Typically, our share includes approximately 12 to 15 pounds of meat and between a half dozen and two dozen eggs. We’ve seen hams, finely-spiced sausages, ground beef, chops of both pork and beef and lots of chicken, at least one whole chicken a month ranging from dainty poussins to 3 plus pound roasters.

Roast chicken, as we all know, is an ideal family dinner. For most of us, it feels like a well-worn pair of jeans that flatter. It’s simple to prepare and will satisfy even a picky five-year old. Finally, it’s the gift that keeps on giving as the carcass can and should be transformed into a quick stock (recipe follows).

Here are my secrets to a well-roasted chicken:

1. Slather with butter, it browns and crisps the skin.
2. Salt more than you think is necessary. It aids in the crisping of the skin and brings out the flavor.
3. Trussing is easy – simply take a 10-inch piece of twine. Place the midway point of the twine under the tail of the chicken. Curl it around the leg bones by twisting it around the side of the bone closest to the breast. Wrap it around each leg 360° degrees and pull them close to the body. Cross the breasts, bring the twine next to the sides of the body and tie at the top. Tuck the wings under the twine as best as possible. The picture above should aid in understanding these instructions.
4. Shift the position of the chicken approximately every 15 minutes to ensure even browning. This does violate my ordinary rule of thumb, which is to open the oven as little as possible while baking or roasting - it really does aid in the even browning of the bird.
5. I follow Nigella Lawson’s formula for time, which hasn’t failed me yet. Roast the chicken for 15 minutes a pound plus 10 minutes.

Roast Chicken

INGREDIENTS:
1 3 lb. chicken, preferably organic
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
¼ smoked paprika (optional)
kosher or coarse sea salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon

METHOD: If you have a convection oven, preheat it to 375º F; otherwise, preheat it to 425° F. Halve the lemon and put it in the cavity. Truss the chicken according the instructions above and put it in a small roasting pan. Combine the butter and paprika and massage the chicken with it. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for about 55 minutes, until a thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh reads 165° F.

You can always add garlic cloves, shallots or onions to the pan to serve the chicken. Peel them and add toss them alongside the chicken to roast with it.

Gravy

If you’d like to serve the chicken with gravy, here’s my simply recipe for it.

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
¼ cup white wine
¼ cup chicken stock, canned is fine, homemade is better, or water

METHOD: Remove the chicken from the pan and place it on a cutting board. Cover with aluminum foil. Remove all but 1 tablespoon of fat from roasting pan. Put the pan on a burner on medium heat. Add flour and cook until lightly colored about 5 minutes. Slowly whisk in chicken stock or water and white wine, simmer until thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Chicken Stock (from carcass)

INGREDIENTS:
1 chicken carcass from a roast chicken
½ carrot, peeled and sliced ½-inch thick
½ stalk celery, sliced ½-inch thick
½ onion, peeled
½ sprig thyme
½ sprig parsley
½ bay leaf

METHOD: In a large pot, cover the chicken carcass and remaining ingredients with cold water by two inches. Bring the water to a low simmer and cook for 1 hour. Let cool slightly. Strain into a large bowl and let cool, preferably over an ice bath. Refrigerate overnight to allow the fat to solidify. Remove fat and either use or apportion it into smaller containers.


For more information about Cedar Valley Farm, please visit Local Harvest

Oldies, But Goodies

It never ceases to amaze me how often at parties the simplest and most homely of dishes prove most popular even when presented side by side with elegant extravagances. Last night, we hosted our yearly New Year's Eve Party. Among the hors d'oeuvres, I served Red Hen baguette toasts topped with thin, well-marbled slices of Dakota Ranch grass-fed rib eye topped with horseradish creme fraiche, thin wafers of Straveccio, a salty, win-y Wisconsin parmesan, and a luscious triple creme cheese slathered with cranberry-shallot compote and baked. The most popular offering? Onion dip and potato chips. The second most popular? "Lambs in a Tuxedo," a fancy name for pigs in a blanket made with merguez sausage and puff pastry. I'm not certain whether it was the crowd or the reemerging popularity of comfort foods in the wake of this wretched year. In either event, I think these recipes would be well-received in a variety of settings. Here are my caterer's take on each simple classic.

Caramelized Onion Dip
Makes about 2 cups

INGREDIENTS:
1 medium yellow onion
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 pound cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons good mayonnaise (I use Hellman's)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Drop of Tabasco

METHODS: Very thinly slice the onion. Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Once the foam has subsided, add the onions and reduce the heat to low. Cook slowly, stirring often until the onions are a deep caramel color, approximately 1/2 hour. In a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Finely chop the onions and add to the cream cheese. Mix until well-combined. Add remaining ingredients and mix. Serve with good, thick cut potato chips.

"Lambs in a Tuxedo"

INGREDIENTS:
1 package puff pastry (I use either homemade or DuFour)
1 pound mergeuz sausage.

METHODS: Lay the pastry sheet on a lightly floured cutting board. Cut the sausage into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Cut the pastry into columns just slightly larger than 1-inch. Wrap each piece of sausage with puff pastry leaving just a slight overhang. Press to seal. Place seal side down on a baking sheet lined with either silpat or parchment. The lambies can be frozen at this point for up to 3 weeks. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until puffed and golden. Serve with mustard-sherry sauce.

Mustard-Sherry Sauce

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon sherry vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sambal olek

METHOD: Mix together all ingredients.

Call Me Betty Botter

Always seeking better butter to make my batter less bitter. See my feature on the Local Beet.

The Compost Chronicles: Compost is Ready for Its Close-Up

Compost hits prime time in an episode of Law & Order. A body is found in the community compost and Detective Bernard gets the quip: the crime violates the first rule of compost - no meat.