Mushrooms sauteed with Chinese cabbage

Mushrooms sauteed with Chinese cabbage
Originally uploaded by Tavie

This isn't really a "recipe"; call it "tale of a lunch".

I mostly eat vegetarian at home - my roommate is vegetarian and does the bulk of the cooking, and I'm lazy enough that I'm perfectly content to let her cook for me (I do the dishes, in return.) So we do a lot of our shopping at produce markets, when we get the chance.

I'll cook for myself, of course, when I have to. I'm home during the day now and find myself scrounging up lunch for myself, and I've been getting tired of peanut butter sandwiches, so I popped my head in the produce drawer and saw a full head of Chinese cabbage and an unopened container of baby bella mushrooms. Lunch!

So, starting with:

1 head of Chinese cabbage
1 box of baby bella mushrooms

I assembled a few more ingredients after rummaging around in our fridge and spice cabinet:

3-4 stalks of scallions
Sesame oil
Chili sesame oil
Low-sodium soy sauce
Garlic powder (no fresh cloves, boo)
Chinese mustard
Vegetable broth

First I cleaned and chopped up the veggies. Mushrooms - discard stems and slice caps. Scallions - discard both ends and chop up the tenderest middle parts (green and white) into 1/4 inch pieces. Cabbage - chop into roughly 1x2 inch pieces.

I put about a tablespoon of the regular sesame oil into a skillet and heated it up. In went the mushrooms and scallions, and a few shakes of soy sauce. (It's easy to overdue this but you don't want the mushrooms to become little salt pellets, so just be careful.) I sauteed them together until they were nice and soft.

Then I took the chopped cabbage, separating out mostly just the bits with the white stalk (yummiest part, I think). Threw in a few pinches of the Oriental mustard and the garlic powder. (If I'd had fresh garlic handy, that would've gone in earlier with the scallions; que sera sera.) Also added a few shakes of the chili sesame oil to give it a bit of bite. (YMMV.)

I stirred this around over the heat until everything started to look nice and wilty. At this point I added a splash of vegetable broth to thin out the liquid.

At the end I had a crunchy, earthy, savory little lunch that could easily go with rice, if I weren't so lazy. I ended up eating it as is with a glass of iced tea.

Mm, summer.

Black Tomato Sauce part 1

Just a quick note that enough of my tomatoes ripened that I'm making a black tomato sauce as we speak. I'll post recipe and results later.

Bluegrass Beercheese Burgers

I will freely admit to swiping this from an episode of somethingorother from Food Network a couple of years ago. Joanna and I were astonished at how good it was. I made some changes to the recipe, however:

1. We didn't use bacon as neither of us are big bacon fans.
2. We had a few drops of some ancient Jim Bean we used, but I'd reccomend a newer batch of bourbon.
3. The beer. Keep in mind that this is an american recipe. Therefore your beer should be american beer. I know, I know, the stuff is garbage. But the flavor won't be right if you use good stuff. We had a bottle of Budweiser in the fridge from god knows when that we used, and it ended up being fantastic. It wasn't flat, but it didn't really matter.
4.Texas toast is all well and good but if you can't get it, use some nice rolls.
5. Poblano peppers are mildly spicy. If you can't get them, try to get something with a touch of a kick to it.
6. When we made this, we forgot to glaze the burgers and ended up pouring the glaze on top before we ate it. It was delicious, so don't freak out if you forgot.

Prep time: ~20 mins
Cook time: ~30 mins
Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 12 slices bacon
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 small yellow onions, sliced thinly into rings
• 1 poblano pepper, julienne
• 1 green bell pepper, julienne

Bourbon BBQ Glaze:

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 3 tablespoons barbecue sauce
• 3 tablespoons bourbon
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Beercheese:

• 2 cups grated sharp Cheddar
• 1 tablespoon spicy steak sauce (recommended: A1 Bold and Spicy Steak Sauce)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon flat beer
• 2 pounds freshly ground chuck
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• Vegetable oil, for brushing grill
• 12 slices Texas Toast

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lay out bacon strips on rimmed baking sheet pan, lined with parchment paper or foil. Bake until brown and crisp, about 10 to 12 minutes, depending on thickness. Remove, drain on paper towels, and set aside. Alternately, bacon can also be cooked in the microwave or on the stovetop.

Preheat a gas grill, charcoal grill, or indoor grill to medium-high heat.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Set aside remaining butter for bread. Saute onions and both peppers until soft and caramelized.

Meanwhile, combine ketchup, barbecue sauce, bourbon, mustard, and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a light simmer and continue to cook until sugar is dissolved and sauce is thick, about 3 to 4 minutes.

For Beercheese, combine first 5 ingredients in food processor, and with machine running, drizzle in beer until mixture is smooth and well combined.

Divide ground chuck into 6 square-shaped patties, approximately the size of Texas toast. Season with salt and pepper. Brush grill with vegetable oil. Place patties on grill and cook, turning once until done, approximately 5 to 7 minutes until desired doneness. Once flipped, brush tops of patties with BBQ glaze.

Meanwhile, lightly butter both sides of each slice of Texas toast and grill on either side for 1 to 2 minutes along outer edges of grill, until lightly browned and toasted.

To assemble, spread 6 slices of Texas toast liberally with beercheese, approximately 2 tablespoons per slice. Top with bacon strips and burger patties. Top burgers with caramelized onion and pepper mixture. Spread the remaining slices of toast with additional BBQ glaze, about 1 tablespoon per slice, and invert onto burger patties. Enjoy!

Fried Green Tomatoes

No, this has nothing to do with the movie. I recently was forced to pick almost a dozen of my tomatoes green because they had suffered from Blossom End Rot. Essentially the whole tomato is still green, but the bottom tip begins to rot, while still on the stem. Nothing can be done for these, and it is reccomended you just prune them and throw them out. But I hate to waste food, and I was still upset at the loss. And I figured, all I really needed to do was chop off the bottom and the rest was fine. But what the hell could I do with green tomatoes? Well, I only really know one recipe for green tomatoes, and that's to fry them.

I'm normally not a fan of fried green tomatoes. Generally they are greasy, and/or the tomatoes are cooked in a high heat (I'll get to this) so that the outside is crispy, but the inside is still hard. Let alone, I've never seen or heard of anyone frying tomatoes this small. So I'll tell you right now that they came out utterly gorgeous.

To start, slice your tomatoes into medallions and lay them flat on a paper towel. Lightly spinke salt over all of the tomatoes, then allow to sit for 10 minutes. This will help draw excess moisture from the tomatoes. While they sit, you can prepare the batter. In one bowl, pour white flour. This is stage one. In the second bowl, beat two eggs and a dollop of milk (maybe a couple of tablespoons worth). This is stage two. In the third bowl, mix equal parts breadcrumbs and cornmeal, a little cayenne pepper, a dash of salt and pepper. This is stage three.

Pat your tomatoe medallions gently with a paper towel, then dredge them in the flour. Follow this with a dip in the egg mixture. This part can be twicky, and the egg mixture won't want to stick too easily to the flour. Once that's done, transfer the tomato to the breadcrumb/cornmeal mix and coat. Once that's done, put the tomatoes on a plate and let them rest a good 5-10 minutes.

While they rest, take out a frying pan. You'll want to add enough oil to go 1/2 to 3/4th up the tomato slices, but not cover them completely. I think I ended up using ~1/2-3/4ths of a cup, but my tomatoes were cut fairly thinly. Into the oil, add a pat of butter. Heat the oil on medium. This is important. At medium, the outside will crisp, but the tomato itself will also cook so that it softens and becomes delicious. At high heat, the outside will crisp much more quickly, but the inside will still be raw. If you've ever tried eating raw green tomato, you know it isn't too tasty. And it's also fairly hard, so it isn't easy to eat. So, medium heat. How do you know when the oil is ready? The butter will melt and start to sing. That is, the butter will stop melting and actually start to gently fizzle. That's when it is time to add your tomatoes.

Whether small or large, the tomatoes will take about 4 minutes on each side to get a golden brown. While they cook, you can make your southern tartar sauce to go with it. What's that? Equal parts sweet relish, mayo, and a few dashes of hot sauce (not enough to make it hot, just to add to the flavor a little). Personally though I'm more a fan of sweet relish than I am of mayo, so I add a little extra relish. You can choose whatever you want.

Once your tomatoes have cooked, flipped, and cooked, take them out with a spatulo and lay them on a paper-towel covered plate. You can eat them from there- I reccomend you don't drizzle the sauce over them but rather you dip the tomatoes into the sauce, or take a little on your fork and dab it on each piece.

The nice thing about using these young baby tomatos, actually, is that they become a fingerfood and a really nice snack. For such tiny things, they are a lot of work, but I swear it is actually worth it. Take a look for yourself:

A word on "healthy"

I tend to find these days that I use the term "healthy" somewhat differently from those around me. From what I can tell, they usually mean "low calorie" instead. When I say something is healthy, it means that you know every ingredient which goes into it, and most of it is good for you in terms of vitamin and mineral content, and generally isn't actively harmful. I am also of the opinion that if you cook for yourself, you'll generally produce food lower in salt and calories and fat than stuff you buy from the store. Even for things which don't have a whole lot of redeeming value beyond taste like alfredo sauce will be infinitely tastier and healthier if you make it yourself than if it comes from a jar. I dislike the taste of many preservatives, and don't need excess salt or vinegar used as preservatives either. One of the worst offenders of the preservatives genre to me is 99% of bottled iced teas. I cannot taste anything but preservatives and simple syrup. There's a question for you- does anyone but me notice that simple syrup tastes very different from actual sugar?

Bouillabaisse and rouille

My fiance's family were (supposed to) get together to "help" her choose a dress. I thought that it would be a nice gesture if I made a really tasty dinner for them all, something really nice and fresh. Scanning the pathmark weekly, I saw that several fish and littleneck clams were on sale. So I figured, why not a bouillabaisse? I had some ingredients at home, and I was tired of staring at all my plants and not doing anything with them. At the least, I could use some of the basil freshly picked.

So I got up early that chilly Saturday morning and went to the store. Hot damn, beef spareribs and pork back ribs were on sale. I don't normally like ribs, but I have developed a findness for beef spareribs. And my fiance adores them, so it should work out well. I went to the meat section but couldn't find either. I found one of the meat department guys and asked what happened, and was told that they were cutting them at the moment, to come back in ten minutes. Fair enough, think I, and I continues shopping. I come back and see the pork ribs are out. I found one that looks pretty meaty (the rest were way too fatty) but couldn't find the beef ribs. Annoyed, I found another of the butchers and asked what happened. The guy apologised and explained that one of the workers had just had a heart attack, and it would be a little while. Well. I felt like a bit of a dick. I went to the fishmonger and chatted with him a bit. I wanted to buy ~4-5 pounds of scraps to make the stock with, but apparently they don't sell those to you unless you at least call ahead of time. Instead I bought some cheap porgies and had them cut up and bit. Porgies have little meat on them, so I got a whole bunch of the smaller ones which were cheap enough and coudn't really be eaten anyway. The secret to bouillabaisse is that you really want a large variety of fish, but I didn't have THAT much money on me, so I bought three different kinds (I really don't remmeber what kind anymore, it is unimportant) and some of the clams. I joked with the fishmonger that at least the guy who had a heart attack wasn't on the meatcutter at the time. The fishmonger told me that actually, the guy had recently hurt himself on the cutting machine and had just that day returned from sick leave. "Man," I said "some people will do anything to get out of work."

I went looking for saffron. You don't need much, so I wasn't too worried about buying it. I check the spices aisle, and can't find it. I go to the information desk. The woman tells me to check the spanish aisle. I give her a blank look. "But...saffron is grown in India!" I exclaimed. And as a spice, wouldn't it be in the spices section? Nope, spanish food. So, okay, I go over. Nope, not there either. No fucking saffron out of an entire pathmark. I was flabbergasted. After wasting 20 minutes on this, I gave up and called my fiance and asked her to go to the local C-Town, which always sold the stuff in tiny containers right next to the cash register (you know, in case you unload your food and suddenly realize you're running low on saffron...). She called me later to tell me that after much argument with them, they grudgingly admitted to having been sold out. I finally gave up and made my recipe without it.

So, storytime over. Now to the recipe. I like leeks and onions so I added perhaps more than necessary. I chopped about a cup worth of onions and another 4 small leeks and added them with some olive oil to a large soup pot to simmer. Since they'll be going into the soup, if you undercook them a little it isn't so important. You want to sweat them but don't need to caramelize them. I took several cloves of garlic and had fun with my new stainless steel garlic press from Ikea. Yea, you can feel free to chop it really finely, whatever. I like the press, thank you. Keep in mind that the oil is now hot, and garlic cooks very quickly. And it will burn in the blink of an eye, so watch out. If you burn the garlic, you pretty much have to start all over again, because that taste WILL carry through. So only cook the garlic for a minute or two. Having done so, I added a couple of pounds of rough-chopped tomatoes. I always reccomend that you get nice tomatoes if you can. These were nice as they were perfectly red and still on the vine. And on sale. Anyway, they were really nice. So those got dumped into the pot. After cooking these over a medium heat for about five minutes, I added 5 cups of water, a bay leaf, several sprigs fresh parsely chopped up, zested a half an orange, a large pinch of fennel seeds, a bunch of freshly picked basil leaves chopped finely (a word of caution here. If you are using fresh basil, chop it up. Basil, on being cooked whole, will turn into a somewhat slimey weird and ugly mass that nobody wants in their bowl, believe me) a dash of salt and pepper. If you have saffron, this is also a good time to add it. Now is a good time to grab some cheesecloth and wrap your scraps/hacked up tiny fish and tie the ends in a bow to make a rough bag. You want the water to penetrate, and you don't want the fish too squashed, but you don't want it open so the heads can fall in the soup, or so that some of the solids from the soup can get into the bag if you can help it. Congrads, you have just made a raw-fish teabag. I like to lower it into the pot, then stick a wooden spoon through the "handle" of the cheesecloth so that I can occasionally move it a little. It also makes it much, much easier to remove, believe me. Have the handle hand from the middle of the spoon, then lay the spoon across the top of the pot and leave to boil uncovered for ~30-45 minutes. Before you walk away and leave it to boil, drop in one peeled potato, in halves. Make sure you know where it is- search for it later is a pain. Once done, pull out the scrap bag and place into a collender on inside another bowl- the bag will drip a large quantity of broth and juice and we don't want to waste any. At this point, you can cover with a lid and leave it alone until you are close to dinnertime. Have a taste- it should be delicious by now, so you don't need to mess with it later.

While you wait for dinnertime, make the rouille. I took a nice red bell pepper and chopped it into pieces about one inch by a half inch. In a small pot, bring water with a lot of salt to a boil. Pour the chopped pepper into the pot and let it simmer until the pepper is just slightly firm (not mushy- mushy means you've boiled all the flavor out). Taste the pepper- it shouldn't be terribly salty as it won't absorb much from the water. Drain the pepper. dump the pepper, the now cooked potato you fished from the soup, 4 cloves of garlic, and some more fresh basil, all into a food processor. If you want an exercise in masochism, you can use a mortar and pestle. For everyone else, the food processor. Process it in pulses until smooth. Add a small chilli pepper, or a few drops of Tabasco- you should just barely taste the tobasco, it's not supposed to be hot. Once that's done, blend in 4-6 tablespoons of some really nice first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. As I said, taste it.

When dinnertime comes around, toss out the fish scraps and pour the juices from the bowl into the main stock. Bring the stock to a boil about 20 minutes before serving. Once boiling, add 6-8 pounds of cubed fish and shellfish to the pot. It only needs to boil about twenty minutes, and then it is ready to eat.

Take several tablespoons of the soup itself and add it to the rouille and again blend it until smooth. Serve the rouille in a small bowl with some crustily toasted french bread. The bread goes quickly, so have more on hand. Using a slotted spoon scoop up fish and shellfish from the pot and deposit them into the bowl, then using a ladel, pour soup over the fish. The rouille is nice to add to the soup as flavoring, or to spread on the bread, then dip into the soup. On finishing, you can freeze the rest. This should make enough for 6 hungry people. Bon appetit!

A word of warning for those of you watching your salt. This is a very healthy dish. However, don't add any salt to the pot until the very end to taste as the fish will naturally make the soup a tad salty.

Perfect Pancakes

Alan and I just had these for a leisurely Sunday late breakfast - perfect! Make sure you have real maple syrup to serve them with!

2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
3 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups Plain/All purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar

If you know how to make American style pancakes you can just run with the great recipe above; otherwise, here are the directions how to make the pancakes:

1. Beat the eggs and milk together thoroughly. Stir in the butter or vegetable oil.

2. Whisk the dry ingredients in to evenly distribute the salt, baking powder and sugar. 

3. Let the batter rest for at least 15 minutes, while the griddle is heating; it"ll thicken slightly.

4. Heat a heavy frying pan over medium heat, or set an electric griddle to 350°F. Lightly grease frying pan or griddle. The pan or griddle is ready if a drop of water will skitter across the surface, evaporating immediately.

5. Drop serving spoonfuls (approx 1/3 cupful) of batter onto the lightly greased griddle. Bake on one side until bubbles begin to form and break, then turn the pancakes and cook the other side till brown. Turn over only once. Serve immediately.

I recommend serving with butter and maple syrup. 

Enjoy!

And yes, you can make the whole batch and put the leftovers into a ziplock bag to store. Microwave them for about 30 seconds or so for a nice, lazy breakfast the next day.