One of my goals for the coming months is to find lessons for skills I want to either learn or improve upon. I had a head start a few weeks ago with a class offering by Whisk, a unique, local kitchen-everything shop in Cary (more about them in a bit).The class was Mastering Knife Skills, a two hour, hands on lesson taught by Ethan Hamme from the Messermeister company who was both knowledgeable and entertaining. The photos that follow are from another class Ethan taught and were generously provided by Whisk for my use here.One of my biggest take aways of the night was at the beginning of class when Ethan shared his thoughts on honing. You either get into the habit of doing it before you use the knife each time or you get into the habit of doing it after. He thinks it is easier to do it before, making it a step in the mise en place and therefore more likely to be remembered.The class was focused in particular on the chefs knife and its uses. We first learned proper grip and then dove right into different techniques for different vegetables.I am sure I could have found my way through my first julienne watching a YouTube video, but now I have actually done it. We then cut the julienne down to a fine dice called brunoise.An interesting component of the class was the assortment of chefs knives on the table. This afforded students the rare opportunity of taking different knives out for a test drive throughout the class and see what felt good in their hand. At the end of class I had to wait in line behind other students to check out with my two new chef/paring knives sets, so it looks like a win-win for students and store.Whisk was just opening its doors in Cary when I moved to the area a little over three years ago. By luck, I briefly met Dan, one half of the husband and wife owners, when we both spoke at the same event so I have known about and visited their site many times and knew they held regular classes. I had even looked at the class listings a year or so ago and thought, "I will have to do that sometime". And then a year went by.Let's all make 2017 be our "sometime"!
Read MoreAs a cook (and human being) I am much more comfortable in the zone where I am critiquing past performance and looking for areas for improvement over standing on the precipice of something I have never tried. To that end, one of my favorite phrases is the French culinary phrase 'mise en place", which means "putting in place" and is a practice used in recipes that benefit from having all the ingredients measured and prepared before beginning.For my first ever adventure into home cheese making, mise en place was required...and possibly wine...Soft-cheese making is pretty straight forward (for the practiced) but with some specific temperatures serving as prompts to move to the next phase. Since this was my first go at it, that translated into me constantly monitoring temps so as not to pass or miss an important temperature window.With the first attempt at anything there are questions...are my curds curdy enough? Is the mesh in my strainer too large (or too small) that I have curds filling the holes?But then magic! I made cheese!!In the end, like any new recipe, it went mostly well with a decent and edible result. Then I begin the process of #Kaizen - constant, incremental improvement:
The cheese was a little firmer than most of the purchased mozzarellas I am familiar with - did I over work the curd?
The cheese was good, but a little on the salty side - I need to cut the salt in 1/2 for the next attempt.
My mozzarella was a little more yellow than the milky white mozzarellas I buy - is that related to the milk I purchased, something I did...I need to spend some time on google...
My favorite recipes rarely began as they are today and I am happy to add cheese-making to the list that is being constantly improved and refined until it reaches the point of second nature.
Read MoreHurricane Matthew made landfall in the Carolinas this morning, just north of Charleston, SC, and more than 5" of rainfall is expected for the Raleigh region over the next 24 hours. With the cool, windy and very wet weather keeping most of the Mid-Atlantic seaboard indoors until late Sunday it was time to get cooking.As part of this week's CSA delivery from The Produce Box I special ordered 15 lbs of slightly blemished Ginger Gold Apples from a local farmer to make applesauce in my pressure cooker.Apples were peeled (not guaranteed organic), cored and cut into 16ths. Some very small bruises were present and easily cut out.The apple chunks and spices were placed in the pressure cooker - I used Flo Lum's recipe with two variations, I added a bit of freshly ground nutmeg and cut my apple chunks a bit smaller for a smoother texture.The end result was a delicious treat that will not last long enough to worry about freezing.I know apples are traditionally paired with pork, but try pairing them with homemade cheese quesadillas, especially for the under 10 yo set!
Read MoreThis year I grew the heirloom collards called Georgia Southern Creole, a pre-1880 southern variety that has done quite well overall.Growing organically means that some of the leaves were ventilated by a mid-summer cross-striped cabbage worm invasion (treated with BT) and that I am currently trying to diminish the whitefly population with a hose and organic soap. Having no pests is not an option, keeping them in check is the goal.No matter how your collards were grown, its always best to give them a good soak and cleaning before cooking and the easiest way to do that is to fill up a sink with enough water to cover then swish, swirl and agitate, drain and repeat.I have tried a number of collards recipes and variations since moving to the south 3 years ago and this is the one I like best so far:Braised Collards:
1 lb of washed collards, stems still on
1 TBS oil (I use an extra virgin olive that is good for cooking, but any vegetable oil should work)
3 slices of thick sliced bacon, cut into lardons
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less depending on preference)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 TBS red wine vinegar
6 TBS stock (chicken, vegetable or mushroom)
Salt to season
Remove stems from collards and stack leaves and stems separately. Finely dice the stems and set aside. Stack a few collard leaves and roll into a cigar shape and cut crosswise (chiffonade) into 3/4" pieces, repeat until all leaves are cut and set aside separate from the stems.In a large frying pan (I like to use my 10" straight walled pan) on medium-high, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add bacon and red pepper flakes and stir until bacon begins to crisp. Add onion and diced collard stems. Cook until onions are translucent and stems have begun to soften, about 10 minutes.Add the chopped leaves one handful at a time, turning into the bacon and onion mixture after each handful before adding the next. When all of the collards have been added and turned into the mixture, salt to season. When the mixture begins to sizzle, add the red wine vinegar and use a wooden spoon to gently deglaze the pan while turning the mixture.Add your stock* and turn into mixture, cover and turn heat to low. Let cook another 10-15 minutes until greens reach desired softness. If necessary, add more stock to keep from drying out.*Note - I filter and freeze the water after I have rehydrated morels and use this to add liquid and a delicious umame component to many dishes, including this one.
Read MoreThis post comes after more than a year of researching every way I can think of and completely failing to find anything related to the matter at hand. The matter at hand is the second growth of asparagus spears in the early fall, long after the asparagus crowns have been allowed to grow the long, bushy fronds they need in order to feed the crown for next year's growth and more specifically, whether or not a small portion of the second growth can be harvested.Unable to find any information either for or against sneaking a few of these late season spears, I have had to reason this out for myself for the past two years and while the result is probably entirely predictable (Garden fresh asparagus in fall? Yes please!), I like to think my reasoning well rooted in a layman's pseudo-botany. The rationale goes something like this: the individual asparagus crowns have been photosynthesizing since May, and of the new spears coming up in September/October I am only taking about 1 out of every 3 of the new growth spears and then only off of crowns that already have more than 3 stems that have fully grown out and are working hard to supply nourishment to the crown to take it through winter and make a stronger growth next year.With 16 crowns all together (8 Jersey Knight and 8 Purple Passion) all of which are enjoying a youthful resurgence right now, this equals out to around 4-5 spears per week that are coming indoors and leading to some interesting, not-normally-on-the-same-plate combinations. This afternoon for lunch, I sauteed some asparagus picked 30 minutes earlier along with some Italian kale harvested at the same time.But my favorite has been adding asparagus to my Whatever Is Fresh Scrambles!This one featured rehydrated morels, 4 spears of asparagus, 4 cherry tomatoes and 2 red serrano peppers - all from the garden except for the morels. I saute all ingredients except the more delicate tomatoes in butter with a little olive oil until the asparagus is just shy of done.When the asparagus has softened, add scrambled eggs to the mix then fold in the quartered cherry tomatoes.When the eggs have finished cooking, plate with a little shredded cheese of your choosing - I have used both colby-jack and mozzarella and both have worked wonderfully. Top with your choice of fresh herb (I alternate between basil and dill) and voila - delicious and nutritious meal in just a few minutes!
Read MoreLate blight is wrecking havoc on North Carolina tomatoes this year, particularly the heirloom varieties. Last year I was pulling down green tomatoes in late November and this year they were pretty much done by late August. C'est la vie.Luckily, there are some good things happening in the kitchen while I wait for the fall lettuce and spinach to fill in the garden. I have been working with my pasta maker, trying different shapers and getting the hang of the process. This week I wanted to try adding some fresh basil into the mix so I chopped it very finely and tossed 1 gram of it with the Anson Mills pasta flour before adding it to the maker using the angel hair shaper.The result was very pretty and did have a hint of basil taste. I was concerned that the basil would interfere with extruding and/or the pasta's ability to hold together when cooking, it did neither.I want to try the experiment again with a little more basil which means I should probably use the spaghetti shaper to be safe. I had already started the sauce when I decided to try adding basil to the pasta but next time I would like to try it with a simple butter garlic sauce that won't overpower the flavor of the pasta like the thick, homemade tomato sauce in the photo above.I am also wondering if I can do the same thing with finely chopped, fresh spinach and a thicker noodle.With fall/soup season just around the corner I have also ordered some kansui, the alkaline ingredient that gives ramen noodles their distinctive texture and the ability to hold up well in soups.I am beginning to suspect that the folks that sell fresh pasta and noodles at the Farmer's Market aren't doing it to make money, they just want an excuse to make more than they can personally eat...
Read MoreEgg scrambles for dinner with almost any leftover veggies in the fridge is a quick and easy decision for nights that lack a dinner plan.I had a small bunch of kale leftover after an Italian soup earlier in the week so I chopped it up and sauteed with some rehydrated morels. Add in scrambled eggs and herbs/seasoning of choice (I used fresh tarragon and a little cayenne), top with a little cheese and viola - a delicious, nutritious and frugal dinner!As a side note on a side dish - a couple of weekends ago I processed 15lbs of my Roma Tomatoes into sauce. 2lbs of sauce to be exact. I divvied up the sauce into freezer bags and started looking for other uses for the Romas I am growing. I have diced them up into tomato salads along side the slicing and cherry tomatoes and lately I have been working on pan roasted tomatoes (above). They taste delicious but the skins are a bit like tough paper after the roasting...still a work in progress.
Read MoreHistory and the culinary arts have collided in these fantastic 18th Century Cooking videos from Jas. Townsend and Son.Half video recipe, half historical reenactment and with just a pinch of historical reproduction entrepreneurship thrown in for seasoning, I am loving learning "what's for dinner" from the early 1700s through the early 1800s and some of these look good enough to try in 2016!
Read MoreRecently I wanted to find some great make-ahead recipes that I could prepare in batches and freeze for fast and easy, but still homemade meals that I would feel good about on those "I don't feel like scratch cooking" nights. Stuffed pastas kept catching my eye as something highly versatile (options including but definitely not limited to: cheese, spinach, squash, beef, tuna with a bechamel sauce) and are super easy to freeze and reheat.I already had a great homemade pasta dough recipe (for use with the KitchenAid stand mixer and pasta roller attachment) and ravioli filling recipe but wanted to do some research and see if some varieties freeze better than others.While doing searches for freezing homemade stuffed pastas my results kept turning up all these recipes and ads for pasta maker machines...hmm. A few dozen YouTube videos and Amazon.com reviews later, I decided a pasta maker was just what I needed both to make fast and easy ravioli for my make-ahead meals as well as ditching the boxed, dried stuff in my pantry for fresh, on-demand pasta made with high quality wheat*.I found the pasta maker I wanted on sale at Williams-Sonoma - the Philips Smart Pasta Maker. I liked this one in particular because in addition to the weighing function which helps you fine-tune your liquids if you are using more or less than a perfect single or double batch of pasta flour, it comes with 8 shaping discs meaning no accessories to purchase later.I had to try it right away after it arrived so I made a simple angel hair pasta to get a feel for the machine and process.The adverts say that you will have fresh pasta in 15 minutes, I am pretty sure they mean when the last of the noodles come out because this machine begins extruding pasta in just 3 minutes!I made a double batch which was double the amount I needed. The other 1/2 can be dusted with flour and refrigerated for a few days or frozen for a longer storage time.The pasta was fantastic - delicious and with great bite, perfect al dente!* A note on the pasta flour I use - as much as possible, I buy my grains from Anson Mills. I could do a whole series of posts on Anson Mills and founder Glenn Roberts and how they are reviving lost tastes through heirloom grains. If you haven't read it yet, a great way to get to know Glenn is through Dan Barber's seminal book The Third Plate. I became an instant convert based on what I knew about Glenn's grains. Tasting them only further cemented my ardor.
Read MoreA few weeks ago I finally had enough cherry tomatoes to give the Fire Roasted Cherry Tomato Salsa recipe I wrote about in February a whirl. The cherry tomatoes I had in abundance were two varieties of yellow tomatoes and I thought that would work nearly as well as the red. I was mistaken.The salsa was flavorful and had the perfect amount of heat, but without the red tomatoes it lacked the acidic tang this salsa needed to balance the sweetness of the fire roasted onions.So last week I tried again with farmer's market red cherry tomatoes.The kitchen smells unbelievably good during and after the fire roasting step!And the finished product!The mulligan Fire Roasted Cherry Tomato Salsa was delicious and I will need to rethink my yellow/red cherry tomato planting ratio for next year.
Read MoreRoma math:A decent batch of homemade tomato sauce with enough to freeze or can for future use requires a minimum of 15-20 lbs of roma tomatoes.The average day on the urban farm (with 16 roma tomato plants in high season) results in anywhere from 1-3 lbs of roma tomatoes.I struggled with this math last year as I watched ripe romas edge toward over-ripeness while waiting for enough companions to be ready at roughly the same time to make a batch of sauce. Out of desperation I started searching "freezing whole tomatoes" and low and behold:Not only CAN you freeze whole tomatoes, there are a couple of benefits to doing it. Freezing, especially for short term storage doesn't have to be particularly fussy. Just clean, pop in a bag, remove most of the air and voila - a partial batch of sauce! Also, when frozen tomatoes are thawed to make sauce, the skins just slide right off, saving the blanching step.
Read MoreChef John from Food Wishes (on YouTube and BlogSpot) has become a permanent presence on my laptop and in my kitchen over the past 6 months. In addition to being an award winning chef, he is a gifted educator and my go-to guy for recipe ideas for farmer's market finds, cooking techniques and new takes on old dishes.Recently I have made two of his recipes that were particular standouts for me. They were easy, delicious and used parts of the vegetable or animal normally thrown away without a second thought.I have been cooking with broccoli stems for years, but it is not often I see them in recipes. For his broccoli angel hair pasta recipe he calls for simmering the diced stems until soft as part of the garlic sauce and for his paella recipe, he calls for sauteing the shrimp shells to add extra flavor and body to the sauce.Briefly my results followed by Chef John's fantastic recipe videos:
Read MoreI grew up in America's rural heartland calling catfish and crappie 'seafood', but in truth, it would be far more accurate to call it riverfood or lakefood. Real seafood was reserved for restaurant dining and with cautions from in-the-know types to not order on certain days of the week based on restaurant order delivery norms.When I moved to the Raleigh area 3 years ago, one of the bragging points about this region is that we are 2.5 hours from the mountains and 2.5 hours from the coast. But knowing that still did nothing to prepare me for this sign at my local farmer's market:Most Saturdays, Carolina Catch Seafood has a stand at the Apex Farmers Market, selling fresh fish and shellfish, caught the day before and packed on ice, but never frozen. It's like winning the Local Food Lottery!The NC Catch organization has this handy chart of seasonal availability of NC seafood which will be used like the seasonal produce charts to help me meal plan around the season's best. I love shopping the farmer's markets to supplement what I grow and support local, sustainable food producers. Getting to support local fishermen (and women) is a new concept for me, but one that I (sorry, mandatory bad pun) will take to like fish to water!
Read MoreMiniature cooking is a thing.
Read MoreIn mid-April I had to concede defeat in my attempt to grow morel mushrooms and turned my attention to procuring dried morels instead. After a lot of price shopping I decided to try LifeGourmetShop.com and while I waited for my package to arrive, I started researching how to use dehydrated morels in place of fresh ones.The available information on rehydrating morels is generally straightforward with a few notable exceptions. Mushrooms should be placed in a liquid for around 20 minutes. What type of liquid is at the discretion of the chef, but most agree that water is just fine. Some people recommend hot water while other say that hot water will pull more of the morel flavor from the mushroom to the water.Taking the more conservative approach, I have used cold water with great effect and based on the heavy morel perfume and coloring of the cold water after a 20 minute soak, I think cold is the best approach. For the past month I have been enjoying morels that look, feel and taste *almost* like fresh morels in everything from omelets and pasta sauce to mixing them in with ground beef for hamburgers and stir fries. But what to do about all that mushroomy goodness left in the water they were soaked in?Luckily, one of the sites I searched had a great tip - filter the morel water and use it as a partial or whole replacement for water or stock in recipes that would be complimented with a bit of umami.A paper towel tucked over the opening of a container makes a great strainer to remove any grit or debris that may have been tucked into the folds of the morel for fresh uses (next 2 days). Strain and pour into ice cube trays, then pop out the cubes and place in a freezer safe bag for a longer shelf life.Since learning this trick I have been using the golden liquor to replace potions of chicken, beef and vegetable stock as well as added to water for boiling pasta. It's a great way to stretch my borrowed harvest for this year into many more dishes and over a longer period.My 6th grade Home Ec teacher would be proud!
Read MoreThere are many more reasons to love the Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture than the 22 that inspired this post, so after you have finished reading here, click on over to their site and see what the + is all about.Like so many others, I first learned of the farm at Stone Barns and the gifted Farm Director, Jack Algiere in Dan Barber's brilliant book The Third Plate, but it was not until last weekend that I actually visited the Center's website to see what I could learn about the farm itself.What I found was the truly inspired and inspiring gallery of images from each of the 22 weeks of the farm's 2015 CSA (community supported agriculture).Inspired because in addition to the beautifully photographed produce with variety labels, perfect for those of us looking to expand our varietal repertoires, the images also include a couple of lines for how to prepare them, sometimes individually and sometimes in combination with other items from that week's box, answering the ubiquitous CSA question of "Okay, I have it, now what do I do with it?".Inspiring because all the suggestions are for whole foods, so simply prepared that there are no recipes or even need of recipes.Part of the Stone Barns Center's mission is "to create a healthy and sustainable food system" and teaching a new generations of farmers how to grow healthy soil while growing healthy food is part of achieving that mission, but so is educating the consumers of that food system because it doesn't matter how healthy and sustainably food can be produced if the people shopping for food do not know what to do with a variety of fresh produce.Kudos to the Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture for this simple, but powerful idea to better serve their own CSA customers, but also for going a step further and making it available to anyone who might find themselves staring at a bunch of carrots (or leeks, or beets, or peppers, or kale, etc.) and wanting to make a great meal starting with whole ingredients!Click through the full 22 week gallery of their 2015 CSA and "Farm-Driven Cuisine".And a special thanks to the Stone Barns Center for allowing me to use two of the images from their gallery - in this case, a picture is worth four hundred and eleven words.
Read MoreNaturally leavened (ie. lacto-fermented) bread is believed to share a timeline with agriculture itself, dating back to the Neolithic age.Modern bread is an entirely different end product as a result of divergent ingredients, chemical reactions, processes and cooking methods. The distinction between what has been called bread historically and what we call bread today, is not a small one.This fascinating article from the Whole Grains Council highlights one Italian study using a particular strain of sourdough lacobacilli and fungal proteases to ferment dough and results in a bread that it meets the standard for gluten-free labeling without any additions, deletions or adulteration. As these sorts of studies continue, it will be interesting to see what else we learn about historic bread's nutritional composition and that made it uniquely poised to persist as a staple for almost every known culture over the last 10,000 years.
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