Thus it begins...

Well...not entirely.  The prep work for Thanksgiving started last night.  There are a few things left to assemble and a turkey breast to cook.  Right now it's coffee time...the only peace for the next several hours. Breakfast first and then into the fray.  I'll post the menu later...

Been away too long

My apologies to anyone who readds this blog.  I've been very amiss in not posting.  It's gotten slightly crazy here thanks to some changes at my day job and now the holidays are upon us.  I've been doing a lot of cookinng of late but nothing exceptionally noteworthy, just good food.  I will be cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year as the in-laws are out of town.  So watch this space for details.  More to follow later.

Still trying to slow it down

Last week and the weekend flew by and now I'm back at Monday...lovely.  Tonight was the traditional New Orleans Monday dish of Red Beans and Rice.  Nothing special as it was Blue Runner again.  Tomorrow is meatless Tuesday - Carrot and Chickpea soup and a sandwich of roasted red pepper and eggplant with mozzarella on ciabatta.  I made the soup tonight - not bad...can't wait until tomorrow to see how it develops.  The sandwich will be an adventure. 

Monday night is work night

Dinner tonight was homemade tacos - ground turkey, wheat tortillas, and Nueva Cocina Taco Fresco seasoning mix.  I found this stuff by accident a year or so ago and I'll never buy Taco Bell or Old El Paso again.  It's got more flavor and less salt than either of the others.  While the meat was simmering I did the prep work for Artsoppa/Erbensuppe/Pea Soup - chopping onion, celery, and carrots, one ham hock, a bay leaf, OSEM Vegetable seasoning, and water...it's simmering away now - no more taco aroma the house now smells of simmering soup.  I'm going to pair it with Scotch Eggs on Thursday night.  More to follow later.

Having an Ah-Ha! moment...

I only changed up what we were having for dinner about three times between 5 and 9 am this morning.  I finally settled on the Mushroom and Chive tart from the Rose Bakery cookbook.  I followed their formula pretty closely apart from some minor tweaks (I used a 9" deep dish premade pie shell instead of a homemade 1 X 11" tart case and half as many mushrooms).  After years of not really getting quiche (I ate it and liked it but didn't see what the ruckus was about) I did tonight.  Eggy, custardy, light, and simply delicious.  It got a request to re-do it next week from LSW.

Revisiting old favorites

LSW requested that we revisit some old stand-by menus from months past - Red Beans and Rice, Spaghetti, and a couple of others. 

It's Monday in New Orleans and that means Red Beans and Rice.  Nothing fancy tonight - just Blue Runner.  Not exactly sure why this simple meal satisfies like it does but when we eventually move from here it'll stay on the menu. 

Breakfast and Polar Bread

Allergy season is with us yet again...stopped up, itchy eyes, sore throat, anon...

Dinner was a simple affair - scrambled eggs with cheese and turkey sausage.

Got a wild hair up and decided to try a recipe I found for Polar Bread - again with the Swedish stuff, I know, but it's bread too...been having some successes there and loving it. 

I followed this formula and as of the writing the rounds are in the final proof before being baked off in a pan on the stove top.  Apart from the refrigerator bulk ferment step I followed things exactly as written.  Seems to work very well (and I even had the heavy cream as a left over from the other night).  The dough is soft yet not terribly sticky.  I used medium rye and unbleached bread flours from King Arthur Flour. 

Busy, busy...

My apologies to any reader(s) out there.  Been a nutty 10 days. 

Dinner tonight:

Bucatini with Parmesan tomato cream sauce
Marinated grilled chicken
Caesar salad

Parmesan tomato cream sauce:

1 medium onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine and then smashed into paste (no salt)
3-4 Tbsp olive oil
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
3/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and italian seasoning blend to taste

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat.  Add onion and saute 8 to 10 minutes or until onions are golden, but not browned.  Add garlic and saute for one minute.  Add crushed tomatoes.  Add italian seasoning blend and red pepper flakes and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until tomatoes thicken slightly.  Reduce heat to low and add parmesan and cream, stirring well, and reheat thoroughly, but do not simmer.  Cook bucatini according to package directions, draining and retaining cooking water.  Add bucatini to sauce and mix well, addding pasta water to thin to desired consistency. 

Marinated chicken

Marinade:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 tsp each onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes
2 tsp mustard
1/2 cup vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Mix ingredients as a vinaigrette, cover chicken in marinade.  Allow to rest at room temperature for 25 to 30 minutes.

Saturday...

I woke up early this morning for some reason.  I was wide awake at five minutes of six and I headed for the kitchen.  We're having dinner with friends tonight and I'm doing dessert.  I had preassembled a pate brisee (per Michael Ruhlman's fabulous book Ratio - the 3-2-1 crust) and had cut up my apples and sugared them to drain some of the excess liquid last night before bed.  Got up and rolled out the crust and put it in the 8" springform tin (yes, springform, no pie plates for me today.  Put it back in the fridge to chill a bit more.  Went back and dozed with my loving wife for an hour or so and then got up, drained the apples, reduced their juice, filled the tin, and made a crumb-esque topping.  Baked the whole mess at 350 for about an hour.  I'll snap pics once it comes out of the tin but the whole house smells of short pastry, apples, and cinnamon. 

BTW - on the Swedish food thing...I've gotten stuck on crisp bread at breakfast - this morning was Wasa Hearty with hummus and plenty of Lofbergs Lila Skaneroast coffee.  Need to go see what fresh fruit we have to add some extra goodness to my morning. 

America and Sweden meet in South Louisiana in September...

I've been on a Swedish food kick of late (out of sheer curiosity after reading 2 of the Millenium trilogy).  I bought a bottle of Swedish style mustard (Lars' Own) and on the back it talks about it begin great on potato sausage.  Being German/Irish sausage is a very important thing to me.  It's a way of life down here in SE Louisiana too.  So I Googled "Swedish Potato Sausage" and ran across way too many variations on a theme.  Some very basic elements that stuck out - pork, beef, potato, onion, salt, pepper, and allspice.  I live in a place where I can buy sausage casings in the grocery.  I have a KitchenAid with grinder attachment.  I could pick up a set of stuffing tubes easy and go to work.  I just don't...mostly out of laziness.  For a week now I've been thinking about how to make good old Potatis Korv in a ready-for-dinner manner.  Enter American meatloaf...which on a variety of levels is like a giant slab of fresh sausage - meat, salt, seasonings, binder...you get the idea.  Thus Potatis Korv-loaf.  The seasonings need a bit of tweaking but what follows is the recipe I cooked up tonight:

1/2 lb ground chuck
1/2 lb ground turkey thighs
1/2 medium onion, chopped very fine (1/8" dice)
1 potato, chopped fine (1/8" dice)
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
dash of garlic powder
1 tsp spice blend (equal parts by weight black pepper, white pepper, and allspice)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.  Spread in to small roasting pan or loaf tin and bake at 350F for 45 minutes to an hour.  Serve in medium to thin slices with mustard.

I think next time I'd add a full tablespoon of salt and maybe a teaspoon and a half of the spice blend.  Great meal tonight though with steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

Following up on bake day...

I like to bake bread.  Sometimes it even likes me when I bake it.  It was sort of that way on this bake day - the cardamom braid turned out well, beautiful glossy brown top covered in pearl sugar.  The limpa didn't so much.  The taste was ok but I could use these things as doorstops.  Grrr...I'm going to toss that formula or at very least tweak it heavily as a 10 hour preferment with all that sugar lead to some very potent aromas.  I got very busy as soon as I took the loaves out of the oven, hence the delay in my post. Dinner tonight is still rattling about in my head.  I'll post notes on whatever I decide to do.

Pre-bake day notes...

I enjoy long weekends.  I get an extra day on one end or the other to actually get some stuff done.  Tonight is setting up some baking work - Swedish Limpa and a cardamom braid.  Tonight is just the pre-ferment for the Limpa - rye flour, molasses, brown sugar, fennel, water, salt, and yeast.  According to the notes it is supposed to sit out at room temp for 9 to 10 hours.  I'll take pictures to document and if I can ever figure out how to get the wretched pictures to post from flickr they'll be here too (along with all the others that are ridiculously overdue). 

Been away too long...

Was one of those days...so glad to come home to a big pot of soup in the Crock Pot.  I've been reading a lot about Swedish food (and have been cooking a little here and there) and decided that I really wanted to try the yellow pea soup that apparently graces Thursday menus all over the country.  I've put together a recipe that I've followed (about to puree and strain and do the final seasoning).

                            Ärtsoppa – Swedish Yellow Pea Soup


1 lb. dried yellow peas, soaked overnight (I used split as it was all I could find)
1 large onion, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped (I used a handful of baby carrots and chunked them up)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 smoked hocks
6 cups water
4 Tbsp Osem Vegetable Soup/Seasoning powder
2 Turkish bay leaves

½ tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp dried marjoram

½ tsp ginger
½ tsp turmeric
Salt and white pepper to taste

Add first nine ingredients to a crock pot (or other slow cooker), cover, put on low for 8 to 10 hours. After the time has elapsed remove hocks (checking thoroughly to make sure all bones are removed) and allow them to cool so that you can handle them. Add to remaining soup thyme and marjoram and allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off soup. Remove bay leaves and then puree soup in blender in batches (remember hot liquids expand dramatically when agitated so don’t fill the blender more than half full unless you really want to redecorate your kitchen in a very yellow color and burn yourself in a painful and embarrassing manner). Strain into large saucepan (for silky texture, if you like it more rustic don’t strain). Add turmeric and ginger and simmer for another 15 minutes. Check seasonings and adjust accordingly with salt and pepper. Pick over hocks and remove meat. Chop meat and reserve, discard remainder of hocks. Serve soup, garnishing with chopped meat from hocks, with mustard and Swedish pancakes or bacon pancakes with lingonberry jam/preserves/whatever it may be.

I'm pairing dinner tonight with bacon pancakes and lingonberry preserves.

It's 9pm on Sunday...

and I'm waiting for a loaf of bread to proof.  Been a busy and long day.  Got up at 4, made coffee (which was essential), and prepped lunch for 12.  Lots of veggies - baby limas, blackeyed peas, and okra and tomatoes, mac and cheese.  We stopped and picked up fried chicken...lazy perhaps, but delicious.  Had coffee after lunch while I talked to various folks in our class.  Then I cleaned up...lots of dirty pots bot I'll be waking up to a very clean kitchen. 

About the bread...I've been reading Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy and with all the coffee drinking going on in the book (as if I needed encouragement to drink more) I got to reading about the Swedish custom of a fika (coffee break).  They have all sorts of baked goods, cinnamon rolls, sweet baked things, pastries, etc.  I read about a slightly sweet bread that was flavored with cardamom.  Long story short the bread is a brioche sort of thing.  I found a quick and easy brioche recipe courtesy of La Tartine Gourmand and made a couple of modifications - I increased the sugar to 1/4 cup, added 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp of fresh ground cardamom.  As of now it's been through it's bulk ferment and has been knocked down and shaped (I braided it for some interest) and it's proofing out in a pan.  Should be ready to bake in a half hour or so.  Looking forward to trying this one tomorrow. 

Time gets away from you...

Been a busy week.  Tuesday was Veggie Burgers (not much to see there...and we had one winner and a dud...go figure).  Wednesday was dinner out (per the norm).  Thursday night was Pan seared chicken with beans and tomatoes.  I've been on a run of simple food this week and it's been wonderful.  The chicken was just right and the beans and tomatoes were an excellent accompaniment.  Last night was a little more involved, if as simple.  I seasoned some very thin pork chops with salt, pepper, and Bavarian seasoning from The Spice House . I also mixed up some bagged broccoli slaw with a red and green apple and some raisins and celery (Waldorf salad minus the walnuts) with a little slaw dressing (T. Marzettis).  Very tasty. 

Dinner tonight should be a deconstructed beef stew or something resembling such.  Hopefully I can reclaim the camera and get pictures of this one. 

Pub meal...

As hectic as Monday was I figured out what to do for dinnner tonight.  I seasoned the tenderloin tails with my prime rib seasoning (my version of the mix from Penzey's) and then tied them together to make a uniformly thick piece.  I let them sit while I put my cast iron skillet on to heat.  Once the pan was hot I gave it a light coating of oil and then added the meat.  I browned it well on all sides and then let it rest for about five minutes before slicing. 

I had also assembled a simple cider vinaigrette and a salad of baby greens and a wedge of my favorite cheese, Cotswold (which is a Gloucester with chives and onions). 

I haven't had tenderloin in a long while (I trend towards hanger, skirt, and ribeye) but this was outstanding.  Tender, beefy, and perfectly medium-rare. Again, thanks to the crew at Rare Cuts for suggesting the tails.  I'd have overlooked them.  Time to go clean up the kitchen and get the pictures to post.

Weekend update...

With a whoosh the weekend is ending.  Friday night we went to a church gathering and played spoons.  One of those surprisingly violent evenings.  Saturday night was another church function for youth promotion.  Today was church.  Saturday afternoon was a great trip to Rare Cuts in Harahan.  They are a gourmet meat market - everything is cryovac packed or pre-packaged.  The meats and cuts are restaurant grade and selection.  The staff is knowlegeable and helpful.  Picked up a package of hanger steak, duck breast halves (at 8 oz.+ each they rightly deserve the name steaks), and some tenderloin tails (the less aesthetically pleasing but equally delicious ends of that filet we all love).  Projects forthcoming there...

Just put a blackberry balsamic reduction in the fridge to cool.  It may be dressing some of the beef (and/or duck) later in the week...

For now it's back to laundry and cleaning up as we have a gaggle coming over next Sunday for lunch.

Delays, delays, delays...

Work has been a zoo.  Fortunately I've still been cooking.  Monday night was seared Scottish salmon with sauteed vegetables with a Meyer lemon vinaigrette.

Tuesday and Wednesday we dined out

Thursday was almost an accident.  We forgot to set something out to cook that morning.  I had to hit the grocery to find some things for the party we're attending tonight and happened across a couple of beautiful pieces of skirt steak.  Voila - chef's favorite - steak frites.

I have pictures...I'll get them added once I figure out how to get them to link to my Flickr account.

Caffeinated musings

Here I sit with a cup of coffee on a late Sunday afternoon/early Sunday evening and I have time to think.  Somehow when I get coffee late in the day like this (and I'm not heading somewhere and using it to stay awake) I get a bit contemplative.  I've been thinking over a variety of topics but since this is my food blog I'll just bring up my food related ramblings.

Coffee...

Being a coffee nut (or addict) and a former industry person I have my own opinions about how to grind, brew, etc.  My personal favorite brewing method is the Chemex.  The coffee comes out rich, strong, and hot (I brew in the 200 to 205 degree Farenheit range).  It's also a bit of a conversation piece (sort of like my vintage Cory brewer).  We used this workhorse daily for more than two years when we moved in here and even though we use a drip brewer most mornings (for speed) I still reach for the Chemex at least once a week.  Sometimes the simple methods still work best.

From the grocery...

Stopped in this afternoon (after walking across the parking lot, which for all purposes could have been the surface of the sun) and found a beautiful piece of Scottish salmon (given, farm raised, but at least it isn't Chilean salmon).  I've got an idea or two for dinner tomorrow night. I'll post pictures.

Looking ahead...

Dinner for our Bible study class...still no firm ideas as to what will be on the menu, but it'll be definitive Southern-influenced cooking.  Having friends over the next weekend.  Got a few ideas there...maybe playing on the small plates idea. 

Opening day

A little housekeeping before getting down to business.

About the author:

Happily married, voracious reader and consumer of coffee, sometimes frustrated home cook who is puzzled that in a town so known for food it's so tough to find better than average supplies to work with (I may be looking in the wrong places or just don't know where to look).

Goal:

Keeping a record of the food I prepare at home and enjoy on evenings out with my lovely wife (and sometimes accompanied by friends). Hopefully this will also serve as one of the foundations for recipes to be handed down to our future children and family.

Now to work:

Had some friends recently return from Rome and, while still waiting to see pictures, have been enjoying the coffee that was a gift. They also came back talking about the food. They're like my wife and I, he cooks and she bakes, so the discussions have been thought inspiring. Over the last week or so I've been thinking about my cooking style. I really enjoy the French Bistro style of food - earthy, delicious stuff that is straightforward and simple. Simple needs definition here. When I use the term simple to describe food it means that the food is from a single idea that is well-executed and without distraction. It does not mean that the food is without thought or that it requires little to no effort to do. For example: We dined out at Cochon last night and I enjoyed, a great deal, the chicken and andouille gumbo, crawfish pie, and the blueberry cobbler. I enjoyed them so much in fact that I intend to create my own versions of the gumbo and cobbler and work on a version of the pie. It was simple food, but the effort involved in it was obvious from the first bite. I have had my cooking forever marked by living here in New Orleans. So I get to blend French, Creole and Cajun, Italian, and Spanish. I'm also deeply, deeply Southern so greens, cornbread, and other such Southern delights will be making appearances. I'm also trying to be mostly healthy about what I eat. This means fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, and a distinct lack of frying things. So what does all of this mean? I don't know. I will leave that up to the readers, whoever and wherever they may be.

In process right now:

Made fresh hazelnut paste this morning to make hazelnut gelato in the week ahead.
Working on some ideas for pizza and fresh pasta.
Have a couple of social events next weekend and then a gathering at our place for the Bible study group we teach the week after.