Un-Sunday Supper

Ok. So, here's the deal.  I had big plans for a lazy long braised Sunday supper last weekend. Sometime, between slicing fresh fennel bulbs and rinsing a whole organic chicken to air-dry in the refrigerator for super crisp skin, it occured to me that the Acadamy Awards were being broadcast that night. I couldn't wrap my head around the thought of braising, basting, and babysitting a complete Sunday supper while running up and down the stairs trying not to miss a single moment of the awards show. I wanted my full attention glued to the red carpet walks,  off-handed humor, gut-wrenching anticipation, acceptance speeches, and couture gowns.  "Who are you wearing?" Blah, blah, blah.  Well,  I wore tattered Old Navy drawstring cotton knock-abouts anchored by a somewhat coordinating ( not too matchy matchy)  distressed T-shirt.

That being said, we shelved the Sunday supper notion and decided to nosh on nibbles and snacks during the broadcast. On hand?  Poppy-cock, Caramel Swirl Girl Scout cookies, Godiva chocolates, pistachios, prosciutto, leftover chili,  and Pop-Tarts. Bring on the chic. Even with those treats banked, I felt the need to  prepare something for our little well intended coffee table awards night buffet.

I had a huge bag of winter market kale that needed a purpose. I'd planned to saute or braise it as a side dish for our abandoned Sunday supper. Instead, I re-purposed the kale for our Oscar night snacks.

Kale Chips. I know, right?  They're nothing new. They've been around forever. I was late to the party with it. Oh, well.  It just never dawned on me to throw a batch together until Oscar Sunday. Welcome to the party.

I trimmed the kale leaves from the tough stems, ripped the larger leaves into bite sized pieces, and set the remaining smaller leaves aside. I tossed the tender kale with olive oil, seasoned it with kosher salt, and tumbled it onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan before sliding it into the oven to bake for 10 to 15 minutes. I didn't leave the the kitchen. Lessons learned.  Because the market kale leaves were very tender,  they browned around the edges and were perfectly crisp at the 9 minute mark. I pulled them from the oven and carefully drained them on paper towels.

Earthy, light, and crisp, the kale chips crackled  with soft nutty sweetness from the caramelized browned edges. They were surpizingly delicate and delicious. I filed that tasty trick away.

Kale salad. After slicing  the remaining kale into thin ribbons, I tossed them with sliced watermelon radishes, golden raisens, lemon zest,  and toasted walnuts. I dressed the salad with a highly acidic fresh lemon vinaigrette and slid it into the refrigerator to macerate for 30 minutes.

Wow. The kale wilted from the salty lemon vinaigrette, leaving the leaves incredibly tender without any bitter undertones. While the sweet bits of plumped golden raisens tamed the raw watermelon radish sting,  the toasted walnuts provided additional earthy crunch.  It worked. Weird. It tasted like a wilted spinach salad collided with a tangy cole slaw. Fun.

Un-Sunday supper with re-purposed kale.

Who knew?

The Storm Before The Calm

I really don't have anything against Mardi Gras. Any reason to drink, eat, and have fun gets a double thumbs up from me. Trust me. However, I spent most of the past month at work planning, prepping, and cooking for a huge Mardi Gras fundraiser held the Saturday before Fat Tuesday. After swimming in vats of creole sauce, juggling thousands of shrimp, and inhaling vast dust clouds of Cajun spices, the last thing  I wanted to indulge in was anything remotely resembling the flavors and festivities of Mardi Gras.

Last Tuesday, while most revelers washed down Cajun/creole grub with raucously potent hurricanes, we settled down in front of our flat screen tv and slurped up soothing silken  bowls of egg drop soup. Yep.

I suppose we could have ordered it from a nearby Asian restaurant, but it was simple enough to make and fun to throw together. Although preparing egg drop soup is fairly straightforward, (boil stock, add beaten egg, stir, serve) I slipped in a few tweaks and additions to elevate the soup above its standard restaurant amuse-bouche status.



 I brought 5 cups of chicken stock to a boil and reduced it to a simmer. To amp up the flavor base, I added sliced fresh ginger and whole unpeeled garlic cloves to steep in the steaming simmering stock.  While the aromatics perfumed the soup base, I whipped 3 large organic eggs until frothy, added minced fresh scallions, and set them aside. After 35 minutes, I removed the spent garlic and ginger, added a cup of cubed firm tofu,  let the stock cool, and joined Michael in the parlor for several glasses of calming chardonnay.



 The egg drop controversy. Oh, my. I discovered a litany of conflicting methods for something as simple as adding eggs to egg drop soup. Add the eggs to boiling stock?  Add the eggs to simmering stock? Stir the stock clockwise? Stir the stock counterclockwise? Drip the eggs into the stock through a colander? Drizzle them into the stock from a ladle? One method suggested pouring the beaten eggs through the tines of a fork to achieve perfectly cooked, tender, un-clumped, uniform egg ribbons.  Really?  It was soup, not a science project.

After finishing my last glass of wine, I ladled the scallion-flecked beaten eggs into a narrow-tipped squeeze bottle, (thunder clap) brought the aromatic stock to a boil, added a cornstarch slurry to slightly thicken it, removed the stock from the heat, stirred it, and drizzled the eggs into the gently swirling stocky vortex.  They cooked in seconds. Perfect.

Deep bowls of luscious egg drop soup topped with sliced scallions and red bell peppers (not traditional). For crunch, (and a nod to Fat Tuesday) I nestled fried pork-filled egg rolls with tangy sweet & sour sauce to the side of our bowls of soup.

The egg ribbons, suspended throughout the soup,  had the mouthfeel of ultra thin delicate pasta. Soft. Calming. Fabulous. I eventually put down my spoon, tipped the bowl to my lips, and drank the rest of my soup.


Mardi Gras. We traded in our beads for chopsticks, porcelain spoons, and egg drop soup.

Was it a creole cop-out? Nope. It was welcome relief from the previous days Cajun chaos.

Laissez le bon temp rouler.

Tomato Chips?

The winter farmers' market was hopping last Saturday morning. It buzzed with students from UK's Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Media program talking to vendors, gleaning information, and collecting memories for an on site image digitizing session. They were everywhere. The atmosphere didn't quite match  the frenzied hysteria of the outdoor market on a warm summer's day, but it was electric and great fun.

When shopping at the winter market, I usually chat and visit with all the vendors, but I'm always drawn in by the offerings from Elmwood Stock Farm. They have a knack for bringing something new, special, and surprizing to the market. Last week, they had ground corn meal, popping corn, dried beans, watermelon radishes, baby kale, organic chicken, ground turkey, and winter squash.

I was particularly smitten with tiny bags of dried tomatoes. They were gorgeous.Thinking the dried tomatoes might be similar to ordinary sundried tomatoes, I grabbed a bag. After biting into one, I knew there was nothing ordinary about them. They weren't chewy or leathery.  They were delightfully beyond crisp, crackling  with intense tomato sweetness. Tomato chips. Score.

I could have eaten the entire bag of tomato chips as a snack, but restrained myself because I had plans for them. Tart plans.

With that in mind, I had a blast tarting around the kitchen.

Using one of many standard pie dough recipes, I sifted 2 cups of flour into a food proccessor before adding 2 sticks of cubed and chilled unsalted butter, a pinch of salt, and 1/4 cup of ice water. I pulsed the ingredients until they combined before tumbling the loose dough onto a floured surface, forming it into thick round disc, covering it with plastic wrap, and sliding  it into the refrigerator to chill.

I wanted the tart dough to have a savory bent, so I clipped a few stems of snow-kissed fresh thyme from the back deck and scattered the leaves over the dough before rolling it out.  After buttering a rectangular tart pan, I snuggled the dough into the pan, trimmed the dough around the edges, lined it with parchment paper, weighted it with dried beans, and blind baked it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes before pulling it from the oven to cool.

While the tart shell cooled, I bounced around  ideas for a filling base.  Ricotta cheese? Didn't have any. Goat cheese? Had some.....tossed it.  Greek Yogurt? Uh, nope. Although I wasn't shooting for quiche, I settled on an egg base.  A thin egg base.  After cracking 3 large organic eggs into a mixing bowl, I whisked them together with 1/4 cup heavy cream, a tablespoon of minced fresh parsley, salt, pepper, and a pinch of grated nutmeg.

After scattering minced green peppers and shallots over the cooled tart dough, I carefully covered them with a thin 1/2 inch layer of the egg custard.   I smothered the eggs with a  cup of freshly grated parmigiano reggiano and nestled the tomato chips onto the cheese. To gild the lily, I dropped  bits of fresh mozzarella cheese over the tomatoes before finishing with tiny leaves of fresh thyme.

I baked the tart for 35 minutes at 350 degrees, pulled it from the oven to rest for 5 minutes, sliced it into wedges, and served it alongside baby arugula lightly tossed with a simple meyer lemon vinaigrette.

For some ridiculous reason, I fully expected the tomato chips to float on top of the thick layer of parmigiano cheese and remain  crisp. Nope. As the cheese melted into the herbed-seasoned egg custard, it bubbled up around the brittle tomatoes, rehydrating them until they exuded an insanely concentrated tomato essence throught the tart. Bathed with oozing  mozzarella and nutty parmigiano cheeses, the transformed  tangy sweet tomato chips exploded with flavor, awakening sleepy sweet memories of summer garden fresh tomatoes. 

Happy accident.

Win. 

Balling

I've been laid up with a bad back for the past couple of weeks. It's been manageable as long as I'm not standing, sitting, sleeping, cooking, walking, coughing, or laughing. Joy. Thankfully, I'm between special events at work, so the cooking load has been light. Unfortunately, I haven't cooked much at home, either. Michael has stepped up to the plate by preparing most of our meals.  He's a great cook. His tacos, meatloaf, chili, and pot roast are amazing. One day last week, he texted me asking about making lasagna. "How about I make lasagna? Sound good?", he wrote. "Don't go to a lot of trouble", I replied. His response? "Will do an easy one one."

I came home from work and found  Fresh Market bags strewn all over the kitchen countertops.  His easy lasagna turned into a day long love affair with cooking. Bliss.  Perfectly cooked al dente lasagna noodles lightly bathed in Scarpetta Marinara sauce, dotted with  fresh basil, Italian sausage, ricotta cheese, and parmigiano reggianno oozed with melted fresh mozzarella cheese. It was brilliant. It made me happy.  Play hurt.

I was still gimpy last Saturday, but we managed to schlepp down to the winter market to pick up a few black radishes and a gallon Chaney's whole milk. Simple task.  They had neither. When I asked about the black radishes, I was told that someone had beaten me by a nose and bought the entire stock of  ugly black radishes.  Really?  Weird.

We loaded our bags with turnips, sweet potatoes, onions, salsa, cabbage, jam cake, and a lone pear ginger raspberry scone before heading home.

Last night, after T-minus lasagna day 4, I hobbled back into the kitchen to throw  together a simple week night  supper.  I thought about making  turnip soup with sweet potato dumplings. I thought about it for a nanosecond.....until my culinary insanity gene kicked in.  Why settle for sweet potato dumplings when I could stuff them, fry them, and glaze them with maple syrup-infused red eye gravy? I had clearly lost my mind.

I poured myself a huge glass of wine and had a ball.

 I baked 2 sweet potatoes for an hour in a 350 oven until they were soft and tender. When they were cool enough to handle, I scraped the orange potato flesh into a mixing bowl before adding an equal amount of flour, 1 egg, salt, and pepper. After kneading the sweet potao dough until the flour was incorperated, I pinched off dough sections, formed them into golf ball-sized dumpling balls, and stuffed them.......with minced leftover barbecued pork  and mascarpone cheese. Yup.

I cranked the deep fryer to 375 degrees,  coated the stuffed balls with  egg wash, rolled them through seasoned panko bread crumbs flecked with fresh chives, and  carefully dropped them into the hot oil to fry until golden brown. As each batch browned, I slid them into a warm oven to hold.

The barbecued pork and mascarpone cheese stuffed sweet potato balls needed a sauce. I'm a saucy kind of guy. To gild the lily,  I sauteed shaved country ham slices in butter until they crisped and caramelized. After removing the ham candy to drain on paper towels, I deglazed the skillet with 1 cup of strong coffee before adding 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup, orange zest, and snipped chives. After the molten mocha madness bubbled,  reduced and thickened, I pulled it from the heat to cool.

After tossing the fried country ham back into the gooey maple-red eye gravy suace/glaze, I plated the cheesy pork filled balls and covered them with sticky the sauce.

Pork with pork. Double pork.

To counter the rich maple mocha pork sweet potato insanity, I whipped steamed tangy turnips into clouds and served them over sauteed turnip greens with crisp sliced red bell peppers for wet freshness.

Crunchy barbecued pork-filled sweet potato balls drizzled with maple-infused  red eye gravy, topped with grassy fresh chives on a bed of caramelized salty sauteed country ham.

Ridiculous.

When The Rooster Crows

I'm a sucker for Sriracha. Packed with bold flavor and pungent garlic undertones, it has a lip tingling sweet heat that lingers on the tongue. Slow burn. Creeper chili. I literally squeeze it onto everything I eat (ask Michael).  I smear it onto crackers, spread it onto cheese, squirt it over pizza, and swirl it into soups. My favorite treat? Biting the end from a pan seared crisp-bottomed soflty steamed  potsticker and filling the hole with Sriracha Chile Sauce before shoveling the entire potsticker into my mouth. 

And.....because I'm the only one in our home who gets off on Sriracha Chili Sauce, I keep the bottle tidy by sucking the green-tipped squirter until it's clean. Yep.  No drips. No mess. No fuss. No waste. Happy camper.

While tossing around ideas for something to take to a potluck affair last weekend, I stumbled across a Ming Tsai recipe for grilled Sriracha shrimp. Bingo. Although his recipe was solid, I tweaked it. I know, right? Tweak Ming Tsai? Shoot me. After preparing his recipe and tasting it, I found it to be overly pungent and acidic, so I tempered the marinade by adding 2 tablespoons of honey to balance the flavor.

I squirted 3/4 cups of Sriracha sauce into a mixing bowl before adding 1/3 cup canola oil, the juice of a lime, 2 minced garlic cloves, salt, and pepper. After whisking the marinade together until it emulsified, I reserved 1/3 of it before pouring the remainder over 1 1/2 pounds of cleaned/deveined 21-30 count jumbo shrimp. I gave the shrimp a quick toss in the marinade and slid them into the refrigerator  for an hour to absorb the rooster bath.

After an hour, I threaded the shrimp onto pre-soaked bamboo skewers and set them aside. I cranked two cast iron grill pans until they smoked, brushed them with  oil, and carefully placed the shrimp skewers onto the sizzling pan ridges. The blazing  heat  from the grill pans immediately seared the outer flesh of the shrimp, causing them splatter and spit Sriracha mist through the smokey air.  Fabulous. After 3-4 minutes on each side, they were caramelized and charred.  The good kind of char. They were coated in a sweet spicy Sriracha candy char.  Think about it.

Knowing the Sriracha shrimp skewers would be eaten at room temperature, I let them cool before brushing them with the reserved marinade for a final flavor boost. In an attempt to tame the fiery rooster heat, I served the skewers over a cooling asian pear salad tossed in a tangy  honey-sweetened yogurt based dressing. Did it calm the flaming cock? Hell, no.

Were the shrimp skewers spicy?  Hell, yes.

The Rooster crowed.

Spaghetti? Nope.

I've spent the past few weeks testing authentic Dominican Rebublic recipes for a work event that took place last weekend.  Testing recipes has a special meaning in our home. As usual, the testings turned into several Dominican suppers for Michael and me. Thankfully, he was a good sport about our Caribbean culinary journey. Pollo Chicherones (lime-marinated double fried chicken), Pollo Guisada (soffrito-spiced stewed chicken), tostones, rice, and beans became our temporary new norm. While tatsy, after weeks of eating our way through their unique and delicious cuisine, we needed a change of pace. Big time.

I still had a gorgeous Stripetti spaghetti squash from Elmwood Farm plopped inside a giant wooden bowl on our kitchen countertop. Although we adore straight-up roasted and buttered spaghetti squash, I wanted to put a new spin on it, so I used a dozen small littleneck clams and threw together a riff on spaghetti  alle vongole (spaghetti with clams......or, spaghetti squash with clams).

After preheating the oven to 350 degrees, I halved the squash, scooped out the seeds, brushed the flesh with olive oil, seasoned it with salt & pepper, and placed the squash halves cut side down on a baking sheet before sliding them into the oven to roast for an hour.

While the squash baked, I diced a 1/3 cup red bell pepper, 1/3 cup green bell pepper, and 1 small shallot into small diagonals before setting them aside. After a couple of glases of wine, I played around with a few meyer lemons. Shellfish. Lemons. No brainer. I wanted more. I wanted contrasting textures and layers of lemon flavor, so I thinly sliced three meyer lemons into wheels before slicing  one into half moons and setting it aside for a bright acidic garnish.  After cranking the deep fryer to 375 degrees, I lightly dusted the remaining lemon wheels with cornstarch and fried them until golden brown. Sea salt and fresh parsley flecks finished them off.

I wanted another depth of salty crunch for the steamed clams. Although crispy fried  bacon was the obvious choice, I had a few leftover shavings of Browning's Country Ham tucked away in the meat drawer of the refigerator that I picked up at the Kentucky Proud Market  during one of my many trips through the Lexington Civic Center last week. Perfect. I julienned the ham shavings and baked them alongside the squash for 10 minutes until they morphed into glistening country ham brittle.  Perfect.

After an hour, I pulled the spaghetti squash from the oven and used a fork to scrape the delicate threads from the halved shells before tossing them with  melted unsalted butter.

While the squash absorbed its sweet butter bath, I melted 2 tablespoons of butter into an equal amount of olive oil in a large skillet over a medium flame. When the butter started to brown a bit, I tossed the reserved peppers and shallots into the sizzling butter/oil combination. After they softened, I added 2 tablespoons of minced garlic and deglazed the pan with 1 cup of white wine. When the wine reduced by 1/2, I spiked it with 1 cup of bottled clam juice and tumbled the tiny littleneck clams into the boiling stock. I showered the clams with fresh meyer lemon juice,  fresh parsley, and (on a whim) split grape tomatoes before covering them to steam open.

Within seconds, the briny clams opened their shells upward, revealing their plump sexy meat. Annointed with flavor, I pulled them from the heat.

After twirling the spaghetti squash into large pasta bowls, I placed the steamed clams around the squash and bathed them with the aromatic stock. After nestling the fried lemon wheels between the clams, I scattered minced fresh red and green bell peppers over them to mimic and contrast their sauteed counterparts. To gild the lily, I crumbled the country ham brittle onto each splayed juicy clam.

The clams were sweet and tender. They exploded with flavor, squirting briny juices that mixed with the bright lemony luscious stock. Bits of crisped ham added crunch and saltiness while the peppers provided tiny bursts of wet freshness. The spaghetti squash, bathed with stock, was perfect. The strands were delicate and light, yet bold enough to retain thier  integrity after being slathered and scattered with an array of wonderful crazy ingredients.

Roasted spaghetti squash with clams.

Fabulous.

The Indoor Winter Market...

Early last Saturday morning, I planned to quietly slip out of the house for a quick trip to the indoor winter farmers' market.  Although it's a fairly short walk from our house, I decided to drive because it was freezing outside. I grabbed my Martha Stewart market-designated canvas tote bag and drove down our driveway.  After two or three thumpity thumps, I realized I had a flat tire. Great.  Michael was sound asleep.  It was really early, very cold, and I was dressed  like an unkempt overly bundled up character from a wintertime South Park episode. All bundled up with nowhere to go. Bliss.

I cautiously jostled Michael awake, without scaring  him to death in my arctic outfit, and we eventually swapped driveway car positions. I used his car for my 'quick'  market excursion. I loved the serenity of the indoor winter farmers' market. It was calm and quiet with gentle guitar music humming through hidden speakers. It felt great to be back at the market.

Quarles Farm had canned vegetables, salsas, chow-chows, relishes, breads, and coffee cakes. Even at 9:00 a.m. , I couldn't resist a taste of their stewed beef wafting  heavenly aromas from cranked up slow cookers.  Samples? Sure.

Perched on a higher level overlooking the other vendors, Elmwood Farm offered the motherload of the indoor market.  They had the usual suspects; baskets of watermelon radishes, beets, turnips, black radishes, sweet potatoes, collard greens, winter squash, gorgeous celeriac, garlic, organic eggs, and chicken.

 I was totally surprized by bags of fresh English Bordeaux spinach.  Really?  In January?  With deep green lacy leaves highlighted by bright red viens and stems, the spinach  reminded me of  delicate swiss chard. Apparently, it's a hardy variety that grows profusely until temperatures dip into the teens. They actually harvested their my spinach during  our latest snowfall!. It was still damp....from the snow. Wow.

I filled my bag with organic eggs, spinach, Stripetti squash, garlic, and sweet potatoes before driving home. 

It's been a while since our kitchen countertops were covered with market booty. I was giiddy and couldn't wait to play with my stash.

I wanted to try something different with the small sweet potatoes, so I adapted a recipe from Fine Cooking and threw together individual sweet potato and goat cheese galettes.  Crazy, right? Goat cheese and sweet potatoes? Weird,  fascinating, fabulous, and a far cry from sweet potato casserole.

Before getting started, I slushed  through our snow-covered back deck to snip handfuls of  fresh thyme and chives. I pulled out my mandolin and sliced the sweet potatoes into thin rounds. After buttering small individual ramekins, I filled them with alternating layers of sweet potatoes, parmigiano reggiano, crumbled goat cheese, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper before ending with a final layer of goat cheese.

After preheating the oven to 375 degrees, I placed the galettes onto a foil-lined sheet pan and slid them into the oven to bake alongside a pan of  roasting whole grape tomatoes.

Because  the individual galettes were small, I checked on them frequently.  I burn stuff...a lot. Really. Yep. After 45 minutes, they were beautifully browned and tender, so I pulled them from the oven to rest.

Pomegranate Molasses-Glazed Smoked Pork Chops.

I cranked a cast iron grill pan over high heat until it was smoking hot  and tossed two smoked boneless pork chops onto the grill to cook through. While the chops caramelized on the grill, I brushed them generously with a thick ruby red glaze made with 1/2 cup pomegranate molasses, 2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar, the juice of a fresh lemon, and a splash of red wine. The glaze seared onto the  pork flesh like molten lava, sealing the juices inside while encrusting it in a sweet tart candied pomegranate shell.  Just before the pork chops combusted, I pulled them from heat and slid them into a low oven to keep warm.

After a glass of wine or three, I gave the snow-kissed spinach a quick rinse before sauteing it in olive oil with minced garlic, shallots, and julienned red bell peppers.

I plated the wilted garlicky spinach and nestled the sweet potato goat cheese galettes into the spinach nests.  After scattering fresh julienned red peppers over the spinach and galettes, I slid the tart sticky pomegranate glazed pork chops onto our plates before tumbling roasted grape tomatoes to the side. Lemon zest and sliced chives finished them off.

Ok. So, here's the deal.  It was a ridiculous riot of flavor. Really. The earthy spinach balanced the tart sweet moistness of the pork chops with bits of pungent garlic, sweet red pepper, and meltingly soft shallots. When sliced, the plump roasted grape tomatoes popped their sweet wet juices over  the pork, creating a bonus sauce. Win. The sweet potato goat cheese galettes were ridiculous.  Oh. My. The cheeses didn't ooze or drip.  It wasn't about that. The galettes were delicate, soft, and sweet. The nutty parmigiano added subtle saltiness while the fresh thyme provided floral undertones. The goat cheese profoundly elevated the simple  galettes to another  level. Suspended between layers of thinly sliced sweet potatoes, the soft goat cheese had the mouthfeel of tangy soft marshmallows. Air pillows. Clouds. Fabulous.

Wow.

Check out the indoor winter farmers' market.

It's full of surprizes.