Here's Looking at You, Pig!

Roasted Pig Head is not on many menus. So when we went to dine at The Greenhouse Tavern I encouraged my husband to try it. Notice how I didn’t order it. I only wanted to see it and then have a nibble. I wanted to order the Duck N’ Pumpkin Pasta. My husband likes to order things he can’t get at other places or at home. And pig’s head is not on the menu at home any time soon, so after a little encouragement he ordered it.

Sure enough, glazed with a shrimp paste BBQ sauce, a half of a pig’s head, along with a pile of lettuce cups and a pile of slaw arrived at the table. We were in pig shock. It is rare that any meat in the U.S. comes to the table blatantly reminding us what it looked like before the dinner bell rang. And as a cook and a follower of food trends I knew that staring your dinner in the face, literally, is a current trend. Go see the turkeys running around the pen that will grace your Thanksgiving table. Oogle the cute piglets. But when the time comes to prepare it the head has been removed by and the face is gone.

John gamely picked up his fork and ate away. It was a little unsettling when he removed the jaw bone (with teeth) to get to another juicy bite. I have to say it was a pretty tasty. It would have been even better eaten the way it was supposed to be eaten. We forgot and ignored the lettuce cups and slaw. Apparently the diner was supposed to make little lettuce cup tacos, piled with pig meat and julienne raw veggies in light vinagrette. We came close to just tearing at it with our hands and biting it right off the bone. Me eat meat not little lettuce cups. I guess we forgot. I would love to go back and give it another try the way the chef intended. And if I got the chance to meet Porky, trotting around, before dinner and would bravely do so and thank him for the upcoming meal.

(Side note: If you ever go - order the Confit Chicken Wings and the Foie Gras Steamed Clams. Both would make a great entrée and were amazingly good.)



Babler Chili

My husband's extended family holds a picnic at Babler State Park in St. Louis every October. Aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, grandmas and great-grandmas everywhere, hugging hello then claiming a picnic table for their branch of the Waldschmidt family tree.  Each family brings a pot of chili. There’s no contest or judging. That’s just always been the main food. After twenty years plus of attending I can just peek into the pots, stir, and tell which family brought which chili. The recipes don’t change much over the years.

Except ours. One year John decided to make chili. But he wanted it to stand out from all the other chili. So he made a Chicken White Bean Chili. You would have thought it was Thanksgiving and we had brought Osterich. Everyone ooh-ed and ahh-ed. It created quite a stir. So henceforth John would spend one day a year making a non-traditional chili for the Babler gathering. (Oh my God! Such a production – but that’s another story.)

This year we drove nine hours to St. Louis to attend Babler. I did not want to relinquish my kitchen and my sanity so for the first time ever I made the chili. Cooked and froze it in Ohio and threw it in the car.  I was inspired by the flavors of fall that just itch to be used.

Fall Harvest Chili
Don’t let the long list of ingredients scare you. It's mostly spices. This goes together in a few minutes and then simmers on the stove. Perfect for a day of watching football or the World Series.1 pound of round steak, trimmed and cut into small cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bottle of pumpkin ale
4 cups of Butternut Squash, cubed and cooked
½ can pumpkin
1 14 ounce can of zesty tomatoes
1 can of Rotel
1 14 oz. tomato sauce

Spices:
(I kept these separate because you would be afraid to make this chili when you saw how long the list of ingredients is. Feel free to eliminate, substitute, and add.)

1 T. ground Aleppo pepper
2 T. chili powder
1 T. cumin
1 T. salt
2 bay leaves
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 cups of cooked beans

Season the round steak with salt and pepper and brown in a little oil in a large pot. Remove from the pot and add the onions. Cook until translucent and starting to brown. Add the beef back to the pot and add all the rest of the ingredients. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for as long as you have time for. You could simmer it for a half hour or three hours. The flavors will meld and change the longer you cook it. If you don’t want to eat it right away, cool and store in the fridge.

You could top it with sour cream, cheddar cheese and pepitas if you want to jazz it up. A perfect dish for a cold fall day.

Baking Tips - Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I was dating my husband, one million years ago, every single time we went to his mother’s house there were homemade chocolate chip cookies. I don’t recall anyone ever making homemade cookies at my house (okay - maybe it happened once but I must have been outside at the time.) So a fresh batch seemed like a miraculous thing. And to have them just lying around like it was no big thing! Homemade cookies!
I have known my mother-in-law 32 plus years. She has never failed to have Toll House in the house. We would walk in for a family dinner or dropping off our daughters for an evening out and even though we were heading out for dinner my husband and I would begin scouring the pantry and freezer for the cookies. She never failed us. We would munch them on our way out the door to dinner. And when we recently visited St. Louis we left with two large bags of cookies. Most never made it to Ohio, it is a long drive after all.
It seems like a silly thing to blog about – homemade chocolate chip cookies. I am sure everyone has made a batch but since I have had chocolate chip cookies made by an expert and I have to make 60 extra large cookies for a catering event I thought it might be a good way to share some baking tips I have picked up along the way. These tips are not for the accomplished bakers who I am sre know more but for the occassional cookie maker.

Tip #1 - Lay out the ingredients before starting. 4 batches ready to go

Since I was making 4 batches of cookies I decided to get my ducks in a row and lay out all the ingredients by the batch. Baking is precise and not really my strong point. I tend to get distracted by bright shiny objects and then realize I was baking and wonder if the baking soda made it in. Which then requires starring closely at the flour to see if you can see the slight shift in color and texture of baking soda somewhere in the mound…you get my drift. Getting everything ready before you bake helps.
Tip #1 - I tore off 8 sheets of foil and laid out 4 batches of cookie ingredients, putting the eggs and butter with each batch, keeping the baking soda and salt in their own distinct little piles with flour, putting the sugars on their own piece of foil, so I could stand back and see that I had all the ingredients laid out before I began.
Tip #2 - before I measure out the flour, I stick my whisk in the canister and give the flour a good stir. This does the work of a sifter with a lot less time, breaking up all the lumps and settling that happens to flour in a canister.

Crack the egg on a flat surface then break into a ramekin to check for shells before adding to the batter

Tip 3 & 4 - I crack the egg on a flat surface instead of a sharp corner. The egg breaks into larger pieces. I crack it open into a ramekin. I can check for shell fragments before I add the egg to the batter. Chasing that one piece of shell around a mixing bowl is like trying to grab a toddler you just put sun screen on. I cream the sugars, vanilla and eggs in my stand mixer, scraping down the sides at least once. Tip #5 since the flour, baking soda and salt were already laid out on their own piece of foil it is easy to add them to a stand mixer by folding the foil and making it a chute for the ingredients to slide down. There is nothing more obnoxious than trying to add flour from a bowl into a stand bowl. Everything seems to get in the way – the mixer, the bowl, your hands. The foil chute makes it easy and one less bowl to wash. I add it in three batches and mix until the color comes back to the batter before adding the next batch of dry ingredients. Finally I add the chips, in this case Ghirardeli Double Chocolate Chips. They are larger than Toll House and have the great taste of bittersweet which I prefer to semi-sweet.

Tip #6 - Dump the dough onto a clean countertop or cookie sheet to make scooping more effecient

So now the batter is mixed and ready to go. I love Silpat mats and have used them for baking for years. Sheets of parchment paper work great too. Since I had a large batch of batter Tip #6 - I mounded it onto a empty baking sheet. Using a large ice cream scoop, I scooped out the dough, scraping it on the baking sheet so the scoops were consistent in size. I was making large cookies so I only put 8 on a sheet but then put two sheets in the oven at a time.

Tip #7 When baking more than one batch, rotate the trays halfway through to promote even cooking.

Tip #7 - After 7 minutes, I rotated top shelf to bottom shelf, giving each sheet a 180 turn as well. It keeps the cookies away from hot spots and they bake a little more evenly. If I only had one sheet pan at a time, I might still rotate 180 half way through, depending on the oven and the consistency of the heat.
Tip # 8 cool two minutes on the cookie sheet before you put them on a wire rack to finish cooling.
Thanks Ann for all the cookies through the years. They always taste better when you make them.
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Blueberry Chicken

I am a very discriminating berry picker. Not any berry will do. The color has to be dark purple, almost black and dusty looking. No pea sized blueberries for me. Dime sized if possible and the few elusive ones as big as a nickel go straight into my mouth.

I don’t stand at a single bush and glean every last berry. I squint and peer and search and then reach into the back of the bush for that big, fat one that everyone else missed. Needless to say when everyone else had full buckets the bottom of my bucket was barely covered. But by the end of the day, between Grace and I, we had enough to keep a large bowl in the fridge and freeze a few bags.

When everyone else is thinking buckles, crisps, cobblers and coffee cake I am thinking chicken. Meat with a fruit sauce is one of my favorite dinners. For company, I like to do a duck breast with cherries. Another favorite is pork chops with a port and blackberry sauce. Why not chicken with blueberries?
 I want to share with you how do it without giving you step by step directions. It is nice to have those “goto” dishes in your head where you can stand at the stove and toss in and mix and taste and tweak without being tied to a recipe.

Chicken with Blueberry Sauce

I started with 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts. I am cutting back on fat so no skin for me. If you like, this would be great with a boneless skin-on breast.


Drizzle a little oil in a skillet over medium high heat and place 4 seasoned chicken breasts in it. I sprinkled the breasts liberally with a chicken rub I had on hand but just salt and pepper will do. Place in a skillet and cook without disturbing for a few minutes until the bottom is a lovely golden brown. Turn the breasts over and cook for a few more minutes on the other side, then place in a 425 degree oven and cook for about 12-15 minutes or until firm when prodded. Searing and roasting is the best way to get a juicy chicken breast with the caramel outside that adds so much flavor and a juicy interior.

While the chicken is cooking, start the sauce. Throw 2 cups of berries into a small saucepan with about a cup of red wine (you could use chicken broth if you had no wine). Cook for about ten minutes until the liquid is a little reduced and the berries are all mushy. Add a little dijon mustard, a splash of balsamic vinegar and a couple tablespoons of jam. Any jam will do, use blueberry jam if you have. The jam will help thicken and sweeten the sauce. The vinegar and the mustard can be added to taste. They will help balance the sauce – a little sweet, a little tangy and a little tart. Start with a small spoonful and taste and keep tasting and tweaking. If you like it sweeter you can add a little brown sugar or some more jam, adding more mustard or vinegar for a savory sauce.

When the chicken is done remove it from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes while you finish the sauce.
Just before serving, if you have any berries left, throw a few into the sauce to just warm. I love the combination of the cooked berries with the fresh whole ones.
Slice the chicken on the diagonal and pour a nice heaping of sauce on each one and serve the leftover sauce tableside. Everything comes together pretty easily. The dish is perfect for company but easy enough for any night.



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One of my favorite things...

Although it won't fit in my toolbox I love my little waffle maker.


A few years ago during the Christmas season I was working at Williams Sonoma. I had a great discount and a small paycheck. Most of that paycheck went to tools. This mini waffle maker is one of them. It makes three mini waffles at a time. Three of you can start eating your own waffle while the next batch is being made, instead of dividing up one big one. A chirp lets you know when to peek. A teflon surface makes for easy clean-up. Cook up the extra batter and freeze. Who doesn't like a bag of little waffles in their freezer? Ready for ice cream or a quick breakfast.

Corn Pancakes with Black Beans for Maggie

I just came back from a long weekend in Oregon with my four sisters. We went on long hikes and long car rides together. Discussions ran the gamut of topics. Somehow it came up that my niece Maggie is cooking. My sister bemoaned that my niece was spending too much on groceries to make complicated dishes.

We cooks know that to make interesting and delicious food sometimes you need some ingredients that may not reside in the pantry. The dish that follows is by no means exotic. You can find everything in a normal grocery store. In fact I created this a million years ago when the kids were little and I wanted something that was both kid and parent friendly. The kids ate the pancakes with syrup and we ate them with the beans, sour cream and cilantro. This recipe is easy but still pretty tasty. Don't let the pancakes made with Jiffy corn muffin mix fool you. They have a gritty corn meal texture that compliments the smoothness of the beans and the heat from the salsa. And if you want to you can finish off supper with a pancake slathered in butter and syrup!

Corn Pancakes with Black Bean Salsa for Maggie

Salsa:

Oil
1 red pepper, cut into 1" squares
1/2 vidalia onion, cut into 1" squares
2 cans black beans, canned, rinsed
1 jar Pace Picantre Sauce, medium

Pancakes:
2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix
2 egg
4 tablespoons shortening, melted
2/3 cups milk
Chopped cilantro
Sour cream

To make the warm salsa:
Drizzle some oil in a saute pan over medium high heat. Add onion and saute the onion starts to soften. Add the peppers and cook until the peppers start to soften. Add the black beans and Picante sauce. Cook for a few minutes, stirring. When the beans and salsa are hot, reduce the heat to low. Make the pankcakes.

Pancakes:
Blend all the pancake ingredients in a medium bowl with a fork. Batter will be lumpy. Let batter sit a few minutes. Using a quarter cup measure or an ice cream scoop drop batter onto a lightly oiled non stick pan or griddle. Keep them fairly fair apart because the thick batter will spread as the pancakes start to cook. Flip when the edges appear dry, peeking every now and then at the bottom so they don't burn. Also these pancakes are pretty thick so don't cook on too high of a heat or they will be raw inside.

Put two pancakes on a plate. Pile with the warm salsa. Add a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle liberally with salsa.

Let me know if you make it Maggie. And don't let your mom gives you grief about the leftover cilantro!
Serve with Cilantro and sour cream
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Food trucks the Ohio way.

It is a little strange that after 4 months of living here with nary a food truck in site, I would stumble upon two in one week and eat at both of them.

Taco Truck

I am sad to say I never got to experience a taco truck in San Francisco. John ate at one frequently in the ad ghetto. I always wanted to go and get a tongue taco but it never happened.

Back in Ohio, We were dropping off Grace somewhere and saw this truck in the parking lot near a Popeye's Fried Chicken. It was a rainy grim day but we braved the elements (okay John braved the elements, I sat in the car) to go order at the window, hurry back to the car in the rain, run back out and get our styrofoam containers and then eat pork tacos in the car. We found out we were lucky to catch them because they keep short hours. Was it a taste of California? Not exactly but we were glad we tried it.

Dimanddemsum truck

Dim and dem sum truck
I heard about this truck from a friend. We were going to Facebook track it down and go for lunch one day but there was no sign of them anywhere. Turns out they were waiting for a piece of equipment and unable to cook. Why do I know? They magically showed up at a Slow Food/Humane treatment for animals event that I attended, along with a couple of goats and Grace, my daughter, (different story, another blog.) Grace was excited because she thought there might be actual dim sum. She was disappointed in that respect but not in the tater tots and cheese curds she had (boy does that scream Midwest!) They had a house made hot sauce and a house made ketchup to jazz them up. Apparently they were going to serve goat tacos but when they heard that Carolina and Odie were coming (aforementioned goats) they wisely chose beef (no cows were present). Was it crazy good? No but there was thought and creativity and a little passion thrown in. I will definitely track them down again. Also kudos for the "live strong" style bracelet business card.

Odie and Carolina

I think a lot about the Porchetta and fresh herb sandwich at the Roti truck at the Ferry Building. I just like to think about that sandwich sometimes. The pork roast fresh off the rotisserie, all juicy and tender, piping hot, piled on a bun with a pile of fresh herbs. Hot, juicy, drippy, melting pork with crunchy herbs…Stop. Don’t go there. Step away from the porchetta day dream.
So there might be hope for the food truck scene here after all. Maybe I could get a Roti franchise to come?
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Deconstructed Eggs Benedict Salad

I had a great dish recently in San Francisco. Two perfectly poached eggs on a raft of polenta, accompanied by a field green salad with asparagus and fava beans and a vinaigrette. The creamy, rich egg yolk and grainy polenta were a perfect foil for the bitter greens and sharp vinaigrette. The fresh fava beans and skinny, spring asparagus spears added just enough texture and flavor variety to complete it. I enjoyed it so much I was sorry I was sharing it with my friend LeAnn. I was tempted to point at a passing sailboat (we were in Sausalito at Cibo) but hung resolutely to the agreement to eat only half. It got me thinking about eggs which led me to think of my favorite egg dish, Eggs Benedict. Next thing I knew I was creating a supper salad of Deconstructed Eggs Benedict. The lemony hollandaise is now a tart lemon vinaigrette with a poached egg on top. The english muffin is now an English muffin French Toast crouton and salty pancetta replaces the canadian bacon. Make sure you make enough. You won't want to share.

Deconstructed Eggs Benedict Supper Salad

Lemon Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Dash of Tabasco

½ pound Pancetta

8 eggs for poaching

2 eggs for English muffin croutons

1 T. Dijon mustard

½ cup milk

4 english muffins, split

8 cups spring lettuce mix

Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and a dash of Tabasco in a small bowl and set aside. Rinse and spin dry the lettuce. Put it in the fridge covered with a damp paper towel so it stays nice and crisp.

Dice the pancetta and cook until crisp. Drain on a paper towel. Poach the 8 eggs in boiling water until desired doneness. Place them immediately into a bowl of ice water to stop cooking. Leave them there for now. You can do this a couple of hours ahead of time if you need to. Keep the egg water warm on low heat if you are eating right away. You can use it to re-warm the eggs when you are ready to serve..

Preheat a non-stick skillet or griddle to medium high heat. In a small bowl, whisk together the 2 eggs, mustard and milk. Dip the English muffin halves into the eggs and milk, like you were making French toast, coating both sides and place in the hot skillet drizzled with olive oil. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Repeat with the other three English muffins. Remove from pan and cube.

Place the poached eggs back in the hot water for a few minutes to re-warm the eggs. Put the lettuce in a large bowl and drizzle with some of the vinaigrette. Taste and add more vinaigrette if you like. Divide the lettuce onto 4 large plates. Sprinkle with cubed pancetta and the english muffin cubes. Top with the warm poached eggs. Season with salt and freshly black pepper. Serve.

This recipe can be done in stages throughout the day. The pancetta can be made ahead and warmed for 10 seconds in the microwave. The vinaigrette can be made ahead and refrigerated. The eggs can be poached in advance.

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Oatmeal Almond Blueberry Bars

On Mother's Day I was given a container of left over blueberries and blackberries as we said our goodbyes. A recent post I had seen on a rhubarb bar inspired me. What about a blueberry blackberry bar? I wanted more than a crumb topping though. I wanted something more like the granola bars I have been making. I wanted that flavor of toasted oats and slivered almonds to pair with the juicy berries. And I recently made a toasted coconut truffle and really enjoyed the toasted coconut flavor. Hmm - that wouldn't hurt either!

Combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 1/2 cups flour in a food processor and pulse briefly. Cut a stick of butter into thirds lengthwise , turn and cut again and then cut into slices to form pea sized squares of cold butter.

Add the butter and one egg to the food proceesor. Pulse in the food processor until the mixture is like bread crumbs. Pour into a prepared 8 inch square pan. Cover with a piece of was paper and press with your fingers or a small rolling pan to form a flat bottom.

Take 3 cups of fruit and toss in a bowl with 2 tablespoons flour and a 1/4 cup sugar. Pour onto the crust.

Put 1/2 cups old fashioned oatmeal, 1/2 cup coconut and 1/2 cup slivered almonds on a foil lined pan in a 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until slightly brown. Toss in a bowl with a 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 brown sugar and a 1/2 stick of melted butter. Stir to combine and pour on top of the fruit.

Cook for 35- 40  minutes in a 375 degree oven. If you serve it warm the berries will burst warm and liquid in your mouth but it won't cut itno nice slices until it is cooled.

Life Actualliy Is a Box Of Chocolates

Top: Fleur de Sel Caramel in dark chocolate, Left: Chai Infused Ganache, Right: dark chcolate, coconut, lemongrass ganache, dipped in white chocolate and rolled in toasted coconut

Lately my life is a box of chocolate. I am reading about chocolate, I am searching out chocolatiers at home and when I travel and I am making chocolate. If I need a reason it is because I am taking an online professional chocolatier course at Ecole Chocolat. If you know me at all, you know I have been making toffee and caramels for years. A few years back I took it up a notch by buying my own chocolate temperer (I’ll explain what that is later.) As part of the course, I spend a lot of time reading about chocolate, the origin of chocolate, how it can be grown only near the equator, how the beans have to be fermented, like wine, to develop that flavor we all love, and much more.

An important assignment in the class is to learn how to temper chocolate by hand. Most people don’t know it but chocolate is a fickle substance. There is a science and an art to getting chocolate to have that deep shine and snap when you bite it. Done incorrectly, chocolate never quite hardens or it develops clouds of gray “bloom” or can have a grainy texture when you bite it, not crisp with a clean audible break. The science in a nutshell has to do with melting the chocolate to a high temperature and then bringing it back to cool to a specific temperature. The key is to bring the temp to the two degree range it needs to stay at and keep it at that range while you work with it.
I have a hair dryer and a heating pad that are now covered in chocolate trying to keep that 2 degree perfect temperature. Tricky stuff. I don’t quite have it perfected yet but I got some really good batches of chocolate made this weekend using that and some other techniques I had never used before. Most took a couple days to complete and there is chocolate on the wall (hair dryer – don’t ask) but the home team agrees that they were all worth it.

The first is a Chai Tea dark chocolate ganache square. I infused heavy cream with an organic Marsala Chai Tea, made a dark chocolate ganache (fancy work for mixing chocolate and cream and a little butter) and then cut it into squares and dipped it by hand in more Vahlrona 63% dark chocolate.

The second kind I made is a real first for me – a molded chocolate. I filled my new triangle shaped molds with dark chocolate, emptied it to leave behind a chocolate shell and let it set, then filled the mold with a soft, white chocolate based sea salt caramel. It sat for a day to firm up and then I topped it with chocolate. A miracle occurred. They actually came out of the mold! All of them! Very exciting and fulfilling. The caramel stayed liquid and salty inside it little shell.

The last was a dark chocolate ganache infused with coconut, lemongrass and coconut rum, dipped in white chocolate and then rolled in freshly toasted coconut. I don’t think the lemongrass was fresh enough so I probably could have added more to infuse it. You don’t notice it.

The next assignment is to create some of my own flavors. So my life is a box of chocolate at least for the next few months. And if you are in the neighborhood stop by. We can only eat so many!


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Shaved Asparagus Salad

This is a perfect spring time recipe when the first asparagus appears at the farmer's market. For those of us that live in colder climates that time is now. My California friends have probably been eating home grown asparagus for months!

Shaved Asparagus Salad

Comforts Shaved Asparagus Salad has received cheers from its customers. It uses raw, thin sliced asparagus and if you’ve never tried raw asparagus, it can transform asparagus haters in a minute.

Serves four

12 large asparagus, with the tough ends snapped off
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled
½ cup dried tomatoes, julienned
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted lightly in a dry sauté pan
4 slices bacon, cut into ½ pieces and cooked crisp (optional)
8 cups loosely packed mixed Salad Greens, washed and dried
Champagne vinaigrette:
5 Tbsp. mild olive oil
2 ½ Tbsp. Champagne vinegar (or lemon juice)
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
½ tsp. ea. salt and fresh ground pepper
2 tsp. honey

Make the dressing: Place all the dressing ingredients in a small covered jar and shake until combined or blend with a stick blender.

Lay three stalks of asparagus on a cutting board and slice as thinly as possible on the diagonal. Repeat with the remaining asparagus. Place the torn salad greens in a bowl and dress lightly with the vinaigrette, reserving some of the dressing for the asparagus. Divide the lettuce among four salad plates and top equally with the nuts, dried tomatoes, and bacon. Using the largest holes on a box grater, grate the hard boiled eggs over the salads, about a half egg per plate. Now add the asparagus to the bowl you tossed the greens in and dress lightly. Divide the asparagus on top of the four salads equally.

Have fun with this salad by adding your favorite chevre or feta cheese. Use a regular Spring Mix salad blend, all frisee or no lettuce at all. Replace the pine nuts with toasted pecans or even candied walnuts. Serve over a bed of thinly sliced tomatoes when they come into season instead of dried tomatoes. Instead of a hard boiled egg, serve a poached egg on top. The possibilities are endless!


This recipe is courtesy of Glenn Miwa. It is one of the many I am testing for a Comforts cook book.
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Pack up a little love - Granola Bars

My oldest daughter still lives 2,505 miles away in California. I see things that remind me of her all the time. I pick little things up for her when I am out and put them in a pile on the hall table. When I have enough gathered I scribble a note and send them to her in a package. My 80 plus mother still does the same thing for me. I will get an envelope from her with clippings and prayer cards and a “thinking of you” note. I imagine her setting a little pile aside for each of my sisters and me.

In today’s world of instant messaging and instant gratification I think something coming via “snail” mail is all the more exciting. So I started baking these granola bars to include in the occasional package to loved ones. You can wrap them individually. They are sturdy and travel well and they have a good shelf life. I have doubled the recipe because I can’t bake them without making sure after I shoot some off in the mail I have some around the house for the “walking out the door” breakfast or “throw in your purse” snack.

Granola Bars

4 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup toasted flax or wheat germ
6 tablespoons butter
1 1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped pitted dates
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup chopped dried apricots
1 cup chopped dried cherries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a half sheet pan with Pam, line with parchment paper and spray again, making sure you get the sides covered as well. 

On another sheet pan lined with foil, toss the oatmeal, almonds, sunflowers seeds and flax together and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned.

While the oats are toasting, place the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then remove from heat.

When the oat mixture is done, use the foil to help you transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl by lifting up the edges to form a funnel  to guide it into the bowl. Add the honey from the saucepan and mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Lay another sheet of parchment on top and using a small roller or your hands press the mixture evenly into the pan. I have a little 4-inch wooden roller that I love for jobs like these.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. 

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool and cut into bars. I cut them 3 across and 7 or 8 down. You can wrap them individually in plastic wrap or buy cellophane bags at the craft store.

Any combination of nuts or fruit will work with this recipe adapted from Ina Garten's Granola Bar recipe. Sometimes I just chop up whatever is in the cabinet. I have used Splenda Brown sugar and it worked well too. I have added peanut butter. If you like a crunchier bar, cook the honey mixture longer on the stove and cook in the oven a few minutes longer. My family likes the softer chewier kind so I make sure I don't overcook the honey mixture and remove the bars from the oven when they get a nice golden color.

Send some to a friend! They will be so pleased you were thinking of them!

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Sweey & Spicy Pork Belly with Cheddar Waffles

Pork Belly on a cheddar waffle? Doesn’t that make you want to get out the waffle maker and grab a fork? I was watching an episode on Martha Stewart. I am usually doing the dishes or starting dinner and I will play one of the reserved episodes on my DVR. It immediately resonated with me and I thought “I have to make that”? Living in a new town, the opportunities to entertain are a little slim and serving pork belly for a weeknight dinner to the husband and daughter seemed a little indulgent. So I used the excuse of a chocolate tasting to lure my Ohio foodie friend, Tami, over for some pork belly. It is true I did need to do a formal chocolate tasting with as many participants as possible for an online Chocolate School I am attending. And in retrospective perhaps I should have served dry toast and water before sampling 12 chocolates but like I said I had to find a reason to make this dish.

Sweet and Spicy Glazed Pork Belly recipe on Martha Stewart Living


I had the butcher cut a 4 lb. piece of pork belly into 4 squares. I rubbed the pork belly with the spice rub on Sunday and let it sit overnight in the fridge. On the day I was serving, I made the glaze first and let it sit and cool. I rinsed the rub off the belly and patted it dry with paper towels and nestled it in a small roasting pan fat side up. I added orange juice and stock following Martha’s directions. If you watch the video link on the recipe page be careful. She screws up the recipe a couple of times.


I cooked it for two hours. It was very tender when poked with a fork. I let it cool and threw it in the fridge covered until closer to dinner. There is no reason not to make it up to this point ahead of time, even the day before, so it is perfect for entertaining.

Forty minutes before serving, I baked the pork belly fat side up again. Martha’s direction did not say what to do with the liquid that was remaining in the pan from the braising. I thought about it and drained it off. I wanted the belly to get crispy. I basted it with round one of the reserved glaze and cooked it the requisite amount of time, basting with additional glaze every ten minutes. Meanwhile I made the waffle batter. This recipe annoyed me. The pork belly recipe serves 4. The waffle recipe serves a thousand. I used a small Belgian waffle maker that makes three at a time. After dinner I was still making waffles just to use up at least half of the batter. (If anyone wants a frozen cheddar waffle - come on over.)

Both these recipes stand alone great. But combined they are sweet, spicy, crispy, smooth and everything in between. I followed the directions and against my better judgment served them with maple syrup, sour cream and cilantro. It was not overkill. It was a perfect pairing and what exciting food is all about. The pork meat /fat and the spicy glaze were a great counterpoint. The small waffle was perfect for a small square of belly. The waffles could have had a little more heat in them. I didn’t taste the Serrano chile. 3 small chilies in a vat of batter the size of a wash tub don’t have much impact but the cheddar waffles were crispy and smelled like a grilled cheese.

I have 2 llbs. of cooked pork belly in my freezer that will make another day a little brighter and a thousand cheddar waffles. This dish is a keeper!

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NYC trip: Let's talk about the food Part 1

Now that I have the "Oh isn't NYC pretty in Spring time" blog out of the way let's get to the real reason to go to New York City - the food. Our first stop was Chinatown. We had a hankering for some Dim Sum. I learned to love it in San Francisco. The very concept of Dim Sum is a foodie dream. You sit at a table and get this - the servers roll up to you with little carts of hot, steaming, tiny food. What a concept. No reading a menu and scratching your head about what to order. They roll right up to the table and remove the covers and rattle off in unintelligible English what they have to offer. It doesn't really matter that you can't understand the waitress you can look at it and make your decision! You say "yes please" a few times and before you know it the table is covered with bamboo steamers and sauces and small plates full of little two bite surprises. Is Ping's the best Dim Sum ever? No but it wasn't half bad and it fit the bill for our first stop in New York after driving 8 hours.

No blow by blow for each meal. Some were caught on the fly as we headed to a broadway show (Promises Promises and A Behanding in Spokane) or began our next trek to the next chcocolate shop (that's an upcoming blog). So some "fast" food from the weekend is not worth mentioning. Except for the hot dog in Central Park. Kind of like a restaurant with an ocean view. Not really about the dog - more about the experience and the view- by the Carousel, near the ball field and Sheep Meadow. Spring in full bloom. Oh and did I mention we bought dessert at Bouchon in Columbus circle and carried it with us? Nobody makes a giant Oreo like Thomas Keller. Let's just leave it at that.

The highlight of the trip was at Bar Boulod Saturday night. I left the camera behind. Kind of felt like taking pictures at church! And I wanted to savor every minute. Bar Boulod is right across the street from Lincoln Center. It is a small shotgun of a place. The ceiling is curved like a wine cellar and the walls are lined with famous red wines stained on linen with the names etched on the glass so that the shadow is more readable than the etching. I like a good wine stain. I have created a few myself. We settled ourselves into a comfy booth.

We started with the charcuterie plate. This is what Bar Boulod is all about. Besides its extensive wine list, it is famous for its signature terrines and pates. The terrines and pates are served in tiny triangles on a small square platter. One particularly beautiful one was a rabbit and vegetable terrine. The elements were suspended in the aspic in a jewel like configuration - cubes of vivid carrot and zucchini, and chunks of rabbit all stood out clearly in the suspension. Along with the pates there was house made ham, sausages, a few cornichons, frissee and mustard. My favorite kind of starter, lots of little things to taste and combine and "ohhh" over.

The highlight of the entrees was my fish cooked with an extra crispy skin and an onion and artichoke topping with notes of lemon and olive oil. Finesse is what a resturaunt like this is all about. Everything cooked perfectly, arriving at the table piping hot and each mouthful a moment to stop and savor. No salt and pepper on the table and none needed. Perfectly seasoned and executed.

The real highlight for me was my dessert - the thing I am still trying to taste in my head a week later. I ordered the "grapefruit mousse, cinnamon lady finger chartreuse, macerated golden raisin, cinnamon-ruby red ice cream" for dessert. Wish I had brought my camera to help me keep the memory - a great combination of tart, sweet, cold, pillowy, cakey, and citrus. John's Rhubarb Tart for two was not really enough for two. He finished it quite handily. The lychee rose sorbet was wonderful. Grace had a chocolate caramel tart with espresso foam.

Dinner was topped off with a walk around Lincoln Center on an unusually warm spring night. The Met was performing "La Traviata." The fountain was on. A perfect end to a perfect day in New York.

New York State of Mind

It’s not fair. Why can’t I be a New Yorker? Why do they get to shop at the Whole Foods at Columbus Circle? Eat at Bar Boulud before hanging at the Met? Perch on a stoop waiting for a table at Clinton Street Baking Company? Nosh a hotdog by the Carousel in Central Park? Oh wait – that was me. For three days I made my way like a ping-pong ball bouncing around New York City. And the city was all dressed up in a flowery spring time shift. That was me with my mouth hung open at the Bradford pears and cherry blossoms, bumping into people while I gaped at the crowds of tulips in the tiny pocket parks in SoHo, ducking at the crack of the bat in Central Park, and bouncing along with a spring in my step like all the other New Yorkers.

Grumpy's Meatloaf Patty Melt

Grumpy's Meatloaf Patty Melt

Meatloaf sandwiches are the whole reason for making meatloaf. I have nothing against a warm slice of fresh baked meatloaf, sitting next to a creamy pile of mashed potatoes but every time I make meatloaf I am thinking about the next day. Even staring at the ground beef at the market I think “do I want 2 pounds of ground beef or 3?” Now I have a real problem. I went to Grumpy’s in Tremont. They serve a meatloaf patty melt. A traditional meatloaf is sliced really thick, at least an inch and a half and served patty melt style on grilled rye with swiss cheese. Really, really good. I had to recreate it at home. I made the sauce extra tasty by using some homemade horseradish bread and butter pickles I purchased at the West Side Market from Rita’s along with Rita's fresh rustic Easter Mustard. You could add a little horseradish to your sauce if you can't make it to Rita's.

Lisa's Meatloaf Patty Melt

Meatloaf Patty Melt

4 slices leftover meatloaf
8 slices rye bread
Butter
Secret sauce
8 slices swiss cheese
Secret Sauce:
½ cup mayonnaise
1 T. ketchup
2 T. chopped sweet pickles
1 teaspoon grainy mustard
Salt and pepper
Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Stack the rye bread with swiss cheese, sliced meatloaf, more swiss cheese. Spread the sauce on the inside and butter the outside. Grill till toasty brown and the cheese is ooey gooey. I like the sauce so I double that along with the swiss cheese. Thanks for the idea Grumpy’s!

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Easter at Fire 2010

Easter Breakfast at Fire on Shaker Square. Interesting food, served hot in a timely manner.

Cream Cheese and butter ready for the brunch crowd.

Halibut Crab cakes served over grits with asparagus. The crab cakes were crispy on the outside with large tender chunks of halibut, served on a bed of creamy grits that contrasted nicely with perfectly cooked asparagus in a light vinaigrette

Lemon souffle pancakes with blueberry compote. The pancakes reminded me of a lemon cupcake, very light, no syrup supplied or neccesary

Crispy chicken livers frisee and watercress salad, poached
egg, house made bacon and dried fruit compote. a great combination of flavors especially when you get a little of everything in one bite.

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Halibut in Broth

Halibut is one of my favorite fish. When cooked correctly its flesh is a creamy, porcelain white. Flakes tumble off when prodded with a fork. It whispers to me - help me...jazz me up…bring on the flavor! I wanted to do just that using but using mostly things I already had in my pantry. I wanted to keep it healthy too. Why waste all the benefits of eating fish by fattening it up?

I put about 5 cups of chicken stock into a stockpot along with 2 grated carrots, a stalk of celery sliced thin on the diagonal and 5 quarter sized slices of ginger, skin and all. I shared my glass of wine with the pot by splashing in about 1/2 cup. I added a tablespoon of soy sauce and let the broth simmer over medium high heat until it reduced and intensified for about 15 minutes. The broth should taste good. Don’t be afraid to slurp some while you reduce to see what it tastes like. If you are using a canned stock or an off brand you might want to add more veggies to help the flavor come along, or some sautéed onions.

When the broth was reduced a little and tasty I put a little olive oil into a sauté pan big enough to hold a pound of halibut cut into 4 portions without touching. I let it get hot and then added my pieces of halibut that I had sprinkled with salt and pepper and let them cook for a few minutes without peeking so they would get a nice golden color on top. Once I turned them all over I add the reduced broth to the pot and let the broth finish cooking the fish. It only took about 5 minutes. I put each portion of fish into a bowl and ladled some of the broth in and sprinkled with some fresh parsley. Okay so maybe the cheese straws I ate along with it negated the whole healthy aspect of the dish but it was quick, warm, comforting and pretty darn tasty. Maybe next time I hold off on the cheese straws!

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Irish Soda Bread

If you grew up eating Irish Soda Bread on St. Pat's day apparently your version may be nothing like mine. My Irish Soda Bread has to have golden raisins and caraway seeds in it. I don't make it in the shape of snake with raisin eyes like I had when I was little and I never saw the need to dye everything green like in my childhood. But that doesn't mean I don't get a childish pleasure out of making a loaf and serving it on St. Pat's.

You can still make some to celebrate St. Pat's in a more family friendly way today than serving your kids a green beer. One of those really easy breads - no yeast. You should have most of the ingredients at home and you can cheat on the buttermilk if you don't want to stop at the store.

Irish Soda Bread

2 cups flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 T. sugar
1/2 stick cold butter cut into pieces
1 cup golden raisins (or regular raisins)
2 T. caraway seeds (optional but one of my favorite parts)
2/3 cup buttermilk (no buttermilk? look below)
1 egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In food processor, pulse together flour, baking powder, baking soda, caraway seeds, salt and sugar. Put butter pieces on top of flour mixture.

Whenever I make something where the butter needs to be "cut in" I usually slice the cold stick of butter (or half a stick in this case) into 3 long slices then turn the stick a quarter and cut into 3 slices. You should now have 9 long bars of butter still in a stick shape. Slice on the short end of the stick to produce pea sized squares of cold butter. If you do this before you are ready to use - throw the cubes back in the fridge to stay cold while you gather up everything else.

Add the butter and pulse until mixture is crumbly. Measure 2/3 cup buttermilk into a one cup container or bowl. Add the egg to the buttermilk; beat together. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients. Pulse till it comes together.

Place a small amount of flour on the counter. Turn dough out onto the counter and work in the raisins until incorporated. Don’t overwork the dough though or it will be tough.

Form the dough into a ball and place in a parchment lined pan to form a large disk of dough. Use a sharp knife to cut a cross over the top of the bread. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden on top. Slice and serve with Irish butter.

To make a substitute for buttermilk add a tablespoon of lemon juice to one cup of whole milk. The milk will curdle. Measure out the amount you need.

If you want to go authentic Andrew McCarthy wrote a story on it in March, Bon Appetit.