gourmet babble

• 1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed (or 1+ tsp ground)
• 1/2 tsp black peppercorns, crushed (or cracked or ground)
• 1/2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, crushed (or cracked or ground)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp soy and/or fish sauce
  Warning — high sodium ingredient!
• 1 - 2 stalks lemongrass, chopped into 2" pieces and crushed
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp five spice powder
• 1/2 tsp Ancho chili pepper, ground
• 1 green onion, sliced fine
• Pork loin chops, whole or cubed

Combine all ingredients except the pork and green onion to form a marinade. Place in plastic sealable bag with pork and let marinate 6-12 hours, turning every couple of hours.

If pork is cubed, place on skewers. Grill pork on a grill or in a grill pan until desired doneness. (Make sure the internal temperature is at least 145°; Trichinella spiralis dies at 137°, and you don't want to risk letting any of that live. The USDA recommends a minmum of 160°, resulting in medium doneness; California state law requires 145° unless the customer requests otherwise [CURFFL §113996(a)(3)]. Note that the chops will probably cook up another five degrees after being removed from heat.)

Notes: Originally I had written this with 1/2 tsp of five spice, not 1 tsp. That probably would have been a better option. The spice balance was off. I also probably should have ground the peppercorns a bit finer; the texture of cracked peppercorns was sometimes palate-skewing, especially with the slight anesthetic action Sichuan peppercorns have.

I also was planning on this being a bit sweeter, to more emulate the Caramel Pork dishes I'd so loved back in my New York City days (thanks again, jwgh). I did get some of that effect by finishing the plate with a bit of crumbled caramel rice-and-corn cake, but this dish would have been better had I put something like a little maple butter in the marinade and served with a mound of Spanish or Mexican-hinted rice (maybe made with cilantro leaves and a touch of ground coriander and/or cumin).

I did use 1/4 tsp of fish sauce in the marinade because it is so tied up with the classic flavor of Vietnamese cuisine. However, that mere 1/4 tsp dumped 100mg of extra sodium into my marinade, and most of that marinade did get onto the chops, thus adding about 30mg of sodium per chop! (Yes, that's right, fish sauce easily tags at 1,200mg of sodium per tbsp. A great condiment when used correctly, but it's anathema to the very low sodium way of life.

I completely forgot the green onion at the end. Oops.

Posted by at 4:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

• 1 New York Strip steak
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp Sunny Spain seasoning
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 4 - 8 oz cremini or white mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 clove roasted garlic, minced
• 1 tsp whole peppercorns
• 1 cup vegetable or beef broth
• 2 tbsp white wine

Mix mustard, oil, and Sunny Spain seasoning to form a marinade. Rub liberally over steak and refrigerate for 1-3 hours.

Heat a skillet to medium and cook steak to desired doneness. Remove steak and keep warm. Into the same skillet, add the mushrooms, onions, and garlic. Saute until tender. Stir in peppercorns, wine, and broth; bring to boil. Let boil for approximately 5 minutes or until sauce has reached desired consistency (although the sauce must boil for at least 2 minutes to evaporate alcohol and ensure safety). Return steak to pan to heat surface and coat with sauce. Remove pan from heat and serve immediately.

Notes: Whole peppercorns were a bad idea. They stayed in the sauce and were not fun to bite into. Reducing to a 1/2 tsp of fresh crushed black pepper would have probably made more sense.

When I took the steak off the heat, I put it on a plate and covered it with a dish. Kept it warm, alright; it sealed in everything, thus causing a steamer to form. I had it off heat for 20 minutes, so the steak steamed for 20 minutes; just enough time to take it from medium-rare to medium-well. The steak wasn't entirely ruined, as it was still mostly tender, but I definitely was looking forward to a rare or medium-rare steak.

I cut the onions way, way, way too big. The should definitely have been almost diced. The mushrooms turned out great, but the big honkin' onion pieces took forever to cook, never fully carmelized, and really unbalanced the dish. I had originally spec'd out 1/2 onion, and I think that was correct, but with the dice-size pieces.

This was also my first attempt at using Herb-Ox Salt Free Beef Bouillon. An hour or so after eating dinner, my stomach was a tad disquieted. Given the number of non-natural, freaky additives in the bouillon packet, my initial guess would be something in there disagreed with my system. I am leery of conducting further experiments, but how else will I learn?

Other than all of that, it was pretty tasty. It could have been better, and I'm still trying to figure out how to make it work.

Posted by at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• 1 - 3 lbs of roast
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt or lemon yogurt without corn syrup or cane sugar
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp Sunny Singapore seasoning
• 2 tbsp sesame or grapeseed oil (or other oil with smoke point above 400)
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, preferably clarified
• 1 1/2 tbsp rye flour
• 1/2 carrot, diced
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 4 - 8 oz. cremini and/or shiitake mushrooms
• 2 cloves roasted garlic, thickly sliced
• 2 Thai (bird's eye) peppers, seeded and diced
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 can (7 oz) lite coconut milk
• 1 tbsp Thai red curry powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp dried tarragon leaves
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 tsp dried summer savory leaves
• 1/2 inch galangal, sliced
• 1/4 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns, preferably Tellicherry
• 1/2 tsp Sichuan (a/k/a Szechuan) peppercorns (optional)
• cheesecloth or linen to form a pouch (2 layers, each 6"-10" square)
• cotton string to tie pouch closed

Trim roast of all extra fat. Mix yogurt, vinegar, and seasoning; coat meat with mixture and let marinate for 6-24 hours.

Assemble bay leaf, lime leaves, galangal, coriander, fennel, black pepper, tarragon, savory, and thyme in a small cheesecloth or linen pouch to form a bouquet garni. Set aside.

Remove stems from the mushrooms. Dice stems, slice caps, and set aside in two separate piles.

Heat a Dutch oven to medium-high, about 350°. Add oil to pot. Once the oil is warm, sear the meat, turning often to ensure even browning. Once browned, remove from heat and reserve. Reduce heat to medium and add the onion; cook until they have reached a deep golden color. Add carrots and celery; cook until browned.

Mix curry powder with an equal amount of water to form a paste. Combine the broth and coconut milk; mix in the curry paste and add to Dutch oven. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a slow simmer; add roast, garlic, mushroom stems, peppers, and bouquet garni. Cover and let simmer until tender (approximately 2 - 4 hours), basting and turning frequently.

Towards the end of the braising, set a small pan on medium heat and add the butter and flour to form a roux. Cook while stirring until roux is brown and has a nutty aroma. Remove from heat and let cool slightly; do not refrigerate.

Remove roast from pot and set aside, preferably on warming plate or food warmer. Remove bouquet garni and discard. Heat saucepan to low heat. Strain sauce from pot into saucepan, reserving solids; add mushrooms, cover, and let cook for 15-20 minutes. Uncover and add roux slowly while stirring until desired sauce thickness is obtained. Let simmer for another 5 minutes; remove from heat and serve with roast.

Take reserved vegetables from strainer and do something cool with them.

Notes: The marinade is not right. I need to come up with something better.

Also, the sauce got almost pedestrian towards the end. I wonder if I should have skipped the roux, which may have masked some of the more intricate flavors, and instead just boiled it down and accepted a thinner sauce. I'll have to ponder it; the bottom line is that the amount of work that went into the delicate flavorings was not reflected in the final product. What was completed at the end was pedestrian enough that it could have been nearly the most perfunctory pot roast recipe from a Betty Crocker cookbook. I'm not sure a blind taste test would result in a single person coming up with the word "Thai" as the influencing cuisine.

Posted by at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (241) | TrackBacks (0)

• 1 - 2 poblano peppers, halved, stemmed, and seeded
• 1 - 2 bulbs fennel, thickly sliced
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
• 6 - 10 tomatillos, husked (and, optionally, cut in half)
• 2 - 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 - 1 lb mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup heavy cream (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp dried summer savory leaves
• 1/2 - 1 tsp dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 tsp dried tarragon leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp fresh dill (optional)
• black pepper, to taste

Remove leaves from fennel and reserve. Preheat oven to 350°. Mix oil and vinegar, being sure to blend thoroughly (a fork works well here); coat peppers, fennel, carrot, garlic, and tomatillos with mixture and place in roasting pan. Optionally, grind some pepper over everything. Roast in oven for 30 minutes or until soft. Remove from oven, cover, and let cool. Optionally, remove skins from tomatillos and/or peppers. (It is much easier to remove the skins from the tomatillos if they are cut in half before roasting.)

Put remaining oil & vinegar mixture and butter in pot on medium heat. When butter is melted, add onions and saute for 4 minutes or until translucent. Add mushrooms, tarragon, savory, and thyme to pot; grind on a little fresh pepper if desired (but be aware that the savory will be lending a pepperiness to things, so grind with care). Cook, stirring, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the mushrooms give off their liquid. Add stock and roasted vegetables; bring to boil for 2 minutes, then reduce heat to low, add bay leaf, fennel, and dill, and let simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove bay leaf and discard. Purée and return to heat; stir in cream slowly. Keep warm on minimal heat until ready to serve. Top with fresh ground pepper to taste upon serving.

Notes: Because of a request to make this a non-cream soup, I held the cream back from the main recipe and instead chose to mix a little in per bowl just after dispensing. As a result, the amount of cream I have listed in the recipe is an estimate and might be wildly off. However, having tried it both with and without cream, it definitely is better as a creamed soup. Either way, this soup turned out to not have the world's most appetizing color but is amazingly vibrant and sweet. The texture is a bit rougher than I'd hoped for, but perhaps since I used an older Cuisinart, that's simply the fault of the machine. (I tried to strain it after puréeing and almost nothing went through the sieve, even when pushed with a wooden pounder. I gave that idea up quickly.)

Posted by at 1:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

• 1 1/2 - 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup Smoky Red Sauce
• 1 - 2 tbsp Roasted Tomatillo Sauce
• 1 - 2 tbsp heavy cream (amount very flexible)
• 1/8 tsp celery seed, ground
• 1/8 - 1/4 tsp lemon pepper blend (optional; I used Sunny Spain Seasoning)

Mix broth and sauces in pot; simmer covered for 10 minutes. Pour in cream slowly, while mixing, until desired creaminess is obtained; reduce heat to low and stir. Add spices and stir; cover and keep on heat for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and keep covered for another couple of minutes. Stir and serve.

Notes: I have been trying out variations of this for a quick, warm breakfast soup over the last couple of days. Most of this recipe was done without precise measuring and is variable with the spice levels of both the red and tomatillo sauces, so I encourage you to sample while cooking and do everything to taste.

Posted by at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Warning: this is an evolving sauce. What is documented here is just how far it is right now. &mdash Scott, 5 Dec 2006

• 1 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 2 cloves roasted garlic, smashed and minced
• 1/4 tsp malt vinegar
• 1/2 tsp lime juice
• 3-8 sprigs cilantro, minced (to taste)
• 1 tsp salt-free adobo seasoning
• 1 tsp ancho chile, ground
• 1 tsp chipotle chile, ground
• 1 tsp Aleppo chile, crushed
• 1/8 tsp New Mexican (Anaheim) chile, ground
• 1/2 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika
• black pepper, freshly ground to taste
• 1 tbsp marinated sun-dried tomato, minced (optional)

Mix everything in saucepan. Heat to simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Notes: I haven't even tasted this sauce yet since it had time to cool and the flavors permeate, but the spatula test (i.e. licking it on the way to the sink during cleanup) indicated that it was nicely warm but not as smoky as I had wanted and also stlll tasted too clearly of tomato. Perhaps more fluid ingredients will be necessary.

Topolobampo has a wonderful smoky mussel appetizer on the menu this month; it truly is amazingly smoky (and amazingly delicious). I learned today that the smoke comes from chipotle peppers (which I used) and smoked tomatoes which are smoked in the kitchen's smoker on-site (which I did not even think of). I love smoked foods, but usually they are also salted; perhaps I need to invest in a small kitchen stovetop smoker for the purposes of experimentation.

Posted by at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (1)

Unlike the classic Thai coconut milk soup, tom kha, this is a Thai hot and sour soup with many of the same ingredients but no coconut milk and more heat. It, too, traditionally has a very highly salty component; usually moreso than tom kha. This turned out quite nicely, actually, and has very little sodium indeed (especially if you use your own homemade broth).

• 3-4 cups water and/or vegetable broth
• 2-8 mushrooms, whole, halved, or sliced
• 1-2 stalks lemon grass, cut into short lengths and bruised
• 1 in galangal, sliced
• 4 kaffir lime leaves
• 2-4 tbsp lime juice
• 4-8 sprigs cilantro, chopped
• 3-6 Thai chiles, bruised
• 0-2 Thai chiles, sliced
• 1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 1/2 tsp Sucanat (optional)

Put liquid in pot on stove. Add chiles, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, Sucanat, and curry paste; let boil for 5 minutes. Add 1 tbsp lime juice and mushrooms; reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked. Add lime juice and cilantro to taste and serve.

Posted by at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• 1 1/2 cups strained tomatoes
• 1 green onion, sliced thin
• 3 cloves roasted garlic, minced
• 1/8 - 1/4 cup cilantro, diced
• 1 - 2 tsp Kalahari Rhino Peri-Peri Hot Pepper sauce
• 1/4 tsp ancho chile, ground
• 1/4 tsp chipotle chile, ground
• 2 tsp Roasted Tomatillo Sauce
• 1 - 2 tbsp heavy cream

Combine all ingredients but cream and stir. Bring to a simmer, uncovered, and reduce liquid until consistency is somewhat thick. Remove from heat; once simmering ceases, add enough cream to achieve desired consistency and stir. Consume promptly.

Notes: I was hungry late last night and wanted dinner but was not up to making anything huge. Answer: open the fridge and see what jumps out at you. This was made completely from raw ingredients or sauces in the fridge (except the spices, which were still out on the table).

Posted by at 12:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• 4 tbsp rye flour
• 1/4 tsp adobo seasoning
• 1/2 lb Choice Black Angus stewing beef, cubed or cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 cup beef or vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup Roasted Tomatillo Sauce
• 1/2 cup water

Mix the adobo seasoning and 2 tbsp of flour. Coat the beef lightly with the flour mixture (one good technique is to put everything in a plastic bag, seal, and shake vigorously). Heat a heavy saucepan to medium-high and add the oil. Once the oil is heated, brown the meat evenly on each side. Remove from heat and set aside. Add onion to pan and saute for 5-10 minutes or until softening and turning golden brown. Reduce heat and return beef to pan; add potato and roasted tomatillo sauce. Stir and simmer, uncovered, for 3-5 minutes to allow flavors to infuse into meat and vegetables. Add stock and water; stir to mix. Simmer, covered, for 1 - 2 hours or until beef is tender. Check every 30 minutes to verify enough braising liquid still exists; add water if not.

When meat is sufficiently cooked, remove meat and vegetables from pot. If sauce is still very liquid, increase temperature slightly and boil lightly for a few minutes to remove water. Stir in sufficient rye flour to thicken the gravy; remove from heat and add back to meat and vegetables.

Recipes and information used for integration and inspiration: an article on braising, Beer Beef Stew, Guisado de Res en Salsa Verde, and Old Time Beef Stew.

Posted by at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• 1 avocado
• 1/4 cup Roasted Tomatillo Sauce
• 1/8 - 1/4 cup cilantro, minced
• 1 - 2 tsp lime juice

Pit avocado and remove flesh from skin. Mash avocado coarsely. Mix in other ingredients. Tweak to taste. Chill for at least one hour to allow for flavor mixing. Best if served cold.

Inspired by Rick Bayless' Tangy Green Guacamole.

Notes: Quite tasty, though a tad bright. I might try sprinkling a little ancho chile and/or chipotle to a small amount of the guacamole just to see what it does, though it'd be a shame to ruin the beautiful marbled green color and risk introducing a graininess to the texture. I used somewhere between 2 and 3 tsp of lime juice, which was just a bit too much, and a whole lot of cilantro, which ended up being too much.

Posted by at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

• 1/2 - 1 lb tomatillos, husked
• 1/2 onion, peeled and quartered
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 - 2 jalapeno, poblano, and/or Anaheim green chiles, stemmed
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp olive (or other vegetable) oil
• 1 tsp cumin, ground

Preheat oven to 400°. Place tomatillos, onion, garlic, and chiles in a roasting pan and roast for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove and transfer the roasted vegetables and any juices to a food processor; deglaze the pan with a small amount of water or stock and reserve. Optionally, remove the seeds from the chiles before adding to food processor. Add the cumin and cilantro; puree in food processor.

Heat a saucepan with the oil to medium. Pour puree and deglazing liquid into pan and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce darkens in color (approximately 5 minutes). Add stock and lower heat. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens (approximately 30 minutes).

Notes: I didn't remove the seeds (sort of an off the cuff, on the fly decision), and I used one organic jalapeño and one organic poblano. The sauce ended up being spicy, almost disturbingly so; I actually gave myself a small bout of capsicum poisoning. I also got thrown off with the timing and failed to put the cilantro into the processor (I simply minced it by hand and added it to the simmer) and did not end up grinding any cumin (so I simply skipped it, which I rationalized by saying "it's already too spicy").

Notably, this was the first application of my organic vegetable stock. Also, I put a little heavy cream in the bottom of the pot after I had filled the storage container with the sauce. I mixed it those little bits of sauce that the spatula had missed. The resulting cream sauce/soup was still very spicy, although modulated to edible range, and was incredibly tasty. So the sauce can clearly be used as a base for a "Spicy Tomatillo Bisque"; however, when I tried the sauce straight with rice crackers, my palate started twitching. Perhaps an overnight cooling in the fridge will help (though I'm not terribly hopeful about that).

We'll see what happens as this unfolds. It sure smelled good on the stove, though, and besides the destructive spice levels (I know, I'm a wuss), it had a great flavor.

Posted by at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (24) | TrackBacks (4)

• 1 bunch organic carrots (ideally with greens), cut in half
• 1 bunch of celery (ideally with greens), cut in halves or thirds
• 3 large organic onions, quartered
• 3 pounds of organic potatoes, quartered
• 1 bulb of fennel, coarsely chopped
• 2 bulbs of garlic, cut in half so as to expose every clove
• 1/2 - 1 pound of mushrooms, coarsely sliced
• Mushroom stems, onion peels, potato peels, and other vegetable "leavings"
• 1/4 cup whole black peppercorns
• 2 - 4 bay leaves

Preheat oven to 350°. Take a large glass pan and coat with an oven-safe oil, such as macadamia nut or grapeseed. Place carrots, celery, potatoes, fennel, garlic, and onions in the pan. Drizzle with oil (I used olive) over vegetables and ensure even coating. Roast vegetables in oven for one hour. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

Organic vegetables, before (left) and after (right) oven roasting

Take a large stockpot and put the roasted and remaining raw vegetables in, as well as the various herbs and spices. Deglaze the roasting pan with 2 cups of water and add to the stockpot (there's a lot of tasty things in that pan that you want to save for the broth). Given the potency of organic vegetables and the exceptionally long simmer times, we can get a lot out of these veggies; thus, estimate twice as much water as you have vegetables. I used a 20 quart stockpot and filled it to just an couple of inches below the rim. Add the water to the stockpot and increase heat to simmer (approximately 200° if you are using an induction oven).

20 quart stockpot, filled with vegetables and water (close-up, right)

Let simmer, covered, for 18 to 24 hours, stirring occasionally.

Strain soup in small batches, mashing vegetables caught in strainer to release the trapped broth within. (Be sure the mash-released fluids are also strained.)

First straining pass, with masher in strainer on left

Collect broth in a smaller stockpot (I used a 17 quart stockpot) and turn the heat up to a hearty simmer. Leave uncovered to let boil down by about half to form a concentrate, stirring occasionally; this will probably take 8 to 24 hours, based on how well you control the boil. Try to minimize the heat used, as excess heat will reduce the nutritive quality of of the stock.

When the stock has reduced by half, strain a second time into a yet smaller container; I chose a 10 quart stockpot here.

Second straining pass

Heat to just below a simmer to keep the stock and allow to mix a final time without the particulate matter. When ready (and this is up to you; you can wait 15 minutes or 24 hours), make a cold water or ice water bath capable of containing the stockpot to close to the rim (though not right at it, as you don't want the bath water accidentally getting in the stock). Submerge the stockpot in the bath and circulate the water every so often.

Cold water bath

The key here is to rapidly cool the stock to prevent bacteria growth and spoilage that occurs in the 60°-140° zone. Moving through that temperature range as quickly as possible keeps as much flavor naturally in the broth as is possible. If the bath water heats up too much, you may need to cycle out the bath water with a fresh batch of cold water (or, if using ice, simply add more ice).

When sufficiently chilled, divide into refrigerator and freezer-safe containers. Be sure to leave a little air in the top of each container, as water expands when freezing, and you don't want to burst your containers and/or make a mess of your freezer.

Stock doled out into containers

When that is complete, set aside one container for the refrigerator for near-term use and freeze the rest.

One freezer shelf — 7 quarts of concentrated stock!

It's a lot of work, and takes days, but ultimately, you've just made a lot of fresh, sodium-free stock that will be far better than canned stock or broth in any of your recipes.

Posted by at 6:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

• 1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp Thai red curry powder
• 1 cup + 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 large white or yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/2 can (2.5 oz) water chestnuts, drained and diced
• 2 cloves roasted garlic, smashed
• 1/3 - 1/2 lb chicken (preferably breast meat)
• 1/2 can (7 oz) coconut milk
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 Thai red chile, seeded and sliced
• juice of 1 lime

Marinade ingredients:

• 1/2 tbsp Thai red curry powder
• 1/2 tbsp Sunny Singapore seasoning
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Combine ingredients for marinade and put chicken in mixture in refrigerator for 2 to 24 hours (can be combined with defrosting frozen chicken if done overnight). Be sure to rotate or flip occasionally so chicken marinates evenly. (I prefer to put the chicken and marinade in a single layer in a small Ziploc bag, sealing with a minimum of remaining air; this allows me to use a bare minimum amount of marinade and it is trivially easy to flip the Ziploc to ensure even absorption.) Just before using, remove chicken from marinade and cut into 1/2 in strips.

Set a medium to large pot on medium heat. While the pot is heating, make a paste by mixing the remaining 2 tbsp of Thai red curry powder and 2 tbsp of water. Once the pot is hot, add 1 tbsp of sesame oil to the pot and let heat. Add curry paste; stir until fragrant (approximately 1-2 minutes). Add chicken and stir for 2 minutes. Add onion and remaining 1/2 tbsp of oil; stir until onion begins to soften (approximately 3-4 minutes). Add potatoes, water chestnuts, garlic, coconut milk, remaining water, kaffir lime lives, red chile, and lime juice; reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30-45 minutes. Stir occasionally. When potatoes are soft, remove from heat and serve.

Notes: I cut the potato chunks too big and for a while had the heat too low, so I had to cook for more than an hour and half to get the potatoes even close to done. I also cut the chicken pieces too small. The net effect was that the chicken literally simmered into shreds. In the future, I hope that proper size of ingredients and temperature control on my simmering will alleviate those issues. It was very tasty, however — especially the "soup".

This probably will serve 4. The entire dish had approximately 80 mg of sodium, so each serving has a mere 20 mg of sodium.

I used a recipe from the Spice House, Thai Vegetable Curry, as a large percentage of the base for this dish, having made that recipe (in a mostly non-varied form) previously with significant success. A recipe from a local haute Thai restaurant, Arun's, showed up on Epicurious (via Bon Appétit magazine), which served as the base of inspiration for how to add chicken. (The recipe from Arun's was Thai Red Curry Soup with Chicken and Vegetables.) I then merged other recipes and extemporized from there.

Posted by at 12:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

• 3 roasted red bell peppers (seeds and ribs removed), chopped
• 4 cloves roasted garlic, minced
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 1 - 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 - 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 potato, peeled and diced
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, warmed
• 1 tsp cumin, ground
• 1/2 tsp black pepper (or to taste), ground
• 1/4 tsp ancho pepper (or to taste), ground (optional)
• 1/4 tsp chipotle pepper (or to taste), ground (optional)

Head a medium size heavy-bottomed pan to medium and melt the butter. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and cumin; saute until soft, approximately 10 minutes. (Be careful to stir frequently as to not let the bottom burn.) Add potato and saute another 5 minutes. Add the garlic and peppers; saute another 5 minutes. Add the stock and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper or to taste and stir. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Puree the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Once ingredients have been pureed, return to the pot and warm the soup on low heat. Add the ground chile pepper(s) and stir; let sit for 5 minutes to allow the pepper to percolate. Add the warmed cream and stir until well-mixed.

Makes 3-4 dinner portions or 6 side portions. The sodium in this dish is largely from the broth, the carrots, and the cream; the pot I made last night was approximately 180mg total sodium, thus giving us 45 mg per serving.

Posted by at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• 1 cup leftover Thai red curry broth (reserved from straining the noodles when preparing Pad Ka Prow)
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 2 cloves roasted garlic, mashed
• 1 tsp (or to taste) Sunny Singapore salt-free seasoning
• 1/8 tsp (or to taste) ancho pepper, ground (optional)
• 1/8 tsp (or to taste) chipotle pepper, ground (optional)
• other spices and/or hot sauces to taste (optional)

Put all ingredients in a pot and heat to below boiling, stirring frequently. Let cook for a few minutes, remove from heat, and eat.

Serves one.

Notes: This was an impulse soup for breakfast yesterday, since the yogurt wasn't enough and I also needed to clear some leftovers from the fridge. I had become entranced with the idea of trying the Sunny Singapore seasoning with the Thai red curry as a base, so I decided to give it a whirl.

Posted by at 1:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• 1/3 package rice stick noodles
• 1/2 can (7 oz) coconut milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 - 1 1/2 tbsp Thai red curry powder
• 2 - 3 tbsp refined sesame oil (or other high-heat capable oil)
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled, trimmed, and finely chopped
• 1 shallot, peeled, trimmed, halved lengthwise, and thinly sliced
• 8 oz of meat or shellfish, pieces in bite-size chunks (cut if necessary)
• 4 - 8 button, cremini, or shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed and sliced
• 1/2 - 1 small can, sliced water chestnuts
• 1/2 - 1 bell pepper, chopped into 1/2-in pieces
• 1/2 inch of galangal, finely chopped
• 3 - 8 Thai chili peppers, stems removed and thinly sliced
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, slivered lengthwise
• 1 tsp Sucanat (optional)
• 1 cup Thai holy basil leaves, finely chopped
• White pepper to taste (can substitute other pepper)

Prepare noodles ("al dente") as per package. Place a medium pot on low heat and add coconut milk, water, and curry powder. Stir to to mix fully and add noodles. Let noodles soak on low heat during stir frying.

Heat a wok or large pan with high sides on high heat until quite hot. (If you have a temperature-controlled heat source, make sure to be safely below the smoke point of your cooking oil!) Add the oil and swirl it to coat the surface of the wok or pan. Let the oil heat for a few seconds, then add the chopped garlic and galangal and stir fry for just a few seconds to flavor the oil. Add the sliced shallots and stir fry for another few seconds. Add the chopped meat and stir fry until the meat is slightly pink (or for shellfish or fish, until the flesh just barely starts to firm).

Add the mushrooms and stir fry for about one minute. Add water chestnuts and stir fry for an additional 30 seconds. Add the bell peppers and stir fry for an additional 30 seconds. Add the kaffir lime slivers and chili peppers. Stir fry for about 30 seconds to mix well. Add the basil leaves, Sucanat (if used), and season to taste. Stir fry until the basil leaves are wilted and the meat is cooked. Sprinkle with ground white pepper and serve.

Notes: The noodles should have drained and been added to the mix just before the end, receiving a short stir fry pass with the whole dish. I was planning on doing this but I simply spaced. Outside reviewers seemed to be pleased with this dish, especially for (as one put it) "a first pass".

Posted by at 10:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

• 1/4 tsp thyme (French Select)
• 1/2 tsp tarragon
• 1/4 tsp Turkish bay leaf, ground or 2 whole Turkish bay leaves
• 1/8 tsp or less nutmeg, ground
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 cloves roasted garlic, cut in half
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups cremini and shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
• 1/2 - 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp rye flour
• fresh ground black or mixed pepper to taste

Heat a heavy, medium-sized pan or pot to medium and melt the butter. Add the shallots and sauté until soft. Add the mushrooms, roasted garlic, and herbs and spices; cook, stirring often, until most of the mushroom liquid has evaporated and they have darkened (perhaps 5-10 minutes). Add a cup of broth and stir while heating to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Slowly whisk in the flour, attempting to keep it well-mixed and avoiding clumps. Whisk until well-mixed, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes. Remove soup from pot and puree in food processor in small batches. When completely smooth, return to pot and let warm back to simmer. Whisk in remaining broth, cover, and let simmer for 5 minutes. Uncover and stir in cream slowly; cover and let simmer for another 10 minutes. Serve.

Notes: 1 cup of cream, which is what I used, was way too much for the amount of mushrooms and broth I had. For the levels I give in this recipe, I'd lean more towards 1/2 cup of cream. However, all that fat makes it an excellent base for hot sauces on a serving by serving basis. Even highly spicy ones like habanero-based sauces can be used; the cream allows the flavor of the sauce to really shine through, rather than just the heat.

Sodium is dependent on the broth and the cream. In the pot I made, which will probably serve 4 (maybe more), there was 180 mg of sodium. This comes to 45mg of sodium per serving.

Because of the subtlety of the flavors, this is a recipe where you definitely notice the lack of salt and feel a void. I wonder if something with acidic qualities, like a mild vinegar, could be used to offset that. That was definitely a plus I noticed when I experimented with different hot sauces in the soup base.

All in all, this was a more elegant and refined mushroom soup than the last one I made, but too creamy. The flavors were gentle and nicely complementary of the woodsy nature of the mushrooms. I would have liked to use a truffle-infused oil to dress the top, but I already had too much cream in it, and the current bottle we have open is, I suspect, marginal if not outright rancid.

This was influenced by a Wolfgang Puck recipe from the October 18, 2006 Chicago Tribune and a recipe in a Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving catalog.

Posted by at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• several bunches of cilantro, mainly stems (even the thick parts)
• 2 - 4 short stalks of celery, taken from close to the center of the bunch
• 1/2 stalk green onion (from the greener end)
• 3 green Thai chili peppers, stems removed
• 1/2 inch of galangal, sliced
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 tsp dried cut lemongrass
• 2+ tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1/8 - 1/4 tsp fresh lime zest
• 2 cloves roasted garlic
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 2+ tbsp unrefined sesame oil
• 1 tsp black sesame seeds (optional)

Throw all ingredients but the oil and seeds, one by one, into a food processor and pulse until shredded. Add the toasted sesame oil and 1 tbsp of sesame oil; pulse a few times to distribute and mix (you may need to scrape the sides down). Continue to add sesame oil 1 tbsp at a time, blending each time until consistency is a nice homogenized purée. Place mix in refrigerator and let sit 1 - 24 hours to let flavors mix.

Remove mixture from refrigerator and strain, reserving drained liquid. (Usage of the liquid TBA.) Place mixture on crackers (I used low sodium wasabi rice crackers) and garnish if desired with black sesame seeds.

Notes: This started as a "what do I have left over, ingredient-wise, that needs to be taken out" sort of mixture that grew to be one of my many garnishes for crackers (which is one of the staples of my diet right now) as the experiment moved on. This was quick to prepare, as I just threw ingredients one by one, whole or chopped in half, into the food processor and pulsed or held down the "chop" button until it seemed relatively pulverized. The galangal flavor is (to some) a bit overwhelming but is quite engaging. I have to believe this is probably a very healthy mix.

The liquid is much more subtle, although still with galangal's punch. There isn't much of it — it perhaps half-fills a 120 ml container, so 2 oz — so I'd like to do something refined and special with it. Still trying to figure out what that is ….

Posted by at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

• 1 1/2 cans chicken broth
• 1/2 can coconut milk
• 1/2 - 1 stalk lemongrass
• 2 - 3 kaffir lime leaves
• 0 - 5 Thai red chilis, seeded and thinly sliced
• 0 - 5 Thai red chilis, stems removed and bruised
• 1 inch fresh galangal, unpeeled and sliced like thick coins
• 1 tsp sucanat
• 2 - 4 tbsp lime juice (total amount from 1 - 2 limes)
• 1 - 2 tsp palm vinegar (or coconut or other mild vinegar)
• 8 oz straw, button, cremini, or shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2 - 1 green onion, thinly sliced
• 1 drop bergamot oil (optional)
• 1/2 tsp honey or simple syrup (required only if using bergamot oil)

If you are using the bergamot oil, mix the oil with the honey or simple syrup. Be sure to only use 1/4 tsp of your honey or simple syrup mixture in the soup. It is ultra concentrated (all standard warnings about working with and cooking with essential oils apply here, especially since bergamot oils that are not bergaptin-free can potentially cause adverse long-term effects if you apply full-strength directly to skin and immediately expose to sunlight) and the remaining syrup should only be used in a large recipe or sauce — don't ingest directly unless you know what you are doing!

Put pot on low heat. Simmer all ingredients but mushrooms, green onion, and cilantro for 90 minutes. Add mushrooms and simmer another 15 minutes. Add cilantro and green onions and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve. If for some reason you must reheat or simmer for an extended period of time after the cilantro is added, add a little fresh cilantro leaf just before serving each time.

If you alter the recipe, the critical part to maintain is the 3:1 ratio of broth to coconut milk.

Notes: Tom Kha Gai is one of my holiest foods, but like many asian soups, it is predicated on some unavoidably salty ingredients — for Thai cuisine, this is usually fish sauce. Thus, one of my no-sodum holy grails are soups such as Tom Kha Gai, Tom Yam Goong, Chinese Hot & Sour, and the nouveau Spicy Thai Gazpacho that worked its way around the Chicago high end dining circuit at restaurants such as Shanghai Terrace and Spring towards the end of the summer.

Amazingly, this recipe worked very well for me, although I almost broke it by trying to "fix" it by adding more coconut milk. I also ended up heating it at 150° for an extra hour or two, although the flavors just kept mixing more and more, so perhaps a longer initial simmer yet. In fact, even when refrigerated overnight, the flavors kept mixing, and kept seeming to compensate further for the lack of salt. I have yet to figure out how to leverage this.

Posted by at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (1)

• 3/8 - 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/8 - 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp mirin
• 4 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 - 2 cloves roasted garlic, minced
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1 tbsp black sesame seeds (optional)

Purée all ingredients together. Season with fresh ground pepper to taste and chill until serving.

Notes: This recipe was originally found as a part of a different recipe on page 41 of The Kitchen Sessions With Charlie Trotter. I have tried to tweak it to my tastes but somehow I can't get it just right. I'll keep trying and report any findings.

Posted by at 8:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

from 23 June 2003

I'm exhausted. Here's the basic recipe.

Heavily inspired by the CIA cookbook (which Amazon sells for 37% off).

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pkg dried Chanterelle mushrooms
• 4 cups of water
• 2 shallots (minced)
• 3/4 cup (or so) white wine
• 2 tbsp butter
• Knorr's beef boullion cube
• Peppercorns
• Salt & Pepper
• Flour

PREPARATION:

Put 4 cups of water and the dried mushrooms (no stems) in a saucepan. Cover and heat until boiling. Let boil longer. Remove mushrooms. Filter liquid; boil down 50%. Melt bouillon cube in broth.

In another saucepan, sweat minced shallots in 1 1/2 tbsp butter. When browning, add mushrooms. Sauté until mushrooms are dry; deglaze pan with white wine and boil down. Add mushroom broth and slowly whisk in flour until texture is appropriate.

SERVING:

1 happy couple.

SCALING:

Linear, I assume.

Posted by at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• 2 shallots, peeled and halved
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 5 - 8 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp dried tarragon
• 1/8 - 2+ tsp black or mixed pepper, ground

Preheat oven to 375°. Place the halved shallots onto a piece of aluminum foil. Add a teaspoon of oil and season to taste with pepper. Wrap up the shallots and cook in the oven for 45 minutes. (This can be done a day or two in advance.)

Using a food processor or blender add all remaining ingredients and pulse until smooth. You can keep adding oil until you reach the desired oil/vinegar balance, though be careful not to take the oil too far or you'll lose the emulsion. When done, pour the dressing into a jar and refrigerate until ready to use.

Notes: This is from a recipe that already has vanished from the internet (ah, the transience of the web). The sodium here is almost completely from the prepared Dijon mustard, so by choosing different brands, styles, and amounts of mustard, you can greatly vary the overall content. The "book" value per serving was 48mg of sodium; my calculations pegged it anywhere from 20mg to 60mg depending on how much dressing you like to use (I love vinegar, so I'm a dressing fiend; it's one reason I try to be very conservative with sodium in my dressings).

Posted by at 7:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

from 15 October 2002

My ex-wife loved gnocchi, but we hadn't had it since we'd been married. I saw some (at a very reasonable price) in Trader Joe's one day, and decided I had to get it for her. One morning, she woke up, wandered into the kitchen, saw them, and said "Can we have these?" Of course, I couldn't let it go without a sauce worthy of them — and her. So I started rifling through the holy texts, and found something to work with.

Heavily inspired by Danny Meyer (Union Square Cafe cookbook) and lord Charlie Trotter (Charlie Trotter's Vegetables).

Shake your groove thing, baby.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup (dried) Japanese shiitake mushrooms
• 3 cups water
• 1 clove garlic (minced)
• 1 shallot (minced)
• 3/4 cup (or so) white wine
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1+ cups sour cream
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 pkg gnocchi or 500g homemade gnocchi

PREPARATION:

Put 3 cups of water and 1 cup of dried Japanese shiitake mushrooms (no stems) in a saucepan. Heat until boiling; cover for a while (20 min?)

Also, in another saucepan, melt 3 tbsp of butter at medium-low. When melted, add 1 clove of garlic (minced) and 1 shallot (minced). Stir for a few minutes. When that's happy, add 3/4 cup or so of white wine (I used Trader Joe's Barefoot White Zinfandel).

Remove the mushrooms from the first saucepan (set aside) and add the mushroom broth to the happy mixture. Stir. Turn the heat up to "max" and boil until it's lost 2/3 or 3/4 of its volume.

Find the set-aside mushrooms. Slice into medium strips (you should be getting about 4 per mushroom cap). Avoid fingers.

In a separate sauté pan, add 2 tbsp of butter over med-hi flame and wait until butter starts to brown. Add the sliced mushrooms and sauté for 3 minutes. (No, they're not fully sautéed, and you don't want them to be.) Set them aside, again.

Has the happy sauce reduced enough yet? If so, strain it in a fine-mesh sieve or even a coffee filter (depends how persnickety you are). I think a fine-mesh sieve is okay. The purified happy sauce should land back in some saucepan. You can play "rotate the saucepans" here and use only two, by the way, in case you don't happen to be an All-Clad distributor or such. Reserve the particulate mass if you like playing with really tasty shallot-garlic mixtures (you can create divine things with it if you are so inclined).

Okay, here we get gloppy and Break The Rules. Put the happy sauce back on medium heat. Let it heat a little. Add the mushroom slices, and maybe 1/2 tsp of salt and pepper ("to taste"). Let it gurgle happily for 4 minutes or so. Looks happier? Just you wait. Add three heaping teaspoons (3/4 c?) of sour cream to the mix and stir. Stir stir stir. Now increase heat and let it boil. Let it reduce 1/2 its volume. Now add two giant heaping teaspoons (2/3 c?) of sour cream; stir and let boil. Add parmesan cheese (I did maybe 1/4 or 1/2c) slowly while stirring to make sure the happy sauce gets consistent. Reduce some more until it feels vaguely cream sauce-like. Remove from heat and cover.

Prepare the gnocchi as per the directions. (The Trader Joe's potato gnocchi I used — $1.39 for a half kilogram, not bad — calls for boiling in salted water until they bob to the surface, at which time you remove with slotted spoon and drain.) When all the gnocchi are amassed together (ostensibly in a drainer), reheat the happy sauce on low and add the gnocchi. Stir up until everything is nice, warm, and coated. Remove from heat and serve.

SERVING:

1 happy couple.

SCALING:

Linear, I assume.

Posted by at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• quantity as needed of instant whole-wheat couscous
• 1 small snack box (0.5 oz) of raisins (preferably organic) per serving of couscous
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt, made from sheep's, goat's, or cow's milk
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, minced
• 1 clove garlic or 2 cloves roasted garlic, minced
• 1/2 serrano chile, minced
• 2 tablespoons chives or green onions (preferably fresh), finely chopped

Prepare couscous as per package directions. After water is absorbed, fluff couscous with fork and add the raisins in, mixing as you fluff. Cover again and let raisins steam in for 1-2 minutes.

While couscous is cooking, mix or blend other ingredients to form sauce. Pour sauce to taste over couscous and mix immediately before serving. Remaining sauce can be refrigerated and saved for future servings of couscous.

Notes: This makes a great light yet filling breakfast or lunch. It is incredibly quick to prepare, especially if you already have the sauce made.

Posted by at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

from 29 March 2002

I was walking through Trader Joe's (mmmm) the other day when I stumbled across one of their new products: the Annie Chun premade soups! Well, I bought a box of the miso and a box of the chicken and couldn't wait for inspiration to hit me. Little did I know that I wasn't going to be able to even go to sleep…. Combine that with impatience at 2AM and a devoted love of mushrooms, and you get something like this….

This is a variant of my original that uses only TJ products. Deviant notations are made.

INGREDIENTS:

• Annie Chun's Ginger Chicken Broth
• TJ's Shiitake Mushroom Sauce
• TJ's Toasted Sesame Oil
• TJ's Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar
• TJ's Soy Sauce
• dash of mirin (optional)

PREPARATION:

Shake and pour some broth into a cup or bowl. Add 1/5 - 1/3 as much again of the shiitake sauce. Add a dollop (1 tbsp?) of the sesame oil and a good splash (1 tbsp?) of the vinegar. Add a jigger or so of soy sauce. If you are adding the optional mirin (which TJ's doesn't offer), add about 1/2 tsp now.

Stir. Heat in microwave for 1m15 or so. Stir again. Ingest.

Note that I originally used Dynasty Sesame Seed Oil, Ohsawa Certified Organic Genuine Tamari (Wheat-Free), and Mitoku Macrobiotic Mirin.

SERVING:

1. With spoon or not, your choice.

SCALING:

Linear, except go easy on the oil. I assume.

Posted by at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

from 27 February 2002

Oh, the lovely mushroom….

I love mushrooms. I worship mushrooms. I love their earthiness, their rich flavor, their unique fleshy joy. And I love mushroom dishes — the Wild Mushroom Soup with Foie Gras at Christopher's Fermier Brasserie in Phoenix, the mushroom cappuccino at Tru in Chicago (and their predecessor Trio in Evanston), and of course all of Charlie's wonderful mushroom creations.

So I got to thinking: I have to be able to do this myself. Oh, sure, not as well or anything, but still…. The problem is that mushroom broth, which I've been using as a dish enhancer for years already, is thin and very mushroom-acrid, without the necessary sweetness or fullness to bring out the true mushroom taste. So the big question to me always was, "how do you make a sweeter, more 'soupy' soup?" I pondered this for months, maybe even years, until I was staring into my fridge one day at the big carton of cream we keep around for tea. Duh! Of course! I then realized there was probably a good reason that Campbell called it "Cream of Mushroom Soup", and felt truly embarassed….

Screw the embarassement, I was on the cusp of making a great soup! One revision later, I've gotten it even better. So here we go….

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup or so, dried mushrooms (good ones)
• 2 tbsp or so, butter (unsalted better)
• 1 cup or so, heavy cream
• 1-2 cups, chicken broth or "no-chicken" broth
• >3 tbsp or so, black truffle infused olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, whole (but peeled)
• 1 tsp or so, pepper (preferably a mix of colors)
• 1/2 tsp or so, onion powder
• 1/2 tsp or so, tarragon
• dash of nutmeg
• kosher or sea salt to taste (or both, but watch the salt, ok?)

PREPARATION:

Start 1-2 cups of water heating (to boil) in a big pot. Add the dried mushrooms. I recommend making sure at least half are shiitake; they are very flavorful and very cost-effective (given that you're talking about a class of foods that costs between $30 and $125 per pound). Personally, I do about 2/3 whole shiitake, and the rest some combo of crimini, chanterelle, and/or porcini. But I'm going to try different combos later. Let the mushrooms reconstitute for about 20 minutes, covered to avoid boilover.

Add in the broth at this point; reduce heat to simmer. Stir for a little bit to mix, and then add the butter. Stir until butter melts. Now add the garlic cloves, the onion powder, the tarragon, the nutmeg, the pepper, the salt, and whatever else strikes your fancy. Stir to mix things up. At this point add the truffle-infused oil. Mmmmmm. Stir to break it up on the surface into lots of little tiny oil bubbles. Doesn't that just smell yummy? Let this simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes. Stir in cream. Stir some more. Let simmer uncovered for 5-10 minutes, stirring every so often. Remove from heat.

Take your blender, food processor, nuclear shredder, whatever and puree the mixture, carefully. "Carefully" is key, because as experienced chefs (of which I am not one) know, too much cream in a blender will cause an instant frothy violent explosion. Daniel Boulud adds "in small batches" to his puree instructions, and now I know why. The first one I did blew the top off my blender and spewed boiling hot mushroom-cream everywhere, including all over the hand that was holding the lid on the blender. (This can produce second degree burns. Please avoid.) The blender is necessary for the solid ingredients — the mushrooms and the garlic cloves — and the rest simply needs to be mixed together well with your garmushroom puree.

SERVING:

4-8 servings, depending on how big your bowls are and how greedy you are. Goes great hot or cold. Also works nicely as an amuse bouche in a small, ornate vessel with a fancy spoon. If you can puree it well enough, it would probably also work as a soup-shot amuse bouche in a cappucino glass, but I can't puree mushrooms that fine.

SCALING:

Linear, I think.

Posted by at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (1)

• 2 serrano chilies, seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves roasted garlic, mashed to a paste
• 1/2 - 1 cup low sodium crème fraîche or sour cream

Combine ingredients in a blender or food processor. Do not allow to get too hot by too much sustained blending or the cream will curdle. Also watch to ensure the cream does not get too thin with too much overall blending.

Posted by at 8:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves roasted garlic, minced
• 2 roasted red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and chopped
• 1/2 can diced tomatoes with sauce
• 1 cup vegetable or chicken reduced sodium broth or stock
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/8 - 1/4 tsp chipotle pepper, ground
• 1/8 tsp or less sweet ancho pepper, ground
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 tbsp organic rye flour

Heat olive oil to medium low. Sauté onion and cook until soft. Add tomato, red peppers, thyme, and chipotle. Stir and cook for 5 minutes to blend the flavors. Stir in stock and ancho. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and strain soup, reserving broth. Puree remaining solids in blender or food processor. In the original pot, melt butter under low heat and slowly whisk in 1 tbsp of flour to produce a roux base. Whisk soup broth back into roux base followed by the remaining flour. Finally, whisk puree back in. Bring just to boiling, reduce heat, and serve.

Top with Serrano Cream or mix in any high-quality, flavorful, low-sodium hot sauce after ladling into bowls. This soup makes a wonderful base for many hot sauces so allowing each person to choose their own makes a nice personalizing touch.

This is a hearty soup and can serve 2 main courses or 4 appetizer portions.

All sodium (before toppings) comes completely from the broth or stock (if canned) and tomatoes (if canned). The version I made used canned diced Tuscan tomatoes and Health Valley chicken broth; the whole pot had approximately 150 mg of sodium. Please note that the Serrano Cream or any hot sauce will add additional sodium per serving, and often not a trivial amount!

Posted by at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

from 12 February 2002

I figured everybody has those standard spiral-bound and plastic-bound cookbooks that have some dorky woodcut print of a house in a clearing in the forest on the cover with recipes bearing names like "Grandma's Meatloaf" and "Velveeta Macaroni Casserole." I really never thought about it too much, so I assumed they'd also contain hundreds of recipes for "Aunt Mabel's Kugel" and "Knish Heaven." Imagine my surprise and horror when my ex-wife presented me with one of her favorite, dearest cookbooks… in bright pink with a large picture of the Pink Goddess, Mary Kay herself, robed in apron and bearing a large white cake with a smile as spackled as the frosting on the cake.

I recoiled in horror, cringing, sweating for my very life… dreading such odious delights as "Ham and Mayo Casserole" and "Goyim Leavened Special Crackers". As I read on, I was indeed horrified by such Frankensteins as "Sweet and Sour Mignon" and "Tater Tot Hot Dish." As I grew to understand more of the zen of casseroles, though, I found an effective simplicity in this book. Of course, no recipe can stand unadulterated before the force of Swanson in the kitchen….

Credit is due to Debi Garber-Eyerman of Columbus, Ohio (recipe credit in book) and my ex-wife Jeannie (credit for explaining how the recipe actually works).

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pint sour cream
• 1+ pounds of steak
• some flour
• some bread crumbs
• French's seasoned salt (or other salt mix you like)
• 1/4 cup or so olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 Knorrs beef bouillion cubes
• 1 cup of dried mushrooms, preferably a cool type (I use shiitake, porcini, and chanterelle)
• 1 bag of extra wide egg noodles (a/k/a Kluski noodles)

PREPARATION:

Lay out a piece of wax paper. Spread a decent amount of flour and bread crumbs, mixed, in a ratio of roughly 3:1 (flour to bread crumbs). Add a sprinkle or two of French's seasoned salt to the flour mix. Cut the beef into 1/4"-1/2" wide strips, each about 2" long. Pound them out a bit to tenderize (to pound, place between two pieces of wax paper and hit with something big and hard, like a Le Creuset frying pan). Take the mashed short strips and coat both sides in the flour mixture.

Heat a small pot of water. When boiling, add mushrooms to start reconstituting them.

Heat large, deep frying pan on medium. Pour enough oil in to coat bottom to about 5mm deep. (Yes, I use metric sometimes. Deal.) Throw the onion, garlic clove (peeled but otherwise intact), and meat into the pan. Fry until the meat is browned.

While the meat is browning, take the mushrooms out and set them aside. Reserve the mushroom broth. Add more water to make a total of 2 cups. Add the bouillion cubes to the mushroom water and heat until cubes dissolve. (Note: I know that Knorr's cubes are "double strength". Yes, you really are supposed to use *two* *double strength* cubes.)

Once the meat is browned, throw the mushrooms and bouillion into the pan. Stir and let simmer for a while. Maybe 20 minutes. Maybe more. I usually had to let it simmer for about an hour, but that's usually because the family was in chaos.

While the beef is simmering, boil some water and prepare the egg noodles as per package directions.

Shortly before you are ready to serve, add the sour cream and mix. Taste to see if you need to add more sour cream. Keep adding until you're happy. Add seasoned salt to taste. Serve over the noodles.

SERVIN