Fun with Farmer's Market

I LOVE shopping at the market on Saturday mornings and getting whatever tickles my fancy, especially when I have no idea what I'm going to do with it all. It's fun to challenge myself to find new ways of preparing and pairing seasonal ingredients. Spring provided me with the usual suspects last week: asparagus, strawberries, beets, spinach, mushrooms and fava beans among others. I also had to pick up my favorite cilantro pesto from the afghan/italian booth to munch on during my culinary adventures;-)

Here's what I came up with to cram all this produce into one meal: Sautéed chicken breast, crispy white-truffle polenta triangles, mushroom-asparagus sauté with roasted beet relish and warm fava beans. The spinach and beet greens ended up in a lasagne the night before, so they won't make an appearance in this blog.

As you can see from the picture above, one booth had kumquats, but they didn't make it into the meal.... they peaked my curiosity as I have never worked with them before and they're so pretty! Beets and citrus are a classic combination, so I was planning to somehow pair them, but I was foiled by gigantic seeds, so I gave up...I had enough other stuff to work with!

The beets and fava beans needed a little advance prep. I roasted the beets in the oven with water, evoo, a cinnamon stick and some cloves, but you can steam or boil them also. I was excited to taste that white beet you see in the pic above because I've never encountered one, but I soon found out why: it was bitter, and I think it was just an unripe beet...it got tossed. When the rest of the beets were done I peeled and quartered them, then marinated in shallots, dijon and champagne vinegar. Fava beans are quite a feat of prep, but I was inspired because I only get a fleeting chance every year to work with them. I took them out of their super-padded pods, then blanched the beans in boiling water for 30 seconds, shocked in icewater, then slipped off the skins. I got about 1/2 cup of fava beans from 1 pound at the market...yes, this is a LOT of work for such a small yield, but hey, they're special. To warm the fava beans I just tossed them into the chicken jus after I was done cooking everything, just before service. I will spare you the chicken prep because I don't want to insult your intelligence; it's sautéed chicken, enough said.

For the polenta I boiled 3 cups water and added 3/4 cup of polenta while whisking (4:1 ratio for firm polenta). As soon as it was cooked and pulling away from the sides, about 20-30 minutes depending on grain size, I added 1 tsp. white truffle oil, 3 T. butter and a good handful of grated Parmegiano Reggiano, s & p...don't season with salt until after you add the cheese, it's pretty salty. I spread it out in a shallow plastic container (no need to grease, cookie sheet works too), cooled until firm, then inverted onto a cutting board and cut into triangles. To 'crispify' I dredged each triangle in flour and fried in olive oil until crispy.

I prepared the asparagus and mushrooms simply, sautéing with shallots and garlic. I had regular button mushrooms, shiitakes (my favorite), and oyster mushrooms...I asked the mushroom man at the market why they're called "oyster mushrooms". He told me that they have a slight shellfish aroma, and I thought he was pulling my leg, but he was right! Needless to say a big, steaming pile of sautéed garlicky mushrooms and asparagus is pure spring comfort food, yum!

The dinner was great, but I took my time preparing it because I was catching up with friends, so some of it was COLD, a cardinal culinary sin! Still good, but I learned my lesson: catch up over eating, but get the food on the table! I think it will be another year until I'm ready to spend that much time on fava beans again:-) -K

I used to be enraptured by chefs who could make good Thai curry. It was an utter mystery to me how something so wondrously tasty could be concocted. Today, I am no longer impressed by the chefs who prepare Thai curry. I have done it myself, the mystery of Thai curry preparation may very well be the biggest hoax ever played on mankind. I have discovered that it is almost as easy as making pasta and dumping some of that bottled red stuff on top. Even an Irishman could make Thai curry (Speaking of things Irish, If anyone can tell me where I can get some fresh blood, you all will be in for quite a treat with the resulting blog....) . The key is the curry paste. That may have been obvious to most, but I can be a bit slow sometimes as Kristen will attest to. Instead of buying the American made curry paste which comes in a little bottle for $4, I went to an Asian supermarket and found some curry paste strait ‘outa Thailand (A big container for $1.99). I will just say that the American “Thai curry” paste that I used to buy had the word “Thai” as part of the brand name. Would real Thai curry have use “Thai” in the title? I don’t have a clue what the name of my new curry paste is because it is actually written in Thai, but I will wager that “Thai” isn’t part of the brand name. I feel a little guilty about using curry paste, like I am cheating by using this pre-prepared product. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that most Thai restaurants use Thai curry paste rather than make their own though.
There isn’t much to it, I just heated up two cans of Coconut milk, added 3 or 4 tablespoons of curry paste and brought the mixture to a simmer. Then I added green beans, red bell pepper, yellow onion, and sliced raw steak. I happened to have the king of steaks, a Ribeye, in my refrigerator so I tossed that bad boy in. I felt a little bit silly chopping up a fine Ribeye to dump into curry, but I had no regrets after I tasted it. Instead of the chewy chunks of boiled beef that I usually encounter at the local Thai restaurants (This was where I finally understood what Holden Caulfield meant when referring to "chewing the fat"), the Ribeye retained the soft and tender texture for which it is praised. It is definitely worth a few extra bucks to use a good piece of meat even though it is going to be boiled. I hope there are some British people reading this blog. You all must boil some part of the cow’s anatomy that doesn’t even exist on American cows. They most likely send the Ribeyes, New yorks, and Filets, to the dog food companies while keeping these “special” cuts for their cauldrons of boiling water.
As an aside, I decided to do some research on Thailand in order to broaden the horizons of my blog and came across a fine product that is made in Thailand. It is a George W. tissue dispenser. I like the Thai people even more now!!! Someone finally found a good use for George W. At least he is doing something for healthcare now!!! I think a toilet paper dispenser would be more appropriate though.
Food blog, not politics………Once all your veggies are cooked, but not too soft, spoon the curry over Jasmine rice, no other rice will do. Be sure to thoroughly rinse the rice before cooking to remove the excess starch that leads to stickiness. I’m not a big rice fan, but I think that jasmine is the best rice for about any meal, except maybe for Kristen’s fancy “Forbidden Rice,” but my morals don’t permit me to partake in the consumption of such a rice.

My new goal: Making my ideal Tacos al Pastor. I have never had this hypothetical al Pastor because it does not exist as far as I know. I have scoured the bowels of Woodland and the Bay Area for the perfect pastor. I’ve visited the shadiest of taco rolling establishments, on a solid foundation, and on wheels. There are many fine al Pastor tacos out there, hence my obsession with this blessed form of pork, but none of them have all of the qualities that I desire in one tortilla. I am looking for the perfect flavor matched with the perfect texture, it’s hard to find both. Considering the price of near perfect Tacos al Pastor, I don’t know why I want to make my own. Contrary to most foods, I firmly believe that the quality of Mexican food is inversely proportional to the cost of the food; I have found very few exceptions to this rule. Tacos should cost no more than $1 and burritos no more than $4, $5 only if it is big enough to beat down George W. (To the FBI Agents illegally utilizing the Patriot Act: Brooks takes full responsibility for this statement, these are not “necessarily” the views of Kristen).
I did some preliminary research and formulated a recipe that I will try first based on the collective wisdom of others. I procured all of the ingredients so I could make “Tacos al Pastor al Brooks” for my taste testers, but could not find my food processor anywhere! I don't think I have moved it from my old place in the land of Roach Coaches yet. So why am I writing this if I didn't wasn't able to make the adobo sauce? I still had to feed my friends so I cheated and used the adobo that is used to pack with chipotle peppers in the little cans from Mexico (Embassa, La Costena, Herdez). If it is in the little cans from Mexico it is tasty stuff, but just barely qualifies as adobo. I don't want to talk about this attempt much more because it was a failure. It tasted pretty good and my friends didn’t complain, but I don't think they have ever eaten a taco from an establishment that: 1) Is on four wheels 2) Harbors more flies than a barn 3) Only sells Coke in reusable bottles from Mexico 4) Likely sells the other kind of coke if you go to the back of the truck 5) Offers curbs for seating 6) Serves food on paper plates (and it isn’t that classy “Chinet” stuff)……. If the particular establishment is not on four wheels, then I expect to be watching Mexican soap operas or soccer while waiting for my tacos. These are the characteristics of a fine Mexican restaurant.
As usual, I caught something on fire. This time it was my hands, if only figuratively. My hands were in adobo sauce for about five minutes while attempting to squeeze every last drop of adobo sauce out of the peppers. I will be wearing latex gloves from now on. For two hours, my hands felt like they had been ruler slapped by a mid-century British schoolteacher. I should have learned my lesson a few years ago when I had a bad experience after chopping up Habaneros. This is a family blog, so if you want details on that particular story then we will need to communicate via private email.
If I ever come up with my perfect pastor recipe I will let you all know ("you all," referring to our enormous base of daily readers.) I think if we ever get a reasonable amount of readers I will organize a "Woodland Taco Truck Crawl." Kristen has been dying to do this for some time now!
Although I love the shady Taquerias, I am a little bit choosy on where I go based on the fact that I also love cats. Though I have some issues with the food animal industry in general, I prefer to stick with making tacos from the standard food animals. On another note, don’t forget about our friends from south of the border who man our taco trucks and are also indispensable behind the scenes of our fine dining establishments.

Saturday Sushi Party (part 1)

I have semi-weekly Saturday night "dinner dates" with some of my friends, and each time we have theme for our menu. In the past we've done taco/salsa bar, fondue, farmer's market cornucopia, but this week was sushi, and we were all excited about it because sushi is, well...awesome.

We decided on our ingredients ahead of time so we could split up the shopping responsibility. In the interest of time I made the rice ahead...this made me realize that I need a new rice maker. Aside from the rice being slightly overcooked, I still seasoned it with rice vinegar and it worked just fine. Keep in mind this was our first shot at making sushi. We also had Ahi tuna that we sliced up into sashimi and chopped small to make spicy tuna. Our incidentals included avocado, cucumber, asparagus, spinach, cream cheese, cilantro, wasabi and pickled ginger. I realize several of these ingredients aren't traditionally sushi-worthy, but the rolls turned out excellent! We ate a huge pile of sushi (pictured, and no we did not use a pairing knife to slice the rolls), maybe 12 rolls between 5 people...needless to say we were stuffed. That didn't stop us from going out for ice cream an hour later, though!

Here are some tips to make sushi-rolling easier:
-Have all your ingredients sliced and ready to be rolled (mise en place)
-Keep a bowl of water near you to keep your hands from sticking to the rice
-Press rice on 2/3 of the nori (seaweed wrap), and put your filling in the middle of the rice
-Wrapping your bamboo mat in plastic wrap keeps it from getting sticky
*Check out this site for everything you need to know about making your own sushi

This was so much fun that we're planning another sushi party, but we've decided on a few improvements for next time: more sushi mats (3 was not enough, everyone wanted to roll), rice that's not overcooked, and a little more variety in the proteins...maybe some unagi (BBQ eel) and shrimp tempura. We also agreed that beer would have been a much better accompaniment than wine, so we're going for Sapporo next time. -K

Spring has sprung!

*Disclaimer: This blog is about gardening, but I do almost none of this gardening myself (no patience), but I'm blessed to have family who enjoys it...I get to walk out and reap the bounty like I'm in a grocery store!

Spring is the best time of year for veggies...well, right now I say that, but I'll say it again at the turn of every season. Everything is so green, the weather has been near-perfect, and we have a whole new selection of produce to choose from! I'm lucky enough to live where I can have a garden to "shop" in...check out these pics! This is a large pot of cilantro just getting ready to be used...we go through this stuff like crazy: burritos, anything on the grill, salads, pesto. Davis Farmer's Market tip: the Afghan/Italian food booth has awesome cilantro pesto if you aren't into making it yourself.

The garlic is taking it's time, and because I'm impatient I just chop up the tops or dig up some green garlic to add to whatever I'm making. This works well for soups/stews, stirfrys, you can sub it for pretty much anything you would normally use fresh garlic in. We're also sprouting our first round of corn for summer, strawberries are almost red, pea tendrils are everywhere, and it seems like we might have tomatoes and lettuce till the end of time! They're not ready yet, of course, but all that summer stuff has to start sometime.

I love walking through Farmer's Market and seeing all the spring standards: asparagus, strawberries, morels, green garlic, leafy greens, baby carrots....I'm so overwhelmed sometimes that the only thing I can do is make the oh-so-cliché "pasta primavera" (which means 'spring', so it's ok)...I end up with so many bright, delicious veggies in the pan that I don't have room in my tummy for the pasta! I also love spring vegetables because they don't need much in the way of prep: you can walk out into the garden and dust off whatever you want on your jeans and take a bite!

I was really bummed after the bad freeze a couple months ago because we lost all our oranges and meyer lemons, but fortunately the trees survived. Obviously that cold snap had a negative effect on citrus, avocados and strawberries, among other produce....this lower market quantity has led to higher prices for what's left, but it doesn't seem as bad as I thought it would be. The good news is we're getting into warmer weather and a HUGE selection of produce...my head is spinning from the culinary possibilities! I love going out to eat and seeing what other people come up with. It's amazing that new and original dishes are always being created...that's the nature of Spring!

Oh, and I've included a picture of my buddy Mr. Lizard...or maybe it's one of the other 3,000 lizards who live out here. They like to rustle around under the last of the dried leaves and scare the kitty, whose name is Monster....go figure. -K

Steak Frites!

We all know that the French make the best food. Some people may think that they like Italian food or Mexican food, these cuisines are great as well, but I guarantee that the French can cook any country’s cuisine better than the chefs of that particular country. I was inspired to make Steak Frites tonight. This is one of my favorite meals because I get to eat steak and French fries, while not feeling like white trash for eating French fries for dinner because they are frites, not fries. See? I’m not going to talk about my steak too much, there isn’t much to it considering I don’t like it cooked very much. I prefer ribeyes, while Kristen prefers the New York steak. When it isn’t barbequing weather, I fry it in olive oil until I feel that it is just approaching microbiological safety. This is very French as well, since a rare steak in France is room temperature and purple 2mm below the surface. I only require that it be hot enough to properly melt all of that wonderful marbled fat.
The fries are a little more labor intensive. I like them thin to maximize the caramelized crispness that I aim to achieve. I cut the taters to approximately 1cm squared crossectional area and soak them in ice water for 30 minutes to remove extraneous starch (Is there such a thing in potatoes? Curious…..it makes a better fry anyhow). Then I blanch them in Peanut oil at 270 degrees for about 8 minutes until they start to get translucent. Remove the blanched fries and allow them to cool before frying at 375 degrees for a few minutes until they are crisp and browned. The first step actually cooks the fries while the second step caramelizes the outside and delivers the crispness that French potatoes deserve. My deep fryer conked out a while ago so tonight I thought I would just use a pot of oil on the stove. This experience served to remind me why I bought a deep fryer in the first place…..I enjoy having eyebrows. If I had some marshmallows then I would be blogging about roasting them over the bonfire in my kitchen. I wish I could have snapped a picture of the inferno in my kitchen, but I was too busy packing up my valuables. Anyway, this method results in a perfectly cooked French fry with a delightful crispness. If you like the Flaccid “Freedom Fries” commonly found in Dumbf@$kistan then just plop some chopped taters in hot Pennzoil.
If I have a high quality steak I don’t like much on it other than salt, pepper and maybe a little Worcestershire (I like pure Worcestershire directly in my mouth as well, and am looking for some Worcestershire based drinks if anyone knows of any) (come to think of it, I think I will learn how to make my own Worcestershire and blog about it. I’ll make it all fancy with white anchovies and then wrap it in a brown bag like a 40 of Old English). However, tonight I prepared my steak with some blue cheese butter, or maybe I should say beurre de fromage bleu. This is easy to make and great because it adds some nice flavor, but it doesn’t mask the flavor of the steak. Just mix unsalted butter, blue cheese, shallots, garlic, flat leaf parsley, salt and pepper. You all know what you like so I am not going to give any specific amounts. If you really like blue cheese, then you will probably want to add a lot of it, etc.
Et Voila! Half of your plate is covered with steak and the other with two kinds of fries. The top layer is nice and crisp while the bottom layer is soaked in steak juices. Fry flaccidity is acceptable only if it is due to absorption of steak juices. I would pair French fries with a nice Rhone wine, while Freedom Fries are best paired with a 60oz Mountain Dew or Bud Light purchased at a NASCAR event. Considering the political climate these days, I think I’ll be paying homage to French cuisine for a while. Don’t get me wrong, I love America, I just want all our troops to be able to enjoy French food like Kristen and I do. I’m signing off before I get too fired up about politics.

Fox and Goose (part 1)...eh

I went to the Fox and Goose earlier this week for lunch with friends and was disappointed...I have actually never eaten there before, and I'm not a raging fan of English food, but we arrived with open minds. We ordered off the "British Specialties" section of the lunch menu, thinking we would get an accurate slice of British cuisine and the best the restaurant has to offer. It's possible we did, and if that's the case I still don't like English food.

The items we ordered sounded interesting on the menu: Vegetarian Pasty (like a pot pie in the shape of a calzone, pictured above) with welsh rarebit sauce, Welsh Rarebit: an english muffin smothered in welsh rarebit cheesy beer sauce, and Fish and chips: pretty self-explanatory. I thought the welsh rarebit sauce was a cheesy, greasy, pungent goo rather than a sauce, but smear cheese on anything and it can't be that bad. The vegetarian pasty was plain: just chopped veggies cooked with some herbs, rolled up in pie dough and baked...nothing to call home about. It was also rather dry.

I couldn't believe the appearance of the Welsh Rarebit, but I've never seen it anywhere before, so maybe that's what it's supposed to look like: literally an english muffin on a plate with that cheese sauce drowning it, garnished with red onions and sliced olives. I have to say my friend really enjoyed it, though...she liked the pungent quality of the sauce, a self-proclaimed "stinky cheese lover". Don't get me wrong, I love me some stinky cheese, but I found that sauce....well, see the description above.

On a positive note the Fish and chips was incredible! The batter was perfectly crispy and freshly fried, and I think I would have eaten a paper napkin if it was fried in that batter! The tartar sauce didn't blow me away, but the dish was great none the less.

I owe Fox and Goose another try, and I've heard many people rave about their breakfast and beer selection....that's two more trips if I don't want beer with pancakes. Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3, and I'm definitely bringing Brooks with me to check out the beer selection.

Fox and Goose Pub
corner of 10th and R st in downtown sac
www.foxandgoose.com

*On a blog note, I am working on my technique when it comes to lighting and focusing with the pics...bear with me:-)