Belated Food Items

A) Very belated props to Dunndee for cooking up some tremazing omelettes the morning after the 4th Annual St. Patty's Day Meat 'n' Meet. There's nothing better than waking up on your couch after having ingested unconscionable amounts of boiled beef, cabbage, and Guinness and having a cheese omelette and a steaming mug of coffee appear in your lap. Who would've thought the kid who singlehandedly brought in record profits for the Peggy Lawton cookie company back in '95-'98 would turn into a single-star chef? (That's an MRhé star, not Michelin.) 10 points.

B) Props to Foonyor "Dr. Poached" Barzane for giving me tips on how to poach eggs. 10 points. Poached eggs are my favorite way to have eggs - I always order them if possible. Poached eggs on hash are a religious experience. In fact I wrote an ode about this very dish a while back. I've never tried making them because I always thought it involved arcane culinary secrets and alchemical equipment; much like my fear of cooking shellfish had been. But I discovered that upon trying it, it is actually quite easy to make perfect, delicious poached eggs.

My method, with a nod to Porkins:

1. Boil water in a small pot
2. Once water is boiling, turn off heat. Keep an eye on the water - once the bubbles become minimal then you can move on to the next step. You want to have the water very hot but not bubbling because you don't want the movement to break up the eggs when you add them.
3. Carefully add the eggs one at a time. I think the key here is to have a good "egg cup." I have these little glass dishes that I use to hold ingredients (like the TV chefs use) that are the perfect size for one egg. I actually put the dish in the water and just tilt it so that the egg slides right in. You can do as many as will fit on the bottom of the pot without dropping them into one another.
4. Let the eggs hang out for a few minutes. You'll find out how long works best depending on how runny you like the yolk.
5. I've been using a strainer to remove the eggs. Carefully pour the water and eggs into a strainer and then transfer to plate, toast, bagel, etc. This allows me to get all the egg. I've tried using a slotted spoon but found that I lost bits of egg and the eggs kept more moisture. I've also tried blotting off some of the excess water with a towel but found that egg stuck that way.
   
6. I've heard about adding vinegar but I haven't used it.
   

C) The first time I made poached eggs it was over red flannel hash - made from the leftovers from the boiled corned beef & cabbage dinner. This hash is reason enough to make the dinner - truly unbelievable. Aside from the actual fresh boiled corned beef (unlike that canned Hormel crap they often serve at low-rent greasy spoons) the mixture of veggies gives it an amazing taste. A couple of perfect poached on top and you're in heaven. Heaven.

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Now 45's cooking up fish in his dishwasher; JCB's making Hollandaise sauce - I'm going to have to step up my game if I'm going to retain my self-appointed title of Resident Chef of the Triumvirate...might have to do up a tête de veau or a soufflé or something soon.

Legume Maths

Check out this equation for lentil soup:

(L + H2O)[h^t] = L(s)

Also, lentils are the new black, cf. Euler's lenticular proof:

L = b(n)

Of course, you may want to include some minced garlic and onions, maybe some carrot, a bit of stock (or bouillon cubes if you don't have any stock in the larder), and make sure it's well seasoned.

Perhaps serve with some velvety soft lavash for kicks. Your call.

Risotto Cakes

I discovered a great use for leftover risotto this evening: risotto cakes. I had a good amount left over from my mushroom risotto from a couple days ago. I had a bit of difficulty getting the consistency right with the cakes - I added a little stock because I thought it would be too gluey, but then after I added a couple lightly beaten eggs the cakes weren't forming well. So I added a bunch of panko bread crumbs and got the right balance.

Ingredients:
leftover risotto
seasoned panko bread crumbs
1-2 lightly beaten eggs
olive oil
a bit of butter (I like the extra browning and flavor of a little butter so this is only necessary if you like amazingly delicious things)

Steps:

1. Dump risotto into large mixing bowl. Mix the beaten eggs into the risotto and form into patties.
2. Dredge each patty in the bread crumbs to coat.
3. Heat up oil and butter on high heat in a pan and fry the cakes until golden brown on each side.
4. Enjoy the funk out of your newfound risotto cakes.
   

Mushroom Risotto

I made one of my favorite dishes tonight - risotto. This one was a very simple portabella mushroom risotto that happened to come out extra creamy and delicious. It's very easy to make fantastic risotto; it just takes a bit of time.

Ingredients:
2 cups risotto (arborio rice)
5-6 cups chicken stock
1/2-1 cup white wine
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup butter
6 cloves garlic (minced)
1 large shallot (minced)
1-2 cups portabella mushrooms (sliced)
Parmesan or pecorino romano cheese (grated)
Italian herb mix (oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, parsley)
Salt & pepper to taste


Steps:

1. Sauté the shallots and garlic for a couple minutes in the oil & butter over med high heat.
2. Add the risotto. Stir well to coat all the grains. Cook until each grain has a "pearl" or white center within the translucent outer layer - about 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the 'shrooms. Cook for another minute or so to soften.
4. Add the wine and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring well.
5. Add the entirety of the chicken stock and reduce heat to low. Add seasonings. Simmer, stirring occasionally for about 25-30 minutes, or until the risotto has become thick and creamy (should fall off the spoon reluctantly but not stick to it). In the past I have gradually added the stock after bringing the whole thing up to a boil but I think adding all the liquid first and simmering on low heat for the entirety of the cooking resulted in a creamier risotto and better texture (although I also used a new brand of risotto this time. One would think rice is rice but who knows?)
   
6. Make sure to taste after about 20 minutes or if it looks like most of the liquid has been absorbed. The individual grains should have a slight bite to them (al dente) but be surrounded in creamy goodness.
7. Add the bulk of the cheese at this point. This will help with the creaminess.
8. Serve, topping with more grated cheese.

I was lucky enough to use some Dunn Reserve, a high-end white wine; extremely limited vintage; usually only available to personal friends of the vintners.

Normally I use a cheap (e.g. Yellowtail) pinot grigio and it works well.

Note: One problem with risotto is that it's never the same after that first night. It tends to get very sticky and gluey reheated. But I've found that if you save a bit of chicken stock and add that to a bowl of risotto to be microwaved, it vastly improves matters.

Very Veggie Chili

WARNING: This is the kind of vegetarian dish that may make you question - if only for a moment - your lifestyle as an omnivore.

I made this last weekend and I've been eating it all week. A pot of truly gargantuan proportions; too delicious to freeze despite the fact that my fridge has been overflowing with chili for the last few days. Ridiculously easy, ridiculously delicious, and ridiculously cheap (if your local neighborhood convenience store doesn't charge you $3.99 for a single red pepper).

The Key:
1 large diced, roasted eggplant (dice it, spread it out in a baking sheet with some olive oil and roast at 450 for about 30-45, making sure to mix it up halfway through. I snagged this hint from the uber-helpful Elise over at Simply Recipes, which is fantastic. I've cooked probably 5-6 dishes using her recipes and every single one has been a grand slam on the first try. I've mentioned her before; if you're a new reader or if you're one of those readers who "read" but don't "comprehend" then you will not remember. Go to her; take in her reams of digital culinary expertise. She will astound and delight.)

What I used:
1 jalapeno (could've used 2)
2 medium white onions
6 cloves garlic
1 red pepper
3-4 medium diced carrots
1 large zucchini, rough-chopped
1 can black beans (16 oz)
1 can cannellini beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can whole peeled tomatoes, rough-chopped
a bit of balsamic
a bit of red wine vinegar
1/2 a bottle of Smithwick's
a goodly dash of olive oil before you sauté all of the above

Seasonings:
I tend to experiment a lot with seasonings. I used a ton of cumin, red pepper flakes, black pepper, lotsa salt, oregano, cilantro, a dash of cinnamon, a good bit of honey, a few squirts of sriracha, and plenty of cayenne. I love cumin and I like my chili to be heavy on the cumin. If you're inexperienced with this particular spice, go easy on it at first - fairly strong flavor but it's like culinary cocaine from the Levant.

I don't really do exact measurements as I'm in the process of perfecting the recipes for my upcoming cookbook, Esculent Sin: Late Nights in the Kitchen with MRhé.

Follow Elise's recipe and you'll be good. I didn't use red wine or Worcestershire (which I usually do in my meat chilis) or any sort of stock - I ended up adding a couple 28 oz cans' worth of water to get enough liquid initially to get everything mixed well before simmering away the excess but I reckon stock would've been better. Chicken or veggie, no matter. I'm flexible, as should you be.

Aside from this you can put pretty much anything you want in here, with a few caveats:
1) Bring her up to a boil and then long, sloooow simmer. Patience is key. I like it to lose a lot of liquid and cook down into a soft mushy deliciousness.
2) Season after the chili has reduced so you have an accurate idea of the flavor concentration.
3) Don't start cooking without wine at hand. It's just depressing otherwise.

This chili comes out so rich, thick, and hearty, with such great flavors and layers of heat - I mean I just stuffed myself with a huge bowl and I'm getting hungry again writing about it. Cook this to make this horrendous, dismal winter somewhat palatable (literally!)

As always, accompany this with some Jiffy cornbread.

Top with minced red onions, scallions, sour cream, and obscene amounts of cheddar cheese.

And invite me over for dinner.

Asian Mussels

Mussels: my favorite shellfish. In the interest of mixing things up a bit, I took a shot at kicking things up a couple notches last Friday evening with some Asian flavor. I sautéed up some garlic, shallots, scallions, shitake shrooms, and red pepper strips. Then I added a mix of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, wasabi paste, sriracha hot sauce, a touch of honey, and a bunch of red pepper flakes. I'm not too sure of the amounts - this was all experimental. I had some thai rice noodles lying around - the pad thai sort - and soaked them in warm water while I cooked up the mussels in a wok with this hot, spicy sauce. Cooked the mussels, set them aside, them tossed the noodles in the sauce. I served it sprinkled with some toasted sesame seeds.

Yum.

Very tasty - quite spicy - and quite the departure from my now standard butter/garlic/white wine style. I haven't gotten the sauce quite right - it was a little too sour, a little too spicy I think, but the flavor was great on the whole. The red peppers and shitake shrooms did wonders.

Mussels are so versatile. Watch this space for more...mussels marinara...curried mussels...basil & cream mussels...mussels à la mode...the possibilities are endless.

Culinary Inspiration from the Old Country

Believe it or not, I thoroughly enjoyed eating my way across the British Isles and central Europe over the last couple weeks. I had excellent food, including lots of seafood in Ireland. Fresh and delicious, whether prepared simply or with gourmet flair. I consumed a ton of mussels, and I had a hankering to do my own version of steamed mussels in a white wine & garlic sauce. I had made a similar dish a while back but it had been quite some time, and I was on a shellfish kick.

I bought some mussels and little neck clams at the Golden Goose. Washed and scrubbed them (although they were already well-cleaned and the mussels de-bearded; just wanted to ensure that as much grit as possible was gone from the outside) and discarded any broken shells or open shells that didn't close upon touch (meaning they are dead or close to it - at any rate no longer fresh).



I sliced up some shallots in thin strips (I liked them in a similar style in a dish of mussels I had in Baltimore) as well as six cloves of garlic, thinly sliced. Sautéed these in a pan with oil and butter until soft. I also put on a pot of water to boil up a box of Gemelli pasta.



I poured in about 2 cups of dry white wine and added a little more butter. Then I tossed in the clams first, covered those to cook for a few minutes (they take longer from what I've read) and then added the mussels, which only take 3-5 minutes. Here's everything simmering away (I took off the cover for the pic but keep them covered so they'll cook through):



After the shellfish are done - a pan full of opened mussels and little necks, swimming in deliciousness, waiting to be eaten!



I took the shellfish out of the pan and added some diced tomatoes. Seasoned with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. I tossed the gemelli with olive oil, butter and a couple ladles of the sauce to coat. Then I put a scoop of the pasta in a bowl, added a few of the mussels and clams, and poured some of the sauce on top. A dash of parsley and a glass of white wine to accompany it:

Top Chef Audition?

Monday night was one of those nights when I felt the irrepressible urge to cook. Perhaps it was all the Top Chef I've been catching up on recently. Perhaps it was because I receive a strange amount of pleasure from chopping parsley. Perhaps it was because I was hungry. I don't know the exact reason, but I went to the Goose, spent roughly $1,000 on a pound of scallops and various accoutrements, cranked up the tunes in the kitchen and set to work:

Pan-seared Scallops à la MRhé

To start I minced 6 or 7 cloves of garlic and a couple shallots. (Note: I love thinly sliced garlic. I attempted to do this. The key to doing this is using a) a sharp knife, which I lack, and b) peeling the garlic without using the smashing technique, because that breaks up the clove, ruining any possible slices. So what you see is more or less a fine chop (or a rough mince). You might want to do an actual mince. But don't you dare use a garlic press!) I sautéed them in a pan with olive oil and butter. The smell of this is perhaps the most amazing in the world. Olfactory bliss.



I added three medium seeded, diced tomatoes. Cooked those over high heat for a bit then added a cup of white wine, half a lemon's worth of juice and an indecent amount of butter. Brought it to a boil and then simmered uncovered to reduce a bit.



I cut off the hard side muscle from the scallops, then washed, drained, and patted the scallops dry. Seasoned liberally on each side with salt and pepper and then put them in a pan of olive oil and butter on high heat to sear. Make sure that the scallops don't touch - it's hard to tell from this pic but none of these are actually touching. A recipe I read online said to sear for 1-2 min. per side - I ended up cooking these guys for closer to 4-5 per side. I'm not sure if it's because my scallops were gigantic, or because my 1970's-era electric stovetop is horrendous, or because they were swimming in oil instead of just a thin coating, but they needed longer to cook. They came out, dare I say, perfect - i.e. tender. Overcooked seafood is a sin.



I used gemelli pasta for the scallop bed. Cooked al dente, tossed with a little oil, butter and a bit of the sauce, and then served like so:



Go ahead, you can say it.

My Big Fat Greek Breakfast

Last Saturday, on the morning following My Big Fat Greek Dinner, I used some of the leftover ingredients to make My Big Fat Greek Breakfast. This was a big omelette (3 eggs) of ridiculous deliciousness: red onions, spinach, sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and feta cheese. Yummopolis, Hellas:

My Big Fat Greek Dinner

Last Friday evening I tried making this Greek Stuffed Chicken according to Susie's recipe over at We Are Not Martha (great food blog). It was really easy to prepare and cook and it came out excellent. My pic is a bit blurry; check Susie's for glam shots.

A couple minor alterations to her recipe, which I otherwise followed:

• I liberally seasoned the chicken before stuffing it with S&P.
• I mixed the stuffing with a few tablespoons of Greek dressing.

Good stuff though. Will turn you into a philhellene in no time.

Baked Three-Cheese Cellentani with Chicken Wild Mushroom Sausage

This started out as a run-of-the-mill baked ziti this past Monday night, but I wanted to use cavatappi (my favorite pasta) instead of the more pedestrian ziti. The Golden Goose didn't have any, however (still shocked at this), although they did have cellentani. Cellentani are corkscrew-shaped pasta very similar to cavatappi (identical even to my Old Country sensibilities). They hold sauce very well, are fun to eat, and seem to taste better.

The basic baked ziti recipe is one of the easiest, tastiest recipes I know, and it's cheap and simple to do a double batch, freezing one batch for the future. Keeps well to feed a single person for a while, and it's also a great dish for potlucks, housewarmings, and church functions (I would imagine). This version is kicked up several notches, as I am wont to do when inspiration strikes (especially when the Goose is selling 1.5L Barefoot Cab Sauv at $11.99)!

Ingredients:
1 package (4 links) chicken sausage (I'd probably use a second package next time for a better ratio of meat to pasta)
2 boxes (2 lbs.) ziti or pasta of choice
2 jars tomato sauce (28 oz. each)
2 lbs ricotta
16 oz. mozzarella
1/3 cup grated parmesan or pecorino romano (I prefer the latter)
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
salt & pepper
olive oil
1/2 medium onion, minced
4 cloves minced garlic

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
   
2. Warm the tomato sauce in a saucepan over medium heat.
   
3. Cook the pasta - I shaved off a minute of the lower range recommended. I like my pasta al dente and it's going to cook a bit further in the casserole dish, so slightly underdone works well.
4. Chop up the chicken sausage well. I used D'Artagnan brand chicken wild mushroom sausage. I've tried a couple D'Artagnan products and they are a bit pricey (hard to avoid at the Goose) but quite tasty. These worked perfectly in the dish. Sauté the sausage along with the onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil.
   
5. Stir the ricotta into the tomato sauce until it is completely melted/mixed in.
6. When the pasta is done, drain it and return to the pan. Stir it up with a couple ladles of sauce and a healthy pad of butter to coat completely.
7. Pour the ricotta sauce over the pasta and stir well. Divide the pasta evenly into two oiled baking dishes (I think mine were 9"x13" Pyrex dishes). Spread the shredded mozzarella cheese evenly over the pasta and then grate the parmesan over it. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top.
   
8. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. I recommend setting the timer for the lower end of the range and checking on it. Look for bubbling sauce and golden brown crust on top.

This is a fantastic dish. Endless cheesy, curly pasta goodness. I recommend serving it with an abundance of vino rosso.

But that recommendation holds for most things in life.

PFG Chicken

On Sunday I roasted a small chicken than my Mom had given me when I visited the previous day. I separated the wings and legs from the body. I inserted lemon slices under the skin and rubbed it with olive oil, seasoning it with salt, pepper, and rosemary. I roasted it for about an hour at 400 degrees. Toward the end of the cooking I rubbed butter over it for further browning and flavor. The meat came out fantastic - moist and lemony-delicious.

I also roasted a pan of vegetables - carrots, celery, red & white onions, a couple heads of garlic, and some scallions. Tonight I put those and the chicken carcass (after stripping it of the remaining meat) in a pot full of water to boil along with some peppercorns, allspice, bay leaves, red pepper flakes and salt. From this a dark, golden broth will emerge, to be paired with various veggies, leftover meat and noodles.

A delicious chicken soup is in my future.

Victory Chili

Today was a frigid, blustery one in the horrific climate that is winter in New England. I needed a hot, hearty meal, and decided that chili would be the perfect compliment to the Patriots-Chargers game at 3:00. I was inspired by Ernie's post last week (and it looks like he brought out the "Victory chili" again for today as well). Since Ernie hasn't posted his recipe yet I made my way over to SimplyRecipes to see what Elise had on file. (A fantastic recipe blog, by the way. Great pics and instruction.) She actually had recently posted a list of several chili variations a few days back. I was planning on making a simple beef chili, but her turkey chili looked good. I followed her recipe with a few minor changes:

• I used a pound of ground turkey
• Upped the garlic to 6 cloves because that's how I roll
• I used 1 can of crushed and 1 can of diced tomatoes (28 oz. ea.) because I like the tomato chunks
• I used a can of red kidney beans and a can of white kidney (or cannellini) beans (19 oz. ea.) mainly for color and taste variation
• I added an entire diced jalapeno pepper
• I used about half the required cumin, accidentally (thought I had more left). I would definitely add the full tbsp next time to enhance the flavor profile.
  
• I used 1 Tbsp of oregano instead of a tsp, because I was concentrating on the Pats (didn't hurt)
• Probably used about 2 Tbsp salt and 1 Tbsp sugar
• I used about 1 1/4 cups of turkey stock, and I used my own! This was an incredible culinary experience, let me tell you. This is the first time I've used the excess stock I made for use in my turkey soup. It's been sitting in my freezer since right after Thanksgiving. It felt so rewarding. You probably wouldn't understand unless the prospect of simmering poultry bones and vegetables for several hours appeals to you.

Followed Elise's instructions from here, although I tossed the jalapeno in to sauté along with the rest of the veggies first, and then after they were all soft and translucent I put in the ground turkey to brown up before adding the rest of the ingredients. I also let it simmer for about 3 1/2 hours (I had added more liquid so I wanted to achieve a thicker consistency).

I served it topped with a mixture of mild and sharp cheddar, a healthy dollop of sour cream, and minced red onion and scallions. A chunk of Jiffy cornbread (delicious and basically free at $0.79!) adorned the dish, as you can see here.

I ate the first bowl before I realized I was nearly full, and finished the second just as this realization hit me. As I write this now I am overstuffed, but also over-delighted with how this turkey chili came out. Very flavorful. The heat level was near perfect - not too hot off the bat, but after several spoonfuls a sort of residual heat builds up, and the different heat sources add different flavors as well. An awesome cold-weather dish, and I made enough to last me all week.

A Very Bacon Saturday

For breakfast this morning I made glazed bacon (of course) and a frittata of sorts. Both came out so good that I have decided to regale you with tales of my culinary dabblings.

For the glazed bacon I poured apple cider into a bowl and let a few strips of bacon marinate in there for a while. I followed my normal recipe for glazed bacon, retaining maybe a couple tablespoons of the apple cider and adding brown sugar for the glaze. The bacon came out really delicious, with a very strong apple flavor.

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For the frittata I took four slices of bacon and chopped them up pretty fine. I fried this up in a pan, rendering the fat, and then added the following:

3 small mushrooms, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 small Yukon Gold potato, diced
a few pinches of salt & pepper

I fried this over high heat for a while, then turned it down to med-high and covered it, letting it cook a bit in its own steam, occasionally stirring it up. I scrambled three eggs and then poured it over the mixture. I could have easily used 4-5 eggs to really cover everything, but at this point I already had more food than I needed for myself. I let the egg make its way throughout the mixture, giving it some gentle stirring. After a few minutes the egg bound the mixture together and created a sort of frittata. It came out really tasty, and with very little seasoning. The bacon flavor permeated throughout, and the mix of veggies worked great.

I'm thinking 2008 might be the Year of Bacon.

Glazed Bacon: An Introduction

A few words on how to glaze bacon, by special request.

First, I have to give credit to Adam Ried, whose article, "Bacon Improvement," in the cooking section of The Boston Globe on the 23rd of September sparked my now three month-long dalliance with this candied meat.

Second, and I believe this to be true about bacon preparation in general: put aside that frying pan! Baking is the key to perfect bacon, especially when glazing is involved. While it takes longer than frying, baking ensures flat, evenly cooked bacon every time. Also, when preparing big breakfasts for many people, cooking the bacon in the oven frees up valuable space on the stovetop.

Read Ried's article for his insight. My method differs in a few areas, but here's how I've been glazing my bacon recently:

The Bacon

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil and place a wire rack on top.
3. Lay the bacon strips out on the rack and insert into the oven when it is heated. I recommend using decent bacon - I've had success with Boar's Head and Oscar Meyer.
   
4. Depending upon how you like your bacon, cook for 10-15 minutes. You're going to cook it further and glaze both sides, so take it out when it's slightly less done than you prefer.
5. Remove the bacon and brush half of the glaze onto each piece. Put back in the oven for another 3-5 minutes.
6. Remove the bacon after time has elapsed, or after the pieces have acquired a sheen. Flip over each piece and brush them with the remaining glaze.
7. Cook for another 3-5 minutes or until the second side glistens. Remove and indulge in the marriage of sweet and savory.

The Glaze

Ried recommends 3 Tbsp brown sugar and 2 Tbsp orange juice for glazing a pound of bacon. I generally cook 4-5 strips if I'm just making it for myself, and I eyeball the measurement. The first time I made this I used too much OJ and the glaze was far too liquid. It didn't adhere to the bacon as well and the lower sugar content resulted in a less than satisfactory glaze.

In recent incarnations I've upped the sugar-to-OJ ratio. High sugar content will produce a thick, glistening lacquer.

Maple syrup on its own also works fabulously as a glaze. Use the real stuff.

I haven't tried any of Ried's variations yet, but I'd like to. Experiment with whatever suits you. I think apple cider would do wonders. The sky's the limit, really - just remember that the sugar content in your glaze has to be cavity-inducing to produce the kind of lustrous sheen desirable in lacquered bacon.

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Glazed bacon is an improvement on perfection, make no mistake. That first taste of sweetness followed by the salty, meaty essence of a quality piece of bacon will make you a believer. If you are ever lucky enough to be served breakfast Chez MRhé, there's a very good chance glazed bacon will make an appearance.

Happy glazing!