Archive for the ‘Cheese’ Category

Bacon, Two Ways

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

How do you celebrate the peak of succulent, vibrant fruit and vegetable season here in New England or elsewhere? With big salads, ripe fruit straight from the bowl, quick, heat-minimizing simple preparations? How about eating a peach at work, and it’s so juicy, you realize it’s obscene and you may get fired for lewd behavior?

Well, I rejoice in all the aforementioned rituals, but what better way to honor the summer cornucopia than with…

BACON!

And really, the idea of turning on a heat source to cook salty meat may not be the most appealing concept in the middle of Boston August, but bacon just pairs so well with the clean and fresh flavors of summer. I know bacon is very trendy right now (I would argue it’s on its way out, but that’s another story for The Fashion Club of Food), but the combination of pig products and fruit is a classic. A typical lunch I enjoyed last summer (yes, in the South of France, which I will continue to reference/brag about) was a salad with melon and ham. It’s refreshing, light and delicious, but filling: you can still look good in your topless swimsuit but have the energy to frolic about in the Mediterranean after eating this dish.

To get the full effect, you can use whatever greens or vegetables you have on hand as long as you incorporate melon and bacon, ham, or another cured/smoked pork ingredient. I was thrilled to see a recipe for Cool Melon Salad with Hot Bacon on TheKitchn this past week, and I was inspired to pick up a slab of bacon from Stillman’s when we discovered a melon in our CSA box (also from Stillman’s!).

I thought: “What better way to honor the First Melon than with a crown of cured pig innards?”

The recipe is as follows, adapted from TheKitchn:

Melones* and Bacon
4 or 5 strips of smoked bacon, cut into 3″ pieces
1 small cantaloupe
a small handful of arugula or watercress

for the dressing:
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons lemon juice
freshly ground pepper

Cube the melon

Top the cubed melon with the greens and stick in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the ingredients:

  • Whisk the olive oil, honey, and lemon juice (I love making salad dressing in a Pyrex with a baby whisk!)
  • Cook and drain the bacon

Toss the melon and arugula/cress with some of the dressing, to taste. Add the bacon, toss again, and grind some pepper on top.

*I like to pronounce Melons “Melones”, like Gunter does in his “TuttiFruttiSummerLove” song.

With some bread and cheese or for lunch this would be quite enough for 2-4 people, but I didn’t have any bread on hand, and it was feeding trough time, AKA dinner time. I decided to cook up all of the bacon from the slab and make a big batch of Spaghetti alla Carbonara, because I’m a fat kid at heart and a light melon salad really just wasn’t going to cut it, despite my desire to look svelte. The following, from Cook’s Illustrated, is by far my favorite recipe that I’ve found for this delight.

It really, really helps to use fresh eggs in the Carbonara. Please do yourself a favor and buy the freshest, free-range eggs from a local farmer’s market and use them for this dish, for poached eggs, and for hollandaise. They really do make a difference.

I cooked up a whole pound of this stuff, and we enjoyed a serving with the salad and had plenty of leftovers, so it’s a great way to maximize your time spent in a sweltering kitchen: just do it all at once, and you’ll get 3 meals from the effort.

The recipe: (for 1 lb. of pasta)

1/4 cup unsullied olive oil
1/2 lb bacon
1/2 cup dry wine (drink the rest with dinner!)
3 large eggs (FRESH FROM HEN!!!)
3/4 cup Parm (use the good stuff if you can) grated
1/4 cup Romano grated
3 garlic cloves minced into a paste
Salt & Pepper

I’ve simplified the instructions from Cook’s Illustrated, because we all know how persnickety (but good!) they can be.

I think it’s a good idea to assemble all of the ingredients (do your mis-en-place or whatever!) and get the pot of water for the pasta going at the same time. Start the bacon, and by the time you are adding the white whine (heh), you should be able to add the pasta to the pot and have everything timed right.

  • Cook the lb. of Spaghetti however your grandmother, college roommate, or the internet taught you (it’s not rocket science), but err on the side of doing it last because it’s got to be hot hot hot to cook the eggs. When you drain it, you want to toss it immediately with the sauce but reserve some of the cooking liquid just in case.
  • Cook the bacon until crispy in the olive oil over medium heat, about 10 min.
  • Add the wine to the bacon
  • At this point, you should start the pasta in the boiling water
  • Cook the wine down for about 8 min.
  • At this point, whisk together the eggs, cheese, and garlic
  • Drain the pasta and put into a warm bowl. I put the colander in a large heatproof bowl and drain into that to warm it up. Careful!
  • Toss the pasta, IMMEDIATELY, with the egg mixture.
  • At this point, Cook’s wants you to season with flaked sea salt, which I did, but it is not necessary
  • Add the bacon mixture and toss
  • Grind pepper on top
  • Devour
  • Buy a one-piece.

Tomatoes Galore

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Living in an urban environment makes it hard to feel really connected to the food you eat. When I first moved to Boston, I frequented Haymarket, rain, snow, or shine. Haymarket filled a great void for cheap produce in my early years of cooking, but now that I have a little more money to spend, and am not always feeding 20 hungry college aged south park watchers, I can spend a little more on quality ingredients.   I don’t understand the people who criticize Haymarket, produce liquidators play an important role in the reduction of waste in our food system. Ideally, we would not over produce produce, but because we do, places where nearly spent, mass produced goods should be sold a a reduced price for those willing to schlep through the mess of it all.

The Roslindale Farmers market is one of the best farmer’s markets I’ve ever been to. In terms of accessibility, affordability, and quality, I would say it is better than many of the larger and more famous markets (like Seattle’s Pikes place or San Francisco’s Ferry Building) in large cities. California has a long growing season, that’s not in question, but I really love being back in the great food culture of New England. I feel that quality goods are appreciated, and better tasting, when everyone knows there is such a short production period. This year, I am trying my best to overbuy from the market, and bring the ingredients home to preserve. So far, I’ve only had time to blanch & freeze. I hope to can by seasons end.

Last week I discovered the true gem of the Roslindale market at the Allendale Farm stand.  All of the stands have started producing some really quality heirloom tomatoes. My personal favorite is, I think, the Cherokee Purple. I love all of the tomatoes with dark green and purple skin, and thick red flesh with minimal seeds inside. Not so hidden on the back table of the Allendale stand are $5 bags of tomatoes. For the past several weeks I have assumed that these were the second rate duds, probably over ripe, ugly, or just plain boring vine or patio tomatoes. Boy was I wrong! What I found was a nearly 5 lb bag of beautiful Heirlooms, all at different stages of ripeness- perfect for planning my weekly meals. The second week I went to check out this deal, there were still heirlooms, although this week, a little too overripe for my needs.

After an awesome lunch of Wedged lettuce, sliced heirlooms, and homemade blue cheese dressing, I started brainstorming what I would do with the rest of the lot. On Sunday night, I made a tart. Next time I make this, I think I will either just bake the crust, and not the ‘maters, or roast the ‘maters before baking off the tart as a whole. I would also add the mozzarella for the last 20 minutes, rather than have it on there the whole time. Nobody likes dehydrated mozzarella. The basic ingredients are below.

Summer Tomato Tart

Crust
2 cups flour
2 T parmesean
1 t crushed black pepper
6T cold butter, in cubes
Ice water

Mix in the usual pastry crust manner. Refrigerate for 1/2 an hour.

Filling
Sliced heirlooms
red onion
Fresh Mozarella
Basil Leaves, whole
Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil

Slice everything to the same thickness, and arrange within the crust as a sprial.

Bake at 375 for 1 hour.

Work Week Salad

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

If I am blessed with some leisure time on Sunday, meaning that it’s not spent traveling back to the Bean, then I love to make some type of hearty salad to munch on during the work week.  Since I did not have ample time on Sunday, my work week prep took place on Monday and my focus this time was on green lentils.

Green lentil Salad w/ Mushrooms & Thyme
1 C green lentils
1 Celery stalk, roughly choppedgreen_lentils-text408
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves, smashed
2 bay leaves
1/2 package mushrooms, medium chopped
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme, chopped
bunch of scallions, chopped
1 TBS champagne vinegar
olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Put lentils in a pot with celery, carrot, onion, bay, garlic, salt and pepper.  Cover with water and let simmer until lentils are tender (20-30mins) and skim off the foam that appears on the surface.  While lentils are simmering saute the mushrooms with olive oil and freshly chopped thyme. When the lentils are tender, drain and let cool and discard the vegetables and bay leaves.  In a large bowl combine lentils and mushrooms, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil to moisten the mixture and add a splash of champagne or white wine vinegar to awaken all the flavors.  Add the scallions and your work week salad is complete.

This salad is tasty warm or cold, if I have goat cheese on hand i like to sprinkle it on top, but my Man Crow persists it is fine without.

A Real Simple Sandwich

Monday, July 19th, 2010
c/o Real Simple

c/o Real Simple

I love eating sandwiches on the beach.  When I’m in Maine I have to go for the Amatos Italian, but when I stick around the Boston area I need to come up with some sandwich alternatives.  Flipping through the most recent issue of Real Simple I laid my eyes on this beauty pictured above: Salami Sandwich w/ Goat Cheese and Fennel.  I rediscovered my love for salami after the delicious antipasto platter we had at VBar & Mark’s engagement party, and who can deny fennel, goat cheese and arugula!?

Even though this recipe only has about 5 ingredients I tweaked them to make it real simple for me, aka using up the items i had on hand rather than making another trip to the grocery store.  My version was a pita pocket, with grainy dijon mustard, genoa salami, provolone, thinly sliced fennel and green leaf lettuce.  Emily and I enjoyed these bad boys on the beach yesterday along with a whole slew of other tasty treats we had prepared all day Saturday.  Stay tuned for some more beach friendly recipes!

A Very Crow Party

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

As Vbar mentioned in her posts, we had a bit of a celebration this past weekend! In honor of she and her ManCrow’s engagement, we had a bit of a party. And by bit of a party, I mean one hell of a drunken summer festival. By virtue of a strong willing of the gods, and a little luck from Lady Weather, Saturday went of with only a few minor hitches. No one died. There were only a few battle wounds to attest. All-in-All a great success. How many ways can I say I had a blast?!

In true Crow fashion, there was way to much food. It is always better to have too many with leftovers, than not enough to feed everyone. Although, one day it will be nice to figure out exactly how much food 20 people will eat over the course of a night of casual munching, being left with loads’o'leftovers at the end of the evening is still okay in my book.

For Holly’s & my contribution, we decided to honor our great Sicilian lady friend with an antipasto platter, and a grilled fennel & herb salad.

antipastoandsaladHere is the lovely spread! Below you can see the close-ups of our veggie & meat platters

meatveggies

On the platters:

Olives
Marinated Mushrooms- store bought and jazzed up with fresh herbs
Fresh summer Tomatoes
Balsamic Marinated Onions
Roasted Garlic
Roasted Peppers
Pickled Peperoncini w/parsley

Hard Salami
Genoa Salami
Provolone
Prosciutto
Holly’s mega-homemade mustard

I think we are getting the hang of this cooking thing!

Black Bean Burgers

Monday, June 14th, 2010

I was feeling adventurous last week and decided to take another stab at making black bean burgers.  The first attempt wasn’t a major fail, the flavor was good but the consistency didn’t stand up to cooking so there was definitely room for improvement.  To deal with the burger’s crumbly nature i decided to employ the technique of refrigerating the patties for an hour prior to grill time.  The result was a sure win, the burgers held up to the grill heat and I was able to get those pretty grill marks without having them crumble.

Black Bean Burgers
2 16oz cans of black beans drained and rinsedburgerjpg
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 bunch cilantro or parsley, chopped
1 poblano pepper, finely diced
1 egg
1 C bread crumbs
cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper

Toppings: Feta, hot sauce & tomato slice

Puree the black beans (reserving 1/4 of them whole) in a food processor with seasoning, and garlic.  Drizzle in some olive oil and a dash of hot water if the mixture is too dry to blend.  Spoon purred bean mixture into a large bowl and add remaining beans, scallions, pepper, and cilantro.  Stir to combine and then add the egg and enough breadcrumbs to give you the right consistency to form patties out of the mixture.  I was able to make 6 medium sized patties but since these are quite filling, in the future I may make the patties into appetizer size which would yield around 8-10.  Refrigerate patties for at least an hour prior to cooking on the grill or stove top.  Add desired toppings and mow away.

With the black bean burgers under my belt I am anxious to try making some veggie burgers since the ones you buy in the store can be up to $6 for a box of four!  I imagine that the same refrigerator technique would apply with these patties but am not sure what to use as the main filler- any suggestions?  I was thinking a combination of purred veggies and grains but any advice would be useful…

It’s Like a Heatwave!

Monday, June 7th, 2010

I really wanted to try a new baked eggplant recipe that I found in a cookbook, Dishing Up Maine, but with Boston’s recent heatwave there was no way I was turning on any part of my stove to fuel the fire of my 85 degree apartment.  Instead I made some changes to the recipe to make it grilling appropriate and headed to the back porch in search of some cool breeze.

Grilled Eggplant Stacks w/ Random Herb Pesto
Cheese and herb options are really up to the cook, I shared what I used in italics but left the ingredients quite vague in the recipe.

1 large eggplant sliced in 1/2 inch rounds
2-3 tomatoes, thickly sliced (make sure you have the same amount of eggplant and tomato slices)
sliced melting cheese (Brie)
olive oil, salt and pepper
Random Herb Pesto: grind up fresh herbs, toasted nuts, chopped garlic and olive oil in a food processor and season with salt and pepper.  Adding a hodge podge of herbs is a good technique to use when your basil is getting low. (basil, chives, parsley, walnuts)

IMGP1945

Sprinkle both sides of the eggplant with salt and let rest in a strainer or drying rack for 15 minutes.  Dab moisture away with paper towels.  Brush both sides with oil and place on a preheated grill and put the cover down.  After a few minutes check for grill marks and flip.  Spread the pesto on the gilled side and add the tomatoes to the grill.

IMGP1947
Once the tomato slices are quickly grilled on both sides add them to the eggplant and cover with a piece of melting cheese.  Turn the grill on low and shut the cover until the cheese is fully melted.

IMGP1949

These eggplant stacks go great with some grilled bread and a garden salad.  If your kitchen isn’t a bazillion degrees then I would also suggest making some couscous as a side.

Burger Time

Friday, June 4th, 2010

Moving to New York City has proven to be a pretty spectacular choice with one exception-I can’t grill. I don’t know how New Yorkers can honestly enjoy the summer without a charred burger or a crispy grilled pizza. Blasphemy!

So, what’s the next best thing to a burger fresh off the grill? Well, that would be a burger sizzling in the cast iron.  If you recall, Emily posted a great article about cast iron burgers.  Now check out this baby!
IMAG0109

We made the burgers with ground turkey, shallot, garlic, rosemary and a splash of steak sauce. We used Ciabatta rolls and topped them off with a slice of havarti and some avocado slices. Finished up with a fresh side salad and a bottle of Smuttynose and I was in heaven.

Mac & Cheese in the Cast Iron

Friday, May 14th, 2010

This may send readers into carb-overload after Mo’s delicious pasta posts but I have to share this tasty mac and cheese I whipped up in the good ol’ cast iron skillet before it escapes my memory.  I make mac and cheese quite often so I wanted to branch out with my cheese choice to add some variety into my life.  Browsing the dairy case I settled on a block of manchego, a little on the pricey side but I did not feel guilty splurging because it was the only ingredient I needed to buy.    I decided on the cast iron because I don’t use it nearly enough and secondly it makes this meal a one pot creation.

IMGP1819

Mac & Cheese w/ Manchego and Jalapenos
My strategy for making a bechamel or cheese sauce is simple: I wing it.  I follow the same technique but I never measure out quantities, sometimes it comes out perfect and other times it takes a little tweaking.  I start with a couple pads of butter and some olive oil and sautee finely diced onion and minced garlic until softened (for this batch I added some diced jalapenos to compliment the manchego).  Season with salt and pepper and stir in a couple Tablespoons of flour and cook for a minute or two.  Slowly add warmed milk or stock* and whisk to combine the mixture.  Stir in grated cheese and check for consistency.

If the mixture is too thick add additional liquid, you want this to be a little on the soupy side because it will be baking in a warm oven and some of the liquid will evaporate.  Once the cheese sauce is complete, stir in pasta and top with breadcrumbs and additional diced jalapeno.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until the top is crusty.

My cast iron was the perfect size to produce enough food for my man crow and I to eat a hefty portion and have a little leftover for lunch the following day.  Next time I make this version of mac and cheese I would like to add a pinch of cumin for some smokey flavor and top it with freshly chopped cilantro.

*to make this dish on the lighter side I use veggie stock for the liquid combined with a little cream.

Third Season of Grilled Pizza

Monday, April 12th, 2010

The first grilled pizza made it off the grate and for me that signafies the official beginning of the grilling season!  Crows are fond of grilling almost everything (veggie pouches, fish, shrimp, burgers, kabobs, mushroom caps, etc.) but what gets us most excited would have to be pizza.  What started off as a high anxiety learning experience, Miz Emily can vouch for those first attempts back on Custer St. with major dough sticking problems, has now morphed into an easy tradition of sipping wine, deciding on new topping combos and achieving the satisfaction of that perfect flip.

perfect flip- no stickage and beautiful grill marks

perfect flip- no stickage and beautiful grill marks

Usually we grill pizza for a crowd but last week Mo VBar and I got to enjoy our two creations all to ourselves.  We’ve been trying to get alot of these JP Crow dinners in while we can because by the end of the month Mo will be moving to NYC to start a new crow outpost there.

We put on some tunes from brooklynradio.net, decided on our toppings and followed our standby pizza grilling technique outlined in a previous post.  Since we all have similar tastebuds it didn’t take us long to come to a decision:

Pizza #1: garlic oil, mozz, sliced tomatoes, and artichokes topped with a sprinkling of pecorino romano and freshly chopped basil.

Pizza #2: pesto, diced chicken sausage, caramelized onions, diced red pepper and a combination of mozz and goat cheese.  This was a play off a panini that the three of us enjoyed a couple months earlier that proved to be simple and satisfying.  We washed it all down with some Sauvingnon Blanc from one of my favorite wine producers, Root:1.

IMGP1685We were too busy that night to take any pictures of the finished product but here is a grilled pizza i made a couple days later with the leftover half a dough.  For toppings i used fire roasted tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, diced kalamata olives, fresh mozz, pecorino romano and chopped basil.

We’re all anxious to try new and excited pizza toppings and techniques so feel free to share some interesting combos with us!