Monthly Archives: March 2010

03.25.10
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New England Boiled Dinner (NOT)

…nothing was boiled

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The Fatted Calf newsletter contained an interesting entry the Friday before St. Patrick’s Day. Of course they’re pushing their corned beef brisket, but for me it conjured up memories of the many New England Boiled Dinners I had enjoyed over the years. Most especially 2006, when I thoroughly researched both making corned beef and the best way to cook a New England Boiled Dinner. I still haven’t made a corned beef myself — I know good meat people who have been making and selling corned beef for years — but the making of the dinner is pure pleasure.

Cooking corned beef is pretty simple, and the Fatted Calf “recipe” was pretty simply stated (I did have to look up the definition of a low oven — 250 to 300 degrees — 250 being very low, 300 being low):

from the Fatted Calf newsletter March 12

Cooking Corned Beef
You’ve done it. You planned ahead. You remembered to order your Corned Beef Brisket from Fatted Calf in time for St. Patrick’s Day. You lugged it home in a market bag overflowing with squeaky heads of cabbage, buttery-fleshed potatoes, elegant carrots, stately leeks and bundles of fragrant herbs.  You also bought some bacon, just in case.
You have your casserole that is deep and wide enough to accommodate your hunk of beef.  Into your cooking vessel you toss a leek roughly chopped, a few carrots peeled but left whole, a clove or three of garlic, a stalk of celery and sprigs of thyme and parsley.  Atop this aromatic bed you nestle your corned beef brisket and then cover it all with water and perhaps a generous splash of beer. You place all of this in a low oven to simmer until tender.
You wait and wait.  Waiting is hungry business.  Good thing you picked up some of those beer links to nosh on.
Three hours have passed and when you prod your brisket with a skewer it is tender and yielding.  The potatoes are boiled, buttered and showered with parsley.  The cabbage you have decided to sauté with the bacon (which it turns out you really did need).  Mustard and horseradish wait patiently in their respective bowls.  The only worry is, “will there be enough left for sandwiches tomorrow?”
See you at the market!

Their newsletter worked. I bought their corned beef brisket and I must say it was lovely.

The first element of cooking a New England Boiled Dinner is inviting four or more folks over to help eat it. Even a small brisket is way more than two can eat. Mine was 3 1/2 pounds. I ordered a Mariquita Mystery Box that week, so I had some interesting vegetables on hand, the rest I picked up at the Farmers Market Saturday morning. Continue reading →

03.23.10
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Barndiva re-revisited

Yeah, again.

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Anytime we find ourselves in the vicinity of Healdsburg, we must pay a visit, and Barndiva has yet to disappoint.

Not that there aren’t other excellent restaurants in Healdsburg, there are dozens of them, spanning every price range, but ever since we discovered Barndiva, we’ve been drawn back. They recently started publishing an email newsletter, “Wednesday’s at the Barn.” I mentioned it to the host, described it as… delicious. He said, “Thanks, my mother writes it.”

The first paragraph of this week’s letter sums up her feeling:

“For someone who’s pretty much obsessed with taste ~ the food and drink varieties ~ _ironically that’s not the taste I’m asked about all the time. More than any single dish people have enjoyed in the restaurant, or single object they’ve purchased in the shop, it’s been the overall aesthetic of Barndiva and The Studio ~ the way everything is put together in both buildings ~ that has generated the greatest force field of interest over the years.”

I must say, I have similar feelings, though I make no contribution, other than showing up from time to time. Just being in and around the place is a treat; the food is a bonus. Even the parking lot is beautiful.

In any case, here is last Sunday’s brunch:

amuse bouche: coffeecake, butter, berries

amuse bouche: coffeecake, butter, berries

Carol’s duck confit hash with poached eggs, hollandaise sauce

Carol’s duck confit hash with poached eggs, hollandaise sauce

Sarah’s omelet with brie, vegetables

Sarah’s omelet with brie, vegetables

My sliders

My sliders

The “chips” were amazing; crispy edges and creamy centers, the buns tender and warm, without being mushy. Yum.

These are but three of the seven or eight dishes on the brunch menu; others, ordered by our neighbors were equally well presented and no doubt as tasty. Next time, I’ll do my best not to write about Barndiva.

03.18.10
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Cuban Black Beans

… with rice and kale

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The New York Times Magazine recipes are often hits, sometimes misses, sometimes rained out. Generally, I save them in my “to cook” file where they can lie in waiting for weeks or months or be deleted (rained out). But sometimes I see one that I just have to cook… right now. This is that.
I had the black beans on hand and I had a ham bone in the freezer from my Super Bowl Party spiral ham. I went out and got a green bell pepper and was good to go. I halved the recipe as we are, after all, two. Not to mention that my ham bone was smallish.
On this day, my car was in the shop and I had to pick it up around 5pm, so I cooked the beans in the afternoon, got the car, did some prep (chop onion, jalapeno, bacon, garlic), sat for a while in front of the evening news with a small Scotch (my normal routine) while waiting for Carol to get home on the bus. I started cooking seriously at 7pm.
The instructions are pretty step-by-step easy. I made the sofrito and got the bean pot going. The recipe said “serve over white rice.” How boring is that? My brilliant idea (I must say) was to cook the rice with kale, providing a hearty body and fiber to stand up and compliment the beans. I used the same spices and herbs as are in the beans in the rice dish (cumin, oregano, black pepper).

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By the time the beans came to a boil, the rice was cooking, so they finished at the same time. While that was going on, I made a little side dish of beets and boiled egg. (Should have cut the beets in wedges, rather than slices, would have looked better.)
Dinner at 8. I served the beans and rice in a bowl side-by-side rather than beans-over-rice. Carol mixed hers all up and polished it off in fine style, while I portioned my beans and rice by the forkful. In any case, it made a hearty and tasty meal. That NYTM recipe is a keeper. Continue reading →

03.17.10
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Just a Steak

Carol’s brother, Alan, called about 6:15. “Yo Alan, what’s up?”steak_to_grill

“You cookin’ dinner?”

“Yep.”

“What’s for dinner?”

“Drunken Steak. A beautiful boneless New York Strip.”

“What’s a Drunken Steak? You gonna grill it?”

“It’s marinated in a cup of light rum, half-cup of soy sauce, some brown sugar, chopped garlic, ginger, scallion… that’s about it… then dry it and grill it. It’s a beautiful evening for grilling.”

“Sounds good, I’ll have to try it sometime. Is the Mrs. home yet?”

“Just walked in the door. Heeeerrrrrre’s Carol.”

I went on to light the fire and get to grilling. I threw on a sliced potato, as well, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper. When I returned, Carol had set the table, opened a nice bottle of 2006 Cline Ancient Vines Mourvedre and made a salad of sliced Cherokee Purple tomato and fresh mozzarella.

steak_grilled

“Why are you taking a picture of that? It’s just a steak.”

“Never know when I might need a picture of a steak.”

“Well, I’m hungry and you’re holding up dinner.”

“Besides, its not ‘just a steak.’ Its a grass fed, Marin Sun Farms boneless New York steak… and the first grilled steak of the year.”

“You grilled a flank steak when Tom was here.”

“OK, the first grilled steak of the Spring, in the twilight, not the dark… warm, not cold out. Besides I grilled this lovely asparagus, definitely the first grilled asparagus of the year.”

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Dinner was served. “This is really good steak,” said Carol.

03.16.10
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Great Balls o’ Lamb

Greek-Style Braised Lamb Meatballs

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Brother Tom is in the food service industry so he gets all the trade publications. He sent me a bunch of meatball recipes from Restaurant and Institutions Magazine (what a melodious name!) and asked me to give this one a test drive as I had served goat meatballs when he last visited. Carol is a lamb lover, so this was very appropriate. I got the ground lamb from Marin Sun Farms at the Farmers Market. Lucky it’s almost spring; hothouse tomatoes and mint are available at the Market, as well.

Apropos of many restaurant recipes… this has lots of ingredients in small quantities. I guess a restaurant always has cooked rice, lamb broth, fresh mint and dill on hand. I had to break out the rice cooker and make a batch for the three tablespoons and buy a whole bunch of mint for two tablespoons. One tablespoon of dill? Fahgeddaboutit. I used one teaspoon dried dill. Lamb broth? Nope, I used demi-glace gold. Also — oops — I put all the olives in the balls instead of reserving some for garnish. No matter. The baking time seemed right… balls browned; gravy bubbly and thick. Yum.

The labor was worth it as the balls were very good and very rich. I served them in a bowl with the gravy, chopped tomato and garnish as noted. C thought I should serve over rice or noodles. Maybe, but they were good straight, accompanied by a fine, big salad and good bread.

All was not lost, as I mixed up the leftover rice, salad, and garnish to make a rice salad for lunch the next day.

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For this recipe – for all recipes as far as I’m concerned – it’s really important to get your mise en place together before starting. For the balls themselves, everything goes into one bowl and gets mixed up, but the sauce ingredients come into play one or two at a time. Here are breadcrumbs, herbs, spices in the big bowl. Lurking beneath them are the bread cubes and cream. Chopped olives and the famous three tablespoons of rice are in the smaller bowl.

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I’m starting to make the balls. Pinch off a batch of lamb mixture and roll between your palms. It helps to wet your hands from time to time between balls. Continue reading →

03.12.10
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Noodle Chicken Salad

Asian noodles and sauce meet local vegetables and chicken.

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I’ve made a number of noodle salads over the years – love ‘em – but I don’t have a clear favorite. For summer the cucumber orange version is good, but that’s for summer. It’s February and I have some leftover (LO) roast chicken just waiting to be made into a noodle salad. I thought I’d break down my noodle salad recipes and maybe invent a new way to go.

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THE NOODLES
What I have on hand right now is:
Eden Organic Udon whole grain – thin, flat noodles – from Big Apple, a mostly Asian grocery in Polk Gulch.w_nb_somen copy
Dynasty Maifun Rice Sticks – from Big Apple – these are good. Come 3 “pads” in a 6 ounce package. Figure one pad per person.
Somen Noodles: (Available at Whole Food) These thin white noodles, made of wheat, are related to udon noodles but are noticeably thinner — a delicate wisp of a noodle that still manages to retain a distinct texture and delicious taste. They are divided — within the cellophane packaging itself — into neat little bundles, each bound with a ribbon. I’ve used these in the soup-like dishes, Noodle Beef and Noodle Chicken.
And of course, if I’m in the mood, I can make some noodles in the Udon shape.

THE SAUCE
The Asian sauces use the following ingredients – not all at once:

rice vinegar (not seasoned)
cider vinegar
Chinese black vinegar
Asian fish sauce
vegetable oil
sesame oil
chile sesame oil
chile sauce, like sriracha
soy sauce
tamari sauce
oyster sauce
lime juice
fresh orange juice
sake
garlic, minced
grated fresh ginger
sugar
salt Continue reading →