Dateline: July 8, 2021 Vichyssoise, Just Because

I had a couple of potatoes, a bunch of leeks, and half and half as well as garlic chives....what to make?  Bingo, vichyssoise and salad from the garden.

I had some a couple of weeks ago when out to dinner with Martha and Sal after Martha and I played flute duets.  We went to a french bistro around the corner from them and it was delicious.  SO, I am attempting to duplicate that experience.

 

 

First step, find a suitable recipe.  I found Tony Bourdain's recipe from Les Halles, and I riffed on it.  Didn't have heavy cream, and didn't have 8 leeks, but I muddled through.

Ingredients

3 leeks, white and light green parts, thoroughly cleaned

2 baking potatoes, peeled and cut into smallish cubes

2-3 T unsalted butter

1 quart chicken stock, divided 

1 pt half and half

salt and pepper

freshly grated nutmeg

chopped chives, or garlic chives for garnish

Method

1.  Steam the potatoes until they can be easily pierced with a knife or fork.  Drain and hold aside.

2.  In a pan large enough to hold all the ingredients,  melt the butter and gently saute the leeks.  You want to soften them, but not brown them.  Salt and pepper them as they cook.  When softened, add in the potato cubes and salt and pepper again.  Mix well in the pan and add 2 cups of the stock.  Bring to a gentle simmer and taste for seasoning.  Remember, if you are serving this cold, then season it highly.  If serving it hot, then season less so.

3.  Remove pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly.  Transfer contents of pan into a blender is small batches and blitz until smooth.  Do not over blend, you will end up with wall paper paste.  Pour blender contents into a container that can hold all of the ingredients.  

4.  Mix in the half and half, nutmeg, and any additional salt and pepper.  Thin with the remaining stock as needed.  Some potatoes are starchier than others so you may need all of the extra 2 cups of stock to get the consistency you want.

5.  Chill.  Ladle into bowls and garnish with chopped chives or chopped garlic chives.

Dateline: June 28, 2021 Grilled Salmon, Broccolini, Corn, and Caprese Salad

Deciding what to pull out of the freezer is often a daunting task.  It means rooting down through the layers of animal bits saved for sausage making, the bag of kogi, diving under frozen rib racks and plumbing the depths of the very bottom of each freezer drawer.

Today's find was some lovely salmon steaks.  The weather was good, so the grill got fired up.  Just salt, pepper and olive oil on the salmon and broccoli.  Onto the hot grill went the corn first, followed by the broccolini and finally, the salmon.  A perfect dinner was had.  

The skin on the salmon was beautifully crisped and there were even grill marks on the flesh side to boot!

The caprese salad was using a lovely ripe beefsteak tomato and some fresh mozzarella with basil from the garden.  Summer is here!

 

 

 

 

Dateline: June 14, 2021 Ribs, Corn and Salad

I had a rack of ribs from FD and left over grilled corn from the day before.....(grilled marinated shrimp, corn, asparagus, and salad).

It was a rainy afternoon, so no grilling.  I wanted a spicy rib with a touch of sweetness and a little acid.  This was a tough one to create a rub for, but I figured it out!

Rib Rub

1 T dark chili powder

1 T salt

1 T smoked paprika

1 T Swerve (this is a sugar substitute that is heat stable and measures 1-1 with regular sugar)

1 t ancho chili powder

1 t chipotle chili powder

1 t ground cumin

1 t ground coriander

2 t ground mustard

1/4 t ground allspice

1/4 t white pepper

1/2 t dried thyme

1/2 t ginger powder

1 t black pepper

Additional Ingredient, not in rub, but sprinkled on top of ribs before going into the oven.

~1/4 t Citric Acid or Sour Salt

Method

1.  Mix all ingredients together be sure to crush any lumps.  

2.  Remove membrane from the back side of the rack of ribs.  Use a table knife to start it and a paper towel to pull it back.  It should come off in 1 or 2 large sheets.

3.  Cut any lumps of fat from either surface.  In a pan, put the ribs meat side up.  Spray with cooking spray or rub with oil and generously apply rub.  It is called a rub, so gently rub it into the meat.  Do not neglect the bone edges.  Flip so bone side is up and repeat spray and rub.  The majority should be on the meaty surfaces.

4.  Flip so meat side is up.  Sprinkle ever so lightly some citric acid over the top of the rub.  This supplies an acidic quality, slight, that helps cut the fat of the ribs.   Put into a 350°F oven until an instant read thermometer reads 198-200° when inserted between bones, without touching bone.

5.  Slice into individual ribs, bet your bib out, and chow down. 

 

These were EXCEPTIONAL ribs.  Crunchy, spicy, slight acidic background.  Just delightful.  This was the first time I tried the citric acid on the ribs.  It will not be the last!

Dateline: September 20, 2020 Ribs and Panzanella

olive oil

I love the tail end of summer for the tomatoes alone.  I pulled a rack of baby backs from the freezer and used Penzey's Tsardust Memories rub on them.   I have never used it before and thought I should try it as I keep getting freebie packs with orders.  Shameless plug of Penzey's, they are a fabulous spice store.  They carry all sorts of interesting things, multiple types, are reasonable, and when you weigh price against quality, quality wins every time.  

Ribs

1.  Remove membrane from back with a table knife to start it, and then getting a grip with a paper towel, pull it off as best you can.  You don't have to do this, but as I am going to smoke them, the smoke penetrates better when I do.  Remove any large deposits of fat and save for sausages!

2.  Lightly oil both sides and liberally dust with the spice powder of your choice.  Rub it into every nook and cranny.

Method

I used the 3-2-1 method of smoking.  That is 3 hours at about 225°F, lots of smoke, then wrap them, and put them back on the smoker for 2 hours, and finally, unwrap and get temp up to 325-350 to crisp them up bit.

                   Check out the smoke ring!  Yeah, Baby!

Panzanella Salad

2/3 loaf of yesterday's bread, sliced into thick slabs                 and drizzled with olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, grated or pressed

1 -1.5 lbs of nice ripe tomatoes, cut into bite sized pieces

1 sweet onion, sliced into half moons

lots of basil leaves, torn

lots of parsley leaves, torn

salt

pepper

cumin

smoked paprika

red wine vinegar

Method

1.  Grill the bread until slightly charry and crisp.  Cut into bite sized pieces and put into a bowl large enough to hold everything.

2.  Top the bread with the onions, then the parsley, then the tomatoes, then the salt and pepper, cumin, and paprika, add the red wine vinegar and mix well.  Allow to sit so the bread absorbs the vinegar and tomato juices.  After an hour or so, taste a little bit.  Add more vinegar, salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil over salad, add torn basil, and mix well.  Let sit, and taste again.  Adjust according to your tastes.  You can use sherry vinegar instead of red wine.  I like the pungency of the wine vinegar.

Nota Bene:  The ribs were incredibly tender and juicy.  I really liked the play of the sweetness of the rub with the ribs.  They were not overly sweet, just a touch along with some heat.  A very nice combo.  I may need to buy a big bag of Tsardust Memories.

The salad was wonderful.  I did need to add more salt.  I really like the crunch of the bread and don't care for the ones that homogeneous much of tomato pulp and bread mush.

Dateline: September 3, 2020 Fresh Yellowfin Tuna

As luck is running these days, there was a knock at the door last night just after we finished dinner.  At the door was Eugene with a BEAUTIFUL loin of yellowfin tuna which he caught the night before.  It never fails, I order swordfish and Eugene will show up with a big hunk of tuna either that day or the next.  It's a beautiful thing.

I decided to grill it and put it on a nicoise salad of sorts.

Ingredients

Tuna steaks

olive oil

salt and pepper

Handful of yellow pear tomatoes, halved

2 yellow beefsteak tomatoes, cubed

jicama, cubed

1/2 sweet onion sliced thinly

3 waxy potatoes, steamed and sliced

green beans, steamed and cut into pieces

1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced

1/4 fresno pepper, minced

1/2 orange sweet bell pepper, cubed

herbage, I used parsley, basil, mint, chives, and thyme, chopped finely

sherry vinegar

olive oil

Method

1.  Prep tuna, lightly oil both sides and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

2.  Light grill get really roaring.  When it reaches a temp of about 400°F, damp down vents, and clean grates.

3.  Assemble salad douse liberally with sherry vinegar and mix well.

3.  Grill tuna 2 minutes on a side.  No more!  If you have thin steaks, then only 1.5 minutes.  You can always heat them up more, but once they are toast, they are done!

4.   Slice enough tuna for the salad and reserve any remaining steaks.  Add olive oil to salad, as well as salt and pepper.  Toss well.  Add tuna sliced on top and serve.