Slaws

Cabbage is an under-appreciated summer veggie. Everyone gets excited about heirloom lettuce greens, but cabbage can be pretty remarkable too. They're preposterously cheap, something like 50 cents a pound. I love cole slaws for snacking on. The shredded cabbage is such a great canvas for all kinds of flavors, and the crispy-coolness makes such a nice pallet cleansing snack. I like anything I can eat a massive bowl of and feel good later.

I'm noming on some classic cole slaw now- shredded Savoy cabbage and grated carrot with a very very small amount of a dressing made with mayo, yogurt and white balsamic vinegar. I also put preposterous amounts of pepper in it. It's crunch and spicy and cold; it's like the savory equivalent of a popsicle.

I also made a slaw from Fine Cooking with cabbage, jullienned mango, raddichio, and sriracha, and it was So. Good. Especially with a gingerey tuna burger on top. I especially love how, unlike a salad, I can make a big giant bowl of it and eat it for several days without it getting soggy.

Swiss Chard is pretty.

This is a pretty great time for the farmer's market. Not a ton of tomatoes, or eggplant, or even zucchini yet but there are huge piles of leafy green things everywhere. I can barely fit it in my fridge, but of course I've been buying a lot of it. I love the rainbow Swiss chard. It's like spinach, but a little firmer with an earthier flavor. The bright colored stalks are just too cool to pass up. I've taken to keeping it in a vase on my coffee table, like flowers.

The first time I made this, I cut it into big pieces and sauteed it in olive oil, like spinach. This was ok. It took a pretty significant amount of time, and by the time it was soft enough, the whole mess was kind of brown.

Blanching before is the way to go. It does mean an extra pot to clean, but whatever. I cut the leaves off the stalks and washed those a few times (it's always filthy), and I diced up the stalks. I blanched the leaves for about 2 minutes, and did the stalks for about 5 minutes.


I soaked some golden raisins in the boiling water, and toasted up some pine nuts. I breifly considered adding bacon, decided that was unnecessary. Maybe next time. I sauteed some garlic in some olive oil, added the chopped up, blanched stalks, the blanched greens, the raisins and the pine nuts, ans seasoned with lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Chickpeas with Chorizo

I love any dish made up of beans, some vegetables, and a little meat. Cassoulet is a good example, and a dish I make with canellini beans, kale and hot Italian sausage. Right now, the Spanish permutation is my favorite.

At home, there is an really great Tapas restaurant called Ole Tapas, inconspicuously hidden in a poorly lit strip mall between a Dunkin Donuts and a liquor store. The quality of the food (and drinks) has consistently been better than the more well-known Jose Garces restaurants in Philadelphia. Not that they aren't great, but Ole Tapas does a phenomenal job on vegetables. My favorite is a platter of roasted seasonal vegetables.

My second favorite is a little bowl of chickpeas and chorizo. Maybe because chorizo is the greatest thing ever. Better than bacon. I don't usually set out to recreate things from restaurants, but this isn't exactly restaurant food. After two attempts I've got a version I like quite a bit.
I sauteed a small, thinly sliced onion, added chorizo cut into 1/4 inch half circles, a gratuitous amount of smoked Spanish paprika, a much more conservative pinch of saffron, and a dash of cayenne. I added in a can diced tomatoes, drained, and a can of chickpeas. I stirred in one bunch of spinach, and covered to simmer. I like the fully cooked chorizo, not the hard, cured stuff (although that's pretty amazing as well). I made it once with two sausages (1/2 lb) and once with one (1/4 lb) and I think I like it with just the one but its pretty flexible.

Cauliflower

Cauliflower was the last thing I developed a love for. I always thought of it as a washed out, sub par version of broccoli. But the beauty of cauliflower is its versatility.

I had to buy a very very large head of cauliflower. This was a big commitment. This means I'm going to eat many different cauliflower containing dishes. First up was a pretty classic Indian stir fry with cauliflower- I sauteed onions, garlic and diced carrots, and stirred in some spices. I added cauliflower in florets, stirred, and cooked covered for a surprisingly long time, somewhere between 20 and 25 minutes. Then, stirred in frozen peas and garam masala.

Next, I wanted to try a pasta dish from Fine Cooking- the recipe called for orrichette, roasted cauliflower and cherry tomatoes, and arugula. I really love doing this with pasta- adding tons of a really sturdy kinda vegetable so that the bulk of the dish comes from veggies, not pasta. Artichokes and zucchini are good for this. This dish was really good- I used spinach, because arugula seems to be illegal in southern Virginia, I used bacon instead of prosciutto because, come on, and I halved the cherry tomatoes even though they said to leave them whole. It was a good choice.

Tonight I made an Indian vegetable curry stew (I just love Indian when it's cold outside, and the high has been in the 30's). I basically just put in everything in my fridge- onions, celery, garlic, carrots in round slices, cauliflower, canned tomatoes, a diced potato, chickpeas, some leftover cooked collard greens and frozen peas. I might have gotten a little carried away, but with a little bit of chicken broth and lots of hot curry and cumin, it made a really amazing warm, happy winter stew.

With the rest, I'll either try a cauliflower gratin with tomatoes and parmasean and pine nuts, or I'll just roast it. Roasted cauliflower is amazing.

"Your face is depressing."

Over break, I cooked dinner for a some family friends. We started with smoked trout and champagne cocktails, then a salad of shaved fennel, arugula and oranges, then braised short ribs over mashed potatoes with roasted broccoli. For dessert we had poached pears with whipped cream and amaretto cookies. It was a menu I was pleased with- a rich appetizer that had some good protien to it, a crisp light salad, a meat-potato-vegetable combo (good in theory, the broccoli needed help) and a fruit dessert that was more elevated than a fruit cup, more seasonal than a sorbet. With a few adjustments, I'd make almost the same meno again.

A friend of mine from high school was there. "Do you cook, at school?" she asked. "Oh yeah, of course". Why would I not? What kind of a question is that? Do you eat at school?

"Do you have dinner parties??" Umm. No. What? For whom? I launched into my speech about my teeny tiny kitchen, and how I'll make soup Saturday afternoon for the week, and often roast chickens Sunday night, saving most of it for the 4 other dishes I'll get out of it...

"It's kind of depressing, to cook for just yourself."

You know how sometimes, you have no idea what to say at the time and you keep thinking of the things you wish you'd said?

I think it's depressing to think that cooking is just a party trick, and not the way that you feed yourself. I think it's depressing to think that you can only cook if there are four other people involved, that you alone aren't worth the effort. I think it's depressing if the only time you eat very good food is when it's immediately followed by a bill being dropped at your table. I think it's depressing to eat mass produced, prepared, pre packaged food that you know nothing about. I think it's depressing to always be either trying to tell someone how you want your meal prepared or resigning yourself to whatever they churn out. I think it's depressing to pay $20 for a mediocre meal that cost the restaurant $5 to make.

I'm back to my little apartment at school, and before I left I did a very good job of using up everything in my fridge. I came home to plenty of space to fill with groceries. Last night I made an Indian- style lentil soup, with green lentils (that I brought back from France) a piece of local Virginia bacon, regular mirepoix, lots and lots of Indian spices (cumin, corriander, cinnamon, cayenne, a little ginger..), half beef broth/ half water, and yogurt and cilantro on top. I've made lentil soup a lot. This one wins. I had that with stir fried cauliflower and green peas with garam masala. For dessert, I broiled some slices of grapefruit with vanilla, sugar and caramom and ate them hot out of the oven with yogurt.

I wouldn't have made that for dinner at home- for one thing, my mom doesn't like Indian food. Also, that's an appetizer and a side dish. Cooking alone is amazing. I love that I could eat two vegetable dishes and cheese. I could eat brushetta, hummus and olives. I could eat soup 10 days in a row.

I know it's sad, I don't have dinner parties. I have food.

Chicken Parts

I've been anticipating learning to cut a whole chicken into pieces for a long time. For one thing, I love playing with large pieces of meat. I would be pretty happy being a butcher. I find the idea of buying an entire animal and cutting it into pieces to use much more appealing than buying a package of boneless skinless breasts one day, a package of thighs the next week, and a big carton of chicken broth every time I go to the store. I love making my own stock. Everything is better.

This weekend, I'm having people over for dinner and as I was looking through recipes for inspiration, the one that involved taking apart a chicken was the most appealing. Chicken is an obvious choice, and while I love eating a one-in, skin on thigh, I know that a lot of people don't. A whole chicken gives you a natural mix so everyone gets what they want. I've also heard that cutting up a chicken yourself yields better chicken than buying the same pieces.

I was nervous about taking this on, since I'd committed to the meal, bought these two chickens, and had arranged to serve it to people (people I've never cooked for) and I was attempting something I'd never done and been warned was difficult. But at the very least, I would still have chicken, and even if it was hacked up and weird, it's going into a stew.

Cutting up the birds went perfectly. The cuts all went along natural delineations, bones popped out of joints effortlessly. Taking out the breastbone was a challenge, but once that was done, even de-boning and splitting the breast was easy. Now I have a big pile of neatly cut up chicken parts and a big pot of stock simmering on the stove.

Paella

Tonight, I made paella. It's wonderful and easy and cheap and it makes everyone happy. I used shrimp and andouille sausage, but lots of things work. Combinations of seafood are common (like, maybe shrimp, clams and mussels) and they look really striking. I think having a few shrimp (maybe like 2 or 3 per person) and a decent amount of sausage is a good way to stretch it out. Chorizo or spicy Italian sausage are good as well. Or, you could do chicken and sausage, or chicken and shrimp. A quick epicurious search pulls up vegetarian paella (white beans and swiss chard, asparagus and sugar snaps), a turkey paella, even rabbit and artichoke. Snails are another traditional component.

Paella is a Spanish rice dish that is supposed to be cooked in a very thin, some would say very cheap, pan. Purists will insist that the title "Paella" requires a crunchy, almost burnt crust on the bottom of the pan. It's become a recurring theme in Top Chef (the TV show) for a contestant to make what they call paella. In most cases, they've used the high quality pans provided for them, and thus have produced a nice, evenly heated, perfectly cooked pan full of rice. This angers Chef Tom Collichio. In a few cases, the contestant has pulled this off (see: Ilan, Season 2, individual paellas, cooked in serving dishes, and not actual cookware. Clever, or lucky?). When this has happened, all the judges basically get off on this magnificent burnt rice. Padma Lakshmi, judge and host, delights in proding the crunchy bits with her fork, like an ethnic, stoner version of Amelie cracking the top of her creme brule, and she looks up and informs the viewers at home "the rice is soooo crunchy, you guys!"

But anyways. My "paella" did not have the crunchy bottum. I don't care for burnt rice, myself. I chopped up about 1 cup of onion and sauteed that till it was a little browned. I added in minced garlie (2 cloves), a big pinch of saffron and about 1/2 teaspoon of smoked spanish paprika. I used roasted red peppers from a jar, so I diced them and added them after the spices. (You'd add diced fresh bell pepper with the onions.) I poured in 2 cups of chicken broth (fish stock is good too), 1 cup of short-to-medium grain rice and an andouille sausage, halved and sliced. You bring the broth to boil, then lower the heat and cooked with the lid on for 15 minutes, till the rice is mostly cooked. Then I added the shrimp- I just layed them on top of the rice and pushed them into it so they were in the rice but not covered. If the rice looks dry, add more broth. Cover again and cook on very low heat till the shrimp are pink.

If you were using chicken, you would brown in in the pan before doing anything else, cooking it about halfway. Then, you'd add it with the rice and broth, letting it cook the rest of the way. Clams or mussels you'd add with the rice and broth. If you're using uncooked sausage, cook it with the onions and peppers. If (like I did) you havve cooked sausage, just add it with the rice so the flavor will infuse.

Saffron and Spanish Paprika are pretty strongly associated with paella. Saffron is amazingly expensive, and if I hadn't helped myself to my mom's supply, I'm sure I would not be using it in my own kitchen. I've made this with a little tumeric in place of saffron and been quite happy with the results. I think I even called it "Paella", not "Seafood and Sausage Rice Dish with Eclectic Blend of Spices and Without Bottom-Crust". It's very flexible- a 2:1 liquid:rice, as much meat or seafood as you like (or, as much as you have), and whatever vegetables seem appropriate (red or green bell peppers, tomato, green bean, peas, artichokes, asparagus...) This is a good dish for using vegetables that maybe aren't as great as they could be, whether they're canned or frozen or just leftover, because they'll be cooking in a really flavorful broth.

Roasting

I love making roast chicken, especially when it's cold outside. It looks gorgeous and it makes my apartment smell yummy. And you can do plenty of stuff with the chicken, including making stock. I got a chicken at the Christmas farmer's market yesterday. This is my first local chicken. I've been buying the organic free range chickens at the grocery store, even though it's a little more expensive, but considering I get like 4 or 5 meals out of it, it seems worthwhile to start with better quality chicken.

I rubbed the inside and outside of my little chicken with salt and sat it in my fridge all day. I rubbed it with canola oil and roasted it at 425, upside down for half an hour, then flipped back over for 15 minutes.

I also love roasting vegetables. Someone reminded me that, maybe a few months ago, I said cauliflower was the last thing I had yet to developed a taste for. I love roasting cauliflower; I love the browned, slightly caramelized outside that brings out that nuttiness. At the farmer's market, there was a spread of broccoli, white cauliflower and purple cauliflower. I am a sucker for heirloom-y, different looking vegetables. In the summer, this mostly concerns tomatoes- I love the wonky looking ones with weird protrusions and stripes. But i absolutely had to get a little of each, so I'd have a pile of green, white and purple roasted veggies. Thanks to my P.O.S oven, they ended up a little more roasted than planned. Still delicious, still kind of awesome looking-


I mean, seriously! That purple is insane! I was worried the color wouldn't be vibrant and awesone after blasting the shit out of it in a 450 degree oven, but that weird Cauliflower From Neptune color just got better.

(Random aside- on Top Chef, four teams had to prepare dishes based on "Old", "New", "Borrowed" or "Blue". Obviously blue is the hardest. How bad ass would it have been if they'd found piles of purple cauliflower and made some blue-violet cauliflower puree, and maybe a blue-cheese stuffed piece of meat? Really, they should have called me)

Oranges! So many oranges! 400 ORANGES!!!

I have, somehow, managed to acquire a huge box of oranges, the kind sold by high school fundraisers. There are So. Many. Of them. In 10 days, I'll be going home for about 3 weeks. It is my goal to make as big a dent in this stockpile of citrus before then. One orange has about 65 calories, some fiber, and all your vitamin C. I don't think it would be possible to eat too many oranges. I guess I'll find out.

First up, my new favorite drink- the Bronx Cocktail
1 1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz both dry and sweet vermouth
1 1/2 oz fresh orange juice
dash orange bitters

Next, some kind of salad. I really love cutting oranges or grapefruit into sections (or "supremes") and I'm going to get a lot of practice. I want to make a salad of orange supremes, mache, sliced radicchio and toasted pecans. I'll make up a dressing of orange juice, sherry vinegar and olive oil.

I've also found an interesting salad on Fine Cooking- thinly sliced red onion, fennel bulb, and orange segments are tossed with olive oil, lemon juice and mint. Or, stacking in pretty little layers could make for a glamorous presentation. Stay tuned.

Next I'll try this recipe where you throw whole slices of oranges, pith and peel and all, into a pot with chicken thighs and broth, where they cook down and thicken the broth.

This weekend, I'm going to make some version of duck a l'orange. I'm pretty excited about it. It's such a classic, and I don't think anything can go wrong with duck.

Another wonderful thing to do with fresh oranges is Orange Chicken, the fried food-court staple with the syrupy coating. When this has just been made, and the coating is still crisp and hot and the sauce has that fresh-squeezed goodness, it's pretty mindblowing.

I just can't think of any desserts....

caramelized onions

So, yesterday, I made one of the tastiest things I've made in a while. I made a personal pizza with caramelized onions, baby spinach, gruyere and parmesan, and prosciutto. No I'm really serious, it was the best pizza that I can remember having. And I used some shitty store bought crust, and my grocery store doesn't even have Bobili.

Caramelized onions are fucking amazing and they make everything better. It's especially nice when you cut the onions radially. Peel, cut in half, cut of the ends, and cut parallel to the core at different angles to make lotrs of long thin strands. Cook with just a little bit of oil and some salt over medium-low heat, stirring a lot. Don't be afraid of carring them a little as long as they don't actually burn.

And seriously, they make everything better. Dice them up and stir them into rice or pasta, even. Every sandwich is improved with caramelized onions. My brother loves homemade philly cheesesteaks with caramelized onions. Grilled cheese with provolone, mustard and caramelized onions is the greatest drunk food ever.