Superbowl Foods!

Are you ready for some football???????

I’m not.  I’m Canadian and football really isn’t a big part of our “culture”.  We don’t have Friday night football games in high school.  I don’t know ANYONE who goes to football games.  We’re a country of hockey lovers and to be honest I don’t think I’ve ever been to a hockey game.  Go figure.

I know very little about football. Here’s a quick summary of what I do know:
1. Tom Brady is a hottie
2. Tom Brady’s hottie status is brought out even more by those tight little pants football players have to wear
3. Tom Brady is possibly engaged to Gisele
4. Tony Romo is dating Jessica Simpson
5. This year Arizona and Pittsburgh are in the Superbowl (I had to look that one up)

While I know little about football I do get that the Superbowl is a big deal. And where there’s a big deal there’s food. Now from what I understand superbowl chow often involves chili, guacamole, Buffalo wings and various things to be dipped. Not bad. But why follow the crowd? If I were having a superbowl party these would be my picks…

Sticky Sesame Wings

(Image from Epicurious)

Stuffed Potato Skins with Chicken, Onions and Salsa-Sour Cream

(Image from Whole Foods)

Blue Cheese and Caramelized Shallot Dip

(Image from Epicurious)

Spicy Cheddar-Jack Cauliflower Dip

(Image from Whole Foods)

Shrimp and Bacon Deviled Eggs

(Image from MyRecipes.com)

Spicy Iced Tea Punch

(Image from Whole Foods)

Yummy Things on the Web – The Bacon Explosion

(From the NY Times)

I love Wednesday.  I know it’s hump day but it’s so easy to get over the “hump” when all of the newspapers have their food sections!  Out of habit I always check the NY Times Dining Section first.  I love my weekly dose of Bittman.  I enjoy a scathing review by Bruni.  And I generally like knowing what’s happening on the NYC restaurant scene.

When I came across this article and recipe AND video I knew that it was worth sharing.  The article explores the phenomenon behind The Bacon Explosion aka “the BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes.”  Brilliant.  It’s essentially 4 lbs of pork consisting of 2 lbs of bacon and 2 lbs of sausage.  The bacon is woven throughout the sausage.  How INTENSE is that?

I can’t really do this recipe justice so just go ahead and read the article.  Apparently the recipe has been featured on over 16,000 websites.  I guess add me to the list.

While I love pork I can’t say that I’ll be making this anytime soon.  It’s one of those things that I just want a bite of.  I want to go to someone’s house where they are serving this and just have a nibble.  I couldn’t imagine having this as a meal.

Clearly this is not vegetarian friendly!

Here’s what others have to say about this…
BBQ Addicts
Slashfood

Bacon Explosion

Adapted from Jason Day and Aaron Chronister

Time: About 3 hours

2 pounds thick-cut sliced bacon

1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage, casings removed

3 tablespoons barbecue rub

3/4 cup barbecue sauce.

1. Using 10 slices of bacon, weave a square lattice like that on top of a pie: first, place 5 bacon slices side by side on a large sheet of aluminum foil, parallel to one another, sides touching. Place another strip of bacon on one end, perpendicular to the other strips. Fold first, third and fifth bacon strips back over this new strip, then place another strip next to it, parallel to it. Unfold first, third and fifth strips; fold back second and fourth strips. Repeat with remaining bacon until all 10 strips are tightly woven.

2. Preheat oven to 225 degrees or light a fire in an outdoor smoker. Place remaining bacon in a frying pan and cook until crisp. As it cooks, sprinkle bacon weave with 1 tablespoon barbecue rub. Evenly spread sausage on top of bacon lattice, pressing to outer edges.

3. Crumble fried bacon into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle on top of sausage. Drizzle with 1/2 cup barbecue sauce and sprinkle with another tablespoon barbecue rub.

4. Very carefully separate front edge of sausage layer from bacon weave and begin rolling sausage away from you. Bacon weave should stay where it was, flat. Press sausage roll to remove any air pockets and pinch together seams and ends.

5. Roll sausage toward you, this time with bacon weave, until it is completely wrapped. Turn it so seam faces down. Roll should be about 2 to 3 inches thick. Sprinkle with remaining barbecue rub.

6. Place roll on a baking sheet in oven or in smoker. Cook until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on a meat thermometer, about 1 hour for each inch of thickness. When done, glaze roll with more sauce. To serve, slice into 1/4-

to- 1/2-inch rounds.

Yield: 10 or more servings.

(From the NY Times)

Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo

Let’s go right ahead and file this one under not-so-delicious.  I mean, even the picture is wonky looking!

This one comes from The New York Times which tends to do pretty decent recipes.  I can say with confidence I definitely had a hand in this one not turning out as great as it could have been BUT I also think there may have been some recipe testing issues.  Maybe, just maybe.

I’ve mentioned this before but I have a love of Southern food.  I’ve never BEEN to South before so everything I know about Southern food comes from restaurants in NYC and reading books and articles on the subject.  And I’ll be the first to admit that Paula Deen holds a special place in my heart with all her bacon fat-laden Southern cooking. .. yummmmm.  So when I see recipes for things like gumbo I get all excited and want to give it a go.  Especially when the recipe is accompanied by an endearing article.  Damn you NY Times and how you play with my emotions.

When I saw this recipe I thought that it had all the makings for deliciousness.  It’s gumbo!  Gumbo combines many of my favourite things.  Shrimp? Check! Okra? Check!  Sausage? Check! Perfection!  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary with this recipe so I went for it.  Right off the bat the recipe mentions that you can substitute Andouille sausage for Chorizo.  Living in Toronto I rarely come across Andouille.  I’m sure that if I really thought about it or posted something on Chowhound I could get an answer but Chorizo was just soooo easy to find.  That was the only change that I made.

The end result was not “stew-y” enough.  There was some sauce to it but as you can see in the not-so-pretty photo above there just wasn’t enough liquid. The other thing that didn’t work was the sausage.  It left the whole dish with an “off” meat-y taste.  I can’t really describe it.  It almost made the dish taste too much like iron – if that makes sense.  When I took leftovers the next day I picked out all of the sausage so that I could avoid that taste.  And I LOVE sausage.  The rest of the dish seemed to lack a pronounced flavour.  The seasonings were definitely off and not strong enough.

This one isn’t a keeper.  I prefer this recipe for Shrimp and Crab Gumbo from Cooking Light.

Here’s what others had to say:
Eat. Drink. Think.

Rating: *** (out of 5)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 pound andouille smoked sausage, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices (chorizo may be substituted)

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup chopped yellow onions

1/2 cup seeded and chopped green bell pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups sliced fresh okra or 1 (10-ounce) package frozen sliced okra, thawed

1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

1/8 teaspoon cayenne, plus more to taste

1/2 teaspoon Tabasco

2 bay leaves

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions, green parts only

Cooked long-grain white rice (optional).

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring frequently, until brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to a bowl.

2. In the same skillet, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the roux is light brown, about 2 minutes. Add the onions, bell peppers and garlic and cook, scraping the brown bits from the bottom, until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the broth and bring to a boil. Add the sausage, okra, salt, cayenne, Tabasco and bay leaves. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Reduce the heat to low, stir in the shrimp and green onions and simmer just until the shrimp turn pink, about 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and season to taste with more salt and cayenne. Serve in soup bowls, over hot rice if you choose. Serves 6 to 8.

(From the New York Times)

Herb-Marinated Loin of Pork

Believe it or not I made yet another Barefoot Contessa/Ina Garten recipe from Back to Basics. I know, ANOTHER one!  I just can’t help myself, everything in that book looks and sounds delicious and for the most part has worked out that way.  At the rate I’m going I will have made every recipe in that book by May.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Before I declared my new desire to only buy “happy” meat I bought some “unhappy” pork loin that I stashed in my freezer.  Pork loins are a great thing to have on hand.  I don’t eat them that often but everytime I make one I make it a different way and it’s usually pretty quick.  So lots of points for the pork loin.

This recipe was a simple one and for the most part involved things I already had on hand.  I substituted the fresh rosemary for dried and instead of grilling the loin I pan seared it on all sides to brown it and then roasted it in the oven.  Most excellent.  The marinade was delicious and really infused the meat (granted I accidentally ended up letting it marinate for a day and a half…) and had an overall bright flavour. I probably could have eaten the whole thing by myself if that didn’t seem somewhat obscene.

I served this alongside mashed potatoes and creamed peas.  I know, the creamed peas are kind of random.  I needed a vegetable and started flipping through some Edna Lewis recipes when I came across the recipe for peas.  What really sold me was that it involved chives and I happened to have some leftover chives in my fridge.  I love it when a plan comes together!

Check out what others had to say about this recipe:
The Food of Love
Finer Kitchens

Rating: ****1/2 (out of 5)

Herb-Marinated Pork Loin

grated zest of 1 lemon

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4-6 lemons)

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tbs minced garlic (6 cloves)

1 1/2 tbs minced fresh rosemary leaves

1 tbs chopped fresh thyme

2 tsp Dijon mustard

Kosher salt

2-3 pork tenderloins, 1 lb each

freshly ground black pepper

Combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, mustard, and 2 tsp salt in a 1 gallon resealable plastic bag. Add the pork tenderloins and turn to coat with the marinade. Squeeze the air out of the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight, or at least 3 hours. (I like to put the bag in a bowl, just in case).

When you’re ready to cook, preheat the grill. Be sure to brush the grillwith some oil to prevent the pork from sticking. Remove the tenderloins from the marinade and discard the marinade.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then grill, turning a few times to brown on all sides, for 20 minutes–until the meat registers about 140 degrees at the thickest part.

Transfer the tenderloins to a platter and cover tightly with aluminum foil. LET REST FOR AT LEAST 10 MINUTES.

Carve in 1/2 inch thick diagonal slices. The thickest part will be pink; this is just fine. The end parts will be well done–something for everyone. Serve with the juices that collect on the platter.

(From Back to Basics by Ina Garten)

NYC Eats

I’m back from my little side trip to NYC and DC and I can’t help but write about my NYC eating experiences.  I lived in NYC for 6 years (I moved back about a year and a half ago) so trips to NYC are tricky when it comes to food.  There’s my desire to try new places or places that I haven’t been to before BUT I always want to hit up my old favourites.  And of course I want to eat things that I can’t really get in Toronto.  Plus there’s the fact that eating three meals a day at restaurants gets expensive.  So many decisions.

This trip I ended up hitting up the following restaurants:
Clinton Street Baking Company
Shake Shack
Amy Ruth’s
Dos Caminos Soho
Carnegie Deli

Clinton Street Baking Company

This one falls into the category of places I’ve been meaning to visit for a while.  Literally what stopped me was the long wait times.  Sometimes you can wait TWO HOURS for a table for brunch.  Seriously.  NYC has too many restaurants to wait two hours for some pancakes.  This visit I was getting into the city super early (6:30AM) so I figured it would be a good time to go right when the place opened at 10AM.  I was warned by Anne at The City Sage that it was imperative that I arrive by 9:15ish in order to secure a spot in the first seating.  Now, if you were ANYWHERE in the US last weekend you know how cold it was.  I figured NO ONE would be in line that early on the coldest day ever so I figured we would aim for a 9:30/9:40 arrival and be fine.  We showed up right around that time and there were already about 6 people in line!  Craziness.  About 5 minutes after we got there the line about tripled in size so we got there just in the nick of time.

The brunch menu is AMAZING.  I wanted pretty much everything they served.  I ended up getting the Southern Breakfast because it combined most of my breakfast loves: eggs, cheese grits, fried green tomatoes, and sugar smoked bacon.  YUM!  I have a weakness for cheese grits and you really don’t get them in Toronto.  I also got a biscuit on the side because I’d heard such good things about it.  Everything was DELICIOUS.  I know it’s hard to mess up bacon and eggs but it was great.  The cheese grits were cheesy and smooth.  The fried green tomatoes were just OK.  But the biscuit.  THE BISCUIT!  Perfection.  And the homemade preserves?  Amazing.  My mom had the Banana French Toast and was beyond pleased.  This is definitely one of my top brunch spots.

Shake Shack

When I’m in NYC I always want to eat as much as possible in a limited time.  Around 2 or 3PM I started to get hungry.  Now, normally I would just get a snack and have an early dinner.  Not this time.  Instead we decided to hit up Shake Shack for a burger and fries.  Believe it or not, I’ve only been to Shake Shack once (the Madison Park location) and always carried a fond memory in my heart.  When I learned that there was a new Shake Shack in town and that it was an actual restaurant I knew  I had to make my way there.

I went for a hamburger with all the fixins and fries.  SOOOOOO good!  The fries were delicious.  Really light and crispy without being too greasy.  Perfection.  The burger of course was delicious.  I could have eaten three of them.  Seriously.  I also got a sample of mint chocolate chip custard.  Also delicious but given the temperatures outside custard was NOT an option.

Amy Ruth’s

A trip to NYC is not complete without a visit to my old stomping ground – HARLEM.  And if I’m in Harlem chances are I’m either going to eat Chicken and Waffles or some Fried Whiting.  It’s the rule.  So since finding either of these meals in Toronto is not easy and are generally not delicious I figured we’d hit up Harlem hotspot, Amy Ruth’s.

I went with my staple, The Rev. Al Sharpton.  It’s Chicken & Waffles and I opted for fried chicken instead of smothered chicken (obvious choice).  My mom went for the Afrika Bambatta aka fried whiting.  As sides she went with the fried okra and mac n’ cheese.  Excellent choices if I do say so myself.  Amy Ruth’s has the BEST fried chicken EVER.  I need to find a fried chicken spot in Toronto.

Dos Caminos Soho

Dos Caminos falls under the category of old favourites.  This tends to be my regular brunch spot because they have a good menu and an excellent deal.  Your meal includes an alcoholic drink (I go for the Prickly Pear Margarita) AND a coffee or tea.  The food prices are reasonable.  Most brunch entrees around $14.  Works for me.  My standard meal tended to be the Fish Tacos but then one day they went from frying the fish to grilling and I said no bueno and had to switch up my picks.  I usually go for the chillaquiles as another option.  This time around I wasn’t sure what to get.  The menu was basically the same with some minor tweaks but there was nothing I was craving.  I ended up going with the underwhelming pork tacos.  AND they changed their rice to a red rice which was no delicious and the beans were salty.  Not a good look Dos Caminos!   This visit taught me that I’m probably a bit over this spot.  Tear.

Carnegie Deli

I know, kind of a random choice, right?  I love a pastrami on rye.  LOVE IT.  Deli isn’t a Toronto speciality so my mom and I were going to visit Katz’s Deli to get a sandwich to take with us on the trip to DC.  We ran out of time on Sunday to make it to the LES but were in midtown when I remembered Carnegie Deli.  I had never been to Carnegie before (Katz is always my deli of choice) but my boss would ALWAYS order lunch from there and he knows his food so I thought it would be a good option.

Sure paying $16 for a sandwich is a lot, but this is no ordinary sandwich.  It’s easily 2 or 3 meals.  My mom and I split a sandwich and had to take meat out of our halves to make it manageable.  I had the leftover meat as a snack the next day.  Best.Snack.Ever.  I also have to give a shout out to their half-sour pickles.  My favourite.

Books About Food

Hello all –

Sorry for my absence… I’m battling some sort of flu/cold combination and all I’ve been eating is chicken noodles soup out of the can (minus the chicken, noodles and vegetables).  It hasn’t been that bad, mostly a fever and headache but cooking is not so much a priority as laying on my couch and readng trashy celeb blogs and fake online shopping.

Of course I have impeccable timing, I’m leaving tomorrow to head to NYC and then on to DC for the inauguration.  I will do a detailed NYC eating report somewhere along the way… yum!

Sometimes I think that I’m somewhat of a masochist.  Recently I’ve been reading a lot of books about food.  And not even warm and fuzzy and happy books about food.  We’re talking doomsday books about food.  Think In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan and What to Eat or Food Politics by Marion Nestle.  These books leave me so stressed out!

I don’t put a lot of limits on WHAT I eat.  I’m open to most types of meat, love all fruits and vegetables and grains etc.  I’m open to various “ethnic” types of cuisine (ethnic gets quotation marks because it’s a term that annoys me… no one is ever trying to call a hamburger ethnic) and am just generally laid back when it comes to food.  In high school some people used to call me Meaty.  I kid you not.  It’s because I used to get this pizza slice that was called the “bacon double cheeseburger”.  Pepperoni, bacon, ground beef, mozzarella and cheddar.  It’s a wonder I made it past 16 really.

Now I can deal with all the talk about foods being unhealthy.  That’s easy enough to deal with.  You like Big Macs?  Don’t eat them everyday maybe just a few times a week.  That, I can deal with because it’s an easy fix.  But when we get into talks about how industrialized and dirty our food industry is I can’t deal because really, where do you run?  And at what cost?  What has really shaken me up is the meat industry in particular.  Why do cows only eat corn and antibiotics?  Seriously.  If you put cows into the pasture they wouldn’t be gravitating towards cornstalks…. cows don’t naturally eat corn.  They eat grass and stuff. Then it got me thinking, if I had to eat corn EVERY SINGLE DAY that would make me grumpy.  And what kind of energy would be in my “meat”?  Not good energy.  The thing that really gets to me is the idea of eating meat from unhappy cows whose last emotions were sadness and fear.  That weighs so heavily on my heart.

I say all of this not to be some sort of crusader or anything but to announce one of my goals.  I don’t eat A LOT of meat now to begin with but from now on I would like to try and committ to buying meat from happier cows.  Cows that feed of a pasture.  Cows that aren’t loaded up with drugs.  Cows that have cow friends.  Cows that maybe even have names (and not numbers).  Mainly this is to keep ME happy but I like the trickle down effect of supporting people who believe in a happier and healthier food chain and having animals on this land that lead slighly less miserable, torturned lives.

I’m also excited to try “happy chicken” because everyone says the flavour is so different.  Chicken and eggs freak me out a bit.  I find that leftover chicken has a bizarre taste that I don’t remember from childhood which I attribute to changes in how they are raised.  So maybe I will be able to add chicken back onto my regular-ish rotation.

There are also problems with our fruit and vegetable industries but I’m less concerned with that area for some reason.  Maybe because I can relate to the animals.  Not sure.

Seriously, pick up the books that i mentioned.  They are GREAT.  I really enjoyed Marion Nestle’s book What To Eat because it talked a lot about food marketing.  Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food was also a great read.  When I finished reading it all I could think of was having a big juicy steak.  But maybe that’s just me.

Sorry for the rant, this has been on my mind for a while and I’m thinking the cold meds are kicking in.

mix & match granola

I love granola.  But here’s the thing, it can be bad for you.  A lot of fat, a lot of sugar and not enough good stuff.  Bear Naked makes a great granola but it’s too pricey for me and I always want to change one or two things about.  This is where homemade granola comes.

Homemade granola is delicious AND so easy to customize.  As someone who has an INTENSE dislike for raisins I always have issues with granola because 8 out of 10 granola options contain raisins.  I’ve tried numerous recipes for “healthy” granola from Cooking Light magazine usually changing things here or there.  My major issue with most granola recipes is that they don’t result in enough clusters.  And aren’t clusters the best part of granola?

My dear friend Mandy (or I guess “Amanda” if you are being formal) has remedied this problem with her delicious, super easy granola recipe.  Mandy is awesome and a chef.  I would link to her blog… IF SHE HAD ONE.  I would read it.  But I digress…The trick, EGG WHITES.  I know, egg whites!  It makes sense when you think about it but I would never have thought to put egg whites in my granola.  It makes the whole thing non-vegan but you could omit and have a less cluster-y  vegan version if that’s your thing.

The best thing about this recipe is that it’s just a base to cater to your granola whims.  My choice modifications were: honey,  light brown sugar, vegetable oil, opted out of ground flax, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, and apricots.

WHEW!

SOOOOO good.  I wanted to have a cohesive theme through my granola but when I got to the bulk store the dried apricots were so “fresh” that I had to go for them.  The combination was great and didn’t compete too much.  Now I’m thinking about all sorts of combinations that I can make.. maybe a banana walnut combo?  maybe something involving figs or dates?  perhaps a berry blend with almonds?  OK so homemade granola may not be cheaper than store-bought (or only marginally cheaper) but it’s so worth it.  And might I add it’s delicious to snack on while making dinner? Just saying.

Rating: *****(out of 5)

ingredients:

¼ cup pure maple syrup (or honey, agave nectar, brown rice syrup)

¼ cup turbinado sugar (can sub light brown sugar)

2-3 tbs. coconut oil (can sub vegetable oil)

3 cups old-fashioned oats

¼ cup ground flax (optional)

1 cup dry add-ins (nuts, seeds, coconut, etc)

2-3 egg whites (more= extra clusters)

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

dash of sea salt

1 cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, figs, dates, etc)

yields: 5-6 cups

procedure:

preheat oven to 300. line baking sheets w/ parchment paper.

in medium sauce pan, over a low flame, heat maple syrup, sugar, & coconut oil until sugar is dissolved.

while heating liquid mixture, combine oats, flax, & dry add-ins in a large bowl.

when sugar is dissolved, transfer syrup to a medium bowl. Let cool to room temp. whisk in egg whites, vanilla extract, spices, & sea salt.

pour atop oats, and mix thoroughly. Spread mixture evenly onto baking sheets w/ rubber spatula.

bake for 35-40 minutes. remove from oven, & gently turn granola. Add dried fruit; bake until dry, about 10-20 minutes longer.

(From Mandy – a fabulous personal chef out of Chicago)

Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed with Spinach and Goat Cheese

With cooking there are hits and there are misses.  Unfortunately this dish ended up squarely in the misses category.

Every month or two I log onto Epicurious and go through the recipes from the most recent issues of Bon Appetit and Gourmet and e-mail myself the ones I’d like to try at some point. I was immediately drawn to this recipe for stuffed portobellos. I LOVE stuffed mushrooms and of course love spinach and goat cheese so I totally thought this one would be a winner.

This whole endeavour was doomed from the start.  As usual I forgot to read the directions for the recipe beforehand.  I figured there was probably some prep that I could do beforehand to make meal-time simpler but I opted out.  So of course when I did read the recipe I was surprised to find out that the mushrooms had to marinate for 4 hours!  Yes, 4 hours!  Needless to say this  4 hour marination was NOT happening at 8:30PM which was the time I settled down to make this dish.  Fine, so Thursday night was a write-off that ended with pasta with butter and a Whopper from Burger King (not one of my finer moments).

So Friday I decided to be on top of it.  I got up before work and made the marinade and had my mom put the mushrooms in the marinade before she left for work at noon.  Now I knew I wouldn’t be home until at least 6PM, meaning the mushrooms would marinate for 6 hours.  I figured that would be OK but not ideal.  But I really couldn’t figure out how to make these on a weekday with over- or under-marinating the buggers.  I didn’t think it would be SUCH  a big deal.  I mean, the recipe just says marinate for 4 hours in the fridge.  It doesn’t say “or overnight” or “no more than 4 hours” nothing.  Just 4 hours.

While eating the final dish I could NOT get past the overpowering taste of marinated mushrooms.  They were too salty, too vinegary, too garlicky… too EVERYTHING!  The filling itself was good enough but the mushrooms really took away from the spinach and goat cheese flavouring.  I would maybe try stuffing the mushrooms without marinating them first.

Interestingly enough the recipe has a 3 1/2 fork rating on Epicurious (out of 4).  Granted only two people have review.

Rating: 2 1/2 (out of 5)

Ingredients

Marinated mushrooms
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup Marsala (optional)
4 large fresh thyme sprigs
6 large portobello mushrooms

Filling:
1 10-ounce package frozen spinach
1 pound button mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped sweet onion (such as Maui or Vidalia)
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup plus 6 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup unseasoned dry breadcrumbs
1 5-ounce package soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled

For marinated mushrooms:
Whisk first 6 ingredients and Marsala, if desired, in medium bowl for marinade. Stir in thyme sprigs. Cut stems from mushrooms and place stems in processor. Arrange mushrooms, gill side up, in 15×10x2-inch glass baking dish. Pour marinade over mushrooms and marinate 4 hours, turning to coat occasionally.

For filling:

Cook spinach according to package directions. Drain; cool. Using hands, squeeze excess water from spinach.Place in small bowl.

Add half of button mushrooms to processor with portobello mushroom stems.Using on/off turns, process until coarsely chopped. Transfer to medium bowl and repeat with remaining mushrooms. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over high heat.Add onion; sauté until beginning to brown,stirring often, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and stir 30 seconds. Add chopped mushrooms, sprinkle with salt, and increase heat to high. Cook until almost all liquid evaporates, stirring often, about 8minutes. Season mushroom mixture with salt and pepper. Transfer to large bowl;cool to room temperature.

Add spinach, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and breadcrumbs to mushroom mixture; toss to distribute evenly. Add goat cheese and toss gently to distribute evenly. Season filling to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover filling and let stand at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Transfer marinated mushrooms, with some marinade still clinging, to rimmed baking sheet, gill side down. Roast until beginning to soften, about 15 minutes.Turn mushrooms over. Divide filling among mushrooms. Sprinkle remaining 6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese over and bake until heated through and cheese begins to brown, about 15 minutes.

(From Bon Appetit – January 2009)

Szechuan Spicy Bean Curd

A few months ago I acquired a copy of Helen Chen’s Chinese Home Cooking . I’ve had a few Chinese cookbooks over the years but I’ve never thought that any of them really captured what I was looking for.  I love greasy, Americanized Chinese food.  I freely admit it, nothing to be ashamed of.  Beef and broccoli, sweet and sour chicken, honey garlic ribs, fried rice – you name it, I love it.

Home Cooking does a great job of covering the more Chinese-American dishes as well as some overlooked traditional Chinese dishes.  I’ve made a few recipes out of this book and have been mostly happy.  The recipe for Szechuan Spicy Bean Curd is my fave!

I first came across this recipe under the name “Ma Po Tofu”.  It was probably 3 years ago and Buddakan was just opening in New York and I remember reading a review that raved about their Ma Po Tofu.  At this point I hadn’t even heard of the dish which I later learned is made of ground pork and tofu.  It sounded right up my alley!  I like tofu to begin with and enjoy pork even more.  Together the combination sounded unstoppable AND very affordable which is a bonus.

Let me just say, this dish is one of my favourite home-cooked meals EVER.  Yes, I said it, EVER.  Even my mom likes it and she a.) doesn’t really eat tofu, b.) doesn’t really eat pork and c.) doesn’t like Chinese food.  I know I’m building this up a lot but just bear with me.  The dish turns into a spicy, saucy combination of browned ground pork and soft tofu.  The flavours just meld together deliciously.  Chen also has a lot of great finishing touches.  The sprinkle of green onions and touch of sesame oil at the end was perfect.

I made a few substitutions as usual.  Hot bean paste?  I don’t have it.  Instead I used black bean paste.  Freshly ground Szechuan peppercorns?  I just used fresly ground pepper. And  instead of Chinese Chicken Broth I used regular low-sodium chicken broth.  Nothing too major.

The dish looks kind of gross but trust me it tastes and great and smells amazing while cooking.  The recipe says that you can use beef but I don’t find that appealing at all.

Rating: *****(out of 5)

1 pound soft tofu (bean curd)
2 tablespoons hot bean paste
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon grated peeled gingerroot
2 teaspoons dry sherry
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns, toasted and ground
3 tablespoons canola, corn or peanut oil
1/2 cup ground pork or beef (4 ounces)
1 cup Chinese Chicken Broth or water
2 teaspoons cornstarch, dissolved in 2 teaspoons water
2 tablespoons thinly sliced scalions
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil

1. Drain te tofu and cut it into 1-inch cubes. Set aside. Stir the hot bean paste, garlic, gingerroot, sherry, and soy sauce together in a small bowl. Set aside. Combine the red pepper and ground peppercorns together in another small dish. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a wok or stir-fry pan over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Stir fry the ground meat until it separates into small pieces. Add the hot bean sauce mixture and stir a few times. Add the broth or water and pepper mixture and stir a few times to mix. Add the tofu. Stir gently to combine and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for about 5 to 6 minutes to reduce the liquid by about a quarter.

3. Add the cornstarch slurry and stir until the sauce is thickened. Pour onto a serving platter and sprinkle with scallions and sesame seed oil. Serve hot.

(From Helen Chen’s Chinese Home Cooking)

Chive Risotto Cakes

Clearly the love affair with the Barefoot Contessa/ Ina Garten continues. Her Back to Basics cookbook is FANTASTIC!  I kind of want to make every recipe in this book.  At the rate that I’m going I will probably have completed the task by… Februrary.  I’m only kind of kidding.

I didn’t have an overwhelming desire to make the Chive Risotto Cakes.  The photo looked appealing enough and the ingredients sounded like a winning combination but I just wasn’t hooked.  Until I did some googling.  This was another recipe covered by the intrepid Barefoot Bloggers so there were a ton of perspectives on this one.  I was pretty much sold when I started reading about the creamy, cheesy goodness.  That’s all it took.

Now, with the recipe it’s a good idea to read it a few hours before bedtime on the day BEFORE you plan to make the dish.  Those are my words of wisdom to you.  You have to cook the rice for 20 minutes and then chill the rice mixture for TWO HOURS (or overnight).  TWO HOURS.  Let’s say you get home from work at 6pm, you aren’t eating until after 8:30pm.  No bueno!  Clearly this anecdote is from experience.  When I got home from work yesterday I kept on meaning to read the recipe because I had a feeling there were some steps I could do in advance.  I finally read the recipe at about midnight… while I was in bed.  I thought about just getting up and making the rice before I went the sleep but then I thought, oh I can do it in the morning.  Needless to say it didn’t happen.  BUT being clever I ended up chilling my rice mixture in the freezer for about 30-40 minutes and then put it in the fridge for another 15-20minutes.  Then while I was cooking each batch I left the mixture in the fridge or freezer depending on how firm it was all feeling.  It worked out just fine.

As for the results. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS.  Remember all those things I was saying about creamy, cheesy goodness?  Add crunchy to the mix.  And I have to add that I loved the chive flavour.  The whole thing tasted like a cross between risotto and a baked potato.  I was stumped when it came to what to serve this with.  I couldn’t really serve it along another starch (nor did I want to) and I didn’t want to use this as a side for meat.  So I opted for roasted garlic broccoli (inspired by another Back to Basics) and roasted carrots.  I was going to do a salad but got lazy.

This one is a keeper!

Rating: ****1/2(out of 5)

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Serves 6

• Kosher salt
• 1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
• ½ cup Greek yogurt
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh chives
• 1 ½ cup cups grated Italian Fontina cheese (5 ounces)
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ¾ cup panko (Japanese dried bread flakes)
• Good olive oil

1. Bring a large (4 quart) pot of water to a boil and add ½ tablespoon salt and the Arborio rice. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. The grains of rice will be quite soft. Drain the rice in a sieve and run under cold water until cool. Drain well.
2. Meanwhile, whisk together the yogurt, eggs, chives, Fontina, 1 ¼ teaspoons salt, and the pepper in a medium bowl. Add the cooled rice and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight, until firm.
3. When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
4. Spread the panko in a shallow dish. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Form balls of the rice mixture using a standard (2 1/4 –inch) ice cream scoop or a large spoon. Pat the balls into patties 3 inches in diameter and ¾ inch thick. Place 4-6 patties in the panko, turning once to coat. Place the patties in the hot oil and cook, turning once, for about 3 minutes on each side until the risotto cakes are crisp and nicely browned. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and keep warm in the oven for up to 30 minutes. Continue cooking in batches, adding oil as necessary, until all the cakes are fried. Serve hot.