Monthly Archives: August 2011

Hurricane Ploughman’s Lunch

  August 28, 2011 - 10:28 pm | , , , , ,
1 Comment

As I sat down to write the beginning of this post, all of New England was preparing for a hit by Irene on Sunday as a tropical storm. While watching non-stop breaking news coverage, I strongly suspected that the weather forecasters were practicing worst-case scenario weather reporting. Yet I realized we were not immune from the threat of damage, especially as we have a dying tree hanging over our power lines. I prepared for the possibility of living without power for several days by stocking up on bottled water, cans of tuna, loaves of bread and lots of peanut butter.

Going meatless is a natural way of eating when the power is out. I wanted to serve my family healthy meals that were more than just peanut butter sandwiches and carrot sticks. While I was thinking of the meatless meals I’ve had in my life that were not hot or cooked meals, my thoughts kept returning to a great lunch I had in a pub near the British Museum in London. It consisted of cheese, bread, pickled onions, pickle relish, ham, apples and beer: a Ploughman’s Lunch. While I’m sure that many a ploughman ate such a meal countless times in the history of England; it seems probable that the name Ploughman’s Lunch was actually the result of an advertising campaign by the British Milk Marketing Board in the 1960s. An interesting post about the origins can be found at Martyn Cornell’s Zythophile blog.  Regardless of the origins it’s a great meal that lends itself naturally to a meatless preparation.

I was not terribly concerned with making an authentic Ploughman’s Lunch; instead I wanted to recreate the feeling and taste of a British pub meal with the ingredients I had on hand that I knew my family would eat. For example, one of the key ingredients of a classic Ploughman’s Lunch is Branston Pickle which is a brownish gloop of pickle relish that my American palate does not tolerate; instead I offered cucumber slices. For the pickled onions I “pickled” red onion in balsamic vinegar which I served with fresh greens and local tomatoes. I cut slices of the cheeses I had on hand (which happened to be Cabot Vintage Cheddar, Edam and some Grana Padano), piled on red grapes, slices of apple, and slices of a hearty wheat bread. I also offered some homemade beer and black pepper mustard that I made a few weeks ago. The mustard just seems to get spicier and spicier as the days go by, but it goes fantastically with cheddar and just about anything. And of course there was beer; a tasty Long Trail Pale Ale that matched the weather and the food. Of course the beer was not for Little Guy; he had a fruit punch that also matched very nicely.

I’ve included recipes for the onions and the mustard. The onions are almost too simple to call a recipe, but they are tasty none-the-less. The mustard is a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen. I added the black pepper that gives it an additional kick. This is serious mustard for serious mustard fans. It turns a good hot dog into gourmet fare!

We were lucky in the storm. We lost power for about 30 seconds and only lost a few small limbs from the trees. While my street was spared the worst of it, Irene was no laughing matter. We were lucky and we are grateful for that. Instead of nibbling on our Ploughman’s Lunch by candlelight, we chowed on it while watching the mid-season premiere of Doctor Who. It just seemed like the right thing to do. Enjoy!

Balsamic “Pickled” Onions – Click here for a printer-friendly version of this recipe
makes 1 cup

1 small red onion, sliced thin
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

In a medium bowl combine sliced onion, salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar.

Toss well to combine and let sit for at least an hour (overnight is better). Serve with salads, cold platters or on sandwiches.

Beer and Black Pepper Mustard – click here for a printer-friendly version of this recipe.
makes 1 ½ cups

Based on a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen

1/4 cup brown mustard seed
1/4 cup yellow mustard seed
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup pale ale or other full bodied beer
2 teaspoons black pepper, freshly ground
2 teaspoons brown sugar
3/4 teaspoons salt

In a small bowl combine mustard seeds, vinegar, beer and pepper. Stir well, cover and refrigerate for at least eight hours or overnight.

Scoop mustard, salt and brown sugar into a food processor and blend until the desired consistency is reached. Scrape into an airtight container and refrigerate. The mustard will continue to develop flavor for several days. Can be stored for several months in the refrigerator.

Better Than Snuff and Not Half as Dusty (Fried Okra)

  August 26, 2011 - 10:06 pm | , , , , , , , ,
12 Comments

My great grandmother, Elizabeth Armenia Dobbs, was a colorful woman to say the least. For example, there was the time she dropped a quarter on the steps next to the family rooster who immediately swallowed it. Both quarters and roosters were valuable back then. She snatched up the rooster, cut open its crop, took the quarter back, and sewed him up. What makes this story so amazing is that the rooster lived and sired many little chicks afterward. Another time she marched over to a neighbor’s home where two children were being beaten and took the children away from the mother to protect them. She was clearly a woman of a different time.

Growing up, my favorite family story about her, however, was not one of amazing surgical skills or bravery, but the one about her and her spittoon. She was a huge fan of snuff, finely powdered tobacco that was the usual form used by dignified women back in her time. The snuff is held in one’s cheek, and the flavor slowly seeps out. It’s a very strong flavor so, how can I say it delicately—I can’t—she had to spit a lot. Snuff users keep a spittoon handy. Great Grandmother’s spittoon was shaped like a rotund Englishman in a three-cornered hat and was called Toby.

A Toby Jug

As she shelled peas, braided rugs, or sewed children’s clothing, she would sit on the front porch with Toby. She was responsible for six children of her own and a boarding house on top of it, so it was probably the only time in her day she had time to relax—if you can call such handwork relaxing. I don’t know why I was so enamored of this story as a child. Perhaps it was that we still had the Toby jug, which by then sat on a windowsill holding a philodendron. Or perhaps it was just a childhood fascination with anything gross. I suspect the main reason was a saying that my grandmother, Mama Gene, took from her mother’s habit. When Mama Gene would taste something that she really really liked, she would declare, “It’s better than snuff and not half as dusty.” To this day I love the saying; I’ve adopted it as my own even though I have no idea what snuff is like, nor do I have any inclination to find out.

Fried okra is one thing that is definitely “Better than snuff and not half as dusty.” It has to be cooked properly to qualify for the accolade, but, believe me, it’s worth learning how to do it. When properly prepared it’s crispy, flavorful and hard to stop munching on—very much like popcorn. And like so many foods I like, the preparation of fried okra has been handed down from my great-grandmother, to my grandmother, to my father, and on to me. Of course, the recipe goes back farther than that to when my English ancestors migrated to America, but I can trace it only to Great Grandmother.

I use corn flour, not the usual corn meal in the coating. Corn flour gives the same great corn flavor as corn meal, but because it’s ground finer it sticks better, and the result is a crisper coating. I say this recipe serves four people, because a half cup of fried okra is technically a serving, and this recipe calls for one bag or two cups of okra. That’s not really enough for even one true southerner. Most of us could nibble this much by ourselves just while we were frying up enough for everyone else. Feel free to double or triple this recipe. People will be happy if you do.

Fried Okra – Click here for a printer-friendly version of this recipe
serves 4
Corn flour or masa harina is widely available, in particular the brand Maseca. If you cannot find corn flour you can use corn meal.

2 cups okra, cut into half inch pieces (about one bag frozen)
½ cup buttermilk
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup corn flour (masa harina)
½ cup all-purpose flour
oil for frying

In a small bowl, combine cut okra, salt, pepper and buttermilk.

Let sit for about five minutes then drain into a strainer. In another larger bowl combine corn flour and flour.

Toss okra into flour mixture. Working with your hands or a fork, separate the pieces of okra so that all the pieces get covered. Depending on how wet your okra is, you may need to add a little more flour and/or corn flour.

Heat one inch of oil in a large heavy-duty pan over medium-high heat. Test the oil by adding one piece of okra; it should bubble immediately as soon as you add it to the pot (350 F).

When the oil is hot, add the okra (you may need to cook it in two batches). Fry, occasionally rotating until light golden brown.

Remove to a pan lined with newspaper and paper towels. Lightly salt and serve hot. You can fry the okra ahead of time then heat it up in a hot oven for five minutes right before serving. A convection oven is very helpful if you want to get it back to the original crispiness.

Corn Chowder and the Bad Gardener

  August 21, 2011 - 9:38 pm | , , , , , ,
12 Comments

If you are regular reader of this blog, you may remember that I consider myself the world’s worst gardener. Every spring I start thinking about what to plant, always full of hope and sure that this is the year I’m going to actually grow something and reap the fruits (and veggies) of my labor. This year my season’s worth of efforts reaped six grape tomatoes and two pods of okra for us humans. The wildlife ate well though. The chipmunks ate all the seeds, the groundhog ate the basil, and the deer ate every-stinking-thing else. They even eat the green tomatoes once they reached some mysterious deerlicious state. Every leaf off the parsley and okra plants is gone too, leaving green stems sticking out of the ground.

So you’re probably not too surprised that I don’t try to grow my own corn. I dream of it. See, in my imagination I’m a regular farmer. In the spring I visualize tall thick tomato plants heavy with ripe fruit. I plan on canning things, making pies, sauces and other goodies from what I’ve grown. I think that neat rows of corn as high as an elephant’s eye would look great in the spot of my yard currently overtaken with Japanese Knotweed. In my vision I’m a bit like a Disney princess feeding the deer an apple from my tree laden with fruit and laughing with the chipmunks. But in my dream even the Snow White version of myself hates the groundhog.

Alas, my reality is weekly trips to the local farmer’s market. Not that the farmer’s market is bad, but it’s slightly less romantic than plucking ripe tomatoes a la the Disney Martha Stewart. Luckily for me it’s a good year for the local corn here in New England. Every time I pick up another batch it’s even better than the time before. I’ve had corn on the cob so many times in the past month that think I might start sprouting cobs. So, it’s time to branch out, pull out the soup pot and get to chowdering.

Equipped with a slab of salt pork and a quart of cream, pretty much anyone can make good chowder. But, a rich and satisfying vegetarian version not loaded down with quarts of heavy cream is a little harder. I wanted a nice full flavor; one not only loaded with sweet corn flavor, but also with the flavors of lot of veggies, herbs, and the nutty bite of sharp aged cheddar.

I cut out some, but not all, of the fat by switching from cream to half and half and cutting back on the amount. I also replace the the usual rendered pork fat with a restrained amount of olive oil. To achieve both creamy texture and rich corn flavor I use corn kernels cut off the cob, and also corn grated like in my recipe for creamed corn. The result is a rich and satisfying soup brimming with summer sweet-corn flavor.

The final secret to the success of this recipe is in the garnish. By topping the soup with grated or crumbled aged sharp cheddar, you give each person a burst of flavor that is still melting into the soup as they stir it around and eat it. The flavor gives up gradually, letting the sweetness of the corn hit the palate before giving way to the tang of the cheese. This is not one of those chowders that tastes of nothing but the pure sweet flavor of summer corn. I figure if I wanted that, I’d just make more corn on the cob. Rather it’s a burst of hearty flavors mixed with the best of summer sweet corn to make a soup you’ll be happy you’ve made. Enjoy!

Vegetarian Corn Chowder with Aged Cheddar – Click here for a printer-friendly version of this recipe
serves 8

The secret to the rich flavor is in the aged cheddar. I love Cabot Cloth-Bound Cheddar for its intense almost nutty flavor, but any aged sharp cheddar will do. Be sure to not only cut off and grate the corn, but to scrape the cobs. Doing so will add so much extra corn pulp and starch that it really boots the creaminess and corn flavor of the soup.

Cabot Cloth-Bound Cheddar

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 small sweet onions (or 1 large), finely chopped (about 2 ½ – 3 cups)
2 stalks celery, finely chopped, about ½ cup
1 carrot, finely chopped, about ½ cup
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ teaspoons thyme, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sage, finely chopped
¼ cup flour
4 cups (1 quart) vegetable stock
1 ½ pound potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼” cubes (about 3 large potatoes)
6 ears fresh corn (see below for prepping instructions)
1 ½ cups half & half
8 ounces sharp aged cheddar, grated or crumbled
fresh snipped chives
salt and pepper to taste

To prep corn:

Using a knife, cut kernels off three ears of corn and set aside but do not throw away cobs.

Use a cheese grater to grate remaining three ears of corn into a large bowl.

Working one ear at a time, drizzle a small amount of water over each of the six ears of corn.

Hold the ear of corn over the bowl with the grated corn and use the back of a knife to scrape the remaining corn pulp and starch into the bowl. Repeat with all of the ears of corn.

You should end up with about 1 ½ cups of cut corn and a little over 2 cups of the grated corn and corn pulp. Keep the two types of corn separate because you add them at different times.

For soup:

Heat olive oil in a large stock pot or dutch oven over medium heat.

When oil starts to shimmer add onions, carrots, celery and ½ teaspoon of salt.

This is what soft translucent veggies look like. No need to brown the veggies.

Saute until vegetables are translucent and soft; about 10 minutes.

Add thyme, sage, garlic and flour and continue to cook stirring frequently until fragrant and flour is no longer raw. Gradually stir in vegetable stock, one cup at a time to prevent lumps. Add potatoes and grated corn with corn pulp. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot until potatoes are just soft, about 15 minutes.

Add half & half and cut corn kernels. Bring just back to a simmer and season to taste.

To serve, ladle 1 ½ cups of soup into a bowl. Top with one or two tablespoons of crumbled or grated cheddar and a sprinkle of snipped chives.

Ugh, do not get me started on the wrinkles in the fabric. I ironed it twice with steam, and the darn things kept coming back.

Caramel Peach Hand Pies

  August 18, 2011 - 8:06 pm | , , , , , , , ,
9 Comments

When I think of perfectly in-season peaches, my mouth gets a little tingly and starts to water. However if you ask me do I like peaches, I’d have to think for awhile. Peaches are one of those foods that are only good if they are perfect. Just the thought of canned peaches is enough to stop me in my tracks and make me say I hate the fruit in general. But the sweet and juicy near-perfection that is a peach ripened on the tree and picked in late Summer is a different story entirely. Its taste doesn’t need any enhancement: plain is wonderful!

But can you make it even better? How? Well that’s simple: add fat and sugar. But what’s more complicated is how you apply that fat and sugar. The flavor of peaches just pleads to be paired with the flavor of burnt sugar. Mix the two together and then—perfection. Nope, not yet. Wrap those flavors in soft and flaky pie pastry and then you finally have perfection.

Everyone has tasted bad pies, and until these hand pies, I’m not sure I’d ever really had a peach pie that did justice to the fruit. The first time I tried these, I followed a recipe from a cookbook and added the warm caramel to the peaches. The result was a hard rock of caramel in the middle of weeping peaches that made it impossible to fill and seal the individual pies. By making the caramelized sugar separately and then pounding it into tiny pieces for the pies, you avoid the mess and it cooks up beautifully.

This crust was my grandmother’s recipe, handed down from her Aunt Lula, and is one of those no-fail crust recipes that goes with everything. These pies are fantastic with the homemade crust, and it is a necessary step. You can use the ones at the store, but you will probably end up fighting with the little guys, cursing your bad luck and wishing you had taken the time to make the crust. I used store-bought for the final picture shoot, and I almost abandoned ship and gave up. Then I had two other people test the recipe; one with the homemade dough and one with store bought. Not only did the homemade crust taste better and have a better texture, but the pies with the homemade crust were easier to seal and leaked less often.

Peaches have never tasted as good to me as they do in these hand pies, but apples are also delish. So, be a hero and make these for your peeps tonight! Enjoy!

Lula’s Pie Crust -click here for a printer friendly version of Lula’s Pie Crust
makes two pie crusts or a dozen hand pies

This can be made the day ahead. It is a very versatile dough that can be used for hand pies, sweet or savory pies, or even quiche. Make this once, and you may just stop buying store-bought crusts. This recipe is also works well in a food processor. 

3 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup cold butter, (2 sticks)
6 tablespoons ice water
1 ½ tablespoons cider vinegar
1 egg

Mix salt and flour together.

Using your hands or a pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until you have butter pieces the size of large peas. In a separate bowl combine water, vinegar and egg. Beat to mix and pour into the flour mixture.

Knead until just combined.

Form into two balls, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Caramel Peach Hand Pies – click here for a copy of this recipe
makes 12-14 individual pies


You can use this same recipe for apple hand pies too. Use the same amount of apples as you would peaches. Everything else is the same, and you’ll be a hero regardless which fruit you use.

For caramel:
½ cup sugar
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons butter

For fruit filling:
4 fresh peaches or apples (enough for 2 cups of chopped fruit but do not peel and chop until right before filling)
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger

1 egg for egg wash
cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)

Pour sugar in the middle of a medium sauce pan or skillet set over medium-high heat. Slowly pour water around edge of sugar. Slowly stir the mixture until all the sugar has dissolved. Using a pastry brush, brush the edges of the pan with water to insure that all sugar crystals have dissolved from the edge.

(see pictures below for help with making caramel)

Let the mixture boil slowly until the sugar turns light tan, watching very carefully so that it does not burn. When the caramel is almost the color of tea turn off the heat and swirl the pan. The sugar will get darker. Add the butter and stir until the butter is completely melted and mixed in with the sugar. Carefully pour the caramel out onto a parchment or silicone-lined baking pan and let cool. When the caramel has cooled completely break into large pieces and place in a plastic bag. Using a meat tenderizer or rolling pin pound the caramel until it is broken into particles with the largest pieces about the size of a piece of peas. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll the balls of dough out into a circle about 1/8” thick. Using a 5” bowl or can, cut the dough into circles. You will have re-roll the dough out to get between 12-14 rounds.

Peel and cut the peaches into small pieces, about ¼”. Toss with flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and caramel particles. Heap one large spoonful into the center of each circle (about 2 tablespoons), dividing evenly among the pie circles. Brush the edges with egg wash.

Carefully pinch the edges of the pies together being sure to firmly seal each pie. Place the pies on a large baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

(I never noticed how old and grimy my cookware looks – just pretend it looks new and shiny, okay? Thanks)

Use the edge of a fork to crimp the edges and to punch holes in the top of each pie. Brush the top of each pie with egg wash. Sprinkle with a little sugar or cinnamon and sugar. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

A small amount of liquid may leak from the pies, and that’s okay (it’s some of the best part!) Cool slightly before serving or storing.

Can be stored for two days. These do not hold up very well in very humid conditions. They still taste good, but the texture of the crust suffers.

Note: If you have multiple pans and can build the pies right on lined baking sheets, you will have better luck with sealing them.

Making caramel play-by-play:

1. Get a chair, this is going to take awhile (No, not really. That wouldn’t be safe. I definitely did NOT do that!)

2. add sugar and then pour water around edge

3. use a pastry brush to brush any crystallized sugar from the edges of the pan. This is your secret weapon. Your caramel will never crystallize as long as you do this one step.

4. watch closely as the bubbles change from spread apart to close together to slightly colored to whoa Nellie – grab your butter and start stirring.

(Do you have any idea how hard it is to try to stir butter into caramel with one hand while trying to focus and take a picture with a bulky camera in the other?)

5. Phew, you’re done. Pour out onto a silicone rubber mat quickly before it hardens up and sticks to EVERYTHING! See, now wasn’t that easy?

Bean Tostadas

  August 16, 2011 - 10:24 am | , , , , , , , ,
9 Comments

In many foods quality and popularity come from the simplicity of flavors. A perfectly in-season, ripe fruit comes to mind, a grilled steak with nothing but salt and pepper, a egg fried in butter, a hunk of warm bread with extra virgin olive oil for dipping, or a summer tomato with nothing but a little salt. Other foods, however excel when flavors build layer by layer to create a delightfully complex combination of textures and tastes. Tostadas win big by being literally and figuratively layered.
A traditional tostada from Mexico is not much more than a crispy fried corn tortilla with a few small bites of meat and toppings on it. It’s a snack not a meal. However, while the Mexican tostada is street food, the Texas tostada is a meal. When I was growing up there, almost every taqueria in Houston had tostadas on the regular menu of favorites. Tucked in between the flautas, tacos and enchiladas were the less popular, but none the less ubiquitous tostada plate. It was usually a pair of flat and crispy corn tortillas topped with beans (usually refried), ground beef, cheese, sour cream and fresh chopped tomatoes all buried under a mountain of thinly shredded iceberg lettuce. A bowl of salsa, sometimes two different kinds, were always on the table for topping off the tostadas. They were light enough to keep you from hating life the rest of the day, but more than enough to make a meal.
Now that I live in New England, I have to make them at home. I’ve noticed that with all the toppings, it’s easy for the meat to get lost. Which of course means that if the beans and other toppings are flavorful enough to make up for it, you won’t even miss the meat if it’s not there. To make them meatless, I use a combination of beans and avocado to take the place of meat. Then I top them with finely chopped romaine, greek yogurt (or sour cream) shredded Colby jJack cheese and fresh salsa roja. It may not be the most authentic tostada you will ever have, but it’s very good, and it’s a great Meatless Monday meal. Enjoy

Mild Salsa Roja – click here for a printable version of this recipe
Makes 1 cup
I love this salsa because it’s easy, authentic (except for the lack of heat) and tastes good on so many different things. It will keep for several days and is very good served cold or warm. To make a hotter salsa leave the seeds in the jalapenos, or substitute hotter chilis such as Serrano for the poblano.

½ onion, peeled and quartered
2 large tomatoes, halved and cored
1 jalapeno pepper, halved with seeds removed
2 cloves garlic
1 poblano pepper, halved with seeds removed
½ teaspoon salt
1 large handful cilantro, leaves only

Heat a large skillet over high heat for two or three minutes until hot. Add the peppers, tomatoes, garlic, and onions.

(I should have halved and seeded the poblano before charring; it would have been faster)

Rotate the vegetables in the pan until all sides are slightly charred.

(I should have grabbed the full-sized processor, it would have been faster)

When charred, move the vegetables to a food processor, add cilantro and pulse until well blended, but with some texture still remaining. Add salt (season to taste). Serve warm or cold.

Simple Ranchero Beans - click here for a printable version of this recipe
(based on Rick Bayless Brothy Beans found in Authentic Mexican, by Rick Bayless. William Morrow and Company, 1987.)
makes 2 cups

1 cup pinto beans, soaked overnight or simmered for 5 minutes and then left to soak for 1 hour.
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, finely chopped (about ½ cup)
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon taco seasoning (I prefer Penzey’s)
½ teaspoon salt or more to taste

Once beans have soaked, drain off liquid and cover with 2 cups of fresh water. Place over medium heat and add garlic, onion and olive oil. Once the beans come to a simmer, cover and cook until very tender, about 1 ½ hours, adding more water as necessary to just cover the beans. Season with taco seasoning and cook for another five minutes. Season with salt to taste.

Ranchero Bean Tostadas with Salsa Roja – click here for a printable version of all the recipes in this post

Many of these toppings are optional. You can build your tostada with anything you think sounds good. There is no reason you can’t use pre-made salsa and beans, but it tastes so much better when you make it yourself.

8 6-inch corn tortillas
oil for frying tortillas
1 recipe simple ranchero beans (recipe above)
mild salsa roja (recipe above)
sliced avocado
sliced romaine lettuce
shredded Colby Jack cheese
sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
chopped fresh tomatoes

Pour one inch of oil into a medium skillet and heat on medium-high heat until hot, but not smoking.

Drop tortillas in one at a time and cook until golden brown on each side; about a minute a side. Remove to a pan lined with paper towels for draining.


Build your tostadas starting with beans, salsa roja, cheese, avocado, lettuce, sour cream (or yogurt) and chopped tomatoes. Serve immediately.

Grilled Polenta with Mushrooms

  August 12, 2011 - 10:03 pm | , , , , , ,
5 Comments

One of my earliest memories is eating raw mushrooms. Like so many of my really early memories, this one is fuzzy. What I clearly remember is that I was in the kitchen in my family’s house in Baltimore, MD. My mom was cooking, and I was pulling at her apron strings, probably bored and trying to get her attention in the same unrelenting way that Little Guy does now to me when I’m trying to cook. To shut me up, my mom gave me a raw mushroom to munch on. I loved it and ate several more. But what I find so strange about this memory is that other than that one memory, I grew up hating mushrooms: raw or cooked.

Well, my grandmother had a saying that your taste buds change every seven years. Mine did change, and now mushrooms are one of my favorite foods; my husband’s too. We eat a lot of them. Expensive cosmetic companies tout that mushrooms will keep you young forever; if that’s the case then Hubby and I are here to stay! I add them to pasta and soup, saute them to top off steaks, stuff them, puree them, and put them in and on almost anything.

This recipe is one of my all-time favorite ways to eat them. I love how the mushroom texture feels in my mouth combined with the creamy center and crispy edges of the grilled polenta, and I love the umami taste of the mushrooms. Sometimes I’ll drizzle a little truffle oil over this, but it doesn’t really need it. You can use any combination of mushrooms you like, or keep it simple and just use crimini mushrooms.

When I first started making this recipe I used premade, tubed polenta. However, polenta is just so easy to make; you can add so much flavor to it; and your finished product is greatly improved over the store-bought product. It is just fantastic that you can make almost all of it ahead of time – even a few days ahead, including the sauteed mushrooms. Then the night you are going to eat it, all you have to do is slice and grill the polenta and heat up the mushrooms in the microwave. I know you are going to like this; it’s one of those meals that guarantees even the toughest meat eater will not miss his moo. Enjoy!

Grilled Polenta with Mushrooms – Click here for a printer-friendly version of this recipe
serves 4
I use a combination of crimini, also known as baby bella, and shitaki, but any mushroom combination would work. For a real treat, replace all or some of the vegetable stock with cream.

For Polenta:
1 cup polenta (yellow corn grits)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 ounce grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil

For Mushrooms:
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 shallots, thinly sliced (about ½ cup)
1 pound sliced mushrooms (crimini (baby bella), or any combination of mushrooms)
½ teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
¼ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1 ½ teaspoon fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 ½ teaspoon fresh sage, finely chopped
½ cup dry vermouth, or dry white wine
1 cup vegetable stock

Chopped parsley and additional grated cheese for serving

Cut a piece of parchment or waxed paper to fit in a loaf pan coming up the sides to create a sling.  Spray the inside lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat 3 ½ cups of water and 1 teaspoon of salt over high heat until boiling. Using a wire whisk, slowly whisk in polenta and reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring frequently to prevent the bottom from sticking for about 20 minutes.

The polenta is done when it is very thick, soft and creamy. Remove from heat and stir in butter and cheese. Pour polenta into pregreased loaf pan. Smooth the top so that it is even. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least three hours or up to two days.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When it starts to shimmer add the shallots, mushrooms and ½ teaspoon salt.

Saute until all liquid is gone and mushrooms are starting to brown, stirring frequently so the bottom does not burn. Add the garlic, herbs and black pepper. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add vermouth and cook until liquid has almost evaporated. Add vegetable stock and cook until liquid has reduced by half, about fifteen minutes. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Mushrooms can be used right away or covered and refrigerated for up to two days.

Heat grill to medium high heat (about 400 degrees).

While grill is heating, remove polenta from loaf pan and slice into ½ inch slices, laying the slices out on a pan. Brush both sides with olive oil.

When the grill is hot place the polenta slices on the grill at a slight angle (this just makes the grill marks look nicer). Cook until the bottom side has dark golden-brown grill marks, about 5 minutes. Carefully slide a spatula under the polenta slices and turn them over. Cook for an additional 5 minutes on the second side and then remove to the serving platter or plates. Top each serving with about a half cup of mushrooms, grated cheese and freshly chopped parsley.

Grass-Fed Beef and the Grown-Up Patty Melt

  August 8, 2011 - 10:12 pm | , , , , , , ,
4 Comments


My Meatless Monday posts will be back next week. This week I will share a special post with you that resulted from my recent trip to Valley View Farms and the America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” Blog Challenge.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been doing some research on grass-fed beef, and my trip to the farm was a good way to see how pastured meat is raised. Since reading books like Fast Food Nation and seeing movies like Food, Inc. I’ve started questioning the safety of the meat I buy at the local grocery store. I’m certainly worried by the ethical and environmental concerns of animals raised on super-sized corporate feed lots, large-scale hog farms and chicken farms. Seeing how humane is a small-scale working farm like Valley View Farm further stressed the importance of buying sustainable meats.

Of course since I have a problem with the way that the animals are raised, then I also have a choice: I can choose to be a vegetarian or I can buy sustainable meats. Since I like meat, vegetarianism is out (except on Meatless Monday), which leaves me with buying sustainable meat. Pastured beef has a wonderful beefy flavor, but the fat content can be inconsistent. While most grass-fed beef is super lean, I’ve discovered that it can also be fat and juicy. When you have super lean beef you need a few additions to boost the juicy factor, but if you have fattier beef you don’t, and to complicate matters you frequently don’t know the fat percentage of meat you buy from small farms or farmer’s markets.

For the America’s Test Kitchen Blogger Challenge I wanted to make a burger that screamed, “AMERICA,” from the top of it’s hearty little bun, but I also wanted to find a burger versatile enough to make with lean beef from the local store or grass-fed ground beef from the local farm whether it was super lean or not. Really there was no other option, the patty melt. A traditional patty melt consists of a beef burger sandwiched between two slices of rye bread, Swiss cheese and sauteed onions. Why be traditional though? Why can’t the patty melt grow up and enjoy a night on the town with its friends: caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, Gruyere and sourdough bread? It can, and it should because the result is a mouthwatering burger/sandwich hybrid that will turn heads and make you the hero of the dinner table.

Because grass-fed beef has such a delicious beefy flavor, you don’t need to do much to make it taste great. If you are using traditional lean ground beef (90% lean) or particularly lean grass-fed beef you can boost the juicy factor by adding a little olive oil to the ground beef before you form the patties. This trick might not work if you were making a plain burger on a bun with nothing but a little ketchup, but you’re golden with the grown-up patty melt. I’ve found that if you surround your burger with a few tasty toppings, then follow a few simple steps, you will end up with a burger that will always be something special. Enjoy!

The Grown-Up Patty Melt – Click here for a printer friendly version of this recipe

To see if your beef is particularly lean look to see if it is dark red with very few white fat specs in it. If it is very lean add the olive oil, but if it does have lots of white specs in it skip adding the two teaspoons of olive oil to the ground beef.

This is NOT super lean beef, but it is grass-fed

My instructions are detailed, but you’ll find the steps go quickly. You can caramelize the onions and saute the mushrooms in advance to make this even easier.

Burgers:
1 pound lean ground beef (grass-fed or 90% lean)
2 teaspoons olive oil (optional: see note above)
1 tablespoon deli mustard such as Guldens
salt and black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil (for grilling)

Toppings:
1/2 large sweet onion, very thinly sliced
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

Bread:
1 round loaf sourdough bread (you will only use about 2/3rd of it)
1 tablespoon olive oil

In a medium mixing bowl combine ground beef, olive oil (if you are using it), and mustard. Mix with your hands until just combined. Separate into four equal balls and press flat between two slices of plastic wrap or waxed paper.

The finished patty should be about six inches wide and 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle each patty with salt and pepper to taste. Keeping the wrap between the patties, refrigerate until they are ready to cook.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add one teaspoon of olive oil and heat until it shimmers. Add the sliced mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Saute, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms are light brown. Remove to a small bowl.

Return the pan to the heat and add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil. Add the onions and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Toss until the onions are coated with the olive oil and salt.Saute until the onions start to brown, about three minutes. Turn the heat down to medium low and continue to cook stirring frequently until the onions are dark golden brown, very soft, and reduced by about two thirds. Remove the onions to a small bowl.

Place a large pan or griddle over medium high heat and drizzle with the two teaspoons of olive oil. Place beef patties on the griddle. Cook for four minutes on each side. Remove to a plate. Scrape the pan or griddle to clean and turn off the heat.

Slice the loaf of bread in half, then slice each half into 1/2 inch slices. You need a total of eight slices from the middle of each half of bread. Save the remaining bread for another use.

Brush the remaining tablespoon of olive oil evenly over one side of each piece of bread. Place the bread, oiled side down on a large metal pan or tray. Evenly distribute the grated cheese over all the pieces of bread. Then divide the onions over four of the pieces of bread and the mushrooms over the other four. Place one burger patty on top of the mushrooms and then carefully flip the onion side down on top of the burger patty.

Heat the same griddle or pan over medium heat until hot. Add the patty melts and cover with the metal tray or pan. Weight down the top with a heavy pot or filled kettle.

Cook until the cheese starts to melt and the bread has turned golden brown. Remove the pan and carefully flip each burger over.

Recover with the pan and weight and cook until the second side has melted cheese and is also golden brown. Move patty melts to a serving platter and brace your self. These bad boys will disappear fast.

For a printer friendly version of this recipe click here:

Field Trip: Valley View Farm

  August 7, 2011 - 1:42 am | , , , , , ,
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Lately I’ve been looking into local, pasture-raised meats. My research made me want to find out how the food on my table is raised; and since I’m in Pennsylvania visiting my family this week, I took a field trip to a local farm to see what happy, pasture-raised animals are all about.

My parents live in Pennsylvania on the northern edge of the Lehigh Valley, an area that has been prime farm land since William Penn advertised his colony to German immigrants and the Lenape indians got fed up with the Europeans in the 1760s and left. It still is great farm land; the word bucolic comes to mind a lot around here. It only took a quick search on AgMap to find a long list of local farms in the area. Valley View Farm in Northampton, PA was close and seemed to raise their animals according to what I knew I wanted. Their animals receive no antibiotics, are pasture-raised and seem to live low-stress, happy lives. I called and asked if I could come by to see the place as well as pick up some eggs and meat.

The owners, Jim and Audrey Ayoub, were very pleasant and accommodating, and soon we were touring the beautiful farm. It’s a real working farm, unlike the agritourism places I’d visited in the past where you see only carefully staged parts of farm life. This farm has only been raising animals for a few years, so in place of historic barns and outbuildings, there are trailers for the pigs to live in and a school bus for the chickens (the school bus was my favorite, but more on that later). The best way for me to tell you about this farm is to show you the pictures.

Cows:

This is a shot of the farm looking down on one of the cows’ pastures. Notice the dark spot in the road across from the herd of cattle. It’s a bull that had escaped from the fencing. This seemed to really upset the herd since several of them kept calling to him.

When we got down to the area with the loose bull, Mr. Ayoub and his son came and got him back in his pasture.

I never expected to be quite this close to the bull, but he seemed very docile as he walked around our car.

The rest of the herd seemed much more upset than he did. Most of them were keeping an eye on us.

Pigs:

The pigs lived in a separate pasture which included a trailer for cover and an wooded area with mud and water which the pigs clearly enjoyed.

There were a few large hogs, some very young piglets and several slightly older immature pigs that were very curious.

By piggy standards this is the perfect place live and be happy. Look at the hog in this the trailer closely–you can see her smiling!

Chickens:

The baby chicks live in the barn until they are old enough to survive in the pasture. Some of these are turkeys which are already being raised for Thanksgiving. I don’t know which ones are which, but it isn’t necessarily just the larger ones. Little Guy came with us for the tour and he loved the chicks and kept talking about them. However, later when we asked him to tell what he liked about them, all he could come up with was that they were stinky. They were stinky, but they were also stinkin’ cute!

Once the chicks are old enough they make their way over to the pasture to enjoy the most interesting chicken coup I’ve ever seen.

That’s right, not only are these happy chickens, they go to school too! Not really. The bus has been retrofitted with egg-laying boxes and it provides an enclosure to protect the chickens at night. Even happy pasture-raised chickens like to come home to roost at night because there are a lot of animals that like nothing more than a chicken dinner in the middle of the night. The bus provides protection from wild animals and also from the elements. The tarp reduces the wind against the side of the bus.

However, the chicken story gets even better. The bus alone is not enough protection against the wild animals. These chickens also have a faithful, ever vigilant body guard. The guard is the newest member of the farm. We were told he’s working out so far. When he sees a wild animal he creates a commotion and scares it off. In return he gets to spend his days munching away on clover with several dozen chickens. Not really the worst life ever. We expected him to get annoyed by our presence too, but I think he was just hoping for a snack because he seemed pretty happy to see me.

Meat from the farm is processed by a local meat processor and packaged for sale. The farm sells chicken, beef, goat, lamb, turkey and pork at local farmers’ markets. They have a mobile store which goes from market to market.

Seeing the farm was a fascinating experience. As more of us become focused on how our food is produced, the market for places like Valley View Farm will grow. The benefits to us all go far beyond just having healthy food:

  • Pastured animals distribute their manure directly back to the pasture instead of it going into a pile and running off into creeks in the next rain.
  • Pastured animals require less fossil-fuel consumption.
  • Pastured animals use little or no grain feed, thus reducing the burden on cultivated crops.

Please visit and support your local, sustainable farms.

Oh, and in my next post I will show you what I did with some of my purchases from the farm. Stay tuned!

Through a Kudzu Jungle (The Southern Veggie Plate)

  August 1, 2011 - 3:27 pm | , , , ,
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All that’s missing is the fried okra and corn muffins!

Often when I was a child my family packed everything we could fit in our 1974 dirt brown Ford Pinto station wagon and drove from Baltimore to the tiny town of Fayette, Alabama (population about 4000). We took this eighteen hour trip so many times that I can still see the landscape rolling by in my mind 30 years after my last trek. In a time before car seats and rear-seat belts, my father was a child-safety pioneer. He fashioned harnesses in the “way back” of the wagon to work with the rear seat folded down. These harnesses were bolted to the car frame for safety but allowed my sister and me a little freedom; so we tolerated eighteen unbroken hours in a car in periods of play and sleep. Most interestingly, the parts of the trip that really stick in my mind are all in the second part of the trip; the places of the South. I remember the faded advertisements on the sides of barn beckoning everyone to See Rock City or Ruby Falls, and I remember watching kudzu go by. If you are unfamiliar with kudzu it is a highly invasive vine which covers most of the south in billowing foliage and often looks remarkably like animals. To a child half numb from 10 hours of highway and car sleep, looking for animals in the Kudzu was a welcome diversion.

I also remember the food we ate on these trips. For the first half of the trip we ate what my mother had packed for us in the cooler; mainly cold fried chicken, sandwiches and snacks. The second half of the trip had the food we waited for—Morrison’s Cafeteria. Morrison’s was heaven in a cafeteria line. You didn’t really need meat, although the fried chicken was wonderful, but the sides were just too good to miss. A lot of people felt this way, that’s why they offered a vegetable plate (most southern style restaurants still have something like this). The veggie plate was your choice of five sides. For me this was always fried okra (Morrison’s was legendary), creamed corn, black-eyed peas, a piece of corn bread, and mac and cheese. Only in the south could macaroni and cheese pass for an item on a “vegetable” plate, but it was there and unmissable. Not a trip went by without my parents telling us stories of the two of them eating at the Morrison’s in Tuscaloosa while they were at the University of Alabama. My sister and Iwould happily munch away on our fried okra and black-eyed peas while we listened to stories of my parents’ early days before kids and memories were made.

Now that I’m an adult I sit in the front of the car on our trips to my parents’ house. My son is luckier than I was in that his treks are only five hours, not eighteen. However, he is constrained in the modern torture device known as the five-point restraint car seat. I wonder what my son sees in his trek to his grandparent’s house. There are no kudzu jungles to look at, no Morrison’s to look forward to. What can he possibly take away from his frequent treks down the stretch of I-95 between Boston and New York? I don’t think one makes memories that last a life time at the West Haven, CT service plaza.

While Morrison’s is no longer around, my son still gets the veggie plate. A slightly shortened version is a frequent meal around our house, and it’s a great meatless Monday meal. I usually make the modern idea of mac and cheese with a thick and cheesy Bechamel sauce which is poured over cooked pasta and browned in the oven. However, in a pinch for time recently, I reverted back to the old-style mac and cheese I remember from my childhood. Pasta is layered with shredded cheese in a baking dish with a milk and egg mixture poured over the top. Buttered breadcrumbs are sprinkled on top and then thrown in the oven while the rest of the dinner is made. It’s easy and old-fashioned, and sometimes it’s a nice change from the rich and creamy style we are all used to these days. Along with the mac and cheese I make several other veggies like green beans, black-eyed peas, creamed corn, and fried-okra. Make large portions of everything on Monday and you’ll have sides to go with your dinners the rest of the week.

Retro Mac & Cheese – Click here for a printer friendly version
Serves 4-6

You can use pretty much any cheese you have in the fridge. For this recipe I used a mixture of asiago, cheddar, Gruyere and jack cheeses.

8 ounces elbow or corkscrew pasta
2 cups shredded cheese
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil pasta according to package directions and drain. Coat a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray and spread 1/3 of the pasta on the bottom of the pan. Cover the first layer of pasta with 1/3 of the shredded cheese. Repeat with pasta and cheese so that you have three layers of cheese and three layers of pasta.

Combine milk, egg, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk to mix well. Pour over the pasta and cheese. Combine bread crumbs, melted butter and paprika. Toss with a fork until evenly combined and sprinkle over the pasta.

Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbles start to form around the edges. Switch the oven to broil and continue to cook for another minute or two, until the breadcrumb topping is medium brown. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving.

Creamed Corn  – For Printer Friendly Click Here
serves 4

Use a porcelain-enameled cast iron pot if possible. The coated surface will help prevent the corn from burning and sticking to the bottom. Time is your friend for this dish. Don’t try to make this in a hurry. This can be made up to two days in advance.

It is highly preferable to use mature ears of corn for this dish. The young tender ears of corn that make fantastic corn on the cob are not desirable for creamed corn. You can do a little test with your fingernail to see if it is right for creamed corn. Stick a fingernail down into one kernel. If the kernel pops with a watery juice then it’s great for corn on the cob, if it has a thick creamy liquid, its better for creamed corn. If you only have young tender ears of corn, then mix in two tablespoons of corn meal with the corn before cooking.

8 ears corn
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt

Use a grater to scrape corn kernels off the cob into a bowl.

After all sides of the corn have been run over the grater several times, run a small amount of water over the cob.

Over the bowl, slide the back of a knife down along the cob to scrape any remaining corn from the cob as well as the starchy juices of the corn.

Melt the butter in a large pot set over medium heat. Once the butter has melted and is starting to bubble add the corn and salt. Stir to mix the butter into the corn and just bring up to simmer. Turn heat down to low and simmer uncovered until thick and about the consistency of pudding; about 1 hour.

Stir frequently, being sure to scrape the bottom of the pot each time. Season to taste with additional salt as needed.

That there’s some good eatin’, y’all.

Magic Beans

I also wanted to share pictures with you of the amazing color changing beans I bought at the farmer’s market. When I bought the beans they were a deep eggplant color, but cooking turned them normal green bean colored. They were also very tasty. They had a great bean flavor with a nice firm texture that held up to southern cooking (long and slow) very well.

Before shots are of the whole beans and then trimmed and cut.

The after shot is just after a few minutes of simmering, and you can still see small specks of purple on the beans. The color would probably stay with a very quick blanch, but now that’s not very southern is it?!

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