consumableJoy

Sunday Dinner: Sunchokes

Sunchokes may also be known as Jerusalem Artichokes, but they are no artichoke. In fact they are all brown and knobby and look a lot more like overgrown ginger (but don't taste like ginger) than anything else. I feel like we've been seeing sunchokes everywhere (Top Chef anyone?). Lately they've been all over restaurant menus too -- from fried to pureed -- which I really enjoyed -- and I was excited to see the sunchoke recipe in the latest issue of Fine Cooking.

I whipped up a bunch of the roasted sunchokes with artichoke hearts today during the Super Bowl -- although "whipped up" is probably a little bit of an exaggeration because it took longer than I expected. I sliced up the sunchokes and placed them into lemon water so they wouldn't get brown / oxidized, but then they were too wet when I put them in the pan to brown them, so it took a long time to get the nice brown color. The second batch (I did extra) I drained and patted dry first, and they browned up nicely. Next time, I'd make sure they were a little drier before frying, and get a nice brown crustiness on all of them.

[aside: Oh, and the big deal with the oven-safe skillet I used? I did get it out of the oven safely, obviously using an oven mitt, but then once I put it down on the stove, I kept forgetting it was still hot and trying to grab the handle. Ouch. Luckily no big burns. And next time I am just going to put a sheath (if I can find it - it's been missing for a while) or an oven mitt on it so I don't grab it.]

Overall -- liked the dish, and the lemony-tangy-ness of the sauce. Liked the crispy-chewy mix of textures in the sunchokes themselves, and the artichokes also made a nice complement. But, I'm not in love with it. Still like sunchokes though and am still determined to find a go-to recipe for them that really pops. Next time I'll try another approach, maybe chopping the sunchokes into smaller pieces and tossing them in some olive oil and garlic.

Cookbooks in Current Rotation

I have a ton of cookbooks. Maybe not 101 Cookbooks, but I counted the other day and there are definitely 70+. I love reading about food almost as much as eating (okay, well maybe not quite that much).

But how many cookbooks do I actually use? Sad to say, it's actually a pretty short list of our "go-to" books, with only occasional side-trips to the other many books on the shelf. And I'm finding that even more so now that I'm trying to report in regularly on our meals... lots of repetitive references.

So, without further ado... books that keep ending up on the kitchen counter instead of on the shelf:

• All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking
• How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food
• Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express: 404 inspired seasonal dishes you can make in 20 minutes or less
• Bones: Recipes, History, and Lore
• Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments
• Baking

And the most commonly used magazines... recent issues of Fine Cooking, Real Simple, Gourmet (ok, becoming less and less recent), and Bon Appetit.

Watch this space for more experimentation with recipes from all of these sources -- and the rest of the books pictured. (Maybe not the Alinea cookbook... Carol's got that under control).

Sunday Dinner: Quinoa and Avocado Salad with Dried Fruit and Lemon-Cumin Vinaigrette

We try to incorporate a lot of interesting whole grains into our diet -- and quinoa is one of our favorites. But just boiling it up and tossing in some salt, pepper and oil is not that interesting, and even the lusciousness of tossing in some easily melting cheese like crescenza gets repetitive. So when I saw this recipe in the latest issue of Fine Cooking, I couldn't wait to try it.

I whipped up a batch as the side dish for our dinner tonight (braised short ribs again -- I meant to do tequila-braise but we ended up with beer braised again... still delicious). It's easy, quick, and healthy.

We used red quinoa as the recipe calls for which gives it that beautiful color -- but I also had to use some other "tri-color mix" to make a full cup, and it doesn't matter what kind of quinoa you use, really. For the dried fruits, I followed the instructions on the raisins (golden in this case) and dried apricot, but for a little extra flavor I also threw in a couple of dried mission figs. I toasted the almonds in the toaster oven (I <3 my new Breville oven!) and roughly chopped them -- they were a little too big chunks, so next time I would either chop them more or not include them; to me they were not needed.

With all that "healthiness" it's nice to know it's tasty too. Well, Deborah Madison (oh former goddess of Greens Restaurant) gets the credit for this recipe so that's no surprise. The avocado helps hold the quinoa together and brings a nice richness of bite to the dish... with the sweet chewiness of the raisins, apricots and figs to set it off. The lemon, cumin, paprika and coriander combine with the flavors and kind of meld them together; it's not a sour taste but rather a bright freshness. Since it takes dried fruit it can be made in any season, but it tastes a little like springtime.

Where I'm Hoping to Eat and Drink in the Bay Area in 2010

I'm sure we'll be going to the places we loved in 2009... but we're also all about finding new gems (ok, some of these aren't strictly "new" but they do fall into "it's new to me" or "haven't been there in ages". Please drop by to leave comments so we can check out your favorites too.

• Frances
• Orson
• Ubuntu
• Saison
• Flour+Water
• Boot and Shoe Service
• One Market's Whole Beast Dinners
• Rickhouse
• Bourbon & Branch
• Emilia's Pizzeria
• Heaven's Dog
• Halu
• Nombe
• Alembic
• Il Cane Rosso (dinner)

From the cJ Pantry: Butternut Squash Brown Butter Sage Love

On Sunday it was rainy and dreary and we just didn't feel like heading out for lunch. All the fresh ingredients in the house were destined for other meals this week. So I decided to put my "semi-homemade" hat on and see what I could whip up just from what was in the pantry.

The result was farro spaghetti tossed in brown-butter-sage-butter-fried white beans and butternut squash sauce. It was luscious, rich and hearty... with a touch of sweetness from the squash, and nuttiness from the brown butter. Actually, it tasted sort of like inside-out butternut squash ravioli. Yum. Quick yet satisfying and it was completely unnoticeable that it was nearly all from pre-prepared food.

And yes, we have a weird pantry. If you don't have this stuff on hand swap any other kind of pasta in and any other kind of white bean. If you don't have butternut squash sauce in a bottle, run out and get some (or make it from scratch, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the from-the-pantry meal).

• Handful of spaghetti (we used farro pasta)
• Oil (olive oil if you like - we used hazelnut oil for tiniest hint of nuttiness) - optional
• Dave's Gourmet Butternut Squash sauce
• Can of White Northern beans
• A couple tablespoons of butter
• Fresh sage leaves (ideally - you can use dried for flavor if necessary)

Put the water on to boil with a pinch of salt. When it boils, put the pasta into the pot. If desired, add a little hit of oil to the water to help keep the noodles from sticking together. While the pasta is boiling away, heat the butter over medium-high heat. As it's melting, throw in the fresh sage leaves to infuse their flavor into the butter. In the meantime, open the can of beans and rinse with fresh water. When the butter begins to turn a golden color and brown flecks begin to appear (and the smell of the sage combined with the nutty butter flavor begins to make your mouth water), add the beans to the pan and saute. After the beans are warmed through and (if desired) have a little brown crust on them for crunchiness, add the butternut squash sauce to heat. After 8-10 minutes (for farro pasta, your mileage may vary), strain the pasta and add the pasta to the pan with the sauce. Allow the pasta to cook in the sauce for a few minutes.

Serve the pasta as a whole meal-in-a-bowl. Slurp as necessary but careful not to splash orange sauce all over your clothes. Enjoy!

Sunday Dinner: OMG What's That? Soup

I've been in love with Fine Cooking's Cauliflower Soup with Marcona Almond and Piquillo Pepper Relish since finding it in the December issue last year and whipping up a batch for the holidays. Who wouldn't love a recipe that's super easy to whip up but tastes elegant and exquisite? With the added bonus of being "customizable" to taste with your personal amount of relish?

The recipe suggests orange cauliflower, but when I saw this beautiful head of purple cauliflower at the store, I couldn't resist the thought of a bowl of lavender soup.  The only question was, would the color actually carry through?

And the answer is... the cooking water turned a marvelously glowingly intense shade of violet, and the cauliflower still a beautiful pale lilac. And when blended all up, the soup was a gorgeous pale purple. And seriously, when I brought it to the table, the first reaction of guests was "OMG what's that?" Followed by "Yum."

As for the relish -- I decided to replace the almonds with hazelnuts because, well, because I just love hazelnuts. And while you can eat the soup without the relish (it's deliciously creamy without a touch of cream), the relish transforms the soup as it is stirred in... it changes and sharpens the flavors and gives the tastebuds a little "Aha!"

The picture doesn't do it justice. I just couldn't take a good picture of a bowl of soup.

Purple Cauliflower Soup with Hazelnut Relish

For the soup

• Salt and pepper
• 1 medium head of cauliflower -- purple obviously if you want this color, otherwise any type -- cut into florets
• 4 tbs of unsalted butter

For the relish

• 1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted lightly and finely chopped
• 1/4 cup jarred roasted red/yellow peppers, rinsed, seeded, and finely diced
• 2 Tbs. hazelnut oil (or EVOO if preferred)
• 1 Tbs. thinly sliced fresh mint
• 1 medium clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Boil 6 cups water with one teaspoon of salt. Boil the cauliflower until very tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain the cauliflower in a colander set over a large bowl to catch the cooking liquid and let the cauliflower cool slightly. Working in 2 batches, purée each batch of cauliflower with 2 cups of the cooking liquid and 2 Tbs. of the butter in a blender until very smooth. Season to taste with salt. (The soup can be made up to 4 hours ahead.)

In a small bowl, combine the hazelnuts, peppers, oil, mint, garlic, and pepper flakes Season to taste with salt and pepper. (The relish can be made up to 1 hour ahead.)

When ready to serve, gently reheat the soup over medium-low heat. Garnish each serving with a spoonful of the hazelnut relish.

(adapted from fine cooking magazine)

2009 Faves

Places we kept going back to again and again: Camino, Pizzaiolo, adesso, Dosa, Corso Trattoria, Gregoire, Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, Wood Tavern

Fun for a special occasion: Michael Mina, Commis (actually reasonably priced, so maybe not just special occasions)

For when you can't stop eating: Zabu Zabu, Espetus, farmer brown's brunch

Perenniels: Yank Sing, Bette's Oceanview Diner, Cheeseboard

It's New to Me: Katana-Ya

Over-rated: Chez Panisse Cafe

Next time: places we're looking forward to eating in 2010

Welcome 2010!

Goals for the year:

• Blog regularly -- and connect with others who love food
• Learn to bake -- and give lots of the goodies away to others
• Cook at home more -- and have people over to share in the dinner party love
• Indulging in reading about and watching TV shows and movies about food
• I mean really, it's all about food.

Having spent some time reflecting - I've realized that my life pretty much revolves around two things: food, and the Internet. Well, that and work, but the idea is to spend more time doing the things I enjoy. I'm not a great cook, and I'm not a great writer, but practice makes perfect. Stop by to follow devBear's foodie adventures.

Mini-Chocolate-Peanut-Butter-Pearl Cookies

They may not look very attractive, but they smell AWESOME.

Recipe adapted using Michael Ruhlman's Ratio cookbook. Slightly less butter because I wanted less spread.

1 1/2 sticks of butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
I didn't have any vanilla left or ordinarily I would have added it. Next time.

all mixed up, and then folding in

1 1/2 cups of flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp of baking powder

and then folded in

1 cup of Recchuiti's Chocolate Peanut Butter Pearls.

I wanted to make smaller cookies so I went with heaping teaspoonfuls instead of tablespoonfuls. In the oven @ 350F for about 10 minutes.

Holiday Eating: Brown Butter Pecan Pie

I haven't made pie very many times in my life. But today we had some of Gus's students over for a mini-holiday party -- putting up the Xmas tree -- so I thought I'd go out on a limb and whip up a pie. I was intrigued by the Brown Butter Pecan Pie from "I Made That" because I love pecan pie -- and I love brown butter even more.

It was my first attempt at following Ruhlman's Ratio: 3-2-1 flour-fat-liquid crust recipe. It was easy to follow, and the dough came out well, even if it doesn't look that attractive in the photo. And due to failure to butter the pie pan, most of the crust stubbornly refused to be served with the rest of the pie. I have the other half of the dough left to make something else tomorrow or Tuesday and give it another shot.

As for the filling -- the filling was a huge hit. Easy to make, wonderful caramel pecan flavor, rich, sticky and decadent. Definitely will make it again, in fact I might consider this to be a trial run for Christmas.

Next time: (1) I'll remember to butter the pie pan; (2) I'll probably bake the crust a little less than I did this time during the blank-baking phase. The filled pie could probably have stood a little more time in the oven to hit the "cracked" phase, but the crust was already getting really dark. (3) Some bourbon in the whipped cream, I think, for that finishing touch.

(Rest of dinner: bison chili; roasted brussels sprouts; potato latkes and condiments)

Cured Salt Pork

Pizza from @emiliaspizzeria

Duck Porridge @ Out the Door