Beet-Cured Gravlax

 

Beet-Cured Gravlax 

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 pound tail piece of salmon, cut into halves, filleted, but skin left on
• 1/3 cup vodka
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup sea salt flakes
• 2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
• large bunch of dill, roughly chopped
• 5 raw beets, grated

Directions

1. Check the salmon for any bones your fish dealer might have missed (rubbing your hand along the flesh is the best way to find them). Remove any you find with tweezers.
2. Line a dish big enough to hold the salmon with a double layer of aluminum foil (I usually use a roasting pan). Put one of the pieces of salmon, skin down, on top. Rub it with half the vodka.
3. Mix together the sugar, salt, pepper, dill and beet and spread it over the salmon. Pour the rest of the vodka over the fish and put the other piece of salmon (skin up) on top.
4. Pull the foil up around the fish, then put some weights on top (such as cans, jars or a heavy cutting board). Refrigerate and let cure for two to four days, turning every so often. Liquid will seep out of the salmon in this time; just pour it off.
5. Remove the foil and scrape the cure off both pieces of fish. To serve, slice as you would smoked salmon (leave the skin behind). Use as needed and keep, wrapped, in the refrigerator for a week.

Taste of Syracuse and a contest

We had the chance to make her way to the taste of Syracuse for lunch on Friday. We had a mixed bag of experiences with tips from around the world. Since we are fortunately without our kids we actually had the chance to walk around a little bit to see what one might want to taste. After a quick walk through and selling their states and some good things I settled on to the new Chicken Bandit truck.

 Like many people I watched the Restaurant Impossible episode with McShanes and was really interested in trying their chicken. Well prepared chicken is one of my favorite things. The sampling was Chicken Tikka Masala which I wasn't really interested in. They did have a seasoned chicken drumstick that looked appealing so I gave it a whirl. The chicken was perfectly cooked and the seasoning was good, though for my palate it could have used some more salt. I'm interested enough to track them down and try the original "McShanes" chicken. 

Up next for me was a sampling of the much talked about  Oumpas Loompyas. It resembled a small fried dumpling or eggroll. The offered up hot sauce or Thai sweet chili sauce to dip them in so I took a bit of both. Aside from being almost too fresh and hot  they were wonderful. Crispy outer shell, well seasoned meat filling and both sauces were an excellent complement. I will be looking for those again for sure.

We worked our way around, I had hoped to finally try Small Plates Detroit's, offering but unfortunately they didn't have their sample available yet so they remain on my list of places I should try at some point.

Right around the corner from Small Plates was Bailey's Buffalough Nutz. What is a Buffalough Nut you ask? It's a doughnut covered in chicken wing dip. Sweet and Salty is a popular idea and when it's done right it can be excellent. These didn't work for me at all. The doughnut was too sweet and the chicken wing dip didn't have a ton of flavor.

My last sampling before moving on to lunch proper was at the Syracuse Polish Community for their take on Bigos. This was delicious. Rich and hearty with a great blend of meaty flavor and the earthiness of cabbage. I could have happily eaten a whole bowl.

I finished my journey with the Columbus Bakery meatballs in a heel. 

The heel of a loaf of bread is my favorite part so this just makes me a happy man. The bread is the star for me. The meatballs and sauce are tasty as well, though they are hard to eat while standing up.

All in all it was fun afternoon at one of my favorite Syracuse events. which leads me to the contest. Thanks to the wonderful Rene Benda over at Bendiful Blog I have two tickets to give away to this years Parade of Homes, I've made it as simple as possible to sign up.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Darwin

I have driven by Darwin many times, but always at night, after they close. I had never taken the time figure out what they were all about. When fellow = local blogger, Margaret over at Eat First, mentioned a contest Darwin was having to come up with a new sandwich I had to give them a look.
Maybe my submission will make the menu.

After a bit of reading about their connection to Rileys and their philosophy on food it became a must stop.
I stopped by at about 12:30 on a Thursday afternoon and the place was full. There are only few small tables and a counter so don't plan on eating in. I'm sure you could, but especially in spring and summer I'd say find a nice place outdoors to enjoy your lunch.

I had a few minutes to look over the menu while I waited my turn to order, even as busy as it was, it was 5 minutes or less to place an order. The menu changes all the time so what you see will be different than my choices. Today there was only one choice for me, and that was the muffaletta. I'm an absolute sucker for muffalettas and good one will keep me coming back. I added a cup of the beef and cheddar onion ale because it sounded perfect for the day.

I placed my order and moved around the corner to wait. Again it was only another 5-7 minutes or so at most to get my sandwich and soup. The very friendly woman behind the counter asked if I wanted bread with my soup and I couldn't turn her down.

I grabbed my sack of delicious smelling food and headed home.

Once I got home I unwrapped my soup and sandwich and got ready to dive in. As I took the lid off my soup some spilled onto my finger and I was compelled to lick it off, it was delicious, off to a good start.

As good as the soup tasted form the lid, I wanted to dive in to the sandwich before I could have any more. The roll selection was perfect, nice and crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and the ride home gave the olive spread enough time to soak into the bottom so that it was saturated with flavor. The olive spread was the star, bright, briny and a little bit of heat. The ratio of meat to cheese to spread to bread was right on and each mouthful was a complete bite. My only issue was the meat itself, don't get me wrong it was excellent, but it was a little too cold. I find meats like salami, cappicola, mortadella, etc are better when they have warmed up a bit and the oils start open up. I could have waited for it to warm up but it was too darn tasty as it was. No ones fault but my own really. And I'm sure the health department would have something to say if they weren't kept at the right temperature.

After a couple of bites I went for the soup for real. I scooped up some of the broth and a big chunk of beef for my first bite, the complete soup was even better than my initial taste. Rich and meaty with a great balance of cheese, onion and beer. I dunked a hunk of bread into it and was equally happy.

All in all this was a delicious sandwich and a great cup of soup. With this quality of food, outside of price, I can't imagine why anyone would go to the subway around the corner. My complete lunch was just under 10 bucks, and there isn't a 5$ footlong anyplace that would even come close to the delicious meal I had for lunch.

If you are downtown for lunch and need something great to take back to your office or  even eat in the car, get yourself to Darwin and enjoy.

Italian Stuffed Meatloaf

I was looking at older recipes and it dawned on me that I needed to make Polpettona Ripiena again. I really enjoyed it the first time around and wanted to do a better job documenting my changes and results.
The finished product is just beautiful, the colors really stand out.

1 pound Italian-style pork sausage (sweet or hot), casing removed
1 pound meatloaf mix (beef, pork and veal) You can use all beef if you can't find it
2 + 1/4 cups fresh breadcrumbs
1 cups Pecorino Romano, freshly grated
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 pound baby spinach
2 carrots, peeled and cut lengthwise into 3 x 1/4 x 1/4 sticks
6 scallions, root ends trimmed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for extra dusting
5 thin slices mortadella
6-8 slices of a semi-soft sheep's milk cheese, I used greek Kasseri
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
In a large bowl, combine the sausage, beef, 2 cups of the breadcrumbs, the pecorino, eggs, milk, and salt and pepper. Mix gently but thoroughly with your hands. Cover and refrigerate.

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Set up an ice bath nearby. Add 2 tablespoons salt to the boiling water.
Add the carrots to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes, then remove with a spider or slotted spoon and drop into your ice bath.
Drop the scallions into the boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Add to the ice bath

Combine the flour with the remaining 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, lay out 2 sheets of overlapping wax or parchment paper then spread out the flour and remaining 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs. Press down the meat to make a flat rectangleish shape

Lay the spinach over the meat, leaving a 1-inch border on the sides.

Lay the carrot pieces and then the scallions over the spinach, arranging them lengthwise down the rectangle.
Lay the mortadella and cheese over the scallions.

Starting from a long side, roll the meat up like a jelly roll, use the wax paper as a tool to help keep it tight, make it as compact as possible; patch any holes like modeling clay. Behold the loaf ready for baking.

 
Pour 1 cup of water into the pan. Drizzle 1/4 cup of the olive oil down the length of the loaf.
Bake the loaf for 1 hour, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 F.
Carefully transfer the loaf to a cutting board and allow it to rest for 15 minutes.
Slice the meatloaf into 1 inch-thick slices and serve.

Vodka Sauce

There are hundreds of recipes out there for vodka sauce. I have made it 3-4 times and I don't think I have ever used the same recipe. This batch turned out so well that I was seriously considering eating it like a bowl of soup. My inspiration was a recipe from The Gourmandmom.com, I didn't follow her recipe particularly closely but I liked the method she used and I figured it was a good place to start. As a general rule I do like to start any tomato based sauce with whole tomatoes, or as close too it as possible. Most Vodka sauce recipes I see start with a pre-made (hopefully home made) tomato sauce and build from there. Sadly I didn't have enough in my freezer to make vodka sauce in the time I had available so I had to punt. As a result I think I may have settled upon a very quick and very easy vodka sauce recipe.

Cook time 40-45 minutes

Prep time 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup (or more) vodka
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 28 oz can tomato puree
• 1 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Chop the onions and garlic, heat your olive oil in a pan, any sauce pot will do, I like my calphalon everyday pan, and saute the onions for a couple of minutes until they soften, then add your chopped garlic and cook for a couple more minutes. Carefully pour the vodka in the pan and cook it for about 5 minutes. I found that the smell changed pretty drastically when it was ready, it went from smelling like, well like alcohol, to something much more pleasant. Once most of the alcohol had cooked off I added about 1/2 of the butter, I don't know why I added it then, I just did. Next stir in your tomato puree and heat it to a simmer, I simmered the sauce for 8-10 minutes and tasted it, I thought the vodka flavor was lost and added more, perhaps an ounce, you may not need it. Once the tomatoes started to lose some of the canned tomato flavor I added the basil and oregano and some more salt. Have I mentioned tasting as you go yet? You really need to do it for this recipe. Simmer for another couple of minutes to incorporate the herbs and give it a taste, adjust if needed and add in the cream, bring the sauce back up to a gentle simmer and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Taste and adjust, I added still more vodka here. Next up add the cheese and let it come back to a simmer, simmer another 10-15 minutes on low, stirring so it doesn't stick.  Right at the end add the rest of your butter and swirl it in. You could let it cook longer if you wanted to, I was out of time and it tasted delicious so I called it good. We actually brought this over to a friends house for a pasta bar night and it got reheated for 15-20 minutes but that was more for temperature than flavor. It tuned out wonderfully and I think I have found my go to vodka sauce recipe, and one I can make in under an hour.