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.

Lobster and Foie Gras a l'orange

Foie Gras has become a bit of a tradition for Kerries Birthday, I order a couple of slices from Dartganan and figure out what to do with it from there. This year I found this recipe on the Cointreau website and just couldn't get it out of my head. I used a loaf of French pain de campagne and cut off the crust. I really hesitated to do so because I love a good crusty bread but I'm glad I did, the pan fried bread was a perfect crunchy element for a dish that could have been too soft. If I had left the crust on it would have made it too hard to cut through and it could have been hard to eat. With the crusts off it was easy to slice through it and get a complete bite of crispy bread, buttery foie gras, tender lobster and the slight acidity of the oranges. The shallot and Cointreau sauce was a perfect complement and cut through the richness of the dish.  For a dish this decadent it was incredibly simple. You can easily cook the lobster up ahead of time.

A note on foie gras, make sure you let it come to room temp before trying to pan sear it. it only cooks for 15-20 seconds per side so if it is cold it won't have the right texture. I use the joy of cooking recipe which is simple, season the foie gras on both sides with salt and pepper.  Heat a pan up with a very thin coat of vegetable oil, you want  the oil to get right up to almost smoking, add the room temp foie gras, sear on one side for 15-20 seconds and then flip, cook for another 15-20 seconds and then remove from the pan and let it drain on a paper towel.

-

INGREDIENTS

2 qts water
2 lobsters of about 450g (2lbs) (Maine lobsters)
180g (6oz) fresh slices of foie gras
salt
White pepper, freshly ground
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon shallots, peeled and minced
1/4 cup (60ml) Cointreau
1/4 cup (60ml) lobster or chicken stock
2 slice white bread, crusts removed, buttered and pan toasted
10 mandarin orange slices 
2 fresh thyme sprigs

PREPARATION

1- Poach lobster for 6 minutes in boiling water; drain; chill
2- Remove tail and claws from shells; slice tail into 4 medallions; reserve.
3- Heat skillet over medium heat; season foie gras; crisp sear on all sides; drain on paper towel; reserve.
4- Heat butter in skillet over medium heat; add shallots; sauté until golden; deglaze with Cointreau; add stock; reduce by 60%.
5- Add lobster to skillet; sauté 30 seconds.
6- Place foie gras and lobster on toast; drizzle with sauce; garnish with thyme and mandarin slices; serve.

Some Perspecitve on Food

As a part of my new job, we got to volunteer some time at one of several local charitable organizations. Before I get to my experience I just want to say how great it is that Salesforce.com not allows, but very much encourages and rewards our volunteer activities. I get up to 48 hours a year of paid volunteering time, which I intend to use. Companies with policies like that should be applauded and I'm proud to work for one. The Salesforce foundation  is a wonderful arm of the company. OK gushing over, lets talk about my experience.

As soon as I saw the list of choices I knew I wanted to volunteer at a soup kitchen. My relationship with food being as strong as it is, it just seemed like the right choice.  About 15-20 of us hopped on a bus about 3 PM after our orientation and made our way over to the Glide Memorial church. After figuring out who was going to do what, I was set up with an apron, some gloves and a hairnet. Duly equipped I was ready to bus tables, fill water pitchers and help out with any requests that came my way.

Once the line started it just didn't stop for 1 and one half hours. During the service time I saw such a wide variety of people in need. From people who had clearly been on the streets for a long time, to folks with pretty pronounced mental illness, to people who looked like they just needed a hot meal, in order to stretch whatever budget they might have. 

My primary job was clearing trays and making space for the next person. The cafeteria could probably sit 80+ people, and there was rarely a moment where there wasn't someone waiting for a place to sit. Most people came in, cleared their tray and got out. Many people brought their own containers for food and water, scraped their trays in to it and went on their way. Some had a pretty elaborate system of scooping their food into slices of bread and wrapping them up for later. 

There seemed to be a community interplay between some folks, some knew each other and were talking, in some cases there was just one person who was happy to scoop up the unwanted oranges or carrots that someone was not going to eat.

Which brings me to the one major shocker, the waste. The number of people who arrived, ate the one or two things on the tray they wanted, or some even just a few bites, and then left, was stunning. I can't come close to putting myself in their shoes but could not figure out why someone would come in for a meal and then leave it 90% untouched. I had one guy who pointed to the salad on his tray, admittedly it was pretty brown, and say "would you fed this to your family?" I didn't answer but I thought to myself, "Of course I would it if it would keep them from feeling hungry." I'm not really trying to make any kind of statement here, it was just so striking to me.

That was the exception, to be sure. The overwhelming majority were grateful for the food, and seemed genuinely pleased to have someone asking if them if they were done, or wiping up some spilled water, or just taking their tray to the back for them so they didn't have to. Anytime I had a package of baby carrots or an orange that went untouched I could ask people in my path if they wanted it, and it went into thankful hands. And that was really the exchange that stuck with me. A simple kindness like serving someone some food and offering up an extra was so well received that I couldn't help but feel like I wanted to do more.

A Parade of Homes, and Inspiration

I was invited to tour the Parade of Homes this year as a blogger, through the ever-connected and always active Renee Benda. Kerrie and I had planned to attend this year in order to gain some inspiration for our own home buying/building plans, and now I even had a mission.

Since I don't typically write--or know anything about-- design, I went into this event looking specifically for ideas for our kitchens and dining rooms. Those are the focal points of our life at home.

Throughout the eight homes this year I was looking for ideas on what features in a kitchen really work for me, and which ones do not. My wife has convinced me that an open kitchen is the way to go. I hope having one will help me meet my goals of being able to cook in relative peace while simultaneously appearing to be social. It seems to be standard in all new homes, in contrast to older homes like ours where the kitchen is much more closed-off from the rest of the house.

Granite and tile in the kitchen were certainly the order of the day, in every home we toured. One item of which I am not a big fan is the single large sink.

It may just be habit; I have had a double sink in every place I have ever lived, but I just can't see the one large sink being practical. They look nice, and the hardware and faucets that go with them are amazing, but I just want my double basin.

A feature I have fallen in love with is the pot-filling spigot above the cooktop. It is not something I'm going to use every day, but on those occasions when I have the big pasta cooker rolling, salt potatoes boiling, or four corned beef briskets stewing, I would love having it right there. It was present in two homes and is solidly on my "nice to have" list for the next house.

Another feature I was really pleased to see in several homes was the large walk-in or full closet-sized pantry.

For someone like me with a ton of kitchen equipment, a full-sized pantry would be a wonderful thing. Easy access to all of our equipment and ingredients, without having to hunt or move things around to get to an item in a cabinet, would be a huge labor saver. We have stuff stashed all over the place right now, and at times, it's a pain to find what we need.

I do love a full-size double oven. Thanksgiving is not the only day I max out my space, or want things at two very different temperatures. This is more on the "must have" list. Many of them were flanked by deep cabinets for everything that may need to go in to one of those ovens, which is very smart design.

I'm not such a fan of the smaller oven design, it's just not big enough to suit my needs. I get it for the occasional cook but I can't see it working for me. 

There were several kitchens that were beautiful and well-appointed but just not what I would consider a "cook's kitchen." Not having enough counter space, an inconvenient layout or a general lack of outlets is enough to knock a place out of the running for me. In the end there were two places that were, hands-down, amazing. 

Number one was "The Waterford" by Martin Custom Homes. This place had not one great kitchen, but two. The main floor had an open concept great room, kitchen, and dining room. A dining room large enough to accommodate our table, or with an wide open entry to allow for the addition of extra tables, is essential for us. The second kitchen was downstairs, in a finished walk-out basement, near the absolutely stunning home theater room. Outside of formal dining and sleeping I would be hard-pressed to find reasons to leave the lower level, which also had a wet bar and lounge area. It won our hearts as a dream home. 

The winner for kitchens was in "The Jonsten" by Smolen Homes.

While it didn't have everything (no double oven), the amount of counter space and number of convenient outlets were incredible. The built-in breakfast nook made spectacular use of space, and I could easily see serving most of my family meals there. It looked out into a bright, open family room that I loved and could envision entertaining in, especially with the addition of the wet bar. 

I may be drooling a bit as I type.

Every home on the tour had at least one highlight, and usually many more features that I appreciated. And the layout of the tour itself was excellent. This was my first visit to the Parade Of Homes but it most certainly won't be my last.

Rhubarb Crumble Pie

I love rhubarb. I love it is all its pucker inducing tartness. It is frequently this slighted marginalized ingredient, only included as a tart note without embracing all that it has to offer on its own. This recipe  from thekitchn.com highlights the beautiful tartness of Rhubarb and enhances it with lemon.

My only real change to to the recipe was forced by me running out of sugar. Thankfully I caught it early enough so I cut down on the amount of corn starch the recipe called for and supplemented with confectioners sugar. I also added about 1/4 cup of maple syrup. The flavor was likely more tart than most people would enjoy but it was perfect for me.

I used almond meal in my topping, if you don't have it I'm sure finely chopped almonds would be just fine.

For the crust I used my new favorite crust which is a butter/lard hybrid from Alton Brown.

I can't rave about this crust enough. I have used it now for both a savory chicken pot pie and this dessert pie and it is magic in both applications. It is very flaky and tender with a great flavor.

Angel Hair with Shrimp, Scallops and a Lemon Mustard Butter sauce.

I picked this recipe up out of  the Bon Appetit Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild. My Mother

 I made some minor modifications to the ingredients and the process but I can confidently recommend using the original. I doubled the recipe since I was serving 4 adults and we had a good amount of leftovers. This recipe is simple and delicious.

Ingredients:
2 cups dry white wine
1 tsp lemon zest
1 lb scallops ( you can use bay scallops, I used larger ones)
1 lb tail on shrimp
4 tsp Dijon mustard
1 stick chilled butter cut into pieces

12 oz angel hair pasta
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives

Start heating a big pot of salted water for your pasta.

Bring the wine and lemon to a boil in a large pan, making sure there is enough room to fit all the seafood, and space to toss the pasta.Once the wine is boiling add your seafood and reduce to a simmer. Cook the seafood for 3 minutes or so until the shrimp has just turned pink and the scallops are just opaque. The seafood goes back in the pan at the end so do not overcook it now. Rubbery scallops suck

Remove the scallops and shrimp to a large bowl and set aside. Bring the temperature back up to a boil and reduce the wine by about 1/2. Once the wine has reduced whisk in the mustard then, piece by piece whisk in the butter.

Once all the butter has been added, drop your pasta in the water and cook it for 2-3 minutes if using fresh pasta.

Meanwhile add your seafood and any liquid back into the sauce and toss to coat. Once your pasta is done add it to the pan with your sauce to add everything to one big pasta bowl toss. Sprinkle on your fresh chives and serve immediately.

I served it with oven roasted asparagus and fresh sourdough bread.

Stuffed Pork Loin Roast

There are two drawbacks to cooking on the fly:
1. You don't tend to measure so writing things down after is an effort in guess work
2. You always 2nd guess a decision and come up with better ways after the fact

With those things in mind I'm going to write the recipe as I think it should be done rather than the slapdash, albeit delicious, first attempt.

Ingredients:
3-4 lb pork loin roast (not pork tenderloins please)
1 lb bacon
1 cup caramelized onions
1/2 cup shitake mushrooms (dried is fine about 8-10 dried)
1 cup cooked spinach
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt
pepper
olive oil
4 feet butchers twine

Preheat your oven to 350

Slice the pork loin horizontally, as close to the center as you can get, do not slice it all the way through. Open it up so it lays flat. Let it rest while you prep the rest of your ingredients.

Re-hydrate your mushrooms if you are using dried. I like to use a mix of boiling water and wine to re-hydrate  Just plain water will work but I find the wine gives them a better flavor. Let them steep until soft then chop finely. If using fresh just chop them up. I don't like shitake stems as I find them too woody in texture so remove them.

If you are using fresh spinach, saute it with a bit of chicken stock and mix in your chopped mushrooms. Salt and pepper to taste. For frozen spinach thaw in the microwave and saute with the mushrooms to heat the through.

Once your spinach and mushroom mix is cooked, spread it in an even layer inside of your butterflied pork, then layer on the cheese and onions.

Close the pork and truss it with your butchers twine.

Once you have your pork all tied up and lovely, flip it over so most of your knot work is on the bottom then drape it with bacon. You can skip the bacon and brown it before baking but why would you skip the bacon?

Stick it in the oven and cook until it reaches an internal temp of 145-150. Yes I mean it, don't over cook your pork. The USDA says its ok. Let it rest for at least 5-10 minutes after it reaches temp.

Once it is done you should be able to roll it onto its side and cut the twine from the bottom. By doing so you can pull it off without disturbing your nice crispy bacon.

Slice into pork chop thickness pieces and serve.

So Good: I Try It So You Don't Have To: SweetBreads

This week I combined my So Good article with some recipe testing for a cookbook (more on that at another time)
Good times with sweetbreads.

Sage and Maple Brined Pork Chops with a Maple Sage Brown Butter Sauce.

Are you brining your meat? (why does that sound dirty?) If you aren't you should be. If I am cooking pork or poultry I always try to brine if I can.
Brine doesn't need to be anything other that water and salt but it's always best to get some other flavors in there. Bringing typically takes 6-8 hours for small cuts and up to 12 for larger items like whole turkeys or pork loins

For 4,  1/2 inch thick pork chops you will need

3 cups water
8 ice cubes
4 Tablespoons kosher salt
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
2 Tablespoons dried sage

I like bone in pork chops, if you use boneless chops you may need to add some more butter as I find they have less fat. You need the fat.

Heat two cups of water, the salt, maple syrup and sage to a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring to be sure salt gets completely dissolved.

Add in the other cup of water and the ice cubes to cool the brine. Once the brine is cooled pour over the pork chops and stash them in the fridge.

When it's time to cook discard the brine, rinse and dry the pork chops. Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 375

For cooking and the sauce you will need

4 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons dried sage
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Add the butter and sage to an oven safe pan an cook over medium, stirring frequently until it has just started to turn brown. For more on brown butter check here. Once the butter has started to brown add the pork chops, cook on one side for 1-2 minutes, then flip to the other side for 1-2 minutes to coat. transfer the pan to the oven and cook for another 6-8 minutes. If you want you can finish under the broiler for 2 minutes per side for a darker color. I would reduce the cooking time to 6 minutes at most if you are going to do so.

After cooking/broiling remove the chops from the pan, and return the pan to a burner over medium high heat.  there should be a good layer of liquid in the pan from the pork, if you don't think there will be enough sauce you can add some chicken stock to the pan. Bring the liquid to a boil then reduce heat to low, add the maple and balsamic stir for a minute or two to incorporate everything, ladle it over your pork chops and serve. The maple should almost caramelize in the pan..

My So Good Updates

For you loyal readers (all 5 of you or so) that may not know, I post once a week about not so delicious foods on SoGoodblog.com. This week I wrote about my continued adventures eating Century Eggs.
Check it out.

Buffalo Chicken Wing Cheesecake

Yes, you read that right. Andy, one of my fellow writers over at So Good mentioned this as an object of disgust on Twitter just before the big game. The inspiration for his disgust was this recipe at FoodBeast.
After reading through it I could see why his initial reaction was revulsion. There is absolutely no reason to include sugar or vanilla in a savory cheesecake. If my experience with lobster cheesecake has taught me anything it is that dessert cheesecake and savory cheesecake are completely different animals.

I knew I could do better. So I decided to adapt the lobster cheesecake recipe and transform it into buffalo chicken wing cheesecake. Please note my measurements on blue cheese and hot sauce are approximate  I used less of each on the first try and it was not enough to really bring the chicken wing flavor I wanted so I increased them here.

Ingredients:

For the Crust
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1 cup crushed Fritos (about 3 cups of chips)
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter

For the Chunky Bits
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

1 pound (about 2 cups) chicken, roughly chopped
3-4 tablespoons Buffalo wing sauce (feel free to make your own, though the bottled sauce was perfect because it doesn't separate and get greasy)

For the Cheesy Bits
1 3/4 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
4 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup crumbly blue cheese
3-4 tablespoons Buffalo wing sauce.


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Add in a 9 x 13 baking dish of water to the lower rack.

In a mixing bowl, combine the Parmesan, Fritos, and butter, blend thoroughly. I always cut a disk of parchment paper to line the bottom of my pan, then spray with non stick spray. Press the mixture into the bottom of your prepared 9-inch springform pan.

In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions and the celery. Season with salt and pepper. Saute for 6-8 minutes, set aside in a bowl.

In the same pan add your chicken and any additional olive oil needed. Cook through and then add the buffalo wing sauce to coat. Remove form heat and set aside to cool. You don't want it piping hot when you add it to the cream cheese mixture.

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. With the machine running, add the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Beat in the cream, blue cheese, and sauteed vegetables until fully incorporated, about 2 minutes. Fold in the chicken. Pour the filling into the prepared crust then drizzle the buffalo wing sauce on the top and swirl into the filling with a metal or bamboo skewer. Alternately you can just add the hot sauce to the mix before pouring but I wanted a swirl rather than a uniform pink color.
 Bake until almost firm, about 50 minutes. Turn off the heat and crack the oven door, let sit for another 20 minutes. At that stage it should be fully set and pulled away form the edge of the springform pan.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. If you refrigerate the cake before serving, allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Serve with more crumbled blue cheese, wing sauce and finely chopped celery .

Roasted Celery Root and Onion "Stuffing"

This dish came about due to a mistake. I thought I had pulled out a bag of sliced parsnip chips and instead wound up with a bag of sliced celery root. I decided I was going to make a play on traditional Thanksgiving stuffing which always starts with a lot of butter, celery, onions, salt and bells seasoning.

I used

1 medium red onion, sliced

1 lb sliced celery root (I used my meat slicer, use a mandoline if you have one)

1/2 stick salted butter

1/2 cup chopped parsley

Salt

Bells seasoning

Pre heat the oven to 425

Heat the butter over medium hihg heat in a large (12 inch) oven safe pan.

Add the onions, a sprinkle of salt and bells seasoning until they start to brown

Once the onions have begun to caramelize add a layer of sliced celery root. The sprinkle on salt, bells and parsely. Add another layer of celery root

Finish off your 2nd layer, sprinkle more salt bells and parsley and add a couple pats of butter

Stick the pan in the oven and cook until the top is brown and the edges have stated to curl

Invert onto a plate slice and serve fresh and hot. I served it with fresh ham steaks with a parsley, butter, shallot and lime sauce.

I will have to try this one a couple more times as I under seasoned it a touch. It was very flavorful but didn't quite hit the mark of thanksgiving stuffing I was going for.

Review: LoFo

I had the opportunity to meet Abigail, one of the owners of LoFo at the recent Syracuse Coworks open house and was excited to give it a try. As it turned out we were able to go in that same day.

During our brief introduction Abigail said enough to reassure me that the menu contained a mix of vegetarian, vegan and meat-based dishes. Not that I always have to eat meat, but I do like to have my options open. They have an extensive menu of loose teas, juices and smoothies, and just began serving breakfast.

The space itself was really nice; there are not many tables available but at 1:15 on a Tuesday, we had no problem getting one. We ordered at the counter and helped ourselves to some water and cutlery.
I ordered the Roasted Root Salad and a cup of Rooibos tea, and Kerrie got the Chicken and Brie sandwich and a cup of loose black tea (neither of us remember the variety but it had a great flavor).

The roasted root salad was very pretty with a great mix of colors. The maple dijon vinaigrette was delicious, it might be a touch on the sharp side for some people's tastes. Coupled with the sweet carrots and parsnips, it was a great match. I would have love to see something even sweeter like beets in the mix, but I have a potentially unhealthy love of beets. All in all it was a great take on a hearty winter dish like roasted root vegetables in light style that I really enjoyed.

Kerrie's sandwich was a gooey delicious thing, accompanied by a small field greens salad topped with just the right amount of a light vinaigrette.

It was a satisfying meal, at a good price, in a comfortable setting, and we will be back. We are both interested in trying the breakfast.

Midnight Pie

We had kind of a last minute New Years Eve party this year, and for me last minute meant a whole bunch of junkfood and short cuts. Not a bad thing, just not my usual stuff. The one thing that I made, mostly myself was a throwback to a dish that my family learned about in Sweden.
 It is traditionally made with ground reindeer meat. As you might imagine that is difficult to come by, especially since I failed to get a deer during hunting season. It is a very simple dish, especially if you cheat and buy a pie crust from the refrigerator case. I used  crust I had never tried before from The Immaculate Baking Company, I really liked it, Kerrie didn't think it was as flaky as the Pillsbury crusts.

In the end it is a very simple dish.

Ingredients
1 lb ground venison, reindeer, beef, pork or other ground meat.
1 medium onion chopped
1.5 cups cottage cheese
2-3 Tbsp good yellow mustard
salt and pepper to taste
Pie crust- top and bottom

heat up a large frying pan with olive oil, saute the onions for 3-4 minutes until soft and then add your ground meat to brown. Once the meat has browned, drain off any excess fat (if any) then add the cottage cheese and 2 Tbsp of mustard ( I made a mistake with my mustard it was a bit too horseradishy and overpowered things), salt and pepper to taste, add more mustard if needed.

Turn off the heat and get your pie crust ready, put the bottom crust down in a 9 inch pie pan and pour in the filling, then add your top crust. A lattice crust is traditional but does nothing for flavor, omit if you don't want to bother.
Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, all you need to worry about is the crust getting nice and brown since the filling is all cooked and should be hot unless you made the filling up ahead of time, which you can totally do.

Christmas Eve Extravaganza 2012

We have about 16  people this year so in order to try to save some sanity,and not to force that many people to sit I am going to go with more of a cocktail party feel than a sit down dinner this year. I'm also shifting the order in a major fashion this year. Everyone always fills up on soup and salami cheese bread so I'm moving that to the end of the evening. Think of it like the turkey sandwich on thanksgiving day.

Fried Squid
Fried Smelt

Beet cured gravlax

I can't believe the incredible color this took on in just two days

It was like a sunrise when I cut into it and the flavor was outstanding  the beet was subtle but present and the overall taste was just wonderful, like really good salmon sushi

I used to make my own breading, then I got lazy so I use Tempo Breading Supreme as my base and doctor it up with some smoked paprika, seafood seasoning blend and some dried herbs.
We have some toast, creme fraiche, capers etc to to go with the salmon.

Baked Whole Fish
Back to striped bass this year, stuffed with parsley  fennel frond, oranges and lemons. Baked in a salt dome. I don't vary from Alton Browns method at all. I have used Grouper and Red Snapper in lieu of striped bass with great success.

I got smart this year and stuffed it and covered it way ahead of time, thankfully it is cold enough that I can store it outside in the back of the station wagon.

Smoked Salmon Ravioli
Kerrie makes a pasta every year, it is fresh pasta dough stuffed with smoked salmon  ricotta and cream cheese. This year we are going to fry it instead of boiling it, that way I can get away from having to stand in the kitchen and toss raviolis in sauce a pan at a time.

Anchovy Spaghetti
This is my mothers contribution. It is a simple dish but so delicious. Saute 4 or so cloves of chopped garlic in olive oil. Once the garlic has begin to soften add two cans of anchovies and stir until they break apart and almost disintegrate, add some cracked black pepper and  toss with fresh pasta lots of grated cheese

Stuffed Calamari
I'm going back to the style that my mom always did, I got crazy with the stuffing over the years and did things with 5 spice and some other stuff, it was good but didn't quite fit int. This year it will be celery, onions, crab, shrimp, parsley and lemon. Some salt and pepper and that's about it.

Lobster Cheesecake
This has become a new tradition as well. It is incredibly rich as you might imagine. I follow Emerills recipe to the letter, almost. I add a big pan of water to the oven during cooking to create some moisture. My spring form pans are not secure enough to immerse them in the pan so I keep it separate.

Meatball Soup
This is a simple soup, traditionally made with the turkey stock from thanksgiving dinner. Just broth and meatballs, and a lot of cheese.

Clam Chowder
This one is coming along with my mom, I don't know what she puts in it, it is however delcious

Salami Cheese Bread
Last but not least, the killer of appetites, the Christmas day breakfast of champions, the salami cheese bread. It doesn't get much more simple.
I made the simple pizza dough form the Americas Test Kitchen Family Baking Book
It makes two loaves, divide the dough in half, roll the dough out, put dow a layer of provaline cheese, all the slices should overlap like the olympic rings. Cover that in a layer of salami, add more cheese, more salami and some grated parmesan. Fold the ends in and then roll it up tightly. Brush with some melted butter and bake at 375 until the crust is brown and the cheese has almost certainly exploded from the ends. Let it cool enough that the cheese sets up, slice and serve.