The SUPER Food

Ruth and I watch a good amount of Food Network.  In fact, our relationship is largely based on Iron Chef America.  You see, only a few months after we met, I moved to Arizona while she was still in college in California.  Our weekly tradition together was to be on the phone while we both watched Iron Chef America from our separate locations.  (This was pre-DVR, so it had to be live via phone.)  While Bobby Flay did not accept our invitation to our wedding, ICA remains a tradition of ours to this day, 8 years later.

So we watched the show this past weekend, and were thrilled to find a secret ingredient that is a personal favorite of mine: kale.  Kale is really the super food.  Ounce for ounce, it has more calcium than a glass of milk and more iron than a steak, plus LOADS of other vitamins and minerals, all wrapped up in what is actually quite yummy.  Now I don't really like raw kale, as I find it a bit fibrous.  But cook it down a bit and you have something really special.

Normally, I braise kale and serve it with something to give a bit of texture, like smoked white beans.  But this time, I wanted to do my own take on something we saw on the show.  The challenger made a smokey (he used bacon) kale chowder.  After a big round of "If not for the bacon, I would totally want that right now" from Ruth and me, I jumped into action.

Kale and Corn Chowder
1 bundle of raw kale
2 ears of corn (or 1 large can)
Vegetable stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
Juice of 2 limes
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp each cumin, coriander, ground mustard seed
1/2 tsp allspice
Salt, pepper, cayenne to taste
Start by prepping the kale.  Remove the thicker parts of the stem (they are way too fibrous and are tough to cook down), then roughly chop the rest.  Smash your garlic, and add to the bottom of a stock pan with the butter, and cook until the butter melts completely.  Then add the kale along with a generous pinch of salt.  Stirring frequently to prevent burning, cook it down over medium-high heat until the kale softens slightly.  Add vegetable stock until the kale is about 2/3 covered, along with the dry spices.  Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until kale has broken down (about 30 minutes).  While this is going on, lightly grill your corn (if using fresh) directly on your gas burner, then cut the kernels off the cob.  Reserve these to the side.  When the kale is soft, blend the soup fully with an immersion blender.  You should have some small pieces of kale remaining, but nothing of any real size.  Add the corn, cream, and lime juice, along with salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.

Once again, my life has been enriched by my small addiction to food television.  Thank you Iron Chef America for my superfood, and for this incredible new way to enjoy it!

Weird Desserts and Other Adventures in Thai Town

There are lots of great things about living in Los Angeles.  The weather is generally very nice, there is a ton of culture, and our sports teams don't normally completely suck.  But the best thing about LA for me is the amazing variety of ethnic neighborhoods for Ruth and me to explore.  Having conquered Little Tokyo a couple of months ago, yesterday we set out with a couple of friends to find the best that Thai Town had to offer.

Thai Town is actually the only neighborhood of its kind in the world.  This makes sense, as LA is home to the largest Thai population outside of Thailand.  Located just east of Hollywood, it is a nice and convenient stretch of Hollywood Blvd and filled with noodle houses, massage parlors and ethnic markets.

We started our tour at Thailand Plaza, since there is actually a garage to park in (that even offers validation with dining at the restaurant there which, while not nearly as good as another we went to, was decent enough).  The four of us then set out walking.  Our first stop was a restaurant called Thai Patio, where we indulged on green curry with fried tofu, pad see ew, and mango fresh rolls with peanut sauce.  It was so amazing that it will not be pictured here because we ravaged all three dishes as soon as they hit the table.  The green curry is something uniquely Thai, made of Thai basil, coconut milk, kefir lime leaves and Thai chilis, and is TO DIE FOR.

After that, we went to a dessert shop, where we had some very interesting concoctions.

From left to right: pandan custard (pandan is a leaf, and it was actually quite good), banana sticky rice that was grilled in a banana leaf, a pancake made of taro, corn and coconut, and a weird coconut cake with a coconut jelly inside.  All were actually pretty good, with the key commonality that they were not too sweet.  As a mostly savory cook, I actually prefer more savory desserts, so this was right up my alley.

After red curry, Chinese broccoli with salted fish (WAY too salty) and spicy papaya salad back at the Thailand Plaza, we did some shopping at one of the markets for some interesting produce to stir fry for dinner, and bid farewell to another amazing day and LA neighborhood.

When Cookies Aren't Approved Breakfast Foods

Those of you who know me out there (and let's face it, at this point that is most of you) know that I am not really a breakfast person.  Sure, I enjoy going out for brunch as much as the next guy, and breakfast for dinner is always a winner in my book.  But food in the morning?  Just not really a fan.  A substantive morning meal for me is a reach into the always-present box of cookies on the coffee table on my way out the door, much to Ruth's disappointment and consistent head shaking.  So today, I decided that the best solution would be to make something relatively sweet but much healthier that I can have a handful of in the mornings: homemade granola.

This was something I had always wanted to do, as I have never really found a granola pre-made that had the stuff in it that I wanted.  For instance, I like cashews and honey-roasted peanuts, but most other nuts aren't really my style.  I am not a huge lover of raisins, but dried cranberries or cherries make me smile.  So making my own granola seemed fairly logical and, as it turns out, it was very simple.

Homemade Granola
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup of your favorite nuts (cashews in my case)
1 cup dried fruit of choice (cherries today)
1 cup of something else exciting (peanut butter chips for me)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
Preheat your oven to 250.  Mix together the oats and nuts in a large bowl.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together the honey, syrup and oil until it comes together.  Pour wet ingredients into the dry and stir to mix, adding the salt as you do so.  Then bake on a baking sheet for about an hour and a half, making sure to stir the mixture around so it all cooks evenly.  When done, transfer back into a bowl and mix in your dried fruit and other exciting ingredient(s).  If, as in the case of my peanut butter chips, things melt together, throw the whole thing back on the baking sheet, spread it out, and refrigerate until it isn't so messy.  (Or just dig right in and deal with hand washing afterwards.)

This particular mixture tastes like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but you could just as easily make a tropical version with dried papaya and mango and some coconut flakes, or use dried blueberries and dark chocolate chips for a slightly sweeter version.  The possibilities are endless!  Go granola!  Much better breakfast than Oreos!

Can Bacon Be Replaced?

One of my favorite things to do is to make pescatarian versions of dishes that have always looked, smelled, and sounded good to me, but that are not traditionally things I can eat.  Some of these attempts have been wildly successful; others have been less so.  Tonight, I tried something I have always wanted to eat: spaghetti alla carbonara.  But I tried to make it without its principle ingredient: bacon.

A traditional carbonara is made with crispy bacon - pancetta specifically - in a creamy egg sauce.  Basically, garlic, bacon, egg.  Very simple, but the bacon obviously plays a large role in the flavor profile.

I was forced to ask the question: what does bacon bring to the party, and more importantly, how can I replace that to get as authentic a dish as possible.  First of all, bacon adds fat to the dish.  So how can I add a little fat while still keeping it authentic?  I chose to supplement my sauce with a bit of heavy cream.  Secondly, bacon adds smokiness.  A little liquid hickory smoke took care of that in mine.  Finally, using crispy bacon adds a crunchy element for some texture.  This was the biggest hurdle for me, and I chose to use a totally different ingredient for this: toasted pine nuts.

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara (The Pescatarian Version)
1/2 lb boxed spaghetti
4 cloves garlic, finely smashed
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 large eggs, beaten
1/4 tsp liquid hickory smoke
1 small hand full pine nuts
Salt, pepper, red chili flakes, to taste
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
While you are making your spaghetti, add about a tablespoon of olive oil to the bottom of a pan, and lightly toast your pine nuts, making sure not to burn them (about 2-3 minutes at most).  Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until the garlic starts to brown.  Turn the heat off, and whisk in heavy cream and liquid smoke.  Add the pasta when it is nicely al dente and mix it in, then, making sure the stove is still off, stir in the eggs.  The residual heat of the pasta will turn your mixture into a very creamy sauce, but if the pan is on, it will scramble the eggs.  This won't ruin the taste, but will definitely not give you the look or mouth feel you want.  Finally, add salt and pepper to taste, and grate parmesan cheese on top.  If you don't run out of eggs like I did, add a whole egg yolk to the top of the pasta for a lovely effect when you cut down into it.

All in all, the taste (I was assured by non-pescatarians in attendance) was fairly authentic, and an altogether pleasant experience.  So there, who really needs bacon anyway?

Butter and Wine

There is a common misconception when cooking with wine.  Some people seem to think that when cooking with wine, the quality of the wine itself doesn't matter.  After all, they will say, you are cooking the alcohol out.  Well, let me put that to rest right now.  While certainly cooking an expensive bottle of wine down into a reduction or sauce is not a great use of that expensive bottle, make sure that the wine you use is one you are happy to drink.  When you reduce wine, you concentrate its flavor.  Hence, a good wine will make a better reduction than a bad wine.

So with that in mind, tonight my wife had some family over, and so I made a simple dinner of salmon, mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.  But to top it, that wonderful French creation of reduced white wine, cream, and butter: a beurre blanc.

A beurre blanc is fairly easy to make, though temperature is a big concern so your sauce doesn't break.

Beurre Blanc
1/2 bottle of a good white wine (I find that chardonnay works the best)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 sticks cold butter
Herbs of choice
Salt and pepper, to taste
Add the wine and lemon juice along with your herbs (for a classical French feel, rosemary, thyme and sage are a great combination) to a small sauce pot, and reduce on high until you have about a cup of liquid remaining.  Strain into another pot to remove the herbs.  Whisk in the heavy cream and bring to a bare boil.  Then reduce the heat to low and whisk in the butter a tablespoon at a time.  If your mixture is still boiling, the sauce will break. You can always add an ice cube if you need to bring the temperature down more rapidly.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Butter and wine are a really great foundation to any meal, but this goes very well with seafood especially, as the citrus notes will obviate the need for any lemon on your fish.  Just please make sure to use a good bottle of wine.  If the label says "Table Wine," just walk away.

Gadgetology 1: Immersion Blender

One of the best parts about being a home chef is the wonderful assortment of gadgets I have ended up with over the years.  Some are, as Alton Brown would say, unitaskers, things that really can only be used for a single purpose.  Take your average citrus juicer, for instance.  It is really only useful for juicing citrus.  To try it in another purpose seems rather wasteful, and hence it sits in the back of a cupboard until needed.  Other gadgets are much more useful, and this is the first in what will be a series about these amazing objects.

If you have been following this blog, you will notice that I use my immersion blender a lot.  I mean, an awful lot.  There are a couple reasons for this.  First, it is very handy.  When I make a soup or sauce that needs to be blended, I can simply blend it in the pot it is already in.  That saves time and dishes.  Secondly, there is no limit to the amount it can blend, so it is not important to have too many blenders of varying sizes (and yes, I have at least 4 others that I can think of off the top of my head).  But most importantly, an immersion blender - or boat motor as it is lovingly referred to in the kitchen - is really really fun!

So how does this lovely creature work?  The shiny blender portion is an attachment, coming apart for easy cleaning.  You put the blender end into your substance that needs to be blended and turn it on.  Mine has power settings 1-10 with the same settings also available on "turbo."  Testing Turbo 10, I put a pot of water in the center of my kitchen floor and could spray every wall at once.  It was quite exciting!  Now, the average immersion blender comes with a few other attachments, like a whisk, but really, blending is joy enough and those other parts just sit in a drawer, while my toy typically is out on the counter, waiting to be used.  (On a side note, my sister does leather working and offered to make me a holster at one point.  So, Karen, where is that?)

But, you ask, I don't really make soups, so why do I need one of these?  Well, it is a wiz on mashed potatoes, great for sauces, useful for smoothies, capable of shaving ice and, if you use the other attachments, able to whip meringue in a fairly efficient manner.  And look at it!  It is awesome!!

So if you don't yet possess an immersion blender, take it from your friends here at THP, and go get one.  You will never look back (except maybe to clean up what you have sprayed all over your kitchen on Turbo 10).

Matzah Ball Soup: The Upgrade

Tonight is the first night of Passover, the holiday where we Jews celebrate the Exodus from Egypt and the miraculous journey through the desert by eating a flat, dry cracker for the next eight days.  But there is one part of the holiday (other than watching The Prince of Egypt - much better than the original Ten Commandments, Charlton Heston aside) that I have always looked forward to: matzah ball soup.

Traditionally served in a chicken soup (vegetable for me), matzah balls are little dumplings made out of the crumbled up flat, dry cracker.  In this form, it is not only edible, but very enjoyable.  But in my family, we have used roughly the same soup recipe for years.  Well, not this year.

I should preface this recipe with a disclaimer for any observant Jews out there.  First off, yes, I am posting this on the holiday itself, which would not be allowed in an Orthodox household, which I don't keep.  Secondly, Ruth and I keep a version of the Passover dietary laws that is used by Jews of Sephardic descent (mostly Spain and North Africa), which has a few less restrictions.

Ok, with that out of the way, here was my soup for this first night.

Chickpea Matzah Ball Soup
2 cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 medium onion
2 large carrots
4 sticks celery
3 cloves garlic
Vegetable stock
Turmeric, paprika, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, cardamom, cumin, to taste
Your favorite matzah balls, from scratch or a mix
2 tbsp lemon juice
Rough chop the onion, carrots celery, and garlic (or use garlic powder) and add to a very small amount of olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Add crushed red pepper when the onion begins to sweat (I use about a tablespoon, but I like my food with a kick).  When the vegetables start to get soft, add chickpeas and cover with stock, adding the remainder of your spices (for me, again, about a tablespoon of turmeric, a teaspoon of cumin, 2 teaspoons of paprika, and half a teaspoon of cardamom).  Cover the pot, and simmer until the mixture is soft, or about 40 minutes.  Remove it from the heat and blend with an immersion blender until smooth.  The soup should not be too thick, or the matzah balls will not absorb any of it, which would be a shame.  Add lemon juice.  Then cook your matzah balls in the soup until they are soft and fluffy and have absorbed some of the liquid.

Sweet and Salty

Earlier this week, I was in San Jose for business, and was able to stay with my college roommate and his wife, two of my closest friends.  Dinner Monday night was breakfast for dinner, part of which was cinnamon popovers with a compound cinnamon butter (though they used margarine).  These were lovely, but there was extra butter (margarine), so the question became, what to do with it.  Well, I came up with an idea, we made it, and I told my wife - who was not traveling with me - and therefore had to make it again tonight.

Now I am normally not very into desserts.  Throughout my life, I have always preferred savory to sweet, and second dinner to dessert.  But add a savory element to something sweet, and you have me hooked.  Like these, for instance.

Peanut Butter and Cinnamon Bananas
2 ripe bananas, sliced
1/2 stick butter (yes, butter)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
Melt the butter in a nonstick pan.  Add cinnamon and sugar and stir to mix in.  Add bananas and peanut butter and saute over low heat until the bananas are caramelized, but not too soft.

For a little extra savory kick, add 1/2 tsp of Thai garlic chili paste.  Sweet, salty and spicy!  Or, for a more desserty feel, serve the original recipe over vanilla ice cream or your favorite bread pudding.  Any way you do them, these will be the perfect end to a great day!