Month: September 2008

Kickas* Burger

/ Ren

Ever go to that fancy restaurant and have one of those $12 burgers, only to go home dissatisfied?  Well, I have.  Lets see what we can do at home for less than 1/2 the cost.

Pretty hard to make a great burger from anything less than a great steak.  This is a dry-aged top sirloin, about 7oz. That’s a wedge of Lancashire Blacksticks Blue cheese, tomato on-the-vine, red onion, Yukon gold potatoes, fresh rosemary, sweet corn, a wheat Kaiser roll, some of the peppers that we put up last week, thyme, pepper, sea salt and worcestershire without anchovies.

Grind the well-chilled meat and add thyme, pepper, sea salt and a little worcestershire. Form the burger and set aside.

Get the potatoes going with rosemary and garlic. Add the corn and peppers, season with chile powder and cilantro.  Meanwhile, check you burger for your desired degree of doneness.  Assemble, plate and feast.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Cannellini Soup with Grilled Ficelle (favorite)

/ Ren

Cannellini beans, rinsed and drained. Chicken stock, olive oil, cream, cipolline onions, garlic, pepper, sea salt, Italian herbs, rubbed sage and mult-grain ficelle.

Saute the onions and garlic until they begin to brown, then add the sage and cook another minute.

Add the beans and chicken stock, reduce the heat and simmer about 20 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender, then add the cream, salt and pepper and a little butter. I’ve added a chiffonade of red chard for color.

Grill the bread with olive oil and Italian herbs, whisk the soup and enjoy!

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Green Tea-Crusted Cod with Buckwheat Tabouli

/ Ren

Green Tea-Crusted Cod with buckwheat tabouli

Rinse hulled buckwheat and cook according to package directions. Allow to chill in refrigerator for an hour, then combine with olive oil, garlic, mint, parsley, tomatoes, cucumber, green onion, lemon juice, toasted hemp seed nuts and sea salt.

Lightly coat cod with rice flour seasoned with toasted green tea, sea salt and pepper. Pan fry over medium heat in a little oil and butter, turning once (approximately 4 min/side depending on thickness).

Remove fish from pan and deglaze with white wine. Add lemon juice and parsley and reduce for a minute or so. Finish with pat of cold butter and spoon over the fish.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ +

Curried Lamb with Peas and Lentils

/ Ren

Trim any excess fat and cut leftover roast lamb into bite sized pieces. Toast cardamom, coriander, mustard seeds and bay in coconut oil until the seeds begin to pop out of the pan.  Add the cubed lamb and continue to cook until meat is nicely browned.

Transfer the lamb to a dutch oven, adding enough stock and tomato puree to cover the meat. Cover and simmer about 1 and 1/2 hours. Add black gram lentils, peas, tomatoes, ginger, chili powder, curry powder and cilantro, and simmer another 1/2 hour.

Heat a naan on a skillet and serve with lamb and yoghurt or sour cream.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ +

Roast Leg of Lamb

/ Ren

Roast leg of lamb with root vegetables and pan gravy

This is a boneless leg of lamb that I’ve marinated overnight in red wine, olive oil, garlic and peppercorns. To the pan, add 1 cup chicken stock and a variety of seasonal root vegetables  (I’m using potatoes, turnips, parsnips, carrots and garlic). The lamb is seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and a little dried spearmint.

Place the roast into pre-heated 450 degree oven for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and let cook until a meat thermometer registers 135 degrees for medium-rare, about an hour and twenty minutes for a 3lb. roast.

Remove the lamb and vegetables to a cutting board to rest for 10 minutes.  Deglaze the pan with red wine, scraping all the fond from the sides and bottom. Thicken with rice flour or a little arrowroot disolved in water.

Remove the netting from the lamb, slice and serve with the vegetables and gravy.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Panko and Hemp Crusted Cod

/ Ren

Alaskan Cod with skin and bones removed, wild rice, exotic mushrooms, mustard seed, caraway seed, green beans and panko crumbs with black sesame seeds, hemp seeds, basil, chili powder, cilantro, and coriander.

Rinse rice and cook according to package instructions. About 15 minutes before the rice is ready, put the fish into a 400 degree oven, then sautee the mushrooms and add to the rice, cover and set aside.

Cook the beans in the same skillet, adding some butter and the just-ground mustard and caraway seeds. When slightly browned and tender, de-glaze the pan with a little lemon or orange juice.

Early Fall Peppers

/ Ren

Wednesday evening means Farmer’s Market in Austin, and September means peppers!  Hot peppers, sweet peppers, short ones, long ones, round ones and everything in between.  Here’s a small sample that includes jalapeños, hot cherry, Russian heirloom and assorted sweets.

Since this is way more than I can eat in the next week, I’m going to use use two methods to set some aside. Start by halving, seeding, rinsing and chopping your peppers (size and shape are up to you).

The 1st batch is left as is and double-bagged for the freezer.  The second batch is sealed in an airtight glass container with olive oil, salt and vinegar. Recipe-ready, it will live in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

Roast turkey with agave and chipotle

/ Ren

Turkey breast tenderloin, agave nectar, ground chipotle, smoked paprika, cilantro, pepper, sea salt and BBQ sauce.

Into a dish with a wedge of pumpkin seasoned with grated cinnamon and nutmeg, thence into a 350 degree oven for about 1 hour.

Fava beans, sunburst squash, bacon and golden pearl onions.

Shortly before the turkey comes out of the oven, sautee the bacon and onions until they begin to caramelize, then add the blanched beans and squash.

Slice the turkey, scoop the pumpkin with a spoon, plate and serve.

Una bella fetta

/ Ren

Fresh Italian sausage, basil, “ugly ripes”, black gerignola olives, hot cherry pepper and garlic.

Wet mozzarella, insalata panino and grana padano stravecchio.

Chop the tomatoes, squeeze out the water then add them to the pan with the garlic, peppers and dried Italian herbs. Cook until soft, not more than 10 minutes. Drain any excess juice.

Assemble the pie.  I’m using a prepared crust, but you can use whatever you like.  Focaccia and flatbread both work well.  Tomato sauce on the bottom, a little grated cheese, sausage, mozzarella, insalata and fresh basil.

Into a 500 degree oven (don’t forget to preheat your stone) until it looks the way you like it.

Slice, plate and enjoy with a salad of field greens with artichokes and lemon garlic dressing.

Whole Paycheck

/ Ren

Austin’s Whole Foods Market – wholesome, healthy for the wholesome, wealthy ?

“What passes for organic farming today has strayed far from what the shaggy utopians who got the movement going back in the ’60s and ’70s had in mind. But if these pioneers dreamed of revolutionizing the nation’s food supply, they surely didn’t intend for organic to become a luxury item, a high-end lifestyle choice.”  – Field Maloney, writing in Slate

Red Rice Riot (favorite)

/ Ren

Every now and then I go a little crazy in the kitchen, having some notion of my direction of travel but without a particular destination. Sometimes this works well, sometimes not.

Tonight, I was thinking Thai-ish & vegetarian. I’m not sure where I wound up, but man, was it good!

Starting clockwise from the bottom left- split peanuts, cilantro, purple basil, red Thai rice, coconut milk, peanut satay sauce with lemongrass, fennel, corriander and kafir lime, Madagascar vanilla and roasted chili powder.  On the plate, clockwise from the bottom- scallions, galangal root, Fresno pepper, ginger root, orange, medjool dates and turmeric rhizome, and a large clove of garlic in the center.

Start by bruising the roots and adding them to the pot with the coconut milk, chili powder, vanilla and cilantro. Simmer this over low heat for about 30 minutes until the flavors develop and it takes on its beautiful yellow color. Scoop out the pulp, then add the rice and a little water so that the liquid volume is sufficient for the amount of rice. Still on low heat, cover the pot and walk away for another half hour.

Uncover the rice and stir in the chopped dates, orange pieces and basil. Sautee the peanuts, onions and peppers and add to the pot.

Serve topped with additional chili paste and satay sauce.

Update: Good Flow Honey & Juice Co

/ Ren

The Daily Texan – Austin juicery meets legal battle on pasteurization

The Daily Texan
Austin juicery meets legal battle on pasteurization

Mohini Madgavkar

Daily Texan Staff

Published: Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Updated: Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Austin-based juicery Good Flow Honey & Juice Co. has halted production after an order from the Food and Drug Administration shut down the company’s East Austin manufacturing center Friday.

Good Flow Honey & Juice Co. got its start more than 25 years ago, selling hand-squeezed juice and honey harvested from its own bees. The Crofut family, which started the business, made a name for itself with unorthodox flavors such as Spirulina and Pineapple-Beet and its claim for making “homemade juice.”

Unlike most commercial juicers, Good Flow does not use pasteurization, a process that uses heat to kill microorganisms in juice and other beverages, in production.

Good Flow co-founder Judy Crofut said the company asked the FDA for an exemption from pasteurization mandates placed upon commercial juice producers because the company produces and distributes locally and delivers its product within 24 hours. “We have all our own processes in place to ensure that it’s good, safe juice,” Crofut said. “Pasteurization kills everything, all the enzymes that allow you to digest your food, so that was a big interest of ours.”

Crofut said that in 2006, the FDA retracted the exemption that allowed Good Flow to operate as a juice bar that sells directly to its customers and therefore, avoid pasteurization.

After a lengthy legal battle that threatened to shut down Good Flow several times in the past two years, Crofut said a court order Friday has forced them to suspend juice production until the company can comply with FDA pasteurization standards.

Some businesses throughout Austin that carry Good Flow’s products, including Wheatsville Food Co-op, Whole Foods Market and the UT pharmacy, as well as restaurants such as Kerbey Lane Cafe, said the convenience of direct delivery from a local juice bar will be difficult to replace. The drinks are particularly popular with students, said Caffé Medici manager Patrick Pierce.

“Once school started up, we started blowing through Good Flow,” Pierce said. “We do about 30 [bottles] twice a week, so about 60 a week.”

Kerbey Lane Cafe employee Phillip Bachus said Good Flow’s processes appeal to Austinites.

“I think people really like that it’s local,” Bachus said. “It supports your community, and it’s a lot better to have a gallon of orange juice from two miles away than from five states.” But Bachus said he recognized that problems could be associated with unpasteurized juice.

“There’s never been one single issue ever with Good Flow with any kind of medical thing, but I know that we’ve never served it to kids,” Bachus said. Crofut said Good Flow will continue to sell honey until it can reopen the juice business. “We’re going to call the City of Austin and see what we have to do to open this place as a retail outlet,” Crofut said, adding that the company hopes to reopen on a larger scale in compliance with FDA regulations.

GoodFlow gone?

/ Ren

Terror in the Heartland » Stanching the GoodFlow

Terror in the Heartland
September 6, 2008
Staunching the GoodFlow

Earlier this afternoon, I paid a visit to Monkeywrench, and one of the collective members told me that The Man has shut down Goodflow Juice Co. The gossip is that some federal agency gave the company a deadline for pasteurizing its juice, and it was unable to shift production to a new facility before the deadline. I have not been able to find any corroboration about this from mainstream media sources, which is a bit disappointing, since it’s a local business loved by many Austinites. The plus side for me, however, was that Monkeywrench was the beneficiary of a large lot of unsalable juice, and I was treated to a delicious ginger lemonade.

I hope the Chronicle or The Austin Real-Estatesman will get on this story and sort it all out.
Tags: Austin ,food ,public safety ,regulation
Austin — McChris @ 1:57 pm

Lamb chops with bean salad

/ Ren

A pair of inch and 1/2 thick lamb chops from a pasture near Austin. Fresh herbs, garlic, peppercorns, sea salt and a soft red wine. Into a glass bowl thence to the fridge overnight.

Giant white beans, onion chives, carrot, fava beans and goat cheese will comprise a mostly raw salad.

Unzip the favas and blanch them for 30 seconds to loosen the shell, then chill under cold water to stop the cooking. Slit the shells with the point of a knife to set them free.

Onto a hot skillet for 2-3 minutes per side, then into a 400 degree oven for ~10 minutes for medium-rare. I have a leftover potato latke, so I’ll stick that into the oven with the chops.

Enjoy!

Fresh herbs

/ Ren

I don’t currently have a garden, but I just can’t do without fresh herbs.  At $1 a bunch, these locally grown organic herbs are a real bargain.  As they begin to lose their freshness, I simply tie the bundles with twine and hang them upside down to dry.  No more paying $6 a bottle at the grocery store for years old, flavorless oregano, basil, rosemary, mint or parsley.

Home smoked salmon (favorite)

/ Ren

For dry cured salmon, see our discussion on gravlax

I love smoked salmon.  I don’t love paying $20 per pound for it.  What say we try smoking our own?

This is a stove top smoker. I have lined the bottom with aluminum foil, upon which I have spread out a mixture of alder and cherry wood chips.

Next comes the drip pan, rack and the object of our affection, a beautiful piece of wild Alaskan sockeye with a pinch of Old Bay Seasoning.

Turn the burner to medium and slide the cover most of the way shut. As soon as you see the first wisp of smoke, close the lid all the way.

About 10 minutes later, the salmon is ready.  I wish you were here to smell this!

Tagliatelle with sausage marinara

/ Ren

This ain’t your mama’s spaghetti. Not unless your mama is Mario Batali, who learned this at the hand of my Uncle Gary, that is.

Fresh, uncured Italian pork sausage, heirloom tomatoes, elephant garlic, sweet hatch onion, fresh egg tagliatelle, hot pepper paste, fresh and dried herbs.

Heat a little olive oil and European butter in a skillet and saute the onions and dried basil and oregano until it begins to caramelize.  Add the garlic and saute another 30 seconds.  Don’t burn the garlic, or you’ll have to start over.

Pulse half the tomatoes in a food processor (or chop by hand if you prefer) and add to the pan.  Let cook until nearly dry, then add the wine.  An un-oaked, soft Italian is best. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the fond from the bottom of the pan so that it adds a slight roasted flavor to the sauce.  If you’re using a non-stick pan you will not have any fond, and your sauce will not be as good.

This would be a good time to start the pasta.  I’ve added turmeric for its color and medicinal properties.

Add the other half of the tomatoes, freshly ground pepper and hot pepper paste. Our sauce now contains both smoky and fresh tasting tomatoes.

Toss in the pasta and fresh herbs. I’m using opal basil, oregano and flat leaf parsley.

Top with some Grana Padano Stravecchio and serve with a multigrain ficelle with olive oil and balsamic.

Somebody get me a stretcher!

Smoked salmon, English muffin & Neufchatel

/ Ren

Its the middle of the week in a still-too-hot Texas September. I really don’t feel like cooking tonight, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to eat!

Here’s a lighter interpretation of a brunch classic ..

Toasted English muffin spread with neufchatel and topped with slivered onions, piles of applewood smoked salmon and fresh tomatoes, seasoned with sea salt, freshly gound pepper and a pinch of herbs de provence.

All the flavor of a bagel-and-a-shmear from the deli, at half the cost (and half the calories). Yum.