Month: December 2008

Calf’s Liver w/Mushroom and Onions, Sauce Poivrade

/ Ren

A mild, tender, rich and savory dish prepared in a classical French meets modern shortcuts manner.

Start with very fresh slices of peeled and deveined calves’ liver obtained from a healthy animal of known origin.  True calves’ liver is paler in color and milder in taste than the much redder baby beef liver typically found in US supermarkets.  If using the latter, it often helps to soak the slices in fresh, whole milk for up to 2 hours to lessen the strong flavor.

“Calf’s liver is less likely to have the accumulations of toxins such as pesticides, hormones and antibiotics found in the liver of older animals. Selecting organic calf’s liver provides the greatest assurance that the liver is free of these toxins. Calf’s liver also is more tender and has better flavor than beef liver (including baby beef liver).”

For the sauce, gather mushrooms, green peppercorns, vinegar, tomato paste, onion, celery, carrot, parsley, butter, lemon, stock and (optionally) demi-glace.

Sauté the mirepoix in butter until well colored, about 10 minutes.  Add a good spoonful of tomato paste and continue to cook until all moisture is evaporated and the tomato begins to brown.  Moisten with a splash of vinegar and a little sherry and stir to combine.

Add stock and a mashed clove of garlic.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until reduced in volume by half, about 45 minutes.  Strain into a clean saucepan and add demi-glace. Simmer until thickened and shiny, about 20 minutes.

Sauté thinly sliced mushrooms and onions in very hot butter until brown and slightly crisp.  Add to the pan with the brown sauce.

Pat the liver dry and lightly dredge in unbleached flour.  Sauté quickly in a generous amount very hot butter, turning only once.  Add chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon to brighten the flavor before saucing.

A big thanks to my son-in-law Jeff, whose amazingly delicious liver & onions revived my interest in this classic dish!

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

/ Ren

I don’t bake at all, and I always mostly limit the amount of sugar in my diet.  So, of course I felt utterly compelled to make a batch of scratch cookies for the first time in my 117-odd years in the kitchen.  And not just any cookies, mind you..

Adapted from a recipe by Garrett McCord

1 stick unsalted butter
3 medium-sized over-ripe bananas as may be lurking in your freezer
3/4 cup non-refined sugar or other sweetener
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbl coconut oil
1/2 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
1 pinch sea salt
1 tsp soda
1 fresh egg
1 3/4 cups unbleached flour
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp unsulphered molasses (optional; I’ll likely leave it out next time)

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add 1 egg and beat with a fork until aerated.

Mash together bananas, soda, peanut butter, molasses and coconut oil.

Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture.

Sift the dry ingredients into the butter/banana mixture and stir until barely combined.

Put the lime in the coconut.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop spoonsful of batter onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper, flatten slightly and bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.  Allow to cool before eating.  Yeah, right.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Seared Ahi w/Sushi yo Shoga, Lemon Wasabi and Sweet Rice

/ Ren

Few things in life are as simple and delicious as seared ahi. One of my all-time favorites.

Marinate fresh ahi tuna in a mixture of ginger, soy with citrus, shiro miso, sesame oil and garlic for one hour in the refrigerator.  Because we will be serving this nearly raw, it is important that you choose only the finest, freshest (sashimi grade) tuna.  Due to sustainability concerns, please source your tuna from somewhere other than the Mediterranean Sea.

Remove tuna from refrigerator and coat the perimeter with a combination of black and white sesame seeds, loose toasted tea and cracked pepper.  Set aside.

Prepare sweet rice according to package directions.

Heat stir-fry or another high-heat oil in a heavy skillet until very hot.  Sear tuna 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side, then transfer to cutting board to rest for a few moments.

Add thinly-sliced scallions and a little mirin to rice; fluff with a fork.

Serve 1/4 inch slices of tuna over sweet rice accompanied by sushi yo shoga (sliced pickled ginger) and lemon wasabi.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Roast Caribou w/Port Wine Reduction, Cranberries and Gingerbread Muffins

/ Ren

Informed by a recipe from Stein Eriksen Lodge

Butter, bay, coriander, cardamom, juniper berries, non-refined sugar, pepper, paprika, salt and a caribou loin or roast.

Grind spices in a coffee grinder.  Add enough unbleached flour to double the volume and thoroughly dredge the roast.  Brown the roast on all sides in butter in a Dutch oven set over medium heat.  Add port and cook uncovered in 350-degree oven until internal temperature reaches 125 degrees.

Prepare salt & pepper gingerbread muffins and put in oven with roast.

After the roast has been cooking about 20 minutes, slice a potato and season with rosemary, sage, thyme and S&P.  Season green beans with cracked mustard seed and S&P.  Top with raw pine nuts.  Drizzle a little olive oil and melted butter over all, and put pan in oven with roast.

Remove muffins from tin and sprinkle with spiced sugar.

Cook cranberries in the juice and zest of 1 orange and a little sugar until moisture is evaporated.

Remove roast from oven and set on cutting board to rest.

Saute minced shallot, celery, carrot and garlic in butter until soft.  Add sliced mushrooms and cook until moisture is evaporated.  Transfer vegetables to the pot that the caribou was roasted in.  Add additional port wine and stock.  Cook over medium-high heat until reduced in volume by half.

Serve slices of roast with pan gravy and cranberries accompanied by roast potatoes and green beans.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

J.R.’s Receipt for Egg-Nog

/ Ren

From Sara Delano Roosevelt’s Household Book

Put a little powdered sugar into a tumbler
A teaspoonful or more of brandy
The yolk of a pastured egg
1/2 a tumblerful (3/4 cup more-or-less) of fresh, cream-top milk,

then fill up with cracked ice not too fine & shake well together in a shaker (a big tin tumbler & a strong glass tumbler).

Strain it into a clean tumbler & put on top a suspicion of freshly-grated nutmeg.

-James Roosevelt with son Franklin Delano

मेमने Lamb Rogan Josh

/ Ren

Yoghurt and spice-marinated lamb shoulder in a thick red-colored curry.

Curry powder, ajwain seed, rogan josh blend, charnushka, plain yoghurt with live acidopholus, onion, tomatoes, lamb, fresh ginger, garlic, paprika, cilantro and ghee.

Stir the spices into the yoghurt, add the lamb and refrigerate 2-4 hours.

Sautee the onions, ginger and garlic in ghee in a heavy pan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until soft, about 3 minutes.  Take care not to burn the garlic.

Add the lamb and its marinade and cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add enough lamb, beef or vegetable stock to barely cover the meat.

Reduce heat, cover (offset) and simmer until the sauce is thick and the meat is tender, about 1 hour.

Add wedges of tomato and cilantro and cook uncovered another 5 minutes.

Serve topped with yoghurt and cashew butter with saffron basmati.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Carne de Venado Incrustada de Cacao y Cafe con Crèma de Comino Tostado

/ Ren

Cocoa & Coffee Crusted Venison w/Toasted Cumin Crèma

Make a dry rub of annatto seeds, cumin, cinnamon, pepper, coffee, cocoa, corriander and cinnamon. For best flavor, use whole spices toasted in a dry skillet before grinding.  Coat the venison with the spice rub and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Gather the rest of the ingredients: pumpkins seeds, fresh thyme, sesame seeds, cloves, reserved dry rub, tomato puree, achiote paste, deied peppers, jalapeno, dark chocolate, onion and tomatoes.

Split the dried peppers and steep in hot water for a few minutes to soften.

Sautee the onion, jalapeno and rehydrated peppers in a little oil until softened.

Add chopped tomatoes, crushed toasted pumpkin seeds, achiote paste and a spoonful of the dry rub mix. Cook until tomatoes release all their liquid, about 10 minutes.

Add tomato puree, orange juice, fresh thyme and chocolate and simmer for 10 minutes.

Sweeten with enough agave or honey to provide a nice balance with the heat of the peppers.

Sear the venison in olive oil as you would a pan-fried steak.  Deer that was properly field dressed, chilled and processed is generally as tender and flavorful as pastured beef.

Thicken the sauce with toasted bread cubes.  Place thick-sliced venison over sauce and top with toasted pumpkin seeds and Mexican crema flavored with toasted cumin and S&P.  Polenta fried in butter with cilantro makes a nice side.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Tell Supermarkets, No More Fishy Business!

/ Ren

You can help save the oceans every time you go grocery shopping. Consumers buy half their seafood at supermarkets, yet most supermarkets don’t consider where the seafood they sell comes from or how it was caught. Destructive fishing practices and overfishing are two of the gravest threats facing our oceans, and experts predict if current trends continue, global fisheries will collapse in 50 40 years.

Take action – Flex your power as a consumer. Tell the largest U.S. supermarket retailers to adopt sustainable seafood policies, stop selling destructively fished seafood, and provide informative labeling so customers, like us, can choose the most sustainable seafood and avoid the most imperiled fish. Don’t delay, ocean protection starts with all of us.

screenshot

Short’nin’ Bread

/ Ren

All-purpose, graham or whole wheat flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, buttermilk, butter, molasses, egg.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil and flour a 10-inch iron skillet.

Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk.

Lightly beat an egg.

Grate cinnamon & nutmeg into flour.

Bring butter and molasses to a boil, stirring continuously. Remove from heat and allow to cool several minutes.

Stir molasses mixture into flour and combine well.

Stir buttermilk into flour and combine well.

Stir egg into flour and combine well.

Turn batter into perpared skillet and bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.

Cool and serve.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ –

Fotch dat dough fum the kitchin-shed—
Rake de coals out hot an’ red—
Putt on de oven an’ putt on de led,—
Mammy’s gwineter cook som short’nin’ bread

“A Short’nin’ Bread Song—Pieced Out”
James Whitcomb Riley, 1849-1916

Adobo de Achiote (Achiote Paste)

/ Ren

Originally a Mayan mixture, achiote paste is responsible for the distinctive red hue of Puerco Pibil  and other foods common to the cuisine of the Yucatán Peninsula.

Achiote seeds, whole allspice, black pepper, Mexican oregano, cider vinegar, garlic and Celtic sea salt.

Finely grind the achiote and place into a bowl.  Grind the allspice, pepper and oregano and add to the achiote.  Add a little cider vinegar to form a damp powder.

Mince garlic then mash with salt.  Work the mashed garlic back into the achiote and moisten with orange juice to form a thick paste.

Refrigerate and store up to about 4 months.

A bow-hunting co-worker brought me some South Texas venison yesterday, so I’m thinking of making something along the lines of a Venado en Pipián Rojo (venison with pumpkin seeds and achiote).

Pan Seared Pork Medallions with Port, Wild Mushrooms and Fried Sage (favorite)

/ Ren

Wild mushrooms, stock, sharp feta or goat cheese, fresh sage, pork tenderloin filets, garlic, shallot, S&P and port.  Assorted vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, fennel and beans.

Toss the vegetables with S&P and a little bit of olive oil.  Roast in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes, turning once.

Saute mushrooms, garlic and shallots in butter until browned and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

Season filets with S&P and saute in olive oil until well browned and internal temperature reaches 140 degrees, about 8 minutes per side.  Set aside.

Deglaze the pan with port, scraping up all the brown bits.  Add stock and bring to boil.  Reduce volume by half.

Meanwhile, fry the sage by making a thin batter of 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup water and S&P.  Holding the stem between your thumb and forefinger, dip the leaves into the batter and then into hot olive oil.  Fry for a minute or so then transfer to a plate to drain.

Add the filets and mushrooms back to the pan with the port and heat through, about 5 minutes.

Serve topped with crumbled goat or feta cheese and fried sage.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Coconut Chicken Curry

/ Ren

Moisten unsweetened organic coconut with maple syrup- just enough to give it a pale tan color, then place into a 250 degree oven until dry and deep golden brown in color, about 30 minutes.

Poach skinless bone-in chicken in stock with celery, onion, carrot and peppercorns until just cooked.  Transfer chicken to a cutting board to cool. Reserve the stock.

Gather cardamom, corriander, cloves, turmeric, cayenne and cumin. Toast the whole spices in a dry skillet over medium-low heat until they pop, then grind and combine with the other ground spices.

Saute onions and spices in ghee until onions are soft.

Add reserved poaching stock and the juice of 1 lemon to the pot.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.

Add torn, poached chicken, raisins and coconut milk and continue to simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes.

Add garbanzo beans, stir and simmer another 5 minutes.  Adjust seasoning.

Serve with basmati rice and top with scallions, chopped peanuts and toasted coconut

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Carne Guisada

/ Ren

Stew meat, stock, fresh tomatoes, garlic, onion, peppers and spices.

Simple.  Delicious.

Brown about 1 pound of local grass-fed beef in a spoonful of annatto oil.

Add in about 4 chopped tomatoes, one or two chopped chipotles en adobo and a cup of good beef stock and simmer, stirring occasionally until meat is tender, about 90 minutes.

Add fresh jalapeno, cumin, Mexican oregano, parsley and cilantro and simmer 5 minutes.

A dollop of crema Mexicana or a spoonful of agave nectar will cool it down if its too spicy for you.

Serve with tortilla chips, rice, beans or whatever suits your fancy tonight.

Lacto-fermented Buckwheat Pancakes with Orange Honey Butter

/ Ren

Fermentation allows carbohydrates, fats, and proteins to break down into probiotics containing beneficial bacteria, promoting digestive health and a strong immune system.

Kefir (substitute plain yoghurt or buttermilk), egg, butter, Celtic sea salt, baking soda, soft spring wheat berries (r) and hulled buckwheat (l).

Grind the grains into a medium-fine flour and place into a non-reactive bowl.  Cover with an equal amount by volume of kefir, add a spoonful of whey and cover with a plate and allow to sit at room temperature (68-75 degrees) for 12 to 24 hours.  You can see bubbles break the surface as the fermentation process begins.

When ready to prepare, add the egg, melted butter, salt and baking soda.  Thin the batter with filtered water if necessary.

Ladle batter into a lightly oiled skillet over medium heat- turn when edges are just getting brown.

Serve with orange honey butter (blood orange juice shown reducing above; honey and butter added at the end) or maple syrup, basted eggs and spicy tempeh strips.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ –