Breaking Bad at Aquatennial

To celebrate Aquatennial, we are invited to Mr White's house (his real name).  It is not however Mr White who is cooking, but rather Mrs White.  It appears, Mr White does not have the right lab equipment to prepare his specialty....

There is no loss however, the menu will please just about anyone.  We start with a beet salad, artfully presented in stacked circles with goat cheese (and a touch of mascarpone), pistachios and a tarragon sauce.  Great start.

The soup that follows is just about the perfect way to warm up the stomach for the main entree.  Asparagus soup with some gruyere pastries (with we devour and alarming speed).

The man in entree is a grilled flank steak (I guess Mr White did cook after all) served as a salad with greens and grilled corn and topped with a chimichurri sauce.   The combination is just what the warm summer night is asking for.  The steak is cooked to perfection and the lightness of the salad (as opposed to a heavy starch) results in a great pairing.

Before we get to dessert we are interrupted by a number explosions outside.  Are they gunshots?  Has the DEA finally figure out that Mr White is Heisenberg?  Not at all, the Aquatennial fireworks will postpone our craving for a sweet ending to this meal.  Back from the light and sound show courtesy of Target, we find a berry tiramisu in a jar.  The mascarpone topping is sweet as can be but held at bay by the tartness and acidity of the berries and then rescued again by the sweetness often lady fingers.  The espresso will be served on the side courtesy of Mr White (who clearly remembers the coffee making instructions for chemist colleague Gale Boetticher, because it it heavenly).

The evening is over when Mr White says it's over.  We leave with stomachs full, minds stimulated by the conversation, and the feeling that we somehow dodged a bullet.

Thanks Mr and Mrs White for a great evening.

Raw Food Diet - Day Six - The End

The sixth day of our raw food diet is also the last one.  Kobe Beef Steak Tartare served with a shaved raw asparagus salad with Manchego cheese.  The salad was inspired on a salad we had at Bar La Grassa last summer that was out of this world.  Large, raw asparagus are shaved on a mandolin on the long end.  Then they are tossed with a fresh dressing (in our case made with some home-made tarragon mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon salt and pepper.)  To that we added some julienne Peppadew peppers and shaved Manchego cheese.  It came out great.

The tartare was good, but the recipe I found resulted in too much orange zest, although the truffle oil was a nice touch.  

All an all, the diet was an interesting experiment, but we found it to be very limiting.  We are food people and can deal with the usual diet that reduces quantities of certain ingredients, but in this case, entire categories were eliminated.  Our stove missed us too much.  The big bad wolf is back!

Kobe Beef Tartare with Raw Asparagus Salad

Raw Food Diet - Day 3 - Finally a Home Run

Day three of our Raw Food Diet was a home run.  Of course it was thanks to Sharon.  Had lots of fruit and nuts for breakfast and lunch was just the leftover gazpacho made for the previous night but dinner was pretty awesome.  Sharon worked some magic with great fish we got at Coastal Seafoods (in my view the only place to buy fish in the Twin Cities).

To start she made a tomato salad with avocado, sweet barnea olive oil and salt.  That hit the spot, and it was just the start.  A seaweed roll stuffed with vegetables (shredded zucchini, bean sprouts, avocado and a soy sauce sauce) was heavenly.  The Atlantic salmon sashimi was heartily and very fresh.  Served with soy sauce (to which she expertly added some sugar, garlic and some other goodness) and wasabi.  But the star of the night was the scallop sashimi.  She drizzle them with olive oil, lemon juice and a little but of salt.  Those were sweet and delicious.  Gotta have them again.

For dessert we had some yogurt with raw granola (make from sprouted grains), honey and fresh berries.

I badly needed a meal like this.  It gave us encouragement to continue with this experiment.  Go Sharon!

Sharon's Awesome Sashimi Dinner

Raw Food Diet - Day 2

The second day of our Raw Food Diet adventure was tough.  Somehow breakfast and lunch were not very satisfying.  I was OK with the breakfast of fruit and nuts and the salad lunch, but really craved a little piece of bread with the salad.  By the way, you can eat A LOT of lettuce before you can say you are full (I tried and didn't reach that point).  

Anyway, I was looking forward to dinner and that turned out fairly successful.  We started with some home made gazpacho.  That is always good (although I missed the croutons).  The dehydrated sweet potato chips from Whole Foods proved a major disappointment.  Nota good sign when you miss baked potato chips (never a big fan.)

The star of the night was the barramundi ceviche.  I used 1/2 pound of small diced barramundi, lots of lime juice, tomato seeds (discarded from the gazpacho), red bell pepper, cilantro, jalapeño and salt & pepper.  Not bad at all with the avocado.  I found the flaxseed a tad too string, but Sharon likes them.  

Not bad, but need to fine-tune.  Satisfaction level is only mid-point.

(clockwise from the top left) Sweet Potato Chips, Ceviche,
Gazpacho, Flaxseed Chips and Avocados

Going Raw for Milano City Marathon - Day 1

Next month is the Milano City Marathon (yep, that's Milan Italy, totally psyched).  So Sharon and I decided to prepare by going on a raw food diet, a diet based on uncooked and unprocessed food.  No item can be cooked above 104 degrees.  

Our plan was to cleanse our bodies, lose a couple of pounds (which we will most definitely pack during our trip to Italy) and in general discover a new (although temporary) way of eating.  We both have friends that have tried them before and decided to give it a go.  (If any of them reads this, please feel free to offer some recipes.  That goes for you Tim.)

Literature on this diet is plentiful on the internet, and there is also opposing views as to whether animal protein can or cannot be included.  Most sites include a diet rich in fruit and vegetables, nuts, raw grains and legumes, free of alcohol and caffeine and that may include eggs and milk products (as long as unpasteurized) as well as raw fish (sashimi, ceviche) and are meat (carpaccio, tartare).  Of course, chicken is out :-)

What I like the most is the challenge.  It really forces us to look at food completely differently.  A trip to the grocery store is very different when you can skip most of the aisles.  As we were planning it, I headed to Whole Foods for some help.  Almost by accident and right at the entrance I found a whole shelf of raw products.  Power bars, flaxseed crackers, granola, sweet potato chips (dehydrated rather than fried or baked), nut products and even cookies (made with dehydrated fruits, pressed nuts and carob).  I loaded on those at a pretty penny, but for sure the idea was to use those as a treat, to make it fun.  The full intent is to focus on fresh produce as well as lots of fresh fish and some raw beef tartare.

The cheese shop at Whole Foods was conveniently labeled indicating what cheeses had been made with pasteurized milk.  The selection of unpasteurized cheeses was small but sufficient.  We have been drinking almond milk for some time now, so we are good there, but were completely unable to find yogurt made from unpasteurized milk (I will confess that that is the one item we decided to cheat on... I was not ready to give up having a little bit of plain yogurt with berries, honey and granola after dinner.)

Day one was good.  Fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch and found a good recipe for Raw Zucchini Pad Thai (pictured below).  This was actually delicious.  Shredded zucchini, bean sprouts, red bell pepper, chopped almonds, cilantro, lime, olive oil, salt and pepper.  We will make it again and probably add some jalapeño.  

Raw Zucchini Pad Thai

A good start, but certainly challenging in that it is very limiting.  More so for us that will eat just about anything and enjoy eating out.  Will we last three weeks as planned?  Stay tuned.

Filipino at Minnette's

In an unexpected turn of events, Minette who is usually in Georgia by now, makes a short return to the Twin Cities to receive her son, back fro Japan, where he is stationed with the Navy.  Better yet, she extends a last minute invitation to eat sue Filipino food at her house.  We can't possibly pass on this opportunity.

As usual at Minette's, we enjoyed great wine, terrific food, and heart warming conversation.  The only drawback of the evening and that Buzz had to stay behind and couldn't join us.  

Here are a few pics taken before everybody started digging in (yep, I had them wait as I took the pictures).

Rice noodles with chicken.  Filipinos squeeze a little lemon and add
a little soy sauce over the noodles.  Terrific!

Tapas: Marinated and sautéed beef served with fresh tomatoes.

Caramelized onions cooked in the drippings from the beef.
A perfect toping for the tapas.

Home made spring rolls.  In my opinion the best item of the day.

Tapas at Home - Redux

Tapas at home again.  This time to welcome Ros and David to the Phoenix.  Also invited were Nancy, Pat, Hugh and Mary.  The menu is almost a repeat of last week's, but this time my camera was ready, so a took a few shots to document it for the blog.  Al around a great evening, if I may say. 

Baked Idaho Potato Chips with Ibiza Sea Salt and Peppadew Peppers

Chèvre, Cream, Fleur de Sal and White Truffle Honey

Fresh Figs Baked with Prosciutto and Clover Honey

Red Pepper Scallop Ceviche with Hojiblanca EVOO
and Red Jalapeño Ice

Shrimp Toast with Chèvre, Shallots and Lemony Aioli

Warm Tomato Confit Salad with Fresh Mozzarella and
Sweet Barnea EVOO-Kalamata Balsamic Vinaigrette 

Turkey Meatballs with Saffron-San Marzano Tomato Sauce 

Flamenco Quail Eggs with Asparagus, Red Pepper
and Spanish Chorizo

Moroccan Surf ‘n Turf with Lamb, Shrimp and Brava Sauce

Savory Bread Pudding with Hot Italian Sausage, Fennel,
Asparagus and Goat Gouda

Vanilla Ice Cream and 2007 Don Pedro Ximénez Sherry

Same as previous... this picture illustrates the way
to eat this dessert.  The sherry is poured over the
ice cream to give it a sweet toasted caramel  flavor.

Espresso-Dark Rum Chocolate Mousse with Smith Woodhouse Port

Patti Mayonnaise, Sharon and Thomas end the evening with a singing performance

Tapas at Home

Sharon and I had some friends over for dinner last night to welcome a couple into the building.  We took the day off to prepare and really spent it cooking non-stop for one of our (slowly becoming legendary) tapas party.  I am sorry to say that I completely spaced out and did not take a single picture, you my readers will have to take my word for it.  Everything listed below was cooked and looked (and tasted) great.

The menu started as a copy of one tapas party had for Tim and Joy a few months back, but quickly evolved and we ended up with something almost entirely different.

• Baked Idaho Potato Chips with Sweet Barnea EVOO and Ibiza Sea Salt and Peppadew Peppers - Sharon makes these and they are terrific.  Slowly becoming a regular item to open our tapas parties.

• Fresh Figs Baked with Mangalica Jamón and Clover Honey - These came out great.  The jamon was a last minute addition when I say it at Surdyk's, where it was retailing for $78 a pound.  The seven very thin sliced I got were $7.  Ridiculous, but terrific. 

• Chèvre, Cream, Fleur de Sal and White Truffle Honey - A copy of 112 Eatery's, where they make it with ricotta instead of goat cheese.  This is such a simple and great dish.

• Shrimp Toast with Chèvre, Shallots, Jalapeño, Pancetta, and Lemony-Grain Mustard Aioli - A truly last minute addition as recommended by my dentist the morning of the party as I was having my teeth cleaned and she commented on a dish her husband made for her birthday 4 days ago.

• Red Pepper Scallops Ceviche with Hojiblanca EVOO and Jalapeño Ice

• Warm Tomato Confit Salad with Fresh Mozzarella and Truffle Oil-Kalamata Balsamic Vinaigrette  - These tomatoes were in the over for 4 hours at 250 degrees with garlic, olive oil and salt.  They came out sweet and delicious.

• Flamenco Quail Eggs with Asparagus, Red Pepper, Palacios Chorizo and Pomodoro Sauce - This was the type of dish that I should have photographed for the blog.  It looked pretty awesome.

• Turkey Thigh Meatballs with Saffron-San Marzano Tomato Sauce and Saffron Home-made Crackers - A staple at our house.  Sharon makes the crackers and we can never have enough of them.

• Moroccan Surf ‘n Turf with Lamb, Shrimp, Cumin, Fennel and Santo Domingo Pimentón over Brava Sauce - Probably my least favorite, but not bad.  Presentation was incredible with the brava sauce splattered over the top, but the meat was a little tough.

• Savory Bread Pudding with Hot Italian Sausage, fennel, Asparagus and Goat Gouda - In both Sharon's and my opinion, the best dish by far.  Loosely based on a recipe I found online, but greatly modified (enhanced?) with the goat gouda, fennel and cream instead of milk.  I also doubled a couple of the ingredients to kick it a a few notches.  We will be making this again for sure.

• Vanilla Ice Cream and 2007 Don Pedro Ximénez Sherry - The Sherry is poured over the ice cream to get great dessert that sort of reminds you of a creme brûlée.  This was a pairing we saw at a wine tasting that stuck with us. 

• Espresso-Dark Rum Chocolate Mousse servers with Smith Woodhouse Port - A recipe from Alton Brown that is entirely out of this world good.

Again, sorry I forgot t take any pics.  I even had the camera out, just never remembered...

Gumbo night!

Gumbo night at Buzz and Minette's was again the event of the summer.  Minette uses Buzz's family recipe, which dates well over 100 years ago.  Made with chicken and Andouille sausage, this recipe does not call for okra and is served soupier than it is commonly made in Louisiana.  This annual visit has completely ruined me for Gumbo elsewhere, a dish that I love but can't find a place that will compete with this awesome rendition.

Some light appetizers (including a lobster flatbread (pictured) were served just to open our appetite (as if the smell coming down the hallway didn't already do that).  The food was great, the company was terrific as were the hosts and we had a great time.  Thanks Buzz and Minette.

Fideuá

Fideuá is a Spanish dish reminiscent of a seafood paella, but made with pasta instead of rice.  I attempted it last weekend and I have to say it came out beautifully.  What really made it was the fish stock, which rather than just using a little bit of fish sauce and water or buying the stock from the grocery store, I made it myself using some tilapia, a small lobster tail, some salmon and the shells from the shrimp that would be used for the fideuá (OK... I added a little bit of lobster base).  So, $15 later, I had two quarts of a pretty amazing fish stock.  I think totally worth it.  It could have been served as a seafood consommé. 

The other ingredients?  Some Chilean sea bass, shrimp, clams and mussels galore, red bell pepper, tomatoes, saffron and tumeric and of course, the pasta.  All cooked in the paella pan.  

Definitely a dish I have to try again soon.

2011 Phoenix Paella

Just a quick post to comment on this year's Paella Party at the Phoenix that turned out very, very well.  We had just over 50 invitees and even though we were rained out and ended up moving it indoors, it did not put a damper on the fun.  The food was good.  It is worth mentioning the red bell pepper and cilantro popsicles served as a palate cleanser and the paella itself, which had a nice socarrat (the caramelized crust of rice that sticks to the bottom of the pan).

To top it all, we had fabulous local Jazz singer Nichola Miller, who played two sets and liven up the afternoon.   

Cuban Sandwiches

Sharon and I partnered again with Mike and Anita to host a party in the building and invite a few of our friends.  This time, with the summer well on its way (or at least as far as it seemed we were going to get it), we decided to use the terrace and cook on the grill.

To make it easy on us, and be able to feed the almost 30 attendees, we decided to make Cuban Sandwiches.  With that excuse, we bought a few Cuban flags and made it a Cuba Libre party.  The excuse seemed to suit everybody.

The pork had a dry rub of powdered dry mushrooms, brown sugar, sweet and spicy Spanish pimenton (paprika), cumin seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, salt and pepper.  Along with the pork and as the traditional recipe called, we included ham, cheese, pickles and mustard.  Instead of Cuban bread, we used French baguettes (the take and bake kind).  

The biggest problem we had was that we did not have a press large enough for the sandwiches (ore so since we had nine baguettes (including some that had just roasted veggies and chèvre).  To make up for that, we placed two cookie sheets upside down on the grill and buttered the top surface.  We then placed the sandwiches on top and then paced another two cookie sheets on top which were weighted with some brinks (I was told not to ask were they came from).

The result was terrific and very well received.  We also served a very fresh black bean soup sort of reminiscent of a gazpacho and more traditional black beans and rice with lots of cumin.  For dessert, we had a tres leches cake which the bakery decorated with another Cuban flag.  A great summer afternoon to remember.

Morels!

Last year we missed out on the very short season for Morels at the farmer's market by the Guthrie.   This time we made sure to be there bright and early not to repeat the disappointment.

At $48 a pound, they are not cheap, but fit well into the once a year treat worth bringing into the kitchen (like Kobe beef, truffles, etc).  I did find them a little bit cheaper at the Wedge, but they were not nearly as fresh (those came from California instead of being local)

To make them justice, I pulled one of my favorite pasta recipes.  A flat noodle with asparagus, and a little bit of Manchego.  The best part is the sauce, which is made with yogurt and Meyer lemons (juice and zest) and lots of freshly cracked pepper.  The only addition were the morels sauteed in butter.  The yogurt and the lemon make for a very light pasta dish and the asparagus give it the spring taste that we have been craving through the long winter in Minnesota.  A great meal to enjoy with our friends John and Clark.

Third Friday Already?

After a couple of misses, we make it again to a Third Friday Happy Hour at the Phoenix.  Our contribution is Beef Tenderloin Crostinis with Caramelized Onions and Preserved Lemon-Green Olive Mayonnaise.  The snow-flake looking stuff on them was Maldon Salt, probably the most beautiful salt out there.  I am not a big fan of beef, but they came out pretty good.  

Preserved Lemon & Green Olive Mayonnaise

An original recipe from our home not even based on any other recipe.  This came as an evolution from a preserved mayo we have been making for some time for our tapas parties.  I have to say, this one came out pretty good with fairly little effort for a mayonnaise made by hand.  Very much worth trying.  Here is teh recipe anyway.

Ingredients
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup good extra virgin olive oil
3 large green olives (any kind you like), minced
1/4 preserve lemon peel, minced
1-1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 pinch Kosher salt or to taste

Instructions
In a bowl, beat the egg yolk with a whisk as you add the oil very slowly (barely a drizzle).  When all the oil has been added, add the remaining ingredients and mix well.  If the result is too think (mine usually is), add a little water and mix well (no more than 1/2 tsp at a time).  You are done.  It is really that simple.

This mayo goes great with smoked fish or chicken.  Anything that would be complemented by the lemony taste.  The better the olive oil, the more you will taste it in the end result.  You can really adjust the quantities as you wish.  You can't go wrong with something this simple.

Mushroom Pate at Home

So sharon goes to the store and buys some assorted mushrooms with no specific plan to use them.  I not knowingly, with a plan for a recipe from Fine Cooking also buy some mushrooms and after deciding not to cook that recipe we find ourselves with way too many mushrooms and plans for eating out the rest of the week.  These mushrooms will not last long and it would be a shame to see them go to waste.     

A quick search online results in a Wild Mushroom Pate from Emeril Lagasse that seems easy enough and will make them last.  The recipe below is adapted from that one to fit our taste and available ingredients.  The only change I'd made is halve it (unless you have a ton of mushrooms available as well), or you will end up with a little too much (of a delicious) pate.  BTW, I don;t wash or even brush my mushrooms, but feel free to do so if you want.

Wild Mushroom Pate

3 tablespoons goat butter (regular buter will do just fine)

1/2 cup chopped shallots

3 tsp minced garlic

8 oz crimini mushrooms, coarsely chopped  

8 oz white button mushrooms, coarsely chopped  

4 oz shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed and coarsely chopped  

1 tsp dry thyme (1-1/2 fresh is probably better, just didn't have it)

1/2 cup of dry wine

4 tsp chopped parsley

1-1/2 tsp truffle oil

4 oz room-temperate sheep feta cheese (can use cream cheese as the original recipe calls but won't be as good)

4 oz room-temperate goat cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Sautee shallots and garlic in the butter until soft and fragrant.  Add mushrooms, thyme, salt and pepper and cook until wilted and reduced in size by half.  I may have added a little bit of olive oil at some point.  Really, who remembers...  You can keep cooking until most of the liquid they release has evaporated.  Add wine and again cook until evaporated.  Add parsley and truffle oil and cook for another minute.

Transfer to a food processor and process with cheeses until well combined.  Adjust salt an pepper and then cover and refrigerate until set for 3 or 4 hours.  Really, do your best to not eat it right there as it is, it won't be easy.  

Tonight... Italiano!

Teaming up with our friends MIke and Anita, Sharon and I invite a few friends and neighbors for an Italian meal. No, none of us are Italian, but we thought it'd be fun.

We start the night with some charcuterie and cheese with some powdered olive oil. Of particular interest was the dry beef which we found entirely by accident at the local grocery store. It wasn't the best of the cured meats, but it was different and interesting when compared with the pork.

Paired with Chianti and Pinot Grigio, it promised to be a good start to the meal. Still, the best part of the appetizers by far were the crackers. Sharon made those from scratch.

On our test run, Sharon and Anita found some recipes for the crackers online and an interesting note on one of them: "Once you start making crackers you will not stop and you will never buy them again". I can see how that would be true. The crackers were very cheap to make (flour, olive oil, water, baking powder and salt for the base).

For the day of the meal, Sharon made red pepper crackers, curry crackers and, my favorite, saffron crackers. They were all delicious.

The meal consisted of a grilled Caesar salad (we lightly grilled the Romaine lettuce and drizzled with home-made dressing and topped with shaved pecorino cheese, anchovies and croutons. Following the salad, we had lasagna two ways. Anita made a great and surprisingly light meat lasagna (with italian sausage) and Sharon made vegetable lasagna (with mushrooms, zucchini, fennel and a great white béchamel made with dried mushrooms). Yep, there were no complaints for either one of those.

Dessert was my responsibility and I opted for a lemon pomegranate panna cotta with candied lemon peel, a pomegranate syrup and some of Anita's cookies. They took a while to layer to get the desired effect, but patience paid off.

Dinner would not have been the same without our friends (plus we would have ended with a lot of leftovers ;-) Seriously, this was another Phoenix evening with the warmth that characterized them (so much indeed that the next day we hit a high of 45). All evening we had good humor, great conversation and yet another opportunity to catch up with our neighbors.

Heavenly couscous, accidentally

I have a piece of cod, which I haven't cooked in a while and I am not sure what to do with it. So I head to the fridge and I see that there are a few items that ought to be used or they risk going bad. I pull them all out and find some couscous in the pantry. Couscous is good because it is high in carbs (runner's fuel) and low in fat, but cooked right can really make a dish.

The ingredients were spinach, pine nuts, nicoise olives, cherry tomatoes and garlic.

I decided to cook the spinach separately, wilt them in olive oil with salt and pepper and place them in a circle on the plate.

For the couscous, I chop the pine nuts and toast them. Then, in a pot, I heat up olive oil and cook the garlic chopped until it starts to brown. Then add the cherry tomatoes (whole), the nicoise olives (roughly chopped) and the toasted pine nuts. As soon as the tomatoes start to blister I add the couscous and let it get coated with the oil. Last I add some chicken stock, stir, cover and take off the stove to finish cooking while I cook the fish.

I have enough flavors already, so cook the cod in a little but of olive oil with salt and pepper. I fluff and plate the couscous in the center of the spinach and top it with the cod.

The result was very surprising in that it all came together so beautifully. Flavors perfectly balanced, all within a very healthy dish. Definitely will have to do it again.

Mariana's Lentils

Last night I made Mariana's Lentil's. Mariana is my sweet, sweet sister who lives back in Spain. Last year, while visiting my family in Spain, my mother commented how my little sis (just a year younger) had over the years become quite a good home cook. Since we were planning on going to her house a few times I asked for her to make whatever dishes she felt were the best so I could sample her food. The two top choices were chicken curry and lentils.

As the days passed we missed a couple of opportunities to eat at her house and just a few says before leaving back to the US we finally got a chance to go to her house for dinner. Mariana planned to make the chicken curry, but having been a big fan of lentils all my life, I asked for her to also make some lentils so I could take them with me and have them while staying at my mother's before our return.

The chicken was good, but I am 1) not a big fan of chicken and 2) have eaten very good curries in my life making it very tough to compete. Since we ate out quite a bit in the last few days, the only chance I had to eat my sis' lentils was on our last day. Before going to the airport. For breakfast. If the Brits can have baked beans for breakfast I can certainly have lentils!

I was floored. Those lentils were unbelievably good. I mean, serious gourmet stuff. Of course you need to like lentils and the one-pot type of meals that come from mom's home (or in this case your little sister), but for days after I came back I kept thinking, I have got to get that recipe.

A few weeks after our return I asked her for the recipe. She replied with a long email including a list of ingredients without quantities ("a ojímetro", she said) and with a lot of optional ingredients. Best of all, they are cooked on a pressure cooker, so they take no more than 90 minutes from beginning to end. I rolled up my sleeves and basically added everything she listed. The result was terrific. If not the same, very, very close. I have made them twice since and they are just about perfect. They are also very healthy for you.

I hope her recipe is not a secret, because I am about to share it with the world...

Mariana's Lentils

(10 good servings, can be cut in half)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup olive oil
• Two large onions chopped small
• Two bay leaves (edge lightly burnt on a flame to bring up the flavor - great tip!)
• 5 or 6 garlic cloves
• 1 green bell pepper chopped small
• 1 red bell pepper chopped small
• 1 large leek (white and light green parts only) sliced fine
• 4 oz spanish chorizo (hot or mild), sliced thin and each slice halved
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed large
• 2 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 lb dry brown lentils
• 1/4 cup parsley, minced
• 64 oz chicken stock plus a little more (about a glass)
• Salt to taste

Preparation

Heat oil in pressure cooker. When hot, add onion, garlic and bay leaves. After they start to soften, add peppers and leek. Cook for a few minutes and then add the chorizo and cook a little longer to get the veggies to turn orange from the paprika in the chorizo. Optionally, and diverting from Mariana's recipe, you may add a teaspoon of sweet smoked paprika if you want.

As the veggies start to get soft, add the potatoes and carrots. Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the lentils, parsley and salt to taste (I added a little pepper too). Stir as you cook for another couple of minutes and then add chicken stock, stir and close the pressure cooker.

Cook on medium until the pressure cooker starts releasing steam. The time to cook will vary from pressure cooker to pressure cooker and depending on the type of lentils. Mariana cooks them for 20 minutes. For me 15 or 16 are plenty or they will get too soft. I would start with 15 and then cook a little longer if needed until the lentils are tender. When done, adjust salt (and pepper if you used it).

The lentils will look a tad soupy. The flavor and thickness will be better the second day, so it is better to make them a day in advance. After you have made them the first time and if you go again, you can adjust cooking time and amount of stock, but give them the extra day before you decide. They have a way to thicken overnight.

I like to serve them with croutons (home-made, please). When you get tired of eating lentils that way (unlikely), you can add a little bit of milk and puree them in a blender for a pretty darn good variation (also with croutons, of course).

Thanks go to Mariana for sharing her recipe which could not be kept a secret and should immediately and automatically become patrimony of the human kind. Thanks, Mariana.

(I apologize for not having a picture for this post, but I made them last night and didn't think about making a post out of this until this morning.)

When life gives you Meyer lemons....

You gotta love Meyer Lemons. They have some of the acidity of a regular lemon, but toned down to make it a little less assertive and more versatile by adding sweetness and bringing it closer to a fruit without loosing the personality that makes it a lemon.

The three beautiful lemons shown in the picture above were given to me by Kathleen, a friend and neighbor who happens to have a Meyer Lemon tree in her house down south. Talk about a convenience. I have been buying Meyer lemons for a while, mostly to make preserved lemons, a common condiment in northern Africa. You can see a jar in the back that I made some time ago and that is still bringing great flavor to my kitchen.

So, given these tree lemons my next task was thinking of what to do. The possibilities are truly endless. These lemons have a lot of juice and you really want to use them in a way that they pop or will miss the subtlety of using these instead of regular lemons. After some web searches I settled on a few top recipes. I decided to stretch the three lemons to get as many dishes from them as possible, using both the zest and the juice.

The first recipe (greatly modified to fit our taste and available ingredients was Tagliatelle with Asparagus and Brussels Sprouts with a Meyer Lemon and Yogurt sauce topped with Aged Sheep Cheese. For this Sharon and I invited our friends Amy and Patti Mayonnaise. I have to say, this was a hit. We chose an egg pasta and used loose Brussels Sprout leaves to make the dish lighter than the whole vegetable would have made it. We received requests for an encore of this dish some time soon.

The second dish was one I have been trying to make for some time: barley risotto. So I went for a Pan Fried Walleye with a Lemon Butter Sauce and Meyer Lemon Barley Risotto. I will admit that the lemon butter did not turn out great and in fact looked more like melted butter than anything else. The risotto anyway was terrific. Chewier than arborio rice, the barley gives it a nice earthy flavor. I used some more of my Brussels sprouts, but this time they I cut them in half and then made a chiffonade with them. The Walleye was topped with some bright red pickled peppers that gave a tiny bit of heat but mostly, and thanks to their acidity, brought the lemon flavor forward.

I have not yet tried the third dish, but with Sunday and my week long vacation almost over, I wanted to get this post out. The plan is to make Spaghetti with Meyer Lemon Zest and Crunchy Sea Salt. Very much looking forward to trying that one.

Our thanks go to Kathleen for dropping those beautiful lemons at our door. I hope we made them justice.