Delicious History

Once again, it was Sunday and I wondered what I might cook for the coming week. I was intrigued by a trio of America’s Test Kitchen recipes, and decided to make them.

Before I concerned myself with cooking, I took pause at my long list of vegetables. I knew Publix would be only too willing to rob me in exchange for their mediocre selection of overpriced produce. Instead, I turned to the Sanwa market on Hillsborough Avenue, more than a city block of cheap produce, with a wide selection of “ethnic” fruits and vegetables. Sugar cane, chilies, and various Asian and Latin American specialties abound. I purchased 10 limes, 15 large jalapeno peppers, 6 onions, 1 green bell pepper, 2 red bell peppers, 16 medium tomatoes, and 3 bunches of cilantro. The price at Sanwa: ten dollars even. Take that, Publix!

After mixing a bit of oil with tomato paste, cumin, and chili powder, I tossed jalapenos, tomatoes and onions with the mixture.

After baking the vegetables for about 40 minutes, much of the water has been cooked out of them, and their flavors have been concentrated.  I blended the roasted vegetables with cilantro to form a smooth and substantial salsa. The beans did not require much work and had very little fat. I blended some canned pinto beans and left some whole.

I added satueed onions, jalapenos, cumin, and cilantro into the mix. It was so refreshing to have beans that hadn’t been over-spiked with salt. The canned stuff is hard to tolerate.  To season the onions and bell peppers for the fajitas, I used a mixture made by my friend Noel. Her “Hot Mama!” products taste great, so I sprinkled some on the veggies and added a little vegetable oil.

Using a bag makes tossing the ingredients neat and easy.  Bags are great for marinades. The chicken for the fajitas rested overnight in lime juice and spices.

The grilled chicken and vegetables lend great flavor to this healthy dish.  After letting the chicken rest, I cut it into large strips and added more cumin, chili powder, and lime juice. The beans, fiery salsa, roasted vegetables, lime juice, and cilantro could easily make a meal of themselves.

For a fast and seemingly lavish dinner, i spread a little brown and red rice on a tortilla, and layered on some chicken and roasted vegetables. To finish, I added some salsa, lettuce, and cilantro. Lots of healthy flavors in one package. I skipped the cheese and sour cream and never missed them.

The salsa was some of the best I’d ever made. Cut 3 jalapenos, 3 lbs tomato, and one onion in half and toss with 8 unpeeled cloves of garlic, 2 tbl tomato paste and 1 tsp each cumin and chili powder. (remove chili seeds if you prefer a milder, salsa, I usually leave 1/3rd and half in place) Place on baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. Peel garlic cloves. Put all vegetables in food processor with 6 tbl fresh cilantro and puree until smooth. Add juice from 3 or 4 limes.

I am a changed man.

I’ve been imbued with a sacred sense of mission, a crusading impulse to grasp at glory and exercise my ambitions. With a clear sense of my own shortcomings, I want to emulate the sentiment of French gastronome Brillat-Savarin, who wrote: “The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of mankind than the discovery a star.” I couldn’t agree more, and I’ve had a vision.

I have begun a Quest for Sauce.

While a sauce may not qualify as a new “dish”, it is at least as important as discovering a new planet or a moon. So I will invent my own awesome grilling sauce, with an aroma that sings and a flavor that explodes. Something good enough to warrant the epitaph: “At least he made the sauce.”

These are the ground rules, people. One: it cannot resemble the typical American barbecue sauce. I love American style barbecue, all the regional favorites, but I don’t think I could add much to that genre. Two: the sauce must be very spicy— heady, even— and utilize fruit. Three: it should enhance the meat or vegetable’s flavor, not overwhelm it.

Let me tell you how I came to this awesome task, this spicy inspiration, this Quest for Sauce.

My friend Kristin recently confessed how bored with life she felt. Working in her family’s payroll business for the last twenty years and raising her wonderful children have been rewarding, but her talents and creativity demand new challenges. She wants to go into business herself.

As I’ve said before, Kristin is a great cook, so I suggested that she prepare and package food products, like a sauce, chutney, salsa, or tapenade. She said that it was already one of her more intriguing ideas. But what to make? I wondered what products were most in demand. What kind of product would I go out of the way to buy myself?

I certainly wish Kristin luck with whatever her enterprise might be. I’m especially thankful that her idea has reawakened ambitions of my own. With all humility and gratitude, I want to invent my own awesome grilling sauce. I don’t plan on making a business of it, but I want to create something distinctive, mix my impulses with discipline. I plan on perfecting the recipe’s taste until next summer, when i will package it for friends and family. I premiered the the first prototype at a housewarming party for some good friends.

I began with a rub adapted from a Steven Raichlen recipe, a much more interesting mixture than the typical barbecue:

2 tbl brown sugar, 2tbl hot paprika, and 1 tbl each of coarse salt, black pepper, garlic powder, cinnamon, and 1/2 tbl cardamom.

The rub was great, but the sauce was the experiment here. I want it to be spicy, sweet, fruity and tart without being too salty. My first run was not bad. I began with a recipe for peach, rum, and chili sauce. It turned out excellent, but my adaption was not hot, sweet, or punchy enough. At least it was an excuse to get a bottle of Myer’s rum, that dark elixir.

I was the first to season my buddy’s brand new grill. Another flaw of my sauce was its runniness, so I must admit that I seasoned it quite well. And the patio. And probably a few other things. I was in the heat of the moment. Cooking is like sex, you can’t be afraid to make a bit of a mess if you have to. If you’re worrying about a mess, you’re not giving the sex the attention it deserves. Or in this case, the cooking. So I got a little excited…

Clearly, a thicker, more clingy sauce would have cooked onto the chicken better. But no one complained, not even the new homeowner when he hosed my delicious sauce off his concrete patio.

The chicken was quite good, but I will return in the next installment of the Quest for Sauce.

Sometimes we all lose patience and passion for cooking, especially after a day at work.  I devised a couple quick meals that are meant to be nutritionally balanced and very tasty: Expedient eats.

The first dish might not be perfectly “healthy”, but it isn’t evil.  While hanging out with my brother Tim, I made a quick pizza.  I bought the crust at the store, used my leftover chunky fragrant tomato sauce with turkey, and topped it with some leftover cheese and bits of ham.  I missed the fresh crust, but it was quite good for a creation that took under 5 minutes to prep.

I almost never cook on Fridays, but the other night, I grilled a couple frozen turkey burgers and served them on wheat toast with baked sweet potato fries and granny smith apple.  With a drizzle of honey on the fries, a dash of cinnamon on the apples, and my own spicy peach sauce on the burgers, the flavors of this meal shined, healthy and happy.

In search of the best packed lunch, I made the filling for chicken pot pie. Another nice find from America’s test kitchen, it is fast and rewarding.

I started by browning about 2 lbs chicken breast in 3 tbl butter. Once browned on both sides but not cooked through, I removed the chicken and added 3 tbl butter to the pot. Then I sauteed 2 onions and 4 celery ribs until they softened, about 5 minutes. I stirred in 1/2 cup unbleached flour for a minute, then added 1/2 cup dry vermouth. This ingredient gave a wonderful aroma and tang to the whole pot of food and cooked off in under a minute. I added 4 cups low-salt chicken broth, 1 cup heavy cream, and 3 tsp dried thyme, which gave just the right flavor. I placed the chicken breasts back into the pot to poach in the liquid. When finished, removed the chicken to a plate and added 4 cups frozen vegetables (peas and carrots or such– i used peas, carrots, corn and lima beans) and simmer 2 mins. Cut up chicken and stir into sauce.

serve with biscuits or over egg noodles. Very healthy, especially if you skip the biscuits and opt for noodles. I used frozen biscuits for this dinner. As a lunch, the dish works especially well over noodles. It is quite healthy and eats like a meal.

The lunch special this week featured a hearty and healthy marinara with ground turkey breast. I cooked a pound of ground turkey breast and set it aside, being careful not to overcook it.

Then I sauteed a diced onion and green pepper. Once the veggies were soft, I added lots of chopped garlic (10-12 cloves), dry oregano (1.5 tbl), and fennel seeds (3/4 tbl). I recommend that you crush the fennel seeds in a mortar and pestle first.

A minute or so later, I added 2 14-oz cans of whole tomatoes. Once the moisture had almost completely cooked down, I added 2/3rd a cup of burgundy to deglaze the pan.  After the wine had thickened, I added 2 cans of crushed tomatoes and 2 tbl sugar.  The newly-added tomatoes really brightened up the color and flavor of the sauce.

I finished the sauce by adding the cooked turkey breast, 1-2 tbl pepper, and an entire package of fresh basil. The resulting sauce is chunky and rich, but almost completely devoid of fat or excess salt. It is also very flavorful, and the fennel seeds, oregano and fresh basil add a wonderful Italian bouquet to the sauce. Served over high-protein pasta with fresh fruit on the side, this sauce made a great healthy meal all week long.

I spent a recent evening with Will and his family to celebrate his birthday. His wife rolled out the red carpet and bought some Berkshire pork, cut from the so-called black pig. Berkshire pork is an 300 year-old English breed known to be more moist and flavorful than the “other white meat” you typically find. In fact, the U.S. pork industry’s emphasis on making their product a chicken substitute has left us with pork chops that are often dry and flavorless.

Will’s hand is slapped away from the cheddar for the macaroni and cheese. Being the birthday boy may entitle you to benefit’s at the dinner table, but not in the kitchen.  Kristin is an amazing cook. Her herb and cheese paste really made the pork chops shine.  After a quick sear in a pan, the pork chops go to the cool side of the grill.

Roasted bell peppers provide more punch to the plate, and played with the pork wonderfully. In fact, the meal was so sublime that it was beyond photography. My camera’s battery– and every other camera in the house— had all wavered in the face of such a great meal. With the steaming plate and a Bershire pork chop staring me in the face, I did what came naturally. It was probably the best pork chop I’ve ever eaten, with an appealing trace of pink. Kristin served it with an lettuce wedge salad with blue cheese and crumbled bacon, the roasted peppers, and the mac and cheese.

The next day, I charged every battery I own. And I just might have to buy some of those pork chops.

They say flying isn’t fun any more. It wasn’t much fun in the first place, but what the talking heads mean to say is “flying isn’t fun for the airlines anymore.” They’re losing money, and we pay more for an inferior experience.

If I must fly, I bring supplies. You never know how long you may be delayed, and most of the food in the airport will either kill you or your wallet. Bring fruit, trail mix, crackers and firm cheese, sandwiches, whatever. Then sit back and dream of the great food you’ll have once you get to your destination. Chowhound.com’s message boards are a wonderful resource when planning travel.

I flew to Anaheim a couple weeks ago for business and pleasure. I gave a speech at the annual summer conference of the American Library Association about podcasting. I’ve been pretty busy lately making films at work. You can find them easily in ITunes U or You Tube. Aside from the conference, I visited Shane, a good friend and musician, in San Diego.

We started our visit with some wonderful Japanese food. This pork and tofu ramen was especially memorable: spicy, strangely sweet broth, with the firm ground pork, soft tofu, and slick noodles. Shane described Chopstix on Convoy St. as working-class Japanese food. That part of town is packed with Asian restaurants of every stripe, and the cramped competition fosters great food.

We missed a planned trip to Hash House A Go Go, but my breakfasts are satisfying. I like to scramble eggs with salsa. I cook the water from the salsa out and add butter and the eggs. Much better than watery eggs. Shane needs a toaster. I was too hungry to use the oven.

The Horny Toad Chili struck again in Sand Diego! Here’s I’m cooking the veggies and letting the cooked meat cool off.

Aww, shucks. I used a little bacon grease to start the chili, and crumbled the crispy bacon onto the cornbread before baking. It is a nice treat without adding much grease. Besides, it looks cool.  Next time I’m stuck at the airport, I’ll imagine this meal.

There is nothing better as a home cook than demystifying food that seems complicated. I like to experiment on Sundays with new dishes that might serve as excellent lunches during the coming work week. I double or triple the recipe without adding additional meat for some recipes. If it happens to be healthy, then all the more reason to eat it.

I have to earn a living, but i do not have to eat Subway or Lean Cuisine. I love life too much!

Last week’s featured lunch was not especially healthy, but it wasn’t evil, either. I love Thai chicken soup with coconut milk, lemon grass, and cilantro. I adapted this dish from America’s Test Kitchen. I boosted the garlic and added red bell pepper.

The soup begins with a base of shallots, lemon grass, and cilantro.  Soften the vegetables over medium high heat.  Add coconut milk and low sodium chicken broth to start your base.  This is some seriously concentrated flavor.

Strain the base and enjoy the fragrant steam.  Add more coco milk, mushrooms, and chopped chicken.  Thai chilies liven up the party. Add the red bell pepper and curry/chili paste and simmer.  The and chili heat is mellowed by the rich coconut broth. The sharp lemon grass and citrus heighten the flavors.

For lunch, I packed along a slaw with a simple dressing of rice vinegar, fish sauce, lime juice, and a little sugar. Pork and cabbage dumplings make the salad a small meal unto itself. In the future, I’d rather have a few small shrimp on the salad instead of the dumplings.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the soup for lunch and a couple dinners that week. Since I tripled the recipe, I had plenty to share with friends and co-workers. Best of all, a seemingly exotic dish was demystified.

Thai chicken and coconut soup

Sautee 1 tsp vegetable oil, 3 stalks thinly sliced lemon grass (approx. the bottom 5 inches), 3 large chopped shallots, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1 tbl fish sauce.

stir in 32 oz low sodium chicken broth and 14 oz of coconut milk. Simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer 10 mins. Strain broth.

stir in another 14 oz coco milk and i tbl sugar. Bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium, add 1/2 pound white mushrooms, 3 chopped Thai chilies, and 1 diced red pepper. Cook 2-3 minutes. Add 1 pound chopped chicken breast and stir for 2-3 minutes. Remove soup from heat.

Whisk 3 tbl fresh lime juice, 2 tbl fish sauce, and 2 tsp Thai red curry paste. I used one made specifically for Thai (hot and sour/Tom Yum Kung) soup.

garnish with diced cilantro, scallions, thinly-sliced Thai, jalapeno, or Serrano chilies, and more lime juice.

Another recent experiment for a party worked quite well. I made some creamy leek and shrimp cornbread. I spiced the creamy sauce with garam masala, nutmeg, Dijon mustard, and black pepper. I will make it again and record the recipe.

The luxurious shrimp and leek sauce tastes rather exotic.  Packed up and ready to party!

After a tough day, it is sometimes best to take a step back, appreciate what you have, and share the love.

I did something rather silly recently, and I almost came to regret it. I offered to prepare a gumbo feast for a work-related fund raiser: The annual University of South Florida Faculty and Staff Campaign, which solicits employees to donate part of their wages to the university. I’m still quite short of my fundraising goal.

Getting coworkers to give, many of whom earn mediocre wages, is a very hard sell, especially in these tough times. But the campaign is a very noble effort, as there are so many areas of the university to celebrate and support. In my research of USF’s history, I’ve seen so many ways it has changed peoples lives from all over the world. If USF made me respectable (which is debatable), it has worked wonders, indeed.

I like my job and the people I work with, and I thought it would be fun to share something delicious with them and lay my gourmet reputation on the line. I will be serving just 30 tomorrow. Perhaps I’ve overestimated the curiosity of librarians. I know how many of my co workers eat Lean Cuisine, Subway, and McD’s on a daily. I was amazed at how few people signed on for a fine free meal prepared lovingly by a colleague.

Of course, I should be thankful that I only have 30 to serve. If it was 50 or 60 instead, I would surely have needed two nights for cooking. and two more crock pots. and much more patience. But i counted many more of my blessings as it i set out to cook the best gumbo I’d ever made. I’m given wonderful opportunities for creativity and professional growth at work, and being able to hold such an event is more a privilege than a duty.

I set out to make Gumbo Ya Ya, a Paul Prudhomme recipe made famous by a restaurant called Mr. B’s, part of the Brennan’s empire. Gumbo Ya Ya is an old New Orleans saying that refers to the loud chaotic banter of a party, with everyone talking at once. It also means everyone talking at once, the multi ethnic and multi-lingual mish mash of that unique Creole city. I adapted the dish from Emeril Lagasse’s Every Day’s a Party: Louisiana Recipes. I change the timing a bit, and don’t mess with a whole chicken, just breasts and drumsticks.

The first two times I went to New Orleans expressly for the spectacle and debauchery of Mardi Gras. I was young, thirsty, and poor. I’m so glad I rediscovered the city in subsequent visits. I found Mr. B’s Gumbo Ya Ya to be my favorite specimen. Unlike many gumbos, it calls for a very dark roux, which requires more time and diligence. I blew my first attempt to make a roux two years ago— too much heat and an inferior stock pot. Late last year, I made a passable version but scorched it while reheating. Other times, it seemed much too oily. I resolved to master Gumbo Ya Ya a couple nights before a charity event with 30 of my co-workers. Pretty stupid, huh?

Although I was grouchy after work and just wanted to take a nap, I let all that go and started to prep. I felt better the moment I turned on the heat: I focused on good things, and the challenge I so blithely charged in to.

My ingredients: 24 cups low sodium chicken stock, 3-3.5 lbs of chicken drumsticks, 3-3.5 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts, 6 bay leaves, 4.5 cups vegetable oil, 4.5 cups bleached all purpose flour, approx 2 lbs. andouille sausage, 4 medium diced yellow onion, 2 diced green peppers, 2 tsp cayenne pepper, 3 cups diced celery, approx 2 lbs. smoked sausage (i prefer hot), 2 bunches diced green onions, 6 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

My first impulse was to cheat and use store bought chicken stock. Instead, I compromised and poached my chicken breasts and drum sticks in the bought chicken broth with bay leaves to richen it. I set the cooked chicken aside. I especially like this method because you don’t have to pick a whole chicken apart, as the original recipe calls for. No bones, no veins, no carving, etc. This assumes importance when you’re cooking for 30 people. The breast meat– which i chopped after poaching– is good for picky eaters, and the drumsticks please those with big appetites.

As always, making the roux would be the biggest challenge. When making a roux, you are basically frying flour in an equal amount of fat at medium heat until they incorporate and make a gravy of sorts. The darkness of the roux helps dictate the depth of the flavor. If you don’t vigilantly stir, parts of the flour begin to burn, the gumbo tastes scorched, and does not hold together. Don’t get too enthusiastic and splash around— this frying paste is like kitchen napalm.

Be prepared to adjust temperature and stir constantly. I always keep my phone close by, because talking to friends and family make the half hour of stirring go by more quickly.

See the Gumbo photos here.

I’m grateful that co workers have pitched in to make salad, desserts, gourmet crackers, and bring Cuban bread and beverages. I’m also bringing a simple shrimp with mustard remoulade to serve beside the salad or on the bread. I will deploy a squadron of 2 crock pots and 3 rice cookers.

Next year, I’m thinking of having a chili contest instead. Or a pasta throwdown or something.

If you’re interested, check out USF’s Faculty and Staff Campaign while you’re at it. There are so many worthy programs for health, academics, athletics, research and especially the libraries. They are the engines of intellectual industry. and they have a lot of cool stuff.

http://usfweb2.usf.edu/fscc/CampaignInformation.asp