Beef stroganoff

This is one of those dishes that I had never made before, partly because of its status as a clichéd-come-to-a-dinner-party-in-1961-paprika-reliant-high-goo-factor sort of food. Also, we never had it when I was a kid (go figure). But then I went to Watershed restaurant and had their truly excellent beef stroganoff and became a convert. It was just a matter of time before I tried my hand at it. Screw the snobs--this is delicious comfort food in one of its best incarnations.

Mixed about 1/3 cup of flour with salt and lots of pepper. I had some top round stir fry beef all ready for stir frying before I got the idea for this in my head, so I cut up a little less than a pound into 1" chunks. Sprinkled most of my flour mixture over the beef and covered it well. Set aside the rest of flour mixture for later. Melted some butter over medium-high heat and put the dredged beef chunks in to brown on all sides--probably about 8-10 minutes. Removed beef to plate and added about 2 tablespoons of butter, ½ chopped onion and sliced cremini mushrooms (I think they are usually in 8 ounce packages? Not sure--anyway it was all of one package). When the onions were soft and the mushrooms were starting to give up liquid, added 2 minced garlic cloves. When things were getting a bit browned and well-cooked (maybe about 5-6 minutes), sprinkled over the reserved flour and stirred it to absorb the butter & liquid for about 1 minute. Added 1 ¾ cups of chicken stock (it would have been better with beef stock, but sadly I had none on hand), brought to a boil and stirred until thickened. Added about ¼ cup white wine (probably a little bit more actually), the beef and any accumulated juices, and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley. Stirred well and removed from heat. Before serving, stirred in 1 ½ tablespoons sour cream.

Boiled up ¾ package of cavatappi and put stroganoff over it. Sprinkled with smoked paprika, because that's what you do with stroganoff when you're living in 1961.

Tilapia with coconut rice

The funniest part about tonight's dinner was afterwards when we went downstairs to Melanie & Jeremy's and Brian was talking about how he could probably eat an entire loaf of pumpkin-chocolate chip tea bread in one sitting (he also gave a detailed description of what kind of cake-icing combinations he would or would not be capable of eating and how many rows of brownies). He explained that his entire dinner of "fish, rice and broccoli" was nowhere near a cake-like caloric intake and he had no difficulty polishing it off. I'm not sure what the point was, but I pointed out that he sounded like a spartan health hero when he said dinner was fish, rice & broccoli--he left out the part where I covered everything in coconut milk and butter. Anyway:

Rinsed about 1 ½ cups rice, added it to rice cooker and covered with most of a 16 ounce can of coconut milk, added 2 bouillon cubes and enough water to make 3 cups of liquid. Put it to steam in rice cooker. Before it was done, added chopped broccoli to the veggie steaming rack on top to eat alongside dinner. Rice cookers are great. They are a low-energy way of cooking both rice and vegetables (or shrimp or whatever) at the same time and also ensure that your rice will be perfectly cooked and kept warm at a safe holding temperature until you are ready for it (thereby minimizing risk of Bacillus cereus and accompanying sudden onset of nausea and vomiting). Anyway. Rice cookers. Nifty.

Sautéed 1 clove minced garlic in a couple chunks of butter until golden. Added 2 filets of tilapia, let cook about 2 minutes over medium-high heat, flipped to other side for 2 minutes, then sprinkled a pinch of red pepper flakes in the pan. Added rest of can of coconut milk (maybe ¼ cup) and ¼ cup of white wine. Let the mixture cook down around the fish for a minute or so, then sprinkled the top of the filets with 2 teaspoons chopped parsley, a pinch each of paprika & turmeric, salt & pepper. Let liquid boil down about 2 more minutes, then took off heat, slid the fish onto the coconut rice and poured the sauce over the top, with broccoli alongside. A better way to do this if you have a lot of liquid but don't want to overcook your fish is to remove just fish from heat, then aggressively cook down the sauce.

Stir fry with pineapple & pepper

I had a chunk of flank steak waiting in reserve from grilling to stir fry this week. The pineapple is due to Brian who cut one up the other night and suggested it be included. I don't think I would have thought of it on my own but from now on it will be included in the roster of protein and produce that get considered for stir fry nights.

Halved 1 orange bell pepper, sliced it into very thin strips and set aside. Minced 4 cloves garlic and 1 inch of ginger, set aside. Took the chunk of raw flank steak (not sure how much, maybe it was 1/2 pound?) and sliced it against the grain into thin strips (1/4"-1/2" wide). Chopped up about 1/4 cup of the pineapple that Brian had previously sliced up. Cut a small head of broccoli (including stems, as always) into slightly more bite-size pieces than usual and set them to steam over the rice. Removed when they were just barely cooked and set aside. Heated 2 tablespoons sesame oil in the wok and added the orange pepper strips , stirring them over high heat until they had some brown marks and were a bit wilted. Removed and set aside. Allowed the wok to cool somewhat, then added the garlic, ginger and a tablespoon red pepper flakes and stirred those about 2 minutes, then added a drizzle more sesame oil and the steak. Cooked until browned, then removed and set aside. Added 2 tablespoons soy-ginger sauce, 1 tablespoon tamari, a tiny splash each of rice wine vinegar and apple juice and brought to a simmer. Then added 1 cup chicken broth, stirred well and sprinkled the sauce with 1 teaspoon cornstarch, stirring very well after adding it. When the sauce was slightly thickened, added the steak, peppers, pineapple and lightly steamed broccoli, mixed together well in the sauce and made sure everything got heated through. Put over white rice and sprinkled with sliced almonds to finish.

Grilled flank steak & vegetables

Again with the winter grilling! It was pouring rain but very warm out so we grilled on our porch. It's on the second floor, covered & screened in so it's an ideal all-seasons grilling perch. The only trick is to not burn down the apartment building...

I bought a little more than 2 pounds of flank steak at the venerable DeKalb market. I sawed off a piece to use in stir-fry later in the week (undoubtedly, the next post will cover that adventure) and covered the rest of it in a marinade of salt, pepper, minced garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, olive oil, worcestershire and a little red wine. It hung out in the fridge until about a half hour before grill time, during which I let it rest at room temperature. Sliced 2 red peppers and covered with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cut 2 sweet potatoes into 1/2" slices and steamed them for about 7 minutes, until a little more than halfway cooked through, then added to the red peppers, with a little more olive oil, tossed gently. Brian started the grill for me, which was kind of him, and it burned very hot. Melanie kept me company on the porch as first the flank steak went on, flipped about every 3 minutes or so, then red pepper, then sweet potato, as room became available. The flank steak probably took about 10-15 minutes total, but the veggies just got pulled off as they developed nice char marks. Put the sweet potatoes in their own bowl, tossed with the juice of half a Meyer lemon, and surrounded the flank steak with the red peppers.

I accidentally also made what Jeremy kept calling "croutons" and he said he liked them, even though he doesn't normally enjoy crunchy bread (?). Melted a lot of butter and a little olive oil in a pan with 4-5 cloves minced garlic. Added small rounds of a baguette (sidenote! the DeKalb market appears to have stopped making my usual double ficelle loaves and in the place that I used to find those, there are now bags of misshapen, long, squishy things marked "country baguettes." they still come 2 to a package, so I guess they are the new hotness. They are actually pretty good and I have no qualms, I just think it's weird that I can't find the bread I used to get there), and tossed them in the butter-oil-garlic mixture until well-coated. Spread them on a baking sheet, made sure the garlic was well distributed, sprinkled a little parmesan on top, put them in the oven at 350 degrees...and promptly forgot about them while grilling. Brian eventually pulled them out of the oven and they were a very crunchy, tasty counterpart to our grilled foods.

We had this insane peachy pound cake with a caramel-bourbon sauce for dessert. It was leftover from a party that Melanie went to earlier where all the girls were on some no-pound cake diet, so we destroyed the ample leftovers. It was incredible. Also for dessert: my new Lava Lite that Brian got me for Christmas. It warmed up and started looking pretty groovy by the end of the evening.

Pinto bean stew with avocado and tortillas

This was long known as the famous "Cheesy Beany" dish, as baptized by Jocelyn. Its history began when we lived together in a garret (really? sort of) in Milwaukee and often needed a cheap, easy, tasty vegetarian dinner. Over time it has morphed into what Brian refers to as our version of that family classic, Taco Night. It's hard to describe all the components as it undoubtedly changes depending on what's in the fridge or pantry at any given moment. I used to occasionally top it with cornbread and make a yogurt-lime sauce on the side which was delicious (just mix natural plain yogurt to taste with juice & zest of 1 lime, salt and pepper), but the version I made last night is how it tends to look these days:

Sautéed 1 small, diced onion in olive oil until soft, then added 1 small, diced red pepper. Let cook down over fairly high heat until soft and browned, then added 4 minced cloves garlic. Sprinkled 1 tablespoon chile powder into the hot oiled pan to allow flavor to bloom, then added 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Stirred well, then added 2 tablespoons mole paste, mashed it up and added about 1/2 cup of water to reconstitute it into a thick sauce. Stirred everything together then added maybe 1/4 cup of minced pickled jalapenos, 1 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes, 1 16 ounce well-rinsed and drained can of pinto beans and a drizzle of wine vinegar. Covered and let simmer together, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes. Then stirred in 1/2 cup of crumbled queso fresco, thought it still seemed a bit too liquidy, so mashed up some of the beans and removed the lid to let it reduce to a scoopable consistency.

Meanwhile, sliced 2 avocados and tossed them with juice of 1/2 lime, salt and pepper and warmed a stack of tortillas in the oven. When the beans were ready, we ate them rolled up in tortillas with the avocado. Simple and delicious.

Black-eyed peas

There is a new year's tradition that calls for eating black-eyed peas on the first day of the year to bring good luck, so that's what we had. They are a really great legume (is there a way to say that without sounding hopelessly dorky?), especially if you are committed to using dried beans rather than canned. Chickpeas take about a million years to cook, even if you soak them. Pinto beans, black beans, great northerns--most dried beans just don't really lend themselves to spontaneous production, hence, of course, the popularity of canned beans. But black-eyed peas? They cook very quickly, sometimes in just 25 minutes or so, without any soaking at all. They are nature's lentils and they are delicious.

Covered at least one cup of black-eyed peas in water and brought to a healthy boil with 2 crumbled bay leaves, 4 cloves sliced garlic, 2 teaspoons each of red pepper flakes and epazote, and a teeny pinch of cumin. Let boil hard for about 25 minutes and tested to see if they were approaching doneness, was pleasantly surprised to find that they were and drained them off. Salted and peppered them, then added butter and about 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar. In another pot I was cooking pearl couscous in way too much chicken broth (don't know how that happened, it was weird) and so drained the excess couscous liquid into the bean pot. Turned the heat back on and let the beans absorb most of the liquid, so they became sort of soupy, full-flavored and fabulously chickeny.

These were excellent along with cornbread, steamed kohlrabi and the aforementioned couscous. Happy New Year!

Flank steak with port-mushroom sauce

Another pre-holiday meal--the task was to make something suitably festive that also managed to use up a half a bottle of port wine that had been sitting around. With that in mind, here's what happened:

Sliced 3 shallots thinly and sauteed them until soft over low-medium heat in about 2 tablespoons of butter. Added another tablespoon of butter, turned up the heat and added 1 package mushrooms, sliced thickly. Sauteed mushrooms until they were golden, probably about 8 minutes. To this buttery mixture, I added 1 tablespoon of flour and stirred well. Added salt, pepper and at least a cup of port. It was probably more than that, actually, because I just poured in what was left in the bottle. Also put in 3 cups of chicken stock at this point. Reduced it down until it was thick enough to coat a spoon, took off heat and set aside.

I ended buying 3 pounds of flank steak in 2 large cuts, so I cooked them in shifts. Salted and peppered both sides of the meat and let them rest at room temperature for half an hour before cooking. Melted olive oil and butter together in a cast iron pan over high heat and added the steak. Each side seared for about 5 minutes, then flipped when well browned and incredibly delicious looking. They were actually sort of rare so you can pull them off for people who like rare meat, cut of a couple slices and then return the rest to the pan for more well done pieces.

I sliced the flank steak against the grain into thin slices, laid them out on a tray, drizzled a little of the sauce over the top and passed the rest of the sauce at the table for people to pour over.

We had this great crab-red pepper mousse from the DeKalb market for an appetizer. Betsy made a great salad for dinner and Jeremy made a baked apple crisp with actual, real-live, homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert. We all pretty much stuffed our faces, drank a lot of wine and had an awesome time.

Cream of tomato soup

I should call this something more exciting because it sounds sort of canned and sad when you just say "cream of tomato soup," but it's really sometimes fun and delicious to make comfort food like this from scratch so we'll just go with it.

Heated a lot of butter (maybe 3 tablespoons?) with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sautéed in that one diced yellow onion until very soft and fragrant but not at all browned. Added 4 minced garlic cloves and continued to sauté about 2 more minutes. Sprinkled 2 tablespoons flour over the buttery onion/garlic mixture and mixed well, making sure there were no lumps and not letting it burn up. Added about 44 ounces of whole, peeled plum tomatoes (I say 44 ounces because it was a 28 ounce can and then maybe another half a can of the same size, but I'm not really sure) and mashed them up pretty well. Added 3 cups of chicken stock and brought everything to a boil, then turned to simmer and covered, stirring every once in a while. Added 2 tablespoons minced parsley at some point during a stir. Let simmer for about 25-20 minutes, then added salt and pepper to taste and a couple pinches of vindaloo (you could use ground clove or curry or something else if you liked, but I had vindaloo around so vindaloo it was). Took off the heat and passed the entire soup through the finest disk of my food mill into a clean container (it took 2 batches). Returned the soup to the pot with very low heat and added about 1/2 cup of half and half. Corrected to salt and pepper and made sure it got heated throughout without boiling.

I didn't really expect it, but we got a surprise Wisconsin boost to our meal. We passed Jeremy on his front porch on our way into the apartment and he had a bag of charcoal in his hand so we knew at once they were grilling. Sadly we had nothing to toss on...or so we thought! Discovered 4 Wisconsin brats hanging out in the freezer, boiled them in a dark mystery beer that had been malingering in our fridge and brought them downstairs to take advantage of the fire Jeremy had built. Delicious and totally spontaneous, although probably not what you'd call a natural accompaniment to cream of tomato soup.

Potato pancakes

Another seasonally appropriate dish--it's almost Hanukkah, after all. Actually, I think potato pancakes are good anytime of the year. See if you can get somebody to help you make them (thanks Melanie!) because it can be a pain to do it all yourself.

Grated 1 yellow onion into a really big mixing bowl. Then we grated by hand 3 pounds total (about a half-and-half mixture) of peeled Russet and Yukon Gold potatoes. This is why it's nice to have someone working with you--potatoes get all pink and discolored if you don't work quickly. Of course if you have a Cuisinart it will go pretty quick, but that seems trickier, somehow. As we were going, I sprinkled the grated potatoes with a bit of cream of tartar to slow down the discoloration. Drained the grated potatoes and tried to squeeze out some of the liquid. Added them to the grated onion in the big bowl along with 2 beaten eggs, 2 teaspoons salt and pepper. Mixed everything really well, then added 2 tablespoons matzo meal and let it absorb. The mixture still seemed too liquidy so we added another 2 tablespoons. You want the batter to be not too wet and not too dry. In a dutch oven, got two tablespoons canola oil very very hot, then added heaping spoonfuls of the batter, smooshed it down into a pancake shape. Allowed them to get crispy and browned (maybe 2 minutes?), then flipped sides. Removed to a paper towel lined dish to keep warm in the oven. Added another tablespoon of canola oil, and repeated the process. I got about 3-4 pancakes per batch in my dutch oven, which is not that large. I layered the pancakes between paper towels as they drained to offset the shocking amount of oil.

Potato pancakes are particularly delicious with sour cream and applesauce. I don't think amateurs should attempt making sour cream, but applesauce is pretty easy. I peeled and diced 5 Pink Lady apples (any softish apples will do--Jeremy thinks Braeburn apples would work well also) and put them in a pot with juice of 1 lemon. Added enough water to be visible but not to cover--maybe 3/4 of a cup. Brought to a light boil and covered partially, stirring pretty often for about 8-10 minutes, then uncovered and turned down the heat. The apples should be getting pretty mushy. Added 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, a tiny pinch each of nutmeg and cardamom, and about 5 whole cloves. Let it cook down some more, then turned off heat and kept it covered until everything else was ready. You kind of have to eyeball it--when it looks like applesauce, it's probably done.

We also had a roast chicken, but I have covered that at least twice already. You know the drill--salt, pepper, 400 degrees, flip flip flip. Let rest. The only difference was that I put the separated cloves from about a head and a half of garlic in the bottom of the pan to roast during the last 20 minutes.

We put up our Christmas tree. It looks great.

Lentils and bacon

I made this last Sunday and have done very little else since. I guess I've been busy but it doesn't really feel like it.

Minced about 8 slices of thick-cut bacon and cooked over medium heat until crispy. Set aside bacon pieces and drained off most of the fat (reserved it in case pan got too dry). Sauteed 1/2 minced onion in remaining fat over low heat until very soft but not browned. Added 2 chopped celery stalks and 1 diced carrot and continued to sauté until all was soft, about 5 minutes. Added 3 minced garlic cloves, a pinch red pepper and 2 cups green lentils. Added a little of the reserved bacon fat and mixed everything up together. Added 2 bay leaves, then about half of a 32 ounce can of peeled, whole, plum tomatoes and their liquid, mashing them up somewhat. Added about 3 cups of chicken stock, brought everything to a simmer then turned down the heat and covered, stirring occasionally but mostly reading catalogs and drinking Newcastle. After about 15 minutes, the lentils still weren't soft enough but most of the liquid had been absorbed, so I added about 1/2 cup of water and a little of my Newcastle. Stirred in the reserved bacon pieces. About 15 minutes after that, the lentils became soft and most of the liquid was absorbed. Turned off the heat and stirred in about 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar to finish.

Mixed grill

It was at least 75 degrees out yesterday and sunny, and I saw our neighbors grilling. In a fraction of an instant, poles reversed from probably not cooking to definitely cooking. Despite that we had just brought a ton of food home with us from our trip to New Jersey, despite that we were considering going to the delicious Los Hermanos for dinner, despite that I was still on the fence about even going to the grocery store that day, I had no choice: must grill out for dinner.

I cut two whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts into halves to make 4 breasts. I made a marinade of juice of 1 lemon, 1/4 cup olive oil, a ton of fresh black pepper (maybe 2 tablespoons? I didn't measure, just ground it for ages), 1 teaspoon salt, and 3 minced garlic cloves. I added the chicken and shook everything together in a secure tuppertype container. Actually, I shook it so hard that it sort of emulsified and I felt kind of faint. I left it to marinate at room temperature for about 30 minutes then put it in the fridge for another 30 minutes before grilling, shaking it up fairly often. Meanwhile, I sliced 2 large, red bell peppers into strips of at least 1" thick, and 1 red onion into thick rounds, separating the layers into rings. Cut 2 sweet potatoes in half widthwise, then sliced the halves into pieces about 1/4" - 1/3" thick. Steamed the sweet potato pieces until they were a bit more than halfway cooked through, then removed to the same plate as the rest of the vegetables. I had a tiny bit of red onion left so I shredded it very fine and sprinkled some on top of the sweet potatoes while they steamed. Splashed the veggies with 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, a tiny bit of salt, at least 1 tablespoon fresh black pepper, a little worcestershire, and tossed so that they were covered. Somehow I managed to keep the different vegetables from mixing together, while yet mixing the marinade; don't know how I managed that. They marinated for about 30 minutes at room temperature, then I took chicken, veggies and a beer to the back porch and found that my coals were finally ready on the grill. I use an all-natural hardwood type of charcoal from Whole Foods that burns really hot (sorry Charles--it's not Kingsford. Send me some for free, then I'll use it. Maybe). I put the chicken breasts around the perimeter of the grill, turning them often to mind that they didn't burn up. The red peppers were grilled first in the center, flipped often and removed once they became soft and had some nice charring on the skin. Next laid out the onion rings, flipped often and removed once they were soft and had light marks. Then I added 2 teaspoons brown sugar to the remaining vegetable marinade and stirred the sweet potatoes up in that, and then let them grill, flipping once and making sure they got fully cooked and got some nice grill marks. Removed all the vegetables on same platter (but not mixed up) to the oven to keep warm and finished the chicken on the grill until it read 168-170 degrees on my previously lauded instant digital meat thermometer. Removed chicken to same big platter as vegetables.

Jeremy and Melanie came upstairs to hear tales of New Jersey and we ate fudgey cookies with espresso after dinner. They also brought the last of the wine from the pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving, and I'd totally recommend it except I've already forgotten what it was.

Roasted turkey

Here is an appropriate entry for the day before Thanksgiving! A lot of people are freaked out about roasting turkeys--the intimidating size, the uncertainty surrounding cooking times, the potential for a salmonella free-for-all. But really it is no more difficult than roasting a chicken. A very large chicken, to be sure, but still. You don't need much to do it right, but there are some things that will make it go smoothly. Last weekend we roasted a 18.88 pound turkey for a "pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving" feast at Jeremy and Melanie's. Here is a short list of very practical items that I use when roasting turkeys. Except for the meat thermometer, it won't kill you not to have them , but you'll get better results if you do:

1. Reliable meat thermometer. Just spend a little cash on a nice one because you should be using it often anyway. Instant digital meat thermometers are best. When you check temperature, poke it in the thickest (not by the bone) part of the thigh.

2. Kitchen twine. Truss up the legs and you'll have a better looking, better cooking bird.

3. Roasting rack and pan. I shouldn't have to tell you this, but turkeys put off a lot of liquid as they cook. Do it a favor and give it a place to sit up out of the pan. The rack is great anyway--use it everytime you roast tiny turkeys, aka chickens.

4. A fresh, free-range turkey. I buy Belle & Evans fresh turkeys from DeKalb Farmer's Market. You are doing everybody a favor when you buy a better bird.

(OK, so the next two aren't really kitchen implements, but they are still good advice)

5. I do not recommend washing the turkey; washing spreads the surface bacteria all over your kitchen, what with the water splashing and you heaving the turkey about. While you are prepping the turkey, a good rule of thumb is to make sure your working space is clear of any objects you can't put through the dishwasher to clean.

6. Don't stuff the turkey. The stuffing doesn't necessarily get to the same heat as the rest of the bird and the juices that get into the bread or whatever can still carry all kinds of raw poultry pathogens. If you really want to put something in there, feel free to add aromatic herbs or carrots or celery or something. But then don't go eating it afterwards.

Take your turkey out of the fridge one hour before oven time. A room-temperature bird will cook more swiftly and evenly. Rub all over both sides with salt and pepper, like a weird baby. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Truss together the turkey's legs with your kitchen twine. Place the turkey on the roasting rack and put on lowest level of oven. Let it go for about 2 hours, rotate the pan and baste the bird. After another hour, baste again (actually, baste whenever you feel like it), take your turkey's temperature with your meat thermometer. I turned the temperature down to 350 after about 3 hours.(Side note: This is the part where it all starts depending on how big the turkey is; mine was on the large side, so it took a bit more than 4 hours total. Yours may be done sooner, so be vigilant)If you feel the turkey is getting too browned but still needs more time, tent it with some aluminum foil. When the thickest part of the thigh is around 167-170 degrees, remove the turkey from the oven to rest. The bird will continue to cook and the thigh will eventually rise to around 180--check it and see for yourself. Allow the turkey to rest at least 30 minutes before serving.

Let us now address the matter of gravy. You now have a pan full of turkey drippings--pour them off into a liquid measuring cup to separate (unless you actually have a fat separator, but if you have one you probably also already know how to roast a turkey, so what gives?). Look in the pan for any good browned bits and reserve those as well. Melt 1/2 cup butter, slowly add 3/4 cup flour until it forms a smooth paste. I have been known to add more butter if it seems too pastey, but that is somewhat unorthodox. Cook the roux until brown, then slowly add 6 cups of chicken stock, whisking constantly and compulsively examining the viscosity of your mixture as you go. Use your turkey baster to suck out the non-fat part of your turkey drippings and add that to your gravy, along with any nice browned bits from the pan. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat, stirring to check the thickness. It should be pretty much like a gravy and ridiculously delicious. Take the leftover turkey fat/juice that remains in the liquid measure and pour it all over your turkey to give it a last minute hot-oil treatment for shine and bounceability.

Carving a turkey is a little annoying, but it's worth doing right. Make sure everybody gets a chance to admire the turkey before you take it apart--I recommend casually leaving it on the buffet; among, yet somehow above all the rest of the delectables, sort of like a feudal lord and his peasants. First remove the leg and thigh so you have a nice, open space to work in. Do this by firmly grabbing the drumstick and pulling it away from the body while cutting through skin between body and leg. Press the leg down and cut through the joint that joins leg and backbone. Remove to plate, bask in admiration, then make a deep cut in the white meat, parallel to the wing. Cut thin slices downwards from the front of the turkey to the back, starting at the top and meeting at the parallel cut. Lay slices out. Continue to other side of bird, and don't forget to slice dark meat from underside.

We had a great time at pre-Thanksgiving. It felt very festive. Melanie made a chocolate pound cake that was so good that it's probably considered an illegal substance outside of Georgia. The next night we had a pre-Thanksgiving leftovers feast. I cut up the leftover turkey and put it a pan with sliced mushrooms and butter, then simmered it all in leftover gravy. I mixed leftover mashed potatoes with grated sharp cheddar and jalapenos before reheating, which was definetely worthwhile.

Something fun to to is to name your turkeys like hurricanes. Last year was Albert. This year was Beth-Ann. Happy Thanksgiving.

Chicken soup & pastina

Making soup is easy if you happen to have a chicken carcass lying around. I, of course, usually do.

I covered the remnants of the roasted chicken carcass with water in a dutch oven, and turned to high heat. This one actually had quite a bit of meat left over on it, so it held promise. Of course, the more left over on your chicken, the better the soup will be. Roughly chopped and added to stock: 1 celery, 1 carrot, 4 cloves garlic. Added 2 bay leaves and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Covered to bring it rapidly to boil, uncovered and let it cook at a low boil. After about 1 hour, fished out as much of the chicken as was possible and began to strip off any useable meat, avoiding skin and fatty bits. Chopped into somewhat even pieces and set aside. Returned stripped bones to pot, added a little water because it had reduced down a bit too much and allowed stock to cook for 25 more minutes. Strained into separate container and set aside. In same pot, melted 1 tablespoon chicken fat and 1 tablespoon butter until hot and added 1/2 onion, 1 celery, 1 large carrot, all diced to approximately the same size. Sautéed until soft, added 1 diced sweet potato, and 1 pinch red pepper flakes. Added back chicken stock and 1 bouillon cube and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Added 1/2 cup each of barley and lima beans. Simmered for 5 more minutes, then added 2 tablespoons tomato paste and stirred well. Added reserved chicken meat, about 1/3 cup frozen green peas, let cook for a minute or so then added a handful of minced parsley.

In a separate pot I boiled half a package of pastina until done. Divided into bowls and poured the hot soup over the top.

Jeremy came upstairs looking for floor cleaner and ended up staying for soup. This pleased us, especially as he was willing to go out into the rain to procure another bottle of wine when needed.

Simple roasted chicken & brussels sprouts

There is something appropriate about chicken on Sunday evenings. Only a couple key differences from the one I made a few weeks ago, but it reflects an interestingly increased amount of laziness.

Cranked oven up to 450 degrees and allowed to preheat somewhat. Salted and peppered both sides of a 6 pound chicken and placed it breast-side down in a roasting rack set over a pan. Roasted for 15 minutes, flipped it over and roasted for another 15 minutes at same high heat. Flipped again, basted, got spattered with hot chicken grease, cursed, and reduced heat to 350 degrees. Flipped again after 20 minutes, basting every so often, then again flipped the bird, let roast for 30 minutes. Flipped just once more to breast-side up and turned oven up to 425 for 5 minutes to give final browning to top. Removed and set on cutting board to reabsorb juices.

Trimmed somewhat less than a pound of brussels sprouts, cut "x" into stems to facilitate cooking. Steamed until mostly cooked through, about 8-10 minutes, then set aside. Poured all liquid chicken grease & juice out of bottom of roasting pan and reserved. Added the pre-steamed sprouts to pan and tossed with delicious browned bits and residual chicken fat. Salted & peppered sprouts lightly and returned pan to oven at 500 degrees, tossing frequently for about 5 minutes. Brussels sprouts emerged a bit caramelized and very well flavored.

Toasted 3 cloves of minced garlic in 1 tablespoon butter with some of reserved chicken fat. Added 1 cup large pearl couscous. Browned everything together, added 2 cups chicken stock, brought to boil, covered and reduced to simmer. After all liquid absorbed, removed from heat, added 2 tablespoons minced parsley, stirred and covered again until everything else was ready to eat.

Brian has never been particularly fond of brussels sprouts, but enjoyed these, pointing out that it is all about preparation. For my part, I have just found out that they are called "brussels sprouts" rather than "brussel sprouts." They must be from Brussels. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Sweet potato fries

Oddly enough I cook far more complicated dinners on "school nights" than I do on weekend evenings. Maybe it's a bad habit I developed in graduate school for procrastination? This month of November I do not happen to work on any Fridays (it's a happy side effect of working for the government) so I have become rather relaxed on Thursday nights. To accompany an otherwise lazy dinner:

I sliced 2 sweet potatoes in half crosswise, then lengthwise. Cut each quartered sweet potato into matchstick fries. Tossed in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon tumeric, 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, 2 teaspoons vindaloo. Roasted at 400 degrees, tossing frequently, until crispy and browned like proper fries, salted, and removed from oven. Delicious with lime wedges alongside.

Enjoy this with Red Stripe beer and Hedwig & The Angry Inch. That's what I did, anyway.

Coq au vin

On Sunday we had a great time. Charles and Christine were visiting from California so Ryan and Betsy came over. It felt a lot like most of last year's weekends, when we all had dinner together so often. The difference was that half the night wasn't spent with Ryan, Christine and I laboring over some biostatistics or epidemiology homework while our spouses chilled out and drank wine. The other difference was that Charles and Christine weren't going to be around during the next week to do the exact same thing all over again. We made chicken stew and tried not to dwell on it.

Simmered a couple handfuls of parsley and a few sprigs of thyme with 2 cups chicken stock and a bottle of decent merlot. I made Charles open it and he thought we were going to drink it so he had to be distracted by another bottle. Let reduce down at a light simmer for 30 minutes. Strained out herbs and set aside. Meanwhile, cut up about 5 pieces of thick-sliced bacon into 1/4" bits and browned it in the dutch oven. Removed and drained pieces of bacon on paper towels and set aside. Drained off most of the bacon fat and set aside. Seasoned with salt and pepper a little more than 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Sautéed briefly in two batches in bacon fat (added about a tablespoon with each batch) just to brown each side. Removed to a dish and set aside. Melted a couple tablespoons of butter in same dutch oven and added a package (the ususal fresh-packaged size from the market, I think it is 8 ounces) of quartered cremini mushrooms, and a package of frozen, peeled pearl onions (thawed & drained). Stirred over good heat in the butter until browned. Added two cloves of minced garlic, stirred around a bit, then added 1 tablespoon tomato paste and 2 tablespoons flour sprinkled over top. Stirred and combined all well together. Added reduced wine from earlier and made sure to scrape browned bits off bottom of pot while stirring. Added chicken back to pot along with bacon, brought to boil, then covered and reduced to simmer for 25 minutes, stirring a couple times. Removed chicken, turned up heat and stirred frequently to thicken and reduce into a glossy sauce. Turned off heat, added a tablespoon of butter, and additional 1 tablespoon of whatever wine was in my glass. Replaced the chicken into sauce and added 2 tablespoons well-minced parsley.

Steamed a couple heads of broccoli with stems and also had a loaf of bread in the oven to crisp.

Later that night we made brownies, which reminded me of Charles and Christine's house because it always seemed like they had a package lying around waiting to be made by epidemiology students who didn't feel like working on their projects.

Gnocchi di zucca

I had planned to make these earlier this week but was waylaid by a mysterious illness that caused me to curl up in bed instead. Too bad, because this is one of the best things that can happen to a winter squash. My mother made it a couple years ago when I was lucky enough to be around to watch her do it and I have made it countless times since then. It is really easy but seems difficult when you are eating it because it is so ridiculously delicious. It really helps to watch someone else do it first because then you say to yourself "That's it? That's all there is to it?"

Halved, seeded and roasted one Golden Nugget squash at 350 degrees until soft and well-cooked. I scooped the squash out of the rind and put it through a food mill, into a large mixing bowl. Added 1 egg, salt and pepper, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. Mixed well. Began adding handfuls of flour, incorporating it into the dough, adding more flour, incorporating it into the dough, etc. (At this point, I realized that Golden Nugget squash is not the best choice for this recipe--it is rather watery and causes the dough to accept quite a lot of flour but still remains on the sticky side. Kabocha or other more starchy winter squashes are a better choice.) Added flour ad nauseam. Eventually it formed a sticky dough. Melanie and I pinched off small pieces, rolled them on a floured cutting board (like making Play-doh snakes), and cut them into 1/2" pieces. Then we pressed the pieces with floured fork tines and set them aside on a sheet of waxed paper. For quite some time. Brought a large pot of salted water to boil. While waiting for the water to boil, heated 1/4 cup of butter, and fried in it 1 cup of chopped, fresh sage leaves. Added a little more butter. Put all the gnocchi into the boiling pot of water. There were quite a few so I stirred the pot a few times; when they had all surfaced, I drained them, put into a serving dish, and poured the fried sage leaves and melted butter over the top. Added a bit of salt and pepper and tossed everything together.

I made red cabbage and prosciutto again because I still had a lot of red cabbage and prosciutto in the fridge.

Jeremy joined us, following his rotation with family practice/GA 400. More Valdivieso merlot, then Bogle Petite Syrah ("the best wine you can buy within 50 ft of the apartment!"). Clearly, I am feeling better.

Unsung kitchen heroes: small ceramic prep bowls

I love all prep bowls and find them endlessly useful. I have a set of 6 stainless steel ones that hold about a cup each and have nifty little lids that you can pop on if you need to store something. Those are great and I use them beyond their intent as mere prep bowls to do everything from separating eggs to reserving bacon fat. But my real love is reserved for two tiny bowls that sit between my stove and sink, nested into each other. They are delicate little pieces of pottery that I inherited from Melanie one day when she brought them upstairs, declaring that she was going to reduce the amount of dusting she had to do. She likes pottery of all kinds and it was easy to see why she picked these out--they are very elegant, blue-glazed little pots that look too pretty to be as useful as they are. They seem deeper than they are because of the lustrous dark blue in their centers, but really one holds about 1/2 cup, the other probably less than 1/4. They get used almost everyday; one will get filled with parsley, the other with garlic, or maybe one with lemon juice and one with dill. Sometimes the garlic gets sliced then fried and sits in the bigger one where it crisps up into a topping for stir fry. They are only ever an arms length away from cutting board or stovetop activities and probably a reason I use them so much more often than the stainless steel set is because they are much prettier to look at. So, of course I leave them out on the counter; so, of course they are always used. Function follows form, which can be disastrous but in this case works out well.

Red cabbage with prosciutto

The best thing about cured meat is how long it can sit in your fridge. Really good prosciutto must be cured for a couple years, so I guess I accidentally improved on the supermarket crap that has been lurking near the crisper since time immemorial. Monday night, it made a bid for freedom:

I sliced most of a pack of prosciutto into thin strips and fried them in their own fat over a high heat. When it seemed too dry and as if it might burn, I added some bacon fat. When the prosciutto was crispy and browned, I added a handful each of pignoli and dried cranberries. Tossed together for a minute over high heat, then added 1/2 well-shredded red cabbage. Turned down the heat a little for fear of burning the pignoli. Continued to toss the cabbage with the other ingredients until coated with the pan oils and all was very well combined. When cabbage was wilted yet not too soft (about 7 minutes of tossing in pan over heat), turned off heat and added a small splash of balsamic vinegar and a teaspoon of brown sugar. Stirred well and covered.

Melted a little butter plus some chicken fat and added 1 cup of toasted pearl couscous. Browned lightly, then added 2 cups chicken stock and brought to boil, the turned to simmer and covered. When liquid was mostly absorbed, added 1/4 cup minced parsley, stirred and covered again. Added about 2 tablespoons of grated provolone, stirred and removed from heat. Added juice and zest of one lemon, stirred again and covered.

In the oven I crisped the heel of a ficelle, my favorite part.

Valdivieso merlot to drink and it was a pleasant surprise.

Cannellini with sweet potato, sausage & pepper

The market had these tiny little sweet red peppers that were organic and completely inexpensive...usually I can't get that excited about bell peppers. But these were beautiful!

Started earlier in the afternoon by soaking a few cup of cannellini in a bowl of water. After about 4 hours, I drained them, covered them with water in a dutch oven and boiled with a smashed garlic clove and 2 bay leaves for about 1 1/2 hours. They eventually got tender and I drained them and set aside. Returned the pot to the stove with a little bit of butter. Sauteed 1/2 minced sweet onion until soft, then added 1/2 diced sweet potato and 1 diced, small, pretty much perfect red pepper. Added about 1/4 cup of sweet sausage and 3 minced cloves of garlic and let everything get a little bit browned together. Added smoked paprika, a tiny bit of tumeric, a pinch chile. Returned the cannellini and mixed everything well. Added tiny splashes of worschestershire, tabasco, soy and then 1 teaspoon brown sugar. Stirred well and allowed flavors to blend, then added 1 28 ounce can of peeled, whole plum tomatoes. Smashed them up in the pot, covered it 3/4, and turned down the heat to simmer. Read a chapter of a really great book with a lousy title (United States of Arugula) and drank a beer. Uncovered the mixture to reduce the liquid somewhat. Turned off the heat and added a little balsamic vinegar.

Boiled less than half a package of ditalini and put the cannellini mixture over the top. The pasta was secondary.

Steamed broccoli florets with peeled, matchstick stems to go with and a fresh loaf of bread--today was market day, so no risks with the freezer!

Red Brick Winter Brew from Atlanta Brewing Company is pretty damn good. It's a solid oatmeal stout but not too heavy.

Jeremy and Melanie came upstairs and drank a beer. Then we made root beer floats from a keg that Ryan and Betsy brought over a couple weeks ago. It's pretty awesome to have a keg of root beer in your fridge, and that's all I have to say about that.