0 Kitchen Sink leftovers

Last night's dinner was put together with a variety of leftovers, combined with some of the vegetables I froze over the summer from our CSA.

I started by sauteeing an onion and some garlic scrape (CSA), in a large cast iron pot and added some ground beef. Once the beef was browned, I added some diced celery (CSA); parsley (CSA); and dried basil. Next I added a 6 oz. can of tomato paste, and 12 oz. of water. When everthing was mixed I added some kale (CSA) and leftover rice. Upon taste testing I found it a bit bland, so I added some red pepper flakes and a tablespoon of the mole leftover from James' adventure a few weeks ago with Champandongo which gave it just the right kick. We topped our servings with shredded cheddar.

Detail: Kitchen Sink leftovers

0 Champan-Hayes-Boh

For a small honors seminar this semester, I decided to hold the final exam as a discussion over food at Casa Hayes-Boh. I decided to make champandongo the main course, as I have been thinking about this mole-based (MOH-lay) dish ever since we had it here with a group of Pam's students here three years ago.

In that case, Pam had made the food of Coma Agua Para Chocolate a major theme of her Spanish course, and had secured an undergraduate research grant to facilitate having the class make most of the dishes from Laura Esquivel's book (see my posts on its revolutionary context and on Latin American films).

We have cooked several of the dishes from Esquivel's work before -- most notably chicken based on her quail-and-rose-petal recipe, but Pam's class project was far more ambitious, especially since it involved students, many of whom had little if any cooking experience. Working in pairs, students created both a fabulous meal and a permanent record of their culinary efforts. Each post on the CAPCR blog explains how a dish was prepared and how it is connected to the story. All of the dishes were shared at our house during this 8:00 a.m. class. Most were then served again -- either remade or thawed from leftovers -- at an undergraduate research colloquium open to the entire campus.

I must admit that I know the movie far better than the book, and so was unaware of champandongo prior to this adventure with the students. I have been a huge fan of mole -- a complex chocolate-chile sauce usually associated with poultry -- since Pam and I spent the summer of 1989 in Puebla, Mexico. The sauce is properly known as mole poblano, meaning "sauce of Puebla" and represents one of the several ways cacao was used for centuries before people thought of it as a candy. Its use in this lasagna-style dish was simply amazing, and it is hard to believe I have not yet attempted it myself.

In planning my own version, I of course began with the description by Sullivan and Laura. (Incidentally, Sullivan is the only student in this class who I knew previously, both as a student and a long-time family friend.) As complex as the dish was, however, I knew that authentic mole is much more complicated: Campbell's soup, for instance, was rarely available to the ancient Aztecs. I turned to the Hispanic Kitchen blog for more authentic versions, and quickly found an impressive recipe for chicken mole.

Detail: Champan-Hayes-Boh

0 Beef-Barley Skillet

From perhaps the most-used cookbook in our collection - More-with-Less Cookbook - comes this simple, yet filling, dish that used a bunch of the things I froze over the summer from out CSA.

I began by sauteeing some onion, and browning about 3/4 pound of ground beef in our indispensable cast-iron skillet. I took some garlic scrape, and chopped celery from the freezer and added a handful of each to the skillet. Next I added a dollop of salsa, a bit of Worcestershire sauce, a can of diced tomatoes, a dash of marjoram and parsley, a bit of pepper, and threw in some frozen greens for good measure. Finally I added 1 1/2 c. of water and 3/4 c. of barley. Once this was all brought to a boil, I reduced the heat, covered and let cook for 50 minutes.

A tasty, and  hardy winter meal.

Detail: Beef-Barley Skillet

0 The Secret Ingredient is L.O.V.E.

We planned our Valentine's dinner for over a week, with one overriding goal: no crowded restaurants for us. With a little work and forethought, we knew we could have a superior dinner with no reservations. Each year at this time, we recall an evening spent wandering from restaurant to restaurant, skipping a 20-minute wait only to find a 40-minute wait, eventually settling for a dinner that was made enjoyable mostly by our readiness to eat anything.

Once we established the Valentine's-Day-at-Home tradition, actually, we have endeavored to make it both a romantic and delicious experience, and this year we seem to have done quite well. We each prepared an entree, waited a bit, and then each of us created part of dessert.

James: A week before the event, I accidentally recycled the newspaper in which I had seen a very intriguing recipe for steak tips with mole (moh-LAY) sauce. Librarian Pam said, "Have no fear!" (or words to that effect), since newspaper recipes are all syndicated and will show up easily on some other paper's site. About 2.5 seconds later, I was looking at Beef Mole with Buttery Baguette, courtesy of The Oregonian.

Fans of this blog will know that we have an affinity for mole, more properly known as mole poblano, after the Mexican state of Puebla, where we spent the summer of 1989. Although I love making "real" mole, it was nice to find this "express" version of the recipe, a gringo simplification that required no pepper roasting and a simplified ingredient list. I followed the recipe as written, using our new immersion blender for the sauce itself. Just as I was bringing it to boil, I realized that two vinegars from our friends and fellow Retrievers at Lebherz Oil and Vinegar Emporium (hence the L.O.V.E.) would make it even better. I added the dark chocolate and espresso balsamics, and as with our first mole encounter in July 2012, it turned out loverly, indeed! (Careful readers will recall that the chocolate balsamic also figured in the success of our award-winning mocha cake later that year.)

Pam: I knew that I'd find an appropriate Valentine's Day recipe in Intercourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook, but Wow! How could we have imagined how great the strawberry pasta would turn out! This super simple recipe had only a few ingredients. To the 1/4 pound cooked spaghetti I added some shredded Parmesan cheese and then about a dozen pureed strawberries and some melted butter heated with 1/4 c. heavy cream. This was all tossed together in one bowl and then garnished with fresh chopped mint leaves. It was sweet, incredibly creamy, and a perfect complement to the chocolate in the mole sauce. It truly had a sensuous flavor and texture. Everything was served with sparkling Brut Curvee "RJR" from Westport Rivers Winery.

Pam: After allowing our fabulous dinner to settle a bit we made our dessert and coffee. A Facebook friend posted this recipe for "Cake Batter Ice Cream" (essentially an ambitious banana ice cream). We already had frozen banana slices in the freezer as anytime I have a banana go past ripe I slice it up and freeze it to use for smoothies. These had been frozen for several months and gave our blender quite the workout. It actually began to smoke. I modified the recipe a bit to use ingredients we had on hand, although James did go out and get romantic red sugar sprinkles to put on top! Smooth, creamy and sweet!

Proportions are 4 ripe, frozen bananas; a t. each of vanilla, and almond extracts, 1/4 t. baking soda; 1 T. agave nectar; 1 T Butter Pecan syrup; sprinkles to taste.

James: The two-shelf collection of cookbooks that got this blog started includes several that are specifically about the romance of preparing and sharing food. One of these is called quite simply Coffee Love (which is incidentally also the title of the PG-13 section of my Geography of Coffee web site). Leafing through the book, my eye settled quickly on Café de Olla on page 52. I started one cup of coarsely hand-ground Sol y Luna coffee from my good friends in the Corrales family. It is not dark-roasted, but it was grown and prepared with love, and just happens to be some of the best coffee on the planet. I added 1/2 teaspoon of anise seed and a two-inch piece of cinnamon stick to one quart of cool, filtered water in a saucepan. I had hoped to add four ounces of piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar), but had to substitute a half cup of regular brown sugar and a tablespoon of molasses. I brought all of this gently to a boil, while briskly stirring with our molinillo. After letting it simmer for 15 minutes, I filtered it. The recipe does not specify how to filter it, but no better method could be found than our trusty Chemex.

The result was surprisingly delicious -- I usually do not like to have anything at all in my coffee except for coffee, but this was an exception worth making. It was quite good while hot, though the flavor did not withstand cooling very well at all. Next time, though, I hope to use real piloncillo, and a real olla instead of our steel saucepan!

Detail: The Secret Ingredient is L.O.V.E.

0 My first pot roast

We spent some time with the family in Maryland over the holiday break. I did much of the food preparation for my mother and stepfather who are both experiencing some health problems. We did some food shopping with the list my mother prepared which included a pot roast. I wasn't even sure what to look for in the meat department, but a nice piece of beef labeled "chuck roast" seemed to fill the bill. I took it back, and with my mother guiding me through, I put the meat in the slow cooker along with a bit of wine, some garlic, onions, celery, and carrots. It cooked for a very long time (hence the name slow cooker, I guess) and in the mean time some friends of my parents came by with crab cakes from G&M, so the roast had to wait until the next day to be eaten. I was pleasantly surprised that even after being taken out of the slow cooker, put in the refrigerator, and then heated in the microwave that it was still very tender (and tasty too!) James had already left Maryland by then, but as an added bonus I got to enjoy this meal with my brother, whom I rarely get to see. It was almost like a family dinner. James and I are not big beef eaters, but next time we decide to have a red-meat based meal, I think I will try this at home.

Detail: My first pot roast

0 Syrian Rice

From dinners last week, we had a bunch of leftover rice, and an uncooked, but thawed, portion of ground beef so I started looking for a recipe that would use both these ingredients. I found this Lebanese dish in Melange (an international cookbook) which was put together with recipes from international students at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

The dish was pretty easy and quick to make, although I adapted it a bit since my rice was already cooked. I eschewed the "stick of butter" that the recipe called for in favor of a generous portion of olive oil in which to brown a handful of pine nuts and the ground beef. Once the ground beef was cooked I added 1/2 t. of  allspice and 1/2 t. of cinnamon. I added some more olive oil, and then put in the rice and stirred until everything was well mixed and cooked. I made a separate pan using soy-based crumble for our resident vegetarian. The dish was accompanied by a lovely mixed green salad from our CSA farm box, and paired well with our home-made "Cloverfield" red wine.

Everyone seemed to like this, including our daughter's teen-aged guest. All diners were clean-plate rangers for this one.

Detail: Syrian Rice

0 One Bobotie, Hold the Ball's

This Nueva Receta concept must be working: a quick search in this blog on the title Extending the Table reveals about a half-dozen uses of this handy little book so far. For those wishing to diversify their cooking to what real people around the world might be cooking at home, this volume is a great investment.

One of my closest friends and colleagues is a geographer who moved to the United States from South Africa many years ago (he is there on a visit as I write this). Whenever an occasion calls for a potluck contribution, he brings what I always call "South African meat loaf" because I can never remember the name -- bobobtie (boh-BOH-tee). It is sweet, mildly spicy, and just delicious. He does not share the recipe, which is how he keeps getting invited to dinners. (Just kidding!)

I thought that the recipe was some very local specialty, and so had never thought that it might be sitting on our very own cookbook shelf, until I noticed it while browsing for something else in Extending the Table recently.

The recipe calls for curry powder, which we tend to avoid. It also calls for soaking a slice of bread in 3/4 cup of milk and then squeezing the milk out of it -- using the soggy bread and the breadish milk separately.

Essentially, the recipe has three steps, once that bread is soaking and the oven is on 350 or so.:

First, saute a small, diced onion (I will dice it more finely next time) in butter, adding 1 T curry powder, 1t turmeric, 1/2 t sugar, 1/4 t salt, a dash of black pepper (a large dash in our case) and 1 T lemon or vinegar.

Second, mix one pound ground beef or turkey, one beaten egg, the wet bread, and the cooked onion in a bowl, thoroughly until it is a consistent mass. (We used 1.3 pounds organic ground beef.)

Third, put the mixture in a loaf pan or casserole (the recipe says "well-greased," but I did not prepare the dish, since the beef has plenty of fat). Beat together another egg and the breadish milk with a dash of salt and pepper, and pour this mixture over the meat.

The recipe suggests serving this with rice and chutney. I made rice with Persian-lime-infused olive oil, but alas, we have no Mrs. Ball's. For this is what South Africans mean when they say Chutney. And in my experience, they enjoy mentioning the brand name as much as they like to share the Ball's itself.

Verdict? We both loved the flavor, and it went well with the lime-infused basmati. Lacking Ball's, I tried one small serving with no sauce and another with ground red pepper (the kind like relish, served as "hots" in some delis). It was good both ways, though I am hoping to have some Ball's in the kitchen soon.

The texture was not quite as fine as my friend's more expert preparation, and I did not realize until I made it myself that the "stuff" on top is really a kind of custard. His is full of spices, and mine will be too the next time. Still, at least until we perfect this recipe, he will be welcome at all potlucks!

The dish went well with a recently-acquired bottle of 2011 Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa by way of Stellar Organics.

Detail: One Bobotie, Hold the Ball's

0 Autumn Stew

We have no photo of the meal itself (beef stew is delicious but not photogenic). Instead, I staged the items that were on the table for our meal, as a reminder that centerpieces are not just for weddings! In fact, however, this lantern is repurposed from the wedding of a friend last year. We usually have a candle in it, but for the season we have filled it with miniature pumpkins from Hanson Farm  The tea lights are indeed resting on coffee beans.

Our plans for a stew on Sunday evening were delayed by an historic opportunity -- the last day of the premiere of Jack Kerouac's Beat Generation in his home town of Lowell. It was an enjoyable bit of time travel -- followed by a foliage-rich and sunny drive home along I-495 and the outer western suburbs of Boston.

It meant for a somewhat rushed (two hours instead of three or four) preparation of beef stew, based loosely on a recipe by Amy Sedaris. Yes, the twisted sister of David Sedaris has a cookbook -- more of a lifestyle book -- entitled I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, and its recipes are actually safe to use!

Page 254 features "What's Your Beef, Stew?" I started by not using a pound of sirloin steak tips from Northeast Family Farms in place of the cubed chuck. This grain-fed beef arrives marinaded in ginger and teriyaki, providing an exceptionally tender and flavorful base for the stew. I browned it in olive oil as I added  several table spoons of flour (less than Sedaris called for), skipping the shake-and-bake method she suggests as well. I sauteed an onions with the beef and then added water to simmer for an hour. (Sedaris calls for more and she is correct, but we did want to eat while we were still awake!)

Then I added potatoes, more onions, and carrots, and simmered for another 45 minutes. Actually, I failed to turn down the stove, so it was more of a continued boil (covered, thankfully) than a simmer. The result, however, was a rich, flavorful broth infused with ginger and the added pepper and paprika. Pam made delicious biscuits (see our chicken chowder post). Pam used a 50/50 mix of white and wheat flour, which was perfect!

Speaking of perfect, both the biscuits and the stew were very happily paired with our own baralo, a red wine that is maturing beautifully in our basement. The pairing was made even more perfect by the fact that I included about a half cup from the wine we had set aside on bottling day. Anytime we can cook with the beer or wine we are serving, we do so. We have never regretted it.

Detail: Autumn Stew