White Bean and Escarole Soup

You will need:

1 quart of chicken broth (homemade or low-sodium from the box)

1 can canellini beans

1 can chopped chopped tomatoes, drained

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

4 Tbs cubed pancetta

olive oil

1 pinch red pepper flakes

1 bunch escarole, chopping into strips

Method:

1. Saute the pancetta for a few minutes in olive oil and then remove and set aside. Saute the onions with a bit more olive oil for five minutes and then add the garlic and pepper flakes. Add the escarole and cook till just wilted. Add the broth, beans and tomatoes and simmer on low heat for about half an hour. That’s all!

To be honest, I don’t have much to say about these truffles other than that they are pretty much the best bits of chocolate I’ve ever had/made. They are slightly tinged with the flavor of rosemary and a fresh whole vanilla bean adds a very complex sweetness that doesn’t overpower. Rolling them in unsweetened coco powder gives them a very grown-up bitterness. I saw the recipe over at one of my favorite blogs, design sponge and I was actually pleasantly surprised to find that the recipe was easy to follow and produced accurate results. I find that recipes for candies and caramels can be impossibly difficult to follow and one mis-step can lead to disaster.  I completely forgot to add the milk chocolate, but my ganache came out fine and why dilute perfectly amazing dark chocolate anyways. As you already know, I’m obsessed with Trader Joe’s and cannot stress enough how cheap and awesome most of their products are (especially dairy goods.)  The only expensive part of this recipe is the whole vanilla bean. I got mine from a C-Town on Manhattan Ave for $6.99, but health food stores that sell them in bulk might be a better option. These make fantastic holiday gifts, but make sure to make extra.

Rosemary Vanilla Bean Truffles

*recipe adopted from Design Sponge: http://www.designsponge.com/2011/12/in-the-kitchen-with-johnny-battles-truffles.html

Makes about 40 truffles

12 oz. dark chocolate (I used the Pound Plus dark chocolate bar from TJ’s, 3/4s of the bar)

10 oz. heavy cream (I did some fancy math equations and came up with 3/4 cup)

3 oz. corn syrup (I used Light Karo brand syrup, about 6 tablespoons worth)

2 oz. unsalted butter, cubed (1/2 a stick)

1 vanilla bean

several small sprigs of fresh rosemary

rich cocoa powder (for dusting)

Preparation

1. If not already in chips, chop the chocolate into tiny bits and combine it with the butter in a medium to large glass bowl; a steel bowl is also fine. Wash your rosemary and add with the seeded vanilla bean to the heavy cream and corn syrup, bringing to a rolling boil. Remove from heat, cover and let sit for 15 minutes.

2. After 15 minutes, bring the cream to a second boil and immediately pour through a strainer over the chocolate mixture, gently agitating until all the chocolate is in contact with the hot cream. Let sit for 3 to 5 minutes. Next, whisk the mixture (ganache) vigorously until it’s smooth and well combined. If any lumps remain, you can put the ganache in the microwave for short 10-second intervals, stirring gently between, until the ganache is completely smooth. If you don’t have a microwave, have a small pot of simmering hot, steaming water ready to use as a double boiler. Careful not to overheat!

3. Once all is right in your ganache world and you’re left with a smooth, velvety chocolate mixture, pour the contents into a clean, non-porous container and cover with plastic wrap. Press the plastic directly onto the surface of the ganache. Place the container in the refrigerator until firm and set. This step could take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours, depending on your environment. (I left mine in for 2 hours)

4. Sift cocoa powder into a large square dish and ready your melon baller! The ones with releasing scoops are preferred, or if you’re looking for a nontraditional-looking truffle, you can just scoop them out with anything from a spoon to your fingers. (I used my fingers and got slightly misshapen but lovingly homemade looking truffles)

5. Scoop your ganache, roll it any way you see fit and drop it in the cocoa powder. Every dozen or so, give the pan a little shake and let the truffles roll around in the powder until completely covered and set aside. Repeat until all truffles are ready to go. At this point, you should have many, many lovely looking bites for you and your friends, and you can either serve them right on the spot or put them in a sealed container and keep them in the fridge for up to two months!

You may recall from an earlier post that I do not like Turkey.  Yes, it’s true…it’s boring and often dry and I just don’t like it. So, this year I stocked up on the vegetable sides. You may also notice that these recipes have appeared elsewhere on my blog, so I’ll provide links to those posts rather than rehashing the recipe again.

My menu included:

Roasted and sauteed Spaghetti squash

Roasted Brussels sprouts with panchetta-garlic sauce

Persimmon cranberry sauce

Chanterelle and Pear Stuffing

Pumpkin Flan

With limited oven space, it’s best to get vegetables roasting early in the day, so the first thing to go in was the spaghetti squash. Next came the Brussels sprouts.

Roasted Brussels sprouts with panchetta-garlic sauce

My Brussels sprouts are famous among friends and family and really there isn’t a trick. Okay, maybe there is a bit of a trick.

You will need:

1 pound of smallish Brussels sprouts

1/t tsp Maldon salt or other extremely fancy and flaky or chunky sea salt

1/2 cup olive oil (this is an estimate, but I know it’s quite a lot)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Cut the sprouts in half and toss in a bowl with some of the olive oil so they are just  coated. Sprinkle a tiny bit of salt on them.

3. Smear about a table spoon of the oil on a large rimmed baking sheet. Spill the sprouts out and flip them over so at least 85% of them are facing inside up (round side down).

4. Pour lots and lots (or drizzle if you must) of olive oil on the sprouts and sprinkle with tons of Maldon. Bake for about 40 minutes or until they look like they are burning. Burning is good.

(optional)  pancetta-garlic sauce

You will need:

1 shallot

3 gloves garlic

1 1/4 inch thick slice of pancetta

2 tbs olive oil

Method:

1. Chop the shallot and garlic cloves into very tiny pieces. Cut the pancetta into small cubes.

2. Fry together in a pan with the olive oil

Persimmon cranberry sauce

This recipe comes from epicurious.com and I think for once in my life I actually had all the ingredients and followed the recipe perfectly.

You will need:

• 3/4 lb fresh or frozen cranberries (3 1/2 cups)
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 star anise or 1/4 teaspoon star-anise pieces
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 firm-ripe Fuyu persimmons (about 1 lb total), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice

Bring cranberries, wine, water, star anise, 1/2 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add more sugar, to taste (up to about 2 1/2 tablespoons), and discard star anise. Fold in persimmons. Transfer to a bowl and serve at room temperature or chilled. Stir gently before serving.

Chanterelle and Pear Stuffing

Above you will find a link to the recipe, but this is what this year’s batch looked like.

Pumpkin Flan

You all know how much I love Martha, but her baking recipes always seem a bit above and beyond me. After all, I’m not really a baker. Exhibit A, Pear Terrine, one of the most beautiful deserts I’ve ever seen, but next to impossible to execute. The Pumpkin Flan suffered a similar fate, well not the flan but the pastry crust it was supposed to be served in. I went through all the steps of the Patte Brisee, but found the construction and baking just too damn complicated, so I served the Flan naked…and boy was she beautiful.

Recipe link here. I’ve made edits below since it seemed way too eggy and came out more like Creme Brûlée rather than Flan. Too bad I left my torch at home.

You will need:

• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 1/4 cups milk
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 large whole eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Method:

• 1. In a small saucepan, combine 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water; set over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Cover, and bring to boil; cook until condensation washes down sides. Remove cover; boil until syrup turns deep amber in color. Quickly submerge pan in ice-water bath. Working quickly, divide caramel among the pie pans; swirl each to coat bottom. Set aside to cool.
• 2. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Pour milk into a saucepan, and set over high heat. Bring just to a boil; set aside.
• 3. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, remaining 1/3 cup sugar, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, whole eggs, and egg yolks. Mix in vanilla and warm milk; pass through fine sieve, discarding solids. Divide mixture among pie pans, filling two-thirds full. Transfer pie pans to a roasting pan.
• 4. Loosely drape piece of foil over top of roasting pan, transfer to oven, and add enough boiling water to the roasting pan to come halfway up sides of pie pans (always fill roasting pan with boiling water after transferring to oven, to avoid burning). Bake until centers are nearly set — a thin-bladed knife inserted into centers should come out clean (about an hour.) Transfer roasting pan to wire rack to cool. Remove flans from water, and dry bottoms of pie pans. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate flans overnight or just stick them outside for a few hours while you eat dinner.

Persimmon Bread

Makes 1 loaf and 12 muffins

3½ cups sifted flour

1½ teaspoons salt

2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2½ cups sugar

1 cup melted unsalted butter

4 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

2/3 cup Jack Daniels whiskey

2 cups persimmon puree (from about 4 Fuyu persimmons)

1 whole persimmon

1 1/2 cups walnuts

Method

1. Butter 1 loaf pan and 1 muffin tin. Line the bottoms with a piece of parchment paper or dust with flour and tap out any excess.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Sift the first 5 dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

4. Make a well in the center then stir in the butter, eggs, liquor, persimmon puree then the nuts. Pour into muffin cups and loaf pan.

5. Using a mandoline, shave the whole persimmon into medallions and arrange in two neat rows on top of the loaf. Place one medallion on each muffin.

5. Bake for 1 hour and remove the muffin tin, cook for an additional 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

A few years ago, my friend Allegra spent a semester abroad in Japan and one of the things she brought back with her was a strange looking foil packet of Mentaiko. “It’s cod roe pasta”  she said. “It’s really delicious!” Of course, I was suspicious of anything fishy that squeezes out of a packet and onto pasta, but I humored her one late (ahem…drunken) evening. And Christ was it delicious! I don’t want to describe it as fishy because that may deter you, but the taste is quite salty and the little balls cling tightly to the strands of spaghetti (you must use spaghetti).

I had forgotten about the cod roe pasta entirely until I found myself at a 7/11 in Tokyo and saw a shiny bright package of pasta with a picture of weird pink sauce and seaweed flakes. That’s it! A fluent speaker friend of mine had to come up with Japanese name for me, but there it was and I went in search of a restaurant that would serve it to me. But I picked up a few packets (by few, I mean 10) of the stuff to take home with me.

This is just one of those things that you’re going to have to trust me on. I’ve seen Mentaiko packets at the small Japanese market Midoriya in Williamsburg on Bedford and N. 9 (Betcha didn’t know there was a Japanese market in Williamsburg….now you do!). I bet they have them at Sunrise Mart or M2M also.

The packet looks like this:

This pasta is actually the perfect week night meal because you literally just add the paste to pasta and stir. I’m including the recipe so that you’ll believe me.

Mentaiko Pasta

(serves 1)

(Also comes in the extremely delicious spicy variety)

You will need:

Spaghetti (whole wheat might be nice)

1 packet Mentaiko with seaweed included

Method:

1. Boil water, add pasta and cook until al-dente.

2. Add Mentaiko and stir in the hot pot you used to boil the water (this dish is best piping hot). Sprinkle the seaweed flakes on top.

I’ve always been fascinated with the literature, which I believe may have started with Tales of the Otori, which I read very early on. Then it was James Clavel’s Noble House trilogy perhaps then followed by parts of the Tale of Genji and culminating in a devouring of everything Ryu and Haruki Murakami have written. I haven’t gotten to Mishima, but The Golden Pavilion is next on my list.

When asked what it is about Japan that fascinates me the most, I often say the food….but really it’s more than that. I’ve been drawn to the incredibly precise way of life there, the rich magical and spiritual history (which I think Haruki Murakami captures best), the emphasis on simplistic beauty and of course the food.

Japan was completely closed to the world until the middle of the nineteenth century, allowing for its culture to develop unhindered (though there are certainly Chinese influences). The ports were closed to foreign trade and cities heavily guarded to outsiders. The punishment for leaving Japan was death. Then, Commodore Perry just shows up one day and busts his way into the place, exposing it to the rest of the world. I’m not sure where I was going with that, but basically Japan’s history is long, rich and uninterrupted…. and so are their meals.

I was gone for just under two weeks, ate at least four meals a day and took almost 700 pictures. There’s lots to share, so I hope this will be the first of many posts about what I saw, ate and discovered there.

The single biggest challenge I faced was the language barrier. It was easy to get around, and anyone can point at a map…but to really seek out the treasures on a menu, one has to be able to read it. So, I’m sad to say that I shied away from many places, intimidated by their lack of an English menu (though most places are friendly and accommodating).

I’ll begin with a simple meal that represents sort of what many urban Japanese eat daily for lunch. This is the fare of office workers and shop clerks. Just as you or I might eat a sandwich or a salad, they eat this:

Now I’ll try and avoid making generalizations about Japan because there are so many different cities with different cuisines and different tastes and walks of life, etc. But I will say that the majority of restaurants I saw served set meals on beautiful lacquer trays that consisted of some combination of rice, miso soup, tempura, soba or udon noodles, pickled vegetables and fish.  It’s simple and filling and depending on whether you order friend tempura or not, can be very healthy. It’s delicious and cheap and can be adjusted accordingly to the season (hot or cold noodles/ warm fish stew/smoked cold fish). And the Japanese really are obsessed with the seasons.

This was a simple meal I had on my first day in Tokyo. It poured ALL day…. ruining my plans to go to the imperial gardens, so I ended up window-shopping and museum hopping in Ginza. The neighborhood is notoriously expensive and would not look out of place in the mid sixties, west of Madison Avenue. All major designers have giant flagship stores here and there are fabulous (read $$$$$) restaurants to feed their clientele. There are however some normal priced subterranean eateries offering great food. This particular one was lovely since a woman in a kimono greeted me immediately and motioned that I should remove my shoes and place them in a locker. They also have these neat lockers for umbrellas! Here I had delicious cold soba, lightly fried tempura and yellowtail sushi. The sushi had shisho leaves inside, which as you might recall from one of my very early posts on sushi….I am a huge fan of.

Feast your eyes on this: fried baby octopus with an egg stuffed inside its head!!!!

Stay tuned for more soon~!

This pasta is one of my favorites, not only because it’s delicious but if you are  a can hoarder like me, you are guaranteed a delicious meal without having to run out to the bodega or supermarket. Everything in this dish should be readily accessible in the dusty back corner of your cabinet. It’s very simple: pasta, tuna, olives and artichokes. I added some fresh parsley, but you’re welcome to skip that step.

Tuna Pasta with Kalamata Olives and Artichokes

You will need:

Whole wheat penne (4 servings)

15 pitted Kalamata olives (seriously, they are very important)

1 cup frozen or canned artichoke hearts

1 Tbs chopped parsley

2 Tbs olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Boil water and cook the pasta according to the directions.

2. When the pasta is just about done, heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the artichokes and olives and cook for 2 minutes. Add the pasta and cook another 3-5 minutes so some pieces become crispy. Add the parsley, salt and pepper for garnish.

Ladies and gents….I finally broke out the ice cream maker. It actually belongs to my roommate who has been making killer flavors all summer, but I thought I’d try my hand at some sorbets. As you know from my previous post on cleaning out my cabinets, I’ve got a lot of crap to use up. One of these items was a small bottle of mysterious yuzu juice. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit similar in taste to a lemon and similar in looks to a shriveled up grapefruit. The juice is a bit pricey, hence my yearning to find a use for it before moving. I basically followed the recipe in the manufacturer’s instruction book for lemon sorbet, but substsituted half the lemon juice with yuzu. The result was declicious and extremely sweet…something not to be eaten by the bucket-full. *make sure your ice cream maker bowl is frozen completely. Essentially sorbet is just simple syrup + fruit, so I suggest making the simple syrup in a huge batch and storing it in the fridge since it will need to be cold anyways.

Yuzu Sorbet

Makes about 3 cups worth – i.e. Three nights of deliciousness

You will need:

2 1/2 cups water

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup yuzu juice*

zest of 1 lemon

*The yuzu I had was slightly salted. I won’t ever know for sure unless I learn Japanese.

Method:

1. Boil sugar and water together to make simple syrup, then chill.

2. Add the lemon juice, yuzu and zest and pour into your ice cream maker. Wait 20-25 minutes while it thickens and then enjoy!

White Peach Sorbet

Well then I got on sort of a sorbet kick and used some perfectly ripe white peaches to make something truly magical. This makes a little less than the recipe above and feel free to double. Just follow the method above, but use the following instead.

You will need:

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

1 Tbs lemon juice

2 white peaches (flesh pureed in a food processor)

Fennel and Barley Salad (with goat cheese and candied walnuts)

You will need:

1 ½ cups dry barley (that’s what I had left, but stick with a cup and use less fennel)
1 fennel bulb
1-3 Tbs. olive oil
3 Tbs. goat cheese
1/8 teaspoon lemon zest
2 cloves garlic
½ cup walnuts
1 Tbs. maple syrup
1 Tbs. finely chopped scallions
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Rinse the barley a few times and soak for about ten minutes. In a large saucepan, combine the barley with 3 ¾ cup water (that’s my guess). Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes, or just when all the water has been absorbed. Let it rest off the flame and covered, then remove the cover and let it rest a while longer.
2. Cut off the leafy top of the fennel and any stem at the bottom. If you have a mandoline, use it. If not, just cut the bulb in half and slice as thinly as you can (like an onion). Also, chop the garlic into very small slices.
3. In a non-stick pan over medium-high heat, toast the walnuts. Add the maple syrup and stir until you see a bit of smoke. Remove immediately and run the pan under cold water to remove the caramelized sugar, otherwise you will sorry. Now that your pan is clean, you can use it again.
4. Heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté the garlic for a minute or two, then add the fennel  plus a pinch of salt and sauté until barely golden brown (about 5 minutes).
5. In a large bowl add the barley, fennel/garlic mixture, walnuts, goat cheese, scallions and salt and pepper. Toss to combine and add shaved lemon zest. Voila!

Still Life with Canned Goods

Once again I find myself with about a month left on my lease and thus it’s time to re-evaluate everything I own and attempt to discard half of it in the hopes that my move and my in life in general will be much simpler without so much stuff. This process is arduous and often heart breaking, especially when it comes to cleaning out my closet. I have these Steve Madden platform Mary Janes that I just can’t part with. I don’t think I’ve ever worn them, but somehow they have survived many a closet-purge. It’s hard to let go of things, throw out things I’ve spent money on but now realize are useless/crappy.

One area where this process is not awful is in the kitchen. A year’s worth of can-hoarding and abandoned recipes has lead to a very peculiar but inspiring array of ingredients just waiting to be blended together. I generally like to use up everything I can because moving with canned goods seems like silly idea and I don’t think a grungy storage facility in the Brooklyn Navy Yard is a good place for cannellini beans to hang out for a month.  You may recall an earlier series of posts documenting my last kitchen purge (it was star wars themed, obviously), but this time no theme, just a lot of grains. This is a bit like that awful show “Chopped” where chefs are given a basket of seemingly unrelated ingredients with 30 minutes to make something delicious. Well, I’ll allow myself to purchase fresh veggies, meat, etc. I mean this isn’t a game show, but just an exercise in culinary restrictions (also, trying not to be wasteful). I’m reading this book now called The Astral but Kate Christensen and one of the characters is a stereotype “freegan,” who goes around to grocery stores collecting the barely expired food they can’t sell. While this seems ridiculous and silly hippie behavior, I must say it did inspire me to a bit more resourceful. But I digress…

The picture above is just about everything left in my cabinet. There are some nice grains, legumes, canned vegetables, soups and condiments. Follow the jump for a complete list, fridge and freezer too!!!

Here’s a complete list (including a few items that revealed themselves after I took the picture).

Jar of pasta sauce
Lingonberries (I think are three years old)
Bush’s baked beans
Bamboo shoots
Tuna
Coconut milk
Israeli Cous Cous
Breadcrumbs
Straw mushrooms
Kalamata olives
Peanut Butter
Lentils
Canned tomatoes
Quinoa
Brown rice
Chicken broth
Dried seaweed
Mayonnaise
Barley
Chinese noodles
Glass noodles

I’ll also include what’s in my fridge and what’s in my freezer in case you care. Not that you would, but it’s also a nice place to have a list to remind me what I’ve got. And yes, I often read past entries on my own blog for inspiration, hey….it’s a great way to archive recipes.

Fridge
Canned artichokes
Anchovies
Yuzu Juice
Fennel
Greek Yogurt
Lemons
Curry paste (not sure if it’s still good)
Hoisin Sauce

Freezer
Artichoke hearts
Sweet corn
Green beans
Pork dumplings

So the idea is to use up as much as I can in these next two weeks, buying as few new ingredients as possible. Things that immediate come to mind: Thai curry, fried rice, lentil soup. Suggestions welcome!

First recipe coming soon!!!