Fried rice

I love eggs. Scrambled, poached, over easy, hard boiled, sunny side up, it doesn't matter. An egg on top of a burger is one of my favorite things so when I saw this Bittman/Vongerichten recipe I was a little excited. A sunny side egg on top of fried rice? Where do I sign up?

Now this isn't for everyone. I was raised in a family where an egg yolk was a cherished thing to sop up with some toasts, sausage, bacon, etc. But I know some who think the site of a runny yolk is disgusting. One the Publican menu they have fries serves with an egg sunny side up. To me this is a little bit of heaven but for others it would make them gag.

This is my take on the fried rice recipe linked above. I didn't have all the ingredients on hand and wanted some extra protein so I added a chicken breast to the mix. I also used brown rice, steamed one cup, instead of white rice.

I did a quick marinade of the sliced chicken breast, couple of tablespoons of soy sauce, some rice wine vinegar, a good size shallot chopped along with a couple of cloved of garlic. I wanted some heat too so I added about a teaspoon of red pepper flake and about a tablespoon of srircha.

I let that marinate, about an hour, while the brown rice steamed and added it a pan over high heat to do a quick sear and cook. Depending on how you cut up the chicken it should only take a few minutes to cook. Then add the cooked rice and mix together. I probably cooked for around five minutes.

After I added the rice to the chicken I started cooking my egg in a separate frying pan. I was very happy with his this turned out, it had some nice heat, but not too much and was pretty easy to do. I was also happy with how the picture turned out.

On tap

Neither of these recipes are strictly South Beach but they are healthier than the alternative, except for maybe the bechamel.

The Super Bowl calls for chicken wings and when Bittman posted these recipes I felt like it was a no brainer. The flavors intrigue me and should really pop. Plus they are baked and not deep fried so that should be something.

This vegetable lasagne from Savuer is the other I'm going to make, but this is dependent on me finding some whole wheat lasagna noodles. I am a little skeptical about not cooking the noodles first, it's a fairly complex recipe and I would hate for it to not turn out for that reason alone. Not sure when I'm going to make this one, since it is involved, and we have a busy weekend ahead of us.

Excellent advice from Bittman

Mark Bittman's New York Times column today offers nothing but great advice for the home cook. Print it out, keep it, hold on to it forever.

I already do a few of these things, Parmigiano-Reggiano is the undisputed kind of cheese, and I keep some in the house at all times even though it is a little pricey.

But I think the best tip of the lot is about the stock. I don't use boulion cubs, nothing but salt, but I sadly to use a lot of canned or carton stock and I hate it. But making stock is a pain in the ass for little reward. His advice to just throw an onion, carrot, and celery stalk into some water and let it simmer for a little bit is great stuff and I'm going to start doing it as soon as I can.

The only one I would take issue with is the bread crumbs. I guess I could make a batch and hold on to them, but it seems like such a pain.

Kitchen space

I have to say I am very fortunate to have a fairly large kitchen. Bittman wrote a column about tiny kitchens and how it shouldn't impact the end result. Before Rory and I moved in together I had a small kitchen with a two or three feet of counter space and that's about it.

In all honesty, when Rory and I get our own place I'll be lucky to have a kitchen as nice as we have now. Other than out oven acting up (and it's now fixed) it's really a great space. I get awesome heat out of the burners and there are granite counter tops. There could always be more cabinet and counter space, and the lighting could be better but in reality we're pretty good. We'll probably be lucky to have a kitchen as nice as we have wherever we move after we're married.

But I have to agree, all you need is a working stove, oven, some pots and pans and a good knife. I complain about some of my gear now, and in all honesty can't wait to register for some high-end pots and pans, but I could get by with what I have.

Braised chicken thighs and lemon risotto

Chicken thighs are tasty. They are quickly becoming my favorite part of the chicken to cook and eat, they have a great flavor, even though they aren't that good for you.

I hadn't gotten to the store in about a week and didn't feel like going so I was left to scrounge. I had some chicken thighs in the freezer but was looking for a new way to prepare them (I have been cooking them a number of different ways this summer but haven't posted about that yet).

So as I am apt to do when looking for a new recipe I went to Bittman and found a killer recipe in The Best Recipes in the World. I had just about everything I needed except for the bacon (yes, I know you are all shocked).

The original recipe calls for chopping up a few slices of bacon, cooking them until they're crisp along with some rosemary, thyme and a couple of cloves of fresh garlic. I used a little olive oil instead and cooked the garlic until it was brown and then removed it. You want the heat kind at least medium high at this point.

Then you add the chicken and brown on both sides for a total of 15 minutes. At this point you'll have quite a bit of liquid in the pan, mostly fat. Drain a good portion of it off, but leave a little. Now add half a cup of balsamic vinegar and half a cup of water. Let cook for a few minutes at high heat and then turn the heat down and cover. Cook for another 20 minutes or until chicken is done.

After chicken is cooked remove from pan. If the sauce is a little thin crank up the heat and cook down. The end result to a pan sauce that just tasted fantastic, a little sweet but chickeny, really good. Drizzle a little over the chicken and serve.

As a side I made a lemon risotto. It was pretty simple. I diced up a couple of shallots and a celery stalk and softened in a couple of tablespoons of butter. I then added the aboria rice and let cook for another couple of minutes before adding a cup of white wine. I just used water the rest of the way, adding a little as it cooked up. After the rice was done I added the zest of one lemon and its juice along with about a cut of Parmesan cheese. It had a nice subtle lemon flavor and paired nicely with the sweet balsamic sauce for the chicken.

Spain - On the Road Again

When I first heard that Mario Batali and Mark Bittman were going to be doing a cooking/travel show in Spain for PBS I was excited. The other cast mates seemed alright, I've never had strong feelings one way or another about Gwyneth Paltrow and had never heard of Claudio Bassols. but after seeing the trailer I was even more excited about the show.

Well, the first episode aired last night and I was disappointed. It seemed like they spent more than half the show in the cars driving around. And yeah, I know that's part of it, but make it less about the journey and more about the destination.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't what I expected. They showed Bittman and Batali at the fish market in Madrid and they had two cooking segments, but they were lacking. I wanted more and considering it was just about an hour, I came away from it wanting more.

Anyway, if you have the chance check it out and decide for yourself. Some video clips from the show can be seen here.

A Bittman-inspired meal

As I said, I was ready to cook last week and I was happy when I finally got around to it. The main things I cooked were a basic tomato sauce and a no bake cheesecake, both from Mark Bittman's blog last week.

I did a couple of things different with the sauce, though I followed the basic premise. I bought some fresh basil and added that as well as some garlic and shallots. Also, After it had cooked down for awhile and was still a little chunky I took the immersion blender to it to make it a nice puree. It turned out really well and had a great fresh flavor.

The cheesecake was pretty easy as well. I followed the recipe pretty strictly on this one, though I did add a bit of sugar to the ricotta/cream cheese mix because I didn't think it was sweet enough, not much though, a couple of tablespoons at most.

I have a few other things up my sleeve this week too. I have the smell of garlic, shallots going through the apartment right now as I'm braising a beef round roast in a mirepoix and red wine. It will eventually be a different type of Bolognese, but that's a few hours away. Not exactly seasonal cooking, but the beef was on sale.

Chicken pizzas

The last two days in Chicago were hot and muggy so I didn't really feel like cooking anything too complex, especially because my kitchen gets hotter than Hades. So I decided to go to an old fall back, pan fried pizza. The only change from that recipe is that I used all whole wheat flour.

This time I decided to have some fun with the toppings, I did one buffalo chicken and another BBQ chicken. Rory is dieting and I know she wouldn't be tempted by either of these because she thinks chicken on pizza is an abomination.

For the toppings I took a large shallot and two chicken breasts, cut into chunk sized pieces, and cooked it up with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. After it was cooked I took half the chicken and set it aside. With the half left in the sautee pan I added about a cup of Frank's Hot sauce and let that cook down. I then added about half a cup of ranch dressing and let it cook up a bit more. After about 10 minutes of total cook time I set aside in a bowl.

I took the other half of the chicken and added it to a clean sautee pan and added some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. I let that cook for about five minutes and then places in a bowl.

I had already shaped the pizzas. After cooking the one side and flipping I added the Buffalo chicken mixture with some crumbled blue cheese. For the BBQ pizza I used a sharp cheddar.

I like the buffalo pizza better. It had a great flavor and nice kick. In the future I'll probably try to refine the sauce a bit more to make it a little thicker.

Leeks

I feel like everybody I've been reading or watching lately has been cooking with leeks.
I think There was a Good Eats a couple of weeks ago, Jamie Oliver this weekend cooked with leeks and then yesterday Bittman had his recipe of the day with leeks. Keeping all three thing in mind I attempted to concoct a nice pasta dish with some different ingredients. The end result was good, but would be better with some other ingredients.

Here's what I did and would do differently.

1 pound of whole wheat pasta
3 tablespoons of olive oil
3 cloves of garlic crushed
2 TSP red pepper flake
4 leeks chopped
1 yellow pepper chopped
1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
3 oz. prosciutto
3/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil salted water for pasta

Turn heat to medium high. add oil to dutch oven and add crush garlic and red pepper flake. Cook until garlic starts to sizzle and remove, add leeks and cook for five to seven minutes. Add wine and stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat. Place prosciutto on top of the leeks, cover and cook for 30 minutes.

Remove lid and prosciutto. Add cream and start to puree sauce with immersion blender. Add prosciutto and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

The results were good, but this could be better. I know the cream make this dish a lot less healthy but I might make this in the future and use pancetta or bacon for the fat and then add it again later instead of the prosciutto. I would also probably add the dried porcini mushrooms to give it a different flavor and texture.

Lemon Cheesecake

On Saturday my buddy Mark and his wife Chris had a Derby Party. They asked me to make a dessert so I opted for this lemon cheesecake that I had made before. It's a Bittman recipe from How to Cook Everything. Mark's coworker asked for the recipe so I typed it out and figured I would include it here as well with my comments.

Here you go. It's a bit more complicated than your
traditional cheesecake recipes, but I really like it
because of the light texture. This is from Mark
Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

Graham Cracker Crust

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces broken graham crackers
6 tablespoons of sugar.

Melt butter over low heat in saucepan. Combine sugar
with graham cracker crumbs. Slowly add the butter and
combine. Press the crumbs into the bottom of a
well-greased nine-inch spring form pan. (You can
probably go with a bit thinner of a crust and use only
nine or ten ounces of graham cracker crumbs.)

Lemon Cheesecake recipe
4 eggs separated
24 ounces of cream cheese
Grated zest and juice of one lemon
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour

Sour cream topping (I didn't do this for the one I
made Saturday)
2 cups of sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Using an electric mixer beat the egg yolks until
light; add the cheese, lemon zest and juice, and 1 cup
of the sugar and beat until smooth (you'll want too
leave the cream cheese out at room temperature for a
couple of hours to soften before making the
cheesecake). Stir in the flour.

Beat the egg whites until the hold soft peaks (I use
an electric mixer). With a rubber spatula gently fold
the egg whites into the yolk cheese mixture until
combined thoroughly. Add the batter to the prepared
spring form pan.

Bittman now suggests cooking the cheesecake in a water
bath. I've made this a couple of times, once with and
once without. You use a water bath to prevent the eggs
from curdling, but the chances of this happening are
slim.

If you don't want to take any chances, place a
roasting pan or another large pan in your preheated
oven. Place the cheese cake in the center of the pan
and fill the larger pan with warm water until it comes
within an inch of the top of the spring form pan.

Cook for about an hour or until the top of the cake is
very lightly brown.

If you want to add the sour cream top, after removing
the cake from oven crank the heat up to 450 degrees.
Add the topping and place back in the oven, without
the water bath, for 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and
let cake rest in the oven for about 30 minutes. Remove
from oven and let rest for another 30 minutes and then
place in the fridge. 

pork and red wine pasta sauce

This was one of the best things I've cooked in awhile. I've made this before, but it didn't turn out as well. My buddy Jay made it for a dinner party and then sent me the recipe. I believe he got it out of a Bittman cookbook, but I can't be sure.

Last Friday I was in Dominick's pacing the meat case once again trying to figure out what to cook. No beef short ribs, which was my original plan, so I was seeing what they had when I saw these small packages of pork spareribs. They packages were about a pound each and only a couple of bucks. I thought of this pasta sauce recipe and went to work. Here's what you need.

3 slices of thick cut bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 pounds pork spareribs
Flour for dredging
2 large shallots
1 stalk of celery diced
1 carrot diced
3 cloves of garlic diced
1 large can of tomato puree
1 bottle of Cabernet
1 TBLSP oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut up the bacon and cook over medium-high heat in large cast iron dutch oven. Cook until bacon is crispy and fat is rendered and remove to plate.

While the bacon is cooking place some flour in a plate and begin to dredge the cut up pork ribs. season with salt and pepper. In batches brown the rubs in the bacon fat and set aside.

After all the ribs are browned deglaze the pan with about 1/2 a cup of the red wine and let it cook off. Add the diced shallots, celery and carrots to the pan and cook for three to five minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Place the ribs and bacon back in the pan and add tomato puree and wine.

Cook for about an hour and then taste, season accordingly. Allow to cook for another two to thrwe hours until the rib meat is falling off the bone. Remove bones from the sauce and serve with pasta. I used a fettucini.

The sauce was rich and had a great depth to it. The meat was tender almost melting in your mouth. I was very happy with how this turned out.

Duck

This was a first for me, but something I was very excited to try. I had only ever had duck a handful of times before and here it can be excellent if prepared properly. I used a hybrid of Bittman recipes to prepare the fowl. It is definitely more complicated than a chicken, though the ingredients are pretty basic.

1 duck
1/4 cup of soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 450.

Take paring knife and poke the bird's breasts and back making cuts a little less than 1/4 inch deep, this is how you render the fat. Place the bird in a deep roasting pan breast side down. Baste the bird with soy sauce and plenty of pepper and place in oven.

After about 20 minutes remove the bird from the oven and flip it over. Baste again with the soy sauce and sprinkle with pepper. place back in oven for about 40 minutes or an internal temp of 180 degrees. The temp has been a matter of discussion on a duck, I don't believe you have the same salmonella risks with duck as you do with chicken and the duck breast is preferable a little rare.

Let the duck rest for at least 10 minutes before carving.

What I did was where I'm going to run into problems. I have heard that duck fat is sublime to cook with, even better than pork fat. So while the duck was cooking I sliced up three potatoes and diced a couple of good sized shallots. I took some of the duck fat and put it into a frying pan and sauteed it all up with some salt and pepper.

These were some of the best fried potatoes I have ever had. The duck fat added an extra layer of flavor and they just popped. I know they sell duck fat and I'm afraid of what this may do to me. They were way too good.

As for the duck, it was also enjoyable. I'll do it again and experiment with other recipes. I'm thinking of doing a duck confit, but I need to be in a place where I'm working out more first.

Roast chicken

This is the recipe that turned me into a Bittman disciple. I received How to Cook Everything for Christmas 2006. As I reviewed the book that morning I saw the roast chicken recipe and scoffed. I didn't think it would work, but I was wrong. I've made a couple of minor changes to this, but nothing too difficult.

Here's what you need.

1 whole chicken
1 stick of butter (softened)
2 good-sized cloves of garlic
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.
Special equipment needed: cast iron skillet big enough to hold chicken

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place empty cast iron skillet in the oven. You want to get the skillet screaming hot, so leave it in there for 20 to 30 minutes before you're ready to put the chicken in.

Meanwhile take the softened butter, garlic, salt and pepper and place it in a blender or food processor and mix. With your hands remove the skin from the chicken, but don't remove it completely. You're making room to place the butter/garlic mixture between the skin and meat of the bird (this is not a job for the dainty, it gets real messy pretty quick). After you're done with that take a bit more salt and pepper and sprinkle on the top of the chicken.

Place chicken in the skillet and let cook for 60 to 70 minutes. After an hour you'll want to check and see where you're at, but you want to cook until you hit an internal temp of 180 degrees. I used the wireless meat thermometer last night and it worked like a charm.

Now when I first read that recipe I didn't think there was a way in hell that the chicken would be cooked, or if it was cooked it would be dry as dust. But I was wrong, this give you some of the most tender bird I've ever had. You can experiment with the butter mixture as well adding different herbs and spices.

I sometimes also make some pan gravy with the juices let over in the pan. If necessary add some water and then gradually add flour while stirring constantly. It's good stuff.

(And I finally remembered to take a picture.)

Puerto Rican pork roast

This past Sunday I decided to try a pork roast. Along with trying this for the first time I wanted to try out a new toy I received from Rory's brother for Christmas: a wireless meat thermometer.

This was an interesting entree to make and didn't go smoothly. I decided to basically use Bittman's recipe. I didn't feel like taking the food processor out though so I used my immersion blender. I added a bit too much oil and the paste came out a little thinner than I would have liked. I let it marinate for an hour before popping it in the oven.

And this is where it got interesting. Not having used the wireless meat thermometer before I didn't insert it deep enough into the roast on my first try. I quickly remedied that and things seemed to be going smoothly.

I had the oven at 350 (I was using one of Bittman's other recipes too) and about an hour in the thermometer said the internal temp was 130 degrees (I was cooking it to an internal temp of 150). It was a three-pound roast and I figured it would take at least two hours, if not more, so I was wondering if this thing was accurate. I decided to kick the oven down to 300 degrees and let it slow cook it.

Well about a half hour later it starts beeping saying it's at 150 degrees. I didn't believe it, so I took it out of the oven and stuck my good old insta-read thermometer in and it said it was only at 90 degrees. I popped it back in the oven and let it cook for about another half hour. When I check it again with the insta-read it said it was at 80 degrees. And that's when I said "Oh shit my thermometer is broken."

And for a few seconds I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to cut into it because all the juice would run out and it would be dry, but I had no other idea of how to check if it was done. My other fears was that if it was done it was a dried out piece of leather.

I said screw it and let it rest for a little more than five minutes and cut into it. It was done. I then sliced a little off the end and I was surprised, it turned out and it was good. I would have liked the paste/marinade to crust up a bit more, but it had a great flavor and it wasn't really dried out.

As for my thermometer issues, I need to roast a chicken soon to check the accuracy of the wireless device. I know other methods of making sure a chicken is done, and the fact is it may have been right all along, I just didn't believe it.

And I forgot to take a picture of the roast. My little vacation from the blog got me out of the habit and I need to remember again.

On the menu this weekend

It's kind of a busy weekend, but I am looking forward to doing a little bit of cooking. Tonight I'm going to attempt this Lamb and Stout Casserole (Woo Hoo I get to use the new dutch oven).

On Sunday I'm going to do a pork shoulder. I'm not sure what exactly I will do to it (other than cooking the shit out of it at a low temperature for a very long time), but this is a possibility.

Santas was good to me

I got just about all the cooking stuff I wanted for Christmas. As I took everything out and put it in the kitchen Rory commented that it looked like QVC threw up in the kitchen. The big thing was the immersion blender. Just for fun I used it to scramble some eggs. I'm going to do a soup soon so I can use it again. I also got two cookbooks, Bittman's NY Times recipe and Seduced by Bacon. Rory also got me a nice big strainer, which was desperately needed, and the folks got me some ramekins.
I also got a couple of nice Le Creuset casserole pans, a new pasta pot with built in strainer and steamer, a small digital scale, and a nice cast iron enamel dutch oven along with a zester and some nice tongs. I have had some Borders and Barnes and Noble gift cards sitting around so I'll probably use those to buy the couple of cookbooks I've been wanting.

Tomorrow I'm making tacos for Rory and her brothers. I'm also going to do something with the turkey carcass sitting in the freezer. I want to make stock but I might make soup.

Appetizers

I'm not a fan of making appetizers. It's too much work for too little reward in my mind. Give me a side or a main course any day of the week over an appetizer. But today my boy Bittman offers 101 Simple Appetizers in 20 minutes or less. The NY Times column details loads of appetizing canapes that looks pretty quick and simple.

The ones that stick out on this list for me are the skirt steak and the shopped shrimp with pesto mayo. Further down the rumaki with portabello would be great as well. Now I have some new ideas in case I need to bring an appetizer anywhere.

Cookbooks

The Chicago Tribune lists 20 Cookbooks every cook should own and I have two of them: Joy of Cooking and How to cook Everything. I'm asking for a couple of new cookbooks for Christmas, an Art Smith book and Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook. Thinking about it I wouldn't mind picking up one of Nigella's cookbooks and there are a few from that list I should investigate, such as the James Beard and one of the Julia Child. Also, Ruhlman's new book has me intrigued, but I will have to take a look at it.

The purpose of these lists is to generate some controversy, or in this case some conversation. One guy that's underrated and it's probably do to some controversy that surrounded him is Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet. When I was growing up his show was on at my house ever Saturday afternoon. My parents had all his cookbooks, in some cases multiple copies because I ended up with an extra. I've looked through his book recently, but until I saw that list and I thought about him I didn't realize he passed away a few years ago. Anybody starting out I would recommend checking his books out.

I got both the Bittman books for Christmas last year. Prior to that it had been awhile since I bought one. Even now I find my self reading the Food Network and Epicurious sites and printing out recipes. I'm at the point where I need a binder and three-hole punch to keep them organized.

What's your favorite cookbook?

Chocolate ganache and truffles

Rory's friend Chad brought truffles to turducken and they were fantastic. I was really impressed with the look and taste.

And then today Bittman's NY Times column (registration may be required) is about chocolate ganache and truffles. You make the ganache, let it cool and then roll it into little balls and cover it in coco. You can also experiment and add some flavors, I'm thinking about adding a little orange or lemon zest.

The cake Rory made for Thanksgiving had a chocolate ganache frosting and was one of the easiest and tastiest things I've ever made. I may make these for a dessert on Sunday.

The Turducken Chronicles: An Epilogue

It was a lot of work but the party was a success. Prior to Saturday I had a few more people tell me I was nuts. I don't really want to cook for 18 people again, unless I'm getting paid, and this will make the turducken guest list for next year interesting.

Rory and I were pretty organized. The prep started on Friday with a trip to the store and some baking. The monster cookies turned out well. Four and a half cups of oats makea for a pretty chewy cookie. I thought they were ok, but others really enjoyed them.

The apple caramel cheesecake was incredibly easy and was probably one of the best desserts I've ever made. I had some doubts about this right before I made it, apples and caramel go together well, but I wasn't sure how it would work with the cheesecake. But it was great, the flavors melded together nicely. If you like apples and cheesecake you need to try this recipe.

On Friday I also made bourbon barbecue sauce. Bittman had suggested this as an extra sauce for Thanksgiving so I decided to give it a shot. It definitely had some kick to it, but it was a nice addition. I can't wait until the summer to put it on some grilled chicken.

On Saturday we tidied up and got ready. I put the turducken on around 2:15 pm and we peeled potatoes. I also blanched some broccoli for the broccoli parmesan. We put the potatoes on around 5 pm and they were done and ready to go before everyone arrived.

I wish I could have said the same about the turducken. It was supposed to take four to four and a half hours but it took five and a half. I let it rest for about 20 minutes before carving it, I know it should have been more but I had to get moving. And as you can see from the photos below I did cover it in bacon to give it a bit of extra moisture and flavor.

Once the turducken came out of the oven things started getting a bit hectic. I started making gravy from the drippings. At the same time I was putting stuffing that Sarah brought into the oven for reheating and then putting in some corn casserole that Ed and Karen brought. After that I had to take the broccoli and put it on a baking sheet with some butter and parmesan and get that ready for the oven.

And while it was hectic for a good 30 minutes or so everything turned out extremely well. Everybody had a great time. After all the food and desserts we ended up drinking till the wee hours. The last guests left about 4 am. I got to bed around 5 am after cleaning up.

It was a lot of work but I would do it again. I cook for myself, but I really enjoy cooking for others. And seeing how much people enjoyed everything really made me quite happy and realized that all the work was worth it.