Sometimes, we don’t have people over. It’s just us at home.
This is why California is awesome (it really isn’t always awesome but sometimes, this East Coast guy can’t get enough of it – other times, well, that’s not what this blog is about). Dinner outside in late October.
Out of town a few times but I know that’s not much of an excuse given that the Internet is EVERYWHERE. Still, I’ve been busy so I’ll get to it.
Had two back to back dinner parties on the 5th and 6th of October, first one small, second one a bit bigger – 8 folks – showcased lots of box contents.
Barlett pears were spectacular – especially with some triple-cream cheese, walnut bread from Acme, olive oil drizzle and cracked pepper. Poached eggs with bacon endive salad. Penne amatriciana. Simple, fun and then dessert.
So, this isn’t from the box but who doesn’t like chocolate pot de creme? Bit of cinnamon added to the recipe too. 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 1 egg, 4 yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 oz. bittersweet chocolate. Heat up the cream to a simmer and turn heat to low. Chop up the chocolate, add it to the cream and melt and stir until smooth and turn off heat. Whisk eggs and sugar but don’t beat because you don’t want too many air bubbles – they form a skin on the top more easily. Pour the cream/chocolate mixture in a slow, steady stream into the egg/sugar mixture while mixing constantly. Stir until smooth and skim off the foam. Pour into 4 ramekins and bake in a water bath ina 350 degree oven (middle rack) until set – probably 30 minutes (I really have to start writing this down as I go).
Okay, the next night was way more complicated, starting with low roasting grapes in the oven 300 degrees, 3 hours. And some garlic for 2 of those hours. 
So a quick note about the garlic – just add a little olive oil (just enough to coat) to peeled garlic pieces and wrap up in aluminum foil. Put in low oven for at least an hour. Now, it’s WAY more romantic to follow the normal instructions and just slice off the top of a whole head of garlic and stick it in the oven but I’ll tell you, it’s harder to get the garlic out of the skins later. Despite how they describe “squeezing” the cloves out. Garlic went with some pureed white beans for a spread on crostini.
Back to dinner, a wild-mushroom risotto. Shittake, brown buttons, oyster, and a couple portabellos – topped with pecorino and some lemon-olive oil which was a mistake – kinda overpowered things. Next time.
So, what about the grapes? With braised duck. Render some of the fat of some duck legs over MEDIUM heat in a big skillet – why not hotter? You just burn it – the idea is to slowly cook the fat off so that the skin gets crispy. Don’t throw the fat away though, it’s fabulous to saute with. Which is what we did to the aromatics (onion, carrot, fennel) that went into the braising liquid – here, you want to cut the vegetables somewhat nicely and evenly because they go into the final presentation.
See, not burned!
While the duck was braising (a little under 2 hours at 350 which is hotter than I wanted but I was in a rush), I also roasted off the acorn squash – cut into 1 inch strips, salt and pepper, olive oil, into the oven on a sheet pan, until tender a little over an hour. I thought the skins had too much bite – next time, I’d go with a hotter oven. Anyways, when I say braise, here’s the deal. You’re cooking a relatively tough cut (the leg) half-submerged in liquid (describing next) and mostly covered (in this case aluminum foil over a ceramic baking dish). Doesn’t need to move, just sits, simmering in the oven until the connective tissue breaks down – but you don’t want to go to far or all the collagen melts and fat come out and the meat gets stringy. So just until the meat pulls apart NOT falls apart. For the liquid, I sauteed the aromatics, added a rose wine, reduced the liquid by half and added … water. Duck leg is flavorful so don’t worry.
Here’s the plating so you can see all the components:
Just before serving, I crisped up the skin on the duck legs in some of the reserved duck fat (that’s why you save it). And the braising liquid was reheated with some of the oven-roasted grapes. This is the kind of food I love making – savory with a little fruit to balance the richness. And the sauce makes itself in the oven while you have cocktails. Speaking of which, I’m going to make one now and get dinner on the table.
Just gotta mention the grapes. Another bunch this week, was lazy and just ate them – no crime because they are crisp, sweet, juicy and awesome.
We did however get bok choy again (no big deal) so I decided to do something different this time around. My old college roommate came over for dinner on Sunday and we had a little supper of sorts. My wife baked some peanut butter cookies (can’t use the “natural” peanut butter, gotta go industrial or it falls apart), we started with some of those grapes, cheese and walnut bread, then some pasta amatriciana. So here’s the funny part. I grilled some chicken (rosemary again, they had sooooo much in the box, gotta use it up – this time with red onion and mustard) and then grilled the bok choy. Why not? You can grill lettuce and radicchio – turns out bok choy works too. Little olive oil, salt and pepper and over a good flame, the stalks get tender and the leaves crispy.
I’m going to log my first complaint. I went to use the cucumbers (below) and I have to say, these are like the most useless fruit I’ve ever seen. I sent my wife to work with crudite which works great with the current box assortment (bell peppers have been astonishingly fresh) and started to peel the cucumbers. They are like the size of a racketball but they are yellow. Unfortunately, once you cut them open, you realize that they are ALL SEED. No yield at all. And they don’t even taste that great. First disappointment which is fortunately balanced by all the other great stuff. Check out this picture – it may be organic, probably an heirloom variety, but why grow it?
Alright, I know. I haven’t posted since last week and that is … weak. Not a strong start but I’d say I have been busy but that’s a bad excuse. Here goes, got some ground to cover.
Last Friday, after drinks at the St. Regis www.stregis.com – yes, I had one too many martinis – my wife and I invited everyone back for dinner. She and I entertain a lot but even so, this was kinda spontaneous. So, after a pit stop at Whole Foods for meat and cheese (which doesn’t come in the veg box) and a little arugula, I get the show on the road.
Bartlett pears from the box get tossed with arugula, endive, leftover gorgonzola (don’t tell the guests), tossed with olive oil, rice wine vinegar (if you don’t premix the dressing, you taste more of the elements – more on that another day), and placed on a big crouton from some old bread (again, the guests don’t need to know).
Roasted cherry tomatoes from the box join pancetta, onion, reduced chicken stock (always have some homemade stock in the freezer – again, another post to come), to sauce big Barilla tubes with some Pecorino Romano. No, I didn’t take the fat out after rendering the pancetta – gotta live a little.
Rosemary from the box with chili powder and oregano (pantry favorites) coat NY Steaks (on sale, thank you) with plenty of salt and fresh ground pepper. This ends up on a big smear of fresh corn (box again) polenta (loose polenta with some corn kernels thrown in at the end).
Sorry, no time for dessert this time – some pics here.
Looks like I got a bit ahead of myself last week. Got the first organic food box (brilliant) but didn’t have a camera, didn’t have blog software or host, didn’t really have very much other than my wife’s suggestion to start writing about food.
Well, I just started. There.
This is what this is about – getting an organic food box from a local CSA (community supported agriculture – I think) and cooking out of it (yup, the specific idea is from my wife too). Sounds pretty straightforward now but I’m guessing as the seasons change and I have to start coming up with different (and cooler) ways to deal with the proverbial “Pandora” it’ll get more difficult but that’s the point. Why do this? A few reasons come to mind – trying to get out of a weekly food routine rut (redundant), providing some info for friends who call me with questions like “so, what the hell am I supposed to do with three bunches of kale?” and coming up with a project to obsess about. I like projects. I love food. Project + food = obsession.
So I emailed Capay Organic at www.farmfreshtoyou.com – and 3 emails and 5 days later, the box arrived. Don’t know exactly how they got it into the apartment building but I’m not asking. Haven’t even paid anything yet and the second box has come. Aside from being super easy, the vegetables and fruits are spectacular. No, this is not an advertisement – it really kicks ass. Living in coastal CA makes the food box thing a lot easier too – good produce, year round (or so I hope) – eating local is a lot less of a burden when it never freezes. Fortunately, there are other burdens like finding parking (impossible) and insane housing prices (ridiculous).
Back to food. While last week’s stuff was great, most of it was already been processed into a dinner party for 8 last Sunday (who knew you could roast plums and use them in a tart?) so I’m going to start with this week.
Tonight – just used the spinach with dinner. Had some leftover roast chicken. Fresh orechiette (handmade a few weeks ago, very slow process at the time but it freezes very well so you forget that you spent 4 hours making a couple mouthfuls) with leftover wild mushroom ragu (again, the freezer), some juices from the roast chicken (brought to temp with the ragu), and frozen peas (yes, we ate out of the freezer, not a great way to start this blog but it’s the truth). Sauteed the spinach in olive oil and a touch of garlic (couple slices just to flavor the oil). That’s that. Some pics of the box contents, spinach after a few changes of water, and dinner.
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