Mother’s day thoughts and a Good Burger

I thought I would be resentful, I got no flowers, no breakfast in bed and no “pamper Mommy, god forbid she lifts a finger” day.  But as I was going to bed yesterday, I found myself smiling with satisfaction; I just had exactly the kind of Mother’s day I wanted.

My dogs are pigs, my kids are pigs and my husband is the Master of this swine gathering…I didn’t get out of doing housework, but all the piggies in my home curbed their drool, paw prints and crumbs on the counter for over 24 hours.  Best present ever, to wake up on a Sunday morning and not have to go into the cleaning hypo-drive right away.

I got no flowers, but I got help planting my garden and I didn’t even have to ask 300 hundred times.  My husband only made a mild cringing sound at the site of another citrus tree on our deck.  I am sure I will hear a much louder reaction when the thing dies…

I got no breakfast in bed, but I got to enjoy a nice long run in the park, which is much better for my ass than bacon and eggs.

I got the mildest possible version of teenage attitude at the request to fold the laundry, the rambling and ranting only lasted half an hour.  And the precious older offspring gracefully watched as his sister washed all the floors, without the usual suggestive comments of how much money she should be charging me per choir.

I got to sit in the sun, enjoying a glass of wine, with the dogs peacefully snoozing at my feet.

And I got to eat a damn good burger….which, as far as I am concerned, is as close to bliss as I can get…

Flowers wilt, breakfasts end up growing your thighs, the precious little drawing (they were cute when the kids were 3) end up forgotten in the draw somewhere, but a nice peaceful day and a genuine regard for the things that make me happy will stay with me for a long, long time.

Ultimate Burger (it is all in the meat)

The recipe makes 6 burgers ( ½ lb each)

For the burger

2 lbs beef sirloin (ground coarsely)

1 lb file minion (ground coarsely)

4 strips of thick cut maple bacon (ground together with the meat)

1 small yellow onion diced

1 tbs olive oil

¼ cup ketchup

4 tbs Montreal hamburger or steak seasoning

2 tbs Worcestershire sauce

Sliced Aged cheddar cheese (optional)

Salt as needed

For the toppings

I always go with the simple and classic tomatoes, red onion and pickle toppings.  Ketchup is always a must, but to impact the flavor a bit more I came up with two flavorful spreads to use instead of straight up mayo. 

Roasted Garlic and chive aioli

1 large head of garlic roasted

4 tbs chopped chives

¾ cup of Japanese mayo ( or homemade mayo)

A squeeze of lemon juice

Spicy horseradish aioli

¼ cup shredded fresh horseradish

1 chili pepper in adobo sauce + a little extra adobo

1 tsp Chinese mustard

1 cup of Japanese or homemade mayo

A little black pepper and salt if needed

Now let’s contemplate the bun, I personally hate the soft supermarket buns.  First of all, they are too small, second they get soggy and mushy, and they don’t bring anything to the party, not in terms of flavor or texture…  The bun question can be argued endlessly, for me there are only 3 choices, here are the pros and cons of each:

1.        A fat and toasted brioche bun – the pro is in the buttery flavor.  It is also soft but not mushy, which helps in catching all the great juices.  It toasts up nicely due to all the butter in the dough.  The biggest problem is the ratio of bread to burger, brioche buns are usually tall, creating too much bread situation, than again…. Is that really a bad thing

2.       A toasted English muffin (the sandwich size).  These are made for tasting and bring great texture if not flavor.  All the nooks and crannies sap up burger juice and help create a nice flat vessel for all the condiments.  I personally cannot find anything wrong with the English Muffin as a bun, but it may not be everyone’s cup of tea…

3.       A Portuguese sweet bun – I am on a fence about these, they are flat and flavorful, adding a touch of sweetness to a very savory dish.  However, even well toasted these seem a bit too soft and fall apart easily. However, just for flavor along, they are worse trying

Make the burger meat, grind the sirloin, the filet and bacon together or ask your butcher to do it…

Heat the olive oil in the pan and add the diced onion.  Cook on low heat until the onion begins to caramelize (you can sprinkle a bit of sugar on top for more even results).  When done, cool to room temperature and pulse in the food processor to make an onion paste.

With your hands mix the meat, onion paste, seasoning, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce.  Do not overwork the meat.  Wrap the mixture tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hrs.

When ready to cook the burgers, let the meat mixture come to room temperature.  Form the patties and cook on the grill until desired doneness… I like mine medium or medium rare…  I also like to use a weighted press on the burgers in the first few minutes of cooking, helps to create a nice crust.

Toast the buns and melt the cheese over the burgers (if using)

To make the spreads:  Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine.  These are better a few hours after they are made, allows the time for all the components to create a nice flavor.  These can be made in advance and can be stored in airtight contains in the fridge for at least a week.  They make nice condiments for sandwiches as well so make extra.

Duck and Mushroom Ravioli in creamy Mushroom sauce

Lately there are forces at work that try to upset my little happy world; I have been kicking real hard not to let them.  Today, however, I am walking around with a Cheshire smile on my face and nothing and no one can dampen my mood no matter how hard they try.  It is no secret that travel makes me the happiest and that while I am in a trip planning mode I go into my own Zen world and do not want to come out.  I finalized my summer trip to Italy today and now I get to immerse myself in the details.  I get to dive into travel books and websites and plan site seeing and food experiences with obsessive vigor.  I get to live and breathe the place I am going to long before I get there and for me this is almost as good as finally getting there.  If you immerse yourself in trip planning you can extend your trips for month ahead… and of course every trip last a lifetime in your memories.

Most existing, for this blog, is that I may actually get a chance to cook abroad, which is something I always wanted to do.  Walking around great markets of London and Spain I almost cried because I couldn’t buy anything that would not lend itself to suitcase travel.  How I wanted to bring home some of the most beautiful wild mushrooms or gorgeous cheeses or freshest seafood, but I don’t believe that a hotel kitchen would mush appreciate my cooking aspirations.   This time around I am booking rental properties instead of hotels and will have a full use of my own kitchen, so hopefully I will get to experiment a bit with the local ingredients.  This would really add a nice touch to my usual” travels and tastes” blogs.

In anticipation of the great Italian trip I am going to do this year, I am making one last meal of pasta that can be qualified as “winter comfort”.  One last fatty, starchy, creamy, before the sun comes out and the trees fully bloom.  One last decadent entry before I have to put on the bathing suit and switch to light Rose wines and salads.  Let us eat Ravioli!

With a few leftovers and some fresh ingredients here is a new Italian favorite.

Duck and Mushroom stuffed Ravioli in creamy brown butter and sage sauce.

You can find my ravioli pasta recipe at this link: http://infooditrust.blogspot.com/2011/11/venison-and-chanterelle-stuffed-ravioli.html

For the filling:

½ lbs of leftover duck meat chopped (I had some leftover cooked duck meat, but any other leftovers such as a roasted chicken or beef roast will do.  You can also omit the meat altogether.)

½ lb of button mushrooms chopped

1 cup + ½ cup for garnish of chopped shitake mushrooms

1 large shallot chopped

½ cup of chopped spring onion ( or sweet Spanish onion)

Handful of fresh thyme

1 tbs of fresh sage chopped + 6-7 strands for the sauce

½ cup of shredded assiago cheese or parmesan

Olive oil

A pinch of sugar

Salt and Pepper to taste

For the sauce

1 stick of butter

6-7 strands of fresh sage

½ lb of fresh mushrooms sliced (you can use any kind of mushrooms that are not too strong flavored)

¼ cup of dry white wine

2 tbs of Marsala wine

1 cup half-and-half

For garnish

3 strips of plain or duck bacon

½ cup of shitake mushrooms chopped or julienned

Few leaves of fresh sage

Salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the filling.  In a large skillet preheat a few tablespoons of olive oil, sauté the mushrooms on medium-high flame until nicely browned.  Lower the heat to low, add the shallot and the onion and sprinkle with sugar.  Cook on low heat until the onion is soft and begins to brown.  Add the chopped meat, herbs and seasoning.  Cook until the mixture is nicely browned.  Let it cool slightly and transfer to a food processor.  Pulse a few times to combine.  Let cool, and then stir in the cheese.

Fill the ravioli and seal them, feel free to make them as large or little as you want.  I wanted slightly larger shapes for this recipe as I wanted to taste more of the filling; in hindsight I will make them a bit smaller next time.

If not using right away, you can freeze your pasta on flat boards lined with wax paper.  Once frozen transfer to the zip-top bag and store in your freezer.  When ready to use, just drop them still frozen into the boiling water and allow an additional cooking time (usually no more than an additional minute)

Prepare the garnish.  Chop or julienne the bacon into thin strips  and fry on medium heat until crispy.  Set aside.  In the same skillet using the bacon fat (you can discard some of it if you feel there is too much), brown the mushrooms until fairly crispy.  Toss together with bacon, season if needed and let cool.  Chop some sage and toss to combine.

When ready to assemble, make the sauce.  In a medium sauce pan melt the butter, add the sage strands and cook on low heat until the butter begins to brown and smell nutty.  Turn off the heat and let cool without taking the sage out, you want to infuse the herb flavor as much as possible.

In a large skillet, add a few teaspoons of olive oil and brown the mushrooms without salting them.  When nice and brown add both wines and let the mixture cook out on medium heat until the liquid is reduced by half.  Add cream or half and half and seasoning.  Discard the sage leaves from the brown butter; slowly whisk the butter into the mushroom sauce.  Cook for a minute on low heat whisking continually.  Adjust seasoning if needed

Boil a large pot of water, salt it generously and drop your ravioli.  Cook to aldente ( exact time will depend on size and thickness of your pasta).  With a slotted spoon transfer to the mushroom cream sauce and cook on low heat additional 30-40 seconds. 

Serve with sauce and garnish with bacon, mushroom and sage mixture. Add a bit of assiago or parmesan cheese on top as well.

Labne and Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Sour Cherry compote and Granola

I am a planner… I really meticulous planner… down to the very last detail and if for some reason things do not go as planned I get pissed, confused and then pissed again.  I am very enticed by the concept of “spur of the moment” as long as it was planned… I do fully realize that it makes me freaky and inflexible, but I figure leopards don’t change their spots so it is too late to fix me now.   On top of being an obsessive planner I seem to have developed memory lapses probably due to a complete mind overload, which is my life.  So now I am the worst kind of a planner, the one who cannot remember what she planned. 

When I go grocery shopping I need to have at least an overall idea of what I am cooking or what am I looking for.  If I do not, I sometimes end up with a bazaar basket of disjointed products just because they looked good or interesting.  It is almost like coming home with a “Chopped” basket, what the hell do you do with baby bananas, sword fish wild mushrooms on the same day?  It could be fun to come up on a fly with ways to use these but I am a planner, so I stick with the planned… this means that all of these obscure ingredients sit in my pantry or fridge and grow mold, because they somehow did not fit into my intent.  I hate to waste good food, so sometimes I bite the bullet and try and come up with dishes based on what I have, not what I aimed for. 

Recently I stared at buttermilk and labne in my fridge and wondered what the hell was I thinking when I bought it.  I might have had something in mind but I couldn’t remember what it was and I mentally searched through my typical dishes that I normally use these for…fried chicken, pancakes, green-goddess dip…? None of the usual suspects were supported by anything else I had on hand, so I kept on ignoring the two jars in the fridge until the expiration date was almost upon me.  I could bear the thought of throwing something out just because it didn’t fit into my menu so I came up with a quick and easy way to use them…. Labne and Buttermilk Panna Cotta. 

Labne is a Middle Eastern strained yogurt, it similar to Greek yogurt but is tangier and unlike sour cream it is heavier in texture, almost like cheese.  Buttermilk is of course a great tangy and versatile ingredient and I sometimes substitute part of milk with it just to give something another level of flavor.

Panna Cotta is an Italian milk pudding which ideally should be made with freshest, best tasting milk and cream.  I first had it in Florence and I can still remember not too sweet desert that tasted of pure raw milk…  Since I am unlikely to find milk this good at the Stop n Shop, I went into the buttermilk and labne round.  Topped with homemade sour cherry compote and granola, it was not to sweet, decadent and a good finish to a Sunday dinner. 

Labne and Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Sour Cherry compote and Granola

Makes about 8 3 oz deserts

1.5 cup of Labne ( you can use Plain Greek yogurt as well)

2 cups Buttermilk

¾ cup of heavy cream

¼ cup of milk

1 cup sugar

3 tbs honey

2 packets of gelatin (or about 1.5 tbs)

For the Cherry compote

2 cups fresh or frozen sour cherries (pitted)

1 cup sugar

½ lemon sliced

1/3 cup of water

Whisk the labne, buttermilk and honey and set aside.  In a small sauce pan, combine cream, milk and sugar and heat until very hot but not boiling and the sugar is fully dissolved.  Whisk in the gelatin and stir until it is fully dissolved.  Pour the cream mixture into the buttermilk mixture slowly and constantly whisking.  Whisk until smooth.  Pour immediately into small ramekins, desert dishes or wine glasses and let set in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 hrs or until set.  This can be done a day ahead of serving.

Make the compote by combining all of the ingredients and brining to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until the consistency is between jam and syrup.  The liquid should start coating the back of the spoon but still flow freely when chilled. 

When ready to serve, top each panna cotta with the cherry compote (at room temperature or slightly warmer) and homemade granola for crunch (you can see my recipe for healthy granola here).

Persian inspired Spiced Cornish hens and Sweet Rice with pepper cardamom sauce

During this time of year I try to plan my vacation trips and my acute sense of travel envy kicks in.  I want to go everywhere, I feel like the least traveled person on earth and I wildly resent having to pick travel destinations based solely on a price of an airline ticket.  I scan the web for possible itineraries only to experience a shock at how much it would cost for a family of four to go anywhere interesting.  So instead of booking tickets and tours I book spice orders from all the faraway places I still hope to see and taste someday.  The need for spices has created the world we live in today, pushing the boundaries of exploration.  Just to think, if it wasn’t for a grand need of a little cumin in the stew, the Americas would still be enjoing its true identity.  And if spices can change the lives of whole continents, can they  change my life?  I am not sure how life changing is ripping open yet another UPS package to find a jar or a pouch, but it certainly makes for interesting Sunday dinners….

Lately I have been pre-occupied with creating dishes that capture all of our senses.  As important as taste is to a meal, it can’t stand alone, sight, smell and touch all have important parts to play if you are to succeed in ultimate food experience.  We eat with our eyes first and next with our noses.  Food’s texture plays on your sense of touch and as a cook your goal is to engage all of these faculties into a composite adventure.  A sense of smell is most fascinating, you can take a whiff of something and immediately be transported to a different time and place, be it your childhood or a faraway place.  It is said that aromas have the most powerful effect on our ability to recall memories.  I once followed a stranger for two city blocks because her perfume reminded me of my mother’s, which I haven’t smelled in years ( She must have dumped a bottle of that stuff on her head because you could smell it a mile away, otherwise I would have looked freakishly strange and stalky following her close).

So with my new found quest for making “all sensory” meals, combined with my inability to travel to anywhere fascinating and endless supply of spice packages at my front door, I take my family on “virtual” vacations pretty much every Sunday night.  Last week a newly bought spice mix of lime zest, cardamom and garlic and a recipe for Persian flat bread send me in the direction of the Middle East.

Here is this pretty simple Persian inspired meal that truly engaged all the senses, it was perfumy, a little salty, a little sweet, a little spice, a great crunch from the flat breads and some very vibrant colors from the sauce…
 

Persian Spiced Chicken with Sweet Rice and pepper cardamom sauce.

Served with Persian flatbread and Eggplant and fig stew.

For the Cornish Hens

4 Cornish Hens

2 tbs grilled chicken seasoning (any brand will do I use Montreal Grill)

1.5 tbs of Ispahan seasoning mix ( I get this spice blend from La Boite spices at the ingidientfinder.com, but you can make your own by combining cardamom, dried Persian limes and garlic)

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

For the stuffing

This stuffing is meant to be discarded before serving.  It is meant to perfume the hens and flavor the meat.

1 lime cut into small pieces

4 cloves of garlic roughly chopped

1 small shallot roughly chopped

2 tbs of dried peaches chopped

½ cup chopped fennel

3 tbs fresh ginger chopped

1 tbs chopped parsley

1 tbs chopped fresh mint

For the Cardamom pepper sauce

½ cup orange juice

½ cup chicken stock

4 large black cardamom pods ( or 6-7 small ones) – crushed with the back of the knife

1 large slice of fresh ginger

½ tbs of harissa

1 tsp of honey

¼ cup roasted red peppers chopped

Salt

 

Combine all of the stuffing  ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine.  Salt and pepper the inside cavities of the hens generously and stuff with the stuffing mix.  Rub a generous amount of olive oil on the outside of each bird.  Season with chicken seasoning and Persian spice mix generously.  Rub the spice mix into the skin, then add a little more olive oil and salt the outside of the bird one more time.  Let the stuffed hens sit outside of the fridge, covered for 40 min to 1 hr. 

 

Make the sauce.  Combine the orange juice, stock, cardamom and ginger in a small sauce pan and simmer until reduced by 2/3.  Strain the mixture into a blender discarding the cardamom pods and the ginger.  Add harissa, roasted peppers, honey and salt and blend until smooth.  You may want to adjust the seasoning by adding more salt or a squirt of lime juice.

Preheat the oven to 425F, bake the hens for 45 min to an hour until the skin is nicely browned and crispy and juices run clear from the thigh.
 

For the sweet rice

2 Cups of Persian stile rice

4 cups of water

1 small shallot finely chopped

1/3 cup of finely diced dried peaches

1/3 cup of golden raisins

3 cup of pignolli nuts

Zest of two limes

2 -3 table spoons of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

 

In a large deep skillet heat some olive oil.  Add the shallot and reduce the heat to medium, cook shallot until softened than add the nuts, raisins and peaches.  Sauté on med-low heat until the nuts are lightly toasted.  Add the rice and 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil.   Increase the heat to medium, stir well making sure all of the rice is evenly coated in oil, toast the rice for few minutes until it begins to smell nutty.  Add the lime zest, salt, pepper and water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover.  Simmer for about 15 min ( or as per package instructions).  Fluff with a fork before serving.

Eggplant and Fig stew.

This is more of an eggplant bruschetta recipe; it would go great as an appetizer with any type of chips and toasts.  You can make this chunkier or smoother depending on the size of your chopped vegetables.

½ large red onion chopped

3 cloves of garlic chopped

½ fennel head chopped

1 large eggplant cubed

1 cup of cherry or grape tomatoes chopped

1/3 cup of chopped bell pepper (any color)

1/3 cup of chopped dried figs

1 tbs chopped capers (drained)

¼ cup of chopped basil

¼ cup of chopped fresh mint

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp fennel seeds

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

 

In a large deep skillet heat some olive oil, add the onion and fennel and cook on medium heat until softened.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.  Add the eggplant and tomatoes and cook stiring often until the eggplant is soft and browned (you may need to add a little more olive oil along the way).  Add bell peppers and capers, cook for a few minutes than add the vinegar.  As the vinegar cooks out, add the oregano, fennel seeds, salt and pepper and chopped figs.  Reduce the heat to low and cook the vegetables stirring occasionally until very soft 10-15 minutes.  Cool sklightly before stiring in basil and mint.  Serve at room temperature with toasts or flat breads.

 

The recipe for Persian flat bread can be found at Food and Wine -- follow the link here.
 

Any meal that can take you on a little mental trip is worth the hassle.  Now fed and happy I can go back to my little virtual hell of scanning the discount airfare sites for the perfect trip…maybe I will get lucky this time.

Light as Air Gnocchi

 

I am slowly knocking things of my ‘to-cook’ board, which seems to contain only winter comfort food, the rich, the fatty, the kind that send you straight to hibernation, which is exactly how I feel.  I wish I can cozy up in my pajamas, wrap myself in the fluffiest blanket and burry my head under the softest pillow, close my eyes and wake up when everything is in bloom and I don’t have to wear 20 things just to go walk the dog…. But spring will mean that I have to paint my deck… and I am not looking forward to doing that either…

Since blankets and pillows are on my mind too much these days, and sleeping till spring is not an option, I decided to try my hand at Gnocchi, which is the food equivalent of your favorite pillow.  All I knew about making gnocchi is that they must come out tasting light, if they are heavy and dense, you must have gone wrong.  For an ultimate starchy treat of combining my two favorite vices, potatoes and pasta, lightness is hard to achieve.  After reading numerous recipes I decided to rely on my own judgment so the recipe below is more of a reference than an exact.  I also wanted to toss the gnocchi with a very simple sauce that would not mask the gnocchi taste or texture, so I can really taste test this recipe

 And for a little spring nostalgia I shelled some fresh peas into the sauce.

So if you are still looking at a snow out of your window, before you hibernate for the weekend, I strongly recommend you try this dish…it will give you pleasant dreams.

For the Gnocchi

3 lbs russet potatoes

2 eggs

1.5 tsp of kosher salt

½ tsp nutmeg

Approximately 2 cups of Pasta flour plus more for dusting ( I use King Arthur “perfect Pasta” flour but any other ‘00’ flour should be ok, you may need to adjust the amount)

6 tbs of butter for pan frying

For the sauce

1 lb of sweet Italian sausage

2 cups of slow roasted or fresh tomatoes

1 cup green peas (fresh or frozen)

1 shallot (chopped)

3 cloves of garlic (minced)

1.5 cups dry white wine

½ tsp of red pepper flakes

1 tsp dried oregano

½ cup of fresh chopped basil

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated parmesan cheese

Boil the potatoes unpeeled until easily pierced with a fork.  Drain the water and cool them slightly until they are not too hot to handle.  Peel the potatoes and press them through a potatoes ricer onto a wooden board.  You want to do this while they are still very warm.  You can use a potato masher if you don’t have a ricer, or a fork, just don’t put them in a food processor, or they will become gummy.

Spread the riced potatoes in an even layer and let them cool a little more, but not all the way to room temperature.  When you add the eggs the potatoes should be just cool enough not to cook the eggs.  Whisk the eggs, salt and nutmeg in a bowl.  Make a mound of the potatoes very gently trying not to mush them too much.  Make the well in the middle and pour the egg mixture.  Sprinkle one cup of flour on top.  On a floured board knead the dough adding more flour as needed.  As soon as the dough stops sticking to your hands and the board, stop adding the flour.  The dough should feel very soft, warm and resemble more of a pillow than cohesive dough.  Form the dough into a loose ball, dust with a little flour and cover with a kitchen towel.  Let the dough rest 10 – 15 minutes.

To roll the gnocchi, divide the dough into 4 parts, about the size of a baseball.  Gently roll with the palms of your hand to form an even rope ½ inch in diameter ( or smaller if you want smaller gnocchi).  Cut with a knife or dough cutter into ½ inch “pillows”.  Dust with flour and lay out on a baking sheet covered with wax or parchment paper in a single layer.  Let the tray sit on your counter for an hour to dry the dough a bit or you can set it under a low fan for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, make the sauce.  Heat a large skillet and brown the sausage with a few tsp of olive oil.  Lower the heat and add shallot and garlic and sauté until soft.  Add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, oregano and white wine.  Season with salt and pepper.  Sauté until ½ the white wine evaporates than add the peas.  Cook for 1 -2 more minutes than turn lower the heat all the way, you just want to keep the sauce warm while you cook the gnocchi

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt the water generously, as if you were cooking pasta.  In a skillet, gently brown the butter and keep it on very low heat so that it does not burn.

Boil the gnocchi until they float plus 30 seconds, if you are making a lot, you may have to do it in batches because if you dump too many into the water they will stick to each other.  With a slotted spoon transfer the gnocchi form the boiling water to the skillet with brown butter, increase the heat to medium and toss fry them until slightly brown on both sides.  Toss them with the sausage mixture and keep warm while you are working on boiling and frying the next batch.

When ready to serve, garnish with fresh basil and parmesan cheese.

This dish may not be light as air in calories, but it feels like it is…

Cuddle up with a big bowl of that in front of a good movie and don’t think about the snow in the forecast!

Now if you execuse me I am going to go ponder my next off-the-board project..."Asian noodles with duck meatballs in a spicy broth"...No idea what I had in mind when I put that on a board but it sounds good and it's up there in chalk, which means I better come up with the recipe...