Parsnip and Apple Has with Pork Chops or Monday Night

One of the joys of this project is that sometimes on a Monday night, after working all day, you just end up with a home cooked meal that looks like this. It might be at 9pm, but this is the kind of meal you can expect if you are a nice uncle who takes his nephew on adventures so his mom can work in peace.

I found this recipe for Parsnip-Apple Hash that I cut out of the newspaper way before I could identify a parsnip in a root vegetable line-up. I was digging through my box of recipes looking for a carrot bread recipe to make use of the glut of carrots we keep accumulating when I stumbled on this one. I also happened to have some parsnips from our Farm Box, so this seemed like a great idea.

1/2 cup diced bacon (I know! I've been meaning to make more bacon, but I want to get the pork belly from this new butcher shop in Los Feliz, and I haven't been over there, and it takes a week, and all that. Not to mention that it is mainly salted meat, and we decided a long time ago that salt doesn't count if it is the only ingredient. Anyway, I bought 4 slices of bacon at my local butcher. Sue me.) 
3 Tbs unsalted butter
1 small onion, cut into 1/4 dice (about 1 cup)
3 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2 dice (This is supposed to equal 2 2/3 cups. Apparently these are parsnips from the land of Gigantor. I had six, petite parsnips and it added up to about 1.5 cups. I was worried, but it all worked out fine.)
1 apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped into 1/4 inch dice (about 1 cup)
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme (I didn't have this. Oh well)
Coarse Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Brown the bacon until crisp in large skillet over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon and set aside leaving the bacon fat in the pan.

Add the butter to the bacon fat. (That's right, I said add the fat to the fat) and onions and cook, stirring until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the parsnips, cover and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 10 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

 Add the apple, bell pepper and thyme (if you have it) and continue to cook, stirring until they carmelize a bit, about five minutes. 

Stir in the reserved bacon. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with medium rare pork chops that were cooked by your handsome husband with butter, Pasta Seasoning (Ingredients: Onion, Garlic, Basil, Lemon Peel, Paprika, Fennel, Oregano, Black Pepper, Ginger, Thyme & Lemon Oil) and Season All (Ingredients: Salt, Spices (Including Chili Pepper, Black Pepper, Celery Seed, Nutmeg and Coriander) Onion, Paprika, Maltodextrin, Garlic, Silicon Dioxide (added to make free flowing) and Annatto for color) on the broiler for about 90 seconds per side, and a salad left over from Saturday night's dinner.

If you are really lucky, your handsome husband will also make his Grandmother's Hot Chocolate Pudding for dessert. And maybe someday he will write a post about it for you.

Dijon Mustard

There was a time when a jar of dijon mustard would last in my fridge for up to a year. In fact, when I began this project in October, I was finishing up a jar and there were two full jars in the pantry, a surplus that meant we were prepared for the Big One, or the Apocolypse or a large Bratwurst party. I thought the day would never come that I would need to make my own with such bounty. Well as the variety of available condiments fell by the wayside, dijon mustard took on more and more importance. In fact, thanks to the genius of Thomas Keller, we practically can't even eat a roast chicken without it anymore. And since roast chicken makes a weekly appearance in our house, we ran out of dijon a few weeks ago. Yellow, Spicy Brown, Honey Mustard, we still have all of these and they each have their place. (However that place is mostly on foods I do not yet have the wherewithal to make...) So we have been feeling the loss of the dijon. So tonight we set it to right. I found this recipe on bigoven.com, it said it came from Colorado Cache Cookbook (1978). I am always comforted by recipes published in the 1970's, it's post the 1950's Cool Whip revolution of industrial food and before the onset of mass production of high-fructose corn syrup and the low-fat overthrow of the 1980's. The 70s, in my mind was a brief revival of real food eating. And Dijon mustard has a very 1970's feeling of sophistication. Like something you would serve on the side at a Fondue/Key Party.

2 c Dry white wine
1 c Chopped Onion (I used a shallot. I think it was fine.)
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
4 oz Dry Mustard (I only had 2 oz of dry mustard, and...Get ready to be shocked...didn't check this until I already started boiling the wine... but it was ok, I halved the rest of the recipe and used the leftover wine in a salad dressing)
2 Tb  Honey
1 Tb Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Salt
4 drops Tabasco sauce (or whatever hot sauce you've got.)

Combine wine, onion, and garlic. Heat to boiling. Lower heat and simmer 5 minutes. Set aside and cool.
Put dry mustard into a small sauce pan and strain cooled wine mixture into it. Beat until very smooth. Add remaining ingredients and heat slowly, stirring constantly until mixture thickens.

Cool. Pour into a non-metal container (like an old, cleaned, mustard jar) and cover. Chill at least 2 day to blend flavors.

Well I served it immediately. It was extremely strong. Clear your sinuses, bring tears to your eyes, "i just ate a spoonful of horseradish" strong. So I think the instructions probably mean, chill at least 2 days to let the mustard mellow out a bit... I hope so anyway. I'll let you know. This did not stop me from slathering it all of my chicken though. It just meant I had to blow my nose a few times and made some very amusing faces.

Ranch Dressing

I know I said I didn't really miss anything, but I was wrong. I have been actively feeling the loss of ranch dressing for some time. I have made a great many very lovely vinagrette and mustard dressings over the last several months. But sometimes a girl just wants a thick, creamy coating on her lettuce and that's all there is to it.

The assembly of ranch dressing is really pretty simple, but it requires two ingredients that mean a substantial amount of planning is involved for me. Mayonnaise (and the mayo has to be successful, not an oily mess.) and Sour Cream. Full disclosure: I bought buttermilk this time instead of making it from lemon juice and whole milk. In my defense, this was an experiment to see if there is a difference when using it to do some chemistry-type kitchen magic, rather than just as an ingredient in a recipe. It turns out that yes, there is a difference. The lemon juice solution works out great if you are making buttermilk pancakes, and I suspect when using it as an ingredient in buttermilk ranch dressing. But if you are trying to turn regular cream into sour cream, you need some actual cultures, so real, cultured buttermilk is necessary. I don't know what the exact science is on this, but it makes sense to me anyway.

Also, this time I attempted to make the Mayonnaise in the blender as opposed to the hand mixer. This misadventure is chronicled in another post, I don't want to spoil it here.

So for the Ranch Dressing, I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman and all her glorious photography that ruins my self-esteem. You'll have to make do with my sad photos here.

Here is the  cast of characters. This is a pretty subjective recipe, you can add or subtract ingredients according to your taste and what you have.

I stared with  1 cup mayonnaise and 1/2 cup sour cream. But I ended up adding another 1/4 cup sour cream in the end (Because I got too heavy handed with the cayenne and I found it a little mayonnaise-y - store bought mayo may be less, you know flavorful, so try it a few ways)

Next dice up 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, depending on your preference. (I almost never say "that was too garlicy" so I used 2, but you or the person who kisses you may feel differently.) After dicing add a healthy pinch of kosher salt and macerate the garlic with a fork or a mortar and pestle until it almost forms a paste.

 

Add this to your mayo/sour cream mix.

Next up would be chives if I'd had any, but I only had one green onion/scallion, so I chopped it up in the mini chopper and added it to the mix. Followed by a 1/4 cup flat leaf parsely. (I have a gross of this that despite using in almost every recipe seems to be breeding in my crisper)

Pretty much everything else is optional, and "too taste". I wish I could tell you the quantities that I used, but in reality I just put in "some" Worcestershire sauce, white vinegar, cayenne pepper, paprika, hot sauce and dried basil. Then I thinned it out with a bit of buttermilk*. (My mayo was a little thinner than store bought would be, so you may need more than a bit of buttermilk to achieve the right consistency.) Last I added some salt, then a little more salt. You just have to keep tasting all along to see what you think. Pioneer Woman had a good suggestion that I didn't take, but you might... use a piece of lettuce to taste it so you get a more accurate sense of how it will work in the real world, since you won't be using it on a tip of your pinkie salad, at least not every time you serve it.

Then cover her up, and stick her in the fridge for two hours to think about what she's done, as my friend and sous-chef, Jan Smelk would say. Then you are ready to smother all your healthy veggies with some creamy, fatty goodness.

 

Here is list of ingredients optional ingredients, but you are only limited by your own taste and imagination:

• 1 clove (to 2 Cloves) Garlic
• Salt To Taste
• ¼ cups Italian Flat-leaf Parsley
• 2 Tablespoons Fresh Chives
• 1 cup (real) Mayonnaise
• ½ cups Sour Cream
• Buttermilk* (as Needed To Desired Consistency)
• White Vinegar (optional, To Taste)
• Worcestershire Sauce (optional, To Taste)
• Fresh Dill (optional, To Taste)
• Cayenne Pepper (optional, To Taste)
• Paprika (optional, To Taste)
• Fresh Oregano (optional, To Taste)
• Tabasco (optional, To Taste)
• Dried Basil (optional, To Taste)

*If you want to reduce the tangy factor, use regular milk in place of buttermilk. 

Blender Mayonnaise

Julia Child gives us a recipe for making mayonnaise in the blender, but that doesn't mean she approves of it. She goes so far as to say "no culinary skill whatsoever enters into its preparation." Ouch! Despite this admonition, I still almost burnt out the engine on my blender and ultimately switched to finishing it with the hand mixer, so I'm not sure what that says about me.

I tried it in the blender, not because I am avoiding achieving mastery of the egg yolk. On the contrary, I want very much to lord over the egg yolk. But after my most recent debacle with the "I Know How to Cook" mayo recipe, my friend Lala suggested I try it in the blender and that it is just a snap. I thought I might as well give it a shot so that I could at least disdain it as "too easy" with the same authority as Julia. Sigh.

Assemble the Players:

1 whole egg
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tb lemon juice or wine vinegar (I opted for vinegar)
1 cup olive oil or vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

Break the egg into the blender jar. Add the mustard and salt. Cover and blend at top speed for 30 seconds, or until the mixture is thick and foamy. 

 

Pour in the lemon juice or vinegar, and blend for 10 seconds.

Take the center lid out and pour the oil into it, while blending at high speed. Be sure to pour the oil in slowly in a very thin stream of droplets. I use this ketchup dispenser with a very narrow nose that I got at the 99¢ store.

 

Supposedly the sauce will begin to thicken after about 1/2 cup of the oil has been added. However, after about 1/4 cup my blender started to smell and make unpleasant sounds, and when I took it off it looked like this:

 

This didn't seem like a good thing. So I poured it into a bowl, crossed my fingers that a hybrid technique would work and plugged in the hand mixture. After about 30 minutes of gentle coaxing and painstakingly slow oil addition and eventually raising to top speed the sauce began to thicken. Ultimately it wasn't quite as thick as I would want, and I didn't need to take any of the recommended  thinning measures, but it was mayonnaise nonetheless. 

 

I am often perplexed as to why such seemingly simple tasks elude me, but it looks like I am going to stick with the original method and hope for the day when mastery is achieved and I can whip this up in 10 minutes as Julia promises.

Meatballs with Prunes

Last night I suggested this to my husband and like a twelve year old boy who thinks prunes are just for old people with bathroom trouble he said, "That sounds gross". Now I admit it sounds better in French Boulet aux Pruneaux which is how I read it in a French cookbook, so I knew right away that this would be delicious.

It was quite simple to make and we had most of the ingredients on hand. Including the prunes, which my husband asked me to buy, specifically because he wanted to eat more foods favored by old people so that he could avoid eventual bathroom trouble. He ended up admitting that this was a wonderful combination, and that he had fallen victim to what he thinks is a very American misconception about not mixing "good for you" with "good". It does seem that a lot of the time we think in order to be healthy we have to be sacrificing, and if something is rich and delicious it must be an indulgence, something to feel guilty about. I think my favorite part of this whole project is discovering how much rich, delicious, "decadent" food I have been able to eat, while losing weight and feeling healthier. I don't assign any of my mental energy to worrying about how much fat, or how many calories are in any of the recipes. I make no substitutions based on cutting fat or calories. I don't concern myself with how many carbs I'm consuming, or what my carb-to-protein ratio is. Primarily my concerns are, using up the vegetables that come in my CSA box before they go bad, using my time wisely to make sure we have food made when we need it, and so I am not cooking all. the. time. Since I see every ingredient that goes into everything I'm never taken by surprise or tricked into thinking something is healthier than it is. And honestly, I think it is hard to make food that is truly bad for you when you are pretty much working with things that were grown from the ground, or fed from the ground, rather than conjured in a lab. Oh dear, I'm starting to sound like a preachy zealot... suffice it to say, this is working out nicely for me, I'm learning a ton,  eating lots of wonderful food and really not missing much of anything most of the time. On to this delightful recipe.

I found it in the Chocolate & Zucchini cookbook. This is the cookbook version of the blog by the same name. This is the first recipe I have made out of it, but it's a lovely and really enjoyable cookbook with delightful musings on food and entertaining by the author Clothide Dusoullier. (It turns out she consulted on a food show called Bizarre Foods that my friend Superterrific worked on a few years back, when they did an episode in Paris... the food world keeps getting smaller)

I made some modifications to this recipe to accommodate ingredients I had on hand, I will note them in the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground meat (She suggests lamb, but I had grass fed ground beef, so that's what I used. I'm sure lamb would be richer and more luxurious tasting, but the beef worked out well.)
12 good quality prunes (sometimes called dried plums for reasons of perception mentioned above) Pitted and finely chopped
2 small shallots, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 cup (packed) fresh, flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus some extra for garnish
1 tablespoon orange zest, freshly grated and finely minced from two oranges. (I used clementines)
1/4 teaspoon allspice (I did not have any allspice, so I used almost a 1/4 tsp cinnamon, about an 1/8 tsp ginger and a dash of nutmeg. I would have used a ground clove, but I didn't have one.)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil 
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the meat, prunes, shallots, garlic, parsley, orange zest, allspice, egg, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well with a fork. Cover and refrigerate from 10 minutes up to 8 hours. (I put it in there for about 45 minutes) 

Remove the bowl from the refrigerator. Wash your hands well, and keep them damp. Scoop out rounded tablespoons of the mixture and roll them into balls between your palms. Set aside in a single layer on two plates until you've used up all the meat. Wash your hands again.


Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add half of the meatballs in a single layer without crowding. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring the meatballs gently around the pan to brown them all over. Set aside on a clean plate and cover with foil while you cook the second batch. Return the first batch to the pan and cover, reheat for 2 minutes. 

Serve over a bed of cous-cous and drizzle a little yogurt over the top and sprinkle some additional chopped parsley on top and a lovely green salad on the side. 

I have some pictures of this, but it keeps failing when I try to upload them, so I will have to try it again later. For now use your imagination.


 

Butternut Squash Puree

I made this in the middle of my tamale making adventure, while I was waiting for the chicken stock to cook and the corn husks to soften. I bought a butternut squash almost two weeks ago on a whim and kept putting off doing anything with it.

I got this recipe off of The Pioneer Woman blog. It couldn't be simpler. She took about a million really beautiful pictures, and I don't even want to try to compete with them, so you will have to check out her site if you want a visual on this.

Basically. Cut a butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds and membranes. Place the halves, cut side down on a baking sheet with about an inch of water. Bake for about 30 minutes (until soft when pierced with a fork) at 350º F.

Scoop the softened flesh out of the skin into a bowl with half a stick of butter, cut into pieces. Mash up and add 2-4 tablespoons maple syrup. Put the whole mess in the blender and puree until smooth. Voila Deliciousness! This can easily be cooled, refrigerated and reheated over the next couple of days.

Tamales for Diá de la Candelaria

February 2nd is a major holiday that I don't think has been getting it's due. First of all, it's Groundhog's Day, which is best celebrated with a viewing of the Bill Murray movie of the same name. But I think lesser known is the Catholic Celebration of Candelmas or Candelaria as it is known in Mexico where it is more widely celebrated. Jesus had remarkable timing, coinciding so many major events of his life with existing pagan holidays, making it conveniently unnecessary for banks and government agencies to change their closure schedules. Candelaria is the Feast of the Presentation of Christ at the Temple. It was traditional in those days for a baby to be presented at the temple 40 days after birth. This just happened to coincide with the mid-way point between the winter solstice (Christmas) and the spring equinox (Easter).

In Mexican household this event is marked with a feast of tamales. The tamales are made by the person who found the figurine of the Baby Jesus in the King Cake (Rosca de Reyes) on Three Kings Day (Diá de los Tres Reyes), January 6th the day the Three Kings arrived to see Jesus. This is also known as Twelfth Night, or the last day of Christmas.

I missed celebrating Three Kings Day this year, so I figured if I didn't make the tamales for Candelaria this year, it would slip by unnoticed as well. I searched around a bit for a recipe and decided on one I found on epicurious.com. I doubt it's the most authentic one I could come up with, but it was un-intimidating enough for this novice gringa to try.

Originally my friend Jan Smelk was going to join me for the adventure, but a homeless kitten ended up in her life on Tuesday morning, so she had to spend the day acclimating said kitty to the luxuries of a litter box, food that isn't scavaged and a cat roommate. So I was on  my own. Jan was also supposed to bring a large stock pot and steamer insert, so not having those was my first set back.

I had bought the masa flour a couple weeks ago when I got it in my head that I wanted to celebrate Candelaria.

 

 On Sunday I bought the tomatillos and serrano chiles, both first time purchases for me. My friend SuperTerrific offered me her large container of lard that she didn't think she would have cause to use up in exchange for the opportunity to eat some tamales and I had everything else on hand except the corn husks.

Tuesday:

I set about preparing the filling. I husked the tomatillos 

and put arranged them on aluminum foil in a broiler pan, and broiled them for about 5 minutes on each side until they were black in spots.

  

Then I poured the blackened tomatillos and accumulated juices into the blender and let them cool for a while while I chopped up the garlic and serrano chiles. 

Here is where our second problem started. I began very carefully, scraping the seeds out of the chiles with a knife, not touching them with my hands at all. Then around the third chile, for some reason I decided such care was not necessary and just started scraping the seeds out with my fingers, using my thumbnails to dig out the ones that clung to the flesh of the chile. Why did I do this, you are probably wondering... I am wondering this myself. I distinctly remember the thought process of "I must be careful with these seeds or my hands will be burning from the oils" and I sort of remember a mental switch to a more careless approach. I don't know why my more cautious and reasonable self didn't prevail, and I am very sorry for that fact. It was gradual, but slowly over the next half hour or so three fingers on my right hand, the tips of my left index and ring fingers and especially underneath both of my thumbnails began to heat up. No amount of hand washing in hot or cold water had any effect. I took a break from the cooking and gave Baby J a bath. The twenty minutes of submerging my hands in bath water did nothing to assuage the heat. I did a little internet searching. Most of the advice said, "Where gloves"... thanks, that helps a lot right now. Some of the more useful suggestions where, soak your hands in alcohol (No rubbing alcohol here, so I tried rum), bleach, milk, lavender lotion, washing in very hot water... I tried all of these things. They each seemed to work for about five minutes, then the heat would just creep back. It's a miracle I didn't rub my eyes during this odyssey. Eventually after about three hours of being driven to distraction the discomfort sort of ebbed away and I was able to turn my thoughts to something other than relief, but my zeal for this project was rather deflated for the day. 

As I had mentioned before, Jan Smelk was going to bring a stock pot and steamer insert, so I had to forage for one on my own. I had intended to make the tomatillo sauce then go out and search for one. I had looked on line and the options for getting a Calphalon steamer insert to go with my stock pot was around $70, which was way more than I wanted to invest in making tamales. I was hoping a cheaper solution could be found in some of the strange housewares markets in my neighborhood. As I said, after the burning hands incident, I couldn't face another challenge, so that had to wait until the next day... so much for celebrating Candelaria on the day, but I'm guessing Jesus hung around the temple for a few days.

Back to the cooking. I added the diced garlic and chiles to the tomatillos and blended it all up into a nice puree. At the same time I heated some oil in a pot, then added the puree and boiled it for 5 minutes. Then I added 2 cups of chicken stock, reduced the heat and let it simmer until it reduced to about one cup, about 40 minutes. 

At this point you are supposed to add four cups of shredded chicken, (They suggest purchasing a rotisserie chicken - but you know I can't do that.) I had to roast a chicken. 

 

So the tomatillo sauce went in the fridge and the chicken went in the oven. I threw some potatoes in the roasting pan as well because it seems a waste of an opportunity to have some delicious potatoes if you are going to the effort of roasting anyway, and I was getting pretty hungry and I knew no tamales were going to be eaten that day. So I ate the chicken wings and potatoes while the rest of the chicken cooled, then I put the whole chicken in a ziploc bag and went to bed.

Wednesday:

I pulled all the chicken off the bone and shredded it. It made just over four cups, packed. Then I chopped about 2/3 cup cilantro in the mini chopper and mixed it with the chicken and poured the tomatillo sauce over the whole thing.

Next I set out to find the steamer insert needed to actually cook this mess. I got Baby J into his enormous stroller that is awkward and unwieldily in small shops. Just perfect this kind of adventure. On my third shop I found just the thing. 

  

It cost $6, was tall enough for the tamales to stand up and would slide right into a stock pot. One problem. It is about 2" too wide to fit into my stock pot. I observed this when I was purchasing it. Now, you may have perceived already that sometimes I don't think things all the way through, so it may comes as no surprise to you to learn that I bought it anyway, did not investigate the possibility of also buying a stock pot that would accommodate this steamer, and took it home certain I could rig something up. (Rigging things up is not really a skill I possess. Misguided optimism is.) Well I got home, confirmed that it didn't fit in my stock pot, pulled out several other types of pots, confirmed that it didn't fit in any of those either and had to go back to the store to see if they had a stock pot that would fit. They did. It cost $10, cheap enough that I should have bought it the first time, even if I believed that rigging was a possibility.

 

While out buying the steamer I also picked up a bag of corn husks and I put them in water to soak before I went back out for the stock pot. 

At this point I realized that I had used up all of my reserves of chicken stock making the filling and didn't have any for the dough. Luckily, I saved the carcass from the chicken I roasted, so I threw that in my other, too narrow stock pot with a bag of potato, onion, carrot, parsley, etc. clippings I had been keeping in the freezer... Only about four hours to wait until that's ready to go...

In the interim I made a lovely Butternut Squash Puree with a squash that needed to be used.

On to the dough. This was my second opportunity to use my beautiful new standing mixer. So exciting! To begin you mix 1 & 1/3 cup vegetable shortening (or lard) with salt & baking powder. (If your masa doesn't contain those ingredients already, mine does not)

 

Beat this in the mixer until it is nice and fluffy.

 

Then beat in 4 cups of masa in four 1 cup additions. 

 

Reduce the speed to low, and gradually beat in 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock.

 

Use the remaining half cup of stock to soften the dough to your desired consistency. (This is where having a grandmother whose been making tamales for fifty years would come in handy, to tell you what your desired consistency is...I don't have one of those.)

Assembly:

Now fill your pot with enough water so that it is just touching the bottom of the steamer insert. Line the bottom of the steamer with softened corn husks. Then tear three large husks in to 1/4" wide strips to use as ties and set aside.

Open a husk on your work surface. Scoop 1/4 cup of dough onto the center and spread our into a four inch squareish shape. Leaving about 2-3" clear at the narrow end of the husk.

 

Spoon a heaping tablespoon of filling in a strip down the center of the dough. (You will probably want to shred the chicken more than I did. It's too chunky, as you can see here, I think it would make the whole thing juicier.)

  

Fold long sides of husk and dough over filling to cover. Fold up narrow end of husk. Tie folded portion with strip of husk to secure, leaving wide end of tamale open.

  

Repeat until all the dough or filling has been used. (I still had about half of the filling left when I ran out of dough, but the recipe says it makes about 26 tamales and I only ended up with 16, so I probably used too much dough.)

Stand tamales in the steamer basket.

Bring water in pot to boil. Cover pot and steam tamales until dough is firm to touch and separates easily from husk, about 45 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, then serve.

  

I ate this by myself at about 11pm on February 3rd. So I wouldn't say it was a traditional Candelaria celebration. But I'm pretty sure that Baby Jesus appreciates a long journey towards a goal, and I'm all set for next year now. 

Though I read that traditionally tamales are served dry and that sauce is more of a Mexican-American thing, since I am in America, I recommend making some extra tomatilla sauce to spoon over the top. 

Here is the recipe in a more concise form

Filling
1 8-ounce package dried corn husks

1 pound tomatillos, husked, rinsed
4 3-inch-long serrano chiles, stemmed, chopped
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups low-salt chicken broth
4 cups (packed) coarsely shredded cooked chicken (about 1 pound; from purchased rotisserie chicken)
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Dough
1 1/3 cups lard or solid vegetable shortening
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (omit if masa mixture contains salt)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (omit if masa mixture contains baking powder)
4 cups freshly ground masa dough for tamales (34 to 36 ounces), or make masa dough with 31/2 cups masa harina (corn tortilla mix; about 17 ounces) mixed with 2 1/4 cups warm water
2 cups (about) low-salt chicken broth

For filling:
Place husks in large pot or large bowl; add water to cover. Place heavy plate on husks to keep submerged. Let stand until husks soften, turning occasionally, at least 3 hours and up to 1 day.
Preheat broiler. Line heavy baking sheet with foil. Arrange tomatillos on prepared sheet. Broil until tomatillos blacken in spots, turning once, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer tomatillos and any juices on sheet to processor and cool. Add chiles and garlic to processor and blend until smooth puree forms. Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add tomatillo puree and boil 5 minutes, stirring often. Add broth. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until sauce coats spoon thickly and is reduced to 1 cup, stirring occasionally, about 40 minutes. Season with salt. Mix in chicken and cilantro. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)

For dough:
Using electric mixer, beat lard (with salt and baking powder, if using) in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in fresh masa or masa harina mixture in 4 additions. Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in 1 1/2 cups broth, forming tender dough. If dough seems firm, beat in enough broth, 2 tablespoons at a time, to soften.
Fill bottom of pot with steamer insert with enough water (about 2 inches) to reach bottom of insert. Line bottom of insert with some softened corn husks. Tear 3 large husks into 1/4-inch-wide strips to use as ties and set aside. Open 2 large husks on work surface. Spread 1/4 cup dough in 4-inch square in center of each, leaving 2- to 3-inch plain border at narrow end of husk. Spoon heaping tablespoon filling in strip down center of each dough square. Fold long sides of husk and dough over filling to cover. Fold up narrow end of husk. Tie folded portion with strip of husk to secure, leaving wide end of tamale open. Stand tamales in steamer basket. Repeat with more husks, dough, and filling until all filling has been used. If necessary to keep tamales upright in steamer, insert pieces of crumpled foil between them.
Bring water in pot to boil. Cover pot and steam tamales until dough is firm to touch and separates easily from husk, adding more water to pot as necessary, about 45 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cool 1 hour. Cover and chill. Before serving, re-steam tamales until hot, about 35 minutes.)

Pan-Roasted Pork Chops with Cranberries and Red Swiss Chard

This  was dinner for my brother Mike's birthday. I served the pork chops and chard alongside the Sehr gute Kartoffeln (roasted potatoes) which are my current obsession. The chard, thyme and potatoes came in my Farm Share, and I had some chicken stock that needed to be used, so this meal worked out beautifully for using things up and being delicious at the same time. I got the recipe from epicurious.com

For Swiss chard
1/3 cup minced shallots (2 medium)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 lb red Swiss chard, stems and center ribs cut out and chopped together, leaves coarsely chopped separately. (I think the color on these stems is just gorgeous!)

 For pork chops
4 (1 1/4-inch-thick) rib pork chops
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

For sauce
1/3 cup minced shallots (2 medium)
1/2 cup dry red wine

1 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries (4 1/2 oz)
3/4 cup chicken stock or broth
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried, crumbled
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

 

(As usual I was running about an hour behind on getting dinner on the table, so these are the only pictures I took. Nothing of the final product... I remembered as soon as we were done eating.)

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Prepare Swiss chard:
Cook shallots and garlic in butter in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add chard stems and center ribs and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes.

(I made this again and remembered to take some pictures, so here they are)

Add leaves and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until tender, 6 to 7 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper, then transfer chard to a heavy saucepan and wipe out skillet.

Cook pork chops:
Pat chops dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown chops, about 3 minutes per side.

Transfer skillet to oven and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally 2 inches into meat registers 155°F, 7 to 9 minutes. Transfer chops with tongs to a platter, leaving fat in skillet, and cover chops loosely with foil to keep warm.

Make sauce:
Sauté shallots in fat remaining in skillet over moderately high heat, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add wine and deglaze by boiling over high heat, scraping up brown bits, until reduced by half. Add cranberries and stock and simmer, stirring occasionally, until cranberries begin to burst, about 2 minutes.

Stir in brown sugar and thyme and simmer, stirring, until berries are collapsed, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter until incorporated, then season with salt and pepper.
Assemble dish:
While sauce is cooking, reheat chard over moderate heat, stirring. Divide among 4 plates and top with chops, then spoon sauce over.

Baking Powder

I remember back in the very early days I mentioned how I wasn't going to make Baking Powder unless I was given reason to believe that the Apocalypse was immenent... however at that time I didn't know that it was actually the easiest thing I would have to make and not only did it not require a chemistry set and a trip to a mineral mine, it didn't even require a trip to the store. I already had all of the ingredients in my cabinets and I bet you do too.

1 Tablespoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
2 Tablespooncream of tartar

Mix together and store in an airtight container. I put mine in a tiny (clean)  glass jar that had once held plum jam.

Apparently most commercially produced baking powder contains aluminum. I'm not sure what ingesting aluminum will do to you, but my gut says it's probably not great whatever it is, so this is a good way to insure you're keeping that out of your system.

Marinara Sauce

I made a marinara sauce tonight for the second time. I made this same recipe about a week ago and it was so delicious and fresh tasting that I kept eating it by the spoonful when I was trying to put it away. Tonight I just made it after dinner to use up some carrots and celery that were on the verge of going off, so I haven't actually tasted it yet, but I am hopeful that it is just as good. I found the recipe on the food network website. It's a Giada di Laurentis recipe. She's Italian, so I'm thinking it's reasonably authentic and she's very upbeat and smiley, which drives my brother Mike crazy, but I don't mind it.

I have encountered chunky marinara with carrots and celery before, in fact I think I have even improvised sauces in the past with green peppers, carrots, onions and tomatoes when I have not had a jar of sauce on hand, but I have always thought of marinara as a catch all name for tomato-based pasta sauce. I'm still unclear as to whether that is the case, or if "Spaghetti Sauce", the traditional Ragu style tomato puree with garlic, basil and oregano would be considered something different. What I have learned is that marinara sauce originated with sailors in Naples in the 16th century, after the Spaniards introduced them to the tomato. The word marinara is derived from marinaro, which is Italian for “of the sea.” Because of this, many people believe it includes some type of fish or seafood. However, marinara sauce loosely translates as “the sauce of the sailors,” because it was a meatless sauce extensively used on sailing ships before modern refrigeration techniques were invented. Because the high acid content of the tomatoes and the absence of any type of meat fat resulted in a sauce which would not easily spoil, marinara sauces were particularly appealing to the cooks on these ships.

I'm reprinting the recipe just as Giada wrote it, but I think you can take quite a bit of liberty with it. For instance, the first time I made it I had no celery. This time I used three garlic cloves, because I like a lot of garlic and three carrots because I needed to use all of them and they were small. I think next time I will add green peppers. You could also do crushed red-pepper, I might do that with a serving when I reheat it. It's very nice with polenta, as well as pasta and quite good all on it's own.

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 small onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

2 dried bay leaves

In a large casserole pot, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, and 1/2 teaspoon of each salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and bay leaves, and simmer uncovered over low heat until the sauce thickens, about 1 hour. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Season the sauce with more salt and pepper, to taste. (The sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, then cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over medium heat before using.)

Sehr gute Kartoffeln

My parents were married in Offenback, Germany and lived there for the first year of their marriage. In the square outside their apartment there was a man who came everyday and sold potatoes out of the back of a van. "Sehr gute Kartoffeln! Ein mark zwanzig!" He would call out. This means "Very good potatoes! One mark, twenty!"

Everyone in my family uses this expression whenever discussing good potatoes. It is the one German phrase we feel confident using. I know a few other niceties, yes, no, please, thank you, some numbers... but none of that is as useful as a phrase for very good potatoes, and today I have for you a recipe for Sehr gute Kartoffeln indeed.

I found this recipe on the blog Chocolate & Zucchini, which is written by Clothide Dusoulier who edited the English version of my current cookbook obsession, I Know How to Cook. She found the recipe on the blog of her friend Pascale, who got the recipe from her British mother-in-law. These potatoes dispute the argument that the Brits don't know good food. Pascale's blog is in French, and while I know a bit more than "trés bonne pommes de terre" in French, I don't quite trust myself to follow French instructions properly. I run into more than my share of recipe misunderstandings in English.

So here it is, a brilliant little secret passed around Western Europe and United States that will make your roasted potatoes crispy on the outside and soft and delicious on the inside.

Preheat the oven to 410º F

You can use any kind of potatoes you choose. I used Yukon Gold. If you use something with a rough skin, like a russet, you will probably want to peel them. If the skin is smooth, you can just scrub all the dirt off and peel alternate stripes, leaving them half-peeled. Then cut the potatoes into bite sized chunks. Place them in a saucepan large enough to accommodate them, cover with cold water, and add a teaspoon coarse salt. Set over high heat, cover, bring to a low boil, then lower the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.

Once the water is boiling and the oven pre-heated put a baking sheet with about 2 tablespoons of oil, or whatever type of fat you would like to use for roasting in the oven, so the fat and baking sheet will heat up.

After the 5 minutes of boiling, drain the potatoes and return them to the saucepan. Place a lid on the saucepan. Holding the lid firmly shut with both hands (the saucepan will be hot, so wear oven mitts or use dish towels), shake the saucepan vigorously for a few seconds, until the surface of the potato chunks is fuzzy; this will help the formation of a crust.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven, pour the potatoes onto the sheet, sprinkle with sea salt, and stir well to coat with the fat.

Return to the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, flipping the potatoes halfway through, until cooked through, crusty, and golden. If you want a little more color on them, you can switch to grill mode for the final few minutes.

Serve immediately.

White Sauce (Sauce Blanche)

This is also from I Know How to Cook (Je Sais Cuisiner), my new Frenchie cookbook. This is the most basic roux-based sauce, sort of the very base of French cooking.

2 heaping tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
Generous 2 cups hot water (I just noticed this says "hot" water, I don't know if it made a big difference, but I used cold)
Salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pan. Stir in flour and cook for 2-3 minutes to form a paste. (I think I had the heat up too high, because once the butter melted it kind of started to boil right away, and when I put the flour in it got lumpy right away.) Gradually add the hot water, stirring all the time to prevent lumps from forming. (I managed to get all the lumps out using a whisk) Simmer for 10 minutes. Since the absorbency of flours can vary, it is difficult to specify the exact quantity of liquid needed, so add just enough water to achieve the required consistency (which is what?). Season with salt and pepper.

It turned out fine, but it was not as if I could close my eyes and feel transported to Burgundy by the taste of it.

Celery Root with Cream (Céleri-Rave a la Creme)

I had never seen and only vaguely heard of celery root before last month. I was in the supermarket in Omaha with my mom and we saw this crazy looking thing on the shelves.

I am always intrigued by new vegetables, but we already had our hands full with the Christmas cooking and everyone having the flu and not eating anyway, so I passed it up for the time being. Then when I returned home I came across it again at my local Figueroa Produce, so I snapped it up and thought I'd figure out what to do with it once I got home. An attack of laziness and outside dining engagements caused the poor root to languish in my fridge for almost a week. Finally last night I found a recipe in my new Frenchie cookbook that called for ingredients that I had on hand (mostly). It was not spectacular, it tasted like a potato that had been doused in celery essence, but the consistency is more like a parsnip. However, I think it would have been crisper and better if it hadn't been left to get rubbery in the refrigerator for so long. Also, there are other recipes that are more ambitious and probably better, but I didn't want to go to the store again... so this is what I got. It went nicely with leftovers of roast chicken and some steamed green beans.

1 pound 10 ounces celery root (again, I don't have a scale. I had one medium sized celery root. I imagine it weighed about a half pound)
1 quantity White Sauce
Generous 1/3 cup creme fraîche (I still don't have this, so I used cream)

Peel and cut the celery root into wedges or thin slices, tossing with lemon juice to prevent discoloration. Place in salted water, then bring to a boil and cook for 10-20 minuts or until tender, depending on the size of the pieces. (It took about 10 minutes for chunks of one celery root to achieve tenderness) 

Prepare the White Sauce, add the creme fraîche and coat the cooked celery root with it.

Leek Puree (Purée de Poireaux)

This recipe is from the new cookbook I got for Christmas, I Know How to Cook by Ginette Mathiot. It sounds better in the original French, Je Sais Cuisiner. This is "the Bible of French home cooking since 1932" and it was published in English for the first time this year. Cookbook author Clotilde Dusoulier helmed the effort to bring the French answer to Joy of Cooking to the U.S. after all this time. It's a beautiful book and full of information at 975 pages. So far I have only tried two recipes, this being one of them. Everything is very French, lots of Gruyere cheese and creme fraîche. I have been comparing it alongside my Mastering the Art of French Cooking and it has many of the same recipes, but they are generally more straightforward and updated. Anyway, the Leek Purée was a perfect accompaniment to the Beef Stew and rather simple to make.

12 leeks, sliced (Actually I only had 8 and it worked out fine)
1 pound 2 ounces potatoes chopped (I don't have a food scale, so I guessed... I used two very large Yukon gold potatoes. Everything in this cookbook is in weight, so I guess I need to get one.)
Salt
Generous 3/4 cup creme fraîche (I didn't have any, nor did I have 24 hours to make it out of buttermilk and cream, so I just used cream.)


Cut the green upper part of (this can be reserved for use in soups and stews) and keep the white part. Cut off any damaged leaves, then slice and wash very carefully to remove any soil trapped between the layers. (There is always soil between the layers). Place in boiling salted water and boil, uncovered for about 8 minutes. Then add the potatoes, reduce the heat and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. When the potatoes are tender, drain thoroughly and process the leeks and potatoes in a food processor to make a smooth purée. Season with salt , stir in creme fraîche and serve.

Beef Stew

I wrote this entire post yesterday and lost it, so you will have to imagine how clever and witty it was because I don't think I can repeat the magic. I have made this Beef Stew recipe twice since New Years. It is quite delicious and satisfying as a winter meal. The first time I just served it with a salad of mixed baby greens from my garden, avocado, pomegranate seeds and red onion. The second time I served it over Leek and Potato puree. (This was actually DR's brilliant idea. I made the puree and then had no idea what to do with it.) It was perfect! The puree gave the soup some extra body and made it more filling, and the soup gave a savoury-ness to the puree that was much needed... a puree like that is too rich and bland to eat too much on it's own.

I got this recipe from the book Cleaving the second book by Julie Powell of Julie & Julia fame.  By virtue of it being her lesser known work the wait for it at the library was shorter than for Julie & Julia, so I read it first. For Ms. Powell's sake I would suggest not doing this. Cleaving is the story of her 6-month apprenticeship at a butcher shop in upstate New York. This part is fairly interesting as she learns how to debone a pig, make sausage, and hack through all manner of meat products. (Reading it did make for some unpleasantly meaty dreams when I was suffering from a brief stint with the flu over Christmas) But by far the more unsavory and nauseous element of this book is her overly detailed descriptions of her extended extra-marital affair, which she blames on the excess of free time and the email and text messaging mobile phone she acquired after the success of her first book and movie. First of all, it's annoying to listen to someone complain about how success has corrupted them, but now that I am reading the first book with the knowledge of the second book, it is pretty clear that the only thing keeping this histrionic narcissist from having an affair sooner was free time and an interested partner. She seems surprised by her behavior in the second book, but the first book is full of complaints about her husband, and jealousy over her single friends romantic conquests. For a book about food, it's an awful lot about sex. So she may be right in that her success gave her the opportunity to engage in behavior that a 40 hour a week job and a time-consuming cooking project didn't. Anyway, despite this being kind of a skeevy and not terribly well-written memoir, it did have some good recipes in it, and I'm not going to let the source taint the food.

I have made some adaptations to this recipe. For instance I am using more vegetables, because I found it to be too meaty the first time (which is really saying something). And I make it in the slow cooker, rather than in the oven. I think it's safer for this kind of thing because when things cook for hours it's easy to forget about them. So here is my version.

3 lbs stew meat cut in chunks (The chunks in the meat from Trader Joes that I get are usually too big, so I cut them in half)
1/2 cup flour in a shallow bowl
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus some more (or however much you think you need)
1 large onion sliced into thin half moons
1 head of garlic, minced
6 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch rounds
6 stalks of celery, finely sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh thyme
2 cups red wine
1 1/4 cups beef stock (Ingredients: Organic Beef Stock (Water, Organic Beef) Organic Beed Flavor Base (Organic Roasted Beef Including Beef Juices, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Beef Flavor, Organic Onion Powder, Sea Salt, Organic Canola Oil, Organic Caramel Color, Organic Garlic Powder, Organic Black Pepper, Organic Paprika, Natural Flavor), Sea Salt, Organic Garlic Powder) I 've had this beef broth in my cabinet since before the project began. It's amazing that I've still got stuff like this, but it came in handy since Beef Stock is something I am very intimidated about making. There is enough left for one more stew I think...yikes.
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste

Dry the stew meat with paper towels and toss them lightly with the flour until evenly dusted. On the stovetop, brown the meat in batches in the olive oil over high heat.
Once all the meat has been browned remove it to the slow cooker, add the beef broth, wine and tomato paste, cover and turn the cooker to the low setting.
On the stovetop, turn the heat down to medium, add some more oil to the same pan, and throw in the vegetables and thyme. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often, until vegetables are softened.
Then add the vegetables to the slow cooker and add salt and freshly ground pepper generously. Cover and walk away for as many hours as you can. If you need to eat the stew in the next two hours, I suggest turning the heat up to high, but if you can avoid it, leave it on low. Around here people are used to eating meals very late, and often much later than they were originally told, but your house might run more like a train, I don't know.

Brother's Bacon for Christmas Brunch

This post was posted by my older brother PBC:

For the Do it your self Christmas meal my assignment was bacon for the morning brunch.
Now I had not given a lot of thought to where bacon comes from prior to this project, earlier in my life when I was more curious and slightly more gullible had I asked my Grandpa Barrett, "I get ham and pork come from parts of a pig but where does bacon come from?" and he told me it was from the curly tail of the pig I took that at face value (i mean it is curly after you fry it) so I never really thought of the origin of bacon again, untill now. 
I am not much for the Internet research on activities such as this, I usually like to do things my own way and hope they turn out, however in this case I did need some kind of direction as I did not even know what cut of meat to ask the butcher for.  Luckily my sister colleen provided me with a couple of recipes and the main ingredient called for was pork belly.  I went to the local independent grocery store, they have an excellent butcher shop.  I told them of my plan for making bacon and they were all quite impressed but did not have pork belly so I had to special order it.  The recipe called for 2 1/2 lbs skin on, but i thought I would need more for the large group and left overs (the recipe said the uncooked should keep for two weeks) I ordered 4 lbs at $3.99 a pound it was about 16 dollars however they did not have "skin on"  I dont know if that affected the overall product very much or not.  The butcher said it would be in a few days, so I picked it up and then went to a Creighton Bluejays game with Brother John after the game John and I made a dry rub in the coffee grinder using

5 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons peppercorns
3 bay leaves
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoon fennel seed
2 teaspoon caraway seed
2 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoon dried thyme

This is used to "brine" the meat.  we cut the pork belly in two and rubbed it down generously with the rub, then put it in the plastic bag to begin the brineing process.  The instructions called for 7 days turning daily but we only had six, I don't think that was a big issue.  Also on the last day I was to wash the meat and cover for 24 more hours however I on cleaned it off the brine with a clean towel and covered it for 12 hours (this may account for the "extra salty" taste).  On Christmas eve morning the plan was to get the smoker going outside and smoke the bellys for 2 to 2 1/2  hours, unfortunately mother nature and my flu symptoms did not allow for that plan so I had to cook in the oven at 200 for 2 hours.  Brother John picked up the cooked meat took it back to the local butcher where it was sliced into "real Bacon"  The family enjoyed it Christmas morning, unfortunatly i was unable to enjoy but there were good reviews from the not sick and not quite so sick.

The bacon did keep for two weeks and I was able to cook up the leftovers this weekend all in all it was a tasty adventure!