Archives for October 2014

October 29, 2014 By FoodD

Sunday cleaning Bread Soup

Half a baguette fell out of the fridge onto the floor cracking into various pieces when I went in for my routine Sunday morning refrigerator ‘clean’. For a minute I thought, I’ll just make it into breadcrumbs so I opened the freezer to get the container I keep breadcrumbs in when I was stared down by a bag of pre-washed, chopped lacinato/dinosaur kale
I had left over from a private home Dlivery meal I did a few weeks back & a ziplock bag of my good karma baked beans – I’d say at least 2 cups worth.

In the flash of a minute I changed gears and my stale baguette was now destined to be a bread soup. A soup I’ve never made before so I looked up a couple of recipes and I was off. No way was I going to waste a good can of tomato paste or fresh herbs on this. I pumped up what I had with basic staples & used only ingredients that needed finishing off.

Here’s what I did:

The frozen baked beans went into a pot over a medium flame,

4 handfuls of the frozen kale, finished the bag off. Then I added 1/2 a medium diced onion I had left over from the Spanish Tortilla I made yesterday morning, rough chopped a dents of garlic then I added about 2 cups of salted water I had in a pot I soft boiled my morning’s egg in. I stirred this all about then broke bits of the stale baguette into these ingredients.

Once the ingredients in the pot started to look like soup I then began to make it into something sweeping through various savored conDiments that were in need of being finished off. First I began w/ a sprinkle of Fall Equinox, Salt of D Earth, 2 or 3 Tablespoons of Susie’s Pineapple Pleasure Hot Sauce – The Caribbean Taste – I finished the bottle off and then the last 1/2″ of De Nigris Balsamic Ketchup, the bottle I’ve savored this since getting it last year in Toronto during the film festival & a shake of Worcestershire Sauce.

Then a good through mix again, turned the heat down lower and let it all simmer over a low heat for a good half hour before turning the heat off and making my way with my pup into the depths of China Town for vegetable soup dumplings.

October 23, 2014 By FoodD

Herculean Bread Pudding

I took RhODy out in the aftermath of winter storm Hercules, the first named snow storm. Our destination was the Tompkins Square dog park. Needless to say, it was a night in the park for toughies. A friend from the park suggested meeting up for a drink at this cool new place on Avenue C – after we got our pups home & settled in.

We met up at ABC Beer Co . I was a bit cold shouldered when I heard the name of the place he suggested on top of being freezing cold because I’m not really a beer drinker but my friend, knowing I’m foodD did not lead on that I would really enjoy the place. What I found when I opened the door of a pretty industrial looking place under an awning was a hip & trendy space that serves crafted beers as well as being purveyors of fine cheeses, artisanal condiments, & cured meats. The place is great. It’s roomy, good music, not to loud with a very friendly and knowledgeable staff, but the big find is that they sell day old or late night bread for half price or less. So after drinking a very nice beer and sharing a great conversation I walked off with two loafs of bread for $2.50. One of the loafs I knew was destined for a savory bread pudding. Here’s an iDea of what I did to make what I’m calling Herculean Savory Bread Pudding:

I went a bit over board for ones standard mushroom bread pudding, meticulously prepping a wide variety of vegetables but here ya go. Do with this what you may.

INGREDIENTS:

A day old/late loaf of peasant sour dough – crust removed & cubed

Fennel, brussels sprouts, mushrooms: shitake & cremini, & leeks

I prepped all the ingredients, cubed, shaved, sliced, washed clean, scrambled, 4 eggs with 1/34 C scalded whole milk, mixed & then baked at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Then I began by warming enough olive oil to coat the bottom of my pan, a dash of Salt of D Earth – RhODY blend, & 4 smashed & roughly chopped garlic cloves. Then in went the fennel, then the shaved brussels sprouts, mushrooms then the leeks.

Add the sautéd veg mixture to the cubed bread, pour on the egg mixture & mix.

Then I put a ‘layer’ of the egg soaked, bread and sautéd veg in a Pyrex loaf dish & shaved some Parmesan cheese on that & a layer of the sautéd veg, then another layer of the egg soaked, bread and sautéd veg.

Put in the 375 degree oven. I baked for it 40 minutes tho I tried a piece at 30 minutes. This is the 30 minute sample

This is the 40 minute sample

I then indulged myself by whipping up my secret special cranberry sauce.

Try it, try making a savory bread pudding. You don’t have to make it Herculean style, I swear, you’ll not only like it, you’ll love.

October 17, 2014 By FoodD

Farm to Table, High Holiday Break Fast

Yom Kippur XX14

In anticipation of the Yom Kippur wknd Thursday night I wanted to test a recipe for garlic panna cotta which I envisioned serving napoleon style if you will with a layer of thinly sliced baby heirloom tomatoes in the middle & on top, served on a bed of frisée topped with a balsamic vinaigrette when my Cuisinart duet combination food processor & blender crapped out.

After learning from Cuisinart Customer Service Thursday night that even with my 3 year warranty I’d have to submit a sales receipt, box the equipment up, pay to ship it and then see what the repair would cost had me in quite the huff Friday morning. I brought the unit back to Broadway Panhandler to explain how ludicrous I thought all this was and left the unit behind. In haste I purchased a 3.5 cup Kitchen-Aid food processor for less than $40.

To calm myself I went to the Union Square Farmers Market where I purchased the earthly gems pictured above then went to East Village Cheese where I purchased 3 different 1/2 pound pieces of cheddar cheese, a piece of pistachio halvah & some pepperdews.

By the time I got home, straightened up a bit & made it to a 4PM meeting at The East Village Standard I skidded into Kol Nidre services, on an empty stomach.

Following the Yom Kippur Musaf service Saturday, during the much needed break because I had been sitting in temple in cold damp clothes due to the mornings deluge, I took a hot bath and then went at making my break fast meal. Not wishing to use any electronic equipment I made my favorite warm & soothing, ultimate comfy food macaroni & cheese! To make this mac & cheese a bit special I incorporated 4 beautifully diced green zebra tomatoes into the mix. I left one of the tomatoes raw which I diced and used as a garnish. Let me assure you, I’ve never had macaroni & cheese for Yom Kippur so there’s no sentimental connection. This was made for sheer comfort.

When I got home I put the casserole of mac & cheese in the oven while I blanched and sautéed fingerling potatoes, sliced delicate squash, baby carrots & onion. SO gOOd.

Because I’m fanatic about using only organic, semolina duram wheat pasta, I buy it whenever I see it. Sometime ago, I can’t remember where but I picked up a bag of Chiocciole – pasta shells that look like large snails. The brand I used Montebello

cooks off beautifully and holds it’s shape even after much tossing and mixing.

I recently read a food blog that declared Martha Stewart’s macaroni & cheese recipe the best. Even though I took a look at the recipe I immediately started making changes to the recipe so it would work for me. MS’s recipe calls for making croutons which will be toasted on top. I didn’t have the fix’ns for this but I did have a few small packages of scavenged, left over oyster crackers so this is what I used for the topping. I put the oyster cracker in a brown paper bag and crushed them w/a rolling pin. They came out PERFECT. I poured the cracker crumbs into a bowl, drizzled olive oil over them then seasoned w/the RhODy blend of Salt of D Earth. MS’s recipe yield is 12, mine yields 4.
To make macaroni & cheese, which should take no more than 20 minutes is: bring the pasta to a boil, make a bechamel/white sauce, stir grated cheeses (& various other ingredients as you may wish) into the mix, bake and serve. That’s it.

Ingredients:

oyster crackers for the topping

2 Ts butter and 1 T of olive oil

2-3 Ts of flour
2 Cs milk – warmed
(3) Cs of various cheddar cheeses – grated

1/2 # of cooked macaroni, elbows are traditional, fusilli are fun, OMG any pasta, farfalle, etc

What I did:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

I made the oyster cracker crumb topping tossed with olive oil & Salt of D Earth top first

Seasoned cheese sauce

Melt the butter and olive oil. You may also use all olive oil. When the butter bubbles whisk in the flour. Cook for about a minute. Slowly add the warm milk to the roux – the butter & flour mixture and a white cream sauce will be made.

Remove the pan from the heat. Season with salt, pepper, Salt of D-Earth, nutmeg and cayenne pepper are often called for. I put a splash of Outerbridge’s Original Sherry Pepper Sauce then whisked in the various grated cheeses.

Cook about a 1/2 pound of pasta in boiling salted water until the pasta is al dente – slightly under cooked. It’s always wise to retain a cup or so of pasta cooking liquid, then drain. Rinse under cold water, pour into the creamy cheese sauce, mix and stir gently. If you have ‘added extras’ now is when to incorporate them. Use the pasta water if you feel your sauce is to creamy and you’d like it a bit thinner.

Pour the mixture into a casserole or bake in an oven proof pan. Sprinkle the cracker or whatever topping you choose along with any remaining cheese you may have. Bake until browned on top, about 25 minutes.

I advise letting the dish cool but if you can’t wait, be advised the dish is bubbling hot.

Serve this with a green salad, maybe a glass of wine and I think you’ll have yourself a really memorable ‘recipe 4 survival’.

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