economical

April 8, 2014 By FoodD

Inspiring lunch

We started our scout for recreational parks in Bergen County, NJ on a cold, rainy, windy miserable Saturday but made our way back to the city via Red Hook, Brooklyn where one of the parks we wanted to scout is as well as a restaurant my friend insisted on taking me to lunch at the legendary, Ferdinando’s Focacceria.

On the edge of Carroll Gardens & Red Hook sits this vanishing breed of brick enveloped gem with rock solid wooden tables topped with speckled thick slabbed marble, glowing deco school style lights, an ogling case of steaming hotel trays & plates of menu items are in front of a grill similar to your typical short order diner, serves up rustic Italian/Sicilian home cooking at prices just about anyone can swallow & enjoy.

The tomato sauce and home style cooking is as warm & comforting as the visual surroundings. For appetizers we had a very simple flash fried calamari served with a lemon wedge & a small side Ferdinando’s signature chunky tomato sauce and a stuffed artichoke. I’ve had better stuffed artichokes but for $7 my nose was not wrinkling up. It was certainly fine. The entree that we shared, clearly a Pièce de résistance, was a traditional Sicilian dish of sardines, fennel & raisins on bucatini – a spaghetti like pasta with a hole through it – perfect for slurping up sauce.

A steaming, tangled mound of perfectly cooked pasta, the bucatini smothered in a refined tomato sauce,was gently slid before us. As we twirled in, small bits of sardine, melted fennel, sweet golden raisins & a smooth bite of pignoli filled my mouth and mind with so many varied flavors.

Not until I looked up a number of recipes for this dish did I realize what a perfect recipe for survival this dish is. Traditional, Italian home cooking; cooking with basic staples. All I’d need to pick up would be the fennel.

March 30, 2014 By FoodD

Gnocchi

I’ve written about & photographed how to make gnocchi since I began working on Recipes 4 Survival, so I’m talking nearly 10 years and not until I was searching through pics for an instagram contest did I realize I’ve never posted anything about how to make gnocchi.

So here we are, just days into Spring 2014. Everyone’s excited because the calendar is telling us it’s Spring but I’m paying that no mind & looking at the situation realistically, it’s still freezing or downright miserable weather so making gnocchi seems to be a perfect recipe 4 survival to share right about now.

With no qualms about firing up the oven, and the minimal cost for ingredients which no one should have to leave home to get. The only real expense to making gnocchis in the time because many would consider making them, labor intensive. I think it can be a satisfying thing to do on a cold grey Saturday or Sunday.

After reading countless recipes, what I recommend doing to make gnocchi that are not ‘sinkers’, meaning that they can resemble eating bullets, is to bake the potatoes for 45 minutes to an hour, remove the pulp from the skins, break it up, let it dry out, then put the dried potato pulp through a ricer adding as little flour as necessary to hold what will become your pasta dough together. Kneading the riced potato & flour helps to firm the dough, For beginners I highly recommend adding 1 gently beaten egg. That’s it for making the dough, then form a few balls, then coils, then cut 1 inch pieces

The trick is to have as little water or moisture in the mix/the potato & flour dough. I added a lightly scrambled egg to the sweet potato. Tom Colicchio, who’s recipe for gnocchi’s is one of the most highly touted, he does not use egg in his recipe but Giada does and hers are quite highly regarded too. A friend of mine who’s a chef mentioned the secret of adding corn starch when making gnocchi’s from sweet potatoes because they don’t have the starch white potatoes do.

By baking the potatoes which I do by washing them, rubbing them w/olive oil & piercing them w/a fork in a couple of places over the potato & tossing them straight into the oven. Another method is to bake them on a bed of salt. As long as you get a dry potato base to work with you’ll be fine. That’s why I don’t just boil them. If you’re in a rush and just want to try it, let me tell, many Italian Nonnas boil the potatoes & have gnocchi made in no time.

This is what it looks like when I’m in the midst of making gnocchi.

Then I sift about a cup of flour into each riced potato.

form the dough into a ball & begin to knead to build the gluten then pull off a good size chunk to begin forming segments that look like rope. You’ll then cut the dough rope into 1” pieces.

Roll these onto a fork – this helps to hold the sauce onto the gnocchi. SorrREE – I forgot to take a snap of this step in the recipe.

Boil the gnocchi’s off in well salted water for about 3 minutes. Serve with your favorite sauce – mine is an alfredo with mushrooms & peas or Parmesan, Maldon salt, cracked pepper, olive oil & parsley

February 21, 2014 By FoodD

Chandeleur Day – Crepe Fest, Fete & Feat

One of my besties, Isabelle is French. It was a Saturday and I was cranky. Bitching & moaning about this and that when Isabelle said, “You just better try and flip a crepe with your left hand tomorrow morning while holding a (gold) coin in your right hand. Its Chandeleur Day and this will bring prosperity to you in the new year. I’m going to do it.”

Even w/Isabelle’s explanation I went to Google to educate myself on this and then proceeded to whip up a crepe batter

1 C unbleached flour, 2 eggs, 2 C milk, a pinch of salt & 2 Tablespoons of melted butter.

Mix,(whisk, hand-mixer or a fork) all the ingredients listed above in a bowl then let the batter rest in the refrigerator for at least a half hour. I insisted on doing the first few crepes in my crepe pan which I have to admit I don’t think ever really seasoned properly but I wanted to use my crepe pan for this. Isabelle went off on what crap crepe pans are and that it’s OK to use a nonstick pan for this exercise. In place of a French gold coin I held my gold rings in my right hand when I tried to flip the crepe from the crepe pan. I did eventually switch to the non-stick pan and found myself making crepes for the next 2 days.

This picture is of my first crepe which I was able to sort of flip. It’s blurry because my fingers were a bit greasy.

Crepe batter freezes and Dfrosts well. Whip & flip some up. You’ll have fun and if you were in the woos, you’ll get out of them.

January 11, 2014 By FoodD

Herculean Savory Mushroom Bread Pudding

I took RhODy out in the aftermath of winter storm Hercules, the first named snow storm. Our destination the Tompkins Square dog park. Needless to say, it was a night in the park for toughies. A friend suggested meeting up for a drink at this cool 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 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 Mushroom 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: shiitake & 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.

December 28, 2013 By FoodD

Spanish Tortilla

The New York Times Dining/food section appeared at the end of my couch made bed in Tiburon, CA, Christmas Morning. What a great ‘issue’. The hazelnut crusted sable is top on my list to try when I return home as well as each of the Egg for Every Occasion recipes. Then, towards the back of the section, Melissa Clark’s piece on the Spanish Tortilla. I can’t help but to share my piece & recipe with you, which I must admit, I like very much and hope you will too. Video in the works.

I often pride myself on not being an addictive personality but the exact opposite is true when it came to, comes to, making & eating Spanish Tortilla, on this side of the pond. After stumbling upon an article raving about the food lover’s Williamsburg, over a year ago now, highlighting The Bedford Cheese shop & the sandwich shop, Saltie I began to plan my Williamsburg assault.

The Bedford Cheese shop is a gastronomic play land. A no brainer for any foodD to visit & relish. The Saltie menu of 7 sandwiches seem to take their inspiration from each of our earthly continents. They are thoughtfully created and curated if you will. I plunged, with way less restraint than anybody else in the tiny space, into the Spanish Armada, a perfectly made, chock full of potato Spanish tortilla on a half foot square of fresh focaccia topped with pimentón aioli. I cut the sandwich in half, Dvoured one half sitting at the counter and wrapped up the other half wich,(I like the pun here) I savored at home while researching how to make a Spanish tortilla. Knowing what I know now I’ll want a flotilla behind me in support of all the beautiful food I’m so inspired to make with these downright simple, earth bound foods.

My recipe yields are for 1-2 people as they’re usually tests. Most recipes call for twice the ingredients I work with.

Spanish Tortilla

You’ll need:

A non-stick pan, potatoes, salt, oil, eggs, onion, aioli or mayo and paprika. I forgot to include the bottle of olive oil in this picture and it should be because it’s the olive oil & seemingly large amount called for that ‘makes’ a proper Spanish Tortilla.

Most recipes call for 6-7 potatoes, any potato will do, russet, Idaho, Yukon, Bliss, to 5 eggs. Melissa Clark’s calls for 5 potatoes to 6 eggs. I used about 1 pound of small, tri-colored roasting potatoes I had around, half an onion diced and 3 eggs.

One of the key technique to making a Spanish Tortilla is how the potatoes are cut. Cut the potato in half, length-wise. With the flat side down on a cutting surface, slice across the top of the potato halves slices that are about 1/8” thick. No normal person would slice potatoes the size I used and truth be told, regular white potatoes look nicer and are far easier to work with. The tri- colored potatoes look exciting in the photos.

The onion is diced.

There are a number of cooking techniques that make a Spanish tortilla all that it is and not just a potato omelet.

1. The sliced potatoes and diced onions are salted and should be allowed to rest for 5-10 minutes before adding them to enough heated oil that they will be covered in the pan.

2. You cook the potatoes and onions in a good amount of oil for about 15-20 minutes, until they become tender but do not get any color.

3. The cooked potatoes & onions are then strained over a bowl, retaining the olive oil, then added to hand beaten or whisked eggs.

4. Mix the cooked potatoes, onions and egg mixture and pour this into the non-stick pan you cooked the potatoes, onions in.

A few recipes call for up to 2-3Cs of oil. I used just enough oil to cover the potato, onion mixture when spread evenly over the bottom of the pans surface. Cook the potatoes, onions until they can be split with a fork or spoon.

I then added the cooked potatoes, onions and oil to the beaten eggs. I mixed this well then poured it back into the pan that I melted about 1 Tablespoon of goat butter on to and a good amount of the reserved olive oil the potatoes & onions were cooked in.

A trick I learned is that the 1st minute of cooking time with the egg, potato, onion mixture must be very hot for the egg to not stick. Then you can cook the tortilla over a medium high heat until you see the edges pull away from the side of the pan. The middle will still be runny but when you can lift a side up and get a spatula well under it, it’s time to do the ol flip-a-roo Don’t fear it. Place a dinner plate over the top of the pan, stand over the sink and FLIP.

Put the pan back on the stove, heat for 20-30 seconds add a bit more oil and slide the tortilla back into the pan. Cook this for another 3-4 minutes, turn off the heat and let it sit for about 2 minutes before flipping it back onto a serving plate.

It’s highly likely the tortilla will split on the first flip. Worry not this is not the ‘presentation side’ and and once the tortilla is back in the pan all mistakes seem to work themselves out. You may also forego the flipping stage and finish the tortilla off in the oven, at 375 for 5-7 minutes.

The creme de la creme here is not the crema Catalana that I tried to make but the pimentón aioli. Fortunately it can be made quickly by adding paprika to good quality mayonnaise. I look forward to making the pimentón aioli from scratch. This is a true delicacy and comfort food at the same time. I feel it an appropriate share as 2013 which I know was tough for many comes to a close and a clean slate is before us as we approach the New Year.

December 8, 2013 By FoodD

Cranberry Meringues

You can’t tell me upon seeing the title for this entry and recipe you didn’t immediately break out singing, Prince’s “Raspberry Beret”.

I don’t want to scare you away but determined as I was, it took me 3, THREE attempts to get meringue making right so you’re guaranteed to have a smooth sail making these ethereal beauties.

Here’s the inspiration for Cranberry Meringues: My newly obsessed with Nantucket friend rented a car with her sight set on visiting the island (again) for a weekend. It happened to be the weekend the Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s holds their one day, annual Cranberry Festival fund raiser.

For dinner that night I served up two salt crusted red snappers, my secret special cranberry sauce, roasted veg & a fennel & orange salad and someone brought an apple,cranberry pie & ice cream. Cleaning up after dinner I looked over at 1/2 a bowl of seasoned soft peaked egg whites and the cranberry sauce I stashed away for another meal. I could eat my cranberry sauce on softly scrambled eggs, toast, ANYTHING. That was it. I folded the left over cranberry sauce into the left over egg whites and spooned the mixture on to a baking tray. An hour later we had ourselves a tray of uneatable meringues. I knew I’d be making cranberry meringues.

There are a number of factors to keep in mind that makes making meringues foolproof 1. The egg whites should be room temperature. 2. The sugar needs to be very fine.
3. Gradually add the sugar once you have the egg whites at a soft peak. 4. Warm the sugar in the 200° preheating oven. I did this after reading umpteen recipes one of which is Ottolenghi’s.

Adamant not to use white, castor or confectioner’s sugar I blended 1/2 cup of Florida Crystals on puree in my compact Cuisinart for about 20-30 seconds 4Xs then warmed the finely blended Florida Crystals on a baking tray with parchment in a 200° oven for about 10 minutes. I’m not sure this is so vital – as long as the sugar is very fine and added gradually once you’ve got soft peaks.

Simple format recipe for Cranberry Meringues

Preheated 200° oven
Baking pan with parchment paper or non stick
3 room temperature EGG WHITES
1/8 t creme of tartar
3/4 cup of warm, finely ground all natural sugar
1/2 – 1 C – cranberry sauce, dried cranberries, nuts, WHAT HAVE YOU

I hand whisked the room temperature egg whites & creme of tarter. If you have a stand blender with a whisk attachment – aren’t you lucky. I went at this with furor & determination with my trusty ol’ electric hand mixer I’ve had since college and the largest bowl I have which probably isn’t optimally large enough but I still I got meringues.

Once the egg whites have come to a soft peak gradually add the sugar, incorporating it each time until the sugar fully incorporated or dissolved. You’ll see stiffer peaks forming and the color & texture glisten.

Sprinkle or gently fold in what ever you’d like or work with the meringue as you would a blank canvas

With two spoons I dropped the meringues onto the parchment lined baking tray.
I popped that in the 200° preheated oven and kept the door ajar with a wooden spoon for 2 hours. Letting the meringues cool is also important.

The bottoms of this batch are sticking to the parchment but I think that’s because I didn’t use enough sugar. I wrote the recipe calling for 3/4 Cs of sugar. I used 1/2 C of sugar to 3 egg whites. The more sugar, the crispier the meringues. These are looking a bit chewy and marshmallow textured. Meringues are suppose to cool on a rack. I don’t have this. Let’s hope cooling them on a plate will help them firm up and ease getting them onto a plate or into a box. These are destined for my Thanksgiving Chanukah table with friends & family.

Let me tell ya. It’s a great bowl to lick.

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