mindful

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’.

Inspired by my translation from an Italian dish Bill Buford shares in his book Heat, An Amateur’s Adventures as a Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta Maker & Apprentice to a Dante Quoting Butcher in Tuscany  Last night I boiled up, steamed, sweated & sauteed:

Butternut squash ravioli topped with grated zucchini which I sweated with sauteed garlic, a knob of good butter & honey, a sprinkle of my Autumn, RhODy blend of Salt of D Earth and micro-planed Parmesan cheese

Ingredients: 

Butternut squash ravioli

Olive oil

Garlic – 3 dents thinly sliced

Zucchini -1 large or 2 medium – skin grated off.

Butter – 2 T

Honey – 3 T

Seasoned salt – pinch

What to do:

I used the Union Market produced fresh butternut squash ravioli & they were wonderful. 2 dozen to the box.  I serve 6 ravioli per person

1 very large or 2 medium zucchini well washed because you’re going to  grate the skin off. This way is visually a bit more pleasing because of the green skin vs it mostly being the while pulp. When I make the dish for myself I grate the whole zucchini. 

Get a pot of well salted water up to a rolling boil. Add the ravioli & cook to your liking or as directed: most likely 5-7 minutes for fresh 8-10 minutes for frozen.

With the zucchini skin grated get a pan good & hot. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan w/enough oil to infuse the oil with the garlic not letting it get brown. Add the grated zucchini.  Saute over a medium heat, again trying to avoid getting any color other than the natural color of the zucchini & garlic.

When the zucchini has softened, which could take a good 4 minutes add a good knob of butter & swirl of honey or at least 2-3 tablespoons. Incorporate well. Turn off the heat.

Plate 4-6 ravioli, top with the zucchini mixture, grate some Parmesan on & a little freshly ground pepper. I love the mixture of red, green & black fresh ground pepper & ENJOY.

Belissimo!

I couldn’t get on that (Cape Air) 8 seat Cessna  fast enough to make my pilgrimage to Nantucket for the Opera House Cup & a friend’s annual Birthday celebration. I’m fortunate to have another dear friend, an artist I collaborate with who opens his ‘Sconset home to me, The Seldom Inn when I’m lucky enough to get on the island. Everything about the island, the sun, the wind, the light, the scenery, the friends, the food, everything is inspiring to me here. Nantucket is the the place I go to empty the vessel, shift into neutral & take time to listen to silence & contemplate a dance of dappling sun on a weather shingled wall.

Because I would be helping sail a boat back to Newport following the Opera House Cup race I couldn’t bring myself to beg to get on a racing boat at the skippers meeting Sunday morning so instead I went to the in town Stop & Shop to get staples for the few days I’d be around. I picked up a half dozen eggs, a bottle of olive oil, an onion, a baguette, 2 ears of corn, 4 red bliss potatoes & an avocado.

On Sunday I made a Dlicious Spanish Tortilla and pimenton aioli which I have a blog entry & recipe for on the site here already but the dish I created Monday morning is what I’m going to share here now – A summer breACKfast bread pudding.

What I used:

1/3 a day old baguette w/the crust removed & cubed

Scrambled 3 eggs, 1 C of whole milk & 3 T of cold water

1 ear of corn from the cob

Sweat 1/2 a white onion

I began by scrambling the (3) eggs with about 1 cup of whole milk & 3 T of cold water – 1 T for each of the eggs then tossed the cubed bread into the egg mixture. After soaking the cubed bread with the crust still on in the egg mixture for about 10 minutes I realized the bread would soak up the limited egg batter I had & the dish would taste & look better and be that much more delicate to eat if  the crust was removed so I went ahead and tediously sliced & scraped the crust off of the soaked cubes with a medium sized serrated knife. My advice: remove the crust in a few long slices from the gitgo. In the picture here you’ll see the crust still on the baguette.   Then I removed the corn from one ear, again w/a serrated knife into a bowl with the hope to aid in capturing the corn liquid.  Then I diced half a white onion and quickly sweat the corn & onions in what little liquid I had from the corn & a splash of olive oil & a good pinch of my RhODy,  August blend, Salt of D Earth blend. After about 5 minutes I poured this on top of the soaking bread in the egg mixture, stirring gently.

Pop this in the preheated 375° oven for at least 30 minutes.

Taking a friend’s critique to heart after she watched my Sardinian Lunch ‘episode’ that I’d lost sight of what Recipe$ 4 Survival stands for. What is the ‘survival’ aspect of Recipe$ 4 Survival? I knew she was right. SO, with this in mind & heart I’ve gone full force, back to basics, to prepare a health supportive, nutrient rich meal.

I set out to make a kale salad w/toasted walnuts, mint & a peanut dressing served with a baked sweet potato topped w/baked beans.

Each of these ingredients are hugely rich in nutrients, anti-oxidants, vitamins & minerals while the molasses which is featured in both the peanut dressing & the baked beans is high in iron, calcium & magnesium all needed to maintain good bone health & digestion as well as aiding to lower blood pressure with a very low glycemic count.

Carrots & onions which are called for in the baked beans are also nutrient rich foods.

By the time I tried to shoot this piece for the THIRD time, I steamed the sweet potato rather than baking it which I did the first time I video taped this episode because I was also baking the beans.

For the finished piece on youtube I topped the steamed sweet potato slices with about a 1/4 C of warmed all organic baked beans from Trader Joe’s, enhanced w/molasses, mustard, balsamic ketchup & Worcestershire sauce – each of the ingredients already in the baked beans.

I found the kale to be bloody expensive & I could not find the dark, flat leaf lacinato kale readily available in my neighborhood so I used chicory, which is a very nutrient rich food – in the endive family. I read that Egyptians consumed a great deal of chicory because it was believed to aid in detoxifying the liver. The head of chicory I bought was just beautiful, organic & it cost less than $3.

This salad is made by first going through the head of chicory with a rough chop, then washing it in cold water, then chopping it again more finely. Again, I roughly chopped the walnuts, toasted them off and a good amount of chiffonade mint. Chiffonade is when you roll up a few leaves of an herb, then cut across giving you fine ribbons of the leaves. If working with or eating chicory is scaring you off, go with the kale – the king of the nutrient rich foods but the salad can also be made with arugula or spinach.

All this and more can be seen in the piece I finally posted to youtube in honor of InDpendence Day.

Eat well & LIVE it UP!

Peanut Dressing recipe:

3 T Peanut butter or Tahini

1 T Molasses

1 T soy or Tamari sauce

4 or 5 peeled slivers of ginger – minced

1 t dried red chili flakes – I used more – you’ll see this in the video

3 T warm water or a splash of orange juice.

1 t of oil, sesame is great if you have it otherwise olive oil is just fine

The recipe that inspired me to make this salad & dressing calls to put all the ingredients in a blender but since I (almost) have an aversion to working with electronic equipment, I simply whisked the dressing & it came out just fine.