Coffee break
Every afternoon at 2:45 I make myself an espresso or a double-shot latte. It is partly my addiction to caffeine and partly my love of the process. Some days it is the only time I take solely for myself. I have a Gaggia Carezza espresso machine. It is on the lowest end of their product line and I’m sure that I’ve more than paid for it in the amount of money I haven’t spent at Barriques, our local coffee joint.
I usually don’t have cookies with my coffee, but I’ve been inspired by Epifurious and Alpineberry to try my hand with their favorites. Both are delicious and will now be part of my cookie repertoire. My gingersnaps look nothing like Epifurious’ picture, my dough may have been too cold as I chilled it 24 hours. But they do taste great. What is your favorite cookie?
Asian soul food
The first picture is of Sunday’s dinner. Roasted pork loin, basmati rice, and salad with carrots and romanesco. It was a good dinner. I cooked the pork loin in a fruity beer from the New Glarus Brewery and I had hoped to make a sauce from the pan drippings but the beer wasn’t the right flavor for a sauce. I’ll admit it, I spent some time in the late afternoon playing video games with the boys on the Nintendo Wii and my options for sauce making were limited by my lack of time. I serve Maile dijon mustard and Sweet Baby Ray BBQ sauce on the side.
But I fully redeemed myself today with a perfect batch of Asian soul food. Pork stir-fry, baby bok choy, Nishiki rice, and pot stickers. Here’s the recipe:
Fresh ginger minced, about 1″ x 1″ chopped fine
3 large cloves of garlic, chopped fine
2 onions sliced into thin wedges (vertical slice)
5 or 6 heads of baby bok choy
Leftover pork, sliced into matchstick pieces
1/4 cup tamari
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon Maggi seasoning
Combine 1/2 of the garlic and ginger with tamari, rice vinegar, sesame oil, brown sugar, and the Maggi seasoning. Mix this up and add the pork to it and let it rest while you prepare the onion and bok choy. When everything is chopped put the rice on to cook, start the pot stickers (they are frozen, just follow the instructions), and heat a large skillet up. Add 2 tablespoons canola oil to the skillet and add the pork and the sauce. Cook that for a bit until it browns up and is well heated and the sauce has reduced some. Add the onion, the remaining garlic and ginger, and the bok choy. Stir-fry this for a few minutes until the bok choy is done. Serve it up, eat it and feel good.
JenEhr Farm and the turkey
Yesterday we went to pick up our American Bronze Heritage Turkey from JenEhr Family Farm. It was a dark, windy, day and I thought it might possibly snow. When we arrived at the farm several others were there to pick up their turkey and a fall storage share. JenEhr does CSA produce shares as well as raising fine chickens and turkeys.
The turkeys were frozen and piled up in a large container and when our turn came Paul asked me what size I wanted. I said that I had ordered a small bird, that we wanted one no larger than 12 pounds or so. Paul laughed and said, “well here’s the thing, the turkeys are kinda big this year, I think my smallest may be 18 pounds.” In early August Paul thought the turkeys weren’t big enough because they weren’t eating their feed. But what was really happening was that he had let them pasture freely within a large area that was fenced to keep out the coyotes. Paul said he would go several days without seeing the turkeys and then when he would go look for them he might find them and he might not. But they were eating, and eating well because the average was almost 30 pounds. We ended up getting half a turkey and at 13 pounds that will be more than enough.
That’s the thing about buying food directly from the farmer; you never know what you’ll get and you have to be prepared to roll with it. I’m sure the turkey will be delicious and I’m certain it’ll be even more so because we know where it came from and how happy it was. i love the connection to our food that buying from the farm provides.
I also got some celeraic, the vegetable shown in the title banner of this blog. I will make an amuse bouche of celeraic soup for our Thanksgiving feast. I first had a soup like this at Harvest Restaurant in Madison and have since recreated it several time. The flavor of celeraic is so unique, sorta like celery but not really. This soup functions perfectly as an amuse bouche and also works well served with turkey sandwiches the next day. Although it contains cream and is rich it does come off lighter on the palate than a mushroom soup. Beets will also make an appearance at our table in the form of Alton Brown’s pickled beets. I’m a huge fan of pickled beets and I think they make a lovely counterpoint to what can be a heavy meal. The recipes are below.
Celeraic Soup
2 shallots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 medium to large celeraics, peeled
chicken stock
heavy cream
salt and pepper
butter
Peel the celeraic by slicing one end off flat. Rest the flat end on your cutting board and use your hand to keep it steady. With a good chef’s knife slice down the side of the celeraic removing all the rough outer layer. Repeat all the way around and then slice off the other end. Cut it up into 1/2″ cubes.
Heat a 5 quart pan over a medium flame. I use a Le Creuset 5 quart chefs pan. Add some butter and the shallots and celery. Cook until the shallot is translucent. Add the celeraic and salt and pepper and add stock to cover. Cover and cook on medium until the cleraic is tender. Allow this to cool and process into a smooth puree in a blender or food processor. When time to serve add the heavy cream and perhaps more stock until you have the consistency you wish. Season with salt and pepper. I’ll serve this in espresso cups with a leaf of parsley as garnish.
Alton Brown’s Pickled Beets
Roasted Beets, recipe follows
1 large red onion, frenched
1 cup tarragon wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
Remove the skin from the Roasted Beets and slice thinly. Arrange in 1-quart jars alternating layers with the onion. In a small pot boil the rest of the ingredients and pour over the beets. Tightly lid the jars and place in the refrigerator for 3 to 7 days before serving.
Roasted Beets:
6 medium beets, cleaned with 1-inch stem remaining
2 large shallots, peeled
2 sprigs rosemary
2 teaspoons olive oil
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large bowl toss all of the ingredients. Place into a foil pouch and roast in the oven for 40 minutes.
