Harvest feast - the menu
I’m almost always thinking about food. Sure there are hours that my brain is totally occupied with other thoughts, but as soon as possible, I’m back…thinking about that vivid orange Kabocha squash on the counter, or the pile of potatoes waiting to be transformed into something of this earth and yet not.
Obsessive? Probably…I admit that I feel an obligation to deal with food in the most satisfying, creative way possible. Ideally it should feed our physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and aesthetic appetites, and provide me with the opportunity to learn a new recipe or technique. That’s a lot to ask of food.
I’ve been contemplating the squash and potatoes all week and I’ve come up with a seasonal dinner that will feed all our appetites.
Harvest feast — October 6, 2007Kabocha soup with pork cheek and sage
Gnocchi with Hen of the Woods mushrooms
and sage butter sauceJordandal Farm’s grilled sirloin steak
Portobello mushrooms with gorgonzola cheese
and a balsamic reduction
I’ve never made gnocchi before and I don’t want to screw up like Dale did on TopChef’s finale (why the @!#% did Dale use a mixer to make gnocchi…I know nothing about making gnocchi but I’m sure that can’t be right) I found this fabulous video on RealMealsTV to teach me how to make light and fluffy gnocchis. Wish me luck. I’ll post photos and results by Tuesday.
Salmon en papillote
Cooking fish en papillote…oh excuse me…in parchment paper…is a classic, french method. Like so many other classic methods it has been widely written about on the internets, so I’m not going to drone on and on about it other than to say, if you haven’t tried this yet, you should. It’s easy, fun, and foolproof…even for me. The reason it’s classic is that it works so well. You don’t have to worry about flipping a piece of fish, or think about whether you need to start it skin side down or up (I can never, ever, remember that one).
Cooking in parchment paper allows you to make a little nest for your fish. You can arrange, fuss, season, and generally feel pretty damn good about what you’re doing. Then you fold the paper, slide it in a hot oven, and eat a beautiful dinner 20 minutes later. Yes, technically there is a specific folding technique one is supposed to execute…but perhaps that was relevant before staplers were invented…I’ve always invited office products into my kitchen and this is certainly a most appropriate use of a stapler.
So here’s my recipe…no words…because you know, a picture says…
There is only one thing to remember, build your parchement pack on the cookie sheet you’ll bake it on…otherwise you’ll have to move it.
Seeing red
I purchased 140 pounds of roma tomatoes and yesterday I processed them into 80 quarts of ground tomatoes and tomato halves to be used over the next year. Alex helped by riding with me to get the tomatoes and then loading and unloading them in and out of the van. GH helped me round up my supplies and made an emergency trip to the hardware store for canning domes. Powered by extra espresso and a well loaded iPod I managed to make short work of these babies and finished the job in 6 hours.
For those of you that haven’t canned tomatoes and are curious I’ll give you a quick overview of my technique*.
- Load dishwasher with jars and lids and run on the sanitize cycle with heated dry.
- Wash the tomatoes.
- Cut their heads off.
- If processing as ground tomatoes run them through the food processor, skin and all. Fill jars. Add a dash of lemon juice and salt.
- If processing as half tomatoes, cut them in half and stuff them into the jars and top off with a mixture of water, salt, and lemon juice.
- Clean the rims of the jars and place a hot dome lid on top of each. Screw on the ring.
- Using a steam canner load 7 jars in and bring to boil.
- Once you’ve got a good boil, set the timer for 30 minutes.
- When the timer goes off remove the jars, refill canner and process another batch.
*NOTE: my technique is not similar to the USDA or FDA methods or recommendations…I’ve done it this way for years with great success.
