Symphony in Speed Minor

So Sunday Busy Sunday...
Well, not as busy as it could have been, but definitely busier than last Sunday. I have discovered one of my many quirks, it only happens when I'm plating. I hum when I get busy. Specifically I hum classical music. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto 1, Beethoven's 5th, when I get to Mozart's Magic Flute, I am starting to panic.
I'm slowly learning all the platings, and soon they will be reflex. Hopefully, soon I won't make it all the way to the Flute.
Have a good night everybody.

Vinegar Thrills

It’s not just for cleaning your windows anymore. Next time you’re at the supermarket, take a look at the vinegars there. Chances are you will see some new faces on the shelf. As American consumers become more food savvy than ever, we demand more than just white, cider and red wine vinegars.
Now we have port wine, champagne, pomegranate, citrus and white wine vinegars to play with. And boy are they fun! Pick one up next time and add it to some olive oil for a zippy salad dressing. Try it with spices and oil for a marinade. Put it on shrimp and have ceviche.
Here’s a pic of my favorite vinegar right now. It’s called Cuvee and it’s a champagne vinegar. It has proven itself essential to my salad dressings and shall have a home in my kitchen for the rest of its days.

Now go, play with your food.

Salad Days

Very few things you make will be as simple or as complicated as a salad. A good salad must combine sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami with judicious abandon, striving for balance on the seesaw of flavors. Too much in any one direction leads to inedible misery. I will confess to not being a huge salad fan. Nothing I can think of is less appetizing than a bowl of greens with a few toppings, drowning in House dressing. (What the devil is House dressing exactly? Does anyone know?) My father, however, is a salad connoisseur, devouring one or two a day. So I thought I should give greens a chance.
The trick of this recipe is to use good ingredients. Because you are not going to be baking, boiling, or otherwise transfiguring your salad, it matters what you use. As my father says, “Garbage in, garbage out”.

Sea Scallops on Butter Lettuces with Warm Peach Dressing
Serves 1

Ingredients
2 sea scallops, side muscle removed
1 medium peach, quartered
½ small shallot, chopped
3 slices center cut bacon slices
1 tsp. Ground ginger
¾ cup white wine
1 tsp. Sugar
1 tsp champagne vinegar
1 bag fresh baby butter lettuces

White Wine Reduction
1. Place white wine and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat slightly and cook until wine is reduced to about ¼ cup and has a syrup consistency. Remove from heat.

Dressing
1. Cook bacon in a small skillet until crisp. Remove bacon and pour out all but 1 tbsp. of the bacon fat.
2. Add chopped shallot and peaches to the skillet. Sauté for 1-2 minutes
3. Add White Wine Reduction, champagne vinegar, salt and pepper. Allow a few minutes for ingredients to combine.

Sea Scallops
1. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium skillet.
2. Season scallops on both sides with salt, pepper and ginger.
3. Add scallops to skillet and cook about 4 minutes on each side, or until done.


Salad
1. Add a handful of greens to a big-ish bowl and pour dressing over the top. Toss to distribute dressing.
2. Place greens on a plate, add peach quarters and scallops.


Cook’s Notes: When you add the scallops to the skillet, resist the urge to move them around a lot. It is a sauté, but you want the scallops to caramelize on each side. So, place them and leave them.

How Pie I Am

Everyone should keep a pie crust in the freezer. Actually, they should keep a few, because if they are like me, they will try to unroll the crust before it's defrosted and botch the silly thing. Backup plan: Prepanned frozen pie crust. Just add filling. Filling was some frozen blueberries I had in the freezer that I added sugar to and cooked for a bit to thicken them. That botched crust? I cut circles out of it and used it for an art nouveau design top crust. Yum.

Swing Low...

Down to the Lowcountry, that is, as we take on the southern classic, Shrimp ‘n’ Grits. This dish hails from Charleston and the Gullah traditions thereof but most every state in the South has a version of this in their repertoires. This is my version, which started out as one I found in the February 2008 Southern Living magazine. By the time I was done modifying it, though, it bore almost no resemblance to that recipe. So, without further ado…


Lowcountry Shrimp ‘n’ Grits
Serves 2

Ingredients
For Shrimp
2 slices bacon (go for the Center Cut, it’s less fatty)
1 lb. Peeled, tail-off raw shrimp
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp canola oil
¼ cup green onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
½-1 cup low sodium chicken broth
Pinch of salt and pepper

For Grits
1 cup half-n-half
½ cup fat-free milk
¼ tsp. Salt
½ cup grits (you can use Quaker, Anson Mills, Crook’s, just NOT INSTANT)
½ cup reduced-fat shredded Cheddar Cheese
½ cup grated Parmesan (buy a chunk and grate it)

Equipment
1 large skillet, non-stick is ok
1 medium saucepan

Important Note: Those of you who have cooked grits know that if you let them sit, they will set up like joint compound, so unless you really want to spackle your walls, do the shrimp first.

Shrimp
1. Cook bacon in the skillet over medium heat until crispy. Remove from the pan and reserve on a paper towel to drain. Crumble.
2. Pour off some of the bacon grease into a glass or metal container; don’t just pour into the trash (you’ll melt the bag).
3. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. (If you use frozen, make sure they’re well-thawed)
4. Add mushrooms to the skillet and sauté until tender. Add the green onions and give them about a minute.
5. Add the garlic. Be careful with the heat on this, garlic is good, burnt garlic is less good. And garlic burns fast!
6. Add the shrimp and sauté until the shrimp turn all pink.
7. Add in the chicken broth and let it reduce by a third.
8. Sprinkle the pan with a little flour, stirring to prevent lumps and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes, until it starts to thicken. (This is called the Sanger method)
9. Set aside and keep warm.

Grits
1. Bring half-n-half, milk and salt to a gentle boil over medium heat. Remember what we said about dairy and boiling over? Same thing applies, watch it.
2. Add in grits slowly, whisking to prevent lumping.
3. Reduce your heat and let simmer until thickened.
4. Add in your cheeses and whisk again.

Spoon grits onto a plate and ladle some shrimp over the top. Garnish with grated Parmesan if you like and the crumbled bacon.

Cook’s Notes: Make sure you cook the shrimp mixture for at least 3 minutes once you sprinkle it with flour. It cooks out that raw flour taste, which is less than tasty. Grits are done when you can stand a spoon in the middle of the pot and it falls slowly to the side.

Low Fat Notes: Cooking grits in cream may not appeal to those watching the calories. You can also cook them in low fat milk (2% minimum) or in chicken stock. Try it both ways and see how you like it. Grits are cheap.

That's Amore...no, that's Risotto

First installment of the Cookbook Project comes from the September 2007 issue of Bon Appetite magazine, a recipe that they got from a restaurant in Portland, Oregon called Le Pigeon. The “Risotto with Leeks, Shittake Mushrooms and Truffles” looked rich and delicious. My version is a bit lighter in the calories and in the grocery bill.
The first step was to reduce the recipe from feeding 6-8 people, to feeding just one or two. Want to know the trick? It’s called a Conversion Factor. When you divide the number of servings it makes by the number of servings you want to make. You then multiply all of your ingredients by this number and it will give you the amounts necessary for the alteration. (Note: convert all fractions to decimals. Save the headache.)
This recipe is very simple and the prep is almost nil. Each component is prepared separately and then combined into the risotto at the end. So we’ll begin with the leeks and go from there.

Mushroom & Leek Risotto
Adapted from Bon Appetite Sept. 2007
Serves 2 dinner sized, 4 first-course sized

Leeks*
1 large leek (only the bottom part), split lengthwise, chopped small
½ cup of whipping cream

Mushrooms
4-5 ozs gourmet or stir-fry mushroom mix, sliced
¼ large onion, chopped small
1 tbsp. Butter, melted
1 tbsp. White truffle oil
1 tsp. Fresh thyme leaves

Risotto
2 tbsp. Butter, divided
¼ large onion, minced
½ cup Arborio rice
½ cup dry white wine (I used a Voigner)
2 cups hot vegetable broth (use the broth, not the stock)
¼ cup fresh grated Parmesan (yes, buy a chunk and grate it.)
fresh parsley, chopped fine (for garnish)

Equipment
1 wide shallow saucepan
1 small/med saucepan
1 small sheet pan

Leeks: Put the leeks and whipping cream in a saucepan and bring them to a boil. Watch it carefully, dairy is quick to boil over. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until leeks are tender.

Mushrooms: Heat oven to 400. Combine all ingredients on the sheet pan and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until the mushrooms are tender and brown on the edges

Risotto: Melt 1 tbsp. Butter in wide shallow saucepan. Add onions and cook on medium-low until soft (Note: keep the heat down. You want to sweat/soften the onions, not sauté, so no browning!) Add the rice and stir for a minute. Add wine and stir until the liquid is almost absorbed. Add ½ cup of the hot broth and stir until this is almost absorbed. Add another ½ cup, stirring frequently. DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK ON THE RISOTTO! I mean it, if it burns, there’s no saving it. You’ll have to trash it and start over. Keep adding broth and stirring until rice is tender and creamy. (no, I won’t tell you how long, you just have to stir and watch) Add in the leeks and cream and then mushroom mixture, stirring frequently. Once fully combined, add 1 tbsp of butter, Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of the white truffle oil. Once butter and cheese are melted, remove to a serving bowl and sprinkle with parsley.

Cook’s Notes: This is not a dish to make with everyone all mucking about in the kitchen. Run everyone out so you can concentrate. The leeks and mushrooms can be prepared in advance, just make sure they are warm when they go in the risotto. Vegetable broth has salt in it, so be easy with the salt when you season.

*Clean the Leeks: Leeks are notorious for holding dirt in their layers. Cut off the top parts, split and chop the bottoms. Fill your sink with water and dump the cut leeks into the water. Agitate a bit and then leave them alone for a bit. The dirt will settle to the bottom. Scoop out the leeks and clean your sink.

Low-Fat Notes: If you are worried about the butter, substitute your favorite impostor for the mushrooms and the initial sweat of the onions in the risotto and save the butter for the end.

Girl's Gotta Have a Hobby

In a quest to reduce my somewhat alarming stoutness, not to mention my cholesterol and my gas bill, my resolution is to cook at home more now that's school's done. Cooking is what I do, after all. But I was at Target (I live there) and perusing the minuscule selection of cookbooks and something dawned on me. Why would I pay $15 for someone else's recipes? Do I not have a slew of magazines and books at home already? Why not create my own cookbook?
So that's my new project. Every week I will test a new recipe from my stash, or of my own creation and post results here. The ones that are tasty get a post and a spot in my personal cookbook. The ones that aren't so tasty go to file 13... (cue evil laughter)