Category: Food

Vegas And Some New Recipe Categories

by A.J. Coltrane

I’ve added three new subcategories as children to the “Recipes” tag:  Breads, Pizza & Flatbreads, and Asst Doughs. Most of the existing “dough” recipes fit reasonably cleanly into one of those subcategories. (The Grissini recipe wound up categorized as “Breads”, which I guess is ok.)

The Vegas gambling went fairly well last week, I won over 62% of my college basketball bets. The most interesting “miss” was a fun three-team parlay, combining Wisconsin to beat Syracuse (+150), Florida to beat Marquette (+110), and Louisville to beat Michigan State (+190). I bet $20 to win $324. Wisconsin lost by 1, which killed the parlay. The other two teams won. On the bright side, most of the games from the weekend seemed to follow the “script”, so that’s reassuring for next year. (Exceptions:  Baylor down 20 at the half against Kentucky. That, and Florida shooting 8-11 from 3 point range in the first half, then going 0-9 in the second half to lose to Louisville. I was feeling good about my Florida bets at halftime…)

Three fun MLB prop bets that we put a little money on before leaving town:

More Combined Hits, Homers, and RBIs:  Evan Longoria over Adrian Beltre. (Pick em). Beltre officially turns 33 on April 7. Longoria is 26. I’ll take the 7+ year age difference, thank you.

More Wins:  Jered Weaver over Cliff Lee. (Giving 1/2 win).

More Strikeouts:  Felix Hernandez over Tim Lincecum. (And Lincecum’s inconsistent velocity over the last couple of years.)

Risotto Made Easy(er)

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Making risotto seems like a daunting task for someone who has never done it before and there is always the potential for doing something incorrectly and ending up with a big pile of mushy rice. I was lucky growing up in an Italian household – risotto was a staple for special meals and from a very early age, I was lucky enough to watch my dad make it, so I was able to lean by doing it without ever having to use a recipe. Over the years, I have had a number of people ask me for the “recipe”, and they have always been disappointed that there isn’t one. My standard response has always been, come over and I will show you how to make it. Over the years, as I have increased my knowledge of the science of cooking, I have made changes to the way that I make my risotto. I learned that you don’t need to constantly stir it and with a little tweaking, risotto went from something that I made only on weekends to something that I can make for a weeknight dinner. Below is an attempt to put together a repeatable recipe. While I did measure everything out, so much of this is by feel, that it may take you a couple of tries to get it right. Of course, you can always come over and I can show you how to make it…

The Software
3/4 cup Arborio Rice
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup yellow onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups warm water
1/3 cup grated parmegiano reggiano
2 tablespoons butter
1 pinch of saffron, steeped in 1/4 cup hot water
salt
pepper

The Recipe

Steep the saffron in hot water for 10 minutes

Heat the chicken stock in a saucepan. You are looking for it to be warm before you use it (around 120 degrees), so bring it up to temperature and hold on the stove over low heat to keep warm. Add the saffron and water to the pot.

In a saucier or sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the onions and cook until they start to soften and become translucent (about 7 minutes), stirring occasionally. You are not looking to brown the onions; so if they start to brown, lower the heat.

Add the rice to the onions (yes, you read this right). Toast the rice in the pan for 2-3 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP; IT IS CRITICAL TO THE RICE TURNING OUT PROPERLY.

Add the white wine to the pan to deglaze and stir.

Once the liquid is absorbed lower the heat slightly and add 1/4 of the chicken stock to the rice. Stir. It doesn’t have to be 1/4 exactly, so don’t worry about measuring it, just guess. It won’t hurt you to put more or less in. Cook for 5 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.

Repeat this process with the remaining liquid, adding it in 3 more times and stirring after the liquid is added. If the rice is sticking to the bottom of the pot badly, lower the heat.

Once you have added the last batch of stock to the rice, add the water to the pot that contained the stock and heat it. This is necessary in case more liquid needs to be added to the rice.

After MOST of the last addition of stock is added, you are going to check for doneness. The only way to check is by tasting it. The rice should be soft with just a hint of toothiness – if it is at all crunchy, it is not done. If you are at that stage, add 1/3 of the water and continue cooking the same way as with the stock until you are done.

When the rice is fully cooked and there is still a small amount of liquid in the rice, reduce heat to medium low and add the cheese and butter, stirring constantly until both are incorporated. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately.

Notes
There are several critical components to this dish. The rice you use is important – you need to use Arborio rice that mentions superfino on the package. If you don’t use Arborio rice, you will not get the creamy texture that is the trademark of risotto and superfino indicated that the rice is a high grade. Using rice that is not superfino grade can lead to a mushy meal. Chicken or veggie stock are my recommendations, but you can use any stock you would like (or even just water) – just be warned beef stock will impart a very strong flavor to the rice. The saffron really is optional, but it does impart a golden color and earthiness to the rice. This recipe will feed 4 as an appetizer or 2 as an entrée with some leftovers for seconds. This is really a base recipe. I will be posting a few of my favorite variations, but once you get this one down, feel free to experiment to your hearts content.

Belgian Beef Carbonnade

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I really love things that are braised. Tender chunks of meat, rich unctuous sauces, loads of flavor, the ideal comfort food on a cold day. Braising’s dirty little secret is that you really should make it one day in advance and reheat it the next day. It gives the sauce a chance to infuse itself and increase the flavor.

One of my favorite braises is a classic Belgian dish, Beef Carbonnade. It uses an inexpensive cut of meat, a handful of ingredients and very little prep to produce what I think is the perfect example of what beef stew is. It also combines two of my favorite things – meat and beer. The below recipe was originally taken from Cook’s Illustrated and I have made a few modifications, most notably the amount of liquid used in the dish. My biggest problem with the recipe is that there was not enough sauce, so I took care of that. Also, the original recipe calls for equal parts of chicken stock and beef stock. I replaced that with only chicken stock and I think it actually turned out better. Then again, I was using my homemade stock, which is about 1000 times better than anything that you can get in a store.

Serve over rice, potatoes, pasta, frites or just in a bowl with some bread on the side. The leftovers will freeze nicely for 3-6 months.

The Software
3 1/2 pounds blade steaks, 1-inch-thick, trimmed of gristle and fat and cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt and ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds yellow onions (about 3 medium), halved and sliced about 1/4-inch-thick (about 8 cups)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 1/2 cups Belgian brown beer
4 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, tied with kitchen twine
2 bay leaves

The Recipe
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 300 degrees.
Dry beef thoroughly with paper towels, then season generously with salt and pepper.
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke; add about one-third of beef to pot.
Cook without moving pieces until well browned, 2 to 3 minutes; using tongs, turn each piece and continue cooking until second side is well browned, about 5 minutes longer.
Transfer browned beef to medium bowl.
Repeat with additional 2 teaspoons oil and half of remaining beef. (If drippings in bottom of pot are very dark, add about 1/2 cup of above-listed chicken or beef broth and scrape pan bottom with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits; pour liquid into bowl with browned beef, then proceed.)
Repeat once more with 2 teaspoons oil and remaining beef.
Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to now-empty Dutch oven; reduce heat to medium-low.
Add onions, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and tomato paste; cook, scraping bottom of pot with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits, until onions have released some moisture, about 5 minutes.
Increase heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are lightly browned, 12 to 14 minutes.
Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add flour and stir until onions are evenly coated and flour is lightly browned, about 2 minutes.
Stir in stock, scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits;
Stir in beer, thyme, bay, browned beef with any accumulated juices.
Increase heat to medium-high and bring to full simmer, stirring occasionally; cover partially, then place pot in oven.
Cook until fork inserted into beef meets little resistance, about 2 – 3 hours.
Discard thyme and bay.
Remove about 2 1/2 cups of the sauce to a saucepan and reduce over medium heat by 1/2.
Add the reduced sauce back to the pot with the beef.
Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste and serve to a grateful public. (Can be cooled and refrigerated in airtight container for up to 4 days; reheat over medium-low heat.)

Notes
You can probably use any low hop beer for this recipe, but I prefer to use either the Belgian beer Duval (about $8 for a 750 ML bottle) or the Trader Joe’s Vintage Brown Ale (about $4.50 for a 750 ML bottle). The Belgian beers are malty and sweet and will really enhance the sauce. You won’t use the entire thing, so drink with the meal. I have been contemplating trying this recipe with skipping the searing step for 2/3 of the beef. The meat that is above the liquid will brown during the braise, so it might actually save some time that would be used for searing. I would still want to sear 1/3 of it to build the fond in the bottom of the pan (the browned bits), because there is a ton of flavor in that. The recipe also originally called for 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar. I removed it since I didn’t think it really added anything to the braise.

Altura – A Review

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Altura is fairly new to the Seattle restaurant scene, having opened less than a year ago, and already, the tiny Capitol Hill eatery is getting a ton of attention locally and nationally, including being recently named a semi-finalist for Best New Restaurant in the country by the James Beard Foundation.

Altura has fairly small and ever changing menu. The menu is broken out into an appetizer/salad section, a pasta section an entrée section and a desert section, each containing about 6 choices. Altura does things a little differently: you can pick 3 choices from anywhere off the menu for $49, any 4 items for $59 and any 5 for $69. So if you go in there and want to order 3 main courses, you can do that. The portion sizes are not overly large but they are rich and packed with flavors and the kitchen will adjust them depending on how much you have actually ordered. There is an optional wine pairing for each dish and they also have a tasting menu, which is the chef’s choice. When Mrs. Iron Chef and I were in, we both had 4 courses (I had 4 savory courses and Mrs. Iron Chef went with 3 savory and the desert) and I could barely move after the meal.

My menu choices were the sweetbreads with a lobster reduction, spicy grilled octopus (both off the appetizer section), the tripe and oxtail parpadelle, and the pork shoulder. Mrs. Iron Chef went with the beef carpaccio, the stinging nettle ravioli, the roasted chicken and the flan for dessert.

Overall the dishes were stellar. I was very skeptical about the sweetbreads with a lobster reduction, but it worked – a well-cooked pillow of meat sitting on top of an intensely flavored smear of the lobster, which was reduced to a syrup consistency. I found myself tempted to ask for a bowl of that with some bread and make that my meal. The carpaccio was well seasoned and reminiscent of a tartare and came with a brioche parmeggiano crouton, which was a symphony of, salty and buttery while still being crispy and chewy. The crouton may have been the best thing to come out in a fantastic meal and I could have been happy with just a plate of those. Heck, I would probably go back and order whatever dish it appeared with just to have it again. The parpadelle was a well cooked, house made pasta with an intense ragu of tripe and braised oxtail, bringing back fond memories of the tripe soup my dad made when I was growing up; personally this was my pick for the best thing I had in the meal. The nettle ravioli were a toothsome trio of wonderfully earthy pasta pockets, enhanced with a brown butter sauce – simple and delicious allowing the nettles to shine without overpowering the dish with a lot of complex flavor. The roast chicken was delicious and perfectly cooked, but was probably the least adventurous dish we ordered. The pork shoulder was a model of perfection of pork wrapped pork – crispy prosciutto surrounding a fall apart tender and fatty medallion of shoulder – very reminiscent of porchetta. The desert was well thought out and a nice compliment the richness of the meal.

The only dish that I would say did not come out to my expectations was the octopus. Flavor wise, the dish was great – a classic combination of white beans and chili peppers with a broth and grilled octopus. It had a nice heat without being too overpowering and the beans were cooked al dente to allow for some contrasting textures in the dish. The octopus was just a touch overcooked, causing it to be slightly chewy instead of completely tender and could have used a bit of char to lend some smokiness to the dish. It was not that this dish was a disaster; it was just that it was not nearly as well executed as everything else we had that night.

Altura has a small but well laid out wine list, both by the glass and bottle, with glass selections ranging from 8 – 16 dollars and bottles starting at around 30. The wine pairings come with a generous pour, so be aware if you go that route when you order. They also have a small cocktail menu available.

The dining room is small, with high ceilings, tables practically on top of each other, minimal lighting and an open kitchen, so the noise level can be pretty high. They do have 8 counter seats that overlook the kitchen, which might be a nice treat if you enjoy watching the kitchen churn out its product.

Overall, a visit to Altura is not an inexpensive meal, and will probably run you 75 –100 dollars per person, and can be difficult to get a reservation at based on its popularity and diminutive size, so not a place that you would want to hit every night, but definitely worth the trek to Capitol Hill for a special occasion.

Overall, Altura scores 4.5 bellissimos out of 5.

Happiness is a…

By Blaidd Drwg

…pint or 3 of Pliny the Elder on tap, a comfortable seat and 2 TV’s to watch Duke lose to Lehigh, Michigan Lose to Ohio and a hell of a finish between St. Louis and Purdue. Thanks to Noble Fir in Ballard for hosting and Mrs. Iron Chef for joining me.

Overall, this was one heck of a day of basketball!

NY Strip with Blue Cheese, Bacon and Crispy Onions

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Early on in the cooking process, the bacon and sacuce are not yet in their happy places.

Mrs. Iron Chef loves bacon wrapped tenderloin. While I love cow, this is probably my least favorite part of the animal – it has very little flavor, is very expensive and can be picky to cook with since you don’t have any protection from overcooking because of its lack of fat. Personally, if you are talking supermarket cuts, give me a nice bone-in rib eye. This past Valentines Day, I wanted to do steak, but I didn’t want to do tenderloin, so I went with my compromise cut – the New York strip. It has a fair amount of fat, so it is a little more forgiving to cook, has a more beefy flavor and is still fairly tender. In case you are unaware, the strip is the muscle the run parallel to the tenderloin on the back of a cow – when you get a t-bone steak, the larger side is the strip, and the smaller is the tenderloin. This is the recipe that I came up with – it is pretty simple to put together, cooks relatively quickly and really looks impressive when done.

The Software
2 NY strip steaks, 6-8 oz each
5 strips of bacon, cooked crispy, fat reserved
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup Marsala or port wine
2 tablespoons of cognac
1/2 onion, sliced thin
3 oz blue cheese
1 oz butter
salt
pepper

The steaks after being salted for 10 minutes. See how much liquid has come out of them?

The Recipe

The Steak
About 30 minutes before cooking, remove the steaks from the fridge and season on each side with salt. Put the steaks on a wire rack over a plate. This is going to draw out water from the meat and will lead to a better sear.
Cook the bacon in a large skillet until brown and crispy. Crumble after it is cooked.
Remove from the pan and reserve the fat. Wipe out any brown bits that remain.
Pat the steaks dry with a paper towel.
Heat the skillet on medium-high heat, adding 1 tablespoon of bacon fat until barely smoking.
Add the steaks carefully.
Cook on the first side for 4 minutes. DO NOT MOVE THE STEAKS UNTIL THE 4 MINUTES IS UP.
Flip and reduce heat to medium and cook to desired doneness (it will be roughly 4 minutes for medium rare).
Remove to a plate with the side that you cooked first facing up.
Allow the steaks to rest for 8 minutes.
Wipe out any fat and hit the pan with a shot of wine and deglaze. Add to the sauce.

The Sauce (this can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge)
In a medium saucepan, combine the stock, wine and port over medium heat.
Reduce the contents by 2/3 this should take about 30 minutes or so.
When ready to serve, over low heat, whisk in the butter and any accumulated juices from the steak.
Taste and adjust the seasonings.
Spoon over steak.

The Onions
In a heavy bottom pan add 3 tablespoons of bacon fat over medium heat. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook until they become crispy, stirring occasionally, making sure they do not begin to burn. This should take about 20 minutes or so.

Onions on their way to crispy goodness.

The Assembly
Heat your broiler and adjust the top rack to the position just below the broiler element.
In a bowl, take the blue cheese and mash with the back of a spoon until soft and spreadable.
Place the steaks in a broiler safe pan and spread the cheese on top. You should have about 1/8 inch layer on the steaks – you also don’t need to worry about going to the edge, the melting cheese will take care of that for you.
Place the steaks under the broiler for 2 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Check it after 1 minute and every 30 seconds after that – it can go from bubbly to burnt in a hurry.
Remove the steaks to a plate. Drizzle with sauce (and any melted blue cheese from the pan) and top with crispy onions and bacon crumbles.
Serve to a happy wife.

The final product. I am drooling on my keyboard as I am typing this.

Notes
I use Point Reyes Blue out of California. I consider this to be the best cheese on the planet and I love the balance of smoky, sweet and pungent that it brings to the dish. You can use just about any blue cheese you want, depending on your tastes. I also highly recommend using a grass fed beefsteak for this – they have a more pronounced beef flavor that blends well with the blue cheese and bacon. You want the beef as dry as possible before you sear it – it will form a much better crust this way. You don’t need to worry about pre-heating the broiler; since you are using the broiler just to melt the cheese you don’t need to get the entire oven hot to do it. If you don’t want to use the broiler, you could do this on the stovetop in a pan with a lid, but I would highly recommend only cooking the steak on the second side for 2 minutes before trying to melt the cheese. A blowtorch is also effective in doing this (I am not joking – try it sometime). I served this with some skillet-fried potatoes and seared zucchini medallions, but you can use whatever sides you would like. Be careful adding salt to the sauce – the blue cheese might be salty and you might end up over salting everything.

I’m Coo Coo for Coq au Vin

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Coq au vin is the perfect example of how French peasant food has become haute cuisine – a dish that is traditionally made with an old rooster so that it does not go to waste has become a $20 a plate staple in most French bistros. Traditionally the dish not only calls for an old rooster (good luck finding one of those today), but involves marinating the bird in wine for several days and a long, slow braise to produce a delicious, rich, filling and nutritious meal. I have several recipes for coq au vin, all of which are a multi-day process, except for this one. It comes from the 10th edition of the Betty Crocker Better Homes  and Gardens New Cookbook. While the end result of this dish is not as rich and flavorful as a more traditional recipe, the prep and cooking time is significantly less and it could easily be put together and made for dinner in one night (It can be done, start to finish in less than 2 hours).

The Software
2 1/2 pounds of chicken parts, skin on
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 –18 pearl onions or shallots, peeled
1 1/4 cup red wine, preferably Burgundy or a lighter Pinot Noir
1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
1 cup thinly sliced carrot
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 tablespoons parsley
Salt
Pepper

The Recipe
In a 12-inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Don’t use a non-stick skillet for this.
Season the chicken and add to the pan, skin side down.
Note: You want about 1/2 inch of space between the pieces. If there is not enough space, brown the chicken in 2 batches.
Cook for approximately 8 minutes until it begins to brown and flip cooking for another 8 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the pan, drain off the fat and reserve two tablespoons, being careful not to lose any fond on the pan.
Add the 2 tablespoons of fat back to the pan and reduce the heat to medium.
Add mushrooms, carrot and onions and sauté for about 5 minutes.
Add garlic, parsley, marjoram, thyme, bay leaf and wine and bring to a boil.
Once at a boil, add the chicken, reduce heat and simmer covered on medium-low until the chicken is done, about 35-40 minutes.
When chicken is cooked, remove from the pan to a plate and discard bay leaf. Leave the vegetables and wine in the pan. Increase heat to medium.
In a separate bowl combine the flour and butter and mash with the back of a spoon until a smooth paste is formed.
Whisk the paste to the sauce and stir until it begins to thicken and bubble.
Cook for one additional minute after it begins to bubble and taste. Add salt and pepper as needed.
Turn off the heat and return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan for 2 minutes.
Server over a bed of noodles using the remaining parsley and bacon as a garnish.

Notes
Most of this recipe is copied as is from its original source with a couple of modifications in techniques added by yours truly. The original recipe calls for chicken parts – breast, drumstick and thighs, but I would highly recommend only using thighs – they are fairly uniform, they are much harder to dry out and will produce the best flavor in this dish. I prefer shallots to pearl onions in this dish, as I like their flavor more. You need about 1 – 1/1/2 cups of sliced shallots for this dish. Traditionally this isn’t served over anything, but it works well with egg noodles, fettuccini, rice (really good over risotto) or mashed potatoes. The searing of the chicken could probably be done ahead of time and then everything thrown into a slow cooker – I have never tried it, but it is a braise, so it should work. There are a few techniques with this that I would love to try at some point so be on the lookout for the variations of this recipe some time in the future.

Road Trip Review – The D.N.A. Project

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A few weeks ago, I saw an announcement for the DNA project – a joint brewing project between three of my favorite breweries: Diamond Knot, North Sound Brewing and Anacortes Brewing. The collectively brewed 3 beers and released them on Tuesday, March 6th at the new Anacortes Brewing owned – H20 restaurant. Of course, being the sucker for beer and having nothing better to do on a Tuesday night, I trekked the 75 miles each way to Anacortes for the release. All three beers were great, and it was an overall fun night; well worth the drive. Now for the beers:

Hoppy Lager by Diamond Knot
Smells like a summer day – a lager that you want to drink on a sunny, 75 degree summer day on your back patio. Crisp and dry with a barely noticeable hint of hops. Lightly malted with a short, clean finish, enhanced by a hint of hops as the beer fades from the palate. A fine lager and one I would order in a second on a warm day, but not the beer I was in the mood for on a 35 degree evening.

4 sheepshanks out of 5

Red Rye Oat – North Sound Brewing
A red ale. Distinctive rye character on the nose with subtle whiffs of oatmeal. Slightly sweet and malty with hints of hops. A long finish of oats, rye and caraway. Dry, almost tannic on the tongue (in a good way). Reminds me of a very light rye bread.

4.5 whinnies out of 5

Big Black and Hoppy – Anacortes Brewing
A black IPA. Plenty of malt on the nose with a hint of hops. The initial taste is a hop bomb on the palate with a slight lingering bitterness, but not cloyingly hoppy nor overpowering with its alcohol despite its 9.8% ABV. Floral notes give way to a wonderful chocolaty and malty finish. Extraordinarily smooth; hangs around on the palate for a very long time (I mean minutes worth of lingering) in a wonderfully pleasant way. Reminds me of both a stellar IPA and a wonderful porter. Perfect for a cold winter day and paired wonderfully with the burger I had for dinner.

4.5 blackouts out of 5

There are 2 more release events scheduled for these beers – on March 13th at the Empire Ale House in Mount Vernon and March 21st at the Diamond Knot Alehouse on Front Street in Mukilteo. I would highly recommend trying all 3 of these beers at one of these events – especially since you will have the opportunity to talk to the brewers at the same time.

An Affordable Dutch Oven

by A.J. Coltrane

In his book, My Bread, Jim Lahey recommends using a 5-quart cast iron dutch oven to bake the No Knead recipe.

Here’s a very affordable option: The Lodge 5-qt, at about $32. It’s widely available, the picture below is taken from the Target website:

It’s an easy expense to justify too — figure that one large delicious loaf of bread will cost somewhere around a dollar to make; the dutch oven will pay for itself in no time!

How can you resist?!