Arroz Negro in Barcelona

Arroz negro with snails and some frizzante rosé wine on the terrace

Last week, we moved to Barcelona. We've got a lot of legal, financial, and repair work to do, so we haven't had a lot of time to cook (you can follow our adventures, starting with our move-in).  All of our cooking tools are on a ship somewhere between Baltimore and Barcelona, so we're improvising with what came with our apartment. But we can still whip up some dynamite meals. 

A couple days ago, we got some mussels from a local shop, and Irene cooked them with white wine, leeks, and so on -- very simple, very classic. With some country bread it made a good dinner. 

We had some extra flavorful liquid in the pot which we saved: we never through away flavor! I figured we could use it to make paella or something. 

Last night, after fixing things all day, we went out to Can Cargolet for a big pile of snails and a couple bottles of wine (36€=$36 for the entire meal). We couldn't finish them, and -- surprisingly -- they asked if we wanted them "para llevar", to take away; doggy bags aren't common here, but we couldn't let them go to waste.

When we went to the shop (Bon Preu, a rather nice grocery store a couple blocks away), we picked up some Bomba rice for paella, and asked one of the staff where the "tinto de sepia" was; the squid ink was in the frozen section, and was under 1€ for four sachets -- excellent. 

After returning from the urgent care, Irene picked all the snails out of their shells, and I simmered the shells in the mussel stock to extract more flavor. I sauteed 200g bomba rice in some olive oil, added a the strained stock -- reduced to 500ml -- and added the tinta de sepia. After 20 minutes, I added the reserved snails, and dinner was served. Quite a tasty dish, and as Irene says, "using things up". It's very similar to a paella, but looser, and we're not trying to get the crusty socarrat. Definitely worth doing again. 

Pizza for Outdoor Oven Crowd

We built an outdoor pizza oven but we really need about 10 people to make a pizza party worthwhile: it takes about a wheelbarrow load of wood for the evening and 2 hours to heat up. Once going, it runs about 900-1000F, cooking the pizzi in about 1-2 minutes (proper Napolitano style).  When folks are done making pizza, we let it cool, make bread at about 500F, then cool again and put a roast or pot of beans or stew in to cook overnight -- it'll be about 250F the next morning.

I wanted to come up with proportions for pizza dough that would be easy to measure and scale for a crowd this size, and max it out with our equipment's capacity. Here's the math then the final numbers.

Dough hydration (bakers' percentage: mass of water divided by mass of flour) should be 66-70%.

My Kitchenaid stand mixer can handle about 1Kg of flour at that hydration.

TODO: REWORK THE MATH TO START WITH 1660 - 1700g dough in bowl, then divide by an even 12 balls at 138-142g/ball.  If people can eat 2.5 balls, that's 4.8 people per bucket.

I used to figure 3 pizzi per person but we've had a lot of leftover dough, so here I'm backing that out to 2.5 p/p, assuming 142g (5 ounce) uncooked pizzi dough balls per person.

Dough at 66% hydration:

(2.5 * 142g) dough/person = 1 * X flour + 0.66 * X water
355g dough/person  = X * (1 + 0.66) = X * 1.66
X = 355 / 1.66 = 214g
Flour: 1 * X = 214g
Water: 0.66 * X = 141g

Dough at 70% hydration, likewise:

X = 355 / 1.70 = 209g flour and 146g water person

If the Kitchenaid can do about 1Kg flour per bowl, we can get 2.8 people at 355g 66% hydration.
Let's round down the dough balls a bit so we can round up the people to a full 3:
1000g / 3people = 333g/person  is 201g flour and 132g  water per person,
and each person eats 2.5 dough balls, so 333g dough /1.66 = 201g flour and 132g water.
Whew!

I bulk ferment in 2 liter buckets, and this will hold 1000g flour and 66 g water, so for one bucket that feeds 3 people, we get:

1000 g Flour, Caputo 00
 660 g Water, cold (for 66% hydration)
     1 Tbs Yeast
     2 Tbs Salt, Kosher, coarse

I use a low-knead long-rise ferment, so combine those in the Kitchenaid until all the flour is incorporated.
Dump into fermenting buckets and let rise over night for 1 to 3 nights in the refrigerator.
Take dough out of chill about 3 hours before eating time (it takes 2-3 hours to preheat the overn).
Divide and form into dough balls

I'm doing some fuzzy-math here because I don't want fractional dough balls.
If we can handle 1000g flour and 660g water, we've got 1660g dough.
Divide by a nice round dozen and we get 1660g dough / 12 balls = 138g / dough ball.
So make 12 dough balls, each 138g.

I put them on the lid of an under-bed box, and cover with the bottom of the box to keep the dough from drying out. I've seen others putting each ball into separate plastic tubs, but that's a lot of tubs.
Mist with oil and let rise until ready to shape and bake.

Isaan Sour Sausage "Sai Krok Isaan" from Night + Market

Dacha described her favorite Thai sausage and it scared me: raw pork and rice, left to ferment at room temperature for several days. I then saw the same in Kris Yenbamroon'g book "Night + Market" and decided to give it a try. He uses Jasmine and Sticky Rice, while Dacha wasn't specific. I'm trying Kris' first, because he gives plenty of details and the book has good pictures. It's fermented 2-4 days to develop a lactic tartness, then refrigerated to stop fermentation, and grilled. I'm augmenting his measurements with my metric measures as we made the recipe.

1     C     165 g  Cooked Sticky Rice

3/4   C     130 g  Steamed Jasmine Rice

2     Lb    900 g  Pork Shoulder, ground (80% fat)

3/4   C     140 g  Minced Garlic (2-3 heads!)

1     Tbs    13 g  Sugar

2 1/2 Tbs    30 g  Kosher Salt

2     tsp     6 g  ground White Pepper

6     ft      2 m  Sausage Casings

Cook the Sticky Rice and Jasmine Rice as appropriate to their style, then cool.

Peel the Garlic and mince in a food processor. 

Cut the Pork Shoulder into strips that fit your meat grinder's feed tube, chill it well, then grind.

Grinding the Pork; rice top left, minced garlic top right

Combine ground Pork, well-separated Rice, Garlic, Sugar, Salt, Pepper and make sure Pork and Rice are evenly distributed with no clumps that would prevent fermentation.

Chill again, then stuff into Sausage Casings; we use a Kitchen Aide grinder/stuffer attachment, but if you're a masochist, you could use a funnel or Asian soup spoon.

Filling the casing, top left; pork mixture in bottom right

We used more Jasmine Rice to finish the grind so it would push the last of the Pork mixture out of the feed tube into the casing. We then tasted the last runnings of the grind and rice after frying -- rather good, a bit salty, but promising.

Filled casings, fit to be tied

Tie with butcher's twine ever 1 1/2 inches or so: don't twist first, it stretches the skin so much it breaks.

This will be served in 4-5 link portions, but I didn't bother leaving gaps and using double-ties: it cut easily enough and held its shape once dried.

You should probably figure out how to hang them before you have your raw sausages ready to go as this can be a fussy process, and you don't want to screw around more than you have to with raw pork.

Let hang in a 75F/24C low humidity environment; it's winter when we did this so I hung them next to our boiler where it was 80F/25C and 15% humidity. Put a tray below to catch any fat that drips out.

25C @ 15% humidity, definitely not FDA certified

Hang 2 days, then Kris suggests trying one link. If not as sour as you'd like, try again in 12-24 hours, but he says more than 4 days doesn't improve sourness, only adds funk.

Pictures below are at 1, 2, and finally 3.5 days hanging. The skin and body become more tight, and the sausage loses its pink.

Grill on well-oiled medium grill until just a little pink remains inside, or a bit more. Since it was freezing rain outside, I cooked these indoors on lightly oiled cast iron, mostly covered so they heated through, and they browned nicely.

We served these with sticky rice, stir-fried cabbage, and a mixture of fried peanuts, citrus zest (tasty!), chilis, and thinly sliced ginger.

The interior was quite dense and uniform in texture. Surprisingly, it wasn't "sour", at least that's not how I'd describe it; maybe a little sweet but there was only a little sugar in the mix.

Comments

This was a lot more work -- and stress -- than the fragrant Thai Herbal Sausage we make from the Pok Pok book, and which Kris also describes in his book (Sai Uah).

The Sticky Rice was a bit of a pain to work with because... it's sticky, and clumps together more than the Jasmine Rice which is easier to distribute through the ground Pork.

When we do western sausage, we twist, alternating clockwise and counter-clockwise -- no need for tying. But here, since we'll want to cut off portions, so we use string. Just use a tight overhand with double-knot without twisting, so you don't stretch the casing so much it breaks; it's a pain to repair, and you don't want to mess with raw meat any more than necessary.

I'd like to make 4-5 link sections that are hung individually, because hanging 20+ links supported by one casing knot scares me: if it breaks due to the heavy weight, I'd lose my entire batch. Next time, I'd probably hang a pipe horizontally from the ceiling, then suspend several 4-5 link portions from it. When tying the links, leave some extra string so you can create a loop to hang them with a carabiner or other quick-connect clip to the pipe.

Tasting

Despite being known as "sour sausage" and Kris stating that many folks assumed the sausage included lime juice, this wasn't at all sour. While hanging, it had very little smell: a relief, for a presumption of food safety, but I would have expected a lactic aroma from the fermentation. Did I do something wrong? 

The good news is that it's been a few hours and we're not dead yet, or suffering the revulsion and convulsions of food poisoning. 

This was good, and unusual, but wasn't "insanely great" or unusual enough to do again, like I would do for the fragrant herbal Sai Ua sasusage we've made before.

Basque "Burnt" Cheesecake

I love cheesecake and the the burnt appearance of this impressed me; curiously, this cheesecake has no crust. If you don't feel like spending the 20 minutes and $17 to make this, you can order chef José Andrés version for only $109! :-)

I compared recipes from four sources, ignored the outliers, and took ideas from each; the ingredients and execution were quite similar. The Guardian provided terrific detail but used a smaller springform pan than mine, while Cooking Issues seemed too hot (the comments said as much). Bon Appetit and Tasting Table were nearly identical. I like the idea of the tartness of The Guardian's creme fraiche so I use a mix of heavy cream and sour cream here. Below, we add a bit of Salt for American cream cheese since the Basque version is a little saltier; the Flour or Cornstarch prevents weeping.

The original quantities are for a 10-inch / 25-cm diameter 6-cm high springform pan. For just the two of us, I got a 16x4-cm pan and scaled the recipe to 40%, but it's shorter (27% capacity, not 40%) so this recipe does NOT fit (a 20x4-cm  or 18x5-cm pan should accommodate this).

10in/25cm pan   16cm

-------------  -----   

2   Lb  900 g  360 g  Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature

1.5 C   330 g  132 g  Sugar

5         5      2    Eggs

1   C   235 g   94 g  Heavy Cream

1   C   240 g   96 g  Sour Cream or Creme Fraiche

1   tsp   3 g  1.2 g  Kosher Salt (for American Cheese)

2   Tbs  15 g    6 g  All Purpose Flour (or Corn Starch)

Grease the springform pan with butter, and line it with parchment, with extra height about an inch above the sides. You can make strip around the outside and a separate disk for the bottom, or you can just press in a large sheet and smooth out the edges: the rough and rustic edge is a trademark of this cake, and  after trying to fit the sides and bottom separately, I can see why most preparations just layer perpendicular sheets!

Trying to fit separate bottom and side strips was a pain

Combine Cream Cheese and Sugar in a stand mixer, and mix slowly until smooth and sugar is dissolved, scraping down as needed, about 4 minutes.

While mixer is running, add Eggs one at a time until each is thoroughly incorporated.

Add the Heavy Cream, Sour Cream, Salt and Flour, and mix until smooth, another minute.

Pour into prepared springform pan, and chill about 30 minutes so that the center heat will be delayed (this may not be necessary).

Preheat oven to 400F / 200C, then put cake pan on a cookie sheet (to catch drips) and bake for about 50 minutes, less for the smaller pan. The top should look quite brown, even though the center will remain jiggly. If not, leave it in another 10 minutes and check; repeat as needed. The temperature of the center should be 140F / 60C. My total time was 70 minutes, and my probe always measured near boiling, even though the cake was quite jiggly, not sure what I'm missing.

Remove from the oven and let cool, it should "gel". 

Remove from the springform pan and take off the parchment.

Serve warm or cool.

Dacha's Isaan Sausage

This one sounds a bit scary to me -- uncooked meat and cooked rice left unrefrigerated for 5 days. But I've gotta try it!  We recently tried a similar recipe from the Night + Market cookbook which you can read about.

2     pound  Ground Pork
1     head   Garlic, chopped
1     cup    Rice, cooked
1 1/2 Tbs    ground Black Pepper
1     Tbs    Salt
             Sausage Casing

Mix everything together, stuff it in the Sausage Casing.
Tie the sausage every 1 1/2 - 2 inches.
Put the sausages in a closed container. 
Leave it for 3 days (I like leaving it for 5 days) in room temperature

Bake in 350F oven for 10 minutes then turn and bake for another 5 minutes.

There are other folks who are doing this, and living to talk about it:
http://www.blazinghotwok.com/2011/05/new-and-improved-isaan-sausages-now.html
http://shesimmers.com/2011/04/northeastern-thai-sour-sausage-sai-krok.html
http://ahungerartist.bobdelgrosso.com/2011/04/ferment-this-northeastern-thai-sour.html

Fettuccine Alfredo a la Vanderminden

Our friends Peter and Lisa Vanderminden made this for us in college at their house in Schenectady, NY,  circa 1982. It may not be terribly authentic, but it's fast, simple, tasty, and indulgent. You can tweak the cheese: 50/50 works fine too. You can also augment this with peas, roasted red peppers, etc, if desired. This makes two generous dinner portions.

We make fresh pasta by hand: it gives a restaurant quality to this dish. Briefly: 100 g AP flour, 100 g coarse Semolina flour, 2 whole eggs, whiz in food processor until it comes together (under a minute), let rest covered in the fridge for at least an hour before rolling out and cutting.

1 C Heavy Cream (Light/Table Cream works too; milk will not)

2/3 C Romano Cheese (40 g)

1/3 C Parmesan Cheese (30 g)

1-2 clove Garlic, minced

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

1 Tbs Tarragon, fresh, chopped fine

2 Tbs Basil, fresh, chiffonade

8-12 oz Pasta, fresh, cut into fettuccine

1 Tbs Butter

2 Tbs Parsley

Cook the Pasta.

While the water heats and Pasta cooks, prepare the sauce.

Heat Cream, Cheeses, Garlic, Pepper, Tarragon, Parsley slowly in a covered bowl in the microwave (about 3 minutes of 30-second blasts), or a heavy pot over low flame, until cheese is just melted: you don't want it to coagulate.

Drain pasta.

Add pasta to sauce so it doesn't stick -- you may not need all of it; combine gently.

Garish with Basil, serve in heated pasta plates.

 

Cider: relaxed, inexpensive, tasty

By stripping down our technique, we can make 6-7 750 ml bottles of tasty cider in under an hour for around a buck a bottle.

I leverage my homebrewing skills but take shortcuts to make a good fermented cider with minimal effort while not sacrificing quality. I think we’ve succeeded: it takes about 15 minutes to start the process, then maybe 30 minutes for bottling. Each 750 ml bottle costs about $1.00 - $1.50, and is pleasantly dry with a fine carbonation. We calculate a final alcohol of 5-6%, about beer strength.

We take advantage of store bought juice (“cider”) which we know is already sterile, and ferment in the same plastic bottles they came in. We reserve some of the juice for carbonation, to minimize the need for bottling-time added sugar. 

Unfermented “apple juice” is also called “apple cider” in the US. It’s OK if it contains ascorbic acid (vitamin C), but don’t use anything with potassium sorbate which will prevent fermentation.

Below, I list our versions in reverse chronological order: our most recent versions have the most streamlined technique. In a horizontal tasting of #1 (Farmers market juice, pricey), #2 (organic BJs juice, inexpensive), #3 (non-organic BJs), we preferred the taste of the #1, but the fizz of batch #3. At this price point and taste, we’re OK using store-bought juice.

2022-03-05 #5: Costco Mott's 2 Gallon

Reserved 800ml Gyle (calculator indicated 500ml for 2G would be 2.5Vol CO2, so 800ml is too much).

Added the yeast slurry from #4 to start fermentation, and reused airlocks.

Took about 2 days to start fermenting, we'd expected it to start much quicker;

next time, just use fresh yeast.

It took a much longer time to finish fermenting than we expected, finally slowing down after 3 weeks.

2022-04-03 FG was about 1.000 @ 75F, the Gyle (unfermented juice) looked to be 1.050 @ 60F, so we're still expecting 6% alcohol or so.

When we combined the fermented cider jugs into the bottling bucket, it started fermenting again quite vigorously. While I'm concerned that we've restarted fermentation, a 1.000 FG indicates it's pretty well done. 

Added 500 ml Gyle (juice) and bottled. Because of concern about fermentation, we put them in a plastic trash can lined with a plastic trash, and added a weighted lid: if any blow, this should contain the mess.

2022-01-29 #4:
BJs organic Honeycrisp Apple Juice

2 x 96 fl oz = 192 fl oz / 5.45 L Apple Juice $7.49

5 g (1 packet) Lalvin EC-1118 sparkling wine yeast: $1

Reserved 500ml / 16 oz juice.

Add 2 airlocks and their stoppers to a 32 oz / 1 L mason jar, add bleach and water, soak a while to sterilize.

Front: airlocks in jar of bleach water

Rinse jar and airlocks well.

Pour 250 ml from each jug of Apple Juice to the jar, seal and put in fridge for later carbonation.

We will end up with 5.45 - .5 =~ 5L fermented juice, and the reserved 500ml.

Place each bottle of juice on a flat plate so that you can move it without the bottom sagging and sucking the contents of the airlock.

Hydrate the yeast in 50 ml body-temperature water.

Hydrating yeast on left, reserved juice in center

Divide hydrated yeast between the two bottles.

Add Airlock.

12:00 Ferment until it stops bubbling, 3-7 days.

Reserved juice in front, fermenters in back

2022-03-05 Bottle

500ml reserved juice

Assuming same numbers as before: 1.5G=5.67L cider, OG=1.06, FG=1.01,  72F=20C.

Bump up carbonation to 2.5 Vol CO2.

Have 0.5 Qt (2C, 1 pint, 500ml) saved Gyle.

Calculator says I need 0.43 Qt = 400ml Gyle (500ml would push it too high) 

2021-05-02 #3:
BJs conventional Cider, recycled yeast

2 new 3 Qt bottles of BJs Cider, non-organic, about $6.

Same FDA sugar content as #2 so presume 6% potential alcohol.

Added yeast slurry from the previous batch, and topped with air locks. 11:47am

2021-05-28 Primed with Gyle + Corn Sugar: Calculations:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/gyle-and-krausen-priming-calculator/

1.5 G cider

2.4 vol CO2

72F at bottling

OG 1.06

FG 1.01

Gyle: 0.3 qt (10 fl oz)

Corn sugar: 0.4 oz

Shook Gyle with Sugar, added to priming bucket

Sterilized 6 750 ml + 2 350 ml swing-top bottles

Filled with a couple ounces left over, tasted tart, promising

Carbonation was very good, better than #1 or #2: fizzy but not bubbly like soda.

Value – quality / price – was excellent.

2021-04-17 #2:
BJs organic juice, Champagne yeast

2x 3 Quart bottles of BJs Organic (from concentrate) “cider” juice.

Bleach sterilize airlocks and mason jar with lid.

Remove a 8? ounces of each bottle to a sterilized Mason jar to make space for ferment, fridge.

Hydrate 1 pkt E-1118 Champagne yeast ($1) in water, adding a bit of juice from each bottle.

Add hydrated yeast back to each bottle.

Add Airlock.

16:00

2021-04-21 Topped up, OG

Took OG from reserved 32 ounces in fridge:

1.050 = 6% = 13 brix

Added remaining juice to cider bottles and recapped with airlocks

In 5 hours started bubbling again.

Looks healthy the next days, as of 2021-04-24.

2021-05-02 Bottle

36g Corn Sugar to some water, nuked

Bleached 8 750ml bottles

FG about 1.000, maybe a bit higher, so 6% ABV or a little less.

Filled 7x 750 bottles

2021-05-30 Tastes good, definite fizz

The earlier bottle we tried, maybe a week ago, had little fizz and Irene said she didn’t like the taste -- too apple-y. This one had definite fizz, and seemed apple-y in the aroma, but not in taste. After consideration, she pronounced it good -- worth doing again.

2021-03-?? Batch #1

1 Gallon Farmers Market apple juice “cider”

1 packet Saf Cider yeast, maybe 3 years old

Put a plastic bucket with the spigot in the dishwasher to “sterilize”.

Added apple juice.

Hydrated yeast (?) and added half way through juice to aerate.

OG was about 1.050

Started fermenting, with froth on top, and air lock bubbled.

After a couple days, ferment seemed stuck.

Added corn sugar boiled with some water.

After a week or two, the murkiness cleared out.

2021-03-14 Measure, Prime, Bottle

FG was about 1.002

Alcohol = (OG - FG) * 131 = 6.3%

17g Corn Sugar boiled in water.

Added for priming, waited a bit to distribute.

Washed 5 750mL flip top bottles in light bleach water, rinsed.

Filled from bucket spigot (very handy)

2021-04-03 Taste

Irene says “like scrumpy”. Just a slight funk. Barely carbonated, but if you hold it in your mouth, you can feel the carbonation; maybe like Spanish cider that’s “bullied”.

Chris: apple and slight funk in aroma; dry, a little tart, just a touch of apple in flavor. Body seems good, a little “thick” mouthfeel, not unpleasant.

Americans would want more carbonation, but I think this is OK; I'd bump it up just a little next time.

Quesabirria Tacos: rich and crunchy

We first had Birria tacos at Fusion Street Eatery, in Dunedin, Florida: they were slow-cooked beef shank, wrapped in a crunchy fried tortilla. A week later, I stumbled across this YouTube video which was clear and direct: soak chilis, blend, fry in oil, cook meat in the sauce; to assemble, paint the corn tortillas with oil from the sauce, fry then fill and fold, fry until crisp. The "quesa" in the name is from letting the cheese melt on the tortilla while it's frying.

I cut down his recipe by half: 6 tacos were enough for the two of us for dinner, and we had lots of the cooked meat, sauce, and oil to make more anytime we want -- enough for two more dinners. My first stab at this took more than the 30 minutes prep that the chef claims, but now that I understand the process, I expect that's a reasonable time; the meat cooks in the sauce for 3 hours, so plan ahead. The recipe's slightly adapted from the print version on Vice.com.

For sauce and meat:

2 oz    60 g   guajillo chilies (about 8), stemmed
4              morita/chipotle chilies, stemmed
1              ancho chilies, stemmed
1              small plum tomato
2              garlic cloves, peeled
1 tsp          oregano
1 tsp          ground cumin
1/2 tsp        black peppercorns
1 whole        clove
1              bay leaf

1/4            white onion, peeled 
1/8 C   60 g   kosher salt
2.5 Tbs 40 ml  white vinegar

2.5 Lb   1 Kg  beef shoulder (or shank, etc)
3/4 C  200 ml  vegetable oil

For the tacos and serving:

Shredded cheese: Monterey Jack,Cheddar, Mozzarella, or Mexican cheese
Corn tortillas
Cilantro, minced
White onion, finely chopped (we used pickled red onion)
Lime wedges

Cover chilis and tomato with 4 C / 1 L water, bring to boil, remove from heat, cover, and let soften 10 minutes. Strain, retaining the liquid.

Put 2 C / 500 ml liquid into a blender, and blend the chilis and tomato, and all the other sauce ingredients (excluding the meat and oil).  Add the oil to a sauce pan over medium heat and fry the sauce for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

While that's cooking, cut the meat into roughly  2 inch / 5 cm cubes, and season generously with salt and pepper. 

When the sauce is finished cooking, add the meat, and the remaining 2 C / 500 ml chili liquid to the pot. Cook until meat is tender, about three hours. 

Strain everything through a coarse sieve to hold back seeds and other bitter bits. Shred the meat by hand, forks, or a large knife.

Skim off the fat from the top of the sauce into a separate small bowl. I had about a cup / 250 ml of oil and 2 cups / 500 ml of sauce.

Sauce, meat, oil

Add some of the sauce to the meat to keep it moist.

To assemble, dip one side of the tortilla in oil, or paint it with a pastry brush. Place on hot skillet until pliable, top with cheese, meat, cilantro, onions, etc. Fold over the tortilla before it becomes too firm, and continue to fry until crispy; flip and crisp the other side. 

To serve, add some sauce to a small bowl, and add cilantro and onion. You can stuff other condiments in the taco as you like. Dip the taco in the sauce and "shove it in your mouth". It's a bit messy, but so good.

Blue Cheese Straws

From John Martin Taylor in Gastronomica, Fall 2008, who bases his recipe on a survey of old southern recipes. Also in https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/john-martin-taylors-blue-cheese-straws/13436/.

We used a delightful, intense, creamy French Blue (from Costco) for this, and the result was good, but in the straws, it loses some of its unique quality as an eating cheese, it's blue-ness. We've also used a Cheddar and a mix of Cheddar with Pecorino with fine results.

With a processor, this comes together very quickly. I grate the hard cheeses in the processor, but just crumbled the softer Blue. I then rolled the dough between sheets of cling film and cut with a pizza wheel or pastry scraper; both worked well, but the scraper made transferring to the parchment easier.

113 g  8 ounces Blue Cheese

 56 g  2 ounces Unsalted Butter, cut into chunks (half stick, 4 TBS)

   1/2 tsp Salt, plus more for garnish 

1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper, plus more for garnish

145 g  1 cup All Purpose Flour (preferably soft Southern)

1 Egg Yolk (if needed for moisture)

Preheat oven to 375F (or 350F convection).

Line 2 cookie sheets with a Silpat or parchment so straws don't stick.

Crumble or grate cheese in a food processor.

Combine all ingredients except egg in processor with metal blade and process a minute or two until it forms a ball. 

If it's too dry, add the Egg Yolk (some recipes use a bit of Milk or Buttermilk).

Divide into two batches.

(Many recipes chill the dough for 30 minutes at this step, try if you've got a hot kitchen)

Roll into 1/8 inch thick slabs about 6-inches wide between sheets of cling film;

I use a rolling pin with thick O-rings on the ends for even thickness.

Garnish with Salt and Cayenne, roll once lightly to press in.

Cut into 1/2 inch wide strips, each 6 inch long.

Lay out on cookie sheet, with strips not touching.

Bake 20-25 minutes until just lightly brown.

Cool on rack.

 

 

SER's Beet Gazpacho with Goat Cheese Foam and White Anchovies (Boquerones)

At a recent dinner at SER, we had a beet gazpacho topped with Cabrales cheese foam, garnished with white anchovies. We've re-created it here, using goat cheese, and it turned out wonderfully -- earthy, rich, not too beet-y, and the cheese foam and anchovies elevate it to restaurant level. For the gazpacho, you'll need a powerful blender for a smooth texture, and for the foam, you'll need an iSi whip cream siphon. We got a large tub of Boquerones from a restaurant supply store. 

Make the gazpacho and foam, and chill both. Plate the gazpacho then top with foam and boquerones; garnish with grind of black pepper.

Beet Gazpacho

I started with recipes from the New York Times and Washington Post.  The quantities below don't need to be exact, but these (barely) fit in our vintage Vitamix blender. We normally sieve our tomato gazpacho but didn't feel the need for that here.  Pre-cooked and peeled beets made this very quick, and we used canned tomatoes because it's now after tomato season; you could cook and peel fresh beets and use fresh tomatoes, of course.

500 g        1 pound   cooked and peeled Beets, roughly chopped

400 g     14.5 ounce   canned crushed Tomatoes, unflavored

225 g      1/2 pound   English Cucumber, skinned, sliced

1/4                    Red Onion, sliced

1/2                    Red Bell Pepper,  sliced

  4 cloves             Garlic

 60 ml     1/4 C       Extra Virgin Olive Oil

 30 ml       2 Tbs     Sherry Vinegar (to taste)

 10 g      1/2 Tbs     Kosher Salt (to taste)

Add the Beets and Tomatoes to the blender and blend, adding the other ingredients one by one. 

Blend until very smooth.

Taste and adjust Salt and Vinegar.

Chill for at least 2 hours.

Goat Cheese Foam

I used this recipe, cutting it in half for a few servings, but you'll need to double the below quantities to provide for the amount of gazpacho above.  We have a little 0.25 L iSi, which is fine for this amount, but you'll probably need the 0.5 L model for a double batch. If you have any flecks in your ingredients (pepper flakes or herbs in the cheese) you will need to sieve it to prevent clogging the iSi, but our cheese was plain so we didn't need to. Here too, the quantities don't need to be exact. The small amount above was too little volume for our Vitamix so I used a stick blender; a food processor might work, but might also be too large for this amount.

125 g     4.4 ounce  soft Goat Cheese

 65 g     2.2 ounce Sour Cream

 11 ml   0.75 Tbs  Extra Virgin Olive Oil

  5 g     3/4 tsp Kosher Salt

 65 g     2.2 ounce Heavy Cream

Blend the Goat Cheese, Sour Cream, Olive Oil, and Salt until smooth.

Add the Heavy Cream and blend briefly to combine (you don't want to whip the cream yet) or stir in thoroughly.

Load it into the iSi Whipper: I filled a ziptop bag then snipped off the corner and used it like a pastry bag to get the thick cream mixture into the whipper.

Add the lid, and charge with 1 Nitrous Oxide cartridge (2 for a 1 L whipper).

Chill for at least an hour

Smoky Pork Chili

In the past two chili competitions our friends host, we've come in #2 and #1; we hope to keep our crown this year with a pork-based chili that focuses on smoke.  It uses smoked pork, smoked oil, smoked tomatoes,  smoked tomato water, and smokey chilis. 

TL;DR: we came in tied for 2nd place in this year's competition!

Smoked Tomatoes and Tomato Water

We got bulk tomatoes from the farmers market. 

To skin easily: freeze hard, remove, and soak each for a minute or two in water.

Nick the skin in an X at the bottom and peel it off; it should slip off pretty easy, but if not, let soak a minute more and try again.

While still semi-frozen, cut each in half at the equator.

Put on wire racks, cut-side down, over trays (like lasagna pans) to catch the drips as they thaw and smoke.

Cold smoke several hours.

You may be able to do this while you smoke the Pork and Oil below, if you've got lots of room.

Keep the tomatoes and water to make the chili.

Both are great for other uses, and the smokey water makes a fantastic Bloody Mary.

Pork

   1 Kg   2 Lb  Pork Shoulder, with a moderate amount of fat

   1 L    1 Qt  Olive Oil (as much as you want, it's versatile)

Cut Pork into strips that will fit into meat grinder; arrange on wire rack.

Fill a large low tray -- a lasagna tray -- with Olive Oil and add to smoker.

Cold smoke Pork and Oil; we used apple wood pellets in an 18-inch stainless perforated tube, works well.

Flip the meat periodically to expose all sides.

This smoking runs a bit over 4 hours.

Chill Pork hard before grinding.
Grind through coarse plate, about 3 mm wholes.

Sear in a little of the now Smoked Olive Oil.

The Pork threw off 43g of fat, leaving 607g meat.

Reserve the fat for sauteing later.

Beans

225  g    8    oz  Dried Black Beans (Frijoles negros, secos)
  1  L   32 fl oz  Smoked Tomato Water

Cook beans in Tomato Water, covered, very low, until nearly tender, add water if needed; may take 1-4 hours.

Drain, reserve smokey bean liquid.

Makes 3 C cooked beans.

Chili Sauce Base

Build a base using Irene's Vegan Chili, sans chick peas, and substituting as many smoked ingredients as we can find -- smoked chipotles, smoked oil, smoked tomatoes, ... 

17 g   7 whole  Chipotle chilis, dried

15 g   3 whole  Sweet dried chilis (Costeño, New Mexico, Choricero)

52 g   3 whole  Fruity dried chilis (Ancho, Mulatto, Negro, Pasilla)

 1 L   1 quart  Smoked Tomato Water and smokbean-cooking liquid

Remove stems and seeds from Chilis.

Microwave chilis between two plates in 10 second increments until pliable and toasty smelling, about 30 seconds total.

Add Chilis to Smoked Tomato Water, cover, and microwave until it simmers, about 5 minutes.

Transfer to blender and blend until smooth -- be careful, the hot liquid can explode, so start with slow pulses and cover loosely with a paper towel.

Makes 4 Cups.

Assembly

 230g    1 large  Onion, diced

  ? g    3 clove  Garlic, minced

 10 g  1.5 Tbs    Cumin seed, toasted, ground

3.5 g             Fresh Oregano, or 2 tsp Dried, minced

 10 g    ?        Pimenton

400 g   14 oz     Tomatoes, preferably smoked, fine chopped

  ? g    3 whole  Chipotle chilis from a can, chopped

  ? g    1 Tbs    Chipotle can sauce

 95 g             Smoked dried Chipotle peppers, rehydrated

 20 g             Poblano Chilis from the garden, seeded, chopped

  ? g    1 tsp    Marmite or Vegemite (for Umami)

  ? g    1 Tbs    Soy Sauce (for Umami)

Saute Onions in rendered pork fat, then add Garlic, Cumin, Oregano; drain, reserving fat.

Add part of the drained fat to a large pot for final assembly, and fry chopped tomatoes in the fat. 

Add cooked Onion mixture and cooked Pork.

Add Pimenton, chopped Chipotles and their sauce (this was a 4 ounce jar's worth)

Add 2 C of the 4 C blended Chili sauce, since we had less meat than expected.

Let cook a bit to combine, then adjust salt.

Cook covered, low, until meat is tender, maybe another hour.

Add the 1 C of cooked Beans; this proportion seemed high at first but turned out fine.

Cook a bit more to finish, or let cool, refrigerate, then reheat the next day when the flavors will be married.

If the chili is too loose, or maybe has a bit too much fat, create a slurry of Masa in a little water and add it to the chili a tablespoon at of time until it's thickened as much as you want.

I like to serve this over spaghetti ("chili mac"), with grated Parmesan or Cheddar -- better, smoked Mexican cheese like Cojita -- and some diced onions or scallions. 

For the competition, use 1 C Black Beans; for home, use 3 C.

Ruth Reichl's Pasta with Reduced Seafood Cream Sauce -- and Sea Urchins or Scallops

This is based on Ruth Reichl's "Michele's Pasta and Scallops" from her book "Comfort Me With Apples". Concentrating a flavorful fish stock -- then reducing it again with cream -- creates an intense, indulgent sauce. We've served this home made fettuccine and scallops, but the version pictured here is even better, topped with sea urchins and home made angel hair pasta that holds the sauce more gracefully. 

It's easy to make, just make sure you use good ingredients. We've been making it since 2003, it's a treat. Be warned that Sea Urchins are even more expensive than Scallops, a little flat will set you back about $14; they are quite perishable.  Makes a rich dinner for two.

2  cup  Fish Stock (use good stuff, not that junk in a box or can)

1  cup  Heavy Cream

1  flat  Sea Urchins ("tongues"), or 1/2 pound Sea Scallops

         Kosher Salt

1/2 Lb   Pasta, preferably home made angel hair

1  bunch Parsley, chopped fine for a garnish

1  Tbs   Lemon Juice, fresh, optional

1  Tbs   Toasted Bread Crumbs, wildly optional

Get pasta water boiling. Do the rest while it's heating.

Reduce Stock to 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. I found a measuring cup to be helpful in judging this reduction and the next.

Add cream, simmer to reduce mixture to 2/3 cup, about 6 minutes. It's fine if the cream bubbles vigorously, it won't burn like milk would. It should start to take on a caramelized color and aroma. When sufficiently reduced, adjust Salt (don't salt earlier, the reduction will make it too intense), and keep warm on a very low flame.

Flat of Sea Urchins, home made Angel Hair pasta

Cook the pasta in salted water. If you use dried pasta you might want to start this step earlier; if using fresh, maybe a little later so it doesn't get ready before the scallops. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Drain.

If you're using Sea Urchins, you don't need to cook them -- think sushi.

If you're using Scallops, dry them well, sprinkle generously with coarse Salt, and freshly ground Pepper (the black pepper flecks look good against the cooked scallops when served). 

Heat a heavy metal (dude) skillet; I use a cast iron. Film with oil. Grill scallops until just barely cooked, about 1-2 minutes per side. Transfer to plate, cover to keep warm.

Drain and plate the pasta.

Top with Cream Sauce; if it's gotten too thick, thin with a little of the reserved pasta water first.

Top with (uncooked) Sea Urchins, or seared Scallops.

Sea Urchins on intense sauce and pasta

Garnish with Parsley for a color contrast.

Squeeze a little Lemon Juice to brighten, if desired.

I think black pepper distracts from the color, but add if you like.

You can also top with toasted bread crumbs for a crunchy contrast, but that pushes this elegant dish to a more rustic direction.

 

Farmers' Market Tomato Sauce, canned

Spring Valley Farm was selling a 25 pound box of tomatoes for $15, a bargain, especially since these ones were nearly blemish free. We made 10 Quart canning jars of sauce in a 1950's vintage pressure cooker I got long ago. This one is meat-free to give us the most flexibility later. Amounts are approximate and you can adjust the veggies and herbs.

25 pounds Tomatoes, fresh, trimmed of blemishes

 2        Onions, chopped
 2        Carrots, chopped
 2        Celery stalks, sliced

          Olive Oil

          Tomato Paste
          Red Wine
          Chili pepper flakes
 1   head Garlic, peeled, chopped 

 2        Bay Leaves, whole
          Parsley or its stems
          Basil, fresh

Freeze the tomatoes in a single layer, then remove. They develop a beautiful white frozen coating from the humidity.

To peel the skin, soak each tomato in a bowl of water a couple minutes, nick the skin with an X in the bottom, and it should easily peel and slip off; if it resists, give it another minute in the bath to thaw the skin.

Peeled and still quite firm

It's convenient to cut them while they're still a bit firm from the freezer, I cut them in 8 pieces each.

Saute the Onions, Carrots, Celery, Garlic in a generous glug of Oil until soft in a pot large enough to hold everything; we split ours between an 8 and 10 quart stock pot.

Add the Tomatoes, Tomato Paste, a healthy dose Wine, veggies, and herbs, then bring to a strong simmer.
Continue cooking until it's a little thickened.

Blend smooth so you don't have to worry about fishing out the herbs (our VitaPrep does a good job), then strain through a course sieve to remove the seeds.
Return to heat, bring to simmer, cook a bit more if it needs thickening, and finally adjust the Salt.

Fill 10 quart canning jars, add lids and seal. (did you know the Ball Aerospace Company is the same company that made Ball Jars?).
Add 2 quarts water to the pressure cooker, add the bottom rack, then the sealed jars.
Pressure cook at 5 PSI for 10 minutes (per the Mirro Matic instruction booklet), and let cool naturally. I had to run two batches in my 12 quart vessel.