Finally Cooking the Greens

I love cooked greens at restaurants, but I've never made them at home before. I keep buying bunches of kale and being intimidated and then they turn yellow. oops. But tonight I plunged right in, riffing off the recipe in Cook's Illustrated.

I stemmed the kale as suggested, running the knife along the stem to get chunks of green off. The pile of greenery looked overly large by the time I was halfway through the bunch. I tossed the (cleaned!) kale in boiling water and left it there until it got to be dark and then a bit more, before tossing it back in the colander and rinsing with cold water.

I cut a slice of bacon to bits and waited for the fat to render. Meanwhile, I minced half a shallot and a clove of garlic. When the bacon was done, I picked out the bits and added the shallot and garlic. While they were frying, I dried and rough chopped the kale. Then I tossed it in the fat and shallot and garlic until fully coated and poured it into my bowl, mixing in the bacon bits.

My only complaint was that it was a little too oily. I think maybe if I'd added tossed in some cider vinegar as I was supposed to once it was off the heat, it might have cut the unctuousness. Either that, or only used half a slice of bacon. Good thing I have another half bunch of kale, hm? Read More......

Homemade bacon bits with a side of soup

I thought it might be nice to have a light soup to munch on while I watched tv tonight and fortunately for me, a kindly friend had sent me a jar of Williams-Sonoma butternut puree. The recipe called for 3tbsp of butter, but it seemed to me that bacon drippings might add a certain something to the soup. I used a strip of bacon, removing the bits of bacon when they were crisp and continuing with the recipe. The mix of apples and shallots was very fragrant, even before I added cinnamon, freshly grated ginger, and a 1/4c of aromatic white wine.

The end result was a bit acidic by itself and I wasn't quite sure how to tone it down, but once I added the laid aside bacon bits, it was delicious. So delicious, I accidentally ate the entire bowl before I'd finished cleaning the kitchen, never mind the tv. oops! Read More......

Sometimes, cheap and simple is a virtue

In reading food blogs and cookbooks, it's easy to get hung up on organic this and artisanal that. Not everything requires locally grown, hand fed, regularly massaged protein sources. My grandmother's fried rice with rice, eggs, and ham, for example. It's my favorite comfort food and it does NOT taste better with prosciutto di Parma than Oscar Meyer, as I learned this morning. oops. Read More......

Dinner at the CIA

When someone asks you, would you like to go to dinner at the Culinary Institute of America, the correct response is, "Yes." For years, I've wanted to go, but given that it's two hours outside NYC and I don't have a car, the logistics never worked out, until my friend Paul organized a trip to American Bounty.

I'm not sure if the service was impeccable because we had a large group or because it's always like that, but it was. The waiter was knowledgeable about all the dishes and was able to make suggestions about pairings. I started with a blanc de noir at the bar - I was so excited they actually had one labeled as such on the menu! And even the rosemary bread was delicious.

I had the daily preparation of foie gras, which was served with a sweet potato puree. I had a taste of the foie gras to start and then took a taste of the sweet potato. Both were delicious, but it didn't work for me until I took the final bite and put them both on the spoon at the same time. I could no longer taste the special flavor of the foie gras - but the combination was spectacular.

I generally find entrees less interesting than appetizers and I'm afraid that was true of the simmer short ribs. I can only describe it as monolithic - tasty and well-prepared, but ultimately not particularly interesting.

I had the gingerbread cake for dessert, mostly because I wanted to see how the CIA did caramel. It was fine, although not quite as much of a knockout as the foie gras. Unfortunately, I think 4 hours round trip is a bit much for even that foie gras. Read More......

Orzo with barbecue chicken

I love living next door to Dallas BBQ. My Texan friend tells me it's not real bbq, but that's ok - why learn to roast chicken when I can have one at my door in <15 mins, for <$10?

Instead of using the last breast as a topping for a romaine and tomato salad as I usually do, this morning I ate it with orzo. I fried some onions and in the same pot, boiled water for whole wheat orzo. I bought the orzo once upon a time, thinking I'd replicate my favorite dish from Aux Delice, an orzo salad, but apparently cooking orzo is not as simple as I thought. I once tried it in a rice cooker - terrible idea, it turned into a tan sludge. This morning I followed the directions on the jar, cooking it like a pasta; the only difference was that there was a little olive oil and onions in the pan already. Unfortunately, the orzo turned out to be a little wetter than I wanted. On the other hand, the onions perfectly set off the chicken (and leftover barbecue sauce) to make a flavorful repast. Read More......