Summer time is Tomato time

 

One of the best things about the summer is the abundance of fresh vegetables. And for cooks, tomatoes are at the top of the list.

Several times during the summer I will make fresh tomato sauce mainly to freeze to have available during the winter. The number of dishes you can make that incorporate tomato sauce are as varied as your own imagination.

The ingredients for making the sauce are simple:

Olive oil, garlic, onions and lots of fresh basil. Oh yes....ripe tomatoes.

Let's start there first. I suggest using Roma tomatoes because they have a high "meat to juice" ratio.

This is three pounds of fresh Roma's I bought at Whole Foods to use for sauce.

Step number one is to sauté one onion chopped, 4 to six cloves of garlic, peeled but whole in around 4 or 5 tablespoons of olive oil. After the onions have sweated about 5 or 10 minutes, set the pan aside and peel the tomatoes.

To Grate or not to Grate.......

Now, I have done this two different ways. The first way is to score the tomatoes on both ends and drop them in boiling water for 5 minutes or so then run them under cold water. This will cause the tomato skin to peel back and make it much easier to remove. The other method is to simply cut the tomatoes in half and use the course side of a box grater to "grate" the tomatoes which will remove the meat and juice and leave the peel! Sounds easy and it is, but it also tends to leave you with too much juice (See the first picture above) and other then the time involved with boiling the tomatoes, is not much quicker. So I suggest boil the tomatoes then peel the skin off. With Roma tomatoes you simply cut off the tops and bottoms (with larger tomatoes you will have to core them) and lightly squeeze the tomato to remove most of the seeds and juice then add them to the pot with the onions and garlic. Squeeze the tomatoes in a bowl to preserve the fresh juice in case you need to add more liquid to the sauce.

Put the pan back on the stove and add as many basil leaves as you wish! For this batch of sauce, I used 10 basil leaves, chopped to help release their flavor. I also added a tablespoon each of chopped fresh oregano and thyme and two tablespoons of chopped fresh rosemary from my garden.

At this point you simply sauté the tomatoes with the onions and garlic until the tomatoes are "stewed" and limp around 15 to 20 minutes on medium heat.

Now, if you are like me you want your sauce to be smooth so I use my Breville immersion blender to make the sauce smooth and creamy. If you don't have one then using a traditional blender, though more trouble, it will do the trick.

Here is where you need to tasted the sauce to adjust seasoning by adding salt and fresh ground pepper. Sometimes I will add one or two tablespoons of tomato paste to give it a little body. You may want to add more herbs. Be careful with the salt! Add what you wish a little at a time and let it cook in and taste again. Remember you went to a lot of trouble to get this far to realize you have put in too much salt! (Done that).

Here is the finished product! Believe me it smells as good as it looks.

Now most of this I freeze but I did save enough to have for dinner. And I decided to serve it with pasta and shrimp....

The simple way would have been to simply add the peeled shrimp to the hot tomato sauce letting them cook in the sauce and serve it like a shrimp creole. That is a little to heavy for my taste this time so I sautéed the peeled shrimp for dinner for two:

2 dozen small/medium shrimp
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
1 tablespoon minced green pepper

Cook the pepper and the onions in the oil for a couple of minutes over medium heat then add the shrimp and cook until pink.

Spoon the warm tomato sauce on the cooked pasta and put the shrimp on top. Add fresh parmesan cheese and you are good to go!

 

 

 

 

What did I drink with that?

Well....you can go either way. The tomato sauce can handle red wine such as this Chianti on the left. The shrimp says white like the Burgundy on the right. So I split the difference with the Cotes du Provence Rose. Rose' wine says summer. Check out my earlier post on rose' wine.



 

 

 

 

 





The best burgers are the ones you make yourself

So.....yesterday I decided I wanted a fresh burger for dinner. So the only way to do that is make the burger yourself.

First you need to decide what meat you want to use for the burger. There are plenty of different opinions on this and my favorite is boneless short ribs. Great combo of meat and fat. The store didn't have any so I went to the next best which I think is chuck roast.

Now.......we have all had bacon on a burger and we have all had onions on a burger but I think the best way is to COMBINE the bacon and onion right into the burger.

Why?

Well......flavors are always better when they are cooked in rather then simply placed on top!

So as I ground up the beef I ground up the bacon and added the onion as well so the finished product included all three.

 

You may notice that the mix is dropping into a bowl resting on ice. I got this tip from the internet to help keep the meat cold. It's a good idea as it helps when making the patties.

As the mixture is falling into the bowl, carefully mix it with your hands to insure the three elements are evenly folded in. Handling the meat too much makes the patties tough.

Here is the finished product.

Another tip I picked up is the press a hole in the top of the burger. This will keep the burger from "balling up" when you cook it which helps retain the juices.

Believe me.....cooking the bacon and onion in the burger tastes way better then slapping it on top!

So here is the deal:

• Two or so pounds of whatever meat you choose be it sirloin, chuck roast, or my preferred boneless short ribs.
• One pound of thick sliced hickory smoked bacon
• One medium sweet onion (Vidalia is the best)

What am I drinking with that??

When most folks think of Beaujolais wine they think of the stuff that is sold around the holidays called Beaujolais Nouveau (also called vin primeur or first wine). It is usually from the lesser districts in the Beaujolais region and is typically only seven to nine weeks old. Like Thanksgiving, it is meant to be a celebratory wine to welcome in the new harvest. 

In 1985 the third Thursday in November was established as its release date which has become a cleverly hyped event here and around the world. The stuff is fun to drink and is usually gone within a month of its release and accounts for over one third of all the wine produced in Beaujolais.

Unfortunately it also overshadows the really good wines that are produced in Beaujolais.

Beaujolais wines are not considered to be nearly as "serious" as their cousins to the north (Burgundy) or their cousins to the south (Northern Rhone) They are lighter and fruitier.....more to be considered a Bistro wine which makes Beaujolais the perfect wine of choice for a burger!

There are three levels of Beaujolais with the best being the Cru wines. The term cru here does not indicate a vineyard as it does in other areas of France but refers to the ten villages in the appellation that have been given special recognition for their wine.
 (Note....the above information about Beaujolais comes from the great book by Karen MacNeil titled:
The Wine Bible.)

The wine we drank with the burgers is from Morgon one of the ten cru villages.

So that's it!

A great burger and a great wine for a perfect Friday night dinner!

So now what?

Too hot to play golf and so I got these great organic Roma's at Whole Foods so I'm making homemade tomato sauce this afternoon. If I get around to it I'll blog about that too.

Whole Chicken on the Grill

Although it is 38 degrees here in Columbia, SC today, we have had enough warm weather that we start thinking about the grill.

I have always cooked chicken on the grill. Either marinated boneless breasts or thighs, or bone-in breasts with BBQ sauce but, until recently I never cooked a whole chicken on the grill. If you are like me, keep reading because you will get rave reviews on this way to grill chicken.

Two things that are a must to make this work:

1. Great quality whole chicken. Around here you would go to Earth Fare, Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.

2. A grill that you can control the temperature, preferably a charcoal grill and best yet an egg type grill. It doesn't have to be the Cadillac grill the Green Egg but these type grill called Kamado grills, are the best for providing great smoky flavor and easy to control temperature. The top end cookers can cost over $800.00. What I use is an Akorn Kamado Kooker made by Chhar-Griller. You can get one for under $400.00. http://www.hayneedle.com/product/chargrillerredakornkamadokookerwithoptionalcover.cfm

Okay....let's get started.

• First, wash the chicken and pat dry with paper towels.
• Place the chicken breast side down on a cutting board and with a good pair of scissors, cut the back bone out of the chicken. If you want, ask your butcher to do this when you buy the chicken.
• When removed, turn the chicken over and press down on the breast bone to flatten the chicken out.
• Now, the fun part. In a small bowl, mix 2/3 to 1/2 a cup of olive oil with two teaspoon's each of sage, oregano and chopped fresh rosemary. You may also add other herbs or spices that suit you. Carefully lift the skin up off the breasts and thighs and rub this mixture under the skin onto the meat.
• This is all well and good BUT......here is what I prefer. Instead of olive oil, I use Duck Fat! The duck fat gives the chicken a much hardier flavor and adds a whole dimension to the grilling. If you can't find duck fat then go ahead with the olive oil or mix in a tablespoon of butter with the olive oil.
• Once done, sprinkle the outside with fresh ground pepper and kosher salt. It will look something like this:

 



Now this is a big yard bird......about 5 pounds, but you can see it is oozing duck fat and spices. I also sprinkled some Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning on top

 
 
 
Let the chicken rest and come to room temperature while you light the grill.
 
When the coals are ready, bring the temperature up to 350 degrees and hold it there.
 
• Throw in a handful or two of wood chips. Now, I prefer apple wood to hickory. It is not as strong and won't overpower the chicken. I also don't soak them first as I don't want the wet chips to lower the temperature.
• Now place the chicken on the grill Breast Side Down.
• Close the grill top and leave it alone for 20 minutes. The combination of the smoke from the wood chips and the oil or fat dripping on the coals, creates a marvelous combination that browns the chicken.
• After 20 minutes, open the top and carefully turn the chicken breast side UP. It should look like this:

 



 

 

You think this looks good you should smell it!!!

 

• Now put the top down again, and let it cook for another 15 to 20 minutes or until the temp in the breast meat is 160 and the thigh is 175.
• Now, here is another aside: the best meat thermometer I have found is made by ThermoWorks and called Thermapen: 

 







It ain't cheap but it is fast and accurate. http://www.thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/?gclid=CNm-9ofanL0CFRQaOgod7k8AOQ

 

 

Once cooked, take it off the grill, cover with foil and let it rest for ten minutes. Here it is ready for carving:

 

 

Folks, I will tell you that you will love the flavor. It is moist and all that fat and seasoning dripped off on the coals so it is not greasy at all.

What am I drinking with it??

The obvious choice with chicken is a white wine. But grilling the chicken gives it a hearty, smoky taste that can stand up to a red such as a Pinot Noir. If you have read my other posts, you know I like French wine so I would go with a Burgundy which is light enough not to over-power the chicken. But...the best summer wine for this chicken is rose'. I wrote a blog in May of 2011 about rose' so check it out.



 



A SCALLOP DISH FOR THE SUMMER

SEA SCALLOPS with TOMATO CORN RELISH

I am a fan of scallops.

The problem is getting good scallops, and a reason for this is "wet" scallops versus "dry" scallops.

There is a difference between wet scallops and dry scallops. The difference is how they are preserved. Wet scallops which are what we most often find in American stores, are commonly treated with phosphates which are a preservative.  Besides having an effect on the taste, scallops soaked in this manner absorb water which, of course, is released when cooked making them harder to brown and smaller. Dry scallops are not treated with any chemicals.  They are harvested directly from the ocean, then immediately frozen. They are harder to find than wet scallops and are more expensive but are definitely worth the effort.

Served along with whole wheat orzo and fresh spinach, this meal is both easy and healthy. It is simple enough for a weeknight and (I think) elegant enough for company. My wife liked it not only because of the taste but she said it looked good on the plate!

First, the relish:

Two tablespoons of unsalted butter
Two ears of fresh, sweet corn (cut from the kolb)
Two cups of quartered cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup of fresh basil (chopped)
One tablespoon of cidar vinegar
One teaspoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Do this a couple of hours ahead of time if you can to allow the flavors to meld.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and cook the corn over medium heat until cooked and slightly brown (about 5 minutes). Add the tomatoes and saute for another two minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a glass bowl to cool. Once room temperature, I stirred in the basil, vinegar, sugar and salt. I covered the bowl and put it in the refrigerator. (By the way....this relish is also good with grilled chicken).

For the orzo, I used whole wheat orzo and cooked it by the directions on the container. When it was almost done, I add a bag of baby spinach and a pinch of garlic salt and let the spinach cook down as the rice was finishing cooking. Cover to keep warm.

Now for the scallops. This was not difficult as I threaded the scallops on skewers and cooked them on the grill. One trick I've learned is when grilling scallops either use a grill pan to "saute" the scallops on the grill or to thread two skewers through each scallop. This makes it much easier to turn the scallops on the grill.

Heat the grill to around 400 degrees. Dip a thick wad of paper towels in a bowl with cooking oil in it and liberally grease the grill to prevent the scallops from sticking.

Place the skewered scallops on the grill and baste with a simple mixture of melted butter and salt and pepper. Nothing fancy. Close the top, cook for about five minutes. Turn the scallops, baste again and cook for another five minutes. The scallops should be lightly browned and firm.

Plate the scallops and spoon the relish over them or on the side. Add the orzo and you have dinner!

What am I drinking with this?

Through my good friend at Aleph Wines, Jean Pierre Chambas, I have been enjoying several white burgundies produced by Maison Champy in the Cote de Beaune.

This Pernand-Vergelesses is produced in the commune of the same name and is notable for it's better known and much more expensive neighbors: Corton, Corton-Charlemagne and Charlemagne. It is a reasonable priced wine from the 2009 vintage that does nicely on its own but pairs beautifully with food.

So there you have it!!!

A summertime meal easy enough for a weeknight but elegant enough for weekend guests.

Beef Daube....to "glacée or not to glacée"

Think of a cold winter night with a roaring fire and the idea of a hearty beef daube over rice with crusty french bread to sop up the gravy brings a smile to my face.

Daube is a french word that, according to one dictionary definition is: "a stew of braised meat, vegetables, herbs, and spices."

Daube de Boeuf is a classic french dish. The beef is braised then slowly cooked in a heady concoction of vegetables, rich stock, wine and herbs.

The problem is, it's the middle of summer and the heat index is over 100 degrees and the idea of sitting down to a big ole bowl of beef stew is NOT that appealing. So......how to enjoy that wonderful flavor in a summer version?

Answer: Daube Glacée (pronounced Dobe Glah Say)

Often served in New Orleans as an hors d’oeuvres, Daube Glacée  is simply leftover daube that was cooked with spices and a stock which included veal bones and pigs feet. These are high in natural glycerin which when mixed with the daube and poured into a terrine, formed a solid jelly-like mass. This was either sliced and served as a cold meal or in smaller pieces as hors d’oeuvres.

I remember as a child my Aunt Louise would give a loaf of Daube Glacée to friends and family at Christmas. I can still picture my father sitting at the kitchen table, quite content, with a thick slide of Daube, a spoonful of mayonnaise and a pile of saltines.

A number of the older recipes for this dish include the pigs feet and so on but as a practical matter, unflavored gelatin does the trick.

The recipe I use comes from Chef John Besh of Restaurant August in New Orleans. His cookbook: My New Orleans, the cookbook should be a "must have" for any chef who loves New Orleans. More information can be found at www.chefjohnbesh.com


I'm not going to type the recipe here as it has a lot of ingredients but you can find it on Google and here is the link: http://books.google.com/books?id=L-PBWXgTTjsC&pg=PA344&lpg=PA344&dq=john+besh+beef+daube+glace&source=bl&ots=qNXE5mIFcc&sig=9c9zW_ALq6n3vxpudRbSTxkEqzM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SDocUKOFDcfb0QHmpIHwAw&ved=0CGIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=john%20besh%20beef%20daube%20glace&f=false

I followed the directions pretty closely. The dried mushrooms I used were chanterelle mushrooms. I keep a number of different dried mushrooms and I felt the chanterelle mushroom imparted a pleasant flavor without overpowering the dish. Incidentally, I buy all my dried mushrooms from Olive Nation. They have wonderful products besides the mushrooms. Here is a link: http://www.olivenation.com/Mushrooms-C52.aspx

The big hurdle with this recipe is the veal stock. Where I live, it is impossible to find in a grocery store. So I either have to order it, make it or fake it. My preference is to make it but try finding veal bones. A reasonable alternative is to use store bought demi-glace. The demi-glace is made with veal and when added to a combination of water and beef broth, it comes close. Candidly, I would simply suggest using beef broth. Some will argue with me but I think, especially for this recipe, it adds boldness to the dish.

Something else I take care with is the wine I use. I've written here before that the first rule about cooking with wine is if you wouldn't drink the wine, don't cook with it. This rule applies for any bottle you might already have open. Don't think "well I don't want to waste it so I'll stick it in the stew". If the wine has turned, and you don't enjoy drinking it, don't cook with it. However, all is NOT lost. Don't throw out this wine, save it in a ceramic vat for fabulous red wine vinegar.

I think this recipe calls for a big wine and that makes me gravitate to the Southern Rhone wines. I used a Cotes du Rhone (Guigal Cotes du Rhone 2007).

Something else that I did different was the cooking time. I started this around 5:30 one evening and around 8:00 that night, I let it cool and put it in the refrigerator. I took it out at lunch time the next day and let it simmer on very low heat until around 6:00 that night, stirring it periodically and adjusting seasoning.

Since I hadn't forgotten about those cold winter nights, I didn't make Daube Glacée out of all of it. I put a fair amount in the freezer for the winter.

That reminds me......here is another idea for this recipe: Beef and Barley soup. Somebody remind me later and I'll tell you how I use this as a basis for a great winter soup.

I took the rest of the daube and added the gelatin, let it cool and put it in the refrigerator.

So.....here it is!!!

A nice cold way to eat beef stew on a hot summer night.

How did I serve it? We had a slice of daube accompanied by cooked and chilled haricot verts along with a large dollop of homemade mayonnaise. Not bad.

And....guess what??? Don't like it cold? Hell....heat it up and it is Daube de Boeuf again!!

What did I pour with it??

This is clearly a red wine meal. So I picked one of the great wines from the Languedoc region of France: Mas de Gassac vintage 2000. The wine is a blend of Rhone and Bordeaux grapes and is outstanding.

Kabobs Redux

In June of last year I posted a recipe for chicken kabobs cooked on the grill. (June 11, 2011)

I fixed them the other night for the first time in a while and I urge you to read it and try it. I think it is the best way to cook chicken kabobs period.

Also, I'll give one more plug for Cooks Illustrated. They have a fabulous web site with great recipes. It is not expensive and well worth it. Go to http://www.cooksillustrated.com/

So fire up the grill and open a bottle of crisp Cotes du Provence rose wine. You can thank me later.

Great Fish Recipe but......

Here in Columbia we are lucky to have a great Saturday market that is only a few minutes from our house. It is called the All Local Farmers Market and it is open Saturday from 9:00 to 12:00. Besides great fresh produce, they have a wonderful seafood vendor that come from Beaufort, SC. All the fish is local caught (except the scallops and salmon). Recently they have had a wonderful type of snapper called Hognose snapper. It is a mild all white fish that is delicious.

I bought a beautiful fillet on Saturday and was discussing with good friend and neighbor Joe Blanchard how we should fix it for Sunday dinner. A native of Tampa, there is a famous restaurant called Columbia that has a well known snapper dish called Snapper Alicante.

I'm not going to copy the recipe here as you can grab it on the Internet by simply googling snapper alicante. Although the recipe calls for red snapper and I had the milder cousin, it still worked great.

However!!!!

There is one hitch. The Columbia Restaurant cookbook calls for using 1/2 cup of brown sauce. The web site recipe calls for brown beef stock gravy. Now.....I know what brown sauce is but I'm not sure what brown beef stock gravy is. I'm assuming like you, it is some kind of beef gravy you conjure up using beef stock.

I don't care.......don't do it......please use brown sauce!! This is what makes this dish great!

The reason you want the brown sauce is the flavors are so much more complex then simple gravy. The problem is finding it. Brown Sauce is one of the "mother sauces" of french cuisine and is the base for a number of highly refined french sauces such as Marchand de Vin. You can find it online or find it at local gourmet shops. However, it is NOT hard to make and it FREEZES beautifully.

In previous posts, I've mentioned the Plantation Cookbook from the New Orleans Junior League. First published in 1972, it is still one of my go to cookbooks even though half of it is about Louisiana plantations. It is their recipe I use to make my Brown Sauce

You can buy the book at Amazon and other places but I hope you will buy it from Garden District Book shop in New Orleans. This great local institution picked up publishing the book when it went out of print. So if you want it.....please buy it from them: http://www.gardendistrictbookshop.com/

Regardless of whether you use this recipe or not, you are doing yourself and this dish a disservice if you opt for gravy over the brown sauce.

It is inspired. How many different ways could you think to poach fish before you would think of using a beef based sauce?

So here it is.....served with blanched asparagus sauteed in olive oil and tarragon. We also had a salad of heirloom tomatoes and avocado.

The fish, poached in the brown sauce mixed with a white spanish wine (albarino) on a bed of onions and topped with red and green peppers was simply fabulous. Make sure you have some good crusty bread to mop up the sauce!



What did we drink with it??

Even though we cook it in a beef based sauce, the dish is way to delicate for a red wine. Joe brought a 1992 rioja and it was still too big a wine for the meal.

I came to the rescue with a 2006 Grand Cru Cablis from Simonnet Febvre that worked just great.

On a personal note......in my first post in May of last year, I told you all that my mother was a great cook and the person who inspired me to cook. Over the years we continued to share recipes and when I would visit her in New Orleans, I always cooked for her getting a loving dose of "critique" on the side.

My mother passed away almost two months ago in May. She was 86. Her cookbooks are crammed with personal notes and marked through with changes to recipes. I've got a lot of cooking to do to get through them.

I never fixed this recipe for her. She would have loved it.

So here is a "tip of the glass" to my mother, Sue Menge. She was a real character and a hell of a cook!

Sue Menge

1925-2012