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July 29, 2008
The joy of a good pan sauce
(All natural top sirloin and Yukon Gold potato, smothered in a Shiner Bock- balsamic reduction, with red onions and crimini mushrooms)
Well, Julie's out of town again, which means I catch up on eating some foods we generally don't eat together. Steak is one of them, and I really did this one up.
I always prefer to use some good demi-glace or stock in a pan sauce, but lacking that I collected whatever juices I could once I seared the steak while I reduced about half a bottle of Shiner Bock, loosening the fond from my cast iron skillet to get every bit of meaty flavor. I added the juices to the pan along with a glug of decent balsamic vinegar and some dijon mustard, then added my diced red onions and sliced crimini mushrooms. After giving it a saute, I added a generous pat of butter off the heat, then seasoned the sauce to taste.
It's kind of a mess, in terms of plating, but the sauce was so unbelievably good I didn't want to save the leftovers.
Update: I was only able to eat half of that last night, and just had the leftovers. A fall apart sirloin with a sauce packed with flavor. Amazing.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 11:55 AM | Comments (2)
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January 25, 2008
Can you make a sauce from this?
Today's food experiment included a desperate search through the pantry for something fast. I've never used canned soup in a sauce, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
I rubbed two chicken breasts with our Survival Spice® barbecue rub, which of course works like a champ, then roasted them along with some sliced onion and peppers, until they had some good color, then dumped in the cans, seasoned them with more Survival Spice®, then let it all simmer along until it was done. Made some smashed parsley buttered potatoes, and plated it all together.
How was it?
Answer:
Good. I knew it might be salty, so I took it easy on the salt when I seasoned the potatoes and it worked out fine. I might use less stock if I did it again, which is certainly possible.
Been cooking? Email me pics! I'll admit I've been getting to them slowly, but they're still around here somewhere...
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 06:52 AM | Comments (1)
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January 17, 2008
Sauteed Cod with Red Pepper Beurre Blanc
This is a quick and simple dish, relatively speaking, with minimal prep required, which these days is about at the top of the priority list. A beurre blanc sauce, literally 'white butter', is done with whole butter, white wine, lemon juice, parsley and shallots at its most basic form, but is really easy to embellish with things like red bell pepper, capers and whatever else you feel like throwing in there. My ratio of butter to lemon juice wasn't high enough to make this a 'textbook' beurre blanc, but this slightly lighter version was still amazing.
The main trick to a beurre blanc is to not heat the butter to the point of splitting. I dimly remember that being around 137º from my culinary school days, but the basic technique to this pan sauce is to give your skillet a quick wipe after you've removed whatever meat you've cooked, then adding the shallots, and sweating them a minute or two. Deglaze with a shot of white wine, reduce this to 'au sec', or nearly dry, then add your whole butter. Alternate between on and off the heat, swirling your pan almost continuously, until the mixture emulsifies. Thin with lots of lemon juice, toss in some chopped parsley if you like, or cilantro, then plate 'er up.
The acidity of the white wine and lemon juice makes this sauce much lighter than you'd expect. As far as the fish goes, all I did was season it with a bit of Survival Spice® and sauteed it in our Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva, then kept it warm on a sizzle plate.
If you want to keep playing with butter sauces after you've tried this, a beurre noisette, or browned butter sauce is absolutely amazing, but that's another day.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:00 AM | Comments (2)
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November 12, 2007
Ommegang... Ohmahgod, it's good!
This is a great beer, and it added a wonderful dimension to the pan sauce I put together last night.
I was determined to keep this as simple as possible, in terms of flavors, so I decided to create an utterly simple pan sauce. Fortunately, I still had some of the "semi-glace" that I try to keep on hand, and that's really all you need, but rather than crust my top sirloin with crushed black peppercorns, ala au poivre, I figured that I could just deglaze the pan with some butter, a few cubes of semi-glace, and some crushed peppercorns.
The steak was simple, too, I used some amazing Hawaiian sea salt on the steak before pan frying it in our Tibvrtini Novello organic olive oil, and some butter. Pulled it once it was medium rare, and let it rest on a plate.
Happily, as it turns out, I didn't have enough sauce to deglaze the size of the pan I used, so I needed to add some more liquid. I was planning on drinking the Ommegang Abbey Dubbel anyway, so I splashed a bit of it in the skillet, swirled to deglaze the fond, and reduced it until it was nappé.
Serving it with the rigatoni and cheese seemed like an unlikely match, but it was great, and the sauce worked really well with the pasta, too.
This was almost unbearably good, and pretty simple to put together. Here's another picture of the finished dish:
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:00 AM | Comments (5)
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March 09, 2007
Friday Flank Steak
Happy Friday, everyone! Forgive the alliteration in the title, and the infrequent posting this week. There's nothing funny about this London Broil steak, but it was really good.
If you recall, I stumbled on a marinade of Tibvrtini Extra Virgine di Oliva, organic Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Blanco, and some Survival Spice™ that I thought would work with this flank steak, and it did. I rubbed the steak with Survival Spice®, and put in a one gallon baggie, and made a mix of 2 parts or so Tibvrtini olive oil, and one part white wine vinegar, and poured it in to the bag.
I let it marinade for about two days, than pulled it out of the marinade. I'll rub it with more Survival Spice® before I cook it next time, because what the beef didn't absorb basically got washed away, but hey, it was a first attempt! I let it come to room temperature while I got the fire going, then grilled it over a medium hot pecan fire. I let it rest a few minutes, then sliced it across the grain, to cut as much connective fiber as possible.
This is really good stuff, and really simple- no chopping onion or garlic or measuring stuff, just rub it and give it enough marinade it to get it wet, then turn it twice a day or so.
Have a great weekend! Cook something good, willya? Email me a picture of something you feel like sharing.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for your patronage of Desert Island Foods®.com.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:20 AM | Comments (0)
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February 26, 2007
Steak Kebabs with Survival Vinagerette
I like kebabs, kabobs, however you like to spell it, (both are correct, actually) don't get me wrong. They're really party friendly, easy prep you can do well in advance, and the simplicity of plunking down a kebab or two on a plate and not have to have a lot of side dishes is great. The problem with mixed kebabs, however, is that generally you get a bunch of burned and raw stuff on the same skewer, because each individual item takes different times to cook.
There are two ways to solve this: either make your kebabs seperately, entire skewers made up of the same ingredient, which I prefer; or par cook items to the same state of doneness, then make up mixed skewers. This was how I made these- I cut an onion in half and zapped it on the microwave for about 2 minutes, then cut it into wedges. The beef and the red bell pepper needed no pre-cooking, I knew they'd both be done in about 15 minutes.
I lucked into an amazing marinade for this, that I can't wait to try on flank steak. I combined our Tibvrtini Extra Virgine di Oliva, organic Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Blanco, and some Survival Spice™, and was blown away by how good it was. It might even make a quick Italian-type salad dressing- I'll be playing with that soon.
These got about 15 minutes over a medium charcoal fire, and I served them on some brown rice. I'm going to be making these again, soon, and a flank steak is definitely on my shopping list.
Do any cooking this weekend? I got some great pictures in over the weekend that I'll be posting soon.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 06:16 AM | Comments (5)
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February 21, 2007
Survival Chicken Caesar Salad
This is not what you would call a traditional Caesar salad. Traditionally, a Caesar salad would have whole leaves of romaine lettuce, and the dressing would include a few coddled eggs. The nouvelle Caesar dressing I learned in culinary school only contains one egg yolk per cup of oil, and the egg is 'cooked' with a combination of lemon juice and vinegar, so the dressing tends to be more like a loose aoili.
To make this, I grilled off a chicken breast with Survival Spice™, and sliced it. I like a simple crouton with my Caesar, so they're just lightly oiled, along with some kosher salt and black pepper, then toasted.
I went high end with the ingredients in the dressing- an organic egg yolk, a few liquified cloves of garlic, TIbvrtini Aceto di Vino Blanco, our organic white wine vinegar, and a blend of canola oil and TIbvrtini Olio Extra Virgene. I also used lemon juice, parmagiano reggiano cheese, a bit of Worcestershire sauce, and some dry Colman's mustard.
It's not the lightest salad in the world, but it's one of my favorites.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 10:07 AM | Comments (7)
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October 04, 2006
Pork chops with Chipotle Cream Sauce
Wow, Chilebrown hooked me up. He sent me some home smoked chipotle peppers, and I knew immediately what I wanted to do with them.
Continue reading "Pork chops with Chipotle Cream Sauce"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:04 AM | Comments (4)
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September 20, 2006
John's Lobster with Ugga Bugga Lobster Sauce
John in Chicago sends along a really fantastic-sounding lobster dish using copious amounts of Survival Spice™:
I made a sauce by taking butter and adding fresh lemon verbena & garlic and warming it to infuse the lemon verbena ................................... I grilled the lobs w/ survival spice and redusted when they came off ........................... ugga bugga
Wow. Sounds like that hits all the right notes! I've mentioned Survival Butter and how amazing it is with crab, but John took it at step further by adding lemon verbena. Nice touch! He didn't mention if he clarified the butter, but you certainly don't have to.
I'm not sure exactly what "Ugga Bugga" meant, but I assume that means it was good!
Been cooking? Email me!
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:01 AM | Comments (2)
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September 11, 2006
Whatchacallit
I have no idea what I made last night, but it was good.
Another of those market basket days, where I had a bunch of ideas what to make with what I had on hand. Pork chops and a French style mushroom cream sauce, maybe a Southwest influence with the addition of pasilla chiles; a simple pork and sausage gumbo; hot Italian sausage sandwiches with peppers and onions- my head was filled with possibilities.
I think you know this, but this is my favorite way to cook- inventory what's on hand, then make something up. What could you make with these ingredients?
Continue reading "Whatchacallit"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 07:58 AM | Comments (2)
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August 14, 2006
Pot Roast with Carrot, Green Chile and Mushroom Gravy
(The gravy is unusual looking, I'll admit, but tasty...)
Sometimes, I just like to make dishes up. Okay, I do it a lot, actually.
Part of what I love about cooking, other than the eating (of course), is starting a dish without a clear idea of how it's going to end. Having a clear idea of what you're making is naturally more efficient, and there's a certain comfort to knowing that you're going to have predictable results. This is particularly true when you've got company coming over.
There was none of that involved with last night's dinner, so why not 'take the gloves off' and make it up?
Continue reading "Pot Roast with Carrot, Green Chile and Mushroom Gravy"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:36 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
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June 15, 2006
Masitas de Puerco- Cuban twice cooked pork
(Photo: Mary)
I love pork. There, I said it. Of course, if you find that shocking you probably haven't been reading very long, because we've all cooked quite a bit of pork around here over the last year or so.
One of my favorites is Masitas de Puerco because it combines multiple cooking techniques- a slow braise that renders fat and tenderizes the cut, and frying, which results in a crispy bit of pork with a moist, succulent center. As with any good braised dish, the braising liquid is used as a finishing sauce. Serve with white rice, black beans, fried plantains and white onions.
Continue reading "Masitas de Puerco- Cuban twice cooked pork"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:43 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
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May 31, 2006
"Scaryaki" Halibut Salad
(Photo: TPCs Scaryaki Halibut Salad)
This is one of those "Here's what you got, make something up" dishes that totally kicked butt. I call it "Scaryaki" because it was spicy and flavorful enough to peel paint!
I started by marinating some halibut filets (thanks, Lloyd!!!) in more or less equal parts of soy sauce, chili garlic paste, and Sriracha hot sauce, stuff that should be in your refrigerator at all times, I think. Make extra, so you have some to use as a dipping sauce.
I got a cast iron skillet really hot, added a touch of oil to it, then fried my halibut filets. Warning: you might want to stand back a bit, the spicy aroma is a bit intense. I, of course, breathe it in like Vapo-Rub...
The salad couldn't be simpler. A small head of butter lettuce, washed, outer leaves removed, and broken in half. An amazingly simple but incredible oil and vinegar from two parts Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva and one part Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Bianco, kosher salt and pepper. I still haven't topped this extraordinary combination and I've tried, believe me. A few snipped organic chives from the herb garden and then plated it all up.
It blew me away. I'm really trying to watch my diet these days, eating healthy stuff all week so I can splurge a bit on the weekends, and this dish really reinforced the idea that big, bold flavors can do a good job substituting for a lack of fillers.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:19 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
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May 25, 2006
Penne Arrabbiata con Pollo
(TPC's Penne Arrabbiata con Pollo)
Here's another delicious and easy dish. This is great baked in an over for an hour or more, but I'm giving you the quick version.
I used chicken thighs because I had them on hand, and I really like them. They work well in a simmered dish like this because they have enough fat to keep them moist. If you make this with breasts, you'll want to cook them off almost entirely then remove them while the sauce comes together, adding any juices from the meat to the skillet, of course. Adding peppers and onions (some add mushrooms as well) would make it a cacciatora, but I didn't go that route.
To define a few terms, Arrabbiata means "angry", referring to the spiciness in the dish. Cacciatora is an Italian word for "hunter", inferring a rustic style of cooking.
Easy, easy, easy. Here's how it came together.
Continue reading "Penne Arrabbiata con Pollo"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 11:41 AM
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May 17, 2006
Carolyn's Salad Nicoise
(Photo: Carolyn's Salad Nicoise)
I'm back. Tired yet invigorated by all the great food and experiences of the last 10 days.
Pathetically, I didn't take a lot of pictures, but I did have my camera with me one night at a dinner party with some friends in Chicago. They have a great loft downtown with a huge kitchen, perfect for a pro cook like John. The menu was a red pepper soup, salad nicoise, veal picatta, frites, and chocolate mousse. I was done with my camera by dessert, so no pics of the mousse, but I'll post a few pictures over the next week or so.
Carolyn made a great salad Nicoise, which means in the style of Nice, and because Carolyn is French, so much the better! Filled with organic greens, corn, potatoes, cucumber, olives, tomatoes, green beans, eggs, thinly sliced onion and chopped parsley, she made a wonderful vinagerette of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard and mayonaisse to dress it.
It was a great party, casual, great wine and conversation with cool people I hadn't met before, and with the priority where it needs to be- the food, IMHO. Carolyn's salad was a great start, more soon...
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 10:47 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
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April 13, 2006
"Easy Orange Survival Glaze" for Ham, version 2
(Photo: Mary, of TPC's Easy Orange Survival Glaze)
I've revised this slightly, just because the orange color was so over the top. The picture is of the first version, with 6 ounces of orange juice concentrate. The old recipe was delicious, but I think this will work better on an Easter Ham. Let me know if you try it!
Update: Rob reports that for a Texas ham, he rubbed his ham with Survival Spice™, and put it in a crock pot with a liter of Dr. Pepper for 8 hours. Unfortunately, it didn't last long enough for him to take some pictures!
Continue reading ""Easy Orange Survival Glaze" for Ham, version 2"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 06:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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March 15, 2006
Grilled Salmon Salad with Tibvrtini vinageratte
(TPCs Grilled Salmon Salad with Tibvrtini vinageratte)
This made a great, light, easy lunch yesterday, something I should do a lot more, judging by the way my clothes mock me as I try to squeeze into them. Ah, the struggles of a middle-aged man who's in the food biz...
My dress pants: Look, Porky, you've been trying to squeeze into me for 5 minutes. Get a sackcloth or a mumu, wouldja? I'm bustin' at the seams here!
Where was I? Right, lunch.
I grilled some salmon with lemon juice and Survival Spice™ and once cool, flaked it by hand. This is a great technique for using any leftover meat- steak, pork, chicken, whatever you've got on hand. I had some salmon, romaine lettuce and a carrot so that's what I used. No sweat, I can make a meal of this.
I've been into simple oil and vinegar dressings again lately, after coming full circle on lots of exotic, elaborate combinations. BTW, one of them I got via email from Shelleigh was using Survival Spice™ mixed with ranch dressing. Try it, it's amazing, but I digress. Again.
After prepping the lettuce, which I'll talk about tomorrow, I peeled a carrot using my zester, which gives a nifty edge if you're into that, mine just happened to be closer than the peeler. The way I like to do simple oil and vinegar dressings is to toss everything lightly with Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgine di Oliva, which is just amazing for salad. I prefer this to pouring on a finished dressing, because it coats the greens without them laying in a pool of oil. Really tasty oil, but enough is enough, right?
I plated them, topped them with the salmon, and drizzled it with Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Bianco, an extrordinary white wine vinegar that we also sell. (Hint, hint.) A squirt of lemon helped marry the greens to the salmon, and I seasoned generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. The right amount of seasoning is critical to making simple dressings work. I finished it up with some grated parm and lunch was served.
Really easy, really great, but my pants still don't fit. Crap.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 06:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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February 03, 2006
Demi-glace, or more like semi-glace...
(Photo: TPCs "semi-glace", bagged and ready for the freezer. You can see some of the semi in action here.)
Mmmm, demi-glace. Easy on the tongue and tough on the wallet, but you can make your own. It's great to be able to reach in the freezer and grab a few of these when you want gravy but you don't have enough pan drippings. Before I tell you how I made my version the other day, let me tell you a bit about how a proper demi is created.
Continue reading "Demi-glace, or more like semi-glace..."
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 07:15 AM | Comments (2)
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January 23, 2006
A Bacon confession, which leads to a mayo recipe
(Photo: TPCs Bacon Sandwich on Whole Wheat)
I can't believe I did this. If you think it's time for an intervention, fine, I probably need one.
So... Saturday morning comes, and the cupboard's pretty bare. I've got some good whole wheat bread and there's thick-cut bacon in the freezer, so a bacon sandwich it is. I'm envisioning a Dagwood-sized portion, but there's not much bacon left.
The challenge: Getting monster bacon flavor out of not a lot of bacon. The method: I slowly rendered the bacon in a skillet, getting it really crispy, and leaving a lot of bacon grease behind. I toasted my bread, and instead of butter or mayo, I dipped each slice, briefly, into the grease in the skillet, then assembled the sandwich, adding a bit of ketchup. Okay, mock me and my childhood love of ketchup, but I dig it on bacon sandwiches. Shun me, see if I care. Wait, come back!
It worked well, too. Max bacon flavor without soggy bread. Whew. Glad I got that off of my chest.
This gave me the idea for a really good mayo just for BLTs. I've put it in recipe form below the fold. I haven't tried to make it yet, though I've made lots of mayo over the years with this basic technique. Let me know if you try this!
Take another look at my slightly out of focus picture. See the bacon grease permeating the bread about halfway? Pure love, man. Pure love.
Continue reading "A Bacon confession, which leads to a mayo recipe"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:15 AM | Comments (13)
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December 07, 2005
Alaskan Halibut, Green Beans and Potatoes in vinagerette
(Another charming, slightly out of focus photo by yours truly...)
Just a simple weekday dinner, nothing fancy. Okay, the weekend meals aren't that elaborate either, most of the time, I gotta admit. Not during the holiday crunch, anyway...
As I was steaming some red potatoes and green beans, I took some fantastic Alaskan halibut (thanks again, Lloyd!), drizzled it with a bit of oil, and a touch of lemon juice and Survival Spice™.
While that was on the grill, I made a quick vinagerette of some butter, Tibvrtini Olio Extra Vergine di Oliva and Tibvrtini's amazing Aceto di Vino Bianco, along with some salt and pepper in a bowl.
When the veggies came out of the steamer, in they went into the dressing, sucking up the butter and all those great flavors.
The halibut was terrific, subtle with a great buttery texture. Just a pinch or two of seasoning was plenty. This would make a killer Nicoise salad. Hmmmm.... if there were any leftovers, that is.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 07:39 AM | Comments (6)
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November 15, 2005
Backstage at a pot of Gumbo
(Photo: Mary, of TPC's version of Matt and Jerry's Mississippi gumbo)
This is intended as a companion post to the Gumbo with chicken, sausage and shrimp I made for the last Food Fight. I made another pot this weekend, and had the time to snap a few pictures as I went, so hopefully you'll find them helpful if you ever want to try making one.
Continue reading "Backstage at a pot of Gumbo"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 10:23 AM | Comments (1)
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November 14, 2005
"Easy Orange Survival Glaze" for Ham and Turkey
(Photo: Mary, of TPC's Easy Orange Survival Glaze)
I've been working on this for a while now, and I think it's ready to share. This is a simple glaze that gives both a beautiful appearance and a nice hit of flavor to ham, turkey, chicken and duck. It's well balanced, with lots of orange flavor, a nice sweetness, lots of depth from the dijon mustard, and a subtle bit of heat from the Survival Spice™.
It would be easy to add lots of interesting stuff to this, if you wanted to customize it- garlic, tarragon, use a different citrus component, the list is as long as your imagination.
Try it this year! Please let me know if you do, and if you experiment with variations! Pictures are a plus. It was a huge hit at the photo shoot this weekend, after eating a pot of gumbo we weren't even hungry, but couldn't stop nibbling at it. I HAVE to try this on duck...
Continue reading ""Easy Orange Survival Glaze" for Ham and Turkey"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:20 AM | Comments (4)
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November 06, 2005
Pan Fried Pork Chops with Survival Country Gravy
Mmmmmm, a great Sunday supper. As I was frying some thinly sliced potatoes and onions in bacon fat over medium heat in a cast iron skillet, I prepped the pork chops. Standard stuff here, first a bit of flour, then equal parts of flour, corn meal and Survival Spice™. Classically, you would use some liquid between the first flour dredging and the final crust like buttermilk or egg, but I've found that with flat items like pork chops and fish, as long as there's a bit of moisture there and you have a few minutes to let it sit, you often don't need it.
Once the potatoes and onions were done, I took them out of the skillet and kept them warm. In went the pork chops with some more bacon grease. You do save bacon grease, don't you? Not too high of a heat or you'll burn the corn meal, plus the breading will stay on the chops much better if the meat doesn't shrink too quickly. Okay, turn the chops once, that's it. Off they go to keep warm with the potatoes.
Survival Country gravy? Easy. A bit of flour in the skillet to soak up the fat, then about 2 parts milk to 1 part cream. I know, it's not traditional country gravy, but the French culinary school training is never far away, I'm afraid. A bit more Survival Spice™ for a nice peppery freshness, then it's time to plate it up with some steamed broccoli. BTW, this is also wonderful with sausage and biscuits. If you don't have cream, just use extra milk and reduce it well.
I just wish I would have had some apple sauce. Next time, a rustic apple compote with it. I will be making this again.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 06:34 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
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November 01, 2005
Biggles' Survival Teriyaki Beef with Onion Gravy
(Photos: Dr. Biggles)
Dr. Biggles, M.A.L. (Meaticologist At Large) over at Meathenge, sent this in recently. It's a simple weekday dinner, done ala Biggles. He bought a really great looking beef roast that had been marinated in teriyaki sauce, added some onions, topped it off with Survival Spice™, and threw it in the oven. The onion gravy came together quickly, and I'm seriously bummed I didn't get a chance to taste it.
More below the fold...
Continue reading "Biggles' Survival Teriyaki Beef with Onion Gravy"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:40 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
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October 25, 2005
3 cheese ravioli with pasilla cream sauce and asparagus
(TPCs 3 cheese ravioli with pasilla cream sauce and asparagus)
This was an excellent combinations of flavors that I served last night with some Alaskan halibut filets that I'll post tomorrow. Per Lloyd's request, I'm developing some Southwest fish dishes for him after he was kind enough to ship me a sampler of some of the most superb seafood I've ever tasted straight from Alaska.
After blackening the skins off of a few pasilla chiles, I pureed them with bit of homemade chicken stock and some heavy cream, then reduced it quite a bit. I balanced the heat with a touch of honey, seasoned with a bit of Hawaiian sea salt, shredded a bit of grana padano cheese, and that was it. It was really good, the pasilla cream sauce paired beautifully with the halibut and asparagus as well. A bright gewurztraminer did a great job cutting through the cream without overpowering the halibut.
Highly recommended. I'll elaborate a bit more tomorrow, but I have to say I'm looking forward to making this again soon for a proper photo shoot.
Update 10/27: I've had some emails asking for more information about this dish. The raviolis, which contain ricotta, mozerella and parmesan cheese, come through a good friend from a company in Los Angeles who makes them only for restaurant use at this time, but they are starting to test locally in a Whole Foods market there on a limited basis. All I can say is that I've had 5 or 6 kinds now, and they're extraordinary.
Pasilla chiles are known as chilacas when fresh and chile negros when dried. The chilacas, which I knew would look great with the asparagus and the halibut, with a nice warmth in the heat profile. Working with halibut, which has such a subtle flavor, I knew I needed to complement it in terms of texture- cream, a bit of crunch in the pine nuts, heat without overwhelming flavor from the pasillas, etc., and not in terms of strong flavors.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:37 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
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September 27, 2005
TPCs Mediterranean Madness
(All photos: Mary, of TPC's Mediterranean Madness)
Okay, so I overdid it. Ana's entry really got me thinking about a style of food that I haven't prepared nearly enough, and it was time to correct that a bit. Ana's salad featured homemade falafel and pita bread, so I had to make those, but what else? Part of the charm of Mediterranean cuisine is all the wonderful side dishes- dips, spreads, salads, so I had to make some of those, too.
This was getting to be a lot of work, and I hadn't even gotten to an entrée yet! To keep it simple, I decided to grill a bunch of kabobs, chicken, shrimp and lots of veggies. Something for everyone, and some low/no carb options for those who requested it. I'll post some recipes later, lots of pics and comments are posted below. Thanks to Mary, a great photographer friend of mine, who took all these great pictures, despite inadequate lighting and all of us trying to steal food off the plates before she could shoot them.
Continue reading "TPCs Mediterranean Madness"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 07:10 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
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September 07, 2005
Diana's Everyman's Edible Slider w/homemade Chili Sauce
(Photo: Diana's Everyman's Edible Slider w/homemade Chili Sauce)
Wow, Major John should have been so lucky! Diana has submitted an over the top take on what could be an ordinary meal- a simple burger, but made with beef tenderloin, blue cheese, sauteéd onions, and to really gild the lily, a homemade chili sauce that I can't wait to make.
I've said this a lot, but the best home cooking is all about great, simple elements smashed together. Diana's terrific recipes are below the fold.
Continue reading "Diana's Everyman's Edible Slider w/homemade Chili Sauce"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:52 AM | Comments (1)
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August 30, 2005
Food Fight #4- The first recipe is in
(Photo: Shauna James, glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com)
Wow, Shauna. The Gluten Free Girl has set the bar high with her "grilled cheese with amaranth leaves and blackberry sauce". The entire post is so informative and entertaining I'd like us all to read it, in order to factor in Shauna's great writing when we vote on the original recipes.
So well done. Stunningly simple flavors smashed together. Wow.
I'm creating two new catagories in the side bar so we can all reference the original and the interpreted recipes easily- FF4- Original and FF4- Interpreted.
Shauna's recipe for the blackberry sauce and her sandwich notes are in the extended entry.
Continue reading "Food Fight #4- The first recipe is in"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 10:40 AM | Comments (5)
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July 24, 2005
Cowboy Ribeye au Poivre with South of the Border-laise Sauce
I did quite a bit of cooking this weekend because I'm working on a few recipes for a party at the end of the month and I'm updating some content on the Desert Island Foods™.com site. The first version of the 'Survival Fries' I made are here.
Dinner Saturday night was my quick Franco-Phoenix version of a classic- Steak au Poivre with a Bordelaise sauce. I've been thinking about it since Dr. Biggles had made a cool version from an old cookbook last week, so I thought I'd see if I could do a quick version of one of my favorite sauces without an important ingredient, veal demi-glace.
It turned out really well and was an interesting experiment. I'll do a quick summary here and I'll do a more comprehensive recipe later if enough of you are interested.
With the impending storm on the horizon and not having any demi-glace, I decided to make it indoors so I could maximize the use of pan juices. I rubbed the steak with whole-grain mustard and a quick rub of smashed black peppercorns, brown sugar, coffee and kosher salt while my cast iron skillet was heating up. In a bit of oil and butter I cooked the steak to rare, knowing that carry over heat would bring it to medium-rare, then removed it from the skillet and wrapped it in foil while I made the pan sauce.
I added enough flour to the skillet to soak up the juices, then added a bit more oil and butter and sweated a few minced shallots until translucent. I deglazed with a cup or so of good red wine (a Penfold's Shiraz) and reduced it 50%, whisking to incorporate the roux and pan drippings. For a Southwestern touch, I added a teaspoon of adobo sauce for some extra depth of flavor and some background heat. The resting beef at this point had released some juice, so that went in as well.
After adding a few sprigs of fresh thyme, I added a can of chicken stock. A good beef stock would been my preference, but you use what you've got and it worked out fine because of all the beef flavor in the cast iron and from the steak. I cranked up the heat and reduced this 50%, until it was starting to thicken up a bit. I turned off the heat, whisked in a few pats of butter and some chopped parsley.
Meanwhile, I did a quick sauté of Asparagus, Crimini Mushrooms, and Pine Nuts.
Good stuff.
What did you cook this weekend? Leave it in the comments and email me a dish you're particularly proud of.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 12:00 PM | Comments (2)
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July 20, 2005
Sauce of the Day- Supreme
For those who aren't familiar with the term, a Supreme sauce is an incredibly rich sauce traditionally based on chicken velouté that is terrific on roasted chicken or even pork. A bit time consuming but the WOW factor is huge if done properly. It's sort of a very upscale country gravy in a way.
The recipe is in the extended entry.
Continue reading "Sauce of the Day- Supreme"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:42 AM | Comments (1)
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July 19, 2005
Chicken en Molé- Weekday version
(TPCs easy weekday Chicken en Molé)
I love to make molé. Technically, since 'molé' is derived from 'mulli', the Nahautl word for 'sauce', this is a real molé, but a traditional molé has lots of ingredients that combine to create a wonderfully textured sauce with layer upon layer of flavor.
This ain't it by a long shot, but since the pantry and my time were both equally lacking, I made do with what I had. I took some chicken thighs I had grilled off the day before and simmered them in some chicken stock and some of the chili pureé I had left from the Traditional New Mexico Pork Chile I made recently, which gave me a big head start.
I added some more dried oregano, a bit of cumin, a pinch of cinammon, a few bittersweet chocolate chips, a squeeze of honey and simmered it until it thickened up to the right consistency. A classic molé gets its texture from pureéd nuts and tortilla but none of that here today. I took the kernels of a few ears of fresh corn and added that too for a bit more sweetness and texture. Grilled off a few flour tortillas and you have a very decent molé in less than an hour.
This looks like a pretty good molé if you've got the time to check it out. I wouldn't use as much oil as they call for, I'd replace some of the cloves with allspice, substitute almonds instead of peanuts, etc. but the recipe gives you a pretty good representation of the techniques involved.
What did you have for dinner last night?
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:30 AM | Comments (10)
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July 13, 2005
Organic Basil Pesto with Shrimp and Spaghetti
(TPCs Organic Basil Pesto with Shrimp and Spaghetti)
It was 115º here in Phoenix yesterday and the basil in my herb garden took a bit of a beating, so I threw together this pesto dish. Not my finest picture, sad to say, but it really tasted good, at least!
The name pesto, for those who don't know, is a derivation of "pounded" and the word pestle, as in mortar and pestle. A traditional Italian dish, it is an uncooked sauce and is terrific on hot and cold pastas and in pasta salads. It is typically made from basil along with garlic, toasted pine nuts, olive oil and grated parmesean cheese but spinach, cilantro, mint and parsley pestos have made their way into the marketplace over the years.
The important thing with pesto is that it must be made just before service to keep the bright green color. Without getting too technical, as basil is crushed chemicals inside and outside the cell walls are combined, creating a black result. A good way to cheat if you have to make it ahead is to use some Italian flat-leaf parsley in your pesto along with the basil. It will not brown quite as deeply so this is done a lot in restaurants. Parsley also gives a nice aromatic lightness that a lot of people like.
You can make pesto in a food processor, but this will really accelerate the blackening process because of the high speed and heat of the blades so be careful. Use a mortar and pestle! It's easy, very theraputic and it has a great Wow factor if you make it front of guests, just prep your ingredients in advance.
Here's my very 'scientific' technique:
1) Crush 4 or 5 cloves of garlic in your mortar, using your pestle. If you aren't garlic crazy, cut it down because raw garlic will become quite sharp with all the pounding.
2) Add 2 big handfuls of basil, grinding them down gradually to a rough paste.
3) Add a handful of toasted pine nuts and smash 'em up a bit. I used my toaster oven to toast these for the first time per Dr. Biggles excellent suggestion, though I found my toaster oven is a bit uneven so you might want to give them a shake halfway through.
4) Add a couple of handfuls of grated parm cheese, enough olive oil to make it somewhat pourable, stir then season TT.
I've been playing around with peccorino romano cheese a lot lately. It's a sheep's milk cheese I really like the flavor of but it's quite salty, which is why you should season your pesto at the very end.
Embellish with meat if you want. I had done a quick pan fry of some shrimp I had and tossed them with the pasta. Grilled chicken is terrific, too. Toss with your pasta and you're done.
What did you have for dinner last night?
Update- Someone asked me if I had used the Tibvrtini Extra Virgin Olive Oil I carry at Desert Island Foods™.com in the pesto.
Nope. That oil has so much character that although I could maybe see drizzling a bit of it on the top, it's a waste to use about a quarter of a bottle of an expensive oil in a pesto because there's so much other flavor there already. In a dish for dipping crusty bread in, absolutely, or drizzled on an organic green salad on the side would be amazing.
It would be decadent, though. I might have to try it next time...
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:45 AM | Comments (7)
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June 21, 2005
Red sauce- basil vs. oregano?
Oh boy, what a can of worms this is. Everybody's got their own way of making red sauce and I'm down with that. My version in a nutshell?
Sauce for pasta- crushed tomatoes, good olive oil, a bit of garlic, torn basil leaves.
Sauce for pizza- crushed tomatoes, good olive oil, a bit of garlic, fresh oregano, crushed red pepper.
That's it. Really. You can embellish it to a particular recipe but if you're just making sauce to can or keep in the fridge for a few weeks, keep it simple and customize it to your particular dish. And don't cook your basic sauce for hours and hours, if you later want to simmer braciola or an al sugo meat sauce until it falls apart, that's a different story entirely...
Great Italian food, and I was lucky to learn Italian cooking from old country Italians in a great restaurant kitchen, is about simple flavors.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:09 AM
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June 07, 2005
Another easy pasta dish
Shrimp with spaghetti in a sauce made from butter/olive oil, lots of garlic, white wine and a bit of chicken stock and parsley, topped with asiago cheese.
I wanted to show you this dish as another variation of the simple pan technique I mentioned here last week.
I had a few emails after I posted that entry asking what the exact amounts of wine and stock were. I can't tell you that, not because it's some big secret but because this is more of a technique than a recipe.
The type of wine and the stock you have on hand are going to vary, depending on what's around. If you have a sweet wine like a Reisling, for example, you might want to not use as much as you would if you had a bottle of Pinot Grigio.
On the other hand, if you have some really good homemade stock you might want to really feature that, conversely if all you have is some canned stock that doesn't have much flavor you might need to use twice as much and then reduce it until it has some taste. Be careful when you do this though, it may become quite salty, you might not need much salt later.
TASTE AS YOU GO!!!! TASTE, TASTE, TASTE!!!!
Didn't mean to shout but I hope you get my point. Using what's on hand is much more interesting to me because I'm not eating the same old thing all the time, plus I'm taking advantage of the best ingredients available and featuring them prominently. Learning to cook this way, really cooking instead of blindly following a recipe will give you better meals and a lot more fun in the kitchen in the long run.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:45 AM | Comments (3)