Busy Nothings

Bertrosa’s is a bona fide homegrown lunch hotspot in Fargo.  They offer a daily special along with a soup of the day.  It is tucked away in the basement of the Black Building downtown and I just had the most delightful lunch.  I ordered the special: Porketta sandwich with oyster stew.  They were both absolutely delicious in their simplicity.  The stew, I think, was nothing more than cream, a bit of butter, some oyster liquor, and whole oysters.  It was so simple yet so satisfying because the ingredients were good and the soup did the only thing it was asked to do: highlight the great flavor of the oysters.  I loved it; there’s no need to fancy things up when working with quality ingredients.  Just let the individual elements of the dish shine. 

The Porketta sandwich was similar in it’s simplicity.  It was a roasted pork shoulder (or Boston Butt if you prefer) served on a kaiser roll with cheese and a bit of mayo and mustard.  The “fixins” were there only to add a bit of  moisture and to very lightly complement the pork, which was pleasantly “porky.”  It was almost the essence of pork that you tasted and, in a Porketta sandwich, what else would you want to taste?  Again, just let the ingredients shine and there’s going to be a delicious result.

Bertrosa’s also served gyros, Chicago style hotdogs, and various types of Italian beef sandwiches.  It’s a very Chicago street food themed place.  It also always serves its Beer Cheese Soup, which is also excellent.  This is definitely a place to visit. 

Bertrosa’s can be found at 118 North Broadway in Fargo. 

 I like Buffalo Wings but what I like even better is Breaded Buffalo Chicken.  Then you don’t have to deal with bones and the outside is a lot crisper.  Plus, I think the chicken holds on to a lot more sauce which means there’s a lot more flavor.  The idea for this dish was to use some homemade chicken bites and toss them with an Asian inspired Buffalo sauce.  As you can see from the recipe below, I came up with a hybrid buffalo/barbeque sauce.  I started with just honey, hot sauce, and soy sauce but I wanted a little more body to it so I added the ketchup and the hoisin.  But then it was hot enough so I had to add the cayenne pepper.  I think it turned out pretty good.  Here’s the recipe:

Asian Buffalo Chicken Bites

1/2 lb chicken breast (or tenders) cut into 1 ounce strips

4 T hot sauce of your choice (Tabasco or Franks would be good choices)

3 T honey

1 T hoisin

1 tsp soy sauce

1 T ketchup

1/4 tsp cayenne or to taste

flour for dredging

2 eggs beaten with 2 T water

1 1/2 cups fine bread crumbs for breading

Combine hot sauce, honey, hoisin, soy, ketchup, and cayenne pepper in a small saucepan.  Bring just to a simmer.  Remove from heat.

Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.  Dredge in the flour, shaking off any excess.  Then coat with the egg mixture, again shaking off any excess.  Then coat chicken with bread crumbs.  Fry in 350 degree vegetable oil until golden brown and crisp. 

Toss chicken with sauce.  Serve immediately. 

There are times in a life where an experience is of such exceptional quality that it gives one a glimpse of real, eternal beauty.  The experience confirms the lurking suspicions that there is something greater out there and that somehow that greater thing cares enough about us to let us have such pleasure.  I think it was Ben Franklin who said, “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”  That’s about right, I think.  But I might say it this way: “Well-made polenta is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” 

I was inspired to make polenta while I was reading Bill Buford’s book, Heat.  The book chronicles his adventures in Mario Batali’s Babbo kitchen and other various travels.  In the middle of the book, he writes about polenta.  In describing his first real bowl of polenta, he says, “I’d been utterly unprepared for the real thing. . .The chef had bought her cornmeal from an artisinal miller in Piemonte, and the polenta she made was a revelation-each grain swollen from the slow simmering and yet still rough, even gravelly, against the roof of my mouth. . . These crunchy stone-ground corn grains tasted only of themselves; an intesne, sweet, highly extracted cornness.”  I can’t say if the polenta I made last night was close to the polenta Mr. Buford had but I can say it tasted pretty darn good.  I especially loved the fact that while creamy, the polenta retained a pleasant scratchiness.  And then I added fontina cheese into the mix.  The result was a creamier and more intensely flavored dish.  The fontina was mild enough to complement the polenta yet strong enough to assert itself.  Here’s what I did:

Sausage and Mushroom Ragout over Fontina Polenta

For the polenta

1 cup polenta (coarsely ground cornmeal)

5 cups low sodium chicken broth (or preferably, homemade chicken stock)

1 garlic clove, smashed

4 oz Fontina cheese, shredded

In a saucepan, heat up about 1 1/2 cups of the chicken broth with the smashed garlic clove to a boil.  Heat the rest of the chicken broth in a separate saucepan until it comes to a simmer.  When the first saucepan is boiling, slowly add the polenta while whisking constantly.  When all of the polenta is incorporated, take a look at your mixture and see if you need to add anymore chicken broth.  The mixture right now should be fairly wet.  Drop the heat to low and slowly simmer the mixture for about an hour longer, adding more chicken broth as needed and whisking occassionally.  There should be a point where the polenta releases all of its starch.  You should be able to smell this.  The polenta is done when the mixture is creamy and smooth, except for a pleasant raspiness on the tongue.  Take the mixture off the heat and stir in the Fontina cheese.  Taste and adjust any seasoning.  Serve. 

For the sausage and mushroom ragout

1 pound hot Italian sausage

1/2 pound sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup dry red wine

2 cups marinara sauce, preferably homemade 

In a saute pan, brown sausage.  Remove from the pan and reserve.  Depending on the amount of fat in the pan, you may need to add a bit of olive oil.  Then add the sliced mushrooms.  Saute until just cooked through.  Add the red wine and deglaze, scraping up all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan.  Reduce the wine to a syrup-like consistency and then add the sausage and the marinara sauce.  Heat the mixture to a simmer and let it cook for about 5 minutes.  Serve over the polenta. 

This is the end result:

I was going to write about how inventive the cooks at America’s Test Kitchen are and how they come up with such practical and tasty solutions to the food problems they tackle.  My reason for wanting to do so was my exposure to their oven barbequed ribs recipe which included this ingenious preparation:  “smoking” the ribs in the oven using Lapsang Souchong tea.  That style of tea is described thusly at Wikipedia:

“[It is] sometimes referred to as Smoke Tea. The tea leaves have been withered over pine or cedar fires, pan-fried, rolled and oxidized before being fully dried in bamboo baskets over burning pine. The result is a smoky, robust tea with an overriding scent and flavour of wood smoke, which dominates the flavour of the black tea itself.”

(The article can be found here, citations and internal links have been removed.)  Smoky it is indeed.  My 5 year old nephew, after smelling it, said it was dirt.  I’m not willing to go that far but I wasn’t able to drink the only cup of it I brewed.  However, it is a fabulous cooking ingredient and I will use it again thusly.

But to get back to my original point, the ingenuity of America’s Test Kitchen in my eyes was just the tiniest bit lessened by the fact that in that very same article about Lapsang Souchong tea, it explains how the Chinese use this tea for cooking and even use it for oven barbequed ribs!  So it wasn’t their original idea but I have to give them credit for knowing about that preparation. 

Anyway, on to the recipe.  It can be found here although  you need to register (no cost) with the site in order to see this recipe. 

Oven Barbequed Ribs 

To make this recipe, you will need a baking stone, a sturdy baking sheet with a 1-inch rim, and a wire cooling rack that fits inside it. It’s fine if the ribs overlap slightly on the rack. In step 1, removing the surface fat keeps the ribs from being too greasy. And, removing the membrane from the ribs allows the smoke to penetrate both sides of the racks and also makes the ribs easier to eat. Note that the ribs must be coated with the rub and refrigerated at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours ahead of cooking. Be careful when opening the crimped foil to add the juice, as hot steam and smoke will billow out. If desired, serve the ribs with Quick Barbecue Sauce (see related recipe) or your favorite store-bought brand.

Rub

6tablespoons mustard (yellow)
2tablespoons ketchup 
3medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
2teaspoons ground black pepper 
1tablespoon sweet paprika 
1tablespoon chili powder 
1/2teaspoon cayenne pepper 
1 1/2tablespoons kosher salt 
3tablespoons brown sugar 

Ribs

2racks St. Louis-style spareribs , 2 1/2 to 3 pounds each, trimmed of surface fat, membrane removed (see illustrations below), each rack cut in half
1/4cup Lapsang Souchong tea leaves (finely ground)—from about 10 tea bags, or 1/2 cup loose tea leaves ground to a powder in a spice grinder)
1/2cup apple juice 

1. For the Rub: Combine mustard, ketchup, and garlic in small bowl; combine pepper, paprika, chili powder, cayenne, salt, and sugar in separate small bowl. Spread mustard mixture in thin, even layer over both sides of ribs; coat both sides with spice mixture, then wrap ribs in plastic and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours.

2. Transfer ribs from refrigerator to freezer for 45 minutes. Adjust one oven rack to lowest position and second rack to upper-middle position (at least 5 inches below broiler). Place baking stone on lower rack; heat oven to 500 degrees. Sprinkle ground tea evenly over bottom of rimmed baking sheet; set wire rack on sheet. Place ribs meat side up on rack and cover with heavy-duty foil, crimping edges tightly to seal. Roast ribs directly on stone for 30 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees, leaving oven door open for 1 minute to cool. While oven is open, carefully open one corner of foil and pour apple juice into bottom of baking sheet; reseal foil. Continue to roast until meat is very tender and begins to pull away from bones, about 1 1/2 hours. (Begin to check ribs after 1 hour; leave loosely covered with foil for remaining cooking time.)

 3. Remove foil and carefully flip racks bone side up; place baking sheet on upper-middle oven rack. Turn on broiler; cook ribs until well browned and crispy in spots, 5 to 10 minutes. Flip ribs meat side up and cook until well browned and crispy, 5 to 7 minutes more. Cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into individual ribs. Serve with barbecue sauce, if desired.

 The result is an amazingly tender and smoky rack of ribs.  Here’s a look:

You can even see that it took on just the slightest bit of redness from the tea leaves-no small accomplishment in my mind.  They were dynamite and really easy to make.  This is definitely on my make again list.  I served my mine with Jack’s BBQ sauce and homemade french fries.  Enjoy!

I wanted to put a little twist on the sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving.  I’m not a fan at all of the marshmallow and syrup laden toppings that seem to dominate the Thanksgiving preparations.  They’re just a bit too sweet for me.  I did, however, want a topping for my sweet pototoes for the visual impact they would have.  So I decided on candied walnuts.  They are sweet, of course, but have a bit of heat to them and are really visually appealing.  They turn glossy-like.  Plus, they’re really crisp which makes for a great texture contrast to the sweet potatoes.  I think this combination really worked.  Of course, the walnuts are great on their own. 

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Candied Walnuts

2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes

Vegetable oil

5 T butter

3 T brown sugar, or to taste

Kosher salt

Candied Walnuts, recipe below

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly rub the sweet potatoes with the vegetable oil.  Roast the potatoes in the oven for about an hour or until they are tender all the way through.  Remove them from the oven and let them rest until they can be handled safely.  Then, carefully peel off the skin (they’re still hot!!), being careful to keep the skin separate from the flesh.  Place the flesh in a mixing bowl and discard the skins.  Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and mix.  Using a hand or stand mixer, beat until the sweet potatoes are smooth.  Taste and adjust any seasonings.  Place the sweet potatoes in your serving dish and sprinkle with the candied walnuts.  Pass any remaining walnuts on the side.  Enjoy!

Candied Walnuts

2 cups whole walnuts

Cayenne pepper, to taste

Kosher salt, to taste

about 2 cups of powdered sugar

Vegetable oil, for deep frying

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil (it should taste like the sea).  Place all of the walnuts in the water and blanch for 1 minute.  Drain into a colander and season with the cayenne pepper and Kosher salt, tossing to coat each walnut.  Do this right in the colander.  At this time you should have oil ready for deep frying (350 degrees).  While the walnuts are still in the colander, sprinkle about a 1/2 cup of powdered sugar over the walnuts.  Shake and toss the walnuts.  Keep adding powdered sugar in stages until there is a nice coating of powdered sugar on the walnuts.  Then add the walnuts, in stages, to the oil.  Fry until they are a deep golden brown.  Place on an oiled baking sheet (there’s no point in putting them on paper towels).  Let cool and serve.

This may be the easiest recipe on this blog.  All you need is one ham, 1 cup of apple butter, 1/2 cup of stone ground dijon mustard, and a bunch of whole cloves.  To prepare, score the fat on the outside of the ham, preferably in a diamond-like pattern.  Then dot the surface of the ham with the cloves.  Then roast the ham at about 350 degrees for about an hour, covered.  Then mix the apple butter and mustard together and slather it on the sides of the ham.  Uncover and roast for another 30-45 minutes, or until the ham is heated all the way through.  Carve and serve. 

I spent Thanksgiving at my parent’s house as I have done almost uniformly for the entirety of my life. Even more impressively, I think, is the fact that my family has done the celebrating at the same house for that entire time.  I feel quite lucky to have that sense of continuity in my life; it gives me a sense of permanency and connectedness.  But on to the food.  Here’s our Thanksgiving spread for 21 guests:

The menu was classic Thanksgiving fare: turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce.  But with such a big crowd, some other dishes made an appearance: Ham, a ramen noodle salad, buns, corn, and a separate dressing.  It turned out to be a lot of food.  I made a ham and the sweet potatoes.  I’ll post those in separate posts. 

More Thanksgiving pictures can be found here.  My favorites from that web album are the following pictures.  The first is a foster child my sister is looking after:

The next is my sister Jessy sampling the Ramen Noodle salad:

This one is just a happy nephew:

And finally, my nephew is helped by my sister Jessy in singing karaoke:

This is a dish I never would have dreamed up in a million years.  I really like Macaroni and Cheese because it’s rich and comforting and delicious.  But to dress is up with bacon seems a bit over the top; what, the dish wasn’t rich enough already?  And spinach?  I really can’t think of a reason why to even consider adding a green to the dish.  What’s the point?  No matter what you do, Macaroni and Cheese is not going to be a food to eat for your health. 

The only reason this recipe came across my notice is the fact that I was trying to use up what I had in my fridge.  I admit, it isn’t difficult to use up spinach and bacon (salad comes to mind right away) but I wanted to see if there were any creative ideas out there.  This recipe came up.  I’ll just link to it as I didn’t do anything different than what was in the instructions.  It’s worth a try. 

Great Wall is a small Chinese restaurant tucked into a strip mall on South University Drive in Fargo.  Upon a recommendation from my friend Melissa, I thought it was  worth checking out.  I went for lunch and boy was I happily surprised.  The food was outstanding.  I ordered Crab Rangoons and the Hunan Beef.  The Rangoons looked like this:

They were light and cripsy and not at all greasy.  The filling had just the right amount of crab as well as the welcome addition of scallions.  This last bit elevated the dish to something really special by complementing the crab and cutting through the fat of the cream cheese.  They were perfect.

My entree was just as good.  (2 side notes here: 1)  Yes, I ate way too much for lunch.  2)  For some reason, WordPress won’t accept the picture of my entree, so you’ll just have to use your imagination.)  It consisted of beef, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, broccoli, peas, and baby corn.  The beef was wonderfully tender.  It often happens that the beef at a Chinese restaurant is stringy or fatty or both.  But at Great Wall, it was simply tender, lean pieces of beef.  The vegetables were also perfectly cooked.  Nothing was overdone; nothing was soggy.  They were simply perfectly crisp-tender and that’s just good cooking.  They were cut correctly and added to the wok at just the right moment to ensure they were cooked right.  I appreciate attention to detail like that.  The sauce was pleasantly spicy and was a nice complement to the rest of the dish. 

Great Wall is most likely the best Chinese food you’ll have in the Fargo-Moorhead area.  It is definitely worth your time.  It can be found at 1617 South University Drive.  The phone number is (701) 232-8288.  It is open for lunch and dinner.  Takeout is available.

Egg pie is what my 5 year old nephew called quiche as we made it together.  It was an interesting observation, even if it isn’t absolutely technically true.  But let us leave the legalisms of food nomenclature aside and focus instead on how darn delicious quiche is.  It’s custard-like, of course, which means there is an egg-like creaminess to the whole dish.  And then there’s a flaky pie crust that, as far as I know, everyone likes.  Plus, you get to fill it up with whatever flavors you like.  That’s one thing (of many) that I really like about eggs, you can dress them up with just about anything.  I like mine with bacon, sauteed  caramelized onions, and a swiss-style cheese.  It’s a nice balance of sweet and sharp and salty.  Here’s what I did:

Quiche with Bacon, Caramelized Onions, and Swiss Cheese, based on a recipe from The Joy of Cooking

1 pie crust

4 ounces, sliced bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces and fried crisp

1 onion, diced and sauteed in a bit of olive oil until well-browned

1 cup Swiss cheese

3 large eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups half and half

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees  Place the pie crust in a 9-inch pie pan.  Beat together the eggs, half and half, salt, and pepper.  Place the bacon, caramelized onions, and cheese in the bottom of the pie pan.  Pour the egg mixture over the bacon.  Bake until the filling is set, about 25 to 35 minutes.  Let cool for about 5 minutes and then serve.

This is a picture:

A few notes:  1) The Joy of Cooking suggests that you pre-bake the shell after glazing it with egg yolk.  It’s an interesting idea that I’ve never done.  The idea must be to have a crispier crust on the bottom.  It’s probably worth a try.  2)  Except icy cold, I think quiche is pretty much delicious at any temperature.  Don’t feel bad serving it to guests at room temperature.  3)  Experiment!!!!  Treat quiche like an omelet.  Throw whatever is on hand in there.  It will probably turn out delicious.