100 Greatest Moments in Food

This is an interesting list. 

Scenes from a Birthday Party

My nephew turned five yesterday.  Here are some pictures.  The first is of me and my littlest nephew:

Two more nephews:

My sister-in-law is enjoying Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii:

And here’s the birthday boy:

And finally, the gift of the day (Elefun):

More pictures from the party can be found here. 

Italian Noodle Cake with Marinara Sauce

I was really trying to be creative with this dish.  I’ve made an Asian-style noodle cake, which I enjoy very much.  The crispiness of the noodles work so darn well with the barbeque pork and the soy-flavoring.  Last night, I tried to meld that crispiness in an Italian setting.  I mixed some leftover spaghetti with a four-cheese blend and pan-fried it till crisp.  The result was not what I expected.  The noodles did get a bit cripsy like I wanted but it didn’t seem to work well with the rest of the dish.  If anything, the crispiness was distracting while I ate it.  I found myself wishing the dish was more creamy than crispy.  Next time, I’ll add some ricotta cheese to the mix (for creaminess) and simply bake the noodles.  I bet that will turn out better.  Here’s the recipe anyway:

Italian Noodle Cake with Marinara Sauce

3 cups cold spaghetti noodles that have been tossed with a bit of olive oil

3/4 cup shredded Italian four cheese blend

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Marinara sauce (try this one or this one)

In a bowl, mix together the spaghetti, cheese and black pepper.  Preheat a 10 inch non-stick saute pan with a little bit of olive oil over medium heat.  When hot, place the spaghetti mixture in the pan, spreading it around to form a nice even layer.  Let it cook, undisturbed, for about five minutes or until the bottom becomes brown and crisp.  Then flip.  You can either simply use your wrist and flip it using a tossing motion (a la fancy TV chef) like a pancake.  Or using a cutting board, invert the cake on the board and then slide it back into the pan.  Cook until that side is done.  Remove from the pan, cut into quarters and serve with the marinara sauce. 

Here’s what it looks like:

Simple Pork Piccata

For some reason, I just can’t think of much to say about Piccata.  It’s delicious but it’s just so darn simple that it’s uninteresting for me to say that.  It’s meat with butter, lemon, and white wine.  What could go wrong?  How could it not be good?  It looks great on the plate as well.  I made it with a pork tenderloin last night but chicken or veal would also be very good.  Here’s a picture:

And here’s the recipe:

Simple Pork Piccata (for one very hungry person)

1 pork tenderloin, cut into 4 pieces (a bias cut) and flattened to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness

Kosher salt

Pepper

All-purpose flour, for dredging

2 T shallots, minced

Juice of 1 lemon

enough white wine to make 3/4 cup with the lemon juice

Olive oil

4-6 T butter

sugar, to taste

Parsley, minced (optional)

Capers (optional)

4 oz. spaghetti, cooked

Prepare the pork first.  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  Season the flattened pork pieces with the Kosher salt and pepper and then dredge them in flour that has also been seasoned with Kosher salt and pepper.  Shake off any excess flour from the pork.  Then heat a saute pan with a thin layer of olive oil.  When the oil just begins to smoke, add the pork.  It should take about a minute or two on each side to cook.  Browning is not so important here as the quick cooking.  Do not overcook!  Put the pork on an oven-safe dish and store in the oven while you prepare the sauce. 

Add the shallots to the pan used to cook the pork.  If needed, add a little bit more olive oil.  When they are translucent, add the lemon juice and white wine and crank up the heat.  Reduce this mixture by about half.  Then turn off the heat and whisk in 1 T of butter.  When it is completely incorporated, add another tablespoon of butter.  Continue to add butter in this manner until the sauce is a nice consistency.  It may take the full 6 tablespoons.  Now, taste the sauce.  Correct it with sugar, salt, and pepper if needed. 

Place the cooked spaghetti on a plate.  Place a small amount of sauce on the pasta.  Then put the pork on top of the spaghetti, slightly shingling them against each other.  Pour the rest of the sauce on top of the pork.  Garnish with the capers and parsley if desired.  Serve immediately.

New Look

I’ve decided to do a facelift on the blog.  I wanted a cleaner look.  I hope it’s as pleasing to you as it is to me. 

Boston Marathon Chili

Let me make a completely uninteresting comment to start this post: I like chili.  I really do but what does that really mean?  Do I like it hot or milder?  Do I care for beans or not?  And if I like beans, are they kidney, black, or even white beans?  What kind of meat do I like?  What kind of toppings?  And I could go on but what’s the point?  Chili is an idea not a dish; a baseline for creativity and improvisation.  There’s just so much room out there for excellence that I don’t care about any raging debates over how to “correctly” make chili.  I like meat, I like spice, and I like stew.  Hence, I’ll probably like your chili.  All I ask that the meat be tender, the liqiuds to be flavorful and well-balanced, and it to have enough heat to make me notice. 

Boston Marathon Chili is my favorite chili to make.  It satisfies all of my prerequisites and more.  It has a sublime flavor and I think it’s from the addition of pork to the mix.  That pork, in turn, gives off pork fat and everybody knows how delicious that is.  I also love the addition of red wine.  It gives the dish a bit of sophistication as well as just a hint of fruitiness that rounds out the spiciness of the chili powder and the jalapeños.  Really, give this dish a try.  And don’t skimp out on the garnishes.  The red onion is particularly nice as it not only adds texture but also a pleasant sharpness.  Here’s a picture of the dish:

And here’s the recipe:

Boston Marathon Chili, via Epicurious.com here 

3 T vegetable oil

2 large onions, chopped

2 green bell peppers, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes (preferably chuck roast)

2 lbs boneless pork butt or boneless country-style spareribs, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 28-oz can whole tomatoes, chopped, liquid reserved

1/3 cup chili powder

1 to 2 large jalapeño chilies, chopped

2 T ground cumin

1 16 oz can black beans, drained

1/2 cup red wine

Grated cheddar cheese

Chopped fresh cilantro

Chopped red onion

Sour Cream

Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 2 onions, bell peppers and garlic and sauté until tender, about 14 minutes. Transfer mixture to plate, using slotted spoon. Add beef and pork to Dutch oven and cook over medium-high heat until no longer pink, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Return onion mixture to Dutch oven. Add tomatoes with liquid, chili powder, jalapeños and cumin. Season with salt and pepper. Cover Dutch oven and simmer until beef and pork are almost tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour.
Add black beans and red wine to chili. Simmer uncovered until beef and pork are tender and chili thickens, about 30 minutes. Adjust seasoning. Ladle into bowls. Serve, passing cheese, cilantro, red onions and sour cream separately.

Lunch at Sammy’s Pizza

I admit to being full of hope as I walked into Sammy’s Pizza in downtown Fargo with some co-workers.  I was in said state because my Mother had told me she had absolutely hated the pizza there on her first and only visit there.  She complained of the crust being too thin, the toppings being too sparse, and the whole thing being too crisp.  It was if she could hardly eat it.  While listening to her diatribe, however, I felt no stirrings of compassion for her perception of a poor dining experience (something I am rather keen at discerning).  Instead, my mouth began to water as I thought she described a perfectly wonderfully pizza in the style of pizza napoletana.  Upon my mother’s misgivings, I immediately promised myself that I would have Sammy’s pizza.

 

Yet, even being as hopeful as I was today, I was still a little reticent in my excitement.  For there is simply so much bad pizza in America.  How could Fargo, which is on the whole a culinary armpit, support a pizza place that could produce heavenly pizzas like those at Piece in Chicago and Punch in the Twin Cities.?  And as I saw the décor and ambience of Sammy’s, I was even a bit more worried.  It was like stepping into Al’s Diner on Happy Days.  There was dated and well-worn furnishing, vinyl seats, and early rock records decorating the walls.  As bad a culinary destination as Fargo is now, I know it was a lot worse just 10 years ago.  Could this blast from the past make pizza?

I think I knew the pizza was going to special, however, as soon as one of the co-owners, Teresa, came to our table.  She was the only one working and hence was both our server and our pizza cook.  As a server she did nothing extraordinary but as a personality, she was dynamite.  Her pride in her restaurant and her pizzas was immediately evident which manifested itself in the importance we felt in being there.  Her pride made us feel that we were somewhere and something special. 

And then the pizzas came out.  My co-worker (who is an old-friend of Teresa) called to order ahead and she insisted that we order 2 large pizzas.  I thought that would have been far too much pizza for a party of four.  I was wrong.  The pizzas were simply too delicious to stop eating.  Let’s start with the crust.  It was wafer thin and as crisp as could be without being brittle.   It magically retained just a little bit of chew.  It was amazingly good; perhaps the best I have ever had.  I inquired as to what secrets they employed to create such a wonderful creation.  It wasn’t the flour but a 450 degree brick lined oven that has been in continuous since 1952.  Here’s a picture of the oven:

I’ve written before about pizza here and about the 800 degree ovens employed.  But after tasting this crust, I’m not so sure that’s the only way to go or even the best way.  Let me say it again: this crust is seriously good. 

The toppings were almost as stellar.  A pizza with sausage and Canadian bacon contained the tastiest sausage I’ve ever had on a pizza.  It was not only tender and lean but it had just the right amount of fennel seed in it; just enough to be evident but not enough to overpower.  The sauce was pleasantly unobtrusive and provided the perfect underlayment for the rest of the toppings.  In fact, that’s probably the best compliment you can give all of the toppings at Sammy’s: unobtrusive.  They just didn’t get in the way of enjoying that incredible crust.  There were just enough toppings to make the crust more enjoyable.  We wolfed down that pizza and a pepperoni pizza as well.  Here’s a picture of the sausage pizza:

Sammy’s Pizza is a marvel.  It serves great, great pizza without pretension or style or even, perhaps, the awareness of its own sublimity.  It encapsulates everything I love about food-dedication, love, attention, and taste.  I truly wish there were more restaurants just like Sammy’s with their own peculiarities and oddities and wonders.  Ultimately, great food is self-expression and the pizza at Sammy’s is a perfect expression of the owners.  I wouldn’t change a thing about it.  Do yourself a favor and have a pizza there.  Please, enjoy it and prove my mother wrong. 

Sammy’s Pizza can be found at 301 North Broadway, Fargo, ND.  It is open for lunch and dinner.  A small, inexpensive wine list is available as well as tap beer. 

Potstickers

Ahhhh, potstickers.  Those slightly crisp, slightly gummy bites of porky goodness that are maddeningly good.  I simply consider them Chinese comfort food.  Of course, they’re a little troublesome to make at home.  You have to make the filling, roll each little potsticker individually, and then execute a very unique cooking method.  But, in the end, it’s worth it.  For the price of 6 potstickers at a restaurant, I figure you could make at least 30 of them at home and you won’t miss a bit of flavor.  Of course, you will have to do the dishes.  Here’s the recipe I used:

 Potstickers, recipe courtesy of Ming Tsai and can be found here

2 cups chopped Napa cabbage

1/2 T salt

1/2 lb ground pork (preferably not lean)

2 T minced ginger

1 1/2 T minced garlic

2 T soy sauce

3 T sesame oil

1 egg

1 to 2 cups chicken stock or broth

20-25 wonton wrappers

1 egg, beaten

vegetable oil

Sprinkle cabbage with the 1/2 tablespoon of salt and let stand for 30 minutes.  Place the cabbage on a clean dishtowel or cheesecloth and squeeze out any water.  The dryer the cabbage the better.  In a large bowl thoroughly mix the cabbage with all of the other ingredients, except the chicken stock.  Cook a tester to check the seasoning.

Place a small mound of filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper. (Be very careful not to touch the edges with the filling as this will impede proper sealing of the dumplings. Nothing is worse than dumplings breaking during cooking.) Fold the wrapper in half to form a half moon shape. Starting on one end fold/pinch the wrapper tightly together. Proceed with this fold/pinch method until the dumpling is completely sealed. There will be approximately 10 to 14 folds per dumpling. Rest the dumplings with the folded edges straight up. In a hot saute pan coated well with oil, place pot stickers flat side down and cook until the bottom is browned. Have pan cover ready and add 1 cup of chicken stock, cover immediately. Be careful, the liquid will splatter! The stock will steam the pot stickers. Check them in 5 minutes as more stock may be needed. The trick here is that once the dumplings are firm and fully cooked the stock will evaporate and the bottoms will crisp-up again.  Serve immediately with this:Honey-Soy Sauce

4 T soy sauce

2 T honey

Mix soy sauce and honey thoroughly together.  Serve

The result of the recipe should be a slightly crispy bottom underneath a steamed wonton.  It’s a nice contrast and pairs really well with the salty, porky filling.  One piece of advice: if you find that you can’t unstick the potstickers after they’ve cripsed up the second time, just add some more chicken broth or some water.  That should get them to release from the pan.  Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce

I thought I was brilliant in thinking that leftover Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Sherry would make an excellent ravioli.  But after tasting last night’s dinner (pictured above), I was feeling a little less than brilliant.  I suppose the idea was fine but my execution was terrible becuase I took a shortcut and had a very heavy hand in seasoning.  So the final dish was less than stellar. 

The shortcut was to use wonton wrappers instead of fresh pasta dough.  I had gotten the idea from Bon Appetit magazine a few years back and had always wanted to give it a try.  This was especially true since I no longer have a pasta machine available to me.  So I bought some wrappers and constructed some ravioli.  They went together easily enough but when I cooked them, they just didn’t have the same texture as real pasta dough.  It didn’t have the “bite” I want in a ravioli.  They were flimsy.  That’s not necessarily bad but I think I’ll stick to real pasta dough next time.

My second mistake was to use way too much thyme and salt.  I don’t know why I got so seasoning happy but there was just too much flavor, if there can be such a thing.  If you make this recipe, take this advice: go easy on the thyme. 

Otherwise, I think this isn’t really that bad of an idea.  An alternate sauce to the recipe below would be simply butter, sage, salt, and pepper.  Here’s the recipe:

Sweet Potato Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce, inspired by this recipe

leftover Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Sherry

Spinach 

Wonton skins

1 egg white, beaten

Butter

Balsamic vinegar

Fresh thyme, chopped

Kosher salt

Pepper

I gave up trying to think of exact proportions for this recipe.  Just make as many ravioli as you want or have leftovers for, and adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly.  To make the ravioli, place one wrapper on the work surface.  Place about 1/2 T of sweet potatoes in the middle of the wrapper and brush the rest of the exposed surface of the wraper with egg white.  Take another wrapper and place it over the sweet potato.  Press the two wrappers together to adhere, trying to get as much air out of the filling pocket as possible.  Place on a sheet pan that is lined with parchment paper or plastic wrap.

Saute the spinach in a saute pan in a little bit of olive oil.   When wilted, remove to the plates.  Brown an appropriate amount of butter in the same saute pan over medium heat.  When brown, add some balsamic vinegar and the thyme.  Meanwhile, cook the ravioli in a pot of boiling, salted water.  It should take about 3 minutes to cook.  Carefully place the ravioli in the saute pan and spoon the butter over the ravioli.  Place the ravioli over the spinach and spoon any additional sauce over the ravioli.  Serve immediately.

Sauteed Pork Tenderloin and Pears in Mustard Port-Sauce

I’ve been on a fortified wine kick lately.  A friend of mine has gotten me drinking more port and I’ve been enjoying it immensely.  I’ve also started to think more about sherry.  It too is a fortified wine but in contrast to port, the brandy is added after fermentation is complete.  Thus, all sherries are naturally dry unless additional sweetners are added.  

Anyway, I decided to do a fortified wine themed menu: Sauteed Pork Tenderloin and Pears in Mustard Port-Sauce served with Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Sherry.  Here’s what it looked like:

The pork was really, really good.  This is the recipe.

Sauteed Pork Tenderloin and Pears in Mustard Port-Sauce, from Epicurious here

3 T unsalted butter

4 firm medium Bartlett pears (about 25 ounces total), cored, peeled, quartered

1 1-pound pork tenderloin, sliced into twelve 1/2-inch-thick medallions

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup canned low-salt chicken broth2/3 cup tawny Port

2 1/2 teaspoons whole grain Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pears and sauté until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer pears to plate (do not clean skillet).

Sprinkle pork medallions with salt and pepper. Coat pork medallions with flour; shake off excess. Add to same skillet and cook over medium-high heat until lightly browned, about 2 minutes per side. Using slotted spoon, transfer pork to plate with pears. Add broth, Port and both mustards to skillet. Boil until reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Return pork, pears and any juices to skillet and simmer until pork is just cooked through and sauce is reduced to glaze, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

The result is a slightly sweet and sophisticated sauce that pairs beautifully with the pears and the pork.  The pork itself is ever so slightly crisp from the dusting of flour and soaks up the sauce nicely.  It is not a strong flavored sauce, however, so if you’re into big, bold flavors, you probably will be disappointed with this dish.  But, I find it sneakingly good; you almost don’t know why you like the sauce so much while you’re eating it.  The flavors meld together so well that it’s often hard to tell them apart.  To me, that’s the mark of a great recipe.  It went great with the sweet potatoes as well.