From the archives: More ideas to liven up the holiday table

’Tis the season for parties and celebrations. Here are a few ideas from the Blue Kitchen archives for easy, delicious entertaining.

Let’s get this pâté started. This easy make-ahead pâté makes for an elegant first course or party appetizer. It is also a noble use for the reserved duck fat from the Duck with Raspberries recipe above.

A great salad remembered. This Endive Salad with Blue Cheese and Walnuts always reminds me of one of my favorite little New York bistros. It’s a great first course—or a nice complement to a bottle of wine shared with friends.

Mascarpone: Italian for easy, elegant desserts. The culinary equivalent of the little black dress, versatile delicate, creamy mascarpone Continue reading “From the archives: More ideas to liven up the holiday table” →

Humble ingredients made restaurant-ready: Braised beef short ribs, puréed cauliflower

Buttery-flavored braised short ribs are complemented by the mild tang of puréed cauliflower for a restaurant-worthy meal. Recipes below.

This week, you’ll find a pair of cooking posts here again. Individually, they’re quite good—together, they’re stellar. Also, Blue Kitchen has made the big time! Last week’s Hazelnut Rosemary Jam Cookies are featured in Bon Appétit’s Blog Envy holiday showcase. Go to the website and you’ll find nearly two dozen holiday recipes in all, all from bloggers—including me. Woohoo!

We watched the utterly charming film Ratatouille again this weekend [in case you’ve not seen it, I’ve included a clip at the end of the post—and even if you have seen it, you’ll enjoy it just as much the second time around]. As the lead rat-turned-chef Remy produced his beautifully architectural take on the title peasant dish, I suddenly remembered short ribs.

Increasingly, celebrity chefs everywhere are rethinking humble ingredients and dishes—reinventing them, elevating them to starring roles on elegant menus. Indeed, the ratatouille in question was actually created by Thomas Keller and served in his legendary California restaurant, the French Laundry. Pixar Animation Studios hired Keller as a consultant on the film and, according to an article in New York magazine, Remy is the embodiment of the famously fastidious, focused chef.

Short ribs are one surprising ingredient getting the star treatment these days. Layered with meat, fat, bone and connective tissue, they are as big on flavor as they are inexpensive [well, used to be before they hit the big time—but at four bucks or so a pound, they’re still reasonable]. As such, they have long been a popular ingredient for soups and stocks. Because of the long cooking times usually demanded by those chewy connective tissues, short ribs have also been a cut of choice for the traditional French boiled dinner pot-au-feu [“pot on the fire”]. Interestingly, Korean cooks take an opposite tack, butterflying short ribs almost to the bone, then marinating and grilling them. Continue reading “Humble ingredients made restaurant-ready: Braised beef short ribs, puréed cauliflower” →

Fast, healthy, delicious: Puréed cauliflower

Puréed Cauliflower’s lively flavor makes for a great substitute for mashed potatoes. Marion’s recipe below.

Why isn’t cauliflower more popular? It is so wonderful—subtle, but not bland, so easy to prepare and so complementary to strong flavors. The part about it also being so healthy (a crucifer packed with vitamin C, Vitamin K, folate, and fiber, plus cancer fighting compounds) and even so low-carb is a great big bonus.

This cauliflower purée is so simple that it ranks among our not-exactly-a-recipe recipes. And it’s the perfect complement for Wine-braised Short Ribs.

Puréed Cauliflower
Serves two

1 small head cauliflower
water for steaming
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
salt

Discard any leaves that may cling to the stem, then break up the cauliflower head. You want to use everything except the cone-like core and the stem. Break the florets into pieces all about the same size, so that they will finish cooking simultaneously.

Put the cauliflower in a flat-bottomed skillet and pour about 3/4 cup of water around the florets. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover tightly and steam until it is barely fork tender. Most recipes say this will take around 15 minutes, but I find that it actually tends more toward 10 or 11 minutes. Don’t let the cauliflower become too soft. A fork should go in easily, but it shouldn’t be mushy and collapsible. When in doubt, err on the side of less cooked rather than more.

Once the cauliflower is cooked, turn off the heat. Don’t discard the cooking water! Put about half the cauliflower in the bowl of a processor; add a bit of the cooking water—I recommend around 1/4 cup of cooking liquid for each cup of cauliflower, if you want to make a purée that still mounds nicely and doesn’t run all over the plate. Process quickly in short bursts of five or ten seconds. Scrape down the sides of the processor bowl in between so everything s uniformly pureed.

Once the cauliflower starts looking like mashed potatoes (just a few seconds) add the remaining cauliflower. Test it at this point—if it is very wet, don’t add any more cooking liquid yet. Add the butter and the rest of the oil. Process, keeping an eye on it. If the cauliflower looks too grainy and solid, add a judicious amount of cooking liquid. You want it to be smooth in texture, not grainy but not liquid either–visually like mashed potatoes. When the texture is to your liking, carefully add salt. Now it’s ready to serve.

Options:

Substitute milk or, if you are feeling lavish, cream for some or all of the cooking water.

You can also add a flock of different things to alter this basic recipe:

During the steaming process, add a clove of garlic [but discard it before puréeing]
Instead of a mix of olive oil and butter, use all butter
After it has been puréed, return it to a saucepan, heat slightly, and stir in cheese—Parmesan, or extra sharp cheddar; serve it with sautéed mushrooms and caramelized onions for a vegetarian-friendly entrée

I recently ran across a version of this using blue cheese to which I can only say OMDG we are so trying that soon. And we also want to try the Pan-Seared Salmon over Cauliflower Fennel over at Mike’s Table.

Homemade for the holidays: Hazelnut Rosemary Jam Cookies

Fresh rosemary adds a subtle, mysterious something extra to Hazelnut Rosemary Jam Cookies, perfect with a cup of tea—and when holiday guests drop by. Recipe below.

YEAH, THE GUY WHO SAYS HE NEVER BAKES BAKED. But these are cookies. No yeast, no punching dough down and letting it rise again in some mysterious warm, dark place. Or is it a cool, dark place? [On a side note, the term cool, dark place invariably makes me think of the Empty Bottle or the Green Mill or some other welcoming bar, and any thoughts of baking immediately vanish.] Continue reading “Homemade for the holidays: Hazelnut Rosemary Jam Cookies” →

Stuff we like: Thomas Light Multi-Grain English Muffins

Okay, is there anyone out there who still doesn’t know that fiber is good for you? The list of health benefits just keeps growing. But besides all that, fiber also helps you feel full longer. This is especially good at breakfast, because it helps you power through ’til lunch [and for all of you who still don’t believe in eating breakfast, that’s a whole other post].

Well, Thomas has taken its famous English muffin and fibered it up bigtime, while shaving off a few calories. A single Thomas Light Multi-Grain English Muffin provides 8 grams of fiber, about 1/3 of your daily needs. All with a mere 100 calories, 1 gram of fat [2% of your recommended daily value] and no trans fats or high fructose corn syrup. By comparison, their original English muffin—a slightly heftier 120 calories, but still only 1 gram of fat—delivers only 4% of your daily fiber needs.

And they taste great. Here are a few ideas for enjoying them. If you can think of others, join in with a comment at the end. Continue reading “Stuff we like: Thomas Light Multi-Grain English Muffins” →

Dinner Double Feature, Part 1: Cheap lamb chops made tender

Coarse kosher salt quickly tenderizes cheap cuts of lamb, and oranges and pomegranate molasses combine with roasted golden beets for a lively winter salad.

While I occasionally turn Blue Kitchen over to Marion for a post, in real life, we’re often in the kitchen together making a meal happen. That was the case recently for this quick weeknight dinner. So this week, you’ll find a pair of cooking posts. I’ll start off by telling you about the lamb; then in the second post, Marion will tell you about a beet salad with oranges and blue cheese quickly assembled using beets roasted the night before.

British music hall comedian Max Wall once said, “Show business is like sex. When it’s wonderful, it’s wonderful. But when it isn’t very good, it’s still all right.” That’s pretty much how I feel about lamb. It was love at first bite the first time I had roast leg of lamb. And lamb chops always catch my eye on restaurant menus.

But more modest cuts have their own lamby charm, especially now, with daily economic headlines making us all want to just pull the covers over our heads. One such cut is lamb shoulder arm chops. Cut from the arm portion of shoulder, these inexpensive chops are quite flavorful, but can also be on the chewy side. As Fox Fire Farms’ website puts it, “This does not mean the shoulder chop is not tender or of secondary quality. It simply means you can’t be in a hurry when cooking this delightful lamb chop.” They’re best suited for slow braising, which tenderizes them; but during the week, I have neither the time nor the patience.

Kosher salt to the rescue. Well, and Jaden over at Steamy Kitchen. I first used her technique for tenderizing steaks—by heavily coating them with coarse salt for 15 minutes or so before cooking—when I made Pan Seared Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce back in January. It worked so beautifully that I immediately had to try it on some tough but tasty lamb shoulder chops. What I discovered was a way to enjoy tender lamb without sticker shock or a long wait. Continue reading “Dinner Double Feature, Part 1: Cheap lamb chops made tender” →

Dinner Double Feature, Part 2: Roasted beets create a truly golden salad

In which Marion capitalizes on Terry’s belated revelation that beets are delicious, especially in this Roasted Beet Salad with Oranges and Blue Cheese. Recipe below.

THE CAULIFLOWER SOUP TERRY POSTED LAST WEEK BEGAN AS A TUNA SANDWICH, and this roasted beet salad began as a trip to New York City. Our friend Laura and I were traipsing around town, a few years back, on a trip that included a lot of food and a lot of conversation about food. In the course of it all, we went into Zabar’s—me to look for various gifts, and Laura to look for pomegranate molasses for a stew she wanted to try. I had never heard of pomegranate molasses before, and I filed it in my head, alongside sumac and boldo, for future reference. That event—learning about something brand new and potentially marvelous in the company of a great friend—became an emblem of that wonderful trip. Continue reading “Dinner Double Feature, Part 2: Roasted beets create a truly golden salad” →

A big, warm bowl of comfort: Roasted cauliflower and dill soup

Roasting the cauliflower mellows its flavor in this hearty, creamy [but dairy-free] Roasted Cauliflower and Dill Soup. Substitute vegetable broth for the chicken stock and you’ve got a satisfying vegan meal. Recipe below.

A quick note: I’ve totally dropped the ball in terms of providing any ideas for Thanksgiving this year. But at the end of the post, I’ll provide a few links for some interesting sides.

As proof that you just never know where inspiration will strike, this soup started out as a tuna sandwich. On a recent Sunday, that’s what sounded good for lunch. But Marion and I wanted our sandwiches on better bread than we had at home, so we walked up to Kurowski Sausage Shop, a Polish deli/grocery/bakery in our neighborhood. By the time we had walked the five or so blocks in the brisk November air, though, some soup was sounding pretty good—and Kurowski serves up delicious homemade soups fresh and cheap in their refrigerator case.

After flirting with bigos and borscht and some other Eastern European delights, we settled on a hearty cauliflower soup flecked with fresh dill. Being no fools, we got two containers—a whopping $1.29 each. Back home, the tuna sandwiches became half-sandwiches, bit players to the soup’s star performance. And as I leaned over my steaming bowl with big chunks of cauliflower and carrots, I knew I would be attempting my own version soon. Continue reading “A big, warm bowl of comfort: Roasted cauliflower and dill soup” →

Pigging out: The week in pork

It seemed pigs were everywhere last week. On the cover of the Chicago Reader, in front of an old favorite grocery store and, most deliciously, in a glorious bowl of Udon noodles and pork broth in a wonderful new restaurant.

Writer Mike Sula is a self-proclaimed unrepentant omnivore. Working with Chicago’s leading weekly, the Chicago Reader, he undertook “The Whole Hog Project”—a year-and-a-half-long series in which he followed the progress of three young American mulefoot pigs from piglet to plate. Mulefoots, so named for their uncloven feet, are a rare breed; they numbered fewer than 200 just two years ago. Ironically, it is the farming of them for food that will ensure the breed’s continued existence. And it is farmers like Valerie Weihman-Rock in Argyle, Wisconsin, who are undertaking the task. As Sula’s article puts it, she reasons that “raising happy, free-ranging heritage mulefoot pigs for meat made up in some way for the millions of confined swine that live short, miserable lives before they’re churned into Smithfield hams and Spam.”

“The Whole Hog Project” isn’t always an easy read. Sula describes transporting the pigs, whose names he knows, to the slaughterhouse—a small, humane operation where the animals are handled gently, but a slaughterhouse nonetheless. He and others in the project witness their demise and butchering. Then they transport them to Blackbird, an elegantly austere restaurant on Chicago’s restaurant row along Randolph Street. Here they are destined to become a six-course dinner prepared by seven of Chicago’s top chefs.

For me, the central point of the article and the issue is that if we choose to eat meat, we should honor it. Sula references a New York Times op-ed by farmer and author Verlyn Klinkenborg about “the moral necessity of watching, if not participating in, the slaughter of animals he raises.” Reading Sula’s thoughtfully written piece has given a face to the idea of humanely raised meat, or three faces, to be more precise.

Before there was Whole Foods, before there was Trader Joe’s, there was Treasure Island. The venerable Chicago chain was opened in 1963 by the brothers Kamberos with the stated mission of providing “a supermarket that would combine the conventional with the best of specialty, imported and domestic products at competitive prices.” Julia Child dubbed their creation “The Most European Supermarket in America.” Sadly for us, Treasure Island had slipped from our radar screens for a while. Well, it’s back. And here are a few reasons why. Continue reading “Pigging out: The week in pork” →

Steaks and blue cheese: Start with good ingredients and get out of the way

Simple preparation lets quality ingredients shine in Steaks with Blue Cheese. Recipe of sorts below.

We had our friends Karin and Dick over for dinner for the first time last weekend. As we started talking about what to serve, my first thought was to mine the Blue Kitchen archives. Then Marion told me that Karin had said they’ve cooked everything we’ve posted on Blue Kitchen. My first reaction probably should have been feeling flattered. Instead it was this: “Dang.”

We got busy looking through cookbooks and back issues of Bon Appétit and Gourmet. We started prowling the Internet. And the more we bandied ideas back and forth, the more complex things seemed to get. And then it hit me. What about some nice little steaks pan seared and topped with really good blue cheese? Done.

Suddenly, everything got simpler in a very good way. For sides, some hand mashed potatoes with buttermilk and a salad of mixed greens and arugula. Some cheese and olives to start and a delicious, rustic apple galette [that will inspire its own post one of these days] for dessert. The conversation flowed like wine. So did the wine. And a simply beautiful evening was had by all [unless Dick and Karin were lying to spare our feelings]. Continue reading “Steaks and blue cheese: Start with good ingredients and get out of the way” →