When is this guy going to run out of tortillas?

Never, I'm afraid. They're just too convenient. Pictured above are tacos with a classic combination of blanched green beans and potatoes--the beans from the garden and the potatoes, Yukon Golds, from the Market. The mix is normally found in enchiladas or tamales, but I just didn't have the patience to defrost some of the wonderful Sonoran style enchilada sauce my (soon to be ex) next door neighbor made for me almost a year ago. And tamales, despite a deep curiosity and love of Mexican cooking, the ones available at Orale in the West Side Market are just too good to justify me bumbling through making them myself (although I have been looking for an excuse to buy a tub of lard at one of the local Mexican grocery stores).

In addition to the potatoes and beans I included some blanched and chopped early cabbage and sliced green serrano pepper, both also from the garden, grated raw cheddar from the Market, a few splashes of Tapatio, and some creme fraiche. Not much visible color contrast, but it was delicious nonetheless.

And the cucumber salad--my take on sunomono I've enjoyed at Japanese restaurants. Here it's just a diced, seeded garden cucumber (marketmore), salt, pepper, and white wine vinegar. It marinated for a few minutes and was refreshing in its simplicity.

Bean counting

Bean sorting, more accurately. Haricot vert of varying sizes. Some as small as a thumbnail, others as long as a pencil. Such is the problem of having a job--it's tough to harvest green beans as they're ready. So, in addition to getting some of them when they're just right I also wind up picking some large and some small.

Now to eat them. The super-minis are great to snack on raw. For the large ones it will likely be a cold soup like a vichyssoise, except with the beans subbing for the leeks, and maybe some onions added for good measure. And for the two piles of wonderfully sized beans, they'll be blanched and used all sorts of ways--as a side, in a salad, in lieu of a salad, etc. I hope they reappear here in their various guises.

As for that basil in the glass in the background, I haven't found a better way to store the stuff than exactly like a vase of fresh cut flowers. On the stem with the stems in water, kept in a shady spot. Sometimes this method works so well that the basil will sprout roots.

Pork and Beans

Or Pancetta and Cannellini beans, courtesy of one of Cleveland's finest ex-restaurateurs. Happy West Virgina pork belly cured by Kris Kreiger over at Chef's Choice Meats. The beans are saved from a crop grown last year in the heart of Ohio City.

More carbonara? Not sure, I think the options are limitless. As for the beans, these are for growing, not eating. A little piece of Italy right here in Cleveland.

Duck and beans revisited

It was time to try this one again, this time without the pressure cooker. The new version takes a bit of time to come together, but doesn't require doing anything too difficult. I quick soaked (brought to a boil, turned off the heat, and allowed to rest for about an hour) the white beans before draining and cooking them in boiling water. For flavor I added some shallot, garlic, and diced double smoked tasso that I picked up at the West Side Market to the boiling beans.

When the beans were about half cooked I browned seasoned duck legs in an enameled dutch oven. Once the legs were browned I added some tomato paste to the dutch oven and cooked it down a bit. To the legs and tomato paste I added the partially cooked beans and the accompanying water, garlic, shallots, and tasso, and added a bay leaf. I also added a few glugs of white wine (The whole thing is cassoulet inspired.). A cover went on the dutch oven, and it all went into a 325 degree oven.

Every now then I checked on the pot to see how things were coming. The idea was to have fork tender duck legs without the beans being over cooked. When the beans were about right I seasoned the mix with salt and pepper. The legs were about 3/4 submerged during the entirety of the cooking, with the skin side up (I never had to add any extra liquid, but if I did it wouldn't have been a problem.). Once the legs were done I took them out and left the beans and flavorings in the remaining liquid in a covered pot off the heat--the beans absorbed most of the remaining liquid.

So now everything is resting in the fridge, quietly waiting for a quick trip under broiler to crisp up the skin on the duck legs and heat the beans through. Judging from the approximately 50 pounds of beans I consumed while checking for doneness, I think this will be a great heat and eat meal.

Pressure Cooking

This was good, but since this was the first time I used a pressure cooker I'll spare listing out the recipe like I usually do--it was enough that it turned out pretty well in the end.

The duck was from Plum Creek Poultry, a local farm run by a husband and wife team that produces honey, eggs, humanely raised veal, soap, and, of course, a variety of poultry. They even have Christmas trees. The bad butchering job is mine, not theirs.

In discussing the subject, the wise Mark Bittman once said, "[i]f you can find duck legs in the store, go with those."* I'm not sure if I agree. There are plenty of places to get duck legs around here, from Kaufmann Poultry in the West Side Market (Mentioned in the 8/28/07 Liberty Steak post below) to myriad Asian grocery stores in soon to be booming Chinatown (And if you're not sure about my use of "myriad," and I'm not too confident about it, see here -- that Bryan Garner is pretty smart.). Still, even when the aforementioned stores have fresh legs, they don't compete with the taste of Plum Creek's. Cutting up the duck is really not that difficult, but I think it takes some practice. I was out of practice.

The rest of the dish includes navy beans, water, white wine, tomato paste, shallot, a fresh bay leaf, and salt and pepper. I forgot to add dried cherries, a bunch which I've been itching to put to good use, and didn't get the skin quite right, so it had to go.

The idea was to make a one pot braised duck legs and white beans dish. Very cassoulet inspired, but scaled down for a simple meal that can be put together after work. The legs went in the pressure cooker after they were browned with their skin on. The skin was pretty gummy when they came out--I was a bit too generous with the liquids in the (borrowed) pressure cooker. Next time I'll go a little lighter on the liquid, and, when everything is done and tender, throw the legs under the broiler to crisp the skin back up, hopefully. I'll also remember the dried cherries (Or maybe tarragon?). With presoaked beans, a pressure cooker, and an already dismembered duck, this should take less than an hour from prep to table. Add a baguette and the rest of the wine that was added to the pressure cooker and it's a pretty decent weekday meal.

* THE MINIMALIST; Duck Under Cover, MARK BITTMAN, NY Times, March 31, 2004