Chilaquiles

Maybe I'm just swimming in Spicehound's wake . . . . First meal in the new place was an easy one as kitchen items are coming in one box at a time. After visiting Pzzaz! in Rocky River, a great little store that primarily carries salsas, hot sauces, and rubs, I wound up with some CaJohns Raspberry Chipotle Salsa (from Columbus, OH--it may not say on the label, but rumor has it that the salsa contains local raspberries) and some great organic blue corn tortilla chips (from Toledo). Cowboy George, the store's proprietor, is shockingly aware of what his products are made of. While I'm normally a traditionalist, and the thought of raspberry salsa grossed me out, I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed the salsa. It also worked great for breakfast.

This was just some heated salsa with chips stirred in. After the chips were soft I cracked two Plum Creek eggs on top, added some salt and pepper, and threw the pan into a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes. At that point the egg whites set up a bit and I slid the whole mix onto a plate for a pretty hardy breakfast.

After breakfast a friend came over. We had some Gypsy coffee, picked the rest of the ripe peaches off one of the trees in the yard, and walked over to the Ward 17 Farmer's Market at W65th and W. Clinton. I think I like the new neighborhood.

Procrastinating

Eggs over easy, melon balls, toast, and bacon, not necessarily in that order.

It's not often I get to use the melon baller. I got the tool to easily remove seeds from apples and pears, so this kind of thing is just a bonus. Melon was on the brain after being treated to a wonderful melon/honey/olive oil cake dish at Bar Cento along with Maybelle's Parents. It reminded me of a super rich bread pudding, but was very different. The unexpected, but welcome, run-in with the Parents reminded me that there are advantages of being in smaller city, particularly this one. There are more than enough decent places to eat to stave off boredom, but the universe is small enough that there's always a good chance that you can wander into a place and find some good company and people that really enjoy good food.

The bacon is part of my quest to find the best bacon in the area. This stuff was from a processor in Fredericktown, OH. They use Ohio pigs. It was very good and toothsome, but a little pork steaky for my tastes. Maybe it was just the thick cut? For me, I've yet to have anything here or elsewhere that rivals the bacon from Country Gristmill (available at the Shaker Farmers Market, summer and winter). It's takes some attention during cooking, but I think the results are worth it. I'll admit though, that despite my love of smoking and things smoked I've yet to dabble with the ubiquitous trend of making bacon at home. It's bound to happen, but getting a happy pig's belly around here isn't as easy as it should be. It'll happen soon enough.

The eggs, as always, are from Plum Creek. Unless I get a few chicken of my own, there's no other choice for me. The butter for frying them and for the toast is raw milk butter from a cow-share I participate in.

A decent start for a day that should be filled with crating things for my imminent move. If you read this blog and are sick of hearing about it, I assure you I am sicker of mentioning it and am more than ready to move to my mini-orchard in the shadow of Franklin Avenue. Hopefully the next entry will be typed from there.

A Local Lunch

Freshly dug potatoes and harvested cabbage along with some Plum Creek humanely raised veal cutlets. A nice, simple lunch.

I rarely order veal at restaurants. Even with ethical stuff out there, I usually pass and go with other meats. But I love Plum Creek, a farm in Valley City about 45 min outside of Cleveland, and I reference it all the time--usually regarding eggs and poultry. After visiting the farm a few weeks ago, learning that it's been in their family since the early 1800s, and seeing how they're keeping it going (and grabbing a drink up the street at the Jump'n Frog), it's been nice to stop by their stand at the Market and chat. (That's not to say that I hadn't been bugging them at their stands at two of our local farmers markets for the past 2 years.) Once at their Shaker stand, it doesn't take long for Amie's dad, who's responsible for the farm's dairy and the veal, to make sure you don't forget that they have veal for sale. I've stayed strong for a while, politely declining the meat, but this time he made me a deal I couldn't refuse. So I took the frozen (sometimes it's available fresh) cutlets home and thought about them for day. Saturday turned to Sunday, the veal thawed, and this is what I came up with.

The veal cutlets were given a standard coating. First, they were patted dry and seasoned with salt and pepper. Then a quick dip in AP flour, followed by a swim in a beaten egg from the same farm (Which is interesting in context--at the farm the chickens seemed to love hanging out with the baby cows that were nursing on their mom. Little did they likely know they would sort of meet again on a plate.), and then another dip in Country Gristmill cornmeal. The coated veal was briefly (very briefly) sauteed in a mix of about 3 parts canola oil to 1 part butter. They then rested on a paper towel until being served.

And the sides, much less exciting, but still very good. For the garden potatoes it was easy. Dug this morning, cooking them was all about doing no harm. All it took was a quick steam followed by a light dusting of salt. They were rich enough on their own that butter was unnecessary.

The cabbage didn't require much work either. Just a quick saute in olive oil with salt and pepper. No caramelization, no covering and letting it cook down, nothing special. Just lightly sauteed cabbage that was flavorful, tender, and crisp.

This lunch made me happy. A squirt of lemon juice may have been a nice addition, but lacking that I just put a small piece of butter on the still warm veal. That's all the sauce that was necessary (although I wouldn't have pushed a ladleful of veal stock off the plate).

Folks around here are big on the connection from farm to table. It doesn't get much more connected than this.

And I didn't only harvest potatoes this morning:

Eggs eye view

Or, breakfast for lovers of heat. This is a dish a friend of mine likes to have for breakfast when she's sick. It's a normal breakfast, but it'll clear the sinuses.

Eggs. Plum Creek eggs, Ohio Family Farms cream, Snake Hill Farm Siskiyou immature onions, dried chilis de arbol, garden basil, butter, and salt and Urban Herbs tellicherry pepper. I sauteed thinly sliced onion along chilis (seeded and pulled apart) in some butter with a little salt. Once the onions softened I added eggs that had been stirred to combine the whites, yolks, and a little cream to the pan. Stirring constantly, I cooked the eggs over low heat, adding some salt and ground pepper while they were cooking. Once everything was just about cooked (but still very soft), I added a little basil chiffonade. The basil brought out the best from the onions and chili, and generally made everything smell nice.

Potatoes. Small red potatoes from the Shaker Market, shallots from the same place, Parker's pancetta, underformed (green?) garlic from the garden, hot red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. I started by rendering small lardons of pancetta in a cast iron skillet. Once the pancetta was rendered I added cut up potatoes (with the skin still on), sliced shallot, pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. I put the whole pan in a 450 oven for a good ten minutes, and then under the broiler for about five more minutes. After the potatoes were cooked just about right I turned off the broiler and added smashed and minced garlic to the mix, stirred, and left the whole thing in the still very hot oven (with the heat off) for about five more minutes. Everything was crispy, but nothing was bitter.

And that was it. With some toast and tea it's a pretty acceptable breakfast that's ready to go in around half an hour.

Liver (with onions)

Damn Rule #30, this really is liver with onions (see the picture below). It's pretty good stuff. Loosely adapted from The Silver Spoon, here it is:

Ingredients:
- Chicken livers (Here 6 from Plum Creek--they couldn't be fresher, and the farm is idyllic)
- Onion, rough dice (I used the short side of half an onion)
- Sage (a truly hardy perennial around here)
- Port, not too much (scant half cup)
- Vinegar (Red wine)
- Egg yolks (Also from Plum Creek, 2 of them here. An equal amount of cream would have worked too.)
- Sage, torn into pieces
- Lemon juice (Doesn't take much.)
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- Baguette (from Zoss the Swiss Baker)
- Fat (For sauteing. I used bacon fat.)

Method:
- Cook onions with a bit of salt in bacon fat until soft
- While onions are cooking dip cleaned livers (these came pretty clean) in vinegar and pat dry
- Once onions are soft add livers and most of the sage along with the port and salt and pepper
- Cook until livers get some color and port reduces
- Remove livers from pan, keeping the pan on the heat with the onions and port cooking down
- Chop livers (which should be medium rare/rare) and then add them back to the pan until just cooked through
- While chopped livers are finishing cooking, mix egg yolks with lemon juice in a separate bowl
- Once livers are just cooked, place them in a food processor (or mash up if you did a better job than me with the onion dice)
- Puree (or smash) livers, and then add some of the still very warm liver mixture to the egg yolks and lemon juice
- Place the rest of the puree in a bowl, and add the egg yolk/lemon juice/some liver mixture to the rest of the puree and stir well
- Let the mix sit for a short bit while you drizzle slices of baguette with olive oil
- Toast baguette slices (I used the grill side of a cast iron griddle.)
- Scoop some liver mix on a baguette slice, garnish with some sage, and serve

I enjoyed this, and frankly I may have overindulged. It was like returning to Montreal, where livers of all sort seem to fall from the sky.

Just look at the hot mess below:

Simple Salad

Fresh asparagus, old cheese. This was quick and easy, with a vinaigrette very loosely based on the one that this guy served during Sunday's plated landscape dinner. The main ingredients are blanched Muddy Fork Farm Asparagus, French Breakfast Radishes, and Parmesan Cheese (that has seen better days). I meant to include to some cracked herb seeds (fennel, coriander, cardamom, or whatever) as some folks have been known to do around here. It adds an extra dimension and some more crunch, but the absence was no big deal.

The vinaigrette was a bit more involved. In order of amount it included olive oil; white wine vinegar; Plum Creek egg yolk (as per the Sunday dinner and this); local maple syrup; white miso; Dijon mustard; minced shallot, salt, and pepper. It all went into a mini-mason jar for a quick shake to emulsify and that was it. Since egg goes so well with asparagus, I was itching to make a dressing with egg yolk, and the asparagus has been flowing like water, this was bound to happen.

The best of two coasts

The Alaskan coast, and the North Coast (aka Cleveland).

First Alaska. Pan Seared Halibut Cheeks, Copper River King Salmon, and a Smoked Copper River Sockeye Collar (I also had a broiled collar, but forgot to put it on the plate. It was the fish equivalent to the best chicken wing ever.). The fish came from Kate's at Cleveland's West Side Market. While the Copper River Sockeye was first rate, the King was truly special. After being gutted (or "processed," as the euphemism goes) on the boat pre-rigor, the fish are iced and quickly sent to Cleveland, where Tom the fishmonger picks them up at the airport. I don't think fresher, or as high quality, Copper River Salmon are available anywhere else in the area (although one restaurant in town has been known to get its fish from the same Alaskan). It's not cheap, but a little goes a long way. It was difficult for me to spot eating it sashimi style, but I could think of worse habits.

Next, the North Coast. Most of the non-fish things on the plate came from The Shaker Square Farmer's Market. The mayo is homemade with a Plum Creek Egg Yolk, Shallots from a Vendor whose name I don't remember (they're the only one currently selling shallots), Frank's RedHot, Organic Canola Oil, Organic Spanish Olive Oil, Kosher Salt, ground Urban Herbs Tellicherry Pepper, Red Wine Vinegar and some generic Dijon Mustard. It's been said here before, but it's worth saying again, making mayonnaise is very easy.

Between the cheeks and the collar is a vegetable medley. Starting in the order things went into the pan are: diced Parker's Pancetta, sliced immature and super sweet Onions that volunteered in the community garden, sliced Killbuck Valley Brown Oyster Mushrooms, Sage Leaves from the community garden (an overwintered plant was too huge for its own good), chopped Muddy Fork Farm Asparagus, and some salt and pepper. With the rendered pancetta fat and the moisture in the mushrooms there was no need to add any liquid. Cooked over low heat the entire time, it was very ratatouille like.

Between the cheeks and King there's sauteed red and green Mizuna. All that was added to the wet-from-cleaning leaves was salt and pepper. They were sauteed in just a bit of toasted sesame oil. I don't remember the name of the farm they were from either, but hopefully I'll be growing some soon from their starts.

There's also a sliced radish from the same folks who supplied the shallots.

The flowers in the background are from Blissful Acres. If I ever needed to be part of a CSA I'd give them a call (Maybe Muddy Fork too). Blissful Acres also supplied the the original "seed" that led to the second part of this post. I'm no longer in the plot where I grew those, but the Jerusalem Artichokes must not have gotten the message that someone else was gardening there because they self seeded and are growing better than if I had planted them for a second season on purpose.

Really good stuff using the best of what can be found around here, both produced and brought in. Hopefully we'll get some good starches soon.

Kind of looks like a Seder plate:

Mizuna starting to cook:

Breakfast and Dinner

A noir picture of loosely scrambled Plum Creek eggs with garden chives, Country Gristmill heritage bacon, and English muffin with butter and rhubarb preserves.

And dinner:

Plum Creek Rabbit cooked with rosemary (you can see where I tasted a piece) on a bed of radish thinnings coated with olive oil, salt, and pepper; butter and sugar glazed French breakfast radishes; grocery store sweet potato. Ideas for the rabbit and the radishes came from The Silver Spoon.

Not much of a hack job. I'll never get a job at Kaufmann's.

Ramp Carbonara

While Googling to make sure I got the spelling right I ran across a recent post on this subject from some Cleveland area food guy you may have heard of. It's here (pretty nice picture too).

If you've read some of the older posts here you know I love this dish, and am not afraid to bastardize it (not only once, but twice). Here it's with Ohio Mennonite organic Berkshire bacon picked up at the Shaker Farmers Market (County Gristmill), Ohio City Pasta's vegan red pepper pasta, Plum Creek Poultry eggs, and ramp tops. The eggs and ramps are also from the Market. Not sure the wide red pepper noodles added to the dish, but they certainly didn't take anything away.

Eggs and ramps go together very well, as do ramps and cheese, which can be enjoyed these days on a pizza at Bar Cento (it's the chef's wife, but trust her on this). But ramp season is about over, which would be sad if it didn't mean that a lot of great stuff is on the way.

Those Dutch people make good sauce

It may look like cheez whiz, but it's not. It's a hollandaise, and the rich color is a result of Plum Creek Poultry's incredible eggs (available at the Shaker Square and Crocker Park farmers markets) with their ridiculously vibrant yolks. Who would have thought pale yolks have their place? Either that or my technique's off, which is quite possible.

The steak is from MillGate Farms (if you're at the Crocker Market Farmstead Ltd. has great grass fed beef), and it's the other part of a porterhouse that yielded the strip steak from the last post. The asparagus is is also from the Market, and cooked the same way as described in the last post (if it ain't broke . . .). These spears were Morton's sized. If you're not familiar with that reference, I don't think you're missing out, but these were some seriously huge, and seriously good, asparagus spears.

All good ingredients, but it's kind of cheating to use a hollandaise. The stuff is too good. After I finished the pictured plate it took all of my limited self control to avoid eating the leftover sauce by the spoonful. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
- Egg yolks (I always use at least two--it's tricky with one. The whites freeze well.)
- Butter, pieces or melted (There are proper ratios, but I just stop adding butter when I like how it tastes. This was the previously mentioned French butter from The Cheese Shop at the West Side Market.)
- Water (you may want to thin the sauce--water works well)
- Salt and pepper
- Cayenne (just a little)
- Lemon juice, or, gasp!, vinegar (I used white wine vinegar here. Lemon juice is better, but no lemons over here today).

Method:
- I always make this in a home rigged double boiler. There are lots of other ways to make this sauce, but I've always had good luck this way.
- Bring a small pot of water to a slow simmer
- Whisk egg yolks in a stainless steel or glass bowl that will fit on top of the simmering pot (the bottom of the pan should not dip into the simmering water)
- Once yolks are whisked, place the bowl over the pot of hot water and whisk steadily until the eggs get a thicker consistency (It may be necessary to keep lifting the bowl off of the simmering water to prevent the eggs from scrambling. You may want to use a dish towel for handling the bowl. Scrambled eggs in a hollandaise is not good.)
- After the yolks have thickened start incorporating the butter piece by piece (or slowly pour in melted butter a little at a time)
- Keep whisking and don't let the eggs scramble. If using pieces of butter add a new piece just as the previous one is melting away.
- When the sauce is a good consistency and tastes about right butter-wise, season with salt and pepper, a little cayenne, and acid (citrus juice or vinegar) to taste--it doesn't take much
- That's it. It holds pretty well if kept over the pot of hot water with the flame turned off (just make sure to stir occasionally), although it may thicken up a bit after a while (just thin with water, remembering it's always easier to add more than to take extra out). It also keeps well on a stovetop that's hot from the oven being on.

It's not a tough sauce to make, and it looks much better in person.

Another angle (still looks like cheez whiz):

One meal of which I'll never tire

Bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. Plum Creek egg, Country Gristmill Berkshire bacon, and Tillamook cheese. While the bread is only from Youngstown, the cheese traveled a long way. As for that, old habits die hard.

This is no Wake & Bacon from Melt, a nearby place always good for a grilled cheese, but I can still enjoy these for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner. Let's just hope the arteries can keep up.

Pasta the day after

Yesterday's pasta, reheated and with a poached egg on top. I pulled back some of the whites to expose the yolk. Now to find more uses for poached eggs . . .

Breakfast and Disclosures

First, breakfast. Plum Creek Poultry eggs (cooked in a bit of duck fat from one of their ducks--the black specks are pepper, the eggs are pristine) and Nitrate free Organic Berkshire bacon, both picked up at the Shaker Square Indoor Winter Market. Nothing special about the OJ, bread, or butter.

Now, on to the disclosures, and I'll add something to the "About" section in the near future. As of late I've developed some food related economic relationships around Cleveland. For example, I'm a vendor at the aforementioned Winter Market, which I unabashedly recommend all the time. I do that because it's a great market, and in my opinion it's a cornerstone for good food in Cleveland. I don't discuss my stand at the Market. Additionally, discussions have been had and small relationships established with some of the restaurants mentioned here. As far as that goes, every place I've been in touch with regarding business has been a place whose food I enjoy (pre-relationship or non-relationship) and whose philosophy I agree with or can live with. Also, we're not talking about big dollars here.

This disclosure is particularly timely after the Wine Supper referenced in the previous post. The Supper was great. Not flawless, but very, very good and a real treat. I'm hesitant to give a full review because I don't trust my own neutrality, but it's fair to say that the pizza, fish, cheese, and dessert courses were all right on. The suckling pig in the baby animal course, however, could benefit from being tweaked a bit. I also would've killed for a cup of coffee at the end, but it was kind of late so that may have just been me. Also, my table had a great server, but there were times where it would have been nice to have a few questions answered, and one staffer who was pouring wine, who knows why, blatantly poured a wine from a previous course rather than from the current course's selection. That was strange, particularly since he realized what he was doing, and it was a wine supper. After we mentioned that we noticed what had happened, the situation was remedied at our table--the less observant folks one table over were not so lucky. All in all, a great dinner that is sure to be even better as the Bar Cento staff gets used to hosting these things. After all, this was the first such dinner they've done there. I can't wait till the next.

I guess I couldn't help myself with the review. At least there was a disclosure.

EDIT - After rereading this post I realize it may seem like I didn't enjoy the wine dinner all that much. That's not the case at all, I just got rambling on the few things that bugged me, which is to say that just about everything else couldn't have been much better. It was certainly one of the most enjoyable dinners I've had in Cleveland, or just about anywhere else. And as for my gripe about no coffee, they were giving the stuff away after I took off.

L.E.O.

Lox, eggs, and onion . . . not quite, but close.

Ingredients:
- Eggs, well beaten (2 per person, I use a fork to mix them)
- Shallots, peeled then cut in half root to tip and sliced
- Smoked salmon, flaked (here, hot smoked sockeye salmon)
- Goat cheese, crumbled
- Butter
- Heavy cream (optional)
- Salt and pepper
- Lightly buttered toast
Method:
- Add butter to a heating nonstick pan
- Once butter is melted, add shallots and some salt and pepper
- When shallots are softened (but not browned) add flaked smoked salmon
- While salmon is heating through (it's already cooked) mix cream (if using) and eggs
- Pour eggs into salmon-shallot mixture, add a little salt (the salmon has plenty) and pepper, and stir continuously
- When it just about to your liking add and mix in goat cheese
- Remember that the eggs will continue to cook off the heat (both in the pan and on the plate)--I tend to turn off the heat once the eggs are just more than half cooked

Grab some coffee, turn on Meet the Press, and enjoy a leisurely Sunday.

Omelet

There are a lot of omelet styles. Some are good. I like a thin omelet surrounding a good filling. Some people prefer the thick egg patties folded over and a separately cooked filling.

There is also "the" way to cook an omelet. Julia Child describes it (and the recommended equipment for it) in an excerpt from Mastering the Art of French Cooking here: http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/authors/child/recipe.html. There's also a great, albeit passing, omelet scene in Tampopo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampopo), a great Ramen Western movie that anyone interested in food would likely enjoy. It's not Ratatouille, so you may want to think before choosing this for family movie night. All I'll contribute to the omelet discussion is that I use a 8" nonstick pan, and this is the only time I'm pretty fearless about preheating it on high heat (because of the whole fumes thing). Also, I add the salt and pepper while the eggs are cooking, not before adding them to the pan. I've done it both ways, and prefer the former.

Omelet:
Ingredients:
- Eggs (2 per omelet)
- Cream (just a bit if it's laying around)
- Smoked trout, flaked
- Bacon, cooked and broken into pieces
- Butter
- Salt and pepper
Method:
- Preheat nonstick pan
- Beat eggs in a bowl and add maybe a tablespoon of cream
- Have everything ready to go
- Add butter to a hot pan
- When butter stops foaming add eggs
- Add some salt and pepper
- Add trout and bacon
- Roll according to Julia's instruction (or as close as you can get)
- If things don't look too good, you can shape the omelet using a paper towel for grip

Toast:
- You're on your own

That's it. No cheese, but that's just because I didn't have any I wanted to use on hand. It wasn't missed, but a small bit of Gruyere could have been nice. Filling additions, omissions, and swapping options are endless.

My favorite place for an omelet in the Cleveland area--Irv's Sandwich Shop at 2164 South Taylor Rd. in Cleveland Heights. There's nothing fancy about the place, so be ready for that if you go. They make the omelets on a griddle, spreading the egg mixture out super thin before adding the toppings and folding the whole thing into a nice package. For most other places in the area I stick to eggs over easy or pancakes.