Moules Frites (or A Return from Kitchen Exile)

First breakfast, and now a lunch in a new house. It's a slow work up to making a dinner, but now that I'm just about settled in a dish that involved deep frying on a stove without any type of ventilation seemed like an appropriate way to check out what it'd be like to clean up a little bit of a mess.

Regarding mussels, years ago I spent about five months in the Netherlands. Those mussel connoisseurs were pretty serious about only eating mussels in months that have an "r" in them. While that policy seems more relevant with certain oysters that don't seem to improve in warm water, it stuck for me, so I loosely abide by it.

Making the mussels was pretty simple, starting with a quick trip to Kate's Fish at the West Side Market, where I was reminded how economical a choice mussels are. When I got them home I melted a bunch of butter (Stutzman Herdshare) in a cast iron pan along with some minced shallot from the garden. When that was all hot and fragrant I added the mussels and a bunch of basil leaves. The pan was covered, occasionally shaken, and taken off the heat when all the mussels opened up (they all opened). It smelled wonderful. In an effort to get out from under a mountain of tomatoes I meant to throw some diced tomato into the mix, but it was not meant to be. While I think they would have been a nice addition, they weren't particularly missed.

The mussels were dumped into a bowl with some toasted baguette. Another unremarkable baguette picked up on the West Side of Cleveland. It wasn't poisonous, but wasn't what it could be. The toasting helped though.

And the frites, made while preparing the mussels. Julienned garden fingerlings twice fried in duck fat in a wok. The wok is great for deep frying small quantities of foods using a minimal amount of fat. I cooked the potatoes in hot fat until they lost some moisture, removed them with a spider onto a plate lined with a paper towel, and then fried them again, removing them from the fat when they were crispy and quickly seasoned them with salt. Next to try them with some horse fat, or more likely, rendered beef suet (tallow).

Clean up was a breeze, and I think the Benelux folks would respect this rendition of their dish. Hopefully the basil didn't hurt anyone's feelings.

More quick snacks

Vegan red pepper pasta from Ohio City Pasta, Sungold, Yellow Pear, and small Roma tomatoes sauteed in olive oil, and basil. A bowl of summer.

Romanian made Polish food. Pierogies and red onions sauteed together in butter. The cheddar cheese/potato pierogies were from a Romanian-run stand at the Shaker Farmers Market, the onions from Blissful Acres, also at the Market. With a Polish grandmother married to my Romanian grandfather, it's not shocking that these have become my go-to snack.

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:

Pork Soup Lunch

Pork chunks wok cooked with cumin in a chicken stock broth with potatoes, carrots, onion, dried chiles, and summer savory. Soup on a hot day. I don't know why, but it works.

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.

Steak and Potatoes

I'm getting boring in my old age. Here's the proof along with a dull post. A nice piece of pastured rib eye (Millgate Farm), alongside some goat cheese (Mackenzie Creamery) creme fraiche and roasted shallot fortified mashed potatoes, and an oyster mushroom (Killbuck Valley) pancetta and sweet onion mixture. There was a pan sauce too, and it was pretty good--shallot, white wine, butter, and a touch of the creme fraiche. It went well with everything.

And an heirloom lettuce salad, organic from the yard, complete with all its insect damage. Coated lightly with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper, it was lovely in its imperfection.

Toulouse Sausage

With fries, two types of mustard, and homemade mayo. The mustard to the left is nothing-special whole grain mustard. The one on the right is Garden Vineyard Grove's Muffulata Mustard. It's like a New Orlean's style muffulata sandwich in a jar, with all the essential ingredients (except the bread, meat, and cheese). Really good stuff that will likely be available at the Crocker Park farmers' market. It's always worth stopping by her stand to try her wine jams. They're sweet, winey, and clean tasting (I'm just a fan and don't benefit from her success, but I do root for her.).

My mayo post is here. This one contains a little more mustard and I kept it relatively thin.

The fries came from half of one Russet potato cut on a mandolin. I had picked up a knock-off Benriner Mandolin in Montreal and was looking for an excuse to use it. These match sticks were as big as the device could cut, and I fried them twice in a wok with a little duck fat and seasoned with salt and pepper. Looking forward to using the Japanese mandolin on this summer's produce.

The sausage was picked up at the Jean-Talon Market and was made with the requisite pork, wine, and garlic. It was very nice, and I'd like to try it made with some fancy pork from happy pigs. I haven't been able to find Toulouse sausages anywhere in Cleveland, and if someone knows where they're available I'd love to know. For these I went with a quick sear in a little duck fat, and then put the pricked sausages in a 425 oven for a short bit.

Overall a good light meal and a good time reliving some moments from last weekend's trip.

Gettin' Southern

One of my favorite episodes of Julia Child's In Julia's Kitchen With Master Chefs featured Leah Chase, of New Orleans Dooky Chase restaurant fame. It was a change from other guests like Roberto Donna (whom I believe my sister took a cooking class with--random), Daniel Boulud, and Rick Bayless, but it didn't take long before it was clear that she was as much an expert as any of the others, showing two ways to hack up a chicken (the rich way and the poor way) and being honest about biscuits. It was she who kept talking about "gettin' southern."

If you've read some of the previous posts, you know I love that stuff, and here's my attempt at it, albeit with a local, and Maryland inspired, flavor. Going clockwise from the chicken is chicken frying in shortening (one and half sticks were left over from a long term guest--I couldn't bear to just chuck it), a quick chicken stock (for gravy and cooking the greens), some boiling potatoes, and some kale. The stove reads "425." There were biscuits cooking in there. And to the right is the floured chicken staging area, along with a bunch of less than relevant stuff. Here's a quick rundown of how it went. I was pleased with the results.

Chicken - I hacked up a Plum Creek chicken, killed two days before the meal (Friday slaughter, Sunday meal.). The neck and back bone went for stock. The pieces (legs, thighs, wings, and breasts cut in half) were soaked for about six hours in buttermilk with salt, pepper, adobo seasoning, cayenne, paprika, and a healthy dose of Old Bay. The Old Bay was the key. After the soaking they were dredged in AP flour seasoned with salt, pepper, and a good deal more Old Bay. After being floured the first pieces to be fried were left to sit for about five minutes. The rest of the chicken was also left to sit pre-fry until room opened up in the 10 inch skillet. The pieces took from about 10 to 14 minutes to cook. I pulled them when the internal temp was just shy of 150 and put them in an oven still warm from cooking biscuits. There wasn't even a hint of rawness, and chicken was enjoyably moist. And no problem with no splatter guard.

Biscuits - From an old Sara Moulton recipe, and a great way to use up leftover cream. I followed these directions, except I subbed in half spelt flour and didn't brush with cream. These are great, reliable, and easy. Very nice with butter or honey. And the cream came from happy Ohio cows via Country Gristmill (at the Shaker North Union Markets). Same with the spelt.

Potatoes - Local red potatoes stored from last summer, boiled and mashed with skin, buttermilk, some butter, cream, salt, and pepper. Pleasant, if not standard.

Stock - Just took the leftover chicken parts--back, neck, and wingtips--and simmered them in water for a while. After about two hours I removed the chicken parts and reduced the liquid.

Kale - Same kale as from the last post. This time braised (covered) in a little chicken stock on the stove top for quite some time over med-low heat. Tasted great seasoned with salt and pepper. Even better with Frank's RedHot.

Gravy - After the Chicken was all cooked I drained most of the shortening (I know, shortening, gross. I just couldn't bear to throw it away.) and added some flour, making a quick roux. Then I added the remainder of the chicken stock and some creme fraiche and reduced it all together. It got a little to thick so I loosened it with water--not a problem.

And that was it. The meal took some time, but it was worth it. As an aside, sorry about the dirty stove, but check out these leftovers:

Breakfast Potatoes

Potatoes, onion, paprika, cayenne, cumin, salt and pepper, and rosemary. I started by briefly sauteing the onions in duck fat. I added the potatoes and seasonings, sans rosemary, and put everything in a 425 degree onion for a bit, then cranked it up to 500 for a little extra browning. Towards the very end I added the rosemary. It was very nice with eggs over easy and some toast. Who doesn't love breakfast potatoes?

As for the weather:

Everything but the moo

Beef Cheeks from Millgate Farms's grassfed beef with the braising liquid on a bed of garlic, chive, and creme fraiche mashed potatoes. The braise was surprisingly short, but it was close to what was recommended in a similar recipe from The Silver Spoon. That book hasn't let me down yet.

Beef Cheeks
Ingredients:
- Cheeks, trimmed and cut into manageable portions
- Flour (for dusting the cheeks)
- Onion (diced)
- Carrot (diced)
- Celery (diced)
- Dried cayenne (cut into a few pieces with most seeds removed)
- Bay leaf
- Red Wine (I used an inexpensive cab here)
- Can of tomato with juice
- Salt and pepper
- High heat fat (I used bacon grease)
Method:
- First I sweated all the veggies with some salt and pepper in the bacon grease (This could have been done after browning the cheeks, the next step, and that's probably how I'd do it next time.)
- After the veggies are soft, remove them from the pot and reserve (The braise is all done in one pot.)
- Then salt and pepper the cheek pieces and dust with flour
- Brown the dusted cheeks in more fat
- Once cheeks are brown on each side remove and set them aside
- Add veggies back to pan (Or this is where they could be sweated for the first time, saving a step.)
- Stir to pick up browned bits, then add cheeks back and pour in some wine
- Cook wine down a bit and then add the can of tomatoes and juice (If using canned whole tomatoes, give them a squish with your hands after adding them--the tomato juice will temporarily cool the mixture down for a minute.)
- Reseason with salt and pepper and add the bay leaf
- The liquid should go about 2/3 up on the biggest pieces of cheek--if not add some water to make up the difference
- Cover and place in a 375 degree oven--it seems high, but it works and you get fork tender cheeks in about an hour and a half
- After it was done cooking it wasn't necessary to skim or reduce the sauce, although it would have been nice to have put the whole thing in the fridge and remove the fat from the sauce the next day. Still, it wasn't fatty tasting.

Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients:
- Potatoes, cut in chunks (I left the skin of these Yukon Golds on.)
- Garlic
- Chives, cut into batons
- Butter
- Creme Fraiche (or cream, or both)
- Salt and pepper
Method:
- Put a pot of water on to boil
- Add cut potatoes, garlic, and salt
- When water is boiling and potatoes are fork tender drain water and smash the potatoes and garlic with a fork
- Add butter, creme fraiche, salt, and pepper and mash those in, continually adjusting to your taste
- Mix in chives

It comes together well, and I suspect the leftovers will be even better tomorrow. The meat was nice in that it cut with a fork, but did not just fall apart on the plate. The meal has all the components of a stew, but keeping each element separate dresses the dish up for dinner. It was a fair amount of work with a sharp knife to clean the cheeks, but it was well worth it. It's only a matter of time before the cheek becomes the new short rib, if it hasn't already.

Curried Lamb Chop, Mashed Potatoes, and Yogurt Sauce

They are all curried. Here's how it came together:

Lamb:
Ingredients
- Lamb chops, here a double cut off a (somewhat) frenched rack
- Fenugreek (powder)
- Cumin (powder)
- Curry powder
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
Method:
- Crush the fenugreek and cumin if you need to and combine in a bowl with curry powder, salt, and pepper
- Mix just enough olive oil in with the spices to make a stiff paste
- Rub the paste all over the chop (You can see where I missed a spot in the picture, but generally the paste is pretty sticky and will not fall off the chop if the chop is coated well.)
- While the chop is covered in the spice paste heat an oven safe pan on the stove and preheat the oven to 500 degrees
- When pan is hot coat with olive oil
- Sear chop, starting with the fat side and get each side seared
- Place pan with chop in it in the hot oven for a few minutes (it cooks fast) and cook to your liking
- Let rest

Mashed Curry Potatoes:
Ingredients
- Potatoes (mostly peeled)
- Garlic (peeled cloves)
- Butter
- Milk
- Curry powder
- Parsley, chopped
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Boil potatoes in salted water with the garlic
- When potatoes are tender drain and mash potatoes and garlic
- When things are pretty well mashed add some butter, milk, curry, salt, and pepper
- Mix in parsley and adjust seasonings to taste

Yogurt Sauce:
Ingredients
- Yogurt, plain
- Tomato paste
- Curry powder
- Paprika
- Olive Oil
- Parsley, chopped
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Whisk all ingredients together, adjusting each to taste

That's all there is to it. It's my take on lamb curry.

One duck . . .

Two meals. Pictured above is one of the breasts from the duck that was kind enough to provide its legs for a previous meal. The body will be used for stock, so maybe I should have written three meals. If I had the time, the stock would have been cooked down and used to sauce this meal (Or maybe as the cooking liquid for the legs and beans recipe below.).

Also in the picture are some of the potatoes that made a cameo appearance in the background of a tomato picture a few posts ago, and the greens are arugula (rocket) thinnings. I planted some arugula, lettuce, and green onions in a pot a week or so ago, and figure they'll produce for a little while. The seeds are small, and I wasn't too careful planting, so there's a lot thinning to do, although I'm not sure it's worth bothering this late in the season. It is nice having access to fresh sprouts though, and the slightly bitter arugula worked well with the rich duck.

Ingredients:
- Duck breast, fat scored in criss cross pattern (Here I made a rectangle out of the breast, and saved the cut off meat and skin with the carcass in the freezer for stock.)
- Potatoes, peeled cubed (These were russets, grown from some accidentally sprouting organic ones from the grocery store.)
- Arugula thinnings (optional)
- Thyme, still on stems
- Butter
- Salt and pepper
Method:
- Preheat a nonstick pan and add butter
- Add cubed potatoes, salt and pepper
- Preheat an uncoated pan
- Place duck breast, skin side down, in hot uncoated pan and leave it there until the skin is crispy
- While duck is cooking (It takes a little bit of time.), be sure to be stirring the potatoes so they cook evenly
- When potatoes are softening, add thyme
- As fat is rendering from the duck, pour it into the pan with the potatoes
- Once the duck skin is crispy, turn the breast over and cook unskinned side
- When the other side of duck is cooking, which should only take a few minutes at the most, pour all remaining fat into pan with potatoes and turn up heat under potatoes, stirring often
- When duck is to your liking (don't be afraid of rare or med-rare--think steak, not poultry) remove it from pan and leave it to rest
- Get potatoes to how you like them, then lay a bed of potatoes on a plate, leaving thyme stems behind
- Place duck, sliced or not, on bed of potatoes and add sprouts if you have them
- Enjoy

If you're not a fan of duck, you should be. The legs can be buttery and tender, especially now that duck confit is available at just about every restaurant. Think best chicken ever. And the breasts taste more like a ribeye steak than just about anything else. So if you like chicken, and/or you like steak, you like duck.

Why we should annex Canada

At least the French speaking parts. This is my take on Poutine. It's what happens when you keep planning a trip to Montreal, but the trip keeps getting pushed back. This cost a lot less than a flight out there, but the cheese curds were hard to come by, and it's hard to find someone to enjoy these with in C-town.

The curds came from my trip to Northern Michigan. They were vacuum packed, and, sadly, were not squeaky by the time I got to them. Still, they tasted and melted great. Good thing too, because if they squeaked I might never make it to Montreal.

I'm pretty sure the potatoes are Carolas. They came from the farmer's market. I was looking for Russets, but they weren't available yet. These worked great.

Gravy/Sauce
Ingredients:
- Chicken stock (See Risotto post, below. This was the frozen leftover.)
- Flour
- Fat or oil (I used peanut oil.)
- Salt and pepper
Method:
- I thawed frozen stock in a sauce pan while making the roux
- For the roux I mixed equal parts oil and and flour in a hot cast iron skillet
- I whisked the roux into the stock until the gravy was just thinner than I wanted it to be (It thickens up a bunch. If it winds up too thick just add water.)
- Season to taste

Fries
Ingredients:
- Potatoes, cut into fries
- Fat for cooking (I used duck fat, of course.)
- Salt
Method:
- Heat fat (I used a wok to minimize the amount of fat needed.)
- Peel potatoes and put in a bowl of water once peeled
- Once all potatoes are peeled, slice them into fries one potato at a time, putting the cut potatoes back into the water as you are going along
- Once all the potatoes are cut, drain the water from the bowl they are in and give them a quick dry with paper towels
- Now line a plate with paper towels (This is a paper towel intensive meal.)
- Now fry the potatoes, in several batches if necessary as to not overcrowd the wok (As for the heat of the fat, I don't use a thermometer. If the potatoes sizzle, then it's good.)
- This is the first frying--once the potatoes are pretty limp, but not colored, remove them to the paper towel lined plate
- Repeat with next batch if necessary
- Once all potatoes are fried the first time, raise the heat and repeat, keeping the fries in the fat until they are slightly colored and sound kind of hollow
- Remove batches from the second fry to new paper towels, add salt and pat to remove clinging fat (Make sure to drain the fries well when they're coming out of the fat--I use a spider, which is available for not much money at any decent Asian grocery store. Here's a link to one at my favorite online wok store, The Wok Shop, in San Francisco: http://wokshop.stores.yahoo.net/brassskimmer.html.)

Cheese Curds:
- I just broke up the curds into somewhat even sized pieces--they were more irregularly shaped before they began melting (Shredded mozzarella or cheddar would have been good too.)

To put it together I put down a handful of fries, some curds, some more fries, some more curds, and ladled over the gravy. It's worth all the pots and pans and cutting and frying.

New Jersey tangent:
I loved this dish. But, keep in mind that I grew up in New Jersey, where I ate Jersey Shore cheese fries at the The WindMill on Ocean Avenue in West End every summer. Not sure if it's still there, but if it is you can't miss it--it's a giant windmill. There's not much better than getting a giant crisp-skinned hot dog, some cheese fries, and sitting on the upstairs balcony of that WindMill. Max's in Long Branch may have had slightly better hot dogs, but after eating one right before going nightfishing for Bluefish in rough seas I never went back. Then, if you need dessert, nothing beats the Lighthouse, in Long Branch, for Italian ices--http://www.lighthouseitalianice.com/history.html. Really, it's one of the best things ever, even if you normally don't like Italian ices.