Cooking By Numbers

Roast chicken legs with lemon and thyme. Recipe from Epicurious.

Sides were mashed fingerlings w/ parsley and sauteed/steamed chard w/ garlic.

The rest of the chicken was put to good use, I think. We'll see in a post or two.

Back to The Simple

This was dinner Saturday:

Homemade Sourdough Bread

Oysters Rockefeller
Oysters / Spinach / Scallion / Parsley / Cayenne / Bacon.

Agnolotti
Roasted Tomatillo / Queso / Onion. Squid ink Pasta. Lime / Cilantro / Buerre Monte.

Quail with Onion Marmalade
Vaudovan rubbed. Fig stuffed. Homemade pancetta wrapped. Onion / Currants / Agave Nectar / Butter Marmalade.

Pork Belly
Berbere Rubbed. Cider braised. Cracklings. Homemade sauerkraut.

Grilled Leg of Lamb
Marinated in red wine and black cherry juice. Brewed chocolate / Vahlrona / Mint / Lamb Stock sauce.

Grilled polenta cakes
Polenta / Fontina / Jalapeno / Corn / Garlic. Homemade Creme Fresh / Lime / Cilantro.

Dessert: "Cheese and wine"
White wine marinated pound cake. Goat Cheese Ice Cream.

A hell of a spread for a party, and it was for about 70 people. No catering or anything like that either. Just a guy in Ohio City who loves to cook. The lamb was a highlight (even though I missed the sauce), as was the homemade sauerkraut spiked with cardamom (A few weeks ago he inspired me to make some of my own kraut. It should show up here soon.). It was a good evening.

How to top that? Best not to try to, so a few days later I made the pasta above. Ohio City Pasta, some organic olive oil from a food buying club I participate in (the vegan red pepper pasta was from there too), and some super pungent garden garlic and basil. While the water was coming to a boil for the pasta I heated a healthy amount of the oil in a separate pan and dropped in some minced garlic. The garlic sizzled, so I took the pan off the heat and just let it steep in the warm/hot oil so as not to burn it. When the pasta was ready I tossed it into the garlic infused oil, added some basil, tossed some more and ate. I didn't intend to post this, but I enjoyed the simplicity so here it is (it's also an excuse to post the menu from my buddy's party).

After eating the pasta and getting ready to call it a quiet Tuesday evening I got a call to meet a friend for a quick drink. Next thing I knew I was at Lola enjoying some appetizers (tomato salad, oysters, charcuterie, and chunks of fresh bacon) and some really well made cocktails. That was my first time there at night. It was an experience.

Also, the Tuesday dining companion and the Lola cocktail maker will be pouring good things on Sundays at Bier Markt starting this weekend. If you're a Sunday drinker it's probably worth checking out.

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.

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.

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.

More ground veal

Couldn't have been much simpler:

- Rendered some diced pancetta
- Cooked down some diced onions in the pancetta fat
- Added some diced carrots along with a bit of olive oil to keep things slick
- In went leftover fortified veal from two posts ago
- Once the veal was cooked I added diced tomato and leftover tomato juice (same old post)
- Into that went just a bit of cream and it was all left to cook down and be seasoned
- While that was going I made pasta (some of the pasta water was added to the sauce)
- The pasta went into the sauce along with some torn basil, and that was it

It was very good, but I'd like to try the sauce with some long simmered to make it a bit more velvety. I had been worried about the diced parmesan in the veal mixture and the cooking. It was not a problem, and added a nice background for the sauce. It also eliminated the need for grated cheese.

Cleveland.com

Thanks for the votes in the poll. With those in mind I gave posting on Cleveland.com a try. Recipe for Provencal style Snapper here.

Not much of a first post for me over there. No real narrative or anything like that. But, we'll see what happens.

Borrowing ideas

Banana pepper stuffed with veal, parsley, pine nuts, parmesan, garlic, salt, and pepper with a thin tomato sauce. Corn (off the bone to all you Cento frequenters), and toasted bread heels (for all those who are looking forward to The Greenhouse Tavern and have peeked at the posted menu).

Stuffed peppers. These took a few minutes to make, but I think it was worth it. First I roasted the peppers over an open gas flame to get the skin all charred and blistered (there are ways to do this sans gas). Then the charred peppers went into a bowl, which was covered with plastic wrap, and left to sit for a while. While the peppers were steaming from their own heat under the plastic, I chopped up some parsley, pine nuts (didn't even toast them first--what an amateur), and parmesan (chopped, not grated), and minced some garlic.

Once all that stuff was prepped I began removing the skin from the peppers. It's kind of relaxing, kind of tedious. After the skins were removed I cut the tops off the peppers, cut a slit along the sides, and scraped out some of the seeds and ribs. After the peppers were eviscerated I mixed all the non-pepper ingredients, along with salt and pepper, with the veal and began stuffing the peppers chile relleno style.

After the peppers were ready I got some tomato juice (leftover fluid after making a bunch of brushetta--it was basil infused) warmed up in a pan on the stove with some salt and set the oven to 425. The tomato juice had been in the fridge for a day, which was nice because I was able to skim off the water from the top and use just about pure juice for this. I placed the peppers in the juice filled pan (pictured below), and once it was simmering I placed the pan in the oven for about 10 minutes.

The banana peppers added some heat to this dish, and if one was heat adverse but still wanted something like this there are tons of options at the farmers markets. Thanks goes to Maybelle's Mom for getting stuffed vegetables on my brain. Hers were prettier.

The other stuff was simpler. The corn was super sweet, and it just took a quick saute in butter with some salt and pepper to make a really worthwhile vegetable side dish. I forgot how good corn can be. Even without the bone.

The bread was simple ends of baguettes (also part of yesterday's brushetta) that I doused in Spanish olive oil and placed in the 425 oven with the peppers (in a separate pan, of course). As noted above, I stole that idea, if it is possible to steal an idea from a restaurant that has not yet opened.

Sources: Corn and veal from Plum Creek at the Shaker Farmers Market. The bread was from the West Side Market--it was okay, but unremarkable. Olive oil from Mediterranean Imports at the WSM. Pine nuts from the West Side Food Co-op. Tomato juice, parsley, garlic, and peppers from St. Paul's patch, a small community garden on the near west side of Cleveland (I only grew the tomatoes and garlic for this one, the peppers and parsley were from other gardeners--we like to share). Raw milk butter from Stutzman Herdshare.

I'm not sure if this is 99.9% local (is that by weight?), but it was very tasty.

Subsisting on Snacks . . .

. . . quality wine dinners (hosted in part by these guys), and inexpensive happy hour food. Pictured is the snack--brie, bread, crackers, a quick bruschetta, and a little homemade smoked whitefish salad. If there were some grapes or apples this would have been fit for a king.

Also, there's a soul food festival going on in downtown Cleveland tomorrow. Not sure I'll make it though, as I got my fix late last night (this morning?) at Just Like Mom's. Rib tips for me, frog legs for the dining companion (both were very good). It was the end of a great evening of impromptu eclectic dining that had started with happy hour Asian-style cioppino at The Flying Fig. After The Fig it was puttanesca and marinara pizzas at Cento. Once those pizzas settled there was little choice but to head over to E 30th and Superior for the soul food. Not bad for school night.

And what would Freud say about that photo (besides "Get a tripod and proper lighting")?

Harissa

If harissa was the new chipotle, and it looks like vadouvan is the new harissa, what's the new vadouvan?

With my post-Montreal Merguez sausage obsession I had to seek the pictured stuff out. I thought it'd be like sriracha. I was very wrong. The first two ingredients in the can--beets and carrots. Still, it has some heat.

* In the Cleveland area this and many other Middle Eastern/North African (and in some of the stores, Indian) treats can be found around W 117 and Lorain. It's a neat neighborhood. Good Mexican groceries too.

** There was just a nice post on a recipe with the stuff here.

*** Chicken wings, dusted (?) with harissa are available in Cleveland. The end is near.

**** And here's what I did with it: Never-frozen NC shrimp from Kate's Fish, green pepper and yellow tomatoes from the garden, vegan Ohio City pasta from the West Side food buying group, and, of course, some harissa cooked with the shrimp.

New(er) Farmers Market

Thought I'd share an e-mail. I can't go to this market regularly because of other commitments, but I wish I could. It's small, but it's got heart (and it's right in my new neighborhood). Not sure about their spelling of Rutgers though (I can't help noticing it--I'm from Jersey).

Hello fellow eaters:

The bounty is increasing every week. The summer tastes we love are coming in: the sweet corn, the beans, and now the tomatoes and blackberries. You can easily build meals around the produce from the local farmers market--from breakfast to dessert, and my favorite summer snack: good bread, a bit of cheese, a slice of tomato, and a leaf of basil.

EcoVillage Produce, of Detroit-Shoreway, will have cucumbers, lettuce, mixed greens, turnip and mustard greens, banana peppers, green tomatoes, okra, onions, and assorted herbs (thyme, basil, parsley). They will also be selling goat cheese from the west side's Lake Erie Creamery.

Honey Hive and Berry Good Farm of Oberlin will have a limited supply of blackberries, so come early. They will also have several varieties of ripe TOMATOES: Romas, Ruckers (an heirloom slicing tomato), and red and yellow cherry tomatoes. They will also have their honey and honey products, tomatoes, bi-color sweet corn, beans, peppers, baked goods, and grains (rolled oats, rice, corn meal).

Hooper Farm, of Tremont, will have radishes, onions, Thai basil, and carrots. They will have assorted artisan breads, herb plants, infused oils and will be taking orders for compost for the next week.

The market still has heirloom tomato starts for sale to raise money for the market to do outreach/publicity. Also, we are still looking for folks interested in a bee-keeping class here in Cleveland.

Put more conviviality in your Saturday errands! Visit the ward 17 farmer's market.


The Ward 17 Farmer's Market is located in the parking lot of Bethany Presbyterian Church at W. 65 Street and West Clinton Street, one block south of Detroit.
Every Saturday through October, 9am-1pm.
Feed back? Please email us or talk to us at the W17FM booth on Saturday.

ward17farmersmarket@gmail.com

Homemade Cheese

Ricotta, sort of. There are tons of blog posts on the subject (here are two I particularly like) and even a New York Times article. With all the recipes floating around I just kept it simple. Half a gallon of whole milk (it was ultra pasteurized--gasp!), juice from 1 1/2 lemons, and some salt all went into a stainless steel sauce pan. I heated and stirred until the milk barely reached boiling. As for when it's time to pull it off the heat, you'll know when it's there, it's remarkably obvious. Then a quick strain though several layers of cheese cloth. When it was done draining I stirred in some more salt, thyme, and lemon zest for good measure.

This would have been a great use for the raw milk I picked up yesterday, but the cheese was destined for a noodle-free lasagna for work--I guess that's just a vegetable casserole. I'm pretty sure the co-workers don't do the raw, even though it was cooked in the cheese making process. Maybe two people would have tried it, and one won't be there. Sad, really.

As for the lasagna . . . it's enough to say I learned my lesson on the Japanese mandoline. Those things cut through squash, eggplant, and thumbs like a warm knife though butter. I'd like to say it won't happen again, but, unfortunately, I know it will.

Fuss Free Food

Diced tomato (Roma and Jubilee), basil, and brie on toasted bread that had been drizzled with olive oil prior to being placed on a very hot ridged griddle. A little salt and pepper in with the tomatoes and basil and that's all it took. Could've rubbed the warm baguette slices with garlic before adding the cheese and tomatoes, it would have been nice, but why bother? Same with an extra drizzle of olive oil over the top--didn't do that either. Simple was good.

And why should the Italian's have the monopoly on cheese paired with tomato and basil? Despite their problems, the French have earned this much. Indeed, it's hard to imagine how conflicts over the past hundred years or so would have been different had France showed its artisanal spirit in them. Maybe that's what holding us warmongering types up in the food front--too busy with other stuff.

Anyway, too many questions. Perhaps the picture below will shed light on some of the answers.

The ever controversial raw milk. And The CFT, soon to be the proud owner of 1/40th of a cow.

Let's hope we don't get arrested.

Steak/Chimichurri/Mashed Potatoes/Coleslaw

It's not very pretty. Post forthcoming.