Cucumber Caesar dressing

If you like Caesar salad, you should try this recipe.  It's my take on a lighter, newer version.  It's a cross between wonderful, summery tsatski and creamy, savory caesar.  It's almost a quarter of the fat and calories too. In case you haven't enjoyed tsatski yet:  It's a greek yogurt sauce that is magic on anything.  Greek yogurt with cucumber, garlic, and lemon.  On that side note, you should try it sometime.  We use it on sandwiches and grilled chicken.

1/4 cup greek yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1-1.5 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 anchovy fillets
1 garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cucumber

Puree everything but the cucumber in a blender / food processor until smooth.

Shred the cucumber on a grater and use your hands to squeeze some (not all) of the water out.  Mix with the dressing and refrigerate for about 10-15 minutes.

Toss with your salad and enjoy a caesar that is lighter and zippier.  And feel great about yourself because you ate salad which is crisp and alive.

I strongly recommend you either grill or find someone to grill some chicken marinated in lemon, olive oil, and garlic to enjoy with this salad.

Three Beaded Figures (Beaming in)

"Beaded Figures (Beaming in)," by Devorah Sperber, acquired by Microsoft Art Collection

ebelskievers

My father in law, Dan, has a specialty in that he makes ebelskievers on occasion.

I tried making them one morning before church thinking I could knock them out quick.

They're a pain in the ass.

Three things I learned from my experience:
1)  Do not skimp on the oil / butter / shortening that you use.  Otherwise the abelskievers will not brown properly and will stick and will drive you insane.

2)  These take a hell of a long time to make.  Do not make ebelskievers if you need to be somewhere else in the next 2.5 hours.

3)  They are worth the effort.

Here's the low-down:

Take a nice pancake batter recipe and make sure to whip the egg whites into soft peaks and fold them peaks into the batter at the very end.  I whipped my egg whites with the sugar from the recipe near the end of whipping to form a quasi-meringue texture.  This made it easier to fold the whites into the batter without deflating the egg-whites so easily.

Heat your ebelskiever pan (yeah, you gotta get some extra hardware for this.  DO NOT get that stupid "pancake-puff" pan that they advertise on TV.  That is of the devil and a perversion of what is Danish culture.  Get a cast-iron pan from Lodge Logic on amazon if  you can't find it anywhere else).  Drop a pat of butter and then a heaping tablespoon of batter into each well.  In about a minute or two you should be able to use toothpicks to rotate the little guys to brown the other side.  Give about two minutes and then remove and repeat for next batch.

These are delicious.  They're one of the first things Dan made for me when I moved here to marry his daughter.  When he cooks food for you, he does it in a way where you want to sit down and talk.  He's in a different stage of his life now and even though it's different, much of what I see now is the result of a life of struggle and rebirth in his own right.

When we're born, God walks with us through life.  For some of us, tragedy strikes and we hurt.  For some of us, God flips our lives over.  Sometimes it sucks when he flips us over because our lives spill out and you freak out because it looks like the batter of your life is getting everywhere.  But He is an expert at abelskievers and after flipping you see the deep, carmelized, crispy browning that has been happening this entire time.  Sometimes we don't always notice that deep down underneath all the chaos and emotions of our lives, we are slowly carmelizing into a brisk, sweet crunch that can only happen from patience, practice, and heat.  And after he flips, we begin to brown the next side of our lives.  


Oh yeah on a side note, these are traditionally served with a sprinkling of a special type of large-grain sugar but Dan uses powdered sugar with much success.  We dipped ours in maple syrup from www.burtonsmaplewoodfarm.com

Fathers Day

I could have posted this on Fathers Day but I was caught up being with my family.

Yesterday was the baby shower for Ian who is not yet born but cooking in the womb of the most beautiful and wonderful woman in the world.  Thank you everyone for your support.  I struggle with socialization and do not express gratitude as often as I should.  You challenge my soul to rise up and shine the light of God in ways I never thought possible.

And on that note...

My daughter is going on four years.

I can't help but day dream what she's going to be when she's older.

Own her own restaurant?  Naw, I don't want that kind of life for her.  Too much.

Maybe a few years and then to her own bakery.  A slightly better pace.

I don't know but i know a few things:

She helps me love my wife more than I ever thought.

She makes me aware of my own weaknesses and how I can be a better man.

She reminds me that life isn't always about efficiency, perfection, and order.

She makes me damn proud.

And with Ian just around the corner, I day dream again...

Of long afternoons with a family that cooks, bakes, and eats.

Because we love food.  Not the quantity of food.  Not the quality of food.  But the meaning of food.

Food brings us together.  Great food should be shared.  Enjoy real food in real quantities.  Every meal is a sacred gift from the Lord your God and should be viewed and enjoyed as such.

"No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed.  Instead he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light."  - Luke 8:16

Things we ate over the memorial weekend

Spatchcocked Chicken with Harissa Rub

This is a zesty variation of my basic "chicken in a pot" technique.  Roast chicken can be incredibly easy in four steps:  1) Rub chicken inside and out with desired seasoning  2)  Put chicken in large dutch oven with a lid  3)  Bake chicken low and slow for about 2.5-3 hours  4)  Let rest for 30 min. then eat

It's really really really easy.  And almost impossible to overcook.  Well ok not impossible.  But by baking the chicken at a really low temperature with the lid on, it greatly reduces the risk of dry chicken breast.  

1 5-lb fryer chicken, washed and patted dry (remove them giblets!)

1/2 cup harissa sauce

1 lime

1 handful each of parsley and cilantro tops

1 head garlic

Using hands, separate skin from the chicken meat as much as you can.  Squeeze the juice of the lime into the harissa and rub into the chicken on and underneath the skin.  Chop the tip of the garlic head  off and stuff into the chicken, followed by the herbs.  

Place chicken in a large dutch oven, cover with lid, and refrigerate overnight.  About 3.5 hours before you want to eat the thing, preheat the oven to 250 deg F, place dutch oven with lid still on into oven at middle rack and bake for 2.5-3 hours.  If you like crispy skin, you can remove the oven and broil the bird in the dutch oven at the last 15 minutes of baking.  I don't mind either way so i typically don't bother.  It still tastes great and minimizes the attention i have to spend on it.  

Let rest in the dutch oven for 20-30 minutes before serving.  

Maple Syrup Gelato with Toasted Walnuts

We adapted this recipe from The Ciao Bella Cookbook which you should check out from your local library and make every single recipe from.  I'm experimenting with gelato that's easier on the waistline so i subbed out half of the milk volume with skim milk.  I also cut the sugar by about 15%.  For this recipe, the results were... incredible.

1 cup skim milk

1 cup whole milk

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

6 T maple syrup (please please please use real maple syrup.  let aunt jemima find something else to do.  we used some from Burton's Maplewood Farm that kaytie's dad gave us)

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped then frozen

Heat skim and whole milk to 175 deg F on medium low, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming.  Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a large bowl.  Temper the egg yolks by slowly pouring the milk into the large bowl (keep the pot, you'll need it), whisking while pouring.  Return the custard to the pot you heated the milk in and heat on medium-low to 185 deg F.  Cool completely and chill overnight.  

Gently whisk maple syrup into the gelato and pour into ice cream machine.  

Drizzled maple syrup = smoky robinson covered in custard

Swirled

About 5 minutes before you're done churning, pour the walnuts into the machine.  Transfer gelato to separate container to freeze until set.  Or you could consume the entire thing right there.  It'd be easier than letting it set.  Although I suspect the brain freeze would be murder either way.  

Eat me eat me eat me eat me now

Banana Bread

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 t baking soda

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t sea salt

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 + 1/3 cup white sugar

1 cup olive oil (did I??? i did)

4 mashed bananas

1/4 cup coconut milk

2 t vanilla

1 1/2 cups toasted and chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.  Butter and flour 2 loaf pans (9 by 5 by 3 inches), knocking out excess.

Beat together eggs and sugar in electric mixer at medium-high speed until very thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beater is lifted, about 10 minutes.  

Meanwhile, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl.  (although really... do we always sift?  i don't know about you but i don't.  and my stuff turns out quite delicious.  well ok, i might get an occassional clump of baking soda but never enough to really bother me.  if you're feeling dangerous, skip this part.  in fact, down with the man!  to hell with the damn sifter, it's your banana bread loaf)

Reduce mixer speed to low and add oil in a slow stream, then add bananas, milk, and vanilla.  

Egg-banana-milk-vanilla mixture

Add dry ingredients and walnuts to egg mixture (you may need a bigger bowl), folding gently as you mix to ensure you don't knock out the air holes too much.  (this is another point where you can really just not care if you lose an air hole or two...  really, it'll taste fantastic either way.  just give it a shot at being careful and then count it as perfect.)

Divide batter between loaf pans and bake in middle of oven until golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 1 to 1.25 hours.  I used a steak knife.

Cool loaves in pans on a rack for 10 minutes then turn out onto rack.

Enjoy a fresh cup of coffee with this bread.  I suggest this:  Chemex Coffee Maker

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Red Wine Tomato Sauce

1 pound whole wheat spaghetti pasta

2 T olive oil

1 medium or 1/2 large onion, 1/4" dice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup red wine

1/2 cup green olives, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 can crushed tomatoes

3-4 cups leftover roast or rotisserie

Heat a large pot of salted water for the pasta. 

Meanwhile, sautee onion in olive oil on medium heat until translucent and brown.  Add garlic and cook for 1 minute then add wine, olives, and bay leaf.  Cook for 3-5 minutes to burn off alcohol then add tomatoes and chicken and simmer for 10 minutes on medium low.  

Boil pasta to al dente then add directly to sauce.  Serve with grated cheese.

Things I've been eating - 5.20.12

From greece to spain to north africa all in one bite.

Zena Foods has a stand at the farmers market in Carmichael park.  This stand has sauces and dips spanning over the entire eastern half of the planet from tsatski to harissa.  The vendor had us try a piece of pita with a sundried tomato and feta salad sprinkled on top of a spoonful of tabouleh.  We couldn't say no.  I also bought a container of harissa which i plan on mixing with a bit of mayo for a chicken lavash wrap tomorrow night.  

At home, we opened up the containers and I took things one step further by adding a dollop of harissa on top of the whole pile.  So many flavors.

I think their stand is at the carmichael park market every sunday.  Five bucks for a container of wonder.  Not a bad deal at all.  Esp. the feta salad.  

Masullo Pizza
You should check this place out on google maps:  http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=17796071621744584221&q=masullo+sacramento+coupon&gl=us&cd=1&cad=src:ppiwlink&ei=QWW5T_niJoaspQTZn5noBg&dtab=2

You're driving down the street looking for this place and then suddenly hey what?  there it goes.  turn around and try to find a parking spot in front of the restaurant, which seems more like a sidewalk than a lot.

Anyways, my favorite style of pizza is Neapolitan style crusts.  These are thin crusts that flop over when held from the rim.  The toppings were great but what really got me was the quality of the pizza crust.  Very lightly chewy with a subtle tanginess.  Oh did i mention they use a real firewood oven here?  Not a brick oven that is made to look like firewood but is really just gas.  Real wood fire.  The char on the pizza crust was a refreshing wake-up.

If you enjoy Neapolitan style pizzas, you should give it a shot.  $14-16 a pizza.  Definitely one per person so it's a bit pricey.  However, i think a great deal for an impressive place for a date.  If the later, I might recommend avoiding the one with anchovies.  However if your date doesn't mind, you really should try it.  And if your date doesn't mind garlic and anchoivies, you know that's a big plus.

Olives, red onion, fontina topped with a parsley - anchovy blend

Oyster mushrooms, bacon, and chopped sage with a very light cream sauce

There was also a red sauce pizza but by the time it got to the table i didn't care enough to take pictures.  Also, while it was very good, it didn't hold my attention like these two.

Pizza.  It starts with the crust.  You can get tasty toppings anywhere.  What's difficult is finding quality crust.

Lemon Risotto w/ Mushrooms, Bacon, and Spring Peas

I was packing up floral arrangements at the memorial service for Kaytie's late mom when I was approached by someone who said she heard I enjoy cooking.  After I told her that I tend to lean towards Italian and French ideas:

"What?!?  It should be Asian!"

(I don't feel I need to explain how offensive this was - even more so because she wasn't Asian of any sort)

"Sorry... I mean I grew up eating asian foods so i'm pretty familiar wit..."

"But you really should be cooking more Japanese dishes!  It's your culture!"

(I'm chinese)

I stopped emotionally listening to her after that.  I was offended although not entirely upset.  I grew up answering to a lot of asian stereotype demands from my classmates and friends.  It wasn't until high school that people stopped reacting when discovering I, in fact, do not have a black belt in karate (again, i'm chinese) nor do i know how to speak chinese.  It wasn't often that i was given a chance to explain that I did, in fact, grow up very chinese and that I didn't need to be well-versed in Japanese martial arts to qualify as chinese.  

I remember after a few more uh-huhs and yups, she left and I began thinking of risotto.  It's not exactly the set-it-and-forget-it dish but one of my favorites to make.  I think risotto is often misunderstood as too fancy or too much effort.  I love it because it really is simple to make and far, far, far worth the effort.  Oh and since it's really just a rice-based dish, it can actually be very cost effective.  

Risotto is made with a special type of rice, most commonly found in America would be the arborio variety.  This has a very clean, even texture compared to the other, less well known varieties that can range from nutty and to nearly melt-in-your-mouth.  For classic risotto, you want your rice to be soft but firm, like you would expect from cooked beans.  Not mushy, not crunchy (although in some italian recipes I've read the cook actually preferring the center of the rice grains to still be a tiny bit crunchy... and i very much share that preference).  

Here's the basic drill:  Heat a pot of salted / flavored water (four parts liquid to one part raw rice).  In another pot, sautee some onion and the rice grains in a fat (any oil or butter, i prefer olive oil).  Then from here, add the heated liquid in one cup increments, stirring until fully absorbed each time.  On the last cup of liquid, add some cheese and stir with a whisk to form the luxuriously creamy texture that risotto is known for.  It's important to stir the crap out of the dish because risotto-rice actually contains a variety of gluten that  is similiar to wheat gluten.  The aggressive stirring effectively kneads the risotto, causing the rice to release it's gluten that thickens and forms a silky texture that is kept interesting with the subtle firm texture of the rice grains.  

I typically prefer lighter risotto.  Ettore's in Fair Oaks has an excellent risotto that matches my tastes.  Maybe it's because i grew up in California and not italy.  I don't know.  Either way I typically omit butter in my risotto.  Sometimes I'll even omit the cheese, although I recognize that's a greater break from tradition.  And again, I prefer my risotto with a itty bitty, subtle crunch.  This allows leftovers to resist becoming overly mushy as the rice cooks a second time when you reheat.  

Lemon Risotto w/ Mushrooms, Bacon, and Spring Peas

8 cups water or broth (in cold weather i go for broth, in hot weather i prefer water)

2 cups arborio rice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1 lemon's worth of juice and zest, chopped

1/2 cup parmesan, shredded (you can get a great deal on a chunk of grana padano at costco, actually)

2 pounds mushrooms, sliced thick or quartered

1/2 pounds bacon, diced

2 pounds spring snap peas, shelled

Chopped parsley to taste

Pour the water / broth into a pot and put on the backburner.  Heat to a gentle simmer and then maintain on low heat.  

While this is heating, sautee bacon in a fry pan until just a bit crispy and you have some bacon fat rendered in the pot.  With a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a bowl, leaving some of the bacon fat in the pan.  Sautee the spring peas in this bacon fat for 1.5 minutes... just enough to cook them but retaining a firm texture.  Transfer to the bowl with the bacon, wipe the pot clean with a paper towel, add some olive oil, and sautee the mushrooms until they just begin to give off their water.  Transfer to a bowl, add the lemon zest you saved from the lemon, and stir.  Set aside for folding into the risotto at the end.

Heat olive oil, sautee onion until translucent, add rice and sautee for one minute.  

Add lemon juice and 1 cup of water to rice and stir until fully absorbed.  From here add 1 cup of water/broth at a time, gently stirring often until absorbed.  When it looks like you have about 2 cups of liquid left in your stock pot, begin tasting the risotto.  You're looking for the rice to still have just a bit of crunch... you should burn through about 6-7 cups of liquid to get to this point.  Add one last cup of liquid and the shredded cheese.  Stir fast and aggressive.  You're developing the gluten in the risotto with this step to create  the silky texture this dish is known for.  You can add a pat of butter at this stage too if you want but i typically leave it out as I prefer a lighter dish.

Fold in the mushroom / pea mixture and chopped parsley and add salt / pepper to taste.  

Eat with warm whole wheat rolls.  Or just eat this.  It's incredible. 

Lemony, earthy mushrooms, smoky bacon, and fresh peas.  

This food helps me feel alive.

Risotto!  If you haven't tried it yet, try it.  It's worth it.  You're worth it.

If you have tried it, get a recipe and cook it again.  You're worth it.

Celebrate spring!  Wait, it's summer.

Celebrate summer!