If you’re going to eat, drink and feed your dog from local sources — yeah, the beer was my first consideration.  Could a girl live on Surly alone?  Yes, there are other people brewing beer in this state but I’m picky.  I like very, very good beer.  And then there’s the question of where the ingredients to make the beer come from.  By and large, they aren’t local.  Now what do I do?

I get the engineer types on the job.  They say, “well, are you doing this by weight or by number of ingredients?”  I giggle in return.  Well, now, looks like I’m doing it by weight, aren’t I? This is the very first time in human history that water weight works in a woman’s favor.

So, I’m all good.  This works particularly well when it came to my 70/20/10 breakdown.  My biggest concern was getting my favorite beer – Goose Island’s Pere Jacques.  If it was in the 10% or not allowed at all I would suffer.  And by suffer I mean I would be irritated and make sure everyone around me knew about it.  I’m awesome at solving problems creatively, like, figuring out how one incorporates 100 days of local sustainable foods into their lives, but I totally suck at deprivation.  I won’t stand for it.  Which would make this whole project unsustainable – and sustainability is the point.

For me, I love that sustainability is something that people are thinking about.  See, we all have systems that we travel through in our lives.  Some of them work and some of them don’t.  The ones that work are generally sustainable.  In order to have a system that works, all parts of the system have to have an equal footing as the rest.  They have to be fed what they need and to be productive members of the system.   Then the system itself needs to be able to keep rolling along each step in it’s system without intervention.  This is true with everything from relationships to the environment.  (And frankly, should be the goal of any design project, but that’s a blog for another day!)

Let’s take relationships as an example.  Lets say two people come together and there’s an instant spark between them that grows with their interplay, creating energy from the finely running system that they naturally have. Of course, for various reasons, mostly human, perfect systems move away from being whole and natural.  So then our relationship turns into one where he does everything for her and she is totally indifferent and condesending. That relationship is unsustainable because both people are not being fed and working as a part of the system. It will die, hopefully sooner rather than later so that these poor people can just move on with their lives.

So, let’s say our Mr. Doormat goes and finds a woman who is genuinely appreciative of his efforts to please her and she in turn gives him what he needs, effortlessly.  Thus she feeds him and he her and they can fit their system into other systems and can create more good.  Yea!

Anything within nature has to work like that or things just fall apart in really big ways.

I don’t want this to fall apart in a really big way.  I have to figure out a system here that I can maintain.  I have to have the flexibility to eat the way I want and support food systems that I can believe in.

Can I do it?  I don’t know.  But I’m going to find out.

Before I got it in my head to take on this challenge, I bought 1/2 a pig from a farmer who is in my cooking group.  By the time it got to me, I was two days away from starting this challenge and very happy to have the pork.

So, this was my day 2 lunch.   Ribs from Mike and Michelle at Highview Pastures with sweet peas from my CSA pan steamed and then drizzled with some olive oil and sprinkled with grey salt. (The rest of the day 2 meals were leftovers and cake.)

The ribs were cooked for about an hour and a half over low heat in a smoker, brushed with some bbq sauce with about 10 minutes left.

They were perfect.

And then they were gone.

But the big questions remain:  With our food system so depleted of diversity and given that we’re all so spoiled with getting whatever we want when we want – can one reasonably expect only consume what is locally available?

I hope so, because I like buying products from people I believe in.

I am probably the luckiest girl in the world. I don’t mean to be, I just am. I’m friends with several of the best chefs in Minnesota.  Not only are they great cooks, but they have created philosophies and ways of doing thing which makes each them completely unique and wonderful.  To top that off they even love to teach, which means that I get to call them up and say, “Hey, what’s on your mind?  Anything you want to share with some of my favorite cooks?”

When I asked my friend Scott Graden, owner/chef of the award winning New Scenic Cafe in Duluth that question and he answered, “Inspiration is everywhere and it’s so much more important than recipes and ingredients.  I’d like to talk about that.”  In my head I shouted, “woo hoo!”  Then we chatted and brainstormed on how to go about doing a workshop on inspiration, came up with a plan and that he promptly forgot.

I, however, did not.  It turns out that the things that inspire him most are the people and the land around him. Hence, on our weekend in Duluth we got to meet with Stephen Dahl his herring fisherman and David Rogotzke his maple syrup maker and salmon fisherman.

It really was the best adult field trip for cooks ever.

We started off the day at the New Scenic Cafe where Scott was kind enough to talk to us about his experiences as a restaurant owner and chef. He went over where everything came from, how it happened and why he made the decisions he did.  He gave us an amazing insight into the tenacity and drive he had to bring the Cafe to what it is today.  (This included living in the garage for 5 years.)

The cooks drank some wine, asked Scott questions and tried not to shiver too much.

Daily self portrait reflected in the kitchen of the Scenic Cafe.

Superior… uh, dingy?  This is the boat that Steve fishes from.

Steve Dahl, Superior fisherman tells us about the practice and politics of fishing on Lake Superior.  It turns out that most of the state’s policies on fishing rights are crafted for sport fisherman who don’t account for nearly as much revenue on the lakes or care for them as the commercial fisherman.  Even though Steve has to fight all the time, he still considers himself lucky to be able to go out onto Lake Superior and fish everyday.

The folks getting to try Dave Rogotzke‘s maple butter and salmon.

Dave takes us for a tour of his sugar maple farm.  He tells us all about the practices he employs for the long life and care of his trees.  He considers himself to be a steward of the land that he’s lucky enough to get to work with and he wants to protect it as much as he can.

I think Kyndell wants her own syrup house.

Welcome Troop #9!

David explains the rest of the syrup making process, from reduction to bottling.

Then we went picked up a couple of mystery containers of food from the Scenic and went back to the condo for some cooking.  This was our view.  Yea!

Team chicken roll-up hanging with their ingredients.

The offering from Mark and I.  Grapes stuffed with blue cheese and served with Canadian bacon.  All you need to do is cut a conical shape out of the top of a grape with a paring knife, stuff it with some blue cheese and then present it with some warm, cooked Canadian bacon (or regular bacon for that matter) on a stick of some kind.  We served ours on a fork with the instruction to keep the fork safe, as it’s the only one folks were getting for the evening.

Pork tenderloin from Team Zen – The base of the sauce was red peppers and onions sauteed in olive oil and then simmered in chicken broth with mashed garlic, brown sugar, ginger, soy sauce, sirracha, cilantro, salt and pepper.  Once the ingredients were softened they were pulverized in a blender to make the sauce for the pork, which was pan roasted in some olive oil.

Someone is stabbing at the fabulous goat cheese chicken rolls.   Jeff took a couple of chicken breasts pounded them flat(ish) with a small frying pan.  (It was totally awesome.)  He then spread a mixture of goat cheese mixed with, freshly grated parmesan cheese, chopped basil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Then he rolled them up, secured them with twine and roasted for about 30 minutes under a 375 degree oven.

Yoon Hee decided to make some crostini sandwiches.  slice up some bread, slicing through every other slice, and rubbed garlic on them and spread salted butter in between.  Then she baked them in a 375 degree oven for 10 – 15 minutes flipping them once to brown them up.

Team reduction hard at work.

Team Reduction gave us this dish of roasted pork tenderloin and yukon gold potato with a reduction sauce made from home made broth, red wine, mushrooms, currents and other stuff Kyndell’s going to have to tell you about because I don’t remember.  They also served up some collard greens cooked in the same broth with some butter.

The happiest addition of all: crusty bread spread with goat cheese and sliced strawberries let to sit in sugar.  It was a nouveau strawberry shortcake.  I loved it.

And that was our weekend.  If you would like to join us for future events: join us!  Or you can play along at home by visiting our blog.

Love always,

MrsMarv

(See! We’ve been making things like smoked brisket – I just haven’t been writing about them.)

Spring has finally hit our little corner of the tundra. (Yea!) So, now we get to go out and get things that were grown here and cook them up. To that end I invited a special guest, Michelle Licata, a chef and teacher who shares her philosophy of good food and healthy eating with her eight-week wellness program, “Inspired Wellness,” upcoming cookbook, “Olives and Pearls,” and classes around Minneapolis.

This particular event happened almost a month ago, so there was very little available at the farmers market for us. But, what there wasn’t in variety, there was in flavor. Everything was beautifully fresh. We had chicken, trout, eggs, radishes, greens, grains and amazing artisnal sheep’s milk blue and fresh cheese. So we were forced to make due with just that. (Can I get any pity out there? Hm. No, eh?)

Alright, fine. The food was excellent. Michelle was an amazing and vibrant guide through a world of fresh and healthful eating choices. If you ever have the opportunity to take a class from her, I’d highly recommend it and I think anyone who was with me would as well.

Michele dazzling us with her charm and knowledge.

Linda starts to work on the roasted chicken.  She decided on butterflying the chicken and dousing it with a mixture of olive oil, fresh squeezed lemon juice with thyme, salt and pepper. 

Naomi is getting instruction while working on the radishes.  (I think.)

Michele overseeing the risotto.

Ah, the fritatta needs some seasoning.

Meeting over the trout.  Turns out the trout wants to be dipped in beaten egg, rolled in some panko and spices and then baked until done.

Michelle wokrs on panko/trout construction.

Frittata construction.  Oh yes.

Linda carves up her chicken.

The finished frittata.  (It was as good as it looks.)

‘

This salad of greens, arugula, radish and northern lights blue cheese is good, but not quite done.  It needs a vinegarette.

Ava looks on.

Michele demonstrates how to drizzle in the appropriate amount of olive oil for the emulsion of a proper vinegarette to take place.

Trout breaded in Panko & Herbs with Honey Dipping Sauce

trout, cut into bite sized pieces
1 egg, wisked
pinch of salt
1/2 t ginger

sauce
2 T honey
1 T white wine
1 t sirracha
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 375°f;.

Whisk egg in a bowl. Place panko, salt and ginger in another bowl. Take pieces of trout douse them completely in egg and then coat in panko. Place on a baking sheet.

Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until fish feels firm.

While fish is cooking bring dipping sauce together over low-ish heat.

Serve fish with sauce.

Fritatta 

4 radishes, sliced thinly
radish greens, ripped
1 T butter
6 oz fresh cheese
6 eggs
3 T cream
1/4 parmesan
oregano
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 375°f.

Saute radish in 1 T of butter over medium high heat until translucent. Toss into frittata dishes with greens and cheese.

Whisk together eggs, cream parmesan and spices and pour over radish stuffs. Put onto a cookie sheet and bake for 45 to 60 minutes. Frittata is set when you press on the middle and it fights back.

Quinoua & Lentil Salad

Quinoua is not an ingredient that I’ve done much with – but as Michele pointed out it’s very easy, light and nutritious.

1 c quinoua
1 c water
salt

1/2 c lentils
1 1/2 c water
1 t salt
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig thyme

juice of 1 lemon
1T honey
1Tmustard
salt to taste

Boil quinoua in water until done. Boil lentils in water with sprigs until done.

Put both into bowls and add in lemon, honey, mustard and salt to taste. Serve. People will be happy.

Lemon Thyme Roasted Chicken

1 chicken

juice from one lemon
2 T olive oil
2 t thyme
1 t salt
1 t pepper

Preheat oven to 400 °f

Butterfly chicken by cutting out the backbone and bending the chicken so that it is flat, breast side up. Put into baking pan.

Whisk together the rest of the ingredients and liberally cover the chicken. Put into oven and cook until chicken is browned and reads 160°f on a quick read thermometer. Cover and let sit until it comes up to 165°f. It will be perfect. Enjoy!

It would be very easy to change this around to whatever flavor profile you were looking for. A bit of crispy bread, fresh greens, creamy cheese, something sweet, crunchy and acidic and you’ve got a combo that will (more than likely) work. And of course if you blend it all up, you’ve got a dip.

Oh, and it takes about 7 minutes to make, total.

Spinach & Chevre on Crusty Bread with Balsamic Reduction

Balsamic Reduction
(Take 1 1/4 c red wine and 1/4 c balsamic vinegar and bring to just boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is reduced by at least half around 1/2 – 2/3 c. Cool and store until needed. Keeps forever in the refrigerator.)

1 baguette, sliced

You can just slice up the baguette and serve on that, or brush slices with olive oil and brown in a 400°f oven until browned. This is the best option if they’re going to sit around for awhile.

2 – 3 T apple juice
1 bag spinach (or similar amount)
1 – 2 oz chevre, crumbled
2 T lightly roasted almonds, chopped
salt, pepper & cayenne pepper to taste

Heat juice in pan until boiling. Toss in spinach, cover and pan steam until dark green and wilted.

Turn off heat. Let cool down. Drain out extra liquids. Mix in chevre, almonds and spices and stir until mixed in with some lumps. Top baguette slices with a couple of tablespoons of spinach mixture. Drizzle with balsamic reduction.

Serve with some fresh berries.

I’m so impressed with my cooks that I have to share. I’m sorry if you don’t care, but we are doing some good cookery up in this tundra, pardon-my-french, please.

First off, in case you don’t know, I have a group now. (Hello group!) They can cook. (I love that they can cook!) So I set them up with Scott Pampuch at Corner Table, who happens to be able to cook as well, in fact he’s a James Beard semi-finalist-for-best-chef-in-the-Midwest-cook. And then he and my cooks went to town making a really nice meal.

We divided them up – color circles on name tags mean something sometimes. They were given leaders and joined; team meat, team starch, team veggie, team dessert and team egg. (Once the people knew what was going on… they couldn’t help but make a team egg to be coached by Chef Pampuch. The man knows his way around an egg.)

And this is what happened (approximately) – recipes (not even close) for apple caramel bread pudding and eggs on toast to follow.

Okay, so in my opinion, Team Egg won. There were no winners here, but my god, Team Egg won. I love the duck, I soooooooo love the duck. But Team Egg’s dish was simple, delicious and frankly, eloquent. Really yummy.

Hey, Kyndell! This is my friend Kyndell. Kyndell did not stay as she had to go report the news, but she did make appreciative sounds while eating Scott’s breakfast for her. (Seriously, he made her breakfast before work.)

This is Troy, the leader of Team Meat. Ignore his name tag, it lies. Team meat made Duck confit on some roasted potatoes and onions. Way good, if you ask me. They also made some seared duck breasts, way even better, if you ask me. Oh, how I love the duck.

This is Veronica, a member of Team Meat working away.

This is Chef Scott, making sure nobody burns his restaurant down.

This is Kathy, leader of Team Dessert. She is being heckled by Scott for only making one dessert.  (But if he had let her make cupcakes I’m pretty sure she would have happily made a trio of mini cupcakes for everyone.  She is Queen Cupcake.)

Team Dessert, glowing. They are making bread pudding with apples and browned butter, there’s a reason to glow.

Team Starch hard at work making a gratin that will never be seen.

Tourist Jody looks on to all of the industry.

Team Egg hard at work. Go Team Egg! (Nina, the leader of Team Egg is in the patterned shirt.)

Kathy with a uniform malfunction! Oh no!

Scott coaching Team Veggie, while Team Dessert cuts up apples.

Duck breasts for Team Meat.

Cookery going on right there.

Team Egg made scrambled eggs on toast.  Toast was some lovely crostini Nina is oiling right here.

Yoon He, one of our new members.

Scott and Ann creaming the unseen gratin.

Salad, don’t really know what was in it, but it was good.

Tourist Jody relaxes in the sun.

Duck!

Matt helps himself to a bit of this and a bit of that.

Harkness displays his usual plating prowess.

Kathy munches.

Tourist Jody in her bubble of joy.

Super-Fast Carmel Apple Bread Pudding

Okay, so it’s not really super fast, but it is faster than normal.   Team Dessert, really took too long – but it sooo wasn’t their fault, it was mine.  When they said they wanted to do bread pudding, I imagined it in ramekins; smaller space in water bath means that it would be done quicker than in a huge pan.  They had other ideas, but I was right and should have said so.  Doesn’t make it any less tasty. Yum, yum.

Kathy had her own stuff to say about the day.

1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c butter
1 – 2 t vanilla
pinch salt

2/3 loaf buttermilk bread (or other good bread)
2 small granny smith apples, chopped into chunks
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 c sugar
3/4 c cream
1 c milk
2 t vanilla

1c more cream
2 T sugar
vanilla bean

Melt butter in pan, add in sugar and cook until dissolved.  Add in salt and vanilla. Distribute amongst ramekins.

Pre-heat oven to 375°f. Break up bread into bits and disperse it into ramekins with apples.

Mix together eggs, sugar, cream milk and vanilla. Disperse between ramekins. Place in a larger pan and put into pre-heated oven for 35 min (in other words, way less than the hour 10 it normally takes) or until set up in the middle.

Let cool for a bit. Put cream in mixer bowl. Split vanilla bean down the center, flap sides out, scrape insides out with the flat of the knife. Add to cream. Add in Sugar and mix on medium high speed until peaks form.

Scrape around the perimeter of ramekins and invert onto serving dish. Top with whipped cream. Serve with a smile.

Scrambled eggs on toast

I know there’s no need for this recipe and yet I feel compelled. It was really good.

bread, something in a rustic sourdough would be nice
olive oil

4 eggs
2 T butter
1 – 2 oz chevre
salt/pepper

mushrooms
more olive oil

chives
orange zest

Preheat oven to 400°f. Slice bread into slices, brush with olive oil and toast until brown.

Slice and saute mushrooms in olive oil over high heat until tender.

Put eggs and some butter into a cold pan over medium high heat. Start stirring with a spatula. When the bottom begins to cook all over remove from heat and stir until eggs cool again. Return to heat – and keep doing the heat/no heat rotation until they’re cooked through. Add in chevre and salt/pepper and stir until creamy.

Top crostini with some of the eggs. Sprinkle on some chives. Grate a bit of orange zest on top. Top with some mushroom slices.

Recently, on a particularly cold and miserable day, Marv announced that he felt like cooking something and asked me what to make. I yelled, “LASAGNA!” He asked what should be in it and after thinking about it  for a second I said, “butternut squash.” He informed me that I was crazy and wandered down his own road making a more traditional lasagna.

But I can not be deterred. On New Year’s Eve a friend of mine compared me to Letitia Cropley and I intend to live up to that! (Or, rather, just short of that.) Besides, I want butternut squash lasagna – substituting squash slices for pasta. First I was thinking gorgonzola for cheese – but I’m mellowing it to aged gouda.

1 butternut squash
chicken sausage (optional)
onions, lightly sauteed
garlic
shitake mushrooms, lightly sauteed
chineese broccoli, brocolini, or spinach, lightly sauteed unless you’re using spinach

2 T rice flour
2 c whole milk
1 leek, thinly sliced
1 clove
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt
nutmeg
onion powder
white pepper
balsamic vinegar
worshireshire sauce
more salt
parmesan cheese
a bit more balsamic vinegar
pepper

ricotta, marscapone or cottage cheese

aged gouda

I chose squash with a long top because I figured it would be easier to make noodles out of.

Preheat oven to 425.  Peel and cut the butternut squash into thin slices.  Place squash down on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  (This will be done in separate batches.) Cook for about 5 minutes – turn squash slices over and cook for another 5 minutes.  (You could also oil the pan and cook them that way.  Seemed like more cleaning than I wanted to do at the time.)  When slices are done, they should be soft and bendy but not mushy.  Place them in some sort of flat container where they won’t break and cover.  Start on next batch.

While the squash is cooking, do your sauteeing and start your milk sauce. You can start with sauteeing the leek and garlic in a bit of olive oil or butter or pan steam in a bit of broth.

To make the milk sauce I put the rice flour in a pan over medium heat and added in some milk to make a paste, then added in the rest of the milk and brought it to almost a boil. Reduce heat to low and add in
leek, clove, cloves garlic, salt, and nutmeg. Cover and let steep for 20 – 30 mins. Add in onion powder, white pepper, balsamic vinegar, worshireshire sauce, more salt, parmesan cheese, a bit more balsamic vinegar and pepper.

Cover the bottom of the pan with a layer of squash, then spinach, vegetables, sauce, squash, spinach, vegetables, sausage, cottage or ricotta cheese, squash, sauce & cheese. Bake for 40 minutes or until browned. Let rest for 10 minutes and enjoy! Yea!

So I present to you, my day at the flea market (with tacos + lengua and salsa recipes at the end!):

Oh, how could you possibly drive by this one a beautiful fall day?

Ah, look at it.  Isn’t it just lovely?  Granted the lengua one is a bit obscured by the steak taco, but you get the idea.  (YUM!  That’s the idea.)  

First off the flea market.  (I know, you want the food now.  But it will be much better once you’ve walked around and worked up an appetite.)

Sugar cane available at many of the market booths. 

Everybody loves a bird house with a license plate roof.

Aw… Young love at the market.

The guy selling these glasses could not figure out what I was photographing.

And once we got to the end of the tables – Taqueria Mi Tierra

Lovely mango & almond drinks quench our thirst.

Marv decided to have a lengua torta.  It was pretty as well.

Three salsas provided accompaniment; red, green and something in an orange.

The crispness of the day did not keep anyone from enjoying the open air.

Little sisters always like to be entertained by their big brother’s dancing.

Lengua for tacos

1 beef tongue
2 onions, peeled and quartered
water

2 T butter
1 T flour
1 T chipotle powder

2 c beef broth

2 roasted peppers
2 roasted red jalepenos
1/2 c roasted tomatoes

Put tongue with pressure cooker with onions and add water until it comes about half way up on the tongue. Cook for 25 minutes. Peel off the white skin. Cut in half. The bottom half of the tongue should still need a good deal more cooking. Cut it into small chunks.

Melt butter over med-high heat until butter is bubbly. Sprinkle with flour and chipotle powder. Stir until thick and browned. Add in beef broth and heat until mixture is reduced and thick. Add in peppers and tomatoes puree with a stick blender until smoothish. Add in the chunks of tongue and cook until tender.

While tongue is cooking, cut up other half of tongue into small chunks. This half of the tongue should be cooked through, but if it’s not done add it into the mixture and cook for 20 mins or so.

Salsa

4 tomatoes, roasted
2 onions, roasted
2 jalepenos, roasted
2 T ancho powder
2 T cream or sour cream
juice from 1/2 lime
salt

Throw all ingredients except salt into a blender and blend until smooth add salt to taste.

Chi-Lake Special in happy little grilled cheese pan.  

What is the perfect grilled cheese?  I say the perfect grilled cheese always has buttery (using real butter*) browned bread slices, melted cheese, and something acidic, generally mustard – totally non-negotiable. The rest is wide open as the heavens with cheeses and breads for stars.  (I really can’t help but get all poetic about melted cheese and bread.)  You are limited by your imagination alone.

And perhaps your cooking skills.  I still do a have a happy place in my culinary repertoire for grilled cheese sandwiches made from Velveeta and homepride wheat bread, yep, you guessed it, just like mom used to make.  Processed cheeses and pre-sliced bread does offer expediency and the ability for the cook to not  pay much attention to the ever important melting vs. browning times.  However, you do miss out on a myriad of potential flavors.  Really, all that’s necessary is to cook over medium heat and cover the pan so that harder cheeses will melt before the bread is burned.

So… breathe deep… think cheese.  Hmmm.  Lovely gooey melted cheese slowly seeping out between slices of bread.  It’s time to move beyond cheddar.  After you’re done limiting yourself – throw a party.  Have yourself a grilled cheese and wine party.  Mix, match and otherwise gorge yourself with a melted cheese and bread tasting.  Yum.

Here is my grilled pictorial.  Join the revolution.  Tell me your favorites.  Throw a party to find more favorites.  Viva the grilled cheese!

* There will be NO fake butter!  I don’t care that it’s not as spreadable cold, heat it up!

Farmer, Blue Cheese, Basil & Red Wine, Balsamic Vinegar Reduction**

Take 1 1/4 c red wine and 1/4 c balsamic vinegar and bring to just boiling.  Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is reduced by at least half around 1/2 – 2/3 c.  Cool and store until needed.

Get yourself a rustic loaf of bread.  Slice it into thin to medium slices.  Roll some basil leaves together and slice 1/4 – 1/2″ slices.

Butter slices of bread top with slices of farmer cheese, sprinkle with blue cheese, basil and press down.  Add top slice of bread and press down again.  Cover pan and cook over medium heat, flip when bottom is browned.  Cover and cook until the other side is browned.

Drizzle with reduction sauce and enjoy.

** another variation is Drunken Goat Cheese, Sauteed Onion, Oregano with Port Reduction Sauce

Cheddar, Chevre & Salsa on Sourdough

Cheddar gets sliced, goat cheese gets crumbled.  

Salsa gets reduced.  Most salsas are a bit too thin to just ladle onto grilled cheese, so generally I’ll saute up some thickly sliced onion, cook that until tender, then throw in the salsa and simmer that until it gets thicker.

Butter one sides of thin(ish) sliced sourdough bread, put down 1/2 of the cheddar slices, press crumbled goat cheese into cheddar, ladle on some salsa, top with the rest of the cheddar and the other slice of bread.  

Cover pan and cook over medium heat, flip when bottom is browned.  Cover and cook until the other side is browned.

Cheddar & Romano on Caraway Rye with Mustard

Slice up some caraway rye bread.

Grate some romano cheese.

Butter bread one side, place butter side down in hot pan, cover with slices of cheddar and grating of romano.  Cover pan and cook over medium heat, flip when bottom is browned.  Cover and cook until the other side is browned.

Serve with mustard.

Gruyere with Bacon, Green Onions & Tobasco on Sourdough

Cook bacon until it reaches your desired doneness.  Remove from pan and pat the grease off.  Cut bread into thinish slices.  Brush one side of bread with bacon fat.  YES, that was, “brush one side of bread with bacon fat.”

Put bread fat side down in pan over medium heat.  Add on cheese, green onions, bacon and splatter with tobasco.  Cover pan and cook, flipping when bottom is browned.  Cover and cook until the other side is browned.

Chi-Lake Cafe Special Grilled Cheese – American cheese, tomato, onion with mayo on wheat bread

You had to be sleeping with the cook to get this one, but it was totally worth the cost.  (He still has a really nice ass.)

Thinly slice tomato and onion.  Butter one side of each slice of bread.

Happy little Lodge cast iron grilled cheese pan.  It’s really more cute than functional, but it works well for regular slices of bread and like all of Lodge’s pans it browns things up really well.

Place bread, butter side down in pan.  Add on slices of cheese, tomato & onion.  Spread a bit of mayo on the other slice of bread and place it mayo side down on the sandwich.  Cook until bread is browned.  Flip and cook until the other side is brown and cheese is melted.

Serve with mustard.

A Triple Creme Cheese, Marscapone, Granny Smith Apple Slices & Honey on Brioche

Sorry, no pictures yet.

Slice brioche to whatever thickness you want, butter one side of each slice.  Slice apples very thinly.  Put bread butter-side down into pan, cover with slices of triple creme cheese, dot with marscapone, place apples on. Cook until bread is browned.  Flip and cook until the other side is brown and cheese is melted.

Drizzle with warmed honey or chocolate ganache.  (Yes, seriously, you can drizzle with chocolate ganache.)

1 head cauliflower
olive oil
3 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
32oz chicken stock
1 onion
2 – 3 T cream
2 t balsamic or wine vinegar
1 t garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste

shrimps
chili sauce
1 T brown sugar

Preheat oven to 450°f. Cut cauliflower in 1″ slices. Put in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper. Cook for 45 minutes or until browned.

Put potato in a large soup pan and cover with water. Add in some salt, pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low boil and boil until tender. Add in cauliflower and simmer for another 5 – 10 minutes. Use a stick blender or transfer to a blender to puree to a find consitancy. Reduce heat to warm.

In a saute pan, heat oil until shimmery. Add in shrimp and cook until it’s firm and pink on all sides. Turn off heat. Squirt on chili sauce and sprinkle on brown sugar. Toss until ingredients are combined and coated.

Serve soup in a large shallow bowl topped with the shrimp or cheese and croutons.

I’ll warn you straight off, I don’t really remember what was in the original recipe. Which is to say – that this salsa has become such a staple in our house that I can’t be sure where it started (nor can I seem to find it on my computer – but I’m sure you could find it online.) I do know it was a recipe posted by Jim Campbell of Mild to Wild Pepper and Herb company. If you’ve never tried his bbq or hot sauces I highly recommend them. They’re really good and he seems like a really good guy.

Salsa

6 tomatillos
4 roma tomatoes
4 jalepeno peppers
3 aniheim peppers
2 yellow onions, quartered
2 ears corn
juice from 1 lime
1 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped
salt to taste

Put all ingredients except lime, cilantro and salt on the smoker or grill. Grill over medium heat until veggies are tender, pulling them off the heat as they’re done. Deseeded remove stems and outer skins of all veggies. Put all veggies except corn in the blender. Blend until they’re the consistency you want. Cut kernals off corn. Put in a large container. Add in the blended veggies. Add in lime, cilantro and salt.

Confetti Nachos

blue corn chips
sharp cheddar cheese
crumbled goat cheese

Preheat oven to 400°f. Cover the bottom of a heat-proof pan with tortilla chips. Shred the cheddar cheese and sprinkle it over the chips. Dot with goat cheese. Bake until cheese is browned and serve with Wildpepper Salsa.

Chili Verde
olive oil
onion, coarsely chopped (reserve some for garnish)
1 part or whole roasted chicken
3 to 4 c chicken broth
1 – 2 c white beans, cooked
3 or more cups of Wildpepper Salsa
1 T cumin
salt to taste
chili fixins – cheese, chopped onion, sour cream, cilantro, tortilla chips, lime wedges

Heat olive oil over medium high heat, cook onion until tender. Add in broth, salsa, chicken and beans. If it is too thick add in more broth. Bring to a boil then reduce and simmer for 10 – 20 minutes. Add in cumin and salt. Add in some chopped fresh cilantro if you like.

Serve with fixins and enjoy!

Mushroom & Potato Hash

1 – 2 T butter or olive oil
6 yukon gold potatoes
6 oz assorted wild & brown mushrooms, quartered
1 c Wildpepper salsa, room temperature

Boil potatoes until tender but not soft. Let cool then cut into small chunks.

Heat butter over medium-high heat until very hot. Add in potatoes and cook until brown on all sides. In the meantime, heat olive oil in another pan and add in mushrooms. Cook until tender. Add in salsa to coat.

Place potatoes in bowl, top with mushrooms and then spoon on another scoop of salsa. Serve and slide in to toasty salsa bliss.

Chicken Green Chili

1 recipe of wildpepper salsa
1 chicken, smoked and pulled
3 green bell peppers, broiled
1 c beans, cooked
4 – 5 c chicken broth
1/2 c beer
1 T cumin
1 T garlic powder
2 t oregano
1 t jalepeno powder
2 dashes fish sauce (if you have it)

Basically, I make twice as much salsa as I need, freeze or can off a bunch and make chili out of the rest. While smoking the ingredients I also butterfly and smoke a couple of chickens, one to eat and one for the chili. On the day that I make chili I put 3 bell peppers under the broiler until their skins on all sides have blackened and then I pull them out and put them in a mixing bowl covered by a plate. I let them steam for a bit (20 mins or so) and then pull off their skins and pull out their seeds. Toss them into a food processor and process until coarsely ground.

To butterfly a chicken just cut out it’s spine and fold it open breaking it’s breastbone. Nothing to it and it’s easier to control cooking time.

I then take half of the salsa and stick it in a stock pot, with the chicken broth, chicken and beans. Add in spices and simmer for 10 – 20 minutes. You’re done. Serve with accouterment.