Hey! Look at us gettin’ all inspired.
June 24, 2009
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.)
Simple Spinach Meal (or Appetizer)
March 25, 2009
It’s rainy. It’s cold. We’ve both got this stupid flu that keeps coming and going and I really just want it to go away now. Had big plans to make dinner. The mind is willing the body is not. Gotta just try to make something simple, healthy and good. Gotta try to melt the crust on my mood. I thought about it for a bit and then I made this.
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.
Cooking MN: It ain’t all hot dish and lutefisk up here.
March 10, 2009
Hi.
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.
Wildpepper Salsa 3 ways
September 7, 2008
Harvest time around here means that it’s the perfect time to make up some Wildpepper salsa. We use it in a bunch of different ways – and since it is so perfect for harvest time I figure I may as well share with you. (Aren’t you glad you’re you? If you were anyone else, I totally wouldn’t do it!)
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
Read the rest of this entry »
Oh, how I love the falafel.
June 23, 2008
Let me count the ways… All right, there aren’t many ways, but I do love the falafel. The best falafel I ever had was in Austin, Texas. Ah, Austin, home of many vegan delights… Yes, it was silly – but we had driven from Minneapolis to Austin, and after Iowa it gets hard to find much to eat on the road besides meat. I needed a break, and it was so good. The little patties were crispy on the outside but tender, savory and flavorful on the inside.
Falafel made from scratch at home has always eluded me. But I’ve had to keep trying because the place by my house that has falafel on the menu serves up these mini falafel pucks that only serve to make me wish that I was in Texas. Or knew how to make it myself. It seemed that every time I tried the little beasts would explode or suffer from some sort of garbanzo bean plate tectonic syndrome. Soon there would be little fried bean bits floating and bursting into flames in hot oil, victims of the unfair and unstable universe on which they lived. And I didn’t have a clue why.
“It’s street food for crying out loud! It can’t be that freakin’ hard,” I’d cry to Marv who would just roll his eyes over my falafel incompetence. Then, while I was on a plane, I read a description of falafel that said it was a dough made from garbanzo beans and spices that’s fried in oil and served in pita bread with cucumber sauce and lettuce. A dough. Doh! All the recipes I had tried were basically bean patties with nothing holding them together.
Armed to the teeth with this new information – I had another go. And it worked beautifully. Yea! Falafel for me!
Falafel
Celebratin’ Eat Local Month.
September 14, 2007
Oooh, can you feel the hypocrisy reverberate through you when you read that. Cuz I did. While the better half of my brain is telling me to let it go. Just let it go. I don’t have to say anything. I’m clearly incapable of doing that. And while I’m going to proclaim right here and now that one of the greatest joys I’ve had in the past however many months of working on this blog is that it has made me really take an interest in the people who are producing my ingredients locally, I’m afraid that I also have to say that one of my other favorite things is – dare I even say it – trying different foods from around the world. (I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry!) (No, I’m really not. Good food is good food. I even like durian, and they sure ain’t local.)
(But this is all local! And very, very yum.)
When I go to a new country or even a new state, I can’t wait to check out the local markets or grocery stores. I love wandering up and down the aisles seeing what the people eat. Oh, seeing what the people eat! Sometimes those things are a little scary other times they’re pretty awesome. (And do not even get me started on the loveliness of produce in Texas. It is so beautiful.) In Minneapolis, I love, love, love going to Latin, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Mediterranean and international markets. I feel like it enriches my life so much to learn about other cultures through their food. If you know what people eat, then you know what they value and invariably they value sitting down and sharing a meal with the people they love. Really, isn’t that all where we live?
So, while I have to admit that the eat local movement sounds vaguely racist to me, (I just keep thinking about the large number of immigrants that live by me and how they would be cut off from the foods of their culture) – there is a large part of it that is completely pragmatic and that I totally support. The product tastes better. Produce and many meats don’t age well and cutting down on the amount of time spent in transport is always good for the end result. Anyone who has eaten a tomato fresh from the vine can tell you that. Also I really like that I’ve gotten to know several producers in Minnesota. I love what they have to say about producing their products and absolutely I support their efforts.
Therefore, I am celebrating by making foods that highlight Minnesota products. For them that don’t know; damn near everything is grown in Minnesota. I’ve made soup to go with a couple of Minnesota made beers that are near and dear to my heart. The soup is a corn chowder with wild rice, wild mushrooms, Marv made bacon and a single red pepper (sorry red pepper producers.) Read the rest of this entry »
Carrot Soup for Jodie Rose
September 5, 2007
In the backlog that is my life, this one has been the blinking turn signal on a car driving in front of me for the past 100 miles. Two months ago, I figured I’d post this recipe because Jodie asked me about it. I thought well, that’s an easy one – slow cook, dump in a blender – photograph and *poof* post done. Clearly – this didn’t happen.
Until now! Brace yourselves people – carrot soup is here. Or rather, in my fridge. It’s tasty, healthy and freaky low cal. Almost gets me a little pissed off at it – but there it is. It’s perfect. (Grumble. Grumble. I know, I know – let’s kick it’s ass!)
Carrot Soup with Caramelized Onion and Ginger
It’s food on a stick season!
August 24, 2007
Food on a stick season is really the best season in Minnesota. It doesn’t last very long – a mere couple of weeks, but the sky seems brighter, the days seem happier and gosh darn it – people are nicer. It has to be the haze of fryer oil that wafts from Snelling Avenue rolling down among the denizens of this fair city making their eyes roll back in their heads as they shamble along in trancelike disarray whispering things like, “mini donuts,” “Sweeeeet Martha’s cookies with milk,” “cheeeeeeeeese curds,” and, of course, “Pronto Puuuups.”
While I’m with them on the mini donuts and to a certain extent cheese curds – Pronto Pups are just disappointing at best. Yes, they have quite the cult following because everyone sees them as this treat that they had to have when they went to fairs as kids. Well, this kid grew up in Chicago and that dog don’t fly. Granted, for ages I was way to snobby to even condescend to go to the fair, but eventually, curiosity won out and I now join the throngs of people who pass through the gates every year. There really are throngs. “The Great Minnesota Get Together,” as it’s called, is believed to have more people pass through it’s gates daily than any other fair in the nation. (Although, Texas has more over all people.)
Even though, I would go every year, I didn’t really eat there until a couple of years ago when Kyndell was in New Orleans shooting the Katrina aftermath and Mr. Kyndell was left all by his lonesome to think up all the terrible things that could happen to her. What gets your mind off your troubles? The fair does, that’s what. So, that’s where we had dinner every night for a week. I became a convert to the ways of fair food. For the most part, it’s chock full of good eats.
Except for the Pronto Pups. Every year I trick myself into trying one, and every year the inferior quality of the dog and the lack of flavor in the corn bread just makes me mad – and I throw a tantrum in the midway with crying and foot stamping and gnashing of teeth and swear up and down that I’m going to just make my own, then. Well, I finally did.
I created the hot-dog-love-child of chorizo and a really fine beef dog. Then, I just slid that dog into some sweet honey corn bread and fried it on up. Sweet, spicy, hot… oh baby, let’s get it on. We can make our own state fair right here.
Sexy Hot Sweet Corn Dog (Baby.)
Love Child Dog
4lb chicken thighs, skin on, deboned
1 1/2 lbs hamburger or ground beef
2/3 c powder milk
4 T ancho powder
2 1/2 T chipotle powder
2 T garlic powder
1 T salt (possibly more upon tasting)
1 T cumin
1 T dried oregano
1 T paprika
1 T white pepper, ground
1 T Amesphos
3 t mace, ground
2 t sugar
1 t pink salt
2 T wine vinegar
2 T cider vinegar
3 T water
sausage casing or aluminum foil
Stick chicken thighs in the freezer, and freeze for 15 minuts or so. Grind em up using the grinder attachment for kitchen aid mixer, or a proper meat grinder. Stick chicken back in the freezer and combine the spices. Add the spices, liquids and beef into the chicken and cook off a small patty to test spices. (Return meat to the freezer while testing.) Adjust spices according to your tastes, keeping in mind that the heat will diminish once the sausage is done – so if you want it quite spicy, add more.
Run the meat through the grinder twice more and stuff into casings. Or if you don’t have any casings you can shape it into a roll and roll it up in aluminum foil. (Apparently, this is called a chub.)
Smoke or roast sausages over low heat until the sausages are completely firm – no give, but before they burst. (Bursting is bad.) Once, they’re done you can go ahead and make the cornbread coating and make them immediately, or save them for later.
Sweet Honey Corn Bread
3/4 c buttermilk
1 egg
3 T honey (or more if you like things sweeter)
2/3 c corn meal
1/3 c flour
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
Mix liquid ingredients together and whisk in 1/3 c cornmeal. Whisk cornmeal for a few minutes to cream it a bit. Whisk together dry ingredients and add them in to wet slowly.
Transfer to a tall glass, leaving about 1 1/2″ free at the top of the glass.
Assemblage
popcicle sticks
flour or cornstarch
lots of peanut oil
Make sure that dogs are hot enough to eat. If they aren’t steam them until they are.
Heat enough oil to cover at least half the dog to 350°f – 375°f.
Insert popcicle stick into dog. Roll dog in flour or cornstarch. Dunk dog in cornbread. Swish dog around a bit and pull out making sure the dog is covered. Slide into oil and cook until very brown. Flip over if necessary and cook on the other side.
Serve and enjoy!
Refrigerator Hockey – Salmon Ravioli
August 9, 2007
There was a bit of left over cooked sockeye salmon in the refrigerator. I’d already had some on rice and made salmon salad with some other (coming soon 2zBlog) – what to do with the rest. There were some wonton skins – so ravioli would be easy. Maybe add in some fresh herbs and serve with a sort of garlic parmesan sauce. Hm. Yeah that would be soooooo good.
Salmon & Carmelized Onion Ravioli with White Sauce
1 – 2 c salmon, cooked
2oz cream cheese, softened
1 onion, partially carmelized (onions cooked over low heat for 20 min or so)
1/4 c corn
1 – 2 T oregano
1-2 t key lime vinegar (yes, it does exist)
salt & pepper
egg, beaten
wonton skins
3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
1 t olive oil x 2
1 T butter
1 – 2 T flour
1 c 2% milk + more to thin
1/4 c parmesan cheese
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 t garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
1 T brandy
Heat up some olive oil over medium-high heat. Add in onions. Cook over high heat for a minute or two, flipping or stirring and then lowering the heat. Cook until light brown. Heat up the cream cheese until it’s pretty loose, add in the salmon, corn and oregano.
When the onions are done cooking, move them out of the pan and away from the heat. Add in more olive oil and saute garlic chips until they’re brown. Add in butter and flour and cook until the roux is brown (or as sometimes happens it starts smelling like it’s burning.) Add in milk (if it needs more thinning add in more) and stir until thickened add in parmesan, spices and vinegar. Finally add in brandy, cover and set aside.
Get on over here you tasty little thing you.
Set a pan of water over high heat to cook the ravioli. Chop up onions and mix into salmon mixture. Spice to taste. Wet outsides of wonton skins with egg. Stick 1 – 2 T salmon mixture into the middle. Top with another wonton skin and press outsides together. Slide into boiling water.
Serve 3 raviolis with 1 or 2 T of sauce. Top with grated or shaved parm and enjoy really freakin’ much. I did.
Roasted Beet & Gorgonzola Ravioli
July 11, 2007
My mom’s neighbors left her a bunch of cheese from their refrigerators before they high-tailed it north for the summer. (They are clearly very smart people.) Then, my brother left some asparagus in the fridge. I had been thinking about making a salad topped with beet ravioli – I just decided to use the leftover cheese to make two different versions of the ravioli. In this one I just filled it out with the Gorgonzola and then made the salad an asparagus & spinach salad. (The next ravioli will be goat cheese, chive and beet. You can make it for me if you want.)
Gorgonzola & Roasted Beet Ravioli
Got your crazy ass lookin’ ravioli right here!
2 medium beets
1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
olive oil
3oz cream cheese
4oz Gorgonzola
1 T balsamic vinegar
1t cream
pinch salt
1/2 c walnuts, coarsely chopped
won ton skins
egg, lightly beaten
Preheat oven to 450°f – 500°f. Peel and cut beets into 1/4″ slices. Toss them lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast, tossing them occasionally until tender. (If the oven begins to blow oatmeal raisin cookie smell at you, don’t worry, it’s just the cookies your brother made a week ago. Heaven only knows why it decided to hang onto it for a week. But it’s super weird to be roasting beets and smelling cookies.)
Shouldn’t all fillings be bright pink? (Ooh, perhaps this would make the perfect dish for a Samanda eviction.)
At the same time cook onions in a bit of olive oil over medium-low heat until well on their way to being carmelized.
In a food processor, process cream cheese, Gorgonzola, balsamic vinegar, cream and salt together. Transfer to a bowl.
Once the beets and onions are done. Transfer them from their cooking vessels to something else and let them cool down a bit. Let the oven cool down to 375°f and use it to lightly toast the walnuts. (This does not take very long so keep checking and shaking pan.) Once cooled cut beets into to smallish coarse pieces and mix into the cheese mixture add in walnuts and onions. Taste to check the flavors and adjust if necessary.
Put a large pot of salted water on high heat to bring to a boil.
Lay some won ton skins out on a cookie sheet. Brush outsides of skins with egg and spoon filling into center. You want to keep the filling pretty low and flat while making these because touching it makes pink come out the sides. Top with a second skin and press it together with the bottom skin, manipulating it to match the bottom. Make sure they’re well sealed to not sacrifice any filling to the boiling water gods.
When they’re all done, slide them carefully into the water and boil for 4 – 5 minutes or until they’re floating and the skins are tender. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top, sprinkle with some Parmesan and enjoy!
Tasty little culinary bruises wrapped up and saved for lunch at a later date.
Feed me! 
