Tuesday, April 21, 2009

We've Moved!

Dinnernoms is changing. We started out sharing recipes and ideas, and now are branching out. As a result, we've outgrown the "Dinnernoms" name.

Our new blog is Food for Real. All prior Dinnernoms posts have been moved to that site. We will continue to provide recipes and cooking ideas. We also plan to have more posts about food in general - including thoughts on equipment, ingredients, diet and health.

We thank our small but returning reader base for your support and hope you will follow us at the new site.

- Courtney, Phil and Lane

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Roasted Lamb's Head

Finally roasted the lamb's head. It sat in the fridge defrosting for a couple of days, looking at me balefully (see below) while I figured out when I might have the time to do it.Precious few recipes around, and this one for Roasted Lamb's Head, which surfaced in a bunch of places (I link to this site because it gave the actual citation for the recipe), was the only one that didn't have it braised, boiled, or stewed. So I picked it and followed it fairly closely - the only substitution I made was of 2t mixed herbs for the 1-1/2 t oregano. Because I didn't alter the recipe substantially, I'm not going to reproduce it here - I'm just going to talk about the making and the eating.First instruction, to remove the tongue and eyes, was half easy. The head didn't come with the tongue in, I had it separate. So, that was done. The eyes, well, as you can see from the picture above, took a bit of time to learn. For the first eye, I carefully dug about and snipped and lifted with bunches of tools so I would take it out whole, while preserving the fat behind. This frustrating endeavor ended when the eye punctured and I kind of hacked it the rest of the way out.

So for the second eye I didn't much care and I just shoved my boning knife in and sliced around the eye in a conical motion. And it came out quickly and fine. Lesson learned.

The marinade was straightforward. Picture below shows it poured over the warm (and now eyeless) head.

The tongue was harder to skin than I expected. I don't have experience with tongue, so I'm not sure what the problem was, but I suspect I should have simmered it a few minutes longer than the 30 called for. The picture below shows it after boiling but before skinning.
Once I'd skinned it, I put it back in the mouth and marinated as directed. Picture below shows the head after marinating and just before it went into the oven. I had an extra sprig of rosemary and figured it wouldn't hurt.
Cooked it for the requisite time, basting every 20 min or so. Picture below shows it laughing at me as it comes out of the oven. Then the fun began.

"Crack the skull open" says the instructions. To me, this means that the skull will sort of crack open like an egg. Phil suggested cracking it with a cleaver. I said ok, but you're the one doing the cracking. Picture below, with the cleaver quite firmly embedded in the skull and requiring extra measures to extract, shows the result. It does *not* show the brains (literally) and bits of head flying all over the kitchen, nor Phil's clothes in the wash as I blog this. Another method was required.

Fortunately, we have a hacksaw that has been used enough so the paint has rubbed off, and that was employed to finish the job off.

Picture below shows the split skull. The white parts are the brains.
Finally got it plated (see below; jaw and meat on top; brains bottom left; half the tongue bottom right). They call for it served on a bed of parsley surrounded by flowers and tomatoes. Hah! Maybe next time when I have a proper saw available. We got what is shown, with a separate plate of rosemary-creamed vegetables I'll blog another day.Cooking Notes: Do not attempt this if you do not own a reasonably food-safe hacksaw. Whoever said to "crack" it open is a sadist who is laughing at those who are stupid enough to try this approach.

Eating Notes: It was surprisingly good.

The tongue was good meat, but nothing really special. It would be worth trying a recipe specifically designed for tongue, but in terms of non-standard muscle meat, I still prefer heart.

Regarding the rest of the head, it was really fabulous. The meat was flavorful and almost gamey. Phil mentioned that he had a bit that had a really nice sharpness to it. I thought he meant that it was gamey. Then I had the same thing (the cheeks, we think) - about four bites of something with this wonderful taste of Roquefort cheese, and the sharpness of the mold. The brains were a creamy counterpart. Definitely worth the start-up learning curve and (once I have a saw) something I will try again.

Regarding the whole eyeball issue, I cooked the removed, intact eyeball for 10 min when I parboiled the head, then cut it in half and offered it to the cats. They were smelling the meat and demurred, so I said OK, I have to try it, and tried one of the halves. So. Taste-wise it's like marrow, really rich and yummy. But eyes work a lot and have strong filiment things. Plus there's the whole lens and all. So there were textural issues that were a serious challenge. In addition, the brain is going "ick ick ick ick eyeball eyeball eyeball eyeball" and it's a real difficulty. In general? I'll probably stick to marrow bones, which my cultural Ur-brain identifies as "yummy." But I can see why they are considered a delicacy.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Marinated Ham Steak

The lamb's head is ready, but I had a very draining morning and was not. In addition, the weather today was beyond fine, and not grilling seems like a crime. So. Marinated fresh ham steak (shown above served with the very last veggies from last year's farmers' market).

Recipe:
(serves 2)

1 ham steak
2 c coconut water (found in the juice section in most supermarkets. You really do need this; coconut milk would not work)
1/4 c soy (I used Kikkoman)
1" piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 lg cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 c fresh-grated horseradish root (mine was mixed with beet; thus the pink color)
pepper to taste

Mix the coconut water, soy, ginger, and garlic in a shallow pan big enough to accommodate the ham steak. Marinate 2 hours or more, turning every half hour.

Preheat the Big Green Egg (or grill) to 325F.

While the Egg/grill is preheating, mix the horseradish with 2T of the marinade. Strain the rest of the marinade, discarding the juice. Mix the remaining ginger and garlic into the horseradish mixture.

Put the ham on the grill and spread half of the horseradish mixture on the top. Grill 8 minutes. Flip and spread the rest of the horseradish mixture on top. Grill 4 min more, then shut the grill down and let the meat rest (on the grill) another 4 min.

Eating notes: Yes, the coconut juice matters. It adds an understated sweetness that balances the rest and allows you to make a very simple sauce really stand out. The horseradish loses it's nasal sharpness on the grill, so even if you normally would think this is a bit heavy-handed, it's worth a try.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Roasted Goodness

Everything easy and roasted tonight. Ends up as shin bone with horseradish-yogurt sauce accompanied by basil-smothered roast potatoes, carrots, and garlic.

Instructions: Preheat the egg to about 500F. Turn down to 325 - 350F and start the veggies (equal parts carrot and potato, 1 head of garlic skinned plus 2 oz basil leaves + seasoning and salt and pepper to taste; generously dotted with butter or ghee and wrapped in foil). After about 20 min put on the meat (mine was a piece of shinbone with meat approx. 1-1/4 lb total weight). Cook 12 min one side; flip and cook 12 min the other side (or as you like it).

For the sauce, mix 1/4 c each of fresh grated horseradish (mine was mixed with grated beet, adding the color), plus 1T Kikkoman, plus 1T Lane's cinnamon-tomato sauce.

Eating Notes: This cut is very good, but has a lot of tendon and whatnot. It also has marrow, which, as has been previously noted, is the tithe to the cook. So plan accordingly. A generous 1" cut of about 1.3 pounds including the bone served the two of us comfortably.

Also, Lane's ketchup has now evolved to a point at which there is a hugely strong attack of cinnamon followed by a hint of tomato. It would be challenging on its own. In this case, the tomato tempered the horseradish, and the cinnamon added a sweet bite that worked well in combination.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Lazy Grazing

Still working hard. In addition, I had a post-Easter leftover feast at my client's of baked macaroni and cheese, ham and glaze, shrimp cocktail, asparagus, and a bunch of other stuff with multiple pies at the end. It was all homemade and well-made, so not a lot I could do but say "thank you" because I meant it.

So for dinner I wanted something that would be easy for Phil to have more of and for me to graze at and for us both to be satisfied. The dinner consisted of roast beef slices rolled and cut in half, some of Kolyu's homemade Bulagarian sausage, two types of cheeses, a sauce/salad of fresh horseradish grated with purple beets (nice and sinus-clearing) and an additional sauce of 1 part Dijon to 2 parts Greek yogurt, with a teaspoon or two of Japanese Seasoned Seaweed with Mushroom paste (gohen desuyo shitake nori) mixed in.

Eating Notes: Perfect for what we wanted. I'd intended for the sauces to go with the roast beef, but the yogurt sauce was even better with the Bulgarian sausage.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Paleo-ish Ready-made


I'm working long hours and Phil is hungry, so ready-made is the best choice. Went to the Fresh Fields and got sesame kale (top of picture), roast potatoes, prosciutto wrapped lamb, and artichoke-spinach terrine. The picture shows Phil's - I was well fed by my client today so just had some tastings from his.

Eating and thinking notes: The food was good. The lamb definitely had been steeped in garlic for a while, and the terrine had this great coating of tomato aspic, for which I have a soft spot. We hardly ever go out or eat ready-made any more, but there is a value to taking advantage of people whose main jobs are cooking. Making either the terrine or the lamb would have involved enough person-hours that the resulting meal would have been a feast.

For a real feast meal, I'd still rather make it myself. But ready-made shows an advantage when I look at what I would compare it to if I had made this as a weekday after-a-10-hour-work-day affair. And I was pleasantly surprised at how many choices I had that were zero gluten, low carb, minimally vegetable-oiled, etc. So maybe I should climb down off the high horse to at least a medium horse.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Courtney's Shellfish with (not) Too Much Sauce

Felt like some shellfish, needed to use up some of the very last veggies from last year's Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) before this year's starts up this Saturday, and also felt like some comfort food. So made some shrimp and sea scallops with what seemed like too much sauce (see eating notes below). The picture shown above is served with the zucchini (see cooking notes)

Recipe
(generously serves 2)

10 16-20 count shrimp, cleaned to taste*
6 large sea scallops
1 10 oz jar clam juice
3 - 5 generous sprigs parsley
water to cover shellfish
2 T ghee
2 fresh garlic shoots, stem and bulb, sliced thin
2 T flour
2 roasted red peppers (jarred), diced
juice of 1 Meyer Lemon
1 T dijon mustard (I use Grey Poupon)
2 T heavy cream (I used the plug of cream off an unopened bottle of unhomogeonized milk)
* I like the texture of shrimp shells so I leave them on. On the other hand, I have textural issues with the legs so I take them off and give the cats a treat. It's purely a matter of choice whether or not to shell the shrimp before you make this dish.


Bring the clam juice to a boil with the parsley in it and, in a separate kettle, bring water to heat. When the clam juice boils, add the shrimp and scallops and just enough water from the kettle to cover. Poach the scallops and shrimp 3 - 5 min or until just barely done (they will continue to cook after removing and later when the hot sauce is added) and remove to a bowl. Reserve the cooking juice.

Heat the ghee.

Mix the lemon juice, mustard, cream, and red peppers in a small bowl.

When the ghee is hot, add the chopped fresh garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the flour, stirring continously.

When the mixture has browned slightly, add 1 cup of the cooking juice, slowly, stirring all the while. When this is strongly bubbling, add the lemon juice, mustard, cream, and red pepper mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. Continue stirring constantly while sauce bubbles and reduces. It should be at a strong bubble but not an urgent boil.

While the sauce is reducing, plate the shellfish.

Once the sauce has reduced to the consistency that pleases you, pour it over the shellfish. Serve hot. If you made too much sauce, be sure to get a spoon.

Cooking Notes: The recipe made about a cup of sauce. When poured over the veggies and shellfish, it seemed like far too much, but we had no problem eating every last bit. So if people are game, why not? Otherwise, save half of the sauce for tomorrow's lunch or dinner.

For the zucchini, it was parboiled and frozen last year, so all that was required was to drop the vacuum bag in boiling water for 6 min or so.

Eating Notes: There was no complaint about having to use a spoon for this sauce. It was good and rich but not overbearing, and the inclusion of the roasted red pepper and fresh garlic made it like its own little component of the meal, rather than "just" a sauce.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Boring Dinnernoms an Thoughts

Saving the leftover Easter dinner for lunch tomorrow, so made a pizza tonight. No picture; sorry. Two thoughts on the pizza, though, involving the crust, which is ok but not stellar.

1. Why do "Gluten-free" recipes and cookbooks tout special wheat flour substitute mixes? I've made lots of gluten-free breads using recipes that, in essence, call for a non-gluten flour plus some xanthan gum and/or other common ingredients. But these are in the minority. For the most part, gluten-free cookbooks ask you to make up some convoluted flour substitute and use that. You almost would have to have a separate pantry to store all the things they want you to put into that wheat flour substitute. Why? The three or four types of non-gluten flour plus gum or similar plus what is contained in a normal pantry should be sufficient to make things on the fly.

2. I am really disappointed that focus groups, marketing, or whatever make companies feel the need to tout gluten-free alternatives as "low fat." Fat and gluten are different. People who are cutting gluten out generally are doing it for very different reasons than people who want to starve themselves by reducing fat intake (ok, bias showing.)

So. Goal for next time is to not make pizza until I find an acceptable non-wheat (because of me), non-corn (because of Phil) homemade pizza crust recipe. And yeah, I'll buy another rice crust as a back-up.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter Dinner Part 2 - Tatiana's Nettle Soup

I had to run an errand and was at the home of my singing group's director, Tatiana Sarbinska . This meant enjoying the usual Bulgarian hospitality of good food and company. Today, though, I got a special treat and Tatiana gave me some nettles and young fresh garlic straight from her garden. We were talking while she cut them for me. Picture below shows the nettles and garlic after being washed. She had some nettle soup on the stove and it smelled so good my indecision over what to have with the rabbit vanished right away.
She also gave me some homemade tomato sauce, sort of a cross between ketchup and chutney and very good, with directions to put about half of it in the soup. So I did.

Tatiana's Nettle Soup
(makes 6 cups; recipe reflects what I used)

6 c stock (I used stock from my braised pork bones)
1 qt nettles, leaves pulled and stems chopped well (use gloves when doing this! They are called stinging nettles for a reason!)
Tops from one bunch of leeks, sliced about 1/2" thick
3 fresh young garlic plants (stems and bulb), sliced into 1" lengths
1/2 c cooked rice, steel cut oatmeal, or other grain (I used cooked millet)
3/4 c chunky fresh mild tomato salsa (I think this is the closest you will find to Tatiana's wonderful Bulgarian sauce)
1/2 t celery seed
salt and pepper to taste

Bring the stock to a boil. Add the nettles, leek, garlic, and grain. Boil until the leeks are soft. Add the salsa and spices. Simmer another 15 minutes or so and remove from heat. Serve hot. Picture below shows finished dish.

Eating Notes: This is surprisingly filling (which is why we ended up not eating the vegetables from Easter Dinner Part 1). The nettles add a sharp tone and complexity that is well balanced by the hint of tomato from the sauce.

Easter Dinner Part 1 - Easter Bunny

Was planning to stew the lamb's head for Easter dinner, but Julie from Groff's Content Farm had some fresh rabbit. Got 2 -- one for us and one for Lane, but that had to go into the freezer as he's off doing family things for the weekend. So the lamb's head will have to wait until next week; for tonight I roasted the rabbit.

I wanted to do it whole, and the most interesting recipe I found that didn't involve several days' preparation was for Zajac Pieczony (Roast Hare). I followed the recipe almost to the letter from my Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery (2nd Edition, 1966) but reproduce it here because the book is out of print.

Vinegar Marinate for Meat
(Proportions are for 3 pounds of meat - this was almost exactly the weight of my rabbit)
3 c water
1 lg onion, sliced
9 allspice berries (I used 10 cloves instead)
9 peppercorns (I used about twice that)
6T unfiltered apple cider vinegar
4-5 bay leaves

Combine water with onion and allspice and peppercorns. Cook about 1/2 hour or until onion is soft. Add vinegar and allow to cool. Pour over meat and marinate, refrigerated, for however long the recipe calls for (usually measured in days).

For the rabbit, from here I deviated more than followed a the recipe. I did follow the instructions to bring the marinade back to the boil and pour while hot over the rabbit, and let it stand 1 - 2 days in the refrigerator. As shown in the photo below, I used a large zippy bag so I could flop the rabbit over every now and again to be sure it was marinating evenly.


When I was ready to cook it, the following came into play:

salt and granulated garlic to rub
cut carrots and potatoes
onoins from the marinating sauce
red wine for basting

I cooked the rabbit on a roasting rack in a 325F oven for 2 hours, basting with red wine every 20 minutes or so. I used the "trick" of roasting the vegetables underneath it. This was a mistake (see cooking notes below). Picture shows it just out of the oven. Once out of the oven, I removed the rabbit and the veggies. I carved and plated the rabbit and covered it with sauce made from deglazing the pan. First post pic shows the finished result.

Cooking Notes: The veggies were totally hard. The rabbit was too lean to drip enough fat to cook them, and the oven wasn't at a high enough temperature to roast them even in 2 hours. I had to put them in some water and boil them for 20 minutes to finish them off, and by that time we were finished eating and stuffed. Oh, well, live and learn. The sauce did have a slightly carroty note, though, so at least there was some benefit to doing it that way.

Eating Notes: The recipe warns that substituting domestic rabbit for the hare will result in a blander flavor. I'm sure this is true, as the rabbit, while tender and very moist, was not at all gamy, and both Phil and I were just a tad disappointed because of that. If I can get my hands on a wild hare I will try this recipe again, though.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Smoked Trout with Curried Pecan Salad

Anticipated the most basic of trout dinners, but got home sooner than expected so decided to do something a bit more interesting.

Smoked Trout with Curried Pecan Sauce
(Generously serves 2)

2 trout fillets (1 lb total)
ghee

2/3 c pecan pieces (approx.)
1T fat for frying
1T curry powder
1/4 c mascarpone
2 T prepared horseradish
1 T coconut juice (not milk)
salt and pepper to taste

Soak wood chips (I used pecan wood since I was using a pecan sauce) for 1/2 hour or more. Preheat Egg.

Generously wipe the skin side of the trout fillets with ghee and place on a piece of foil. If there is any left on your hands, just wipe it off on the flesh side.

Add soaked wood chips (drained) to the charcoal and put the grill on. Put the foil sheet with the fillets on it on top. Keep the temperature around 200F.

Make the sauce: Saute the pecans in fat of your choice until they are very well toasted. I used the leftover skillet fat from Tuesday's chicken skin lunch. Stir in the curry powder and mix well, turning off the heat. Remove the pecans and fat to a bowl and cool. Add the mascarpone and seasonings and mix well.

Cook 20 min or until liquid is pooling on top but the fish hasn't started to flake, and close off. You can now sit and enjoy yourself until you are ready to eat.

When ready, plate the fish and add the pecan sauce. Picture above shows it served along with a scrap salad of radish tops and parsley bottoms with a dressing of Dijon mustard and black pepper mixed in well before plating.

Leftover Millet Pancakes

Made the rest of the glutinous millet yesterday and have tons of leftovers. So this morning I made some up into true millet pancakes. Picture shows the pancakes served with a mushroom-tomato-leek omelet and liver (today's breakfast).

Courtney's Leftover Millet Pancakes
(Makes 6)

1/2 c millet flour
1/4 t xanthan gum
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 egg
1 c cooked millet
1/2 c milk
2T melted bacon fat (or melted butter)

With an electric hand mixer, thoroughly combine the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg and add the millet, milk, and fat. Mix very well on medium-high speed until the millet has no clumps.

Heat a griddle and grease it well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, beating all the while. Beat until thoroughly mixed. As soon as possible after beating, pour the pancake batter onto the griddle using a ladle or large spoon. Cook until bubbles break open and do not seal on the top of the pancake and the bottom is medium-brown. Flip and cook until browned. Serve hot with syrup or a savory sauce.

Cooking Notes
I used glutinous millet, but I think regular millet would be fine. Regular millet is a bit dryer, so you might want to add more liquid or to soak the millet in the milk for a while to soften it.
If you're not minimizing gluten, you can substitute wheat flour for the millet flour and xanthan gum.

Eating Notes
We had these for breakfast with a little maple syrup. Because they are not sweetened, they also would be good with a creamed seafood or similar sauce. Millet is one of the grains I'm moving away from, but if I weren't I would definitely have these again.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Grilled Lamb Shoulder Roast with Potatoes and Leeks

Another easy but good thing to do. Phil was very hungry; I moderately so. So a boneless roast was called for, where we could each take what we want. Leftovers? No problem. No leftovers? No problem.

Instructions for the lamb: Get the Egg well started and then turn it down to the low 300Fs. Put on a boned rolled lamb shoulder (ours was just under 2 lbs and had thawed at room temperature out of the freezer 2 hours or so), fat side up. Cook 1-1/2 hours or so depending on how rare you like your meat and how frozen it was when you put it on the grill.

Instructions for the veggies: For 2 people, I cubed a large russet potato and sliced a leek and wrapped them in foil spread with 1T ghee and with another 3T of ghee dolloped on top. I also added sage, mixed French spices, salt and pepper, and a dash of granulated garlic to the spicing. Wrapped the foil up and put it on after the lamb had been cooking 50 minutes.

Instructions for the sauce: For the sauce I mixed approx. 2T mascarpone, 1T Dijon mustard, 1t Japanese Seasoned Seaweed with Shiitake sauce (desuyo shiitake nori), and 1T coconut juice.

Eating notes: Everything was really good, as was to be expected (arigatou, Mechazawa-san!). It was the sauce that made it interesting. I put the sauce only on the veggies (see initial picture). Phil ate it that way and liked the contrast. I, on the other hand, cut up my meat and then mixed it all together in a sort of hash. I liked the complexity of the sauce on the meat and how all the tastes of the ghee and veggies and sauce and meat combined in a distinct but pleasant riot.

Oh, and no leftovers. No problem.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Braised Bones


Was going to make pork soup, but I've never just had the pork bones braised, and they had all this really nice looking meat and tendon and marrow stuff going on. In addition, both of us had long work days today and were unlikely to sit down for dinner before 8 or so, and probably would not want to fuss with an elaborate dinner. So I decided to have the bones a bit more paleo style (assuming our hunter-gatherer ancestors had a convenient plug for a crock pot), and just threw them into the slow cooker (see first post pic) with some bay, peppercorns, and water and braised them all day. Results below. Pulled the bones out and put them on a plate (broth and trimmings will be lunch tomorrow, served over millet) with nothing else. Phil looked very suspicious that this plate of bones would make a meal, but none of us are complaining now. Marrow and meat and good fatty connective tissue is really satisfying.

Eating notes: Use a chopstick to get as much marrow as you can out of the bone. It's really good and a crime to waste.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Lamb Chops with Easy Sauce


Scavenging through the freezer after a long day. Have a week to use up the preserved parts of last year's CSA, so used up some frozen cauliflower and broccoli, served with lamb chops. Complemented with a sour cream garlic sauce, it was really nice. Instructions: The veggies were just boiled in the bag (from frozen) for 8 minutes and then held in the hot water until ready to serve. The sauce was 1/4 c sour cream mixed with 1/2 t garlic powder, 1 t dried tarragon, and pepper (red and black) to taste, thinned with about 1T milk or until of a consistency you likeor the meat, I heated the egg and then the grill until everything was well over 500F. Then I put the chops (again, from frozen) on the grill and turned it down to about 325F and cooked it 8 min on on side; 10 flipped; then 7 on the original side turned off so I could've just left it there for a while. The results, as usual (arigatou, Mechazawa-san!) were perfect.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Deconstruction of a Chicken

Chicken tomato stew tonight (chicken, tomatoes, onion, mushroom, peppercorns, bay and spices to taste; cook all day on high so the bones really soften and release everything they can). Tomorrow's lunchtime leftovers will be the last of the chicken. So a four pound chicken works out to the following:

Initial dinner for 2
2 chicken and rice lunches
Chicken pizza for 2
1 chicken and rice lunch and 1 chicken skin lunch
Chicken stew dinner for 2
Chicken stew lunch for 2

I looked at the $17 price tag on the chicken and thought "yowzers." But the bird has given us the main course for 12 meals. Not bad. Arigatou, chicken-chan.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Chicken-Basil Pizza


Felt like something good and easy, so a nice gluten-free basil-chicken pizza. As an aside, the basil was frozen from last year's harvest. As Basil Fawlty would say to Mr. Hutchinson in The Hotel Inspectors, "it was fresh when it was frozen!"

Instructions for this one: Make or use a crust. I was lazy and used a gluten-free brown rice crust. Dice and combine 4 mushrooms, 3 large garlic cloves, 2 oz basil leaves, 1/2 onion, 1/2 md tomato. Spread tomato sauce on the readied crust. Shake over dill, oregano, thyme, parsley or other dried herbs to taste. Generously coat with crushed red pepper. Distribute the mixed veggies over. Grate 2-3 oz cheddar over. Grate 2 oz Locatelli over that. Dice chicken and press into the cheese. Bake at 450F for 12 min or until everything is cooked and bubbly but not burned. Serve hot.

Eating notes: Again, arigatou Mechazawa-san. This is the first chicken pizza I've ever had that I liked. The strong basil and garlic flavors also helped. A nice use for leftover chicken.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Mind-blowing Ur Chicken


Intended to make some sort of fancy pressed grilled chicken. But after making 4 batches of cat food and doing a goodly number of weekend chores, decided to be lazy. Remembered something I'd seen in my cruisings (and unfortunately can't remember enough to credit the source of) where they talked about oven-roasting a chicken over a pan of potatoes so the potatoes would be continously basting in the chicken juices and fat. I decided why not try this with Mechazawa-san (the large Egg). Now I don't know if I ever can go back.

Instructions: Take a whole chicken (mine was just over 4 lbs.). Cut up some root veggies (I used a medium-sized russet potato plus 2 md carrots). Put the chicken on a vertical roaster in a pan and lightly coat it with ghee or butter. Place root vegetables around it (see first post picture). Preheat the egg to a very healthy 375F or so (I pushed it up to 500F and then closed it back down). Put the pan on the grill and let the grill die down so it settles in the low 300F's and roast for 2-1/2 hours or so. If you're not yet ready to eat, just close the Egg off at that point and it will stay warm. Serve.

Eating notes: Wow. We each had a drumstick and a wing (See picture above). The bones came off easily but the chicken was still outrageously juicy (arigatou, Mechazawa-san!). The skin was crispy but still had fat attached. The vegetables were really crispy-crunchy-carmelized on the outside and had soaked up tons of chicken fat and juices, while they retained a carrot/potato flavor. It will be hard to entice me to cook a chicken any other way. Ever.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Seafood and Veggie Chickpea Flour Pancakes


Saw this recipe in the "Dining and Wine" section of the New York Times and decided to adapt it to my gluten-reduced diet and pantry contents. Made it for breakfast, and it also would be a very nice brunch or luncheon dish. Picture shows Phil's, served with three eggs over medium-hard.

Seafood and Veggie Chickpea Flour Pancakes
(makes 6 approx. 4" pancakes)

1 c chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour (found at organic-focused supermarkets and coops)
1/4 t xanthan gum (ditto)
1/2 t baking powder (check to be sure it is gluten-free if this is a concern for you)
Salt and fresh pepper to taste
1 c water
Enough raw sea scallops and shrimp to make 1/2 c chopped with one extra peeled shrimp and 1/2 scallop per person for garnish
2/3 chopped cooked summer vegetables (I used some leftover zucchini and yellow squash) split into two 1/3 c portions
1 scallion, chopped fine
3T chopped fresh herbs (I used basil), divided equally among the two chopped vegetable portions.
2T mascarpone or softened cream cheese
ghee for frying

Heat some ghee on a skillet. Cut the scallop in half crosswise so that you have two disks. Saute the scallop and shrimp until just barely done (it will continue cooking after you take it off the heat). Remove and reserve.

Take one of the portions of vegetables and basil and saute in the ghee left behind by the seafood until well warmed. Remove and reserve, keeping warm.

In a bowl and using an electric hand mixer, thoroughly blend the dry ingredients. While still beating, add the water and continue beating until well mixed. Using a spoon, stir in the chopped seafood and the unwarmed portion of vegetables and basil just until mixed.

Put a generous amount of ghee on the griddle. When hot, make the pancakes, using the spoon to keep the batter mixed. Cook until nicely browned, approximately 3 minutes on each side.

Plate the pancakes. Mix the mascarpone in with the reserved sauteed vegetables and spread over. Place the scallop disk on top, and the cooked shrimp on top of that. Serve hot.

Eating Notes: The pancakes were an excellent combination of filling but light, which is why I think they would be perfect as luncheon/brunch dishes. It also was a good way to use up some leftover veggies. Tomatoes and mushrooms would have been nice additions, and could have been used instead of the seafood to make a vegetarian dish. Another thing I like about the recipe is that the finished pancakes taste like their own thing, not like something that is a gluten-free pretender to a wheat flour dish.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Grilled Swordfish with San on Tou Marinade

When I was a kid, swordfish was something you had at the Danzer's restaurant in Syracuse, NY - the fanciest place we ever got to - and the swordfish was invariably cooked in some sort of lemon and white wine sauce. So I've got this association with swordfish and a lemon taste and have avoided it because of that. But my fish guide (yeah, thanks, Lane!) pointed me at this very nice, uniform and fresh swordfish steak and I said OK, why not, because he's been a good fish guide in the past. So.

Grilled Swordfish with San on Tou Marinade
(Serves 2)
1 1lb swordfish steak

2T San on Tou (or use light brown sugar or maple sugar (not syrup!))
6T Ponzu (Japanese citrus soy sauce)
1t minced fresh ginger
1 lg clove garlic, minced
1 md shallot, minced

Combine all the non-swordfish ingredients and let stand at least an hour for the flavors to blend.

Marinate the fish in the sauce for 10 minutes on each side. In the meantime, preheat a grill (I used Mechazawa-san, the large Egg).

Put the fish on the grill and put a little less than half of the sauce on the up-facing side. Grill to taste (I grilled 7 minutes on one side, then flipped it and closed off Mechazawa-san and let it sit 10 or so minutes more). When you flip the fish, put a little less than the remaining sauce on the other up-facing side.

Plate the fish and pour the remaining sauce over (see first post picture).

Eating notes: This convinced me that swordfish is not a one-trick pony. It had a distinctive flavor and texture, and balanced the sauce very nicely.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Mechazawa-san Lamb Meatloaf with Starchy Tubers

We're both still wanting comfort food. So. Mechazawa-san lamb meatloaf with starchy tubers. Instructions for 2: Mix 3/4 - 1 lb lamb, 1/2 waxy potato diced very fine; 2-4 slices of onion diced very fine; 1/2 t garlic powder (or 1 clove of garlic, minced); 1 T Worcestershire (I use Bulldog for meatloaf); 1 egg; 1T cumin. Cook on the Egg at about 375F for 30 min. Serve on a bed of romain lettuce. Good and reliable.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Tomato-Cabbage-Egg Casserole

Raining and surprisingly chilly. Wanted comfort food but didn't want to do a lot of work.

Tomato-Cabbage-Egg Casserole:
(serves 3 - 4 as one-dish meal)

1/2 lg. head of cabbage
2 tomatoes, diced fine
1/3 red onion, diced fine
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t celery seed
4 eggs
1/4 c sour cream
3/4 c milk
Lard or butter to coat baking dish.
1/4 c pecan meal
Preheat oven to 350F.

Core the cabbage and cut the rest into reasonably-sized pieces (see first post pic) to fit in a square baking dish.

Steam cabbage 10 - 15 minutes.

Generously lard/butter the baking dish. Put the cabbage in.

Mix all other ingredients together until sour cream is broken up and everything is thoroughly mixed. Pour over the cabbage. Sprinkle pecan meal over all.

Bake 30 - 45 min or until cabbage is tender. Serve hot.

Cooking notes: I only let the cabbage steam 10 min and it was undercooked when we ate it. Give it the full 15 minutes. Otherwise, it was easy and nice.