Spicy Cajun sausage with kale and maple bacon polenta

Several days ago I bought some Cajun sausage. I wasn't thinking about it. In fact, I planned to get a pork tenderloin for roasting, but the sausage was there, all fatty and delicious, and I suffered some kind of pork fugue. I snapped back to reality, sausage in my cart, blinking in the produce section's harsh flourescent lights. I brought the sausage home, stashed it in the back of the fridge, and promptly forgot about it. I never did get that pork tenderloin.

After a stressful week, I was desperate to cook this weekend. Just me, The Walkmen, and my stove. As I sorted through the fridge, I found the sausage. When I checked the date, I knew I'd have to use it for something. It wasn't going to last much longer. I checked with the family and learned my wife and daugther don't much care for red beans and rice or gumbo or jambalaya. What else do you make with Cajun sausage?. I was kind of stuck. I portioned up some of the sausage and used it for my own personal red beans and rice (delicious, thanks), and then set about to cook the remaining links. Pretty standard: place the links in a skillet with enough water to cover them half-way, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and let simmer for 15-20 minutes. Drain off the water, toss the links back in the pan, bring the heat up to medium-high and cook an additional 5 minutes, turning often. Once that's done, I wrapped the sausages in foil to keep them warm.

Thinking about flavors is the part of cooking I love most. There I was, cooked sausage links on hand wondering what to do with them. The meat wasn't really andouelle, but it did have some nice spice to it. I looked for balancing flavors, found the bitter kale in the crisper, the salty bacon in the cheese drawer, and the sweet maple syrup in the pantry. Real maple syrup, not that garbage that's made by adding maple flavoring to high fructose corn syrup. Also in the pantry I found polenta, which I quickly dubbed grits and was happy.

Southern-style sausage with kale and maple bacon polenta

Ingredients (for two)

• 2 strips of high-quality bacon (there's a difference)
• 2 large handfuls of kale or other greens
• 2 sausage links (prepared as above)
• Polenta (approx. 2/3 cups, total) You can use grits--they're nearly the same
• Polenta is made with yellow corn, grits with white
• Equal parts milk and water (approx. 2 cups, total)
• kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup

1. Start by rendering the bacon fat. To do so, set the bacon strips in a nice-sized skillet (one with a lid or other cover) and turn the burner on medium. Leave the bacon alone and let it come up to heat with the pan.

2. While the bacon heats, start in on the polenta. Mix the water and milk in a medium sauce pan. Add the butter and a good-sized dash of salt. Turn the burner up to medium-high and wait.

3. Check on that bacon. If it's beginning to sizzle, go ahead and flip it. Let it sit almost two minutes on that side, then flip it back over; let it sizzle away about another minute, then bring it off the heat and allow it to drain on some paper towels.

4. Toss the handfuls of kale into the bacon pan. The greens will sizzle and pop, and that's ok. Go ahead and give them a stir in the bacon fat, lower the heat to medium-low and cover the skillet.

5. Back over at your sauce pan, your milk and water mixture will probably be coming to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and begin whisking in your polenta. It should begin to come together pretty quickly. If it seems too runny after a couple minutes of stirring, whisk in some more polenta. If it seems too thick, add some water, milk or even a little cream. You'll want a texture smooth enough to spread on a plate but thick enough to hold its shape. When you get that consistency, reduce to low heat and cover. You'll let this sit about 8 minutes.

6. Stir your kale. When it's just wilted, remove it from the heat, but don't take it out of the pan. It can sit and steam all on its own.

7. Now, crumble the bacon and stir it into the polenta. Give it a taste, add necessary seasoning, then slowly add the maple syrup. You'll be surprised how flavorful the real stuff is, so add a few drops at a time and taste, taste, taste! When you have a good mix of salty and sweet, you're all set.

To plate, spread the polenta first, add the kale, and then nestle the sausage link right on top. To add a fragrant garnish, place a whispy sprig of rosemary on top of everything.

Each bite of the spicy sausage in this rustic, hearty dish blends with the grassy, slightly bitter kale and the wonderfully silky, salty, sweet polenta to delight all tastebuds.

Food photography lessons from Vegan Yum-Yum

A commenter asked me to a do a food photography tutorial. I'm honored by the request and still plan to put together a short film detailing some of my techniques. Until then, I'd like to direct you to a comprehensive food photography tutorial courtesy of Vegan Yum-Yum. An excerpt:

Plan Ahead

Do as much as you possibly can ahead of time.  Food should be photographed as soon as possible after preparing, which means you’ll need a space for photographing ready to go, an uncluttered kitchen, etc.  Here’s what I do before I start cooking:

1. Clean up, do all the dishes, clear countertops
2. Pick out dishes
3. Set camera up on tripod, pick out background
4. Clear your photography space
5. Think about the dish: do you need a garnish? Special utensils? Placemat?

Mise en Place

Prepping all your ingredients neatly will keep your kitchen more organized, cut down on cooking time, and allow you to focus on the task at hand.  And mise en place photographs make for killer filler photos, as well!

There are a few key take-aways from Lolo's post. First, do a little prep work. Being organized and having a clear idea of what you want to accomplish will do much for your photography. Also, use natural light if you can get it.

I have neither time, resources, nor the inclination to purchase a lot of festive dishes. I have white plates and some dark plates and those mostly suit my needs. The one thing I might recommend, if you're really pressed and want to take one step towards a prop closet is a rustic, earthy bowl. I'm thinking of purchasing one--wide and shallow--for soup photos this coming winter.

Honey lime fish fillets with peppers and plantains

This post originally appeared in the September issue of Satellite Magazine

Summer ends this month. It's official. We're back in Florida, exotic locations forgotten, summer travels fading like so many old photographs. But being back in Florida doesn't mean an end to wonderful food. Florida has rich, diverse culinary traditions that range from Old South and West African traditions that migrated down the coast from Charleston as well as incredible Hispanic and island influences that migrated north from the Caribbean and west from Spain. And many farmers throughout the state grow an abundance of diverse ingredients, all Floridian.

When people think of Florida, it makes sense to think of seafood. After all, we're nearly surrounded by water. So this month I bring you a fairly straight-forward seafood dish made with whiting, a native fish you can catch yourself (if you're so inclined), bell peppers you could grow yourself, and plantains, which I assume you could harvest yourself.

Note: If you don't catch your fish yourself and buy fresh, whole fish, make sure the fish has clear eyes and firm skin. If the eyes are cloudy or the skin seems oily or fragile, forget about it. The fish should also smell fresh and clean like the sea, not overly fishy or tainted in any way.

One of the great things about whiting is that it's a fish that normally has very low mercury levels. As healthy as eating fish is supposed to be, many species contain high levels of mercury. Whiting, however, being low on the food chain, doesn't concentrate mercury like many other fish do, such as orange roughy or tuna. That being said, if you wanted to use a firmer fish for this recipe, you could go with amberjack or grouper.

Honey-lime fillets with peppers and plantains (serves 4)

Ingredients

• Four whiting filets
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper (feel free to use green peppers, there's no difference in taste, just appearance)
• 2 ripe plantains
• Long grain rice (enough for 4 portions)

For the glaze

• 8 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
• Two cloves minced garlic (more or less, to taste)
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• A couple dashes of salt (to taste)
• Feel free to add some red pepper flakes for a little heat or some finely chopped cilantro for a little freshness

Begin by mixing the ingredients for the glaze together in a small bowl. To help deal with the honey, you might want to heat it a little bit first. This will make it easier to poor and mix. Once you have mixed the glaze, it's probably a good idea to start the rice (just follow the directions on the bag). This is a dish that comes together very fast, and the fish doesn't hold up very well to sitting around. Once the rice is cooking, it's time to start on the plantains.

Heat about a eighth-inch to a half-inch of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. While the oil heats, peel the plantains and cut them into pieces about an inch thick. When the oil's heated, place the plantain pieces in the skillet on-end. Let them fry for about a minute to a minute and a half, turn them over and repeat. When they're done on the second side, move them to a plate covered with paper towels. After they're cooled, mash them into discs between your palms and fry them again, about 45 seconds on each side. When they're good and golden brown, move them off to a cooling rack and sprinkle with a dash of kosher salt. Dump the oil from the pan and set the pan back on the stove. You should still have a thin coat of oil in the bottom.

Now it's time to move on to the fish and peppers.

Start by cutting the fillets in half on an angle for presentation, and slather one side with the glaze. Let these sit while you slice the peppers in thin strips. Place the sliced peppers in the pan and sautee for about two minutes, then empty them into a bowl. Once the pan comes back up to temperature, it's time to sear the fish fillets. Have your glaze ready, because there's not a lot of time to futz around here. Sear the fish fillets glaze-side down for about 90 seconds. While they're searing, spread glaze over the other side and then flip. Sear another 90 seconds. Use a spatula to bring the fillets out of the pan (using tongs could tear the fish), add a 1/4 cup of water and the remaining glaze to the pan, heat through, and reserve for a sauce. To plate, use the rice as a base, add peppers, and place the fish fillets on top. Place the plaintains on the side, and drizzle everything with a little of the sauce from the pan. Dinner is served!

I would encourage everyone to seek out fresh and local ingredients whenever possible. Buying and cooking local (even if it's as far away as the coast) connects us with the land and our community. It also just might open your eyes to the rich, wonderful diversity Florida has to offer in terms of culture and cuisine.

A new take on egg salad makes for a delicious, nutritious breakfast

I love traditional breakfast foods. They're fantastic--fatty, sweet and so, so bad for you. One of life's fantastic thrills is breakfast for dinner. Who doesn't love it? Waffles with the nightly news. Eggs and bacon on an evening patio.

But breakfast at breakfast time? Forget it. If it's a weekday, I have to go to work. And on the weekends I have other things to do. I like to get a good start on the day, get things done, and then luxuriate later, knowing I have nothing pressing in my mind's forgotten corners. Thus, a simple egg salad has become my weekend breakfast of choice. Easy, simple, and utterly delicious:

• Heat 1/2 tablespoon of high-quality olive oil to medium, medium high in a skillet with sloping sides
• While the pan is heating, set an egg on the counter where it won't roll away. Like other proteins, it helps if the egg is allowed to warm some after coming out of the fridge before going into the pan.
• Also, get a bowl, some greens, and something to cut the oil. I use capers and a bit of their brine, which I love, but you could use anything that will provide a little bite. Seriously, though, a teaspoon of capers with brine works so, so well, I would question whether or not to use anything else.
• Put the greens in the bowl, then fry the egg, about two minutes on each side.
  • Note: the time you fry the egg will depend on preference. I like my yolk gelled, not firm, but not too runny. It allows some yolk to mix with the olive and brine and act as emulsifier, bringing the dressing together.
• When the egg is done, just slide it from the pan on top of the greens, letting the olive oil drain into the bowl also. Top with capers and brine and a little chopped parsley.
• Dig. In.

I really like this for breakfast because I can make it while the coffee brews, and the flavor combination of rich egg and olive oil combined with the fresh and bitter taste of the greens and the wonderful saltiness and brightness of the capers is amazing. Try it yourself next Saturday.

Stuffed Peppers - delicious, rustic fare in about 30 minutes

Over two years ago I started paying more attention to cooking. Not recipes, but cooking. The way ingredients go together. The way flavors combine. Techniques for controlling heat and moisture. It's been an excellent ride, and here is where many might expect me to say that it's a ride now over.

Not so.

I often think about the value of cooking. What it's brought into my life and how the knowledge and experience have benefitted my family and me. Right now the greatest value is fast, simple meals that are delicious and a lot healthier than grabbing some McDonald's value meals or nuking a Lean Cuisine. None of that crap belongs in our bodies, but we often justify eating it for the sake of convenience. "I just don't have time!"

Bull shit. Check it out:

• Avail yourself of some chorizo (the dish will work as well with ground beef), a green pepper, some black beans, an onion, queso fresco (or some other cheese you really like), salt and pepper.
• Heat a pan to medium-high.
• Poke a hole in the casing and squeeze out the chorizo in chunks into the pan.
• Dice half that onion and toss it with the chorizo.
• Brown it, crumble it (the chorizo, not the onion. Crumble, I mean. The onion will brown, too).

• While it's heating, slice the green pepper in half and scoop out the seeds and stuff.
• Preheat that oven to 300 degrees.

• It's going to take some time for the oven to heat, so why not add the beans to your sausage mix and give it a stir.
• Let it heat through.
• Put the pepper halves on a baking sheet, spoon the chorizo mix into the halves and bake in that oven for about 20 minutes.
• When it comes out, sprinkle with queso fresco and a little hot sauce.

The whole process takes about 30 minutes, provides a reasonably healthy lunch, and you get to listen to your own music the entire time. What's not to like?

Tandoori Chicken

My monthly food column as it appeared in the August issue of Satellite Magazine

When people think of national cuisines, they traditionally think of French, Italian or Chinese. These are mother nations, and many of the ingredients and techniques pioneered there spread throughout various regions and across the world's oceans. But India has some of the world's richest culinary traditions and is rapidly becoming a major player on the culinary world stage. And it's the last stop in our summer travels.

Most people associate curry with Indian cuisine, but curry merely indicates a heavy mix of spices. Indian curries usually include turmeric, coriander and cumin. But Indian cuisine is as varied as its regions, ranging from hearty, rich foods in the north to light seafood dishes along the coast to hot, spicy dishes in the south. It's the northern cuisines that we usually think of when we think of Indian food--heavily sauced foods and stews from the Punjab region in Northern India, and it is this region we travel to this month via tandoori chicken.

Tandoori recipes are named for the clay oven, called a tandoor, in which they're traditionally prepared. If you don't have one of these ovens sitting in your back yard, you're probably not alone. Your oven, set at a very high temperature, will do just fine. You can also use your backyard grill. They key to many Indian dishes is the balance of flavors and massive ingredient list. Tandoori chicken is no different. Once everything is mixed, however, the preparation is a snap.

Ingredients

• Six chicken thighs (approximately 2.5 pounds. You can use chicken breasts, but they won't be as flavorful. To get the most flavor, make sure the bones are in and the skin on--delicious!)
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 a small onion
• 1 small shallot
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice (or any acid--you could try lime juice or various types of vinegar)
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon Cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon Ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon (cinnamon will impart some sweetness to the dish. You can add more if you like, but be careful. Cinnamon is one of those spices that can easily overwhelm the taste of your food.)
• Salt (to taste, though you should add at least one hefty pinch)
• Ground pepper to taste

Optional:

• Cayenne pepper or red chili
• Cloves

Supplies:

• Roasting pan and wire rack

Note: Some recipes will call for red or yellow food coloring to help boost the dish's visual appeal. I don't like to go that route as it seems most unnatural.

Start with a large, non-reactive bowl (preferably glass) with plenty of room for the chicken thighs (but small enough to fit in your refrigerator). Finely chop the onion, shallot and garlic, and fold them together in the bowl with the yogurt. Add the lemon juice, stir to combine, and then add the paprika, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and pepper (also add the cayenne or red chili flakes if you've chosen to use them). In addition, you can add a pinch of ground cloves to your mix, if you want to add some of that smoky, anise flavor they impart. You can also add turmeric to liven the dish and give an additional color pop. Stir everything together and then place the chicken thighs in the bowl. Rub the mixture over the chicken thighs so they're liberally coated, then stash the chicken in your fridge and let it marinade at least two hours. Twelve is better, twenty-four is best.

When you're ready to cook, get the roasting pan and place the wire rack inside it. Put the pan and rack in the oven and pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. When the oven is heated, place the chicken on the rack and bake the chicken for approximately 30 minutes (if you stick a skewer into the middle of the chicken thigh, juices should run clear). Remove the chicken from the oven and serve it hot with rice. Some people will sprinkle chopped chives or cilantro as a final garnish.

Thus ends our summer culinary journey. Like all summer trips, the end is a bit melancholy, the return home just a bit too soon. Your own food journey doesn't have to stop, though. Keep exploring. Create! Seek out those cuisines and cultures that interest you and bring a piece of them into your home through food. It's not quite the same as being there, but it just might push you to make the trip.

A Taste Trip to Thailand (Pad Thai Noodles)

My July food column as it appeared in Satellite Magazine

This month we journey across the Pacific, leaving Peru and landing in Thailand to enjoy what is arguably the country’s most popular dish in the west, Pad Thai noodles. Pad Thai noodles is a traditional, single-pot dish with as many variations as there are people cooking it (one variant I found even called for ketchup). The secret is all in the sauce, so take some time and adapt it to your tastes. Again, don’t be afraid to experiment! You’ll probably want to go to one of the many local Asian markets in town for the tamarind sauce, but the rest of the ingredients should be available at the supermarket.

One other thing to remember: Asian cooking is often cooked fast and hot. The secret to being successful lies in the prep work. Once you get started, there’s rarely any downtime, so you can’t chop the scallions you forgot and you certainly can’t pop out to the store to pick up a last ingredient.

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 1 Package of wide rice noodles (might be labeled as pad Thai noodles)
• ½ block of extra-firm tofu
• 3 tablespoons peanut oil (or other low-flavor, high-heat-point oil)
• 2 tablespoons tamarind sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 cup chopped scallions (approximately three scallions, chopped on a bias—save a couple more from the bunch for garnish and crunch)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup bean sprouts (reserve some extra for garnish)
• ½ cup chopped peanuts
• 1 red chile, minced (you can substitute red pepper flakes)
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• Soy sauce

To begin, set the noodles in a large bowl and cover them with hot (not boiling) water. Allow them to soak for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the noodles from sticking. While they soak, chop the peanuts (I like using the chef’s knife, but you could easily chop them using a clean coffee grinder or place them in a zip-top bag and smack them with a wooden spoon or mallet). You’ll also want to combine the fish sauce, tamarind sauce and sugar, chop the scallions, and prepare the tofu in pieces about the size of French fries. Heat a wok--if you don’t have a wok, you should. If you still don’t have a wok, you can certainly get away with using a skillet. One with slightly sloping sides will work best for Asian cooking. Add a tablespoon of peanut oil to your wok and place it over high heat. When the oil begins to shimmer in the pan (it’ll look like it’s skimming across the metal if you move the wok), add the tofu and several dashes of the soy sauce. Sear the tofu for about 30 seconds on each side, or just stir fry for about four minutes total. Searing will give the tofu a nice texture, however, so I would recommend letting it sit in the pan for at least a little bit. When the tofu is done, take it off the heat, drain it, and set it aside.

When the noodles have finished soaking, drain them and take a moment to get ready. The ingredients will come together very quickly, so you’ll need to work fast. Dinner will be ready about five minutes after the noodles go in. Heat the wok back up to high, add some additional oil if needed, and toss in the garlic and scallions. Let them cook about a minute, then add the egg.

Allow the egg to cook for about 10 seconds and scramble it. Then add the noodles and combined sauce. Toss everything together until all the noodles are colored with the sauce and ass the peanuts and bean sprouts. Keep the wok moving! Let these heat through for about 30 seconds to a minute. Finally, add the tofu, let everything heat through again, and transfer the whole lot to a giant serving dish. Garnish with the extra chopped scallions and bean sprouts, and serve with lime wedges and the minced chile.

Thailand has a rich culinary history, and its cuisine is marked by distinct regional differences. However, Thai food is united by a blend of flavors--savory, sweet, salty, and sour--wrapped in varying levels of heat. The important thing is balance and taste, so feel free to add ingredients as you see fit. Pad Thai noodles are well suited for shrimp, chicken or pork. Just remember to taste, taste, taste!

Granola

If you're like me, you get tired of the same breakfasts all the time. If you're like me you also avoid fast-food breakfasts like the plague (though they are way, way more delicious than the plague. Especially the Burger King Croissanwich). This weekend I decided to break out of my weekday doldrums of a bagel and a banana and use some of the oatmeal that's sitting on top of the fridge, promising heart health and low cholesterol.

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup chopped almonds
• 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
• wheat germ (optional, to be added later)
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil (or other low flavor oil. You can reduce this by half if you're worried about calories)
• 1/2 cup honey (or more, to taste)
• 6 oz. dried fruit
• A pinch of kosher salt

Supplies

• Cookie sheet
• Large mixing bowl (glass or ceramic is best--try to avoid plastic as you'll be working with hot ingredients)

Begin by spreading the nuts and oat meal out on a cookie sheet. Bake at 300°F for about 20 minutes, mixing twice during the baking process (I went with 8 minute intervals). Remove from the oven and combine in a large mixing bowl with the oil, honey, a dash of the salt and a generous sprinkling of the wheat germ.

Note: Wheat germ toasts very easily. You can control your granola's flavor profile by adding the wheat germ at different times. If you add it too early, however, it might burn. I would suggest baking the wheat germ no more than five minutes. However, if you want a rich, deep flavor with just a hint of smokiness and caramelization, then you might want to add the wheat germ during the second mixing, about 16 minutes during the first baking.

When the ingredients are well mixed, transfer them back to the cookie sheet and bake your mix an additional five minutes. Remove from the oven, go back to the mixing bowl and add your fruit. Taste. If it needs sweetening (it probably doesn't, especially if you brought dried fruit, to which manufacturers almost always add sugar), add a little more honey or a teaspoon of brown sugar. Let the mix cool, and you've got yourself some excellent granola with few additives, no HFC, and it works out to about fifty cents per serving.

Pan seared tilapia with shallots and bacon

For a long time I thought tilapia was some kind of garbage fish. People talked about it with derision most often reserved for the Fillet-O-Fish or other generic whitefish battered and deep fried. But tilapia might be one of the better values currently in your local market's sea food section. It's cheap, low on the food chain, and farm raised, which makes it affordable, low in mercury and sustainable. And as long as you buy from farms with good regulation and safety practices, you can be assured of getting good, firm fillets that will stand up to a nice pan sear. Bonus? It provides some of the same omega 3 fatty acids as its oilier, mercury filled cousins.

This past weekend I picked up a couple tilapia fillets and brought them home. With some shallots and bacon I was able to throw together a simple, easy fish course (with bacon) in about 30 minutes, including prep. And it was delicious.

Ingredients

• 8 strips of bacon
• 4 shallots
• 4 tilapia fillets
• 1/2 cup water or fish stock
• 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar (or more, to taste)
• 2 tsp honey (or more, to taste)
• kosher salt

Begin by heating a pan over medium heat. While the pan heats, coarsely chop the bacon and slice the shallots into discs about a quarter-inch thick. When the pan is heated, add the bacon, stir briefly and then let it sit for six minutes (or as directed on your bacon's packaging). Flip the pieces, and gently stir in the shallots. Let the mix cook an additional four minutes. Turn up the heat just a bit, and remove the bacon and shallots with a slotted spoon.

By the time you've got the bacon and shallots out of the pan, it should be hot enough for the fillets. Place them gently in the pan and sear on one side about two minutes. Flip, and sear on the other side an additional two minutes. Don't move them or mess with them or anything. You want constant, prolonged contact with the pan to get good caramelization.

Remove the fillets to plates, then add the stock to the pan to deglaze it. Add the honey and vinegar to bring some sweetness and acid to the sauce and reduce the hit to low for several minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary. Drizzle the sauce on the fillets, then top with a smattering of the bacon and shallots. Enjoy!

What to pair it with?
I'm a big fan of contrasting food with wine--With hot, salty food, I like a cold, sweet wine. With this dish, the fat from the bacon provides a wonderful, unctuous texture that's just begging to be cut by a crisp white wine, like a sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio.

Travel the World (one cuisine at a time)

Satellite Magazine's June food column

America has its burger and fries, Germany its schnitzel, Russia its borscht and vodka. Regions, too have their assocaited dishes. The American south has its okra, corn bread and ribs. New England has its clam chowder, and Texas and the American Southwest their Mexican-influenced cuisines. This is how we can travel--through food--and expand our horizons. Feel like crossing the Atlantic? Avail yourself of some traditional bangers and mash, French cassoulet, or Spanish paella. The Pacific? Traditional Japanese sashimi might be the way to go.

This summer, we're going to travel through food, and we'll begin our jouney with a small hop to South America. Peru, specifically, and we'll get there via ceviche.

Ceviche is considered Peru's national dish, though a traveler can find variations up and down the pacific coast of South and Central America, from the trailing tip of Chile all the way to Baja, Mexico. Each variation comes with subtle regional differences in ingredients and preparation. What I bring you this month is a fairly traditional preparation (except for the pita chips), but don't be afraid to experiment with various citrus juices, different types of fish and your favorite vegetables. Just keep in mind that ceviche should be light, bright and refreshing, so steer clear of the broccoli and cauliflower.

Ceviche with pita chips (appetizer, serves 2)

Ingredients

• 10 Shrimp
• 2 palm-sized portion of sweet white fish (halibut, tilapia, whittig or the like)
• Juice from 6 limes or more (you need enough to cover the fish)
• 1/2 medium red pepper, diced small
• 1/2 medium green pepper, diced small
• 1/4 cup diced red onion (start with this amount and adjust to suit taste)
• 2 teaspoons fresh chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon kosher slat
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (increase for more heat)
• black pepper (to taste)
• 2 pieces of pita bread

Cut the fish into bite-sized pieces, and peel and devein the shrimp. You might want to remove the tails, but that's a personal preference. Place the fish, shrimp, salt and red pepper flakes in a glass or ceramic bowl and cover with lime juice. Give it a good shake, and then let it marinate for 2 - 3 hours. When the fish has turned opaque, you’re ready to continue.

A note about cooking with acid: the process the fish goes through during the marinade (check spelling) is called denaturation. In essence, the acids in the lime juice "cook" the proteins in the firsh and shrimp It's a technique similar in many ways to pickling.

To make the pita chips, tear or cut the pita bread in half, and separate the pockets, top from bottom. Each piece of pita bread will yield four pieces of the eventual hard toast. Line the pita pieces on a baking dish, brush them with olive oil, and bake at 400 for about five minutes. You want them to be toasted and slightly crispy. Bring them out of the oven and cut them into triangles. You can also serve the ceviche on lettuce leaves or as a simple seafood salad.

Once your fish has finished soaking, stir in the the remaining ingredients and give it a taste. Add salt or red pepper as necessary to bring up the flavor or heat. If you'd like it be a little more savory, you can add a dash of cumin or garlic. Remember, however, the flavor of ceviche should be bright and refeshing, just the thing on a hot summer day in Gainesville.

Liking the Lentil

This is a reprint of my May column as it appeared in Satellite Magazine

Simplicity. Done right, nothing matches its beauty. And yet time and again we strive for the complicated. The fussy. I turn this month to a kind of proto food: the lentil. The small, disc-shaped bean has long been a staple food for many cultures because it’s packed with fiber, vitamin B1, iron, protein and many other nutrients. They help level blood sugar, and are low in fat and calories--just 230 calories per cup of cooked lentils. They’re cheap, too, an important thing given today’s skyrocketing food prices. But like so many simple things, lentils are incredibly versatile. They can be served plain or used in complex curries as a main dish. Consider this a starting point, a gateway to exploration with this woefully under-used bean.

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried lentils
• 6 - 8 cups of water
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 medium shallot (or small onion)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 cups of fresh spinach, shredded
• Kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper

Place your stock pot over medium heat. Add the oil, and while it heats, mince the shallot and garlic cloves. Add them to the pot and let them sweat for about five minutes. Sweating is a technique that extracts flavors from aromatics and other elements without drastically changing their flavor. If you want to impart your lentils with a richer, smokier flavor, you can start the pot over medium-high heat and sautee the shallots and garlic cloves, browning them. Take care not to burn the garlic, though. Burnt garlic is often very bitter.

When the shallots and garlic cloves are done sweating and have gone a bit translucent, it’s time to add the lentils, water, and ½ tablespoon of Kosher salt. Stir all the ingredients together, and bring the mixture to a boil. When they reaching boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and angle the lid on the pot. The goal is to allow steam to escape and enable the mixture to reduce somewhat, concentrating its flavor. Simmer the lentils for about 20 minutes, stir in the spinach, and then let the mix simmer for an additional five minutes.

Note: Feel free to add other or additional vegetables in the 15 – 20 minute range. While the spinach lends its own richness and brightness to the lentils, other greens, such as turnip or collard would make excellent additions give the lentils a real southern flair. Zucchini or yellow squash could also be added as well as green beans or okra. For tougher vegetables, you’ll want to toss them in after the lentils have cooked about 15 minutes and let the vegetables and lentils cook for a total of 25 minutes. Just be mindful of the standard cooking times for the additional ingredients and adjust accordingly when you add them to lentils.

And that’s it. After about 30 minutes, you’re all done. You can add some additional salt and pepper to taste, but you shouldn’t need to. You can serve the lentils simply, in a bowl as a first course or over rice as a side dish.

But you don’t have to stop there. Lentils’ simplicity enable you to use them in all kinds of different ways. From curry soups to turkey wraps, from dumplings to patties, lentils lend themselves to all kinds of applications. One of the easiest and most delicious is the lentil burger.

Cook the lentils as above, then separate a generous portion for each patty (about 1 cup of cooked lentils) Using a cheese cloth or a clean tea towel, wrap them tightly and squeeze out any excess moisture. Then use a fork to mash the lentils into a paste, add some beaten egg and a couple drops of Worcestershire sauce, and form the lentils into patties. Heat a pan over medium-high heat, add some oil, and cook the lentil patties about 1 minute on each side --just enough to give the patties some color and heat them through. Serve as you would any burger, but they’re especially good with fresh tomato (this will work without the egg, if you want to go vegan. Just know the patties will be a little crumbly).

Chickpea and feta salad (Thanks, Gordo)

I've finally jumped on the Gordon Ramsay bandwagon. I'd heard about Hell's Kitchen, but hadn't dared let myself get sucked in. Until this season. Yes, the show is horrible. Yes, Ramsay is a caricature of himself. Yes, the contestants are, for the most part, hopeless saps who care more about fame and rubbing elbows with a star than about food or cooking. But one thing is clear, even through the haze of purple scripting, pointed editing and over production: Gordon Ramsay cares deeply for food, and the guy can cook. So why not seek him out in other venues?

I enjoy Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and The F Word on BBC America. Ramsay does his bit of yelling on each, but nowhere near the amount either coaxed by producers or discovered by editors at the Fox Network. The F Word, especially, is a good show that's filled with simple, excellent recipes and a crew of people who clearly enjoy cooking (full disclaimer: I've only seen one full episode of The F Word, but in my defense, it was the two-hour season finale).

This recipe is inspired by none of those sources. It comes from Ramsay's video series produced by The Times Online and available for download via iTunes. In his latest installments, Ramsay is offering up delicious, low-fat recipes to help people eat and live better. His original recipe calls for chickpeas, red onion, chile, lemon juice and zest, paprika, and fresh parsley. I couldn't find the red chile he'd used, but I wanted the color and slight fruity flavor peppers impart to a dish. I also needed the heat, so I substituted an orange bell pepper and a green bell pepper (the red bells looked well past their prime) and some red pepper flakes.

Ingredients:

• 1 15-oz. can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
• Half a red onion, thinly sliced
• Half an orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
• Half a green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 teaspoon salt (or more, to taste)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil + 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Fresh-ground black pepper (to taste)
• Red pepper flakes (added to taste)
• Fresh parsley (Though it pains me to say so, you can use dried parsley flakes for this dish. Go on. No one's watching.)
• A good chunk of Feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 lime

Other ingredients:
Pita bread

To begin, tear or cut the pita bread in half, and separate the pockets, top from bottom. Each piece of pita bread will yield four pieces of the eventual hard toast. Line the pita pieces on a baking dish, brush them with olive oil, and bake at 400 for about five minutes. You want them to be toasted and slightly crispy. Bring them out of the oven and set aside.

For the main dish:

• Cook the onions over medium-high heat for about a minute
• Add the peppers, sprinkle with salt, and reduce the heat to medium. Let the onions and peppers cook together for about four minutes
• Add the chickpeas and garlic and stir all the ingredients together
• Squeeze the lime over the pan, stir, and then add the pepper flakes and the parsley
• Then dump in about half the feta
• Stir to combine and until the feta just starts to melt
• Transfer the dish to a large bowl, add the remaining feta and some parsley and serve with the pita chips

This dish is so fast, it comes together in a manner of minutes. It's also incredibly healthy, intensely flavorful, and was a huge hit at my dinner table. Enjoy!

Friday fundamentals: walter, salt and green beans

The importance of solid cooking fundamentals can't be overstated. They are the skills that enable a person to toss cook books and recipes and just be in the kitchen. To start, I thought I'd tackle salt, but salt is such a crucial, complex cooking component, I simply can't do it justice in a single blog post. It would probably take an entire book to even scratch the surface of salt's importance, so I decided to stick with green beans.

Salt. It's lifestuff. Our bodies need it to regulate the water that sustains us. Too much salt and we bloat like Ball Park Franks. Too little, and we feel run down, lethargic. Our blood pressure drops, our heart rate increases. We can feel lightheaded or go into shock. It is also fundamental to cooking and is what we talk about when we talk about seasoning.

Properly seasoned food shouldn't taste salty; it should taste like it's supposed to, only more-so. Salt, used properly, will enhance flavors and make them pop. This is perhaps nowhere more evident than with boiled vegetables.

Most people consider boiled vegetables an anathema to good cooking. Boiling, they argue, leeches out the vegetables' essential vitamins and nutrients and leaves nothing but a pale green mush. That may be, for improperly boiled vegetables. Properly boiled, however, will give you delicious, well-seasoned vegetables whose color comes straight out of some MGM musical. The secret is in the ratio:

"For pasta, grains and legumes, enough salt should be added so that the water tastes pleasantly seasoned, between 2 and 3 tablespoons of Morton's kosher salt (or between 1 and 1.5 ounces of any noniodized salt) per gallon; evaluate it just as you would evaluate a soup for proper seasoning level; the salt level of the water will mirror the salt concentration absorbed by the food. For cooking green vegetables, heavily salted water is recommended: between 3/4 and 1 cup Morton's kosher salt (or between 6 and 8 ounces) per gallon of water."
- "Salted Water," Elements of Cooking by Michael Ruhlman

• To begin, select enough green beans for two side servings (I ended with two large handfuls--approximately 50 beans)
• Set 2 quarts of water with six tablespoons of kosher salt added on to boil in a very large pot (4 qt at least)
• Note: People often don't use enough water when boiling vegetables. When the vegetables hit the water, especially if they've come straight from the fridge, they're going to rob the water of its heat. When this happens, the water stops boiling and suddenly your vegetables aren't cooking as quickly or in the manner they should. When boiling vegetables, feel free to use as much water as you can handle. Just remember the ratio: 3/4 cup per gallon.
• While the water comes to a boil, snap the ends off the green beans (like asparagus, they should break where they need to)
• When you're ready, place the green beans into the water and let them boil for about four minutes (as boiling temperatures differ based on proximity to sea level and other factors, your cooking time might be slightly different)
• When the green beans are done, you can toss them with a small dash of very good olive oil, and serve immediately

Note: If you're going to serve the green beans later, you'll want to shock them in an ice water bath to prevent them overcooking. Let them come up to room temperature before you serve them.

Salt is, of course, a subject too complex to handle in a single blog post. In fact, I feel like I'm doing a disservice to the stuff by relegating its use to boiled vegetables, but it's a start. The thing is, you should never be without salt. And not that lame, iodized stuff. It can lend a weird, metallic taste to foods. Get some good kosher salt and learn to season your food. Your food and you family will thank you for it.

From Culinate: Rules for the home kitchen

An excellent article and 8-item list (though I tend to hate n-item blog lists) from Eric Gower. Of note? Number 5:

5. Be fearless. Courage is crucial to cooking well. As in many areas of life, fear of doing things incorrectly induces paralysis; this is devastating in the kitchen, because we wind up being too hungry to deal and just go out, order in, or pull out the TJ’s quasimeal.

But how is fearlessness learned? By not caring. It sounds paradoxical, but think about it: What’s the absolute worst thing that could happen by taking risks with your cooking? That it ruins the dish? Well, yes, but you will have learned something valuable in the process. And if you’re anything like me, you abhor wasting food, and will do everything in your power to bring it back from the brink.

Too salty? Add some sliced potatoes, which will absorb the extra salt. Too bitter? Consider adding a sweetener like jam or maple syrup. Learn to “repair” mistakes you make. So much about cooking is about salvaging things that go wrong. Along the way, you learn. But you have to be bold and take some risks. It’s just food, after all. [ more... ]

Fearlessness is one thing I've tried to incorporate into my own cooking. There's nothing wrong with messing up. In fact, messing up should be expected and even welcomed. Those mistakes can be the greatest learning opportunities. Remember my potato cakes? Though it took over 12 hours of thinking about it, I was able to solve the problem and came up with a delicious snack I could be proud of. I was also ridiculously proud of myself and tromped around the kitchen clapping like someone enfeebled. So go on. Take risks. Put fennel in your lentils (actually, don't). Just stop being afraid of the kitchen and get to it.

Just in time: how to peel ginger

From the fine folks at Chow.com.

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

March brought some significant things to Gainesville. Namely, perfect weather: blue skies and warm sun. The days hovered just under 80 degrees with light breezes and skies dotted with white, puffy clouds. But recently something's happened. Our gorgeous spring weather was replaced by dim, gray skies and a constant, spitting rain. Nothing to do but stay indoors, curl up with a good book and eat comforting, roasted cauliflower soup.

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower
• 1 qt chicken stock (can be made with vegetable stock)
• 3/4 cups parmesan cheese (separated, 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup)
• extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 medium shallot (you can substitute an onion, but the flavor will be stronger)
• Kosher salt
• Fresh ground pepper

Begin by heating the oven to 400 degrees F. While the oven heats, remove the cauliflower leaves and core and break the cauliflower into small florets. Spread the cauliflower florets in a single layer on a baking sheet or baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Kosher salt and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese. Place the cauliflower in the heated oven and roast for 15-20 minutes. The cauliflower's ready when you can easily pierce it with a fork.

While the cauliflower roasts, you'll want to get a large soup pot. Heat a tablespoon of oil in the bottom over medium heat. As the oil's heating, mince the garlic and cut the shallot to a fine dice. Add them to the pot and cook until translucent (about 5 minutes). When they become translucent, add the stock.

Once the cauliflower has finished roasting, increase the stovetop heat to high and bring the stock mixture to a boil. Add the cauliflower and remove the soup pot from the heat. Using an immersion blender, puree the cauliflower until the soup reaches a consistency you like.

Note: you can puree the soup in a regular blender. Just make sure to work in small batches and vent the lid from time to time, to avoid a cauliflower soup explosion.

After the cauliflower soup is smooth, add the remaining parmesan cheese and stir to combine, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve topped with some additional cheese and chives, oregano or chopped parsley. A couple pieces of good, crusty bread never hurt a soup, either.

I know huge swaths of the world are still dealing with wintry weather. Stop bemoaning the snow and sleet. Cuddle up. Hunker down. Do whatever it is you do when the weather outside is frightful. This time, though, add some homemade cauliflower soup. It's really quite good.

Cleanliness is next to...

This post marks the beginning of an irregular series of blog entries about the other things cooking can do for us. I hope to convince more people to cook. I've learned a lot by cooking: about food, the environment, and myself.

I often think about transferable skills. It's probably a holdover from my days as a professional resume writer. I had to wrangle people's previous work history into transferable skills they could use to get hired in a new career. So it is with cooking. I think cooking can teach us a lot. It can teach us about health and living well. It can connect us to the land and to our families and friends. And it can teach us about time, productivity and clutter.

When I was in college, my apartment was never cleaner than during finals week. I used to think it was procrastination, plain and simple. After reading Michael Ruhlman's Making of a Chef, I'm not so sure.

Chen was behind in his prep; his mise en place was everywhere but en place and his station was a litter of kale and spinach scraps and shallot cores and burnt paper towel that he'd been using to light burners. It was easy for this to happen. When you were swamped, you could not rationalize spending time to clean up what just going to become a mess again.

I think many of us probably feel this way when we're on deadline. In college, it was the paper due, or the upcoming test. Now it's the back-end database or the front-end entry screen or that troublesome piece of .css that must be finished before the site can be delivered to the client. Or it's simply getting dinner on the table. We can't possibly spare the precious minutes it would take to clean, can we?

But Chef Turgeon walked by and said, not for the for the first time, "Chen, you gotta keep your station clean." Turgeon saw that Chen was frustrated and didn't feel he could take the time. Turgeon, knowing Chen had no time to spare, stopped to chat.

Productivity Professional and Internet Comic Merlin Mann wrote about his war against clutter on 43folders. Generally, clutter--physical clutter--in our world bogs us down. It makes it hard to think, hard to achieve the "mind like water" state so often talked about in David Allen's Getting Things Done. By eliminating clutter we free ourselves to work more efficiently. We can work smarter, quicker and are unfettered by the visual blight clutter causes.

At work, my desk can become a mess. Same with my countertop at home. But I never feel better than when I clean it.

"You know in the weeds, in the shits?" Turgeon asked Chen. Chen nodded. "When I was in the weeds, when I was really in the weeds, I'd stop. I'd say, 'Gimme a second.'" Turgeon had looked up at an imaginary expediter and put his hand up like a batter asking the ump for time to step out of the box. Turgeon had an actor's body language. He was on stage; his movements were big, a caricature of what they were meant to portray. "Gimme a second," he said, hand raised, head down toward his station. Then he reached below, pulled a blue Handi Wipe from the sanitation bucket and again, slowly, exaggerating with large round shoulder motions, he wiped down Chen's station, thoroughly and methodically, till it was a clean open field of stainless steel, saying, "And I'd wipe down my station." Somehow he managed to convey service swirling around him, as he ignored it to methodically polish the stainless steel station.

The demo over, Turgeon tossed the wipe into the bucket, stood straight, and said to Chen, " 'Cause when you're in the weeds, this clutter starts to build up." He put his palms on the station and then lifted them slowly to chest level. "And if they cut you open," he said, "that's what your brain would look like."

That's what your brain would look like. Truer words were perhaps never spoken. We can't function with clutter--aural, visual, or mental. When I cook, I also clean. I establish my mise en place, crush the garlic, dice the onions, and while I'm waiting for them to brown, I clean. I wash and rinse the small ramekins I used for oil, onions, garlic. I wipe down the counter and cutting boards. I make sure my surroundings are clean before moving on to the next step. You'd be amazed at the cleaning you can get done while waiting for water to boil.

Cooking--learning to cook has made me more conscious of my surroundings. I have a better understanding of time and being able to use it to its utmost effectiveness. And just as I can't cook well in a cluttered kitchen, I know I can't work well with a cluttered desk, or write well with a cluttered office. So next time you find yourself in the weeds, in the shit, take a second. Wipe down your station. Get rid of the paper piles, coffee cups and Post-Its. Clear out your surroundings. As you do so, you'll also effectively clear out your mind, enabling you to work better, faster. The productivity equivalent of the Six Million-Dollar Man.

And next time you cook? Use those stolen moments to wash a pan, wipe the counter, or toss scraps into the compost container. Getting it done while you cook means you won't be thinking about it while you eat.