Archive for the ‘Dinner’ Category

Corn Pesto Orecchietti with Crispy Bacon

0
May 10th, 2012

The closer summer gets, the more I start to crave food that’s a little bit on the lighter side. My body naturally wants me to be eating whatever it is that the season is providing. And in the summer, keeping it light seems to be a common theme. But I also want to make sure its comforting at the same time. For me, a pasta dish made with super fresh ingredients of the summer offers as much comfort as a hearty, rich bolognese sauce would in the winter. For me that’s really the important thing about eating seasonally. If not for anything other than selfish reasons. I try to feed my body what it craves. In this particular instance, my body craves corn pesto with orecchietti and bacon. The reason I choose orecchietti is because they are like little bowls. Since I also mix in whole corn kernels with the corn pesto, I want my little pasta bowls to fill up with the pesto and the corn so you get that juicy pop in every bite. Cooking with love really just means thinking about the little shit while you’re cooking. That extra ounce of thought is the difference between good and great.

Ingredients:

1 lb of Orecchietti Pasta

1 handful of fresh basil, washed

4-5 ears of Organic corn, if you buy one thing that’s organic, make it corn.

3 Cloves of garlic, sliced

5 strips of good quality bacon

1/2 – 3/4 of a cup of Pine nuts, toasted

Half of a lemon, juiced

Olive Oil

Pecorino Romano for grating

Salt & Pepper

______________________________________________

The thing that will take the longest in this recipe will be getting the pasta water up to a boil so put that on the stove first. Then get started on the pesto.

First, toast off the pine nuts in a dry pan just till they begin to brown a bit and give off a nutty aroma. Make sure they do not burn by tossing them around every so often.

While the nuts are working, remove the corn kernels from the ear. You do this by cutting off both top and bottom of the corn so that they can stand up straight. Then you simply cut down along the sides of the ear of corn, making sure you remove as much of the corn from the stalk as possible. Corn is the best this way, in my opinion.

When your corn is ready, slice up your cloves of garlic and also prepare your basil for the blender by plucking the leaves from the stem.

When the nuts are done, transfer them to a bowl. Then add the cut up bacon bits to the pan and slowly cook until all the fat renders out and you have crispy bacon bits to top the pasta with when the dish is finished. When it’s done, transfer it to a paper towel to let the excess oil drain out.

In the same pan you cooked the bacon in, add the corn and the sliced garlic and cook on high heat for about 5-7 minutes.

While that’s cooking, in a blender, add the basil and the pine nuts.

Right before you add the corn to the blender, juice a half a lemon to add some brightness to the corn.

Then add about half of the cooked corn to the blender and reserve the other half to mix into the pasta.

Add about a half cup of olive oil to get the pesto going, and add more if you see its a little too think to blend properly.

It should look something like this. Mine looks a little more green than normal because I only had 3 ears of corn when I should have used 4-5 but it should not affect the taste that much. The more corn you use, the more yellow the pesto will be. So don’t think you did something wrong if it doesn’t look as green as it does below.

By this time the water should be boiling. Add the pasta and cook untill its almost done, or al dente. The pasta will continue to cook even after you strain it so make sure you don’t cook it like 1 minute before its perfectly cooked.

Before you drain the water, take a coffee mug and reserve about half a cup of the starchy, salted pasta water. Italians use pasta water religiously when making their sauces (that is, if they are not making a tomato sauce). Since the water is starchy from the pasta and seasoned with salt, adding a little bit to the pesto not only helps to loosen it up and gives it body to help become a sauce, it also flavors the sauce as well.

Drain the pasta, transfer it back into the pot, then add the pesto and stir it up.

Then add in the remaining corn kernels…

…then however much pecorino romano you’d like…

…then finally the crispy bacon.

I like eating orecchietti in a shallow bowl, it just seems easier to eat that way. To plate, spoon the pasta in the bowl, grate some more cheese on top, sprinkle a couple pieces of bacon and then finish with some fresh basil. Guys, this is not hard at all and is actually delicious. It only requires a pan and a pot so clean up is easy. Please give it a shot, it’s for your own good.

 

 

 

, , , , , , ,
cheese, Comfort Food, Dinner, Healthy, Pasta, Quick & Easy, Sauces

Lemon Vinaigrette Marinated Wild Coho Salmon, Shiitake and Cremini Mushroom and Sauteed Ramp Ragu

0
April 25th, 2012

On my days off, I make sure I take the time to eat some soul satisfying food. That usually means I’m gonna be making it myself. But, even though I want to cook, I’m gonna keep it simple and try to make my life as easy as possible – after all, it’s my day off.

My family is going through a sort of health craze. There was too much take-out being delivered, so, my mom asked me to make salmon and figure out something to go with it. Grocery shopping is fun as long as the market isnt a piece of shit. A new Whole Foods opened up near me so I decided to go there.

I picked up some salmon, then I strolled on over to the produce aisle and just took it all in to figure out something that will go well with the fish.  I found some really nice looking mushrooms, I grabbed some shiitakes and some creminis. Then I caught a glimpse of one of Spring’s finest contributions, ramps (see picture below). If you don’t know what ramps are, they are like a garlicy mix between spinach and chard. They are deee-licious. If you can’t find ramps, a nice substitute would be spinach, chard, or a combination of both. Salmon, mushrooms and ramps are all aboard the cart at this point. I thought sautéing the mushrooms with the ramps and cooking it down in a little sauce, kind of like a ragu, would be a nice bed for some kind of marinated salmon. I knew the dish wouldn’t take longer than 30-40 minutes to throw together, which is why I thought it would be a nice
recipe to share with you all.

The better I become at creating a concept for a dish based on the quality and freshness of what’s available at the store, the happier I am; it’ll also help me be better at my job. The way I see it, if you own a food business, even if you’re not the chef, you need to be able to understand what it takes to make great food. The only way to do that is be a great cook. If you just know how to run a business but you don’t know much about food or cooking, you’re at a serious disadvantage. That’s why I love food shopping, I know it’s viewed as a
dreaded chore for most people, but for me, this “chore” keeps me on my game…and I love it for that!

Ingredients:

4 Wild Coho Salmon Fillets, skinned

1 1/2 lbs of Assorted Cremini and Shiitake Mushrooms, scrubbed with damp towel

1 lb of Ramps, washed

1 tablespoon Fresh Chopped Thyme, chopped

4 Garlic Cloves, sliced

1 Lemon, juiced

2 cups of Vegetable Stock

1/2 cup of White Wine

1 Tablespoon of Butter

Salt and Pepper

 

Salmon Marinate:

1 tablespoon of dijon mustard

4 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme

1 Small Lemon, zest and juiced

1 – 1 1/2 cups of Olive Oil

1 tablespoon of Agave

2 Gloves of Garlic, grated on microplane

Salt and Pepper

______________________________________

First thing to do is marinate the salmon. It should take about 20 – 30 minutes to prep everything which is plenty of time for the fish to marinate. Toss the fillets into one of those large ziplock freezer bags with a really tight seal that you would trust to slosh around. Add all the salmon marinate ingredients listed above and then mix it all up really good to form the marinate and to make sure the surface of the salmon is nicely coated. Then open the “zipper” a little bit and try to get out as much air as you can from the bag. Try to make it as airtight as you can, if you know what I mean. Let that sit in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

 

Now get chopping! After you’ve cleaned the mushrooms, you have to cut them. Its always important to remember that when your cooking vegetables, you want them to be relatively equal in size so they can cook evenly. I see the shittakes are about twice the size of the creminis. Also some creminis are much smaller than others. So in order to keep them the same size, I cut small cremini’s into quarters, bigger cremini’s into six and the shiitakes into eight or even ten depending on the size. I think taking the time to think about that makes a big difference.

Next up, ramps! Once you’ve cleaned the ramps, dry them, and then bunch them all up like they are below and cut them into little strips, stems and all.

In a sautee pan on high heat, or if you stove is really strong (mine sucks), medium high heat, add some olive oil and throw in the mushrooms and thyme and saute until the mushrooms are brown and cooked through. Keep tossing them around making sure they are getting color on all sides and not burning. You don’t want to salt mushrooms too early. salting will extract all the moisture causing the mushrooms to steam rather than brown.

Once the mushrooms are about done, add in the ramps and the garlic.

Cook it down for about 2 minutes, until its wilted down and everything is incorporated. Now is a good time to season everything well with salt and pepper, its gonna need it at this point.

Squeeze the juice of half a lemon in there…

…then add the cup of wine. Let that reduce for a minute.

Then add about 2 cups of vegetable stock. Let it reduce by about half.

At this point, you should be about 10-12 minutes away from being complete which means you gotta start cooking the salmon. The coho is a thinner salmon so I choose to cook it about 4 inches below the broiler. I do this because I want some color on the salmon. Simply roasting it will cook it nicely but it might get over cooked before the outside gets any color. The broiler will cook it through and also give it a nice char. It should take about 10-12 minutes for perfect salmon, depending on the thickness of course.

You know its perfect when it starts to flake at the slightest touch. It should still be slightly pink in the center. Nothing worse than overcooked salmon. Let it rest while you finish off the sauce.

Once the stock is reduced, turn the heat off and start to swirl in small slices of butter slowly to give the sauce some body. It should be finished. Taste it to make sure there is enough salt and then you’re ready to plate.

To make a beautiful presentation, all you have to do is spoon some of the ramps and mushroom “ragu” on to a plate, lay a piece of salmon on top and spoon over some of that sauce on top to finish. It’s really a simple dish that doesn’t take very much skill at all. But simple is usually the best and its simplicity is what I think is most impressive. I must advise you to give this one a try.

, , , , , , , ,
American Food, Dinner, Fish, Healthy, Leafy Greens, Quick & Easy, Sauces, Vegetables

Chili…with beer and mexican chocolate…

1
October 19th, 2011

When the weather starts to cool down, the food we begin to crave changes. When its chilly out (pun intended), I start eating soups and chili like an animal. Which is exactly why we are going to be introducing more soups and chili on the menu at Food Freaks Grilled Cheese very soon. In fact, this chili recipe will be offered on the cart by itself in a bowl but also in our new sandwich (if you’re curious what the new sandwich is, stay tuned for my next post). I made this chili last year for a Super Bowl party along with this Buffalo Wing recipe. I had never made my chili with chocolate before but I always heard of people doing it and it really adding something special to the flavor. So when I went to go find some chocolate, a package of Ibarra Mexican Chocolate caught my eye. I never had Mexican chocolate before but I knew it was supposed to be some crazy stuff, so I just bought it. Its just got undissolved granulated sugar, cocoa and cinnamon. Adding this stuff near the end of the cooking process really takes the chili to another level. It gives the chili a deeper flavor than I’ve had before. I also wanted to make sure I used a lot of vegetables, definitely makes the chili taste a little better.

Ingredients:

2 lbs Freshly Ground Chuck

1 Large Bell Pepper, diced

1 Red Onion, diced

2 Medium Carrots, diced

2 Jalapenos, diced

5 Cloves of Garlic, smashed and chopped

1 Cup of Tomato Paste

1 Cup Brown Sugar (you could use agave as well but I think brown sugar gives you a better flavor)

2 Tablespoon Chili Powder

1 Tablespoon Paprika

1 Tablespoon Cumin

1 Tablespoon Coriander

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

1 Tablespoon Mexican Oregano (regular oregano is OK as well)

1 Half of a bar of Ibarra Mexican Cholocate

1/4 Tablespoon Cayenne

1 Can of Kidney Beans, drained

8 oz Can of Whole Plum Tomatoes, broken up with you hand

4 Dried Chilis

3 Tablespoons, Vegetable Oil

2 Cups of Beef Stock, approx

1 Bottle of Wheat Beer

Salt & Pepper

____________________________________________________________________

First things first, prep your veg.

Split each carrot in half. Then cut each half of carrot in half again, giving you 4 manageable pieces to be able to cut the way you want them to be cut.

Then take each piece and cut them in to three pieces lengthwise and then go ahead and dice the carrot into cubes.

Take the bell pepper and rid if of all its ribs and seeds. Cut the pepper in half and then into long slices or as a chef would say, “julienne.”

Then dice the pepper.

Cut the red onion in half and peel the skin off. Then make a few horizontal cuts, being VERY careful that you don’t cut your hand.

After that, you make vertical cuts all the way across the red onion and then continue to dice it all up.

Cut the jalapeno in half and get rid of the seeds and the ribs. Then dice it up exactly as you did the bell pepper.

Smash 4 or 5 cloves of garlic and the roughly chop them up.

In a big pot or dutch over over medium high heat, add the vegetable oil and get it hot and then add in all the diced vegetables.

Season them with salt and pepper.

Cook those vegetables, stirring occasionally until…

…they look like this. You want to see a nice amber color and some browning on the bottom of the pan. As I’ve said before, the brown on the pan is what you are trying to achieve, its 100% flavor.

Once the vegetables get nice and brown, add the ground chuck…

…season it with salt and pepper, liberally…

…then stir it all up.

Now add all your spices and tomato paste.

Once you’ve stirred that all together, you should really begin to see the beginning of a delicious chili. It almost looks ready to eat at this point but its still has a ways to go.

Add in your bottle of beer to pick up all that brown stuff on the bottom of the pot. Mix it all together.

Next, add the crushed tomato and stir to combine.

Now its time for a taste test. Check to see if its maybe a little too spicy. If it as, simply add more sweet. I already added brown sugar with the rest of the spices but when I tasted the chili at this point in the cooking process, it was a little too spicy for my liking. You can easily correct that by balancing out the spicy with sweet and in this case, I used agave nectar. It tames the heat.

Then go ahead and add the beef stock…

…then add and submerge the dried chilies…

…then lower the heat to simmer the chili and let it cook for at least 2 1/2 hours. The longer you cook it, the better. You may find that that some of the moisture evaporates during cooking. If this happens, just add a little bit of water at a time while it cooks.

After about 2 hours of cooking, I like to add the Mexican chocolate. As you can see, the inside of it is very grainy from the undissolved granulated sugar. If you tasted the chocolate by its self, its kinda gross. But when you add it to the chili, it really elevates it to something special.

Grate in about half of one of those circular bars of the chocolate.

Continue to cook the chili until desired thickness. After about 2-3 hours, it should be ready to go.

To make the best bowl of chili, its all about getting the cheese melted properly. Bust out a nice handful of shredded cheddar cheese.

Ladle some chili in an oven proof bowl and fill the top with the cheese.

Get the broiler in you oven blazing and then put the bowl directly underneath it.

It’s done then the cheese is bubbling and just beginning to brown. Going the extra mile to brown the cheese really makes a difference.

I’m really proud of this recipe. I definitely think it’s one of my recipes that came out way better than I had imagined it would and I’m real glad that it did. I think you should invite some friends over this weekend for the games, give this chili a try and blow them out of the water. You could use it to make nacho’s OR, you could use it to make a certain specialty of a certain grilled cheese cart that I just so happen to have ties to…shhh…stay tuned to find out what it could be…

, , , ,
American Food, Beef, Comfort Food, Dinner

Cherry Tomato, Basil and Fresh Mozzarella Bruschetta

1
August 18th, 2011

Sometimes I really don’t want to cook. I either have things to do or I’m just too drained. Even though I may not have the time to cook, I also might not want to order out because let’s face it, delivery food isn’t too good. Lots of factors come into play, for example the container the food travels in, the time it takes for delivery and the people handling it usually makes for a sub-par eating experience. So when I find myself in this state of mind, I always try to think about the easiest possible thing to make. Bruschetta usually comes to mind fast. Basically toasted bread with something on top.  The easiest, tastiest one that I know to make is a tomato, basil, mozzarella bruschetta with some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and some grated garlic. Takes literally 5 minutes to make. And if you are a true food freak, you’d know that something so simple is only truly amazing when, and only when, you use great ingredients. When you buy a tomato, pick it up, touch it, smell it. It should have a little give to it but not be too hard or too mushy. It should smell like a tomato. It should also be red. That may seem obvious but have you been in a supermarket recently? Ever see a tomato that has a green hue to it? That’s because industrial tomatoes are picked when they are green and then are treated with an “artificial ripening agent” that makes them red and appear ripe. They are not. It’s nutritional value isn’t even close compared to that of a ripe tomato. And in terms of flavor? Completely tasteless. That’s why I rarely eat tomatoes in the winter, its very hard to find a decent tomato in the northeast during the colder months. All ranting aside, a good tomato is key. If you can get your hands on some, this is a great, inexpensive, quick to produce meal that you can always have in your arsenal.

Ingredients:

A ball of fresh mozzarella

Half a pint of fresh cherry tomatoes

Fresh basil

1 Garlic clove

Some good Italian bread

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Salt & Pepper

__________________________

Take a cherry tomato and slice it in half. Then lay each half flat on the cutting board and cut each half into four equal pieces. Add the cut tomatoes to a bowl.

Cut a few slices of the mozzarella into thick slices. Then stack those slices on top of each other and slice the pieces into large matchsticks. Then, making perpendicular cuts, dice up the mozzarella and add it to the tomatoes. Try to make the tomatoes and the mozzarella the same size.

Using a microplane, grate a clove of garlic into the bowl.

Add freshly torn basil to the bowl.

Add salt and pepper to the mix.

Finally add about 1-2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and about a tablespoon of olive oil and mix to combine the ingredients.

Set the mixture aside, let everyone get to know each other for a bit while you toast the bread.

In a pan, drizzle a bit of olive oil over medium heat and wait till the pan gets hot.

Add a slice of the Italian bread and cook until its lightly toasted on one side.

Then flip it and do the same to the other side. You may have to add some more olive oil, the bread will soak it up.

Traditional bruschetta calls for taking a raw clove of garlic, cut in half and with the cut side, rub all over the crusty bread. Please feel free to do it this way rather than incorporating it to the mixture. I did it this way because I’ve grown used to it. It is probably better to rub it with garlic. Whatever you want to do. You are running the show…

All that’s left to do is top the toasted bread with with tomato, mozzarella mixture and dig it. It’s one of my favorite snacks!

, , , , ,
cheese, Dinner, Italian, Quick & Easy, Vegetables

Salmon in a Bag

0
March 14th, 2011

GOT A HOT DATE? Don’t waste your money on an expensive restaurant, or even worse, a horrible cheap one. Everyone loves a home cooked meal. If you are trying to make a good impression, invite the person over, get some wine and cook that shit yourself. The perfect dish to impress is, fish in a bag, or what the French call, Fish en Papillote. It’s easier to make than it is to pronounce, place a piece of fish on some aluminum foil, slice-up some vegetables and throw them on top with some lemon, butter and wine; finally seal up the foil. After a quick bake in the oven you can present a restaurant quality dish the will truly knock anyone’s socks off, or hopefully a little more, you might even ”get it in.” So make some fish in a bag, and then DO YOU!

Ingredients:

2 6-8 oz Wild Salmon fillets, you can use a white fish like Sole or Cod

1/2 Red onion, thinly sliced

1 Carrot, julienne or thinly sliced

1 Zucchini, julienne or thinly sliced

2-3 Garlic cloves, minced

1 Lemon

1 Cup of good white wine

4 Thyme sprigs, pulled from the stem

1 Tablespoon of butter

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

____________________________________

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

You only need half a red onion so cut it in half straight through the root. Put one half aside and take the skin off the other half. Then slice that half again into two parts. Then peel a few layers away so you can lay it kind of flat as seen below…

…once you have it secured on the board, slice nice thin even strips.

Take the tops and ends off the carrots and peel the skin away. Then take you vegetable peeler and peel a thin layer off one side of the carrot so that you have a flat surface for it to sit on your board without running all over the place.

Cut your big carrot in half so you have some manageable pieces to work with. Then carefully cut each half lengthwise into thin planks.

Take the thin planks and stack them a few at a time carefully cut them into thin julienne strips. Do yourself a favor and use a bigger knife than this one, its the wrong knife for this.

Take the ends of the zucchini and slice it in half, just like the carrots, so it’s manageable. Then stand up each half and cut thin planks, again, like the carrots.

Stack up the think planks a few at a time and then cut thin strips, just like you did to the carrots.

Smash garlic like you mean it…

Chop garlic.

Throw all that veg in a bowl…

Add about 3 tablespoons of olive oil…

…salt…

…pepper…

…and toss to combine.

Tear off a few fairly big pieces of aluminum foil and fold them in half.

Open one piece of foil up and place your salmon on one side of the fold. Give yourself enough room to seal the foil, I put the fish a little closer to the fold and to the edge.

Place a nice handful of the vegetable mixture over the fish along with some of the thyme.

Layer about 4 lemons on top of the fish and then top that with a knob of butter.

Start at one corner and crimp the edge to form an airtight seal all the way around.

Don’t seal it off all the way though, leave a little opening to pour your wine into.

Add the wine.

Once you’ve got all your little fish packages done, throw them on a sheet pan and bake them for 13 minutes…yes, 13 minutes exactly!

After 13 minutes, take it out and let it sit for a minute while you get together what you’re serving it with. I cooked up some jasmati rice. Quick fool proof recipe for rice: 1 cup rice, 2 cups water, a tablespoon of butter. Melt the butter in a little pot, toss in the rice and toast for about 5 minutes moving constantly, you don’t want them to burn. Once they start to smell nutty and are all coated in oil, add the water, bring to a simmer, put the lid on and cook for 15 minutes or until there are little oils in the rice from the steak escaping.

Plate up some rice and the fish making sure you get all those vegetables (minus the lemons) on to the plate on top of the salmon. The pour all the juices in the foil over the salmon, that’s the best part right there.

This meal is perfect for a date, its light, delicious, tasty, impressive and easy. Pour some of that wine you’ve got open, the compliments will ensure and you’ll know then that it’s in the bag…

Email me –> thefoodfreak@gmail.com

, , , , , ,
Dinner, Fish, Healthy, Vegetables, Wine