Entries from May 25th, 2011

Harvesting Wild Bamboo Shoots

2

25.5.11

So we have a bamboo forest growing in our backyard. It’s great for privacy, constructing supports for tomato plants, and attracting neighborhood cats, but we recently realized that they are edible. I was skeptical at first, but they taste so much better than the canned or pickled bamboo shoots you can buy at the grocery store. They’re sweet and tender, evocative of baby corn and water chestnuts.

Bamboo sends up tons of shoots in the spring. If you don’t dig them up, they’ll take over your yard before you know it.

The next step is removing the coarse, dark outer layer to reveal the bright green interior.

We have had success slicing them and then stir frying them with mushrooms, freshly harvested mustard greens, and sesame seeds and adding them to soba noodles.

2 comments categories: Vegetables

Confronting the Meat Grinder

0

15.5.11

This month’s Charcutepalooza challenge was one of the easiest yet, but I put it off until the last-minute. The large, old-timey meat grinder that I had borrowed intimidated me, but the grinding process was so much easier and more rewarding than I imagined. You toss in the cubes of meat, turn the crank, and within minutes you have fresh, homemade sausage. I kept the meat very cold, but I didn’t bother with the whole metal bowl and ice thing. I don’t even have a metal bowl. And I didn’t die after eating my sausage, so I think everything is fine.


I chose to make Mexican chorizo for this challenge. The only appropriate cut Richardson Farms had available was “pork stew meat.” It seemed a little too lean to me, so I lobbed off a piece of pork belly that I had stashed away for bacon or pancetta making purposes. I tossed all of the chunks of meat with chili powder, cayenne pepper, hot smoked paprika, fresh garlic, cumin, cinnamon, a little ginger, black pepper, and fresh marjoram and serrano peppers from the garden.

Chorizo always makes an excellent taco filling. I love preparing it using the traditional Mexican method of adding shredded potato and a little onion to the sausage to make it go further. Then I brown everything up nicely in the skillet. My favorite accompaniment is a salad of grilled nopales cactus with poblano peppers, white onion, cilantro and lime.
Cactus Salad (Nopaliches)

Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 nopales paddles, stripped of thorns and sliced into strips
2 poblano peppers, roasted and sliced into strips
1 white onion, sliced into thin rings
½ cup cilantro, minced
juice of 3 limes

Bring a pot of salted water to boil, and toss in the onion. After 5 minutes, add the nopales and cook 5 minutes longer. Turn off the heat, and drain the water from the vegetables. Place the blanched onion and nopales in a bowl and add the roasted poblano pepper strips along with the cilantro. Add the lime juice, salt to taste, and toss the vegetables to coat them evenly. Serve the nopaliches wrapped in warmed corn tortillas. Mexican cream, queso fresco, hot sauce, and chorizo also make a nice addition.

0 comments categories: Charcutepalooza, Charcuterie, Meat, Mexican, Pork, Sausage

I Beg You: Please Stop Buying Salad Dressing!

3

10.5.11

I despise bottled salad dressing. I grew up during the era of fat-free Italian salad dressing, and I can remember the taste clearly: powdered onion/garlic flavor, combined with a sickly sweet undertone of sugar or corn syrup, dehydrated vegetable flakes, some preservatives and additives, all held together with soybean or canola oil. No wonder many people don’t care for salad.

Salad dressing has become like mayonnaise, meaning that it is one of those food products that people don’t make from scratch anymore. It doesn’t even occur to people who you can make it because the food industry long ago convinced us that it is just too much bother. But homemade salad dressing is as easy as mixing some oil and vinegar (or citrus juice or some other acid) in a Tupperware container, and giving it a good shake to emulsify.

Adding a finely diced (or even coarsely chopped if you’re lazy) shallot to the vinegar will take the salad to another level. I throw the shallot pieces into the container and cover them with the vinegar or citrus juice. After adding a generous pinch of salt, it is best to let the mixture emotionally sit in order to lightly pickle the shallot, mellowing out that oniony bite.  Finally, mix the shallot and acid mixture with 3 or 4 times as much oil, grind some fresh pepper into it, place the lid on the container, and shake it to emulsify.


This dressing happened to be walnut oil and sherry vinegar, but you can make a delicious dressing with simpler ingredients like olive oil and lemon juice. It will be free of unnecessary additives muddling the flavor, and it will taste brighter and more pure than anything you can buy at the store.

3 comments categories: Vegetables

Cookbook Review: Around My French Table

2

03.5.11

Of course I’ve heard of Dorie Greenspan. Her name makes me think of Paris, baking, and World Peace Cookies. I’ve perused her blog and listened to her guest appearances on The Splendid Table. I always thought of her as a baker, but her newest cookbook, Around My French Table, proves that she is an accomplished cook as well. After 30 years of living and travelling in France she accumulated a vast collection of recipes from friends, and she also concocted many of her own while living in Paris, inspired by the quality ingredients available in markets and shops. It seems like the book Greenspan has waited her whole life to write.

The comparisons to Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking are expected, but Greenspan’s book is quite different. Instead of emphasizing classical technique, it showcases modern French home-cooking, combining recipes for the obligatory seared duck breasts and onion soup as well as Lamb Tagine, Vietnamese Chicken Soup, and other recipes influenced by France’s colonial legacy that home cooks have now incorporated into their regular kitchen repertoire.

This is a hefty cookbook, complete with stunning photos of many of the recipes, beckoning you to cook them. Around My French Table is the kind of book where you can flip to the index and look up an ingredient if you need to use up something in your fridge. It is packed with simple, vegetable-heavy recipes that are just a little different and more exciting. For Easter, her asparagus with onion and bacon was outstanding, especially with my homemade smoked pancetta/bacon.

So for the last few months I got carried away, making labor-intensive and meat-heavy meals. I don’t bother to chronicle them because by the time the food is ready, I’m too tired and hungry to photograph anything. Beef rendang and homemade chicken satay are delicious, but they also take about three hours to make. Dorie Greenspan’s beautiful book is reminding me that a simple asparagus soup, well-prepared lentils, or a goat cheese tartine and salad can make a super-satisfying meal in under an hour. Her recipes highlight fresh, pure ingredients, which is really the core of French home cooking.

2 comments categories: Cookbook Reviews, French

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