My life turned upside-down in December.  Out of the blue, I found a job opportunity with a great company that is doing exciting things in solar energy.  The thing is, I had to relocate from Orlando to St. Louis.  My first day at my new company was January 31.  This probably doesn’t mean much to anyone who doesn’t live in St. Louis, but that was the day a “historic” blizzard hit town.  I’ve lived in California and Florida.  Snow and I don’t know how to deal with each other.  For me, this was nothing short of traumatic.

The other half of the trama was that my husband stayed in Celebration so his son could finish out his senior year of high school.  So I was in the snow, alone and without my treaure trove of kitchen toys.  I didn’t cook much and therefore the blog fell off my to do list.

What I did do was eat out.   And I have some thought I’d like to share.  I’ve found lots of things to love.  But in keeping with my style, First let me get this rant off of my chest.  While researching my move, I became very excited to try St. Louis style pizza.  I’ve tried several versions and ….  I miss California pizzas.

Death to Provel

If you are a St. Louis native you know about Provel, and it’s likely that I’m going to offend you in my next sentence.   St. Louis style pizza is an insult to Italians, an insult to cheese, and insult to people with taste buds.  This is all because of Provel.  Pizza is a personal thing.  There are so many ways to make it and enjoy it that I had to think long and hard about declaring a method to be wrong.  Who am I to say that an entire style of pizza is wrong? I am the blogger! And if you come visit me we’ll have lots of good food but I will not allow a guest of mine to be subjected to St. Louis style pizza.

For the lucky uninitiated reader, there are really two things that define St. Louis style pizza.  A thin crust and provel cheese.  I can accept thin crust though some of the versions I’ve had are so thin that they are almost like a tortilla.  At that point it’s no longer a pizza, it’s a distant cousin.  I prefer a thicker crust, not NY style and absolutely not Chicago style but thicker than a classic neapolitan crust.

If the crust were the only differentiator, I’d probably decide that St. Louis pizza and I aren’t friends, but I wouldn’t declare open blogger warfare.  Unfortunately the creators of St. Louis style pizza weren’t content with just ruining the crust, they also felt it necessary to mess with the cheese.  This is where it gets ugly.  Why would any rational human being swap out the delicious stringy milky goodness of mozzarella for a processed cheese?  Seriously, were they mad (you can read that as angry or insane, both definitions apply)?

Provel is to cheese as a hotdog is to sausage.  It pretends to be in the same family, but one quickly realizes that all of the quality has been stripped out and the only resemblance is visual.  Provel is a processed cheese made with cheddar, swiss and provolone.  It’s specific to this region and the name Provel is a trademark owned by Kraft.   Wikipedia pretty much sums it up by saying that “like all processed cheeses, it’s legally allowed to be calledcheese.  You can buy it in the grocery store, typically in the deli section next to exotic cheeses, it typically comes in a plastic tub and is extruded.  You can’t call it grated, it looks like a long wad of spaghetti noodles.  It clumps together.  It melts over the top of the pizza like an oil slick and feels like one in your mouth.  I’m pretty sure if you tried to feed this to Nona from the old country she’d slap you silly.  Provel is all that is wrong with the US food chain.  It’s not food, it’s cheap mass produced nutritionally devoid garbage.

People from St. Louis LOVE their pizza.  And I’m happy for them.  The comfort of food is as much about a memory as a taste.  But as for me, I think I’ll be making my pizza as long as I live here.

I’m trying really hard this year to focus on what I’m Thankful for instead of what irritates me.  For some reason, it seems to be hard work to me.  It’s much easier to get frustrated at the “jerk” driving in front of me than it is to remember that I’m in the seven percent of the world’s population that has a car and the privilege of being behind that “jerk.” I should be grateful, not angry.  Not to mention that the frustration only serves to dampen my day while the other driver is blissfully ignorant of my rant and continues along without a care in the world.

So as I wind up my Thanksgiving weekend I thought I’d share some things:

I’m thankful for my husband who supports me and my blogging habit!

I’m thankful that our son wants to do well and isn’t one of those kids that get arrested.

I’m thankful for other bloggers who share their knowledge and help me learn.

I’m thankful that my job has allowed me to travel and taste food from all over the world (YAY PARIS!)

I’m thankful that anybody bothers to read what I have to say let alone comment!

I’m thankful that I feel loved and respected.

That’s it.  The list is much longer, but It felt very nice to share some of the things that make me happy.  Please post a comment about what makes you thankful!

Happy Holidays!

Bernie’s Turkey Delight!

1lb ground turkey

2 cups quick cook barley

1 cup chicken broth

1 bag cole slaw mix (shredded cabbage)

1 16 oz bag of mixed vegetables

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
Brown the turkey in a dutch oven  over medium heat using a spoon or potato masher to break it up.  Add chicken broth and barley.  Reduce to simmer and cover for 20 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients.  Cover and simmer for additional 20 minutes.
That’s it, you have cheap healthy dog food and a dog that adores you!  Come on, who could resist a wagging tail?

Bill’s son Tyler turned 18 last month.  To celebrate I asked him what he wanted for dinner — Mexican!!!!

I invited his girlfriend & my parents over and cooked up a storm.  I got so darn excited about eating dinner that I forgot to take any pictures.  The Menu:

Jalepeno Roasted Chicken
Chili and Cheese Rice
Re-fried Black Beans
Marinated flank steak
Flour Tortillas
Fresh Salsa

If you are reading my blog, you’ve likely come to realize I’m currently obsessed with Mexican food.  I absolutely love the flavors.  My dad used to joke about ordering in a Mexican restaurant “hmm,  do I want the beans, tortilla and cheese or should I have the cheese, beans and tortilla?” For a long time, I thought that was true.  But it’s not, the flavors are so layered with nuance when the cooking is done with passion.  It’s easy to see how Rick Bayless spent 20 years perfecting his Mole.  Every time I cook these foods I learn something.

In July we took a cruise on Princess and had a fantastic time.  The best excursion was in Cozumel.  My wonderful amazing husband researched and found a private cooking class in a woman’s home Cocina con Alma.  Josephina teaches small groups to make traditional dishes.  Along the way she explained the ingredients, the history and methods.  It was a fantastic experience.  Check out her site. We made the pork roast!  I plan to write another post with more detail about the class, but the point I wanted to make here is that she opened my eyes to simplicity.  Her salsa is the recipe I wrote about in my chicken tortilla soup post (linked to above).  It’s a 6 minute recipe and when you make a batch it disappears.  I can buy “fresh” salsa that will sit in the fridge for weeks!  With her recipe I’m lucky to have enough to put on my eggs in the morning.

Her class gave me a good dose of confidence and I’ve been playing around since then.  My family seems to love it as I’m not seeing any leftovers.  So for Tyler’s dinner I made a pretty ambitious menu.  The recipes for the chicken and rice came from the food network (Mexican made easy)  I changed up the rice a little adding more garlic, using chicken stock instead of water and upping the amount of peppers for flavor.  I have to tell you that recipe ROCKS.  It has the trifecta – easy, tasty and cheap.  The roasted chicken recipe came from the same episode.  I’ve made it three times now.  At first I was worried about the Jalapenos making the dish too spicy but when they cook down they are amazing.  The chicken gets flavored all the way through.  It’s stunning.

Josephina teaches tortillas in her class.  We made delightful corn tortillas that were light and flavorful.  When I came home and tried to make them I could not reproduce the results.  Mine were “corny-ier”  and the texture wasn’t light.  I experimented with the recipe, mixing in some flour with the masa trying to reproduce what she did.  I couldn’t.  I am assuming it’s a difference in ingredients.  So I switched to flour tortillas.  They are not effortless, but they are not in the same class as what you can buy in the store.  Worth every second.  I found the recipe online (link above)  I use my mixer to combine the ingredients and they turn out fine.

So now, I’ll finally give some actual original recipes.  I don’t usually link to other people’s recipes but I think it’s part of the learning process.  Research and make it your own.

I’ve made the flank steak about five times since July.  The keys are marinating and quick cooking over high heat.  Flank steak should be sliced thin against the grain or ti will be hard to eat.  This is the current favorite at the house beating out steak.  For the marinade I used my Salsa Rojo which freezes well.  Marinate the steak for about 30 minutes to an hour then cook over high heat for about 3 minutes per side.  The grill works best, cast Iron is second best but beware, it smokes,  a lot!

Re-fried beans are easy enough to buy in a can.  And they aren’t horrible.  In fact they are pretty OK.  So you may think why bother.  Please please please just once try it from scratch.  When you soak dried beans and cook them you get a different texture, a better texture.

Re-fried Beans

1 lb black beans or pinto beans
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 onion in quarter plus 1/2 onion fine dice
2 bay leaves
6 Tbsp Lard (yes lard) divided
3 Tbsp salt
2 whole cloves garlic
2 minced cloves garlic

Soak beans overnight with the baking soda.  Rinse drain.  Cover with water in a dutch oven or stock pot, add 1/4 onion, 3 Tbsp lard, salt,  bay leaves and 2 whole cloves garlic.  Bring to a rapid boil.  Cover, reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 90 minutes or until they are tender.  Remove onion, bay leaves and garlic cloves.  DO NOT DRAIN THE BEANS.

In a large skillet over medium high heat add lard and cook onions until soft.  Add garlic and then add about 3 cups of beans.  Use a slotted spoon so you don’t get too much liquid.  Heat the beans through.  Move to a food processor and process till smooth adding cooking liquid as needed to get the consistency you like.  Return to pan.  Add 1 cup whole beans.  Serve with cheese, sour cream, fresh onions.  I’d tell you what to do with leftovers but I’ve never seen them!

Cheers!

I think Mexican food is better with beer.  I always love IPA.  In this case I like the Stone IPA because it’s crisp and balances the rich foods.

Thanks to Jen at My Kitchen Addiction for hosting the Kitchen Bootcamp Challenge.  This month’s challenge was salad or salad dressing. I created a Cilantro Pesto Vinaigrette to top my Mexican version of a Caprese Salad.

This challenge was exciting to me because you won’t find a bottle of salad dressing in my house.  I think that store bought salad dressing is an insult to tastebuds.  Salad dressing is so easy to make and so much better than anything you can buy there is no excuse not to make your own.

When I first started thinking about this challenge I was overwhelmed by the options for creativity.  A salad can be made of anything – cold cuts, vegetables, grains, fruits, shellfish, pasta … and you can combine it any way you want.  As it’s summer and tomatoes are at the height of their season; I decided to build tomato salad.  Once that decision was clear I thought about my favorite tomato salad, the Caprese.  While I love it, I wanted to make it my own.  I’ve been really into Mexican flavors lately so I decided to spin the Caprese.

I started with pesto, replacing basil with cilantro and pine nuts with pumpkin seeds.  I added the lime loosen it and make it more of a salad dressing using an oil to vinegar ratio of 1:1 (the standard American ration is 3:1 but I find that too oily and not sharp enough).

For the salad I replaced Buffalo Mozzarella with  Queso Blanco and used my vinaigrette instead of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

We’ve all been there — great bottle of wine and no corkscrew.  If you wear dress shoes… no problem!

I am excited to enter the Kitchen Bootcamp Sauce Challenge with my authentic Mexican salsa recipe  for Salsa Verde which is also known as green sauce.  This sauce isn’t covered in the Professional Cook but my green sauce recipe is so simple and tasty I’m sure you’ll be making it for your family.  It’s similar to a French sauce Tomate or Italian marinara sauce in terms of preparation and is based on cilantro, tomatillos, yellow bell pepper, garlic and chicken stock.

Setting about making my green salsa and writing this post took me back to why I started making it.  The thing about being spoiled is that you  don’t know you are spoiled until something changes.  I’m from California.  I grew up not realizing that Mexican food is ethnic food, I just knew it as good food.  I assumed that everyone had access to hand made salsa, tacos, tamales and little off the wall restaurants where the sauces were made fresh using family recipes handed down for generations.  I lived in a version of food paradise and I took it for granted.

Then, I moved to Florida.  Sure, we have “Mexican” restaurants here.  The quotation marks are there to indicate that these restaurants impersonate, possibly even insult real Mexican cooking.  Sauces come in 100 oz cans tortillas in bags.  I searched and searched for a restaurant to become my regular place, but alas it was to no avail.

And so, I learned to cook the foods I craved.  I searched online for people sharing their family secrets and I started making my own sauces.  Living in California, Salsa Rojo was my favorite but now that I make my own, Mexican green sauce is my hands down favorite.  Once you have it on hand it’s perfect for making chicken, pork or cheese enchiladas, chilaquiles, chile verde, green rice, tamales or simply having special chips and salsa.

Making it reminds me of making my Italian red sauce.  I never quite make it the same.  Poblano chili’s have amazing flavor but they aren’t consistent in heat so you have to taste it.  If you want this sauce to be amazing use home made chicken stock you can also slow simmer pork or chicken in it to make the flavor even richer.  Another hint don’t salt it until it’s reduced to the point you want — otherwise you may end up oversalting.   I posted on making turkey stock, the method is the same for chicken.

Mexican Green Salsa Recipe

2 large yellow bell peppers
4 Poblano chilies
2lbs Tomatillos
1 large white onion
6 cloves garlic
2 bunches Cilantro
2 Tbsp Mexican oregano
2 Tbsp Cumin
3 cups Chicken Stock (roughly)
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Optional:
Grill the bell peppers, chilis, tomatillos and onion after lightly coating with vegetable oil this will give you great smoky flavor.

If you choose not to grill them then sweat the vegetables until soft in a large Dutch oven over medium low heat.

When vegetables are soft puree in a food processor, add one bunch of cilantro and garlic.  Return to Dutch Oven and add chicken stock, oregano and cumin.  Simmer for at least 2 hours until it reaches the consistency you desire, I shoot for something similar to spaghetti sauce.  Return some of the sauce to the food processor and puree with the remaining bunch of cilantro.  (I like to add the cilantro in two phases as you get brighter flavor).

Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.  You can also add sugar.  If your taste buds crave more heat add one or two Jalapeno chillies at the beginning.

Tip: This Salsa freezes well so double the batch and keep some on hand!

I used this last batch for Pork Enchiladas!  I slow cooked a pork but with onions and garlic, shredded it and combined with flour tortilla’s, Monterey Jack Cheese, and baked them until golden brown (about 45 minutes at 375 degrees)

Enchilada Assembly Station

When assembling the enchiladas, coat the base of your pan with green sauce, dip each tortilla in sauce, fill with cheese and meat, roll tightly and place in the pan.  Top with more cheese.

Assembling the enchilada

Ready for the oven!

Unfortunately I got so excited about eating that I forgot to take pictures of the final product!

If you are coming to my house for dinner, I have one bit of advice; come hungry.  Especially right now as I’m playing with my MATOFC (Mastering the Art of French Cooking) trying to satisfy my yearning to go back to France when my financial reality does not include a ticket.

Recently we had friends over for dinner and the 5 of us dined on French Onion Soup, Spinach and Mushroom Turnover, Baked Chicken with Lentil and Chocolate Pots de Creme.  Our meal spanned two hours and three bottles of wine.  I had cooked all day to prepare the meal and enjoyed lingering over it as I would have in Paris.  Treating each course as an event and eating in moderation so we could try the next taste.

I’ve been quite obsessed with Julia Childs .  Believe me there is a monster post or series coming on this topic but as a teaser;  I believe I know why she didn’t warm up to Julie Powell and neither should we!  My obsession includes reading four books and watching somewhere in the  neighborhood of 12 hours of “The French Chef”  Mostly I’m watching to see Julia in action, but one meal struck me, “Spinach Twins” in which Julia collaborates with Simca and they produce a beautiful Spinach and Mushroom turnover.  I had to make that dish and I was thrilled at how beautiful and tasty it turned out.  Julia made her own pastry dough, I cut myself some slack and used Pepperidge Farms dough from the freezer otherwise I did everything as Julia did.

As with much French cooking, the dish is deceptively simple.  I say deceptively because you could indeed slap this together quickly, but the beauty of French food is preparing each element separately then composing the dish so that instead of one blended flavor (think spaghetti sauce) you get a complete bite with delightful layers of flavor where each component is recognizable and delicious on its own and the combination is a gastronomic delight.

The base of the dish is blanched and chopped Spinach.  Plunge fresh spinach into boiling water for about 2 minutes then immediately shock it in cold water.  This preserves the spinach flavor, and color (we all remember that black oozing mess they called spinach in the school cafeteria, you didn’t like it then, you won’t like it now.  Squeeze out all the water and then chop up the spinach.  Place it in a pot and set aside.  I used one large salad bag and had a little too much use about 2/3 bag if you are concerned about waste, but spinach is cheap and I’d rather have too much than too little.

Quarter and saute 8 oz of mushrooms, set aside.  Dice 1/2 cup of ham and saute it, set aside.

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan dice one onion and sweat it over low heat with about 1/4 cup butter.  Put half the onion in with spinach.

Now comes the Sauce Bouilee.

add 1/2 cup flour to the onion and cook the roux.  Whisk in 1 2/3 cup hot milk.  This sauce is going to be THICK, like paste.  It’s not really a sauce, but a filling.  you want it this thick.  Take the pan off the heat and beat in an egg.  salt and pepper to taste, add a wisp of nutmeg if you like.

put about half that sauce in with the spinach.

Now you are ready to assemble the pastry.

Unroll the dough and coat the inside with an egg wash (1 egg, 1 Tbsp water)

Place roughly half the spinach mixture on one half the pastry sheet

layer in mushrooms and ham

top with a final layer of spinach

Fold the pastry top over, seal the edges, brush with egg wash and bake in a 350 degree oven.

If you have 45 minutes, watch the video.  Julia is just lovely.

]]> http://www.whineaux.com/2010/03/11/spinach-twins-a-la-julia-spinach-and-mushroom-turnover/feed/ 1 http://www.whineaux.com/2010/03/08/i-still-have-all-my-fingers-knife-skills-classes/ http://www.whineaux.com/2010/03/08/i-still-have-all-my-fingers-knife-skills-classes/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:58:58 +0000 dawn http://www.whineaux.com/?p=391

For years my knife skills have been a point of insecurity.  If you watch enough cooking shows, you too may share my issue.  I have bought DVDs, books and eagerly gone to demonstrations.  I had a friend who is a CIA graduate spend some time with me trying to show me how to use my knife properly so that I can gain speed and consistency without losing a damn finger.  My husband has treated me to several wonderful knifes that I love.  Knifes so sharp that I think if you mess around you could take your hand off at the wrist; forget about shortening a finger tip.

As I’m writing about knife skills you may be wondering why I have a photo of a De Buyer Mandoline at the lead of my post. Please be patient with me.  I’ll get there.

Finally, I found the Rolling Pin, a place in my area that teaches cooking classes and more importantly teaches KNIFE SKILLS 1 and KNIFE Skills 2.  Reading the description I really was not sure if I was going to learn much.

Choosing the correct knife for the job and knowing how to properly use it is the secret to fast, easy cooking.
Learn the basics of knife construction, how to choose the correct knife, safety, sharpening, and proper storage of knives.

You will practice proper techniques for chopping, mincing, slicing and julienne.

We will use our skills to make Homemade Winter Vegetable Soup and Designer Grill Cheese.

I felt pretty confident on all of these topics, however, KNIFE SKILLS 1 is a prerequisite to KNIFE SKILLS 2; and there was lunch, wine and an afternoon away from the house all for $35 so I went for it.  My $35 was VERY well spent.  I know about knife construction, I’ve educated myself on cutting boards and proper sharpening; and I know the mechanics of a dice, julienne, mince etc.  But I couldn’t seem to move the food and knife across the board in a harmonious manner — I looked something like a caveman trying to pull a square wheel.  It wasn’t pretty.

In 2 minutes Chef Dave (an owner at the Rolling Pin which also offers demonstration classes and stocks an amazing array of kitchen implements) had me cutting faster and more consistently than I’d been able to do on my own in a year of practicing.  I had been trying to circumvent nature and cut in a right angle where my left hand fed the food to my right (knife) hand at a 90 degree angle.  I was always fighting with getting the food to move, cutting felt clumsy, and I thought I was never going to get it right.  I began to feel that knife skills were like basketall and I would never have the coordination to do it right.  Nope, I just needed the right coach.  Chef Dave taught me about my cutting triangle and I’m extremely grateful for that lesson.

I liked class one so much that I instantly signed up for class 2 which took place this past Saturday.  In retrospect I wish I had let a few weeks pass rather than jump on my enthusiasm train.  This way I could have practiced more and came with more questions.  In Knife skills 2 we did cover how to sharpen and care for your knifes a little more and I think the information was presented really well, especially for people who want to cook more but aren’t cook book, cooking magazine, cooking blog, cooking TV junkies like myself.  Not many people read Larousse Gastronomique or McGee like a novel – I’m that dork who does.

In KNIFE SKILLS 2 We diced, we julienned, we peeled onions and then — we broke out the mandoline.

I have a few silly fears; such as  I’ll run right off a cliff to escape a honey bee (true).  I watch too much “Criminal Minds” which leads to all kinds of irrational fears.  I am also afraid of cutting my damn fingers off.  I don’t think this is totally irrational, as  it’s a common injury.  What is irrational is the certitude with which I believe(d) my mandoline was going to cut my damn fingers off (When I’m talking about the loss of them, they are indeed my “damn fingers”  as in “Honey can you hurry home, I cut my danm finger off trying to make french fries with the mandoline, I think I need to go to the hospital.”)

Each of our  stations had a mandoline to practice with.  We were cutting long strips of eggplant and zucchini to grill and making apple matchsticks for a salad. Not wanting to be a complete sissy or get caught hiding in the bathroom, I used the mandoline (without a finger guard as I was instructed because the core acts as a natural guard) to julienne apples into matchsticks.  At first I struggled;  I couldn’t get the apple to go through the mandoline because I was hesitating.  Then I did what Chef Dave told me to do and focused on the bottom of the mandoline vs the blade.  Voi La! I made that mandoline sing.

I had a very dusty De Buyer mandoline at home.  Yesterday I busted it out.  I made ratatouille (Julia Childs Recipe) and a roasted duck (also Julia).  I went through several potatoes (tonight is steak with frites)  and made fries.  I used the finger guard, but I made friends with the mandoline.  And for that I thank Chef Dave.

April 6 I’ll be starting the Cooking 101 class — join me!

If you are in the Tampa Area:

The Rolling Pin
2080 Badland Drive
Brandon FL 33511
813-653-2418

I bought this little dandy a couple weeks ago thinking I’d use it to make sauces in my non-stick pans.  It’s cute, heat resistant and safe on non-stick coating — what’s not to like?  After plunking down my $18 and it finally arriving in the mail I couldn’t wait to use it.  So I made Chocolate Pots de Creme.  I learned the answer to my fate tempting question (what’s not to like) the hard way.

The problem is that the tines of the whisk are too flexible to stand up to a thick substance so you are barely stirring and certainly not whisking the ingredients.  I was hugely underwhelmed by this product.  The tines are not strong enough to whip volume into egg whites let alone whisk a heavy sauce.

Whineaux Verdict:  Keep your money!