cooksome

farmers market special

our farmers market special cooking class yesterday turned out to be sensational.  one of the things i like best about these classes is seeing how a diverse group of folks come together and really enjoy each other.  it happens almost instantly.  they walk in the door, there is a smile, an introduction and suddenly a joint purpose.  food does that.  it brings people togther.   

the menu for yestereday's class was based on using the very best of what was available at the farmers market. our menu was:

classic gazpacho

panzanella

nicoise salad with basic vinaigrette

caprese with a flavored vinegar and a flavored oil

pesto

 we brined two chickens and two pork tenderloins and later some shrimp.  i think everyone walked away from the class that day with a complete understanding and appreciation for that technique.  we put the pesto under the skin of the chicken and then we grilled everything.  the beauty of this menu was that everything could be mixed and matched.  you could serve any of the protiens with any of the dishes.  we tasted some great wines, my absolute favorite being the Pares Balta Blanc de Pacs.  it's a still cava.  it matched well with all the dishes.

duck duck quack quack cooking class

So I have finalized the menu for my cooking class on the 19th.  We are going to tackle 3  preparations of duck! 

The first course will be

seared duck breast in rice paper wrappers, mint, daikon, spinach and rice noodles with 

sweet hot chili sauce.

second course

salad of roasted kabocha squash, and stir fried vegetables with crispy duck

sesame, ginger, soy and chili dressing

third course

roasted duck legs with dried fruits and star anise served with

sticky rice

for dessert since I'm not much of a desert person, we will have simple Thai style coconut cake

accompanying beverages will probably be some sparkling wine, mimosas and either a Riesling or Gruner Veltliner.

                                    

Panzanella

Check out these beauties.  These are assorted heirlooms except for the tiny sweet 100's.  I don't think they are an heirloom variety.  In Maryland, the best time for tomatoes is August and September.  Sometimes, depending on the weather, the tomatoes start tasting overripe even if they are not.  It happens in September.  Nature's way of saying, "you've had enough"  

Aside from sliced with salt this may be my favorite tomato recipe. I started making it when I worked  at Bella Monte.  It was very popular there. 

Panzanella

 2 cups peeled diced assorted heirloom tomatoes (leave the seeds in)

 3 pitted olives chopped (your choice)

 a scant teaspoon of capers, rinsed and chopped

 4 or 5 leaves of Thai basil chiffonade (you can use what ever fresh basil you have)

 1 Tbsp chopped Parsley optional

Generous amounts of salt

Cracked black pepper to taste

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

3  slices of Italian bread, diced (day old bread is perfect)

1. Salt and pepper the peeled diced tomatoes and allow to stand for 5 minutes or so.

2. add the remaining ingredients except the bread.  Toss together

3. Add the bread cubes

4. Allow the mixture to sit for another 5 minutes

5. Serve

I put this one in a ring mold with a little extra olive oil and some balsamic.  A lot of folks actually look at this recipe and think, " eewwww! soggy bread"  But actually, the bread ends up being the best part.  Last night I took this Italian master piece and bastardized the hell out of it by adding a grilled hamburger and a slab of goat cheese.  I loved it.

grilled chicken with sweet potatoes

Monday night.  I'm dead tired.  I never sleep well on Sunday nights.  It's that 'hate to go back to school-work tomorrow' thing that I have never been able to out grow.  So as the dinner hour approaches and I don't smell anything wafting in the air I realize that I better get cooking.  Turn on the grill....

1.  I deboned two chicken thighs

2.  marinated the thighs in olive oil and a cheap cajun seasoning

3.  peeled cut in half length wise and thickly sliced a sweet potato

4.  cooked the potato on the stove till it was still slightly firm

5.  cooked off some green beans from the market

6.  I sliced up a little unusual yellow squash from the market 

7.  I grilled the sweet potatoes, squash, and chicken

8.  toss the potato, squash, some thinly sliced  onion, grated romano and sliced 

     fresh mint with olive oil and saba.  salt and pepper

9.  top with grilled chicken thigh  

10. drizzle with a little extra saba

great great salad

I know this is a stupid amount of steps for someone dead tired but my choice was to make something I wanted to eat versus something someone else would make that was well, just okay.  

Fall must be coming because I have been craving sweet potatoes.  The intent here of grilling them was to intensify the sweetness.  That is also why I used the saba.  For those of you unfamiliar with saba, it is grape must that has been cooked down until thick and syrupy and then aged in barrels of specific woods.  The process is very similar to balsamic.  And indeed, if you don't have saba, by all means use balsamic.  It would provide an acidic counterbalance to the sweet potatoes.  

Saturday night quickie

So it's Saturday night and I just had a quickie.  Don't know where your mind went with that but I was talking about dinner.  This is standard fare here at casa a la cooksome.  I realize early in the day that I probably have enough stuff to put together a meal and don't want to go to the grocery store so I end up winging it.  Invariably there ends up being some kind of acid (probably vinegar not LSD) and a generous amount of olive oil.  Salt, pepper, some cheese maybe some nuts for crunch, onions, I love onions, the possibilities goes on and on.  I forget who the cookbook author was that so wisely said, "the most important ingredient may be the one you left out."  In my brain, simplicity reigns.  A big thing on my side tonight is that it's deep summer and there is a whole lotta produce sitting on my counter and stuffed in the fridge.  Here is the run down on tonight's "quickie"

Thin sliced pork chops marinaded in cheap balsamic, red onion, salt and pepper and olive oil.I served the grilled chops over a salad of  sliced heirloom tomatoes, blanched green beans,

red onion, sheeps milk feta, a small amount of cooked ditalini and avocado. I added a half of a Thai chili cause everything is better with a chili.

Toss the ingredients in Olive oil and balsamic.  It needed a touch more acid so I squeezed in some lime juice.  Season liberally with salt and pepper.  

Pork Chops with Grilled Peaches

I feel like for the first time I am really enjoying all the great foods of summer.  The peaches, the cherries, watermelon, tomatoes of course.  It may have something to do with my outlook lately.  I am really excited by my new business.  Recently I saw a quote that read something like, "the more I enjoy what I do, the less it seems like work".    Food, has always been the one thing that can bring me back into focus and give me both a huge rush and a sense of satisfaction.   Didn't mean to get off track.  What ever, this year more than any others I have found myself using fruits in my salads and on sandwiches.  I use them so much I am not consuming as many tomatoes as usual.  I guess I am late coming to main stream fruit use.  Not to be confused with main stream fruit juice.  I know I am old school  about a lot of my food pairings.  To me some things just go together naturally so for dinner last night I put together a pretty classic pairing - pork and peaches.  I made a marinade for the pork chops.

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

4 tbsp spanish extra virgin olive oil

fresh ground pepper

fresh thyme 

1/2 clove fresh grated garlic

I marinated the chops for about 2 or 3 hours

For the salad I tossed greens with extra virgin olive oil

and some good balsamic, salt and pepper.

Grill the chops along with a ripe peach halved and tossed in oil

I topped the greens with a drizzle of sheep's milk yogurt, toasted pistachios and some chopped proscuitto.  Michael Chaierllo has a recipe for making these great proscuitto bits but I was feeling a bit lazy last night.  I only grilled the peaches long enough to put grill marks on them so they were not cooked through.   In any case, the salad was great.

Grilled Portobella and Goat Cheese Salad

Even though it's only early June, we are in the middle of a sweltering heat wave.  Tonight's dinner will be from the grill and definitely in the form of a salad.  We are trying to cut back on the meat anyway so meaty mushrooms, here we come.

Toss Portobellas with:

olive oil  

balsamic

 s & p

fresh thyme

rosemary

sliced fresh garlic

I got some spring onions at the market on Saturday so I'm going to throw those in with the mushrooms and grill them as well

Grill mushrooms 2 or 3 minutes on each side.  Grill onions till they get some good color.

Slice mushrooms and fan out over greens, topping with the onions

Crumble some goat cheese on top.

I have some roasted beets in the fridge that are going to be perfect with this salad.  The key to salads like this is use what's on hand.  If you have no greens, don't sweat it, go without them.  Stress creates heat and it's just to hot for that.   Just clear out the fridge for salad garnishes.

The dressing is almost a repeat of the mushroom marinade with the addition of some dijon.

2 Tb balsamic

1 heaping tsp of dijon

2 - 3 oz Extra Virgin olive Oil

s & p

fresh thyme