Hegwood Family Reunion Potato Salad

I'm not going to the reunion, but this salad and especially this yellow Pyrex bowl reminds me of the many times I went to the reunion. This was my grandma Hegwood's bowl, and she loaded it with potato salads like this one many times. This salad is going to a Fourth of July Barbeque, and for once I'm not doing the barbequeing-which is quite all right with me-I enjoy other people's barbeque.

There really is no recipe for this salad, just boiled and diced red potatoes, hard-cooked and diced eggs, celery, onion, and pickles. Mix with mayonaise flavored with bright yellow hot dog mustard (French's). I sprinkled parsley on top, but grandma would have probably put egg slices on top with some paprika.

Arabian Okra-Bamia

I've become a big fan of Middle Eastern cooking these days. The flavors of olive oil, garlic, lemon, cumin, coriander, and fresh mint can just be magical. The origins of this dish came from Claudia Roden's "A Book of Middle Eastern Food" originally published in 1968-my copy still has its original $3.95 price sticker still attached. I bought my copy used much later, in 1968 I was still in high school struggling with chemistry and Latin way before I decided I'd really just rather cook.

At Farmer's market this one farmer had his okra sitting right next to his beautiful yellow wax beans, so I bought some of each. Claudia's recipe contains just okra, onion, and tomatoes-I just decided to add the wax beans. I believe this would qualify as a "mezze" in Arabic or the equivalent of "tapas" or what has just become "small plates" on alot of American menus.

1 pound fresh okra

1 pound fresh yellow wax beans

1 medium white onion, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, sliced

2 large tomatoes, skinned and rough chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

Juice of two lemons

Salt and pepper to your liking

Chopped fresh mint, parsley, and cilantro (about 1/4 cup total)

Blanch the okra and beans separately in boiling salted water until they are just done and still crisp-tender.

In a saute pan large enough to hold all of the ingredients, heat the oil and add the coriander, garlic, and onions; let these flavorings sizzle a minute or two-do not let them brown.

Add the drained vegetables and the tomatoes, simmer over very low heat for 10 minutes.

Off the heat, add the lemon juice and taste for salt and pepper. Fold in most of the fresh herbs, reserving some to garnish the top of the salad.

Best served at room temperature. Really good made one day ahead and refrigerated-just make sure it comes to room temperature before you serve it.

Ma Kettle Meets Julia Child

The humble pork steak makes another appearance in my kitchen and proves you really can make a silk purse from the sow's ear, or at least her shoulder. The mushrooms are not eco friendly at all, they were brought in from Oregon, but I couldn't resist them. So the pork steak is the humble, mongrelish Ma Kettle in this narrative, while the morel mushroom is the pedigreed sophisticated Julia Child. While they may seem like an inconguous couple, they actually make quite a tasty dish.

For the steaks:

4 pork steaks (about 12 to 14 ounces each)

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup onion slices

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Brine the steaks for at least two hours before starting

Grill the steaks over hot coals to sear on both sides, place the steaks in a grill proof pan and cover with the stock, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Cover with aluminum foil and put to the back of the grill, and let simmer for 1 hour or until the meat is very tender. Replenish the fire if necessary.

For the sauce:

2 Tablespoons butter

4 ounces fresh Morel Mushrooms, cleaned and quartered

2 Tablespoons minced shallot

1/4 cup julienned ham

1/4 cup dry sherry

1/2 cup heavy cream

Saute the mushrooms, shallot, and ham in the butter.

Deglaze the pan with the sherry, strain the stock that the steaks cooked in and add it to the mushrooms.

Reduce the mixture by 1/3 and add the cream, reduce slightly until the sauce thickens, taste for seasoning and pour the sauce over the pork steaks.

Weekend in The Country

Last weekend was Father's day, it was also my parents 58 th wedding anniversary and my mother's birthday, so I made a trip back home to see them all and celebrate. Eventhough I haven't lived there for going on 40 years now, I still consider it home. These pictures were all taken in and around Princeville and Camp Grove IL about 30 miles North of Peoria. They were taken at my sisters, my nephew's and at my uncles Bill's garden. My uncle Bill is an organic, seed saving gardner-his garden is just huge and also lush. The corn and tomatoes aren't ready yet, but we had new potatoes-red and white-green beans, beets, and onions.

We had a couple of barbeques and even a few nips of moonshine, brought back from someone's recent trip down South. Life in the country can be idyllic, but I don't think I could give up my city ways.

Corn Tortillas

Let me get this out-I am not a good tortilla maker-I just don't have a natural way with pastry, I don't know why because both my grandmothers made exceptional pie crusts, but not me. That doesn't stop me from doing it anyway. These tortillas are so simple and taste so complex and rich it is hard to believe that masa and water are the only ingredients involved. I don't have a tortilla press, I just roll the dough out between sheets of plastic wrap with a rolling pin, so they are a bit on the ugly side, so while they won't win the beauty crown they will win the personality contest with their charm and flavor.

2 cups Masa Harina
1 1/3 cups warm water

Measure the masa into a mixing bowl, slowly stir in the water-here is the catch, like most pastry the masa will absorb different amounts of water on different days depending on things like humidity-so it is the art to add just the right amount of water.

Work the dough with your hands it should be dense and moist, but not sticky or wet. You can add additional water or masa to get the right feel. One positive thing about working with masa is that you can't over work it like you can flour pastries.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for 1/2 hour at room temperature

Get you cast iron skillet or griddle medium hot

Pinch off a golf-ball sized piece of dough and roll between your palms

Place the ball between two sheets of plastic wrap and roll out into a 6 to 8 inch circle

Place the tortill on the hot dry griddle-there should be a subtle sizzling

After 1 minute flip the tortill, it will probably puff up

After 30 seconds flip again for 30 more seconds remove the tortilla and keep warm until you serve them

Berenjenas en Escabeche

I started out making this dish before I could even name it. I bought this eggplant at Farmer's Market and planned to make this chinese garlic and ginger dish I love, but I couldn't resist the Rick Bayless recipe from my previous post, and I didn't think I wanted to mix Asian and Mexican, so I thought I would just take the Asian flavors (ginger, garlic, Mirin, sesame etc.) out and replace them with Mexican flavors of garlic, onion, Jalapeno, oregano, cumin, and Cilantro.

It appears that this is a common everyday dish in Argentina, as a condiment to all that grilled meat or as a sandwich topping. The eggplant was a superb compliment to the pork steaks. Eggplant is such a happy little camper and plays well with so many cuisines and flavors. The additions of mango juice and the mango salsa garnish isn't traditional but it was quite beautiful and the flavors all worked so well together.

1 eggplant, thickly sliced, liberally salted and let to drain for 1/2 hour

1 small onion minced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 small Jalapeno pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin

1/4 cup Mango juice

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

Chopped fresh Oregano and Cilantro

Rinse the salt off the eggplant and dry the slices

In a saute pan over medium high heat brown the slices in a little olive oil drain on paper towels

In the sam pan, add the onion, garlic, Jalapeno, and Cumin

Stir cook the flavoring over heat until they are softened, add the mango juice and vinegar

Reduce the liquid slightly-2 to 3 minutes-cool slightly and stir in the olive oil

Layer the eggplant slices attractively in a serving platter and pour the vinegar mixture over them

Salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle the chopped fresh herbs over the top

Optional Garnish:Fresh Mango Salsa

Puerco en Adobo

Pork with rich red-chili sauce, based on a recipe from Rick Bayless's "Authentic Mexican" book. Pork steaks are a St Louis regional dish you don't see often in other parts of the country. They are a slice from the shoulder. They have a bone and a cross section slice of several different muscles of varying degrees of tendernesss all held together by connective tissue. Here in St louis they are usually grilled and slathered in a sweet Kansas City style barbeque sauce. After reading one of Bayless's recipes I decided it would be perfect for pork steaks, he uses boneless pork loin.

4 pork steaks (10 to 12 ounces each)

8 dried chiles ancho, stemmed, seeded and deveined

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup diced onion

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 1/2 cup chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 bay leaf

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leves

6 Tablespoons cider vinegar

1 cup mango juice (Bayless uses orange juice)

1 Tablespoon Splenda (or sugar)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a saute pan, toast the chiles in hot oil, drain them and cover with boiling water, let the chiles soak for several hours or overnight. Keep them submerged by weighing them down with a small plate.

In the same saute pan, saute the onion and garlic until caramelised and browned, strain the onions and garlic, letting the oil drain back into the saute pan.

Drain the chiles and squeeze dry. Place the chiles, garlic, onions, cumin, bay, oregano, and thyme in a food processor and puree, adding 1/2 cup broth and 2 tablespoons of the vinegar. Strain the puree through a medium mesh sieve.

In the saute pan with the reserved oil, saute the puree for several minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in the juice and remaining broth and let simmer for about 45 minutes, partially covered. Stir and check the sauce often to make sure it is not sticking to the pan bottom. Season with the salt, sugar, and pepper.

Cool the sauce and take 1/4 cup of sauce and add the remaining 4 tablespoons of vinegar, marinate the pork steaks in this mixture for several hours. Refrigerate the remaining sauce until you are ready to grill the steaks.

Prepare the grill to medium hot-I always grill over charcoal-bring the pork and sauce to room temperature. Sear the steaks on both sides and grill several minutes. Place the steaks in a disposable foil pan, cover with the sauce and cover with foil, place at the back of the grill and simmer them gently over a low fire for an hour, replenishing the charcoal as necessary.

Honey Lavender Ice Cream with Golden Raspberries in Lavender Syrup

Here is a delightlgul ice cream that I have been making for years. It comes from the original "Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook" by Alice Waters. I usually don't care much for Lavender as a flavoring-mostly because it is just so easy to over do it and it seems like you're eating a bag of pot pourri. Here I used just a whisper of lavender to perfume the ice cream and also the syrup for the raspberries. One bite transports you to the South of France and sunny Provence.

4 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup robust honey (preferably one local to your area)

5 egg yolks

a lavender blossom

In a double boiler over hot water, whisk 3 cups of the cream, honey, and eggs. Whisk continually until the mixture thickens, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the lavender blossom and let steep for 1 minute, taste for the lavender. If you want a more pronounced lavender flavor, let the custard steep longer. Strain the custard and chill thoroughly-I usually let the custard chill overnight to make the creamiest textured ice cream.

For the Raspberries:

1 pint golden raspberries, washed

1 cup water

1 cup Splenda (or sugar, of course-we're trying to cut down on sugar-the Splenda worked well)

1 Lavender blossom

Bring the water and splenda to the boil, add the berries and simmer til the berries just barely soften. Turn off the heat and add the Lavendar-again taste until you achieve the right Lavendar accent, remove the blossom and chill the berries until you're ready to serve them.

French Barley Salad with Fresh Dill

This salad is an adaptation from one of the Moosewood cookbooks, I don't remember which one, and I first saw it on someone else's blog, which I can't remember either. It is a refreshing and healthy alternative to all the usual mayonaise laden summer salads. Dill seems to be the unwanted step-child of the herb garden. It is always a difficult sell in the restaurant, and it doesn't please serious wine drinkers. I am told that it is the Herb of the Year for the Herb Society. So let's give Dill a little respect and let Basil, Oregano, and Cilantro have a little rest.

2 cups of cooked barley

2 carrots, cut into bite sized chunks and blanched until crisp-tender

1/2 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and blanched until crisp-tender

1 sweet red pepper, julienned

1/4 pound mushrooms, quartered

1/2 cup toasted nuts-I used pecans

Dressing

Juice of two lemons

2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

1 small shallot, minced

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill, extra for garnish

Whisk the ingredients together and fold into the salad

Fried Chicken at The Kitchen Conservatory

Last week I taught a class on Frying Chicken. Usually I do demonstration classes, but Ruth (she's the techie and scheduler at Kitchen Conservatory) talked me into a participation class. Demonstration classes are easier for me being a control freak as I am-at least in the kitchen. It's pretty hard to control everything in a participation class. It was quite enjoyable.

I started by dividing them into teams of three members each. I chose three different recipes and three different techniques for frying chicken. They started with learning to butcher a chicken. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of this because I was too busy running from team to team and directing their knives-everyone was successful and no lost finger tips. They also had to make an old fashioned creamed corn dish, mashed potatoes (hand mashed and riced), cream gravy, and strawberry applesauce bread.

They had to do an electric deep-fried chicken, a kettle deep-fried chicken over an open flame, and a pan-fried chicken done in a cast iron skillet, in lard. Not surprising to me the favorite chicken was the one pan-fried in lard in the cast iron skillet. We won't worry about cholesterol for this one.

I'll probably repeat this class at some time in the future-who knew so many people don't know how to fry chicken.

Roasted Radishes

I got these radishes at the farmer's market, grown by Mrs.Kruse of Columbia IL, and many St Louis area chefs and foodie types will know her. Her vegetables, herbs, and flowers are always just beautiful. The radish greens just seemd too fresh and healthy to pitch, so I began searching the web for radish green recipes-there aren't many. Last Spring when I was making the gumbo z'herbs I read Leah Chase's recipe (She is the remarkable chef/owner of Dookie Chase in NOLA)

and she used radish greens in her soup mix, before that I never considered eating radish greens.

I came across a recipe from St Louis's chef Gerard Craft of Niche restaurant, published in Food and Wine magazine. Chef Craft is a wunderkind guy who is garnering all sorts of awards and acclamations for his food. Sadly, since I work the nights he is open, I haven't been able to eat there yet, but absolutely everyone I've talked to really admires it.

I think the colors of these radishes are also lovely and unusual. The lavendar radishes were quite sweet, the red ones were the hottest. The greens were bitter, but tamed by the lemon juice and butter.

So Here is Chef Craft's recipe (not exactly word for word, but in spirit)

One bunch of radishes with greens attached

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, divided

Detach the greens from the radishes and thoroughtly clean the radishes and the greens.

Quarter the radishes and lightly brown them in an ovenproof skillet with the olive oil, place the radishes in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

When the radishes are tender, add 1/4 cup lemon juice to the pan, season with salt and pepper, reserve while the greens cook.

In the skillet, wilt the radish greens, season with salt pepper, add the remaining lemon juice and butter.

I served the radishes over the greens.

Birthday

I had quite a little birthday celebration over the weekend. Cards, e-mails, presents, flowers, and a cake-I am a truly blessed man. 57 is the majic number this year.

We feasted on:

Roasted radishes-I'll do a separate post on them

Grilled corn on the cob

Rib eye steaks with chimichuri

Baked potato boats with asparagus and St Andre cheese

Chocolate cake with 7 minute icing and cinnamon ice cream.

La Paloma

These are addictive, salty-sweet-tart-boozy-juicy, much more appealing than Margarita. Translates to English as "The Dove".

Salt the rim of your highball glass

Fill the glass with ice

Squeeze one quarter lime into the glass and toss in the ssqueezed lime

Add 1 shot of white tequila

Add a splash of fresh grapefruit juice

Top with Squirt

Spit Roasted Leb of Lamb

The inspiration for this dinner is from my favorite taco stand. They serve a Tacos al Pastore that are quite tasty. You don't see these tacos any other place in town. They start with small corn tortillas topped with a marinated and grilled pork and pineapple-they are exceptional. I started researching this unusual taco. From what I understand it was an adaptation from Lebanese immigrants to Mexico. Today it seems to be made more often with pork than lamb, but I read that it started with lamb. I wonder why they didn't use goat because the flavor of goat and lamb are so similar.

In Mexico, the meat is vertically spit roasted with a pineapple at the top, so that the pineapple juices flow down, basting the meat. I have a small horizontal spit, so I had to brush pineapple juice over the roast as it turned. I roasted it for about 1 1/2 hours and let the leg rest for 20 minutes before slicing it, it was perfectly roasted to medium rare with lovely rosy, juicy slices of lamb.

I had every intention of making small corn tortillas for this, but as I said in my other post I had been doing yard work all day and there was no Maiz in the pantry to make them with, so I used a nasty store bought corn tortilla-it was still delicious. Add some rice and a fresh salsa made with pineapple, avocado, red onion, and jalapeno to turn a taco into a sit-down supper for Sunday night.

1 leg of lamb-I used a half leg, about 4 1/2 pounds

Marinade

1 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup pineapple juice

2 cloves of garlic, smashed

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 jalapeno, minced

Combine all the ingredients in a zip lock bag large enough to hold the lamb, add the lamb, and coat all sides, let the lamb marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

An hour before roasting, remove the lamb from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature, drain off the marinade and place the leg on the spit, roast until medium rare-about 125 degrees, as your roast rests before slicing, it will continue to cook until the temperature reaches about 130 degrees-perfect for me. Baste the lamb with additional pineapple juice as it roasts.

Serve with a fresh pineapple and avocado salsa and some rice cooked with vegetables and a roasted poblano chili.

Tequila Pineapple Martini

We spent all day Sunday working on the yard and planting containers. At the end of the day I shook up this special martini to enjoy while we sat on the deck to enjoy all the flora and fauna.

2 ounces Tequila

Pineapple juice

juice of 1/2 lime

Kosher salt

Pineapple spear, for garnish

Lime wheel, for garnish

Run a cut lime around the rim of you glass and dip in the salt to salt the rim.

Fill you shaker with ice, add the tequila, a splash of pineapple juice and the lime juice.

Shake vigorously, strain into the salted glass, garnish with pineapple and lime wheel, and enjoy your freshly planted environment.