Ramps and Excuses

I understand that I use the moniker of Chef Gonzo for my name in four of these blogs in the Caliboy Network, and I also understand that I haven't been posting recipes up here regularly.

This is not the way to keep any of the random folks reading this (shout outs to Mike and Beth--love you guys!) interested and coming back. My bad.

I have hundreds of pictures from things I've been cooking that I haven't yet sifted through, and that's a chore for some day when nothing's going on (uh...when's that again?).

So, until then, here are some pictures of an annual six-week phenomena: Ramps:

They look kinda like scallions, they taste like a mix of onion and garlic, they're known as wild leeks, they grow in swampy areas from the Great Lakes region down to Tennessee and east to the Atlantic, they're a delicacy, and they seriously have a six- to eight-week season, and for something that doesn't take to cultivation, those six weeks are pretty cool.

Since they don't really grow once the landscape turns from swampy forests to grasslands, to get your hands on some means you need to know people who can send them to you (or order them online and outrageous prices).

I guess, that is, if you want to try them out. The second picture is one bunch prepped out: the white fleshy parts you can slice into rings or mince and toss into whatever you're sauteing, and the greens are great tossed into finished pasta or into salads.

One of the greatest things on this planet to eat is linguine and clams with ramps and guanciale (or, if the pork-jowl market is scarce in your area, use pancetta). All you'll need is some white wine, a splash of broth (the clams will provide plenty of flavorful juice), some red pepper flakes, and some French butter.

It makes me hungry just thinking about it.

Check back periodically...maybe I'll finally have gotten my shit together and went through the pictures and put up some new posts...

One of the Problems of Regular Home Cooking

I, and this entire blog, is generated around eating fresh and healthy and nice and cooking in your own home. You can feel better and save money by home cooking, especially cooking food from scratch; that's one of the main assumptions and premises of this blog. This blog, then, goes on to (try) and give a little how-to and background on making food fancy and fine, or haute.

But I never really go into some of the real problems, or nuisances, involved with home cooking, besides the cooking part, which itself is fraught with chances of cuts and burns.

One of those nuisances is DOING DISHES.

Holy cow, I'm tired of this. We don't have a dishwasher, and since we make most everything from scratch, there are a ton of dishes that need to be cleaned on a regular basis. For anyone reading this with restaurant experience, and especially in fine dining, you realize that that type of cooking adds even more dishes than normal.

But, we here at Gonzo Cuisine and in the Caliboy Network in general, stress that the commitment to eating right (and cheap and healthy) means doing a ton of dishes, and that this is just part of the life. Since when do Americans shy away from hard work? (Don't answer that...)

Here's an example. Every morning I make oatmeal for myself (Missus Gonzo hates it). I cut up fruit to add to it, as well as a little brown sugar, but not milk, since we never have any in the house. I usually add a little butter at the end just to make it a little sexy. But, since I don't have a microwave and I don't use instant oatmeal, this is what our (getting destroyed by constant use) sink looks like after I'm done eating:

That's a stainless saute pan, a bowl, a tiny fruit cutting board, a spoon, and a paring knife. That is not a trivial amount of dishes. And I make that just about everyday. In fact, this combo in the sink right now.

Live the life or not, but at least recognize what "living the life" means, and accept it. You will be more satisfied in your non-cooking life.

Birthday Breakfast

My birthday was few weeks back, and since it was during the week, I made myself breakfast. I made a family heirloom recipe, one I'm sharing here. I've been working on a name for this dish. Sometimes we call it "Bird's Nest Eggs" or "Schumacher Eggs", but maybe "Bird's Nest Toast" may be better. Jury's out, is all...

In any case, this is an easy and filling thing to make for breakfast, or a quick snack, or even a quick and clean dinner. You'll need a piece of bread, a glass (hopefully with a small aperture), and an egg.

Start with the glass and remove a round piece of bread in the center:

Then put the bread, with a touch of butter for toasting (not necessary), into the nonstick pan with the round, and place the egg in the opening:

Season well. Eventually you can flip both, and the egg will finish to how you like your yolk.

I like mine with hot sauce and cheese, feta here. I also like my yolks runny, but that's for another post.

If you like cheese, I'd suggest putting it on right after flipping the whole thing, that way it melts easier. This dish is easy and quick and filling and tasty, the quatra-fecta.

Quick Pan Sauce Recipe; Picatta Inspired

This is a quick little thing I put together using my non-stick pan instead of my stainless pan. I noticed that the Missus Gonzo had purchased shallots, and we had basil left over from something else, so I thought I'd used some of the cured lemon rinds I made and make a poor-man's, not too realistic picatta.

First I minced the shallot and garlic, seen below with the uncut lemon rind and basil:

Here's the chicken breast, cut in half and dusted with seasoned flour, working in the pan:

Here's the chicken resting next to the minced cured lemon, some chopped basil, and the minced garlic. Behind them is the jar of cured lemon rind:

Here the shallots work in the pan after the chicken's been taken out. You need to work the shallots first, and then add the garlic and lemon. The lemon rind has been cured with salt and lemon juice, which makes it kinda like a picatta flavor. Picatta is generally lemon zest and capers, so you get the sweet mixed with the salty.

Once you let the garlic and lemon bloom in the shallots, you can hit it with some wine, but that's not necessary. To finish the sauce, if you've used wine, let reduce mostly out, and then hit it with some stock, and let it work hard. Now you can either add a tiny pad of butter, but that's also not necessary. Finally, with just a minute or two to go, add the basil, mix it in well, and then return the chicken.

The dusting of flour on the chicken will make the outside of it gooey and more likely to hold the sauce. Flip the chicken at the last second, and plate it.

It'll be pretty and tasty:

Now, this is your basic pan sauce recipe: dusted chicken or pork or veal, nearly finished in the pan, shallots and other aromatics, wine and/or stock, a bit of butter, return the protein, flip and serve. As one of my New York sous-chef's used to say: Delicious, nutritious, and hot.

Jacques Pepin's Quick Brussels Sprouts

Quick may not be the right word, but this recipe is easy enough, and very tasty. I saw it on an segment of Jacques Pepin's show.

These were the Brussels sprouts I picked up, and they were quite large. This may have been a pound-and-a-half. I wanted it to be enough for us and for the missus' lunch the next day.

Start by slicing the sprouts longwise into slivers, after stemming them, of course:

Eventually they filled this stainless bowl: (That's when I realized it would prove plenty.)

Then, the rest: minced garlic and fresh thyme, and four slices of diced bacon:

Start with the bacon in a pan (or pot) that will be able to hold all those sprouts:

As the bacon gets some color, add the garlic and thyme:

Not shown was me deglazing the pan with a quarter-cup of wine. It's not necessary, and since I burned off the liquid it didn't do anything besides flavor the bacon just a little.

Then, once the bacon is sufficiently browned and the fat has been rendered, put in the Brussels sprouts:

My pot filled quickly, but with some stirring the greens will get coated with the rendered bacon fat and begin to brown:

Eventually they brown pretty well, and when they're soft enough, and browned enough, they'll be done and delicious:

And here's an idea for how much that stainless bowl of Brussels sprouts will cook down to:

Good, good stuff.

Roasted Pearl Onions

I found some pearl onions at the store this week and wanted to try some different things. This was the last of the onions, and I was roasting them for a beef garnish. I did it a little backwards, but this made it so they'd be done with no sauce, but so they'd be ready to be tossed into a sauce at the last second with other things. That's how a restaurant would do it, have them cooked already and waiting to be thrown in a sauce later.

Also, my butter timing would be different depending on what I wanted to do overall. That's hard to explain, but some kitchen people may understand.

Okay, so the onions are a little bigger than I would want, but you can't control what's in the bag (at a restaurant you may complain to the distributor if that problem persists). After peeling them, which takes a while, you're ready to go.

I got started with the following ingredients, besides kosher salt and pepper: a little red wine, some chicken stock, fresh thyme, some butter (in my case I used French butter), and the onions.

Start with hot oil and add the onions, and season with salt and pepper:

Then put them in the oven for a few minutes, but not letting them finish. After they get a little color, but still aren't done, retain them to the fire and add the butter and thyme. The thyme will pop and the aroma will be awesome:

As the butter bastes the onion (foams up over everything), add some wine, not too much:

As the wine reduces, add the stock and get it simmering again:

Now, return the lid and put it back in the oven. After ten or fifteen minutes, pull it out and check. The liquid/sauce will almost be gone, and below, those with a keen eye should be able to see that the pan's sauce is broken. That happens when you're trying to do this. This isn't about the sauce, it's about the onions.

Here's the final product, the soft and sweet onions over the sliced beef and rice. If I'd had a sauce going, I would've added them to it, but on this day my resources were limited.

Cara Cara Navel Oranges

Our weekly farm delivery this past week was all fruit, and inside were navel oranges. They send along a sheet of paper with the box's contents, and it seemed like the oranges had a specific name. I ignored it for the most part; they looked like regular oranges:

When compared to regular navel oranges, you can't tell the difference, which can't be said about blood oranges. Blood oranges usually have rinds with orange-to-maroon gradation covering the dark purple-to-red flesh. Below, one of those is a regular navel orange and the other was one of these cara cara navels:

I mention all this because when I went to peel the cara cara navel, I noticed something weird: the flesh was pink, like a ruby red grapefruit. Check below at the comparison of the two above oranges:

Cara cara navels are named for the cara cara region of the Venezuelan coast where they were discovered by the western powers in the late 1970s. Hardly available in the US until the late '90s, and even then it was only to be found at up-scale specialty grocery stores, some farmers are now starting to grow them in other orange heavy regions.

The flavor is sweet and less acidic than normal orange-flavor, and has been said to resemble berries and rose petals. I'm not so sure about that; I find it between regular oranges and blood oranges on the flavor scale. Mild, sweet, not so acidic, pretty refreshing.

Fenugreek-Pisco Fennel Garnish

This will turn out to be a non-trivial amount of work for a protein garnish, but it is fun to do. This recipe is modified from a baby-fennel recipe I used to do in New York, and the result is mostly the same. This is the time of year we're getting our fennel bulbs from our farm delivery, so finding cool stuff to do with them is the work.

A few notes before I start: the essence of this blog is how to make fine cuisine with the what you have on hand, and fenugreek and Pisco aren't run-of-the-mill items. Fenugreek is sold most commonly in American stores as a tiny yellow pebble-looking seed in the spice area, but it can be found in special Turkish or other Mediterranean specialty grocers as dried or fresh leaves. It is a main component of that wonderful Turkish Doner-kabob or shish-kabob smell or flavor. It's recognizable and awesome. It's also not totally necessary for this dish. Pisco is a Chilean and Peruvian brandy at about 70 proof, and can be substituted for with wine or a higher octane spirit.

Starting off you want to clean up the fennel and slice it for work. Here we see mine has been used already for something else (salad maybe):

Next we get some of the supplies needed. Pepper mill, kosher salt, and chili-flakes (optional) all are rather regular kitchen staples. The dark liquid is stock, which I usually have on hand from making our cat's food regularly (from boiling chicken carcasses), and the light liquid in the plastic measuring cup is the Pisco. Again, wine or another spirit would work, but the alcohol element is necessary. I'm not showing the fenugreek because you don't truly need it, and mine is so old I'm not sure of its potency anymore. I'm not showing the spice tumeric, which you will need. Tumeric is a yellow powder that stains everything it touches neon yellow or green or orange, and is something a spice cabinet should stock. You'll never know when you'll need it, and a little goes a long way, so it's not so bad to have.

Make sure you slice out the hard core bits from the bulb, and get rid of any brown spots. Also shown are a few minced garlic bulbs.

In your pan start with some hot oil, then add the fennel, and salt and pepper.

As the fennel softens, add the garlic and chili flakes and fenugreek (if you've got it), but make sure they don't burn. As they toast, add a sprinkle of tumeric:

As the aromas start to blend and the fennel still retains some crunch (it's a tough bulb, and will caramelize a bit before it ultimately softens), deglaze with the Pisco/alcohol element:

Let it reduce until there's no liquid (using perhaps less than what I've shown in my earlier photo), and then add the stock. Again, use less than in my photo. Bring to a simmer and let it go for a bit:

In the New York recipe the amounts of liquid are both quite small, so in the end, the tiny bit of liquid residue and the soft and tasty fennel can be mounted with butter and turned into something so savory and delicious that you don't know what happened. I didn't mount it with butter, but that's mainly because I added too much stock. That's not the worst thing, though.

As a garnish, use a slotted spoon and place the fennel on top of a red-meat protein, beef or lamb work best. Yummy:

Chicken Wings: Tasty Scraps

One of the good things about buying whole chickens is all the things you can do. I'm able to parse out the breasts, leg quarters, carcass for the cat food and stock for rice, and all the while squirreling away the wings into the freezer for a rainy day.

Or until the bag gets too full.

When that happens--overflowing stock--you know there's enough to yield an entire dinner for two and lunch for one the following day.

That, and wings are good. They're the tastiest scraps you'll be finding on a chicken. If you want to deep fry them so be it. If you want to pan fry them and butter baste them to make 'em sexy, so be it again (highly recommended).

For me, with the (overwhelming) amount of wings I had stored, I went ahead and roasted them in the oven. I tossed them in a large bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper, and a little cayenne and placed them out on sheet trays:

There were a lot, seriously:

Wings are just too good, and I mean that with all sincerity. Not that it matters, but the forearms are my favorite.

How to Cut "Nice" Cucumber for Salads

This method for cucumber cutting can be used for both American style green salads as well as Mediterranean style chunky salads (the tomato, olive, cucumber and feta kind). Some folks will tell you that it's always best and "nice" to peel the cucumber. That's right and wrong. It's best to be able to see both green skin and white flesh on each piece of cucumber.

Like so:

Start with a piece of cucumber:

From there, using a knife slice off pieces of skin at places you call top, bottom, and sides, like this:

Now quarter the cucumber thus:

Next, tip each quarter on its side and slice out the seeds. Those are definitely not "nice":

Next, slice each quarter piece in half down the white section...

...and then dice into appropriate sizes. This yields uniformly sized pieces of cucumber with a bit of green and a bit of white on each piece, with nary a seed in sight (is the idea anyway):

The remaining seed centers are great to scarf down with a pinch of salt and pepper. Yummy and refreshing.

Simple Beef Tips and Rice

Beef Tips is a dish I first heard of while working for a caterer in Texas. Apparently many people are familiar with it, but I probably wouldn't eat too much of what we made. I wasn't sure what it supposed to be at the time, and nobody said it was just braised beef cubes served over rice. Now that's pretty good stuff. Braised beef over rice is simple and grubbin and a good way to stretch your money, but we at the caterer made was a poor example. 

Braising beef is very easy; it really only taxes your time. I'm talking about over the stove in the following case. Other methods for braising meat is in the oven or in a counter-top crock-pot. If you use fat or oil instead of a water-based liquid then it's called confit.

And, just to set people at ease, when I started working in the fancy kitchens in Manhattan and came across the word confit for the first time written on paper, I totally did pronounce it "KAHN-fit". The word is French, and pronounced "kohn-FEE".

In any case, the meat here is cheap beef. Cube it and season it. Start with some mire poix in the pot:

For this particular job dredge the cubed beef in a mixture of flour, salt, pepper and cayenne:

The flour dredge isn't necessary really, but for this simple recipe it helps with thickening the sauce. Not necessary.

The liquid for this braise/stewing is a simple one: 4 cups water and a half cup soy sauce. Beef tips in general can have different kinds of braising liquids, but it doesn't need to get too fancy; no ketchup or mustard or beer or pickle juice or savory spices needed.

Once the mire poix is done, the bottom of the pan will look nice and covered with yummy glace:

That's flavor right there. Remove the vegetables and set them aside. Add some more oil and start browning your beef chunks.

Pay close attention, as the flour will have a tendency to burn and pretty much screw everything up. Get the heat turned down and constantly prod the beef. This is contrary to how you brown meat for stewing in normal cases when no flour is being used.

Once all the cubes are browned, return all batches (most likely) and vegetables back into the pot along with the water and soy sauce:

Simmer until the beef is fork tender, anywhere between 30 to 60 minutes (checking periodically):

Serve over rice with some greens. I prefer blanched broccoli: