Celebrating the Last Day of Summer

Chili with Homemade CornbreadI am sad to say goodbye to summer, especially the long days. However, I am excited about fall foods--apples (I prefer mine firm, not overly juicy, slightly sweet with a pronounced apple flavor), winter squash (delicatas are among the best), and local potatoes.    I am also excited about cold weather cooking--soups and stews and of course chili.  It was sunny and in the 80s in DC today, not exactly cold weather, but for some reason I was craving chili.  I make my chili with dried heirloom beans.  You have to soak the beans overnight which adds an extra step, but I think these beans have so much more flavor.  I use either beef or buffalo, but you could absolutely use turkey as well.  And yes, for you vegetarians out there, you can skip the meat at the expense of flavor and texture, however.  Other secrets to my chili--chipoltle chili pepper, a bottle of dark beer, a mixture of spices, and maple syrup.  Chipoltle is a smoked jalapeno.  I love the smokiness it imparts to the chili.  The beer speaks for itself, but I find that the sweetness of the maple syrup both dulls the spice and enhances the smokiness of the chipoltle.  I made homemade cornbread and I serve it with sharp cheddar cheese and some chives.  yum. 

Triathalon Food

My husband and brother competed in the nation's triathalon  last Sunday.  I promised both of them I would cook whatever they wanted for dinner the night before the race.  To all of you cooks out there, beware of what you promise.  I ended up making two different meals (meat for my brother, pasta for my husband) and a sweet potato pie for dessert. 

I decided to make a rack of lamb for my brother.  I love lamb.  Rack of lamb is delicious and actually is easy and quick to make.  I rubbed the lamb with olive oil, mint, garlic, thyme and rosemary and roasted it in the oven for 45 minutes until the lamb reached 140 degrees.  I made my favorite pasta with mushrooms (with homemade noodles of course).

Sweet Potato PieThe highlight of the meal was probably the sweet potato pie.  I was actually going to make a spiced pear crisp for dessert, but I bought local sweet potatoes at the farm market and the boys were carbo loading.  I use a Culinary Institute of America recipe, with a couple of modifications.  I added a Tbs of vodka to the pie crust.  The alcohol evaporates and makes the crust incredibly delicate and flakey.  The key to a good sweet potato pie is of course delicious sweet potatoes.  This may seem obvious, but it is important that you use real sweet potatoes and not yams. Sweet potatoes and yams look similar but they are not related.  Sweet potatoes are starchier, but not as sweet (and most importantly not as watery) as yams.  I also modified the recipe by using maple syrup instead of sugar and fresh ginger.

After all the calories I consumed, I need to run a couple of triathalons.

Making Leftovers New Again

With a few notable exceptions (turkey after Thanksgiving, cold roast chicken which sometimes tastes better than hot chicken, leftover macaroni and cheese) I really don't like leftovers!  However if you can figure out how to make one dish into a new dish, technically the resulting creation is no longer left over.

I had a lot of leftover roast goat (See "Mary Had a Little Goat" for that recipe).  It has been living in my freezer for over a month.  I was thinking about making "pulled goat sandwiches" by reheating the goat in bbq sauce and serving it on rolls with homemade coleslaw.  I still think that would have been good, but instead I decided to make goat curry.

Enjoying some Goat CurryThere is a curry plant, but what most of us think of curry is a mixture of spices, usually with coriander, cumin, and turmeric as a base.  I also added fresh ginger, Chinese five spice powder (cinnamon, cloves, star anise, ginger, and something else, but I forget what spice).  The curry blend I used was kind of mild, so I also added garam masala, another pungent blend of spices.  I always cook my spices before adding the liquid.  I find it reduces any bitterness in the spice and enhances the flavor.  I love coconut milk in curry--it adds some sweetness to this savory dish--so I used light coconut milk as a basis for the broth.  To offset the sweetness and the spice, I added the fresh grated peel of one lemon and about a cup of low fat plain yogurt.  The yogurt increased the viscosity of the sauce and the depth of flavor of the curry.  I served the curry over homemade pasta, but rice of course would have been delicious.

Now what to do with all of this leftover curry...

Taking Advantage of The Late Summer Harvest

Summer is almost over.  I love winter and I can’t believe I feel sad, but somehow I do.  I’m trying to take advantage of the summer vegetables for as long as I can.  Tomatoes are finally priced somewhere below astronomical at the farmer’s market, so I decided to make homemade sauce.  The tomatoes are very sweet this time of year and I did a simple sauce with onions, garlic, and some red wine.  I love eggplant.  You have to be careful when you prepare it, however, because eggplant soaks up oil like a sponge.  It is also highly acidic so if you are like me and prone to sensitive stomachs, be judicious in the amount you eat or else be prepared to worship at the porcelain goddess. 

Baked Eggplant Stacks with Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato RaguTo make the stacks, I pan fried the eggplant.  To avoid using a lot of oil, I used an extremely hot pan with hardly any oil in it.  I sprinkled the eggplant with salt and pepper and pan fried them until they were golden brown.  I then layered the eggplant with the homemade tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, and basil from my herb garden, and baked the stacks in the oven for about 15 minutes until the cheese had melted.  I served it over pasta that I tossed in garlic and herb infused olive oil, parmesan cheese, and chopped fresh basic.  It was a delicious and fairly easy meal.

 

You Never Know...

Tuna Carpaccio With Fried Quail Eggs RecipeI got a new cookbook recently—the Culinary Institute of America’s Spanish Tapas.  I highly recommend it.  When I get a new cookbook, I like to read it as though it were a novel.  I usually learn by doing, but it is amazing how much you can learn about technique and ingredients by reading.  I never thought about using quail eggs before, however quite a few recipes featured them as an ingredient.  Inspiration.  The trouble was finding them.  Finally, on a recent trip down to Charlottesville, I found them.  Of course, at this point, none of the recipes from the CIA inspired me, so I invented my own.  Traditionally, carpaccio of beef is served with an egg on top.  Instead of beef, I decided to make a tuna carpaccio.  For whatever reason, the quail (or maybe it was the tuna) seemed to beg for asian flavors, so I marinated the carpaccio in toasted sesame oil, ginger, scallions, and a bit of  soy, rice wine vinegar, and mirin.  And of course, there was a fried quail egg on top!  This recipe is a keeper.