CONSUMED(I,THIS)

lunch on daisy’s birthday: linguini, chard, corn, sun gold...

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:21:00 -0400

lunch on daisy’s birthday: linguini, chard, corn, sun gold tomatoes, aged myzithra, basil, parsley, white wine.

Happy sixth birthday to Daisy, our Jack Russell Terrier! Daisy didn’t get to eat any of this pasta, but she did get a scrambled egg in her breakfast!.

Aged myzithra is a firm, salty Greek cheese made from ewe’s milk. The flavor and texture is like ricotta salata, but saltier. Myzithra can be found in specialty stores in the US.

Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil, and begin to cook the linguini.
Meanwhile, in a large pan, sweat a diced onion in olive oil and butter until it’s soft. Add minced garlic, cook for a minute, then add chopped swiss chard. Deglaze with white wine. Once the chard is nearly cooked, add corn and tomatoes and cook for another minute or two.
When the pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the sauce. Cook together for a minute, tossing. Turn off the heat, and then add a handful chopped parsley and basil, and a handful of finely grated myzithra cheese. Toss to combine, and serve.

taste memory salad: eggplant, red wine vinegar, garlic, green...

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:02:09 -0400

taste memory salad: eggplant, red wine vinegar, garlic, green chili.

I saw these cute little purple eggplants at the farmers market yesterday, and bought them impulsively. Today, thinking about what to do with them, I remembered a dish that I haven’t eaten in almost 20 years. When I was a child living in Western Massachusetts, an Israeli family moved in down the street from us. The mother of the family used to make an unctuous, tangy marinated eggplant dish that I’ve tried to recreate today.

Slice eggplants into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices. Season the slices with salt. Heat 1/4 inch of oil, half olive and half vegetable, in a skillet. Once it’s hot, carefully add the eggplant slices in one layer, working in batches if necessary. Cook the eggplant until very soft and well-browned. Remove cooked eggplant to a sheet pan, and season generously with more salt. (Don’t worry about excess blotting oil; it will become part of the dressing.)
Meanwhile, sweat two cloves of garlic and a chili pepper, both sliced, in a bit of oil in a small sauce pan. Add a generous grind of black pepper, and half a cup to a cup of red wine vinegar. Simmer for a few minutes to allow the flavors to meld.
Pour the vinegar sauce over the eggplant while both are still hot. Season with more salt if necessary. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Allow to sit and marinade for a few hours before serving at room temperature.

how to cook beans in summer if you don’t have air...

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:22:00 -0400

how to cook beans in summer if you don’t have air conditioning: black beans, aromatics, espazote, spices, lime.

Beans, especially Mexican beans, would be a great focus for a veggie summer dinner. But the prospect of hovering for hours over a simmering pot on your stove when it’s sweltering in your house is enough to rule them out. The solution: slow cook the suckers.

Pick through your beans, and then place them in a pot with enough cold water to cover them by several inches. Add a quartered onion or a roughly chopped leak, several peeled and smashed cloves of garlic, several sprigs of dried espazote, and a generous amount of chile powder and ground cumin, coriander. No salt!
Place the pot on high heat and bring it to a rolling boil, stirring once or twice on the way up. Turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let it sit for 1 hour.
After an hour, bring the pot back up to a boil and transfer its contents to a slow cooker. If necessary, add enough extra boiling water to just cover the beans. Cook on high for 4 hours, checking for doneness at 3 hours. Once the beans are done, salt them to your liking.
To serve, season with lime juice, and garnish however you like. In the picture, I’ve used cotija cheese, a charred red chile, cilantro, and a lime wedge.

summer sandwich: crusty bread, fresh mozzarella, green zebra...

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:21:30 -0400

summer sandwich: crusty bread, fresh mozzarella, green zebra tomato, salt-packed anchovies, basil, cucumber pickles (by chris).

Soak two salt-packed anchovies in cool water for a few minutes. Peel the filets off of the bones.
Build a sandwhich in this order: quarter-inch sliced fresh mozzarella, quarter-inch sliced tomato, salt and pepper, anchovy filets, torn basil.
In a cast-iron or non-stick pan, gently cook the sandwich in olive oil, so that the cheese melts and the anchovies soften as the bread browns. Cook with cheese-side down first, so that the cheese melts and holds the sandwich together before the flip. You may find that weighting down the sandwich as it cooks helps with even heating and browning.
Serve with pickles!

california summer salad: cherry tomatoes, avocado, fried...

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:59:00 -0400

california summer salad: cherry tomatoes, avocado, fried chickpeas, lemon.

Drain a small can of chickpeas, and rinse them well. Take a large handful of chickpeas and pat them dry with paper towel.
Fill a small saucepan 1/2 inch deep with oil, half olive and half vegetable. Heat the oil until it is very hot but not smoking. (Test with a single chickpea; it should immediately form steam bubbles all around it.) Carefully add the chickpeas, and cook until crispy, about 3 minutes. With a slotted spoon or similar implement, remove chickpeas to paper towel (or, better, use a piece torn off of a clean paper shopping bag). Immediately season the chickpeas with koshersalt (very aggressively) and pepper. Reserve and allow to cool slightly.
Halve some cherry tomatoes (sun golds ftw!) and a ripe avocado, and place them together in a bowl. Dress them with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Sprinkle fried chickpeas on top. Consume on a sunny California afternoon (or at while least imagining one).

hummus, from scratch: chickpeas, mirepoix, garlic, thyme,...

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:55:04 -0400

hummus, from scratch: chickpeas, mirepoix, garlic, thyme, tahini, smoked paprika, lemon juice, olive oil.

Standard bean cooking procedure: Rinse off a bunch of dried chickpeas, then soak them in cold water for 4-8 hours. Transfer the beans with their soaking water to a pot, and cover with more water. Add an onion (quartered), some carrot and celery (rough chopped), some whole smashed cloves of garlic, a few sprigs of thyme, and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil, boil hard for five minutes, lower to a simmer and cook until tender. Top off the pot with boiling wanter now and then if necessary. Salt, simmer for another ten minutes, and cool.
Put the amount of chickpeas you’ll be using to make hummus in a mixing bowl. Be sure some of that juicy goodness they’re swimming in comes along for the ride too. Add tahini, lemon juice, good olive oil, smoked paprika, and salt. (You could through in some raw or roasted garlic as well if you happen to swing that way.) The amounts here are really a matter of taste and feel. You can always add more of whatever once you’ve blended the stuff (but as my grandma used to say, you can’t take anything out!).
Working in frustratingly small batches (unless you have a super blender), puree this mixture to as smooth a paste as possible, adding more liquid (cooking juice, lemon juice, or olive oil—your call) if necessary to achieve the desired texture. Chill before serving.

Wait, what? I thought CONSUMED(I,THIS) was a place for homemade...

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:15:00 -0400

Wait, what? I thought CONSUMED(I,THIS) was a place for homemade food. Real food. Food from scratch. What’s up with this picture of plastic tubs of convenience food? Has CONSUMED(I,THIS) sold out?

Yes. Well, no. I mean, I guess, kind of. But not in the way you think, at least. I agreed to participate in a new program called TasteSpotlights, run by the fine folks at TasteSpotting. They match up bloggers with products, and ask the bloggers to give their opinions on the products. I saw a tweet that said “Want to try some cream cheese and give your opinion?” and I said “Sure, send me some free stuff.” So I can’t be selling out becuase I’m not getting paid. Except in cream cheese. And a box of Triscuits. And a box of some terrifying cracker conceived and manufactured by the Corn Lobby called Sociables (“Perfect for Entertaining!”). Oh, and a really nifty brushed aluminum cheese knife embossed with “Philadelphia.”

I was fully prepared to despise these cream cheeses. (Sorry: cream cheese spreads.) I mean, do you really want to eat something that has an ingredient called “cheese flavor”—an ingredient, I might add that is “a dehydrated blend” of no fewer than eleven sub-ingredients, two of which have sub-sub-ingredients? Tasting the products has not reduced my loathing for their science-experiment ingredient lists—I don’t feel the slightest urge to go purchase them for myself—but I did like the flavor of the products more than I expected. Hey, at least they’re full-fat! Here’s what I thought:

General Reaction

My big problem with these spreads is their texture. It’s heavy and gloppy. Far too heavy and gloppy for a brand that has an ad campaign centered around images of clouds. Perhaps this is a good texture for baking or other cooking applications, but flavoring cream cheese destroys its prolific culinary flexibility. Spinach artichoke cheese cake, anyone? (Note to self: make spinach, artichoke cheese cake and submit to thisiswhyyourefat.)

Sundried Tomato & Basil

What impressed me here was that you could actually taste the sundried tomato. Not just some ersatz sundried tomato chemical, but the actual flavor, complete with its sourness and meatiness. The basil flavor was also there, and distinct. But my question is: why do I want these flavors in my cream cheese in the first place? I mean, chives in cream cheese? Sure. Lox trimmings? Why not? Makes sense. But to put sundried tomato in a cream cheese just feels like a feeble attempt to exploit the cache of this new and gourmet ingredient. Except that sundried tomato hasn’t been new or gourmet for a few decades now. (Which is not to imply that Philadelphia is the first to put sundried tomatos in cream cheese.)

Spinach & Artichoke

Again, I was impressed with the clarity and quality of spinach flavor tat came through here. The artichoke didn’t taste like much, but I could see little chunks of artichoke in there. For this flavor, the “Why?” question has an obvious answer: this is cold spinach-artichoke dip with the ratios inverted. Fans of that dip will probably be pretty happy with the flavor of this cream cheese. I guess you could go ahead and dip bread straight in there. Or just put it out at a party with Sociables and HFCS shooters. You lazy bastard. ;)

Numerical score (for TasteSpotlight purposes): 2 out of 5.

“oh well, we forgot the olives for the salade...

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:24:55 -0400

“oh well, we forgot the olives for the salade niçoise” dinner: lettuce, green beans, potatoes, eggs, tuna, garlic, anchovy, mustard, white wine vinegar, olive oil.

Hard boil some eggs, blanch some green beans, and boil some potatoes. (My hard-boiling regimen for eggs: Cover them with an inch of cold water. Bring to a boil uncovered. Turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for 9 minutes (adjust for the size of the eggs). Immediately drain submerge the eggs in running cold water until the eggs are cool.
Meanwhile, begin the dressing by pounding up a few cloves or garlic and several anchovies in a mortar and pestle with some salt. Once you have a paste, add some white wine vinegar and a few dollops of mustard. (My affection for moutarde a l’ancienne is extreme.) Stir, and then whisk in the olive oil.
When the potatoes are cooked, cut them up toss them in some dressing while they’re still warm. Peel and quarter the eggs, and sprinkle them with a little salt. Toss the beans in some dressing. Toss the washed and dried lettuce in some dressing, and serve it the potatoes, eggs, green beans, and some drained, flaked olive-oil-packed tuna.
If you have some olives, put those suckers on there too for Pete’s sake!

side for jay’s lamb: flageolet beans, mirepoix, garlic,...

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:36:16 -0400

side for jay’s lamb: flageolet beans, mirepoix, garlic, rosemary, thyme, stock.

In a medium bowl, cover a pound of flageolet beans by a few inches with cold water. Soak for 4-8 hours.
Small dice two small onions, a medium carrot, and a stalk of celery. Sweat all of this in several tablespoons of olive oil in a large dutch oven, until the vegetables are translucent. (Don’t season yet!)
Smash 4 peeled cloves of garlic with the side of a chef’s knife. Add the garlic to the pot along with a large sprigs of rosemary, several sprigs of thyme, and a couple of bay leaves. Stir and cook for another minute or two. (Still no salt!)
Turn the heat up to high, and add the beans, with their soaking water, to the pot. Top off the pot with chicken or vegetable stock (or just plain water), until the beans are comfortably covered with liquid. Bring to a hard boil for 5 minutes, stirring often, and them bring down to a simmer.
Simmer until the beans are tender, about an hour and a half (though this time can vary widely depending on your beans and other variables). Now you can add salt. Simmer for another ten minutes so that the beans can absorb the salt, tasting a few times in case more is needed.
Serve the beans with some of their liquor, drizzled with olive oil with some crusty bread on the side. Or use it as a side dish. Flageolet beans are classic with lamb.

weeknight dinner: canned tomato, fennel, fennel seed, onion,...

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:46:00 -0400

weeknight dinner: canned tomato, fennel, fennel seed, onion, garlic, thyme, red wine vinegar, sugar, baguette, bucheron. (inspired by molly)

Thinly slice two yellow onions and two bulbs of fennel. Cook in a heavy bottomed pot with a good amount of olive oil until translucent, about ten minutes. Add several cloves’ worth finely chopped garlic and cook another five minutes. Add two teaspoons of fennel seeds and a tablespoon or so of chopped thyme, and cook another couple minutes.
Open two 28 ounce cans of whole peeled tomatoes in juice. Add the juice to the pot, then squish up the tomatoes into small pieces and add them. Also add a whole can’s full of cold water. Turn the pot up to high until it boils, and then turn it down to a simmer. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the soup has reduced some and tastes good, about 45 minutes to an hour.
Working in batches if necessary, blend half of the soup in a blender until smooth. Add the puree back into the pot, and then check for seasoning. Add some sugar and some red wine vinegar to get the proper sweet-sour balance.
Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Slice some baguette on the bias, as pictured. Drizzle the slices with a little oil and place them in the oven until they just begin to toast, but have not colored significantly yet. Spread each slice with some goat cheese (I used Bucheron), turn on your broiler, and broil the cheesey toasts until golden and melty. Grind some black pepper on the toasts.
Serve the soup drizzled with good olive oil and scattered with roughly chopped fennel fronds, with a cheesey toast on the side.

pinche perro cocktail [named by eddie]: silver tequila, homemade...

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:31:00 -0400

pinche perro cocktail [named by eddie]: silver tequila, homemade grapefruit liqueur, lime juice, hot sauce, smoke salt.

Ingredients:

1.5 oz. Silver Tequila (I used Milagro)

1 oz. Grapefruit Liqueur

.5 oz. Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice

2 drops Hot Sauce (I used Cholula)

Mexican Smoked Salt (or substitute kosher salt)

Rim a single old-fashioned or rocks glass with smoked salt, using a little lime juice as the adhesive. (Instead of dipping the glass vertically into the salt, roll only the outside lip of the glass in the salt. That way you wont have lots of salt floating in your drink. Ew. Tip of the hat to Gary Regan.) Put the glass in the freezer to chill. Add first 3 ingredients to a cocktail shaker with lots of ice. Shake vigorously until very cold, about 20 seconds. Remove the rimmed glass from the freezer and fill it with ice. Strain the drink into the glass, being careful not to disturb the salt. Top with two drops of hot sauce and serve.

taco night: flank steak, lime, spices, chiles, smoked salt,...

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:42:00 -0400

taco night: flank steak, lime, spices, chiles, smoked salt, garlic, onion, cilantro, corn tortillas.

Smash up a few cloves of garlic in a mortar with some Mexican back smoked sea salt (or just use kosher salt). Now add your ground spices and chiles. I used cumin, coriander, chile powder, ancho, and chipotle. Squeeze in half a lime and add several tablespoons of vegetable oil. Mix everything around to form a thick, homogenous paste.
Add the paste to a large ziplock bag and then place half a flank steak in the bag. Move everything around to coat the meat, then squeeze out the air and seal the bag. Place in the refrigerator to marinade for 2-4 hours.
Finely mince a quarter of a while onion. Rinse the minced onion in a little cold water to take away some of its pungency, and then gently squeeze the onion dry in a paper towel. Finely chop half a bunch of cilantro and mix it into the onion. Set aside.
Heat up an oiled grill or gill pan until it begins to smoke. Remove the steak from its bag and scrape off the excess marinade that clings to it. Salt both sides of the meat, and cook on the grill on high heat until medium-rare.
Rest the meat for about 3 minutes, then cut it into small cubes. Using tongs, heat some small corn tortillas up directly over the flame of your stove. (If you don’t have a gas stove, just heat them in a dry pan). Place the tortillas two deep on a warmed plate. Top with steak and then the onion-cilantro mixture. Serve with lime wedges.

breakfast: rhubarb, sugar, greek yogurt, almonds, lavender...

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:07:59 -0400

breakfast: rhubarb, sugar, greek yogurt, almonds, lavender honey.

To make the rhubarb compote, cut up a pound of rhubarb into quarter-inch pieces. Place the cut rhubarb in a heavy bottomed pot with a tablespoon or two of water and sugar to taste. I found that about a quarter cup of sugar worked well for me, but your rhubarb and tastes will be different than mine. You want to make sure to end up with a tart compote, and you can always add more sugar at the end.
Place the pot on medium heat and cook the rhubarb until almost all of the pieces have fallen apart. Taste for sugar. Allow the compote to cool, and then refrigerate it until cold.
When you want breakfast, start toasting some sliced almonds. Meanwhile, put some Greek yogurt and lavender honey (or any honey you like) in a bowl and mix with a spoon until the honey is incorporated and the yogurt is smooth and shiny. Spoon a generous helping of cold rhubarb compote on top of the yogurt, then top with (now cooled) toasted sliced almonds. Drizzle with more honey and eat up!

bánh mì dinner: baguette, roast pork loin [by c], pickled...

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:20:00 -0500

bánh mì dinner: baguette, roast pork loin [by c], pickled vegetables, scallion, cilantro, chile pepper, lime juice, sweet chile sauce, fish sauce.

Before you begin, you’ll need to roast a pork loin and pickle your vegetables. (Of course, you can change up the vegetables; daikon would be a traditional choice.)
In a bowl, mix a few tablespoons of sweet chile sauce, the juice of a lime, and some fish sauce. Mix well and set aside.
Cut off a third of a crusty baguette on the bias. Make a sandwich-wise cut in the bread, leaving it attached along one side.
Cut a bunch of thin slices off of the pork loin. If we’re talking cold, leftover pork loin you need to warm it up. Preheat your oven to a very low temperature (200-250˚F), place the sliced pork atop the cut side of the baguette, and place it in the oven to warm. If the pork is freshly cooked and still warm, just warm the bread and then put the pork on it.
Here are two good methods of building the sandwich: (i) The Pretty Way (pictured above): Drizzle some of the sauce over the pork, layer chopped scallions, pickled vegetables, and sliced chile, and then pack in a bunch of cilantro leaves. Finally, drizzle some more sauce on top of the cilantro. (ii) The Messy Way (may be more delicious): In a small bowl, toss together cilantro leaves, green onion, chile slices, and some picked vegetables with a little bit of pickling liquid and some of the sauce. Dress the pork with this salad.
Press the sandwich together firmly. Cut in half, on the bias, and serve.

pickles for bánh mì: carrot, cucumber, rice vinegar, fish sauce,...

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:22:00 -0500

pickles for bánh mì: carrot, cucumber, rice vinegar, fish sauce, sugar.

To see the recipe for the bánh mì the I used these in, click here!

Shred a carrot or two. A mandolin will help here. Thinly slice some seedless cucumber. Pack the vegetables tightly into a jar with a tight-fitting lid. You could add a few slices of chili if you like, too.
In a bowl, whisk together rice vinegar, sugar and fish sauce diluted with about a third as much water as vinegar. Taste for seasoning, and then slowly pour the pickling liquid over the vegetables.
Let stand for a few hours at room temperature, or refrigerate overnight. Use while the vegetables are still crunchy and colorful.

obama’s first speech to congress dinner: penne, cranberry...

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:34:42 -0500

obama’s first speech to congress dinner: penne, cranberry beans, beet greens, chard, garlic, rosemary, thyme, chile flakes, red wine vinegar, toasted breadcrumbs, parmigiano.

After rinsing them thoroughly, cover some dried cranberry beans with an inch or two of cold water. Soak for six hours or so. Make a lot; they’re good to have around.
Saute some finely chopped onion, carrot, and celery in olive oil in a dutch oven. Add a few smashed garlic cloves and cook a bit longer. Then add the following to the pot: the beans with their soaking water, a sprig of rosemary, a few sprigs of thyme, and a a couple bay leaves. Do not season yet.
Bring the whole mess to a boil, and boil hard for five minutes. Bring down to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook until the beans are tender but not falling apart, about an hour or two. Season with copious salt and simmer for another ten or twenty minutes. When the beans are done, strain them and reserve their liquor. Remove herb stems and bay leaves. Set aside.
Start cooking the penne rigate. Thoroughly clean some tender leafy greens, such as beet greens and swiss chard, which you’ve cut into strips. Add olive oil, chile flakes, and some chopped garlic to a large sauce pan, and then turn on the heat to medium. When the garlic is cooked but not colored, add the greens and the water that is clinging to them. Season. Turn the heat up to high, drizzle in some red wine vinegar, and cover for a minute or two until greens are mostly cooked.
Add a bunch of beans (with the vegetables and herbs that cling to them) to the pan, along with a good amount of the bean liquor. Season. Simmer for a minute or two. Add the cooked penne and a loose handful of toasted breadcrumbs (make your own!) to the pan and toss. Add more bean liquor if needed. Turn off heat and drizzle with your best olive oil. Serve with grated parmigiano and more breadcrumbs.

academy award night dinner part two: golden beet, avocado, skyr...

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:03:26 -0500

academy award night dinner part two: golden beet, avocado, skyr yogurt, dill, lime.

Preheat your oven to 400˚F. Trim and clean four medium-sized golden beets. Wrap each one tightly in aluminum foil, and roast them on pan in the oven until tender, about an hour. Once they’ve cooled enough to handle, peel the beets and cut them into bite-sized wedges. Season them with salt and the juice of a lime. Set aside.
Put about half a cup of strained yogurt in a bowl. I used some skyr, but greek yogurt would also work nicely. Add a lot of chopped dill to the yogurt, along with some salt, pepper and olive oil. Thin the mixture with some water until it has a nice saucey consistency. Set aside.
Cut two ripe avocados into bite-sized chunks and add them to the beets, Season with salt. Add some dressing to the avocado and beets, and gently fold the ingredients together. Serve.

academy award night dinner part one: bulgar, puy lentils,...

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:56:00 -0500

academy award night dinner part one: bulgar, puy lentils, carrot, celery, hazelnuts, shallot, sherry vinegar. (inspired by an old gourmet)

For a very large batch, bring to a boil in a saucepan two cups of bulgar with with three cups of water water, salt and olive oil. Simmer, covered, until done. Put the cooked bulgar in a large bowl with a little more olive oil. Toss it around every once and a while until it reaches room temperature.
Meanwhile, in another pan, cover a cup of rinsed puy lentils with an inch or two of cold water, and add some mirepoix and a bay leaf to the pan. Do not season yet. Bring to a simmer, and cook until the lentils are tender. Strain lentils and remove the vegetables and bay leaf.
Meanwhile (yeah, that’s a double “meanwhile”) finely dice a shallot and cover it in sherry vinegar and season with a little salt. Small dice some carrot and celery and toast, peal, and smash up some hazelnuts.
Toss the shallots with their liquid with the lentils while they’re still a little warm. Once everything is at room temperature, toss together the lentils with the bulgar and the carrot and celery. Season to taste with salt, sherry vinegar, and more olive oil.
Serve with the toasted hazelnuts on top.

“honey, i think we need to go on a diet” dinner:...

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:58:00 -0500

“honey, i think we need to go on a diet” dinner: israeli couscous, arugula, roasted red pepper, capers, anchovies, sun-dried tomato, lemon.

Update: A version of this recipe is featured on GradSpot.com! Check it out here.

Boil just under 2 cups of vegetable stock and/or water. Add a bay leaf, a clove of garlic, some herbs (I used thyme), and a few strips of lemon zest, and then stir in 1.5 cups of Israeli couscous. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Pour the couscous out onto a plate to cool, and remove the stuff you don’t want in your salad (garlic, bay leaf, etc.). Drizzle the pasta with a little olive oil to keep it from sticking and stir.
While the couscous is cooking, reconstitute some sun-dried tomatoes in a bit of boiling water. Once they are tender, mince them.
Once the couscous has cooled some, put it in a mixing bowl and add the following: roasted red pepper, cut into strips and marinated in a little balsamic vinegar; minced anchovies; rinsed capers; minced lemon zest; and the minced reconstituted sun-dried tomatoes. Season, stir, and let the ingredients mingle at room temperature for up to two hours.
Just before you want to eat, toss some baby arugula with live oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Toss the arugula with the other ingredients and serve.
Want some more protein? It’s really good with some olive-oil-packed tuna mixed in!

onion soup take two: onion, apple, bacon, shitake, thyme,...

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:07:34 -0500

onion soup take two: onion, apple, bacon, shitake, thyme, spices, butter.

This soup is a revision of the one I made on January 15th, the recipe for which is here. I wanted to come up with a version that did not require you to braised half a pound of pork belly the day before in order to make it.

Preheat your oven to 350˚F. Peel and halve eight or twelve small yellow onions, leaving the root end intact. Cut each half into three wedges, each with some of the root attached so that the layers don’t fall apart. Cut up one peeled and cored grannysmith apple into wedges of similar size. Toss the onion and apple in fat (I used olive oil and bacon drippings), then arange them cut-side-up on a wire rack set in a sheet pan. Sprinkle with salt and sugar, and roast in the oven, turning the onion and apple wedges over once, until lightly browned and tender—about an hour or an hour and a half. Cut the inedible root ends off the onions.
Meanwhile, make some ersatz bacon broth, as follows. Cut up three or four slices of bacon into confetti-sized pieces and cook them until well rendered over medium-low heat in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add a quartered onion and some roughly chopped carrot and celery to the pot, and toss them in the bacon fat. Then add the following: several sprigs of thyme, a cinnamon stick, a bay leaf, three or four whole cloves, a pinch or two of whole fennel seeds, and 6 cups of cold water. Scrape the fond off of the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer until you’re ready to use it, at least an hour.
Strain the stock into a saucepan and place over high heat. Reduce by about half, and then add the onions and apples. Boil for another 15 minutes, or until the ratio of solid to liquid looks about right to make a thick puree. (You want relatively little liquid since there is a good amount of residual water in the roasted onions and apple.)
Puree the mixture with a few tablespoons of butter. Season. Put the puree back into the saucepan (after rinsing it out), and place it over low heat until ready to serve. (Don’t wait too long.)
For the garnish, cut several slices of bacon into lardon and cook them in a small skillet until rendered. Remove the bacon to a paper towel, pour off all but about two tablespoons of the bacon fat. Heat the remaining fat until very hot over high heat, and then add 5 to 10 small, halved shitake mushrooms to the pan. Brown well, tossing once, until cooked, seasoning near the end. (This goes very fast.) Serve the soup in a warm bowl garnished with the bacon, the mushrooms, and a few fresh thyme leaves. Don’t forget some crusty bread action!