A Plate Full of Worms

Instead of having green food for St. Patrick's Day today, we went for some black squid ink spaghetti. How gross does a plate of this look? I was reminded of the scene from Lost Boys where their Chinese takeout turns into worms and maggots. I had to let that thought escape my mind when I took a bite of this stuff. It was delicious!


I contemplated a sauce for this for quite awhile and wanted to just dress it simply so I could get a good taste of the ink itself. The pasta cooked just as long as regular spaghetti and then I tossed it with some lightly sauteed garlic, shallots, red pepper flake and roasted tomatoes all in olive oil. If I had some white wine I would've added it to make it even better. A nice big handful of chopped parsley right before serving completed it. Not bad at all and it took less than 10 minutes. I will definitely buy this worm-y looking pasta again.

Mushroom Risotto and White Asparagus

I used to think that risotto was this super precise, overly complicated dish. In reality, it is a piece of cake to make and so versatile you can really put anything in it. My favorite is probably red wine risotto but I've also make it a couple other ways. I think my new favorite is loaded with mushrooms and parsley. As long as you're willing to give it a stir now and then, risotto in any of it's forms should be part of everyone's side dish toolbox.

Mushroom Risotto
1 C arborio rice
2 tblsp butter
2 cloves of garlic
1 small onion (I like to use shallots instead)
2 C sliced mushrooms (any kind you like)
1/4 C dry white wine
3 1/2 C chicken broth
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 C grated Parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
handful chopped parsley

1 In a saucepan, bring the chicken broth and soy sauce to a simmer.
2 Melt the butter with a little olive oil then add the garlic and shallot until translucent
3 Add the mushrooms and cook until soft
4 Add the wine and let it simmer until it is reduced by half then add the rice and stir to coat the grains
5 Add 2/3 C of chicken broth to the pan and stir. Lower the heat a tad and just stir and add broth until all the broth is used up. You don't want to drown it and you don't want it sticking to the pan so 'water' it as needed and stir as needed.
6 The rice will get nice and creamy and tender then add the cheese and everything else to taste.

White asparagus is just regular green asparagus that has been denied sunlight and instead exposed more to ultraviolet light during growth. There is also purple asparagus but that is completely different than the green and white and I've yet to find any of it. I've always seen the white in the store but never bought any until yesterday. To be honest, I'm a little asparagus'ed out. I mean how many posts on here have pictures of asparagus? Would you believe that I used to despise it because it made your pee smell funny? I think it has replaced broccoli as my new favorite vegetable. Asparagus and I need to take a break though. I enjoyed the white but I think I would have liked it even more if I hadn't overdosed on those lovely green stalks.

See you again in a few weeks asparagus.

The Garbanzo

Lunch is one of my least favorite meals of the day. Breakfast is my number 1 least favorite. I'm not sure what I eat! But I do enjoy making my own hummus for a lunchtime fix of protein. I've had a lot of practice at this and I've concluded there really is only 1 secret ingredient - the food processor. If I could only keep 1 kitchen gadget I think it would have to be my food processor. You can pulse food until your heart is content. I make hummus all of the time. I get requests for my hummus so I thought I'd share my 'secrets' to the world. (fyi: there is no secret, it is the easiest thing you'll ever make and you'll never want to buy store bought again)

*note: If you don't have a food processor, get one. A blender just isn't going to cut it.

Hummus à la Food Speak
1 can garbanzo beans (washed off and remove some of the hull or leave them on it really doesn't matter)
2 cloves garlic (add more if no one will be around to smell your breath)
1 heaping tbsp tahini (if you can't find it in the store don't worry, just omit it)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp red pepper flake (I add this to everything but it is completely optional)
1/4 C olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1 First blend those garlic cloves. Then add the garbanzos. You have to do it in this order so the cloves really get all minced up.
2 Add the spices, lemon juice, and tahini. Pulse.
3 Drizzle in the oil if you have a spout, otherwise just eyeball it. You want to get the texture right -- not too runny not too dry. It should look something like this:

4 Add anything you want. Sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, roasted garlic, cilantro, the possibilities are truly endless.
5 Add salt and pepper to taste.
6 Garnish it with a drizzle of oil and/or some paprika if you want to be traditional.


I like mine smeared on a whole wheat bagel or some pita lightly toasted in the oven, even carrots. Not into garbanzo? Then try canellini or even edamame. Go make some hummus and take to the streets. Everyone will love it.

Watermelon

Spring. Ok, I guess it is more like Summer here in FL, but the sun is out everyday which always puts folks in a good mood. I, on the other hand, am less focused on the weather and more focused on the foods and flavors of summer. Basil, cilantro, mangoes, fish, tomatoes... Gone are the days of heavy, wintertime comfort food.


Give me watermelons! Seedless watermelons are wonderful (unless you want to have a seed spitting contest). They are even better when they are on sale. I was thinking sorbet but since the water content of watermelon is so high compared to the sugar, this turned out to be more of a granita made in an ice cream maker. It is made very simply by blending all the fruit in the blender then adding simple syrup (1 cup water, 1 cup sugar dissolved). You might have to adjust the syrup level depending on the sweetness of the fruit. You can use an ice cream maker or just pour it in a large pan (you'll be surprised at how much you get from 1 watermelon!) and set it in the freezer for a few hours. Scrap the surface with a fork when you first see ice crystals forming on the topmost layer then repeat until it freezes all the way through and is nicely textured. That takes way too long for me and requires some careful freezer temperature monitoring as well.

Experiment with all the summer flavors now available. If I could actually grow enough basil, that would be the first thing I'd try.

Another Fred Flinstone Meal

For some reason I'm pretty darn good at cooking meat. This is truly a mystery. I'm not a huge meat eater/lover and I certainly don't have much practice or guidance and I haven't read up on anything (although I really want to read Daniel Boulud's book on braising). For this reason, I like to cook really large pieces of meat well, just because I can. This week I took on a super 6 lb chicken and handsomely won. Then there were the giant Fred Flinstone sized turkey drumsticks.

I had been craving mashed potatoes too so I mixed these up with some of the tasty (and nutritious) red skins still on. Since my chive plant is taking over my planter, I threw in a big handful on those too. The little flecks of purple and green were just perfect and more than satisfied my craving. Asparagus has become my new favorite vegetable. I love to roast it with lemon zest grated over it like freshly fallen snow.

Roasted Asparagus with Lemon
1 lb (more or less) thick fresh asparagus
7-8 tbslp olive oil
2 pinches of kosher salt
several turns on your peppermill
fine lemon zest of 1 medium-sized lemon

Depending on how nice your asparagus is, trim the ends and just peel with a vegetable peeler the woody outside part. This make it quite a bit tender on the ends and you don't have to waste the ends as much as you would if you did the 'bend-the-stalk-and-see-where-it-snaps' method. Lay the stalks out in a pan lined with foil for easy clean up. Drizzle lots of olive oil over the top but don't drown the asparagus. You want all the stalks to be covered so get your hands in there and mix it all around. Sprinkle with salt and fresh pepper and again get your hands dirty. I use a fine microplane (PamperedChef what?) to get a good fine snow-like zest. You can get a lot more this way than with a zester and you don't have to bother with fine chopping or big pieces of zest. Sometimes I also finely grate Parmesan over the top and mix it all together too. Fontina is also good or even some crushed garlic. Just lemon is simple and tastes so fresh alone. Roast in the oven on about 350 I guess until it is fork tender or to whatever doneness preferred. Please don't overcook to mushy! The fresh lemon smell will hit you when you open the door.

Getting back the Mojo

I've been pretty lazy lately -- haven't had much of an appetite either for some reason. Bike Week is upon us yet again so I've been trying to stay inside to avoid the chaos and the noise. Today I managed to get out to get some groceries and make something nice for dinner for the first (second?) time all week.


1.5 cups of orange juice, 1/2 cup of blood orange juice, and 1 cup of giant lemons (I call them 'giant' because they are in fact bigger than a grapefruit. I'm not sure the official name, but they taste much sweeter and less acidic.) made up my mojo sauce. Throw in some garlic and red pepper flake too. I reduced all that down to about half. In a sauce pan I sauteed roughly chopped shallots in butter then cooked the shrimp. I spooned in the mojo and let all the flavors come together. Very tasty. To accompany the shrimp, some pan fried, cumin-laden yuca went alongside. The flavors really worked nicely together.











When I'm in a food funk, I pretty much go all out to make up for it. This means several hours in the kitchen to regroup and get back in the habit again. Or beating egg whites until my arm falls off? I have been wanting to make this souffle from the cover of Gourmet since I got the issue last month. The Meyer lemon souffle was just too pretty to pass up. Instead of Meyer's, I again used that giant lemon and the zest of regular lemons to make a smooth, fluffy lemon cloud. Meyer's are in fact readily available around here (Diana has a tree!) but I wanted to try the giant lemons because they are so...gigantic. I burnt it a bit on the top because I didn't anticipate just how much it would expand. Otherwise it tasted lovely, like a fluffy lemon pound cake.

South American Tasting

More wine tastings. I'm not terribly familar with South American wines -- sticking mostly to California, France, and the occasional Italian. We tried a few from Montes Alpha of Chile which has been highly rated and I've tried here and there. Concha y Toro and Kaiken were also sampled. The whites seemed to outshine the reds.

Concha y Toro Sauvignon Blanc
Rich with flavors of pineapple, grapefruit, and vanilla, this one was a cheap $8 and oh, so lovely.

Catena Chardonnay
Not like any other Chardonnay I've tried. This one reminded us most of the oaky flavor of scotch -- rich and smooth.

Montes Alpha Chardonnay
I found this one to be the least exciting of the whites. It had an undesirable sourness on the finish and was pretty ordinary compared to the previous two. Wine Spectator rated it with 90 points, but what do I know?

Concha y Toro Carmenere
This grape varietal used to be grown in Bordeaux but now mostly in Chile. It is dark and rich with a nice spiciness. For a red, I found it to be rather buttery.

Kaiken Cabernet
The Kaiken wines are from Argentina. This one was full of cassis and licorice flavor. Wine Enthusiast gave it 90 points, I wasn't terribly impressed. Again, what do I know?

Kaiken Malbec
I had never tried this grape other than in countless blends. At first the intense flavors of blackberry really hits you then I couldn't take it anymore. It would probably be best with food.

Montes Alpha Syrah
This one is described as tasting of tobacco and leather. This may explain why I thought it smelled of cat pee and Philip thought it smelled of those Jelly Belly buttered popcorn jellybeans.

Montes Alpha Cabernet
We have tried this one before simply because Wine Spectator gave it 90 points. I'm beginning to realize that I normally prefer the wines that aren't rated and am unimpressed with the highly rated ones. I'll never be a wine snob at this rate. ha! Anyway. The better of the reds, this one focused on the fruit. Full bodied.

Another Alexander Valley tasting for next week...