Beauty in the Buttermilk

 Beauty in the Buttermilk

What do you do when someone gives you a quart of buttermilk? Seriously - think about it. Those of you that said “Um, leave it in the fridge to go bad” will now have a better option!

As you may have ascertained, I was recently given a quart of buttermilk. Not just any buttermilk; Animal Farm Buttermilk that was picked up at Saxelby’s in Essex Market. Now this particular buttermilk is a little thinner than some other buttermilks that I have come across in the past, but never fear! The results it gives in culinary application are scrumptious.

They have a lovely recipe for Buttermilk Waffles on this page.

Let’s free associate for a second.  Buttermilk.

Biscuits!

Pancakes!

Crème Fraiche!

I have three distinct biscuit recipes in my library: the southern breakfast biscuit, the New England soup biscuit and the “little” biscuit.

 “Little” biscuits don’t have to be little, but they are just so darn cute when you make them small for hors d’oeuvres. Smear on butter or jam, stuff with a slice of a sausage link, dunk in a bowl of soup or serve with a soft cheese; this biscuit won’t crumble apart. Originally, this biscuit recipe was used for large sandwich-sized biscuits, delightful for pairing with a piece of fried chicken. Make them large, make them small, make them large and small (you daredevil you), you are still a winner.

Buttermilk Biscuits (15 large, 45 small)

12 oz All-Purpose Flour

12 oz Pastry Flour

11 oz Butter, diced into tiny pieces and frozen

1.25 oz Baking Powder

.5 oz Salt

.5 oz Sugar

16 oz Buttermilk

3 oz Herb of your Choice (Optional)

Important Notes! ( I don’t know about you but I hate it when the chef has hidden the secrets to making the recipe work after all the other directions. Seriously, how many of us read the directions ALL the way through first?) Note: Before starting this recipe, measure out all the ingredients and put everything except herbs and buttermilk in the freezer. If you can, put out the food processor and/ or mixing bowl too. The colder you can keep the ingredients the better it will turn out.

1)      Mix all dry ingredients together. THIS DOES NOT MEAN BUTTER (or Herbs). If you have a sifter, use it! If you have a food processer, pulse, pulse, pulse.

2)      Add the frozen butter and continue to pulse the food processor until all the chunks are pulverized. If the butter is smearing the sides of the bowl, it is too warm. If you don’t have a food processor, borrow one. In fact: buy one.

3)      Transfer the mix into a bowl or stand mix and stir in buttermilk and herbs. Consistency will vary with different types of buttermilk. If it seems really loose (and it may if you use the Animal Farm buttermilk) then stick it back into the refrigerator for 30 minutes before moving onto Step 4. If it is doughy, proceed to Step 4. If it is a powdery mess, re-check your measurements.

4)      Spoon out biscuits onto cookie tray and bake at 350 F. If you dip the spoon in flour between scoops it will come away easier. OR: on a well-floured surface, use a flour dusted rolling pin and gently roll out the dough. Use a flour-dipped cookie cutter to form the raw biscuits.

5)      Watch for the bottoms of the biscuits to start turning brown at the edges. This is the best indicator that the biscuit is almost done without being burnt. If the top is still completely white and the bottom is browning beautifully, don’t be afraid to flip those bad boys over!

 Here we have the finished biscuits with the quart container of frozen ingredients. Just add buttermilk!

Now, this recipe makes a ton of the little baby biscuits. I like to make the dry ingredients, mix them together and then store half the mixture for another day. In fact, you can cut up the butter and put it in the same container and store it in the freezer.  Or you can finish the dough, cut it out, and freeze the pieces on a sheet tray instead of putting them in the oven. That will allow you to bake off the biscuits as you need them. And trust me, you will need 4 a day until you run out of dough.

Punched out frozen raw biscuit.

Linguini and Clams

The clam.         

                                         

Little neck, top neck, cherrystone, chowder.  Just the names of our domestic Quahogs beat out a beautiful pentameter.  These little morsels of muscle can be eaten raw, steamed, sautéed, deep fried, baked, or simmered in a chowdah.

Yet many of us are afraid of this versatile little bivalve. We are afraid to eat it. We are petrified at the thought of cooking it. We are stumped by its shell that must be pried open with knives that serve no other purpose in our kitchens.

We have abandoned the clam to restaurant preparation.

NO MORE I SAY.

I had gone out to get some eggs at the Sunday morning farmer’s market. There they were:  $5 dollars a dozen.  Eggs forgotten, I immediately scooped up the top neck clams and ran home to make my first LINGUINI WITH CLAMS.

Some tips:

1)      If you are planning on eating the clams the next day, put them in a pan with a bed of cornmeal. This will allow them to spit out their sand overnight.

2)      Start water boiling for pasta and cook according to the directions on the box. If you can manage to boil pasta and steam the clam simultaneously, excellent. Otherwise it is acceptable to make the pasta ahead of time.

3)      Wash the clams under cold running water. Use a rough scrub brush to remove all the dirt and sand.

4)      Prepare your pan!

a.       Minced Shallots – 2 TBL

b.      Minced Garlic – 2 tsp

c.       Thyme – a few sprigs

d.      Chili – 2 each (optional, but totally worth it)

e.      Olive Oil – 1 TBL

5)      Sauté the ingredients in your pan until the garlic starts to become aromatic and the shallots become translucent

6)      Place your clams in the pan. Find a cover for the pan!

7)      Once all the liquid from the shallots has evaporated, break out your bottle of white wine.  For clams I prefer a Sauvignon Blanc, but this time I used an off-dry Riesling and was more than satisfied. I will try flat champagne next time!

8)      Pour in enough wine to coat the bottom of the pan and cover the pan with its lid. Remember, we are steaming the clams in the wine (happy little buggers).

9)      Check the clams about every minute and see if they have opened up. Once they have opened they are done. Take out the open ones and wait for the others to pop. If they don’t open after 5 minutes with lots of steam in the pan THROW THEM OUT.

10)   This is a decision point. You can either

a.       Add cream to the wine sauce and thicken it

b.      Decide (like I did) that you really want something green on this dish and make kale

11)   Throw the cream (or greens) into the pan. Once the cream has reduced (or the greens are wilting), stir in your pasta. Coat it completely with the sauce in the pan. You are now ready to plate and serve.

ALWAYS SERVE WITH STYLE!

Brioche

It is a freezing day outside, which means that I am looking for any excuse I can get to turn on the oven and make my apartment a little warmer. My excuse of choice: brioche.

For those of you unfortunate enough to never have experienced brioche allow me to spoil it for you before you get too excited. The hero of this recipe: BUTTER. Brioche is the most buttery bread you can get before flour becomes a straight-up pastry.

The recipe that I use comes from Shirley Corriher brilliant book, CookWise.  I know is a bit of a cheap trick that I am not including the recipe, but since it is in a cookbook I would prefer not making any authors upset. Now I have read other bloggers commentaries on her book and there are some doubters out there because the dough is challenging. It is very soft and sticky.  The solution to this is just dusting your hands with a little bit of flour and form the cylinders in Shirley’s recipes.

I have had great success with this recipe. I have even received such impressive complements as, “This is really good brioche, and I should know. I am French.” (As if italics could make a French accent.)

In an effort to make this brioche more versatile and accessible, I augment the original recipe by presenting you with the option of brioche muffins. To make these little beauties, grease your muffin pan (or if you are feeling super lazy, use cupcake liners) and fill them ½ to ¾ of the way up with the dough. When you set it out to rise before putting it in the oven it will almost double, so you need to make sure you are leaving room for the expansion.  These little brioches will cook in 20 minutes at 375 degrees to an internal temperature of 180 F.

Now in this beautiful presentation photograph I have included truffle butter (because the brioche just needs more butter) and strawberry freezer jam.*

*Comment below if you want to see posts on the beauty of truffle butter and freezer jam. 

Coffee Rubbed Beef Tenderloin

Dinner this past weekend was an exceptionally large feast in honor of a good friend of mine. Despite the plethora of menu options this was a very easy meal to put together and serve. All of the individual parts are easy to prepare. The easiest and most impressive item on this menu is the Coffee Rubbed Beef Tenderloin.

This recipe, though detailed for beef tenderloin can be used on just about any cut of meat. I have used the rub for bison as well as beef on any cut that uses a dry cooking method: Strip, Skirt, Tenderloin, Sirloin etc

What I love about this dish: COFFEE

I don't drink coffee. I don't even enjoy coffee ice cream. However, the brown sugar adds a depth to the flavors beyond the sweetness of mere granulated sugar. The soy sauce substitutes out the need for salt. The bitterness of the coffee flavor is softened by the proteins of the meat. When seared correctly, the coffee and brown sugar create a crust on the meat. It contrasts beautifully with the rareness of the interior and the softness of the cippolini onions. 

 

Turtle Roadkill

Happy Soon-To-Be-Valentine's Day!

This holiday, revered by few and loathed by many, holds for me a wonderful tradition: Pizza and a movie on my couch. This, of course, should be accompanied by enormous quantities of that fabulous aphrodisiac and comfort food: CHOCOLATE.

And so I present for your intense scrutiny: Turtle Roadkill.

I know this is unexpected for those of you that have tried my truffles (but don't worry, I will post them too). Turtle Roadkill is not pretty, but it is YUMMY and very, very easy.

You will need two things: Small pretzels (\AKA Tiny Twists) and a bag of Rolos. That's right! I said Rolos.

Lay out all the pretzels in neat lines on a baking sheet.  

As you can see here, I also found Tree Pretzels which are great for Christmas, Earth Day or what you will.

Place a Rolo on top of each pretzel.

Put them in the oven on the lowest heat possible. My oven's lowest temperature is 170. At that temperature the Rolos need 8 minutes to get soft enough. At 200 degrees you only need 5 minutes.

Once you have taken the tray out of the oven, use the back of a spoon to press the Rolos into their pretzels.

These are good warm or cool.

Don't Fear the Flounder

Cooking fish can be a challenge. I was lucky enough to be a fish butcher for a while and believe that being able to butcher your own fish gives you  flexibility: you can use a fillet, a whole fish, a stuffed fish, etc . So this is the first in a series of entries that will show you how to prepare a fish.

But enough of this gross stuff! Let’s talk about dinner.

The blurry photograph is flounder sauteed with chanterelle mushrooms and marcona almonds, deglazed with an off-dry riesling. It is accompanied by garlic-sauteed kale/collard mix and a pan-fried grit cake.

For the Flounder: Season the flounder with salt and pepper, and powder lightly with flour. Heat a couple tablespoons ofoil in a pan on medium-high heat and throw in the marcona almonds and chantrelles. Stir them around a bit to keep from burning. Once the mushrooms start to soften, push them and the almonds to the side and put the flounder in the pan. Two minutes on each side should be all you need to get the flounder a little brown . Deglaze the pan with a splash of wine to make sauce for the fish.

For the Grit Cake: Start by having grits for breakfast. (My favorite excuse!) I am a Southerner. I have PRIDE in my grits. My favorite brand is Anson Mills. This particular brand has great flavor on its own just boiled in water. A good rule of thumb is to start with 4 cups of cooking liquid to 1 cup of grits, which will make way too much for any one meal. Towards the end of the cooking process, I add another cup of milk or cream to smooth out the texture. (You can have these grits for breakfast while they are still soft and creamy) Whatever you don’t eat, spread them out in a pan (I like a rectangular pyrex) and go about your day while they chill completely. Now you can cut out fun shapes and pan fry them in olive oil. Do not move them around, but wait until the edges are browning nicely before you turn them over.

For the Collards and Kale: Tear the greens into bite-sized pieces and wash. Mince a garlic clove and put it in a pan on medium-high. After about 30 seconds, toss in the greens and turn them over occassionally. If necessary, add water to help steam them along.

AP Option! Pick up a whole flounder to gut and filet yourself! There are several good videos on Youtube but of course I am going to show you mine. I promise the amateur filmmaking will get better as soon as I figure out the whole lighting thing.

This Week’s Multi-meal Hero: GRITS

Ok so maybe I am milking the southern food goodness, but grits really are amazing. Check out the math:

Cooked Grits + Cold + Fry = Grit Cakes

Warm Grits + Cream  = Creamy Grits

Warm Grits + Cheese = Cheesy Grits

Warm Grits + Truffle oil = Truffle Grits

Grits + Scallions pureed in milk = Scallion Grits

I am going to start sounding like Bubba from Forrest Gump (SHRIMP AND GRITS)

Spicy Tomato Soup

Spicy Tomato Soup

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes.

And you don’t have to be an experienced cook. You can make this soup if you are willing and able to 1) cut vegetables into smallish pieces, 2) have a blender that can puree.

So why is this soup so great?

1)      It’s the comforting tomato soup of your childhood - for grown-ups. Spice is nice, and the smoke of the chipotle gives it character and nuance.

2)      This soup can be a complete meal with the addition of rice, couscous or orzo.

3)      It can be used as a sauce on scrambled eggs or polenta.

AND! If you aren’t making this soup for vegetarian Jews, like I was, lose the olive oil for sautéing and cut up 6 strips of bacon. Render the fat by cooking the bacon on medium low heat. Before the bacon has the chance to get crispy, add the carrot and onions.

Ingredients sometimes make a better picture than the finished product. Well ok, not true. But my guests ate all the soup before I could get a photo.

For dinner last night, this soup was my first course, which I served with a miniature grilled cheese sandwich. Other garnish options I have used in the past: Fried Basil Leaf, Fried Chipotle Pepper, Basil Marshmallows, Crème Fraiche, Basil Cream Fraiche , and gazpacho quenelle*.

Hero of this dish: Liquid Smoke

Some of you may have been clever enough to notice that this is not one of the ingredients in the recipe. That is because I am a big ol’ cheater! When this soup is made with both bacon and chipotles it is smoky and spicy. Sometimes too spicy for those of us who are glow-in-the-dark pale and vegetarian. In this case, only put in half a chipotle (no bacon of course) and one tablespoon of liquid hickory smoke. It turns tomato soup into a smoky treat that any southern belle would be proud to partake.

Now for the rest of the meal!

Beef tenderloin with thyme and roasted balsamic mushrooms, sautéed sage carrots, caramelized onions with green beans, sweet and Idaho roasted potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts.

This beef tenderloin was seasoned with a suet of sausage drippings, fresh thyme, salt and pepper. It was a 5 pound piece that needed 45 minutes to cook at 375 degrees. The mushrooms garnishing the dish were sautéed in olive oil. Once they began to release water, I added balsamic vinegar. After the mushrooms were finished I kept them warm in the same pan as the finished beef tenderloin.

The Brussels sprouts were roasted with just a little olive oil at 375 for 25 minutes.

The potato wedges just needed a little salt, pepper and powdered sage at 375 for 45 minutes. 

The carrots were cut into an elongated oblique shape. I crisped fresh sage in olive oil (butter works great too) before throwing in the carrots. This dish is also amazing with truffle peelings. Use stock to give these beauties a glazed effect.

The most time consuming item to make on this menu is the caramelized onions and green beans. The green beans are boiled in salted water and then cooled in ice water until needed again. The caramelized onions are sliced super thin on a mandolin and sautéed in a non- stick pan on low heat for 45 minutes stirring occasionally to evenly cook the onions. Once the onions are brown, then turn the heat to high, toss in the green beans and mix.

* Leave a note in the comments for any of these recipes if you would like further instructions.