Food + Music + A Dash of Awesome = Turntable Kitchen

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I might be a little late to the party here, but I stumbled across Turntable Kitchen in my Google Reader the other day, and thought: what a fucking brilliant idea. Mixing two of my favorite things (cooking and music), and topping it off with some pretty slick web design, these guys really know what they’re doing.  Looking for a new recipe to try out; and some new jams of the indie rock persuasion to listen to while cooking? This is your one-stop-shop for both. Music by the National, Bon Iver and The Weeknd? Yes. Miso salmon with sesame salt recipe? Yes.  Monthly mixtapes? Double yes!

What makes Turntable Kitchen even more awesome is their Parings Box.  For the low price of $25 a month, you get: “hand-assembled box of goodies to create a unique food and music pairing of your own,” which includes vinyl, seasonal recipes, a digital mix tape, 2 – 4 dried ingredients and a ton more.  Sounds like the perfect gift idea to me (by the way, my birthday’s in June).  Head over to their site for more details and how to order.

And, in case you’re skeptical, these guys are legit.  They’ve been covered in the LA Times, The Kitchn and a ton of other places. Google it.

2012 Cleanse: Country Greens and Potato Soup with Pine Nuts

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If there’s anything that I’ve learned so far this year, it’s that making soup is really, really easy.  And, with the right ingredients – it’s super healthy, and tasty. As part of my healthy eating new year’s resolution, I’m making concerted effort to eat as many leafy greens as possible during the week, and limit my meat intake.  I’m calling it a weekday cleanse – though, it’s really pretty far from that. I’m not going vegetarian. Yes, I still load up on cheap Chinese takeout if I’ve had a long day. And, I eat whatever I want over the weekend. This includes, ice cream for breakfast, if I so desire.  I’ve found that by subbing out empty carbs (oh, white bread – I’ll miss you) for whole grains, lots of green vegetables for, well, grease – has given me more energy during the day. Gone are the days of wanting to take a disco nap under my desk after a too filling lunch…I’m saving that for the weekends, where my bed is generally much more accessible.

The potatoes give the soup enough substance to make it a nice, light meal. If you have left over roasted chicken, adding it into this soup is a nice alternative to the standard (and summery) chicken salad, or chicken noodle soup.

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Steak & Caramelized Onion Sandwiches

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Man. Do I love a steak sandwich.  There’s really not much more to say than that…

I went the cheap route and used Top Round Steak (aka London Broil and really not the ideal meat for this dish), which turned out fine, but was a little tough.  Next time, I’ll splurge and use flank steak or tri-tip instead.   The marinade is my go-to recipe for steak marinades (that also works great on chicken), that I’ve gently perfected over the years  – though, if you talk to anyone who likes to cook, or more specifically grill, you’ll probably find a lot of the same ingredients in their super secret marinade as well.

The suggested marinating time for this is overnight, but if you’re in a rush – you could get away with just a few hours, though you’d definitely be sacrificing some flavor.  The caramelized onions are a must-have for this sandwich.  Caramelizing onions at home is super simple, albeit a touch labor intensive.  For a step-by-step guide – check out this post by Simply Recipes.

I served these with a very healthy slathering of homemade Tiger Sauce.  Did I mention that the steak is also delicious cold?

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Happy (Belated) New Year!

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Is it 2012 already?  Seriously? How did that happen?

Expected or otherwise, with a new year comes new resolutions.  But, here’s the thing with resolutions – I’ve been making them for more than twenty years and I can only think of two that I managed to keep (Lose 10 lbs – which I did by joining a gym and working out obsessively; instead of having to subsist on an exclusive diet of celery and water. Travel more – which I do regularly these days, but has made a guest appearance on my list of 2012 resolutions).  I’m optimistic that 2012 will be different, and 11 days in, I’m already much closer to fulfilling them than this time last year.

And so, without further ado:
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How To: Pavé a Fish

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Pavé.  If you’ve ever read any French cook books, you’ve probably seen this term come up a couple of times.  Long story short, and unnecessary accents aside, to pavé something, simply means to cut it into a square or rectangular preparation.  Easy enough, right?

Most commonly, this technique is prepared on fish, and gives your dish a really nice polish.  If you’ve ever ordered fish at a nice restaurant in the past 5 years, chances are that it was pavéd.

Provided that you have a nice, sharp fillet knife, this preparation should only take a few minutes. I don’t have a ton of my own photos, as I was too focused on not cutting myself, but here are the step-by-step instructions.  Note: that this is a preparation fit for a nice, meaty fish (like swordfish, halibut and salmon) and not thinner, white fish (like tilapia and trout).
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Garlic & Rosemary Oven Baked Potatoes

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This recipe might be a no brainer for those of you who have been cooking for a while, but I thought I’d share it for those of you that haven’t.  This potato recipe is a staple in my kitchen, and I probably make some sort of variation of it at least once a week.  If made properly, they come out golden and crunchy on the outside and warm and soft on the inside.

There are a number of substitutions that you can make here to keep this recipe fresh and interesting:

  • Substitute just about any root vegetables for the new potatoes, just make sure that they’re chopped small enough to be able to cook well in the oven.  Brussel sprouts also work really well here, too.
  • Any sort of herb can also be added in addition to (or in the place of) the rosemary.  In the past, I’ve done garlic and parsley russet potatoes, herbs de provenance purple potatoes (without the garlic), among other variations.
  • If you’re using sweet potatoes or yams, substitute the olive oil for melted butter.

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Vanilla, Chinese Five Spice & White Peach Jam

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Oh man, I’m so into stone fruit this season.  With October just a few days away, I’m not yet sick of apricots, plums, peaches, nectarines and plumcots.  I could eat them for years.  Okay, maybe not years – but at least the next few weeks until we officially move into fall.   And now with E gone, though it’s absolutely bittersweet, I have plenty of time to tinker around in my kitchen – make a mess and not clean it up until the next day – burn things - try new stuff that no one but me needs to eat (sous vide anyone?) – cook, drink too much wine and watch a romantic comedy all at the some time.  Despite the sadness associated with getting to know my apartment again as a single girl – there’s something quite liberating about cooking for one.

Wanting to savor the flavors of late-summer to the majority of you and early summer for us here in Northern California – I was excited to concoct a new jam using a fresh batch of white peaches that I had purchased at the farmer’s market.  And, it had to adhere to my three simple rules about jam, jelly and preserve making:

  1. It can’t be so sweet that it hurts my teeth (I’m talking to you Smuckers).
  2. It should have a new, complex and interesting flavor.  I realize that this is 100% subjective – but the goal here isn’t to make the same old strawberry jam that I’ve been eating since I was five (again, I’m talking to you Smuckers).
  3. It’s got to use fruit that’s in season.  Because, you know – that’s at least kind of the point of jam making, right?

With these rules in mind and a handful of successful jam making experiments earlier this summer  – I labored for about an hour and a half one Sunday afternoon to create one of the tastiest jams that I’ve ever had.  Provided that you’re liberal with the Chinese Five Spice (which I was), there’s nothing dull or subtle about this jam.  White peaches, which offer a meatier texture and slightly sweeter flesh than generic peaches, were actually a great canvas for this.  Because of the natural pectin content, I didn’t need to add pectin, which makes me one happy girl.

The fresh vanilla adds a nice, velvety softness that reminds me of pillows or bunnies or cotton balls or maybe all three.  Mixed with the Chinese Five Spice, it’s the perfect mix of sugar and spice (and everything nice??).  By keeping the skin on the peaches, the finished product has a beautiful amberish, purpleish color, which, ironically, reminds me of fall.

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Chicken Chesapeake (E’s Last Supper)

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Chicken Chesapeake is a staple at family-owned, waterfront restaurants all around the Annapolis area.  A simple preparation of chicken breast stuffed with crab meat and then baked, I have yet to find a single restaurant outside of Maryland state lines that offers this dish – which is probably why,  it will always remind me of home:  simple, comforting and delicious.  Like my roots, there’s nothing especially fancy about this dish, but something about it makes you feel warm and fulfilled.

In retrospect, it’s a little ironic that I prepared this very traditionally Maryland dish for E’s last night in San Francisco.  But, he was headed across the country to Baltimore to pursue a doctorate degree – so, I figured that getting him excited about all of the new sights, sounds and flavor that await him in my birth state probably wasn’t such a bad thing.

Mainly because I had some on-hand, I used Dungeness crab meat instead of the preferred Maryland blue crab meat.  It still turned out wonderfully, but definitely lacked some of the sweetness that makes the Maryland blue crab superior to it’s Pacific cousin.  Regardless of what kind of crab you select, make sure you’re using jumbo lump, backfin or a mix of both.  Soggy claw meat just won’t stand up to this preparation.

I kept the rest of the meal pretty simple, with fresh steamed broccoli and a potato puree.

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There’s Something About Mezcal…

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Photos via Wahaka Mezcal

A few nights ago, I had the pleasure of unexpectedly attending a Mezcal tasting – hosted by a friend of a friend at the Latin American Club, one of my neighboring watering holes.  The tasting was sponsored by Wahaka Mezcal, a still very new, but also very promising Oaxaca-based Mezcal distillery. I’ve seen mezcal appear, sporadically, on the cocktail menus of, well, very cocktail-focused restaurants and bars. My previous experiences with agave-based liquors have been limited and dramatic.  I’d sworn off tequila years ago after not being able to stomach the hangovers and blackouts; and I’d had mezcal a handful of times, many years ago in Spain, of all places, where I had a friend, originally from Mexico who was crazy about the stuff.  Young and stupid then, I have very little recollection of it’s taste – only that I was very drunk after just two shots.  I guess, I had a lot to learn.

At some point during our tasting, I got the chance to speak with one of the founders of Wahaka Mezcal, who was in town looking for distribution in Northern California (among other places).  During our chat I not only ‘tasted’ enough mezcal to give myself quite a lovely, Friday evening buzz, but also learned more in 45 minutes than I had in the whole year.

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Horseradish Cream Sauce (aka Tiger Sauce)

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This is a condiment that goes especially well with beef.  We like ours pretty spicy, so feel free to decrease the amount of horseradish called for here if you have more sensitive taste buds.  You can use any kind of rendered animal fat in this recipe – though, I assume that bacon would be the most popular.  Don’t skip this ingredient, however – it adds some much needed savoriness.

I have yet to prepare a vegetarian version of this that’s as good…is there a vegetarian substitution for rendered animal fat?

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