One!

28 Sunday Sep 2014

Posted by Stacey Bender in family gatherings, From the journals, the kitchen

Tags

cantaloupe sauce, Corn broth, Fall dinner, food, fresh shrimp spring rolls, IFBC 2014, IFBC 2015, massaged kale, pork belly, recipes, true cod

The number of times I have gone to Europe.
The number of meals I have eaten which included beef tongue.
The number of times I have truly fallen in love.
ONE.
The number of years I have attended the International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC 2014).
The number of years I have written this Blog.
One!
One special, overwhelming, fulfilling, challenging, and inspirational year!
One year ago today, Pete was sitting in our dining room, asking me what I wanted this to look like. One day before, I had no idea what I was about to get into let alone know what it should look like (other than the header, which Pete designed for me earlier). I would not have ever gotten past the thought of a space to write down my ideas about food without first, the journals that my husband Tom bought me, ritually, each time I filled one up, or second, without Pete saying, “Hey, do you want me to come over and just help you do this thing?”. I can’t thank them enough!

And big thanks to all of you that actually read what I write. A bigger thanks to those that actually leave comments and/or follow my blog (Simon, you were my first follower, thanks!). Most of all I am just happy to have a place that I can escape to and write for a few minutes, or an hour, or a day. One! Without that time, I feel lost. Without that writing, I would not have connected to all of the people that I have met through this blog. I am so glad to have “met” each of you. I wish I could meet you all in person, have you to dinner, or share a glass of wine over a leisurely lunch. But we can pretend (unless you actually come over, then we can do some serious eating!).

I leave you with this, a dinner that we shared last night with my Mom and her opposite-sex-partner, John (very much part of the family too), before their departure back to Alaska (after fixing numerous household things in need of repair). One trip, one meal, one year, is never enough (but they will be back for a special birthday in a month, I will keep writing for another year and I will attend, for my second time, the International Food Bloggers Conference, September 18-20, 2015, you too can register here).

One Summer down, Fall is back in the air, and this is the meal that we shared… and for Mom, my recipe for the pork belly + canteloupe sauce. One course is never enough. We had five. A good number too, but too much to write. This is about, One (recipe).

A Fall Dinner for Mom and John 9/27/14

To start – Nibbles with cocktails
Fresh shrimp spring rolls with dipping sauces (nuac chom + nectarine sauce)
+
Fried shoyu tofu sticks + golden cow’s milk cheese & everything crackers (for the nibbler (ironically not me, my Mom))
1st
Roast beet + raw zucchini and mint stack with miso sauce and pickled ginger
2nd
True cod with corn, wild mushrooms, baby bok choy and shoyu corn broth
3rd
*Pork belly + scallop, massaged kale, cantaloupe sauce
To finish
Fig, apple and ricotta galette with carmel cashew-milk ice cream
+
Berry galette with Elleno’s lemon curd yogurt

Fresh shrimp spring rolls with dipping sauces.

Roast beet + raw zucchini and mint stack with miso sauce and pickled ginger.

True cod with corn, wild mushrooms, baby bok choy and shoyu corn broth.

Pork belly + scallop, massaged kale, cantaloupe sauce.

Berry galette with Elleno’s lemon curd yogurt (in the making).

*Pork belly + scallop, massaged kale, cantaloupe sauce
Serves 4-6 people

It is best to get the pork belly with the skin on if you can; this time I did not but I prefer it that way (it keeps the fat from turning very black). I learned the method of cooking pork belly from Tom Collicio’s book, “Think Like a Chef” and have experimented with many different cooking flavors, modifications ever since. The pork belly is braised in a broth that then becomes the base of the sauce for the true cod (above) which I also used to flavor the beets, zucchini and fried tofu sticks.

The cantaloupe sauce helps cut the richness of the pork and the saltiness of the shoyu braise. It smells of pumpkin as it cooks, and looks like butterscotch when done. I make this sauce every Fall. It is wonderful served with a meal of cranberry beans, pork loin and prosciutto, plus could easily be used to sauce everything from fish to fois gras. Because I was pairing this with a shoyu-based braise, I changed out the typical Chardonnay in the sauce for sake, but either would work fine. You can freeze leftovers in a Ziploc freezer bag or freezer-safe container. Both the pork and the sauce can be made a day or two in advance, which makes it great for entertaining.

The kale was an afterthought because I felt we needed something green, I had some in the fridge, plus I felt it would lend a perfect balance of texture and flavor to the rest of the dish. My favorite way to eat kale is a simple massage of olive oil, sea salt and lemon juice. No cooking required; the heat from the pork and the sauce are all the heat that is needed.

INGREDIENTS (for the pork belly)

2 lbs pork belly, skin on if you can
Salt and pepper
1 celery stick, diced
3/4 cup onion, chopped
2 TB chopped garlic
3/4 cup corn broth
1/2 cup shoyu (I used Ohsawa organic Nama Shoyu. Quality does make a difference but feel free to substitute for a soy sauce instead. Please note that it might be saltier so do adjust according to taste.
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup water

INGREDIENTS (for the cantaloupe sauce)

1 cup chopped onion (or shallot)
1/4 cup chopped fennel bulb (or a few fennel stems and fronds from the garden, chopped as I did this time; I had no fennel bulb)
1 TB butter for sauteing (or use olive oil)
3 TB L’Estornell Grenache varietal red wine vinegar (or another good quality red wine vinegar) (more as needed to season)
1 cup sake (or chardonnay)
2 to 2 1/2 cups large diced, peeled cantaloupe
A handful of fresh basil (optional)
1 TB red currant jelly (I forgot it last night but it does help to thicken the sauce)
1 TB demi-glace
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 cup heavy cream
Sea salt to taste

INGREDIENTS (to finish and serve)

Kale (approximately 1 leaf per person), rinsed, dried and stem removed
Olive oil, sea salt and lemon juice to taste

Fresh, dry-packed sea scallops (1 per person)
Olive oil, a knob of butter, sea salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice

Fennel fronds and flower for garnish (optional)

PREP & COOK (the pork)

Season the pork with sea salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 350-degrees

In a hot pan, brown the pork, skin (or fat) side down (this might take 10-15 minutes over medium heat). No oil is needed as there is plenty of fat that will come out of the pork. Drain it off periodically if it splatters too much. You will want to reserve about 1-2 TB for cooking the vegetables. Transfer the pork to a plate.

In 1-2 TB pork fat, cook the celery, onion and garlic until soft. This will take about 10 minutes more. Keep the heat low so as not to brown the vegetables.

Transfer the vegetables to a baking dish. Top with the pork belly, skin (or fat) side up.

Combine the shoyu, rice wine vinegar and water in a small bowl (or measuring glass). Pour enough of this mixture into the baking dish to come 1/2 to 3/4 the way up, but not cover the pork. You will likely still have some liquid left which will be added later.

Cook, uncovered for 1 1/2 hours. Check on the liquid and add more if needed.

Cook an additional hour, checking occasionally to be sure it is not burning or running out of liquid. If it browns too much, you can cover it loosely with foil. Add the rest of the liquid (if any). You could use sake or water if needed.

3 hours is usually how long I leave my pork to cook. It should be quite tender (the degree of tenderness will depend on the thickness of the pork and the ratio of fat to meat). It will go back in the oven to finish later (if eating that night), or the next day (if doing in advance).

If you are doing this in advance, store the pork, in the baking pan with the liquid (and solids), covered and refrigerated until ready to use.

When you are ready to use (up to 8 hours in advance), transfer the pork to a plate. Pick off obvious pieces of fat that have solidified in the liquid. Strain the contents of the pan through a fine mesh strainer (or chinois) into a bowl and discard the solids. Separate the oil from the liquid as best you can. The liquid will likely be quite salty; this is okay. You should have about one cup of liquid. Dilute with more corn broth (approximately 1/2 to 3/4 cup). Taste for flavor and adjust accordingly. It should be balanced in flavor now, not too salty, not too sweet.

Remove the skin from the pork (skip this step, obviously, if there was no skin to start). Cut the pork into 4-6 equal sized pieces. Score the fat. Put it back into a baking pan with the liquid. At this point, I went ahead and added a few tablespoons of that liquid to my sliced beets, zucchini and tofu. I “borrowed” more of the liquid when I went to cook my true cod.

In a 350-degree oven, cook (or re-warm) the pork until it is very tender and the fat is browned (but not burnt). If you did not have skin on the pork, the skin will burn easier so you should keep checking in on it’s progress. Allow 1/2 hour for this process but you can keep it in the oven for longer if you are serving other courses; just be sure to cover it or turn down the heat so as not to dry the pork out.

PREP & COOK (the cantaloupe sauce)

Heat a saute pan and melt a knob of butter. Add the onion and fennel. Cook until the onion is translucent, approximately 10 minutes. Add the vinegar and cook a few minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Add the sake (or wine) and cantaloupe; continue simmering for approximately 20 minutes more or until the cantaloupe has softened and blended into the pan (another 20 minutes or so).

Strain the sauce through a chinois. The liquid should be thin and bright. You will likely have 1 1/2 cups.

The bowl in the front is my strained pork braising liquid.

Put the liquid back to the sauce pan (wiped clean). Add the basil (if using) and let steep for 1/2 an hour, no need to turn on the burner. Remove and squeeze liquid from basil, discard basil.

Add the jelly, cayenne, demi-glace and cream. Bring to a simmer and reduce until it is just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, approximately 20 minutes (it will reduce by about 1/3). Set aside and re-heat when ready to use.

FINISH & SERVE

While the pork is warming in the oven, prepare the kale. Slice the leaves into pieces, drizzle over some olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and squeeze over a wedge of lemon. Gently massage the leaves to soften and distribute the flavors. I think I might have even spooned over a bit of the shoyu corn broth (optional). Set aside.

Rinse and pat dry the scallops (remove the muscle if it is still attached). Score the top side with a small cross-hatch cut. Season with salt and pepper. Be sure the scallop is completely dry before putting them in the pan to produce a nice seared top.

Re-heat the cantaloupe sauce. Check to be sure the pork is warmed through.

On individual plates, divide the kale. If using fennel fronds and flowers, put them artfully on the plates too.

Heat a saute pan until hot. Add just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. When the oil is heated (enough to easily move about the pan), add the scallops, scored side down. Do not touch them for at least 2 minutes.

When the scallops easily come away from the pan with a spatula without sticking, and they are nicely browned on the one side, throw in the knob of butter. It should melt quickly. Turn the scallops over. In the 30 seconds after you turn the scallops, place one piece of pork on each plate. Immediately squeeze in a lemon wedge and turn off the heat. The scallops should be soft to the touch still (not rubbery), seared on the exterior and soft in the middle.

Quickly spoon the cantaloupe sauce onto each plate and immediately remove the scallops from the pan and place one on each plate.

One bite!

Two pups!

10 legs!

Down on the Farm and back to the City

16 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by Stacey Bender in cooking basics, family gatherings, From the journals, the kitchen

≈ 28 Comments

Tags

Corn broth, corn butter, cows, family reunion, Hager City WI, St. James Hotel MN

I used to tease my brother, Scott, that he was the Country Mouse and I was the City Mouse. As the years go on though, I start yearning more for the tranquility of Nature’s melodies than for the sounds of the energy bursting from the bustling city. I don’t think I would ever completely trade the skyline for clear sky but I can appreciate more now, what a sweet life country living would be.

Last month, Tom and I went to Minnesota for a family reunion. My Grandpa, on my Mother’s side, grew up in Hager City (“City”, current population 338), Wisconsin, which is just a stone’s throw across the mighty Mississippi from Red Wing, MN. It had been over thirty years since I last visited; my Great Grandmother had still been alive. One of my cousins, Sabrina, ended up marrying a gentleman there and now lives on a large farm that houses some of Wisconsin’s premiere dairy cows, supplying milk to the creameries that produce those famous Wisconsin cheeses.

Grandpa Brown stepp’in out and me…ssshhhh, I adopted (temporarily) a dog; don’t tell Ginger and Buddy.

I had the opportunity to accompany Sabrina’s husband, “Farmer John”, while he made his rounds at milking time (PM that is, I’d have only been in bed mere hours before AM milking). I had never milked a cow before and didn’t realize what an interesting operation the whole thing was. He let us (me and a half dozen bright eyed wee ones) milk a cow, although I wouldn’t say It was of any help to him, or the cow. In fact, I felt like an intruder, knowing that the cow was being burdened by my/our inexperienced technique. It was not as I expected either. It looked so easy when he showed us.

When I went to place my hand on the cow’s teat, I expected it to be soft and squishy but it was so much larger than I thought and was taut beneath my skin, requiring a swift pull that I did not deliver well. The warm liquid shot out sideways as I did not control my grip.

“Farmer John”

Right before we went into the barn, my sister-in-law, Irma, told me how they used to milk the cow’s milk right into a glass, pour in a shot of tequila and drink it fresh on the spot; (her family has a ranch back in Oaxaca, Mexico). When I saw the liquid squirt out toward me sideways, I couldn’t imagine having an aim good enough to hit a small opening on a glass, let alone wanting to drink it. Watching it hit a pail though (as someone more experienced did) it was cloudy white with frothy bubbles as if it had been warmed to place in a shot of espresso, so the image of their drink seemed like an intriguing ritual.

In addition to milk, one of their main crops is corn.

This is at the Farmer’s Market, not my cousin, but a big heap of corn to unload.

Looking around the property, corn stalks surrounded us for as far as you could see. They were bigger than I would have imagined, perhaps twelve or fourteen feet tall. Other than the corn, the only tall structures where the barns and the silos. At night you could hear the whisper that the stalks made as they blew easily in the nights breeze. The only light came from the moon as it lit up the sky, and the flicker of the fire pit around which came good conversation accompanied by wine, until the rain came in and cleansed the earth for the next day.

Tom and I (being ones to elevate every travel experience) stayed at the historic St. James Hotel in Red Wing. My Mom fondly remembers my Grandmother taking her there for lunch as a young child. Then, she wore her white gloves, was taught the proper placement of silverware and to say please and thank you. Our room looked out over the River and the train tracks were nearby (well, across the street). The startling and frequent blowing of the whistle both excited and lullabied us as the trains raced past. Tom didn’t even use ear plugs after the first night (shocking!).

There was deep-rooted history there, but apparently, no food served after 10:00 pm. Our first night got us in past this hour and we dined on Chex mix, pretzels and Manhattans (classy, right?).

We later asked that the cherries (we forgot that was “traditional”) be replaced with lemon twists (although they might have gone nicely with Chex).

The bartenders there were really good though, Chris, in particular, is one I would expect to find behind a serious hipster bar in Portland.

With no coffee pots in the room (gasp!), Tom went down for cappuccinos in the mornings while I showered. We would meet on the veranda where he sat, waiting in a rocking chair with the newspaper, his coffee and a wonderful view of the river, boats and folks.

Later, the scratch Bloody Mary’s would come, served refreshingly good, with a chaser of light beer. A (not so) light breakfast set us up for a day of family and fun.

So, this trip brought us from city to farm and back again.

And back at our “homestead”…

Milky Corn Broth with shrimp meat, sweet tomato and avocado

Needless to say, we were sent home with many ears of fresh corn so when we got back I made a long-time summer favorite, corn broth; it is a broth that eats like a soup. It is refreshing and pure, tasting deeply of corn which mingles happily with it’s favorite comrade, shrimp. The sweetness of the corn is offset nicely by the subtle, sweet saltiness of the shrimp and further enhanced by the creamy avocado and textural nuances of tomato.

As I was straining this through my chinois, the liquid resembled the milk from a cow, slightly warm and bubbling as it pooled out and into the bowl. The final liquid is milky, sweet and gold. I can’t imagine a more fitting recipe (of mine) than this, to illustrate the influence and coupling of these two commodities; even though there is not actually dairy in this soup (unless you count the butter), it tastes of fresh cream kissed with corn.

The amount of salt and lemon juice will depend on the sweetness of the corn. If overly sweet, the salt and lemon juice help to balance it out.

INGREDIENTS

5 ears fresh corn, husks and silk removed
1 large (or 2 medium) sweet onions, chopped
2 TB butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups dry white wine or vermouth
4 cups water
1-2 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
Lemon juice to taste (perhaps 1-2 TB)

Garnish: Per person, approximately 2 oz shrimp meat (Oregon or Canadian if you can), 1 wedge avocado (diced), 3 sweet baby cherry tomatoes (cut in half or quarters).

PREPARE

Remove the corn from the cobs and reserve the cobs.

In a large pot, sauté the onion, garlic and corn in the butter until soft, approximately 5 minutes. You don’t want it to brown though so keep the temperature slightly low.

Add the white wine, water, reserved cobs to the pot and bring to a simmer. Put the lid on and turn the heat down. Let it simmer over low heat for 45 minutes to an hour. The lid should help the liquid to keep from evaporating. I like to participate in the process so I check in pretty often to see how the flavor is coming along. I might remove the lid if I feel if it seems too watery and as long as the liquid is not going away altogether, I let it simmer as long as 1 1/2 hours to allow the aromatics to really permeate the liquid. There is not an exactness to the amount of time or liquid quantity, just taste and instinct.

Remove the pot from the heat and let cool slightly. I like to leave it sit until the cobs are cool enough to handle but that is not necessary. Remove the cobs from the pot with tongs and set in a bowl. Pour the rest of the contents into a chinois placed over a bowl and push on the solids to extract all the liquid and flavor. When the cobs are cool enough to handle, use a knife to squeeze whatever liquid you can from them and add it to the bowl.

Return the liquid to the pot season with salt and lemon juice. Simmer a little more to thicken it slightly. It will be broth but should thicken enough to look like cream.

Chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.

SERVE

Place the shrimp meat in the bottom of individual bowls. Ladle the corn broth over the shrimp meat. top with the avocado and tomato.

If you had a bit of crispy bacon (say left over from breakfast), that might taste good as well (says Tom).

BONUS: Corn Butter

I recently got a Blendtec. It competes with Vitamix and as far as I know, works every bit as good, if not better. Plus, it fits under my cabinet and is easy to clean. I usually throw out the mash of solids after pressing them through my chinois but, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to add them to my Blendtec and put the switch on soup mode. I ended up with a lovely bowl of corn butter. It is delicious on toast and I imagine many other things I have yet to discover.

And lastly, while we were in MN, we went to a park that had a special place just for monarch butterflies. This shot is for Sheri at Unfettered Fox, I thought of her as I followed this fellow (and it’s friends) from spot to spot.

Have wings, will fly.

And when a late Summer storm passes through when the special guests need to be escorted to their vehicles, creative pop-up valet service ensues…

Man on a mission.

10 Legs in the Kitchen

~ Food. Dogs. Life!

Tag Archives: Corn broth

One!

Down on the Farm and back to the City