Scallops and corn

One of my favorite flavors of late summer and early fall is sweet corn. Growing up every August and September my dad would pick some up at the farmstand near our house and we would grill out and eat corn on the cob savoring the summer and hoping it would never end.
I couldn't resist the heaping piles of sweet corn Nichols was selling at the Green City Market and also couldn't resist pairing it with scallops, bacon, and chilies.

Seared scallops with roasted sweet corn salsa, bacon grits, chili lime vinaigrette

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

with caramelized onions, toasted almonds, sage and sherry browned butter















Not pictured: The next incarnation of the dish included manchego cheese to round out the flavors.

Hors D'oeuvres

Wisconsin cheddar quiches, Nichols farm heirloom tomatoes


















Roasted italian style meatball with roasted heirloom tomato coulis, micro basil

Sour Cherries and Peaches

In july at the Green City Market both sour cherries and peaches are in season. My favorites are the peaches from Flaming Fury and sour cherries from Mick Klug. I brought a bunch home and played with them in my kitchen. I turned out one savory dish and two desserts.

Fennel brined boneless skinless chicken breast, roasted peaches with basil, sour cherry compote


















Peach pie with sour cherry sorbet


















Peach and sour cherry tart with sour cherry reduction.

Pan Roasted Sockeye Salmon

with roasted baby potatoes, three pea and mint salad, beurre rose

Turning Into Summer

One of the best times of year is when the colors of the farmer's market begin to brighten. The green palate of early spring begins to be dotted with bright red strawberries. It is finally time to get local fruit. I love the different varieties of heirloom strawberries. All with their own characteristic flavors. I have found that at the green city market Nichol's farm has the best tasting. They have each variety labeled and will help point you to the perfect strawberry for your needs. Here are a couple whose names escape me at the moment (the picture was taken in early strawberry season about a month ago). Sadly, strawberry season is ending, but there is so much to be excited about now that we are into early summer.












What better celebration of spring than a strawberry rhubarb pie?















I am excited for the next wave of summer produce. The color palate is now truly a rainbow. All varieties of cherries from Michigan, raspberries, blueberries blackberries, multicolored beets and carrots, the first newly dug potatoes. Last weekend Amanda and I walked to the market and had a berry feast right on the grass in the middle of a market. What a breakfast feast. I was also able to pick up a couple things for dinner. This is a brined pork tenderloin with last of the season roasted asparagus, herb roasted potatoes, and sour cherry compote. I cooked the compote with some garlic scapes and spring onions from my CSA box and a little raw cane sugar.

family brunch

Seth and Allecia were in town over memorial day weekend so Amanda and I had my parents and Seth over for brunch. Allecia was occupied elsewhere. Midwestern spring brings us the flavors of spring onions, baby greens, sprouts, and mushrooms which blend beautifully with a bacon and cheese quiche. I kept everything local on the plate using a Manchego style cows milk cheese from Wisconsin. And what would brunch be without hash browns so I made some crispy roasted potatoes. My dad provided some baked goods to round out the meal.

bacon and spring onion cheese quiche, baby arugula and sunflower sprout salad, crispy roasted potatoes, and sauteed morels

spring salad

Amanda wanted a salad with hard cooked eggs for dinner one night. Asparagus is still in season so...

salad of mesclun greens, asparagus tips, chevre, hard cooked egg, champagne vinaigrette

impromptu dinner party

My friend Eric and I were playing video games one day and mentioned that one of our best friends was going to be in town that night to go to a party with his girlfriend. It was a Saturday and I had gone to Green City and just started braising a pork shoulder in ale and honey so I decided to have everyone over for dinner. It is still mid spring so it was asparagus and mushrooms to go with the pork. Nothing feeds the soul like a meal with close friends. I was truly lucky to have a few coincidences break my way and to have such a great time.

family style ale and honey braised pork butt, roasted asparagus, sauteed criminis, roasted sweet potatoes

Mmmm... snack

Green city market

Hooray! The outdoor Green City Market finally opened a couple weeks ago. Inevitably there was not much variety on the cold, drizzly may morning, but what was there was beautifal. Asparagus season lasts about a month in the spring and tables were piled high with the green and purple spears. The cool spring has also created an abundance of beautiful spring onions and garlic along with baby greens. But my favorite has to be the wild morels. I bought these from a farmer who sells elk but forages for morels and truffles on the side. I love them sauteed in butter so they get a little crispy and unleash a torrent of savory, woodsy flavor with every bite. I decided to do a meaty fish with the beautiful asparagus and divine morels.

pan roasted monkfish, roasted asparagus, sauteed morels, bacon pinot noir reduction.

romesco sauce

My chef at work has a wonderful recipe for the spanish classic, romesco sauce. She serves it in a hollowed out mini new potato for a really cute, and tasty, hors d'oeuvre. I wanted Amanda to try the sauce so I made a batch, with a few personal touches, and paired it with pan roasted halibut and some herby papas fritas.

Dinner party

Amanda and I had some friends over for the aforementioned shrimp risotto with peas and mint and I needed another dish to round out the simple meal. I decided to add a chefy touch to the salad with sweet and savory salt and pepper pine nut brittle.















baby arugula, chevre, dried cherries, salt and pepper pine nut brittle, champagne vinaigrette

Shrimp Risotto with Peas and Mint

Instead of constantly stirring risotto, letting the the rice begin to stick to the bottom of the pot before adding more liquid creates a great texture and creaminess. I also love to use the shrimp shells to make a delicate stock to cook the rice in. Sweet peas and mint beautifully compliment the slightly briny seafood flavor of the rice.

Pizza

After doing spa food for a couple weeks I went through a pizza making spree to counteract all the productive, healthy eating that had been making me feel great physically, but a little empty inide. To try and appease Amanda I made a whole wheat crust and served a green salad with the pizza.

cheese pizza with whole wheat crust

Baby Bao

One day at work, inspired by Amanda's cravings for bao, I made the stuffed, steamed buns for family meal. My chef enjoyed them so much that she asked me to play around with bite size bao to put on the passed hors d'oeuvres menu. Here are some of the pictures I took documenting the mini bao experiment.

It is important to weigh a dish to determine both production cost and the amount of product needed for the finished dish.


















With each try my fingers became more adept at shaping the little bao.












Two sizes of cooked bao.















Warning: These little buns are highly addictive and one should not expect to have any leftovers.

Spa Food

In early spring my girlfriend, Amanda, decided that it was time to start eating healthy. So, she brought home some ingredients and challenged me to make a no fat or sugar added "spa meal". The ingredients she provided were salmon, napa cabbage, and kale. The only added fat was a little toasted sesame oil added to the Asian style marinade for the salmon.

Napa cabbage wrapped steamed salmon, ginger braised kale, blood orange reduction.

Ribs

Walking up from the lake in wet shorts with the smell of apple wood smoke wafting through my parent's neighborhood is always a happy moment. This means that super juicy, fall off the bone, slow smoked ribs will be fed to me in the near future. With my dad's special rub and high quality, jarred Bone Suckin' Sauce the ribs are one of my family's all time favorites. Because of this I love to cook ribs. However, my current living situation has posed quite a quandary. You see, I live in a high rise and have no outdoor barbeque space, hence, no smoker. This has forced me to commit a certain form of barbeque heresy. I decided to make "smoky" barbeque ribs in the oven.

I toasted a freshly ground barbeque rub featuring spanish anise and smoked paprika, rubbed it on the salted St Louis style ribs, sealed them in parchment and foil packet and put them in a 275 degree oven for two hours. They were tender and delicious with just the right amount of "tug" on the meat. A glaze of apple barbeque sauce comprised of caramelized apples, butter, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, fresh thyme, and lemon juice and zest completed the ribs.

I served the ribs with a small salad of baby arugula, apple, and Bleu d'Auvergne blue cheese as well as a grilled garlic baguette and a stack of napkins.

Platter of ribs for two

Three day meal plan

We all like to save time and money. This can be difficult in the kitchen when one values creating delicious dishes using local and sustainable meat and produce. To help myself on both fronts I like to use a large, less expensive cut of meat to be the centerpiece of my dinners on consecutive nights. In this case I decided to use a pork shoulder and braise it with Asian flavors allowing me to create a variety of dishes over the next few days. I braised the shoulder with Chinese five spice that I ground and mixed myself for maximum freshness, orange zest, garlic, ginger, thyme, ginger vinegar, and chicken stock.

While the meat was braising and my apartment was beginning to smell quite delicious I decided to take a modern American approach to the dinner for that night. First I cooked off some short grain Japanese rice that had been polished in the Kapika method. Kapika creates a smoother, more lustrous finish to each grain that results in a wonderful texture to the cooked rice. I then combined the cooled, cooked rice with a beated egg and formed the mixture into rice patties That would be pan fried. Then I made a light slaw of nappa cabbage, daikon, red grapefruit, and cilantro. I added stir fried green beans to the other elements. The sauce is simply a reduction of the braising liquid finished with butter.

Braised pork shoulder, crispy rice cake, and stir fried green beans with spicy slaw















I planned the next meal to be a noodle soup with broth made from the braising liquid. I added some Asian Veggies along with some fresh mussels that, at only five dollars a pound, added a great bang for the buck. For two servings only a quarter to a third pound of mussels are needed.

Chinese five spice udon noodle soup, sliced pork shoulder, mussels















For the third day I decided to go away from noodles and rice and use the pork as a filling for bao, a traditional Chinese steamed dumpling. I minced the remaining pork and combined it with blanched carrots and snow peas along with roughly chopped cilantro. Then I reduced the remaining braising liquid until nearly all of the water had cooked out, added some Sriracha and lime juice then mixed the resulting sauce with the meat mixture. Finally, I made a whole wheat yeast dough flavored with sesame oil. The bao are quite simple to assemble. Using your fingers you form a piece of the dough into a disc about five inches wide then add a mound of the filling in the middle of the dough that fills a circle with about half the diameter of the disc of dough. Then pull the edges of the dough up aroung the filling and then twist the ends together to secure the top. Once the bao are formed let them rest for about ten minutes and then steam, refrigerate for up to a day, or freeze for up to a month. I've found that I never really need to freeze bao, because they tend to be eaten the day they were made.

Pork bao

Meatloaf

My girlfriend needed to escape the frigid Chicago winter so she took off to Miami with a few friends for a long weekend. How could I welcome her back to the Midwest? What food says forget the warm sea breezes, fresh Latin flavors, beautifully tanned bodies, and other silly things Miami has that no sensible Midwesterner needs? Meatloaf. Rich, moist, spare tire inflating meatloaf. To keep from putting her body in shock with heavy food overload I stayed away from the classic mashed potatoes and gravy and went with lighter garnishes.

Seared meatloaf, spicy stewed tomatoes, warm baby arugula, balsamic reduction

Pressure Cooker

When I crave chunks of braised meat and don't have much time sometimes I cheat and use my pressure cooker to turn out juicy, tender meat in a fraction of the time. From the start of prep to the plate in under two hours. The meat cooks in the pressure cooker just long enough to relax and have a couple glasses of wine. The dish would have looked less sloppy served in a shallow bowl.

Braised beef chuck, crispy potatoes, braised vegetables, red wine jus

Gnocchi: take 2

Gnocchi with italian sausage, whole roasted garlic cloves, and orange

Gnocchi: take 1

I finally bought myself a ricer and a gnocchi paddle so I could make the delicious potato dumplings at home. I really liked making the gnocchi dough and it was quite simple. Granted, I used the recipe from The French Laundry Cookbook so it was coming from a good source.

Gnocchi with mushrooms, roasted bacon, shaved parmegiano reggiano

Warm Winter Salad

Sometimes, to offset all of the rich winter time comfort food, I like to make a light, warm salad. One of my favorites is with warm lentils whose heat gently wilts baby spinach and torn herbs. I dress the salad with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. The dressing is made of low fat greek yogurt, lemon, skim milk, and sumac. I garnish it with garlic toast.

Salad of warm lentils and wilted baby spinach

Rustic Comfort Food

I especially enjoy rustic comfort food during the winter. I made both of these dishes using whatever ingredients were in my pantry and refrigerator at the time.

I only had a couple ounces of store bought Italian sausage so I made meatballs to stretch the meat. I livened up the Italian sausage with some fresh thyme and parsley as well as some minced garlic, ground fennel seed, and ground coriander. When making meatballs or meatloaf you want to use more bread than one would normally think. The ratio is about two parts meat to one part bread. I like to use fresh bread crumbs soaked in water with the excess water wrung out. This makes the finished meatball more moist and tender. The reason I used penne was that my girlfriend wanted whole wheat pasta and penne was the only kind I had.

Meatballs, Whole Wheat Penne, Tomato Sauce














There was a butternut squash sitting in my kitchen for about a week, so I decided to make butternut squash risotto. I like my risotto to be really creamy so, once the rice is cooked, I add enough stock off the heat until the risotto moves in a wave when the pan is shaken. I garnished with butternut squash that I had blanched then sauteed as well as good extra virgin olive oil and some torn parsley.

Butternut Squash Risotto

Bacon Explosion?!

A co-worker informed me about about the Bacon Explosion. This bacon roulade seems like quite the intriguing dish. I think this dish would need many garnishes to help temper is smoky, fatty, salty, baconiness. I can't wait to try the bacon weave, roulade technique. I think may poach mine and then roast it.

Tacos

Is there anything better than tacos for a couple of guys hanging out and playing video games? Granted it's more of a knife and fork dish than a true taco, but with a couple margaritas these tacos helped energize me and my friend Eric for a night of Nintendo Wii. I love grown-up play dates.

Chili rubbed skirt steak, avacado tomatilllo salsa, and queso anejo on a blue corn tortilla with herbed black beans and steamed rice.

















The salsa is fresh and chunky and works well as a refreshing counterpoint to the richness and heat of the meat and beans. I used sweet cubanelle peppers in the salsa because I didn't want heat to overwhelm the dish. An anaheim or minced jalapeno can be added to or replace the cubanelle and add a moderate amount of heat to the salsa. I blanch the tomatillos to tame their astringency.

Avacado Tomatillo Salsa
3 ripe avocados 1/4" dice
8 medium tomatillos blanched 1/4" dice
1 cubanelle pepper cleaned, 1/4" dice
juice of 1-2 limes
salt to taste
1 handful cilantro leaves

To blanch the tomatillos bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Remove husks from tomatillos, add to the water. Cook until slightly softened. Shock in an icewater bath until fully cooled. Combine the avocados, tomatillos, and cubanelle. Add lime juice and salt to taste. Fold in cilantro. If any salsa is left, add one of the avocado pits the salsa and cover the surface of the salsa with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.

Baking Bread

I really enjoy baking bread, especially in winter. It warms one's body and soul. Whether with a bowl of winter squash soup, a nice slice of cheese and dried fruit, or simply with butter or olive oil. There's nothing better than fresh bread. I use unbleached flour, because it has more natural wheat flavor. I love whole wheat breads and sour doughs because of their more complex flavors. However, there is always a time and a place for a softer crumbed white bread.

San Francisco Style Sour Dough Boule













Whole Wheat Ciabatta

Cooking at Home

I made the next two dishes for a Cubs' playoff game last year.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Nichol's Farm Pumpkin Puree, Sauteed Wild Mushrooms, Bell's Porter Reduction. Served in a roasted half pumpkin.
















Honey Crisp Apple Salad, Nichol's Farm Celery, Lardons, Honey Champagne Vinaigrette














Pineapple upside down cake isn't much of a market dish, but my girlfriend was hungry for a classic. The cake is tender and moist vanilla chiffon topped with fresh pineapple in brown sugar caramel sauce.













Spring 2007
Grilled Flank Steak, Glass Noodles, Pea Shoot Salad, Sweet Chili Soy.