Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
For me this weekend has been designated a weekend of rest following a particularly busy spring. More busy than I would prefer. Whether or not it has actually been busier than other springs may be up for debate, although I have certainly been more stressed than usual. Whether this is a factor of busyness or the ever-evolving, and revolving, process of change, remains undecided. Whatever the source, I increasingly believe that doing more does not necessarily lead to a better life. Possibly quite the opposite.
Still, one must eat. I eat at home most of the time; for the most part I eat home-prepared meals, although a significant number of those meals were merely functional: meat, poultry, fish and a vegetable or two. Cooked but not cooking. Does that make any sense? Quality of ingredients remained important, but simplicity was paramount, as in the simply seared axis venison loin and spinach above. I am also not above an occasional meal of cheese, olives, crackers and a glass of vermouth. But eventually the urge to play returns.
In April I started cooking from Ann Taylor Pittman and Scott Mowbray's cookbook The Global Pantry Cookbook. It was the Food 52 cookbook club cookbook of the month, and as is sometimes the case, I was initially skeptical. Not because I was not interested in the global pantry, but because my pantry already contains many of the book's featured ingredients and I use them frequently so I wondered if there was anything new. I shouldn't have worried. I was also, it occurs to me now, both ready to play, but not ready to experiment. This cookbook then, was a good place to start. Many of the recipes I prepared were in fact, quite retro. There is something about that I think, when we are opening the door to some new self, we also wish to hold onto the past a little more tightly.
I started with "Hamburger Steaks with Rich Onion Gravy". I eat hamburgers frequently, I usually eat them on a plate not on a sandwich; hence I normally eat hamburger "steaks" even though I don't use that term. I often sauté onions or mushrooms to top those burgers, the same way my mother prepared them when I was a child. As a child I think I ate far more hamburgers with mushroom gravy than I ever ate hamburger sandwiches on a bun. So the question was, "How is this different?"
First off, Pittman and Mowbray add breadcrumbs to their burger mix, making a burger that is, to my mind anyway, more of a giant meatball than it is a burger. I didn't do this, even though it is a common enough technique. I simply mixed salt and pepper into my burger meat. I did, however, cook the burgers in a cast iron skillet as recommended in the recipe. This is classic burger technique and nothing new. After the burger is cooked the authors add onions to the pan drippings and sauté them until golden. Again, classic, something I have done for 50 some odd years with either onions or mushrooms. Finally, in the last step, their recipe shifts from my classic version. I might deglaze the pan with wine and follow with broth or stock to make a pan gravy. I don't usually add flour, instead cooking down the pan juices until syrupy. If feeling generous, a pat of butter may be added at the end. Pittman and Mowbray do it differently. They whisk flour into their stock, which is also classic American cookery. Their global tip is to add a generous dollop of white miso which adds richness in mouthfeel and umami to the pan sauce. I liked the result. I did use flour, but less than called for, as the gluten-free flour blend I had at hand included xanthan gum, which is a powerful thickener. Frankly, I could have done without the flour altogether, but the resulting burger with onion gravy is good. I will keep miso in mind as an alternative technique for making a pan gravy for either a burger or a steak. I'm not sure this is as much a new recipe, however, as it is a thought variation.
Next up I did try something new. This recipe is called "Virtuous Vegan Harissa Tofu Bowls". Let's just call my version "Harissa Tofu" because I neither served it in a bowl or added the grains. The recipe called for farro, which is not gluten-free; I could have substituted a number of things, but I was quite satisfied with the tofu and broccolini without the added grain. With the requisite grains, the recipe serves 4; my version without serves 2. The broccolini is parboiled in the same water used to cook the grain. I suppose if not cooking grains the broccolini could be steamed. I parboiled the broccolini and saved the water for use in a vegetable soup later in the week.
The tofu is pressed, then cut in cubes, tossed with a mixture of cornstarch, salt, and garlic powder, then shallow-fried. The tofu is then cooked briefly with a mixture of pomegranate molasses and harissa. At the same time, onion is stir-fried or sautéed with the broccolini until the onion is just charred, at which time the tofu and broccolini were tossed together and served. The resulting dish was a wonderful combination of flavors -- the tofu both crispy and soft, the sauce bright, tart, with a mild heat balanced by the pomegranate molasses and the sweetness of the charred onions and the fresh vegetal flavors of the broccolini. This combination has been added to my list of tofu recipes I will make again and again. This is a list that remained stagnant for years, and is suddenly blossoming. I also like the idea of adding the garlic powder to the cornstarch before frying the tofu, another small improvement in technique which yields big dividends.
About this time I found myself at the very end of the winter bok choy season. The last of my crop was beginning to bolt and so there was a quick harvest and a search for new ideas using bok choy. I remembered that I had seen a recipe for a bok choy omelet I wanted to try, and I found the recipe in Ali Slagle's I Dream of Dinner.. The recipe is "Bok Choy - Gochujang Omelet". It is really a rather simple omelet. The bok choy is mixed with a simple sauce made with gochujang and lime juice. Slagle doesn't cook her bok choy. I briefly pan sear mine before adding it to the sauce. I also used more bok-choy to egg than the author recommends, but unless I am trying something unfamiliar, experience and my own preferences tend to lead. What makes the recipe special is the generous amount of lime zest that is added to the egg mixture before scrambling. What didn't work for me were the sesame seeds. The first time I made this I was out. I sprinkled furikake on top of the omelet for the requisite bit of crunch and loved the result. The second time I used sesame seeds but didn't think they added anything special to the dish, which also uses toasted sesame oil. Since then I have left the sesame seeds out and simply sprinkled the final omelet with furikake. Currently I am using kimchi furikake. And yes, this is my current favorite omelet, I've probably made it at least once a week for the past six weeks.
Then I returned to new riffs on familiar foods. The Global Pantry Cookbook has a recipe called "Ann's Smoky Pimento Kim Cheese" which is a riff on traditional pimento cheese. I love pimento cheese. I grew up eating pimento cheese. I couldn't buy it when I lived in New York State so I made my own for decades. I still make my own because I like the basic bare bones pimento cheese I grew up with, which is easy to make -- grated sharp cheddar cheese, pimentos, mayonnaise. I've eaten gussied up versions with cream cheese. I've eaten all kinds of store-bought versions, but I've only ever purchased one pimento cheese, which was locally made from local cheeses and is no longer available. Even then I probably purchased it because I could purchase it in smaller quantities than I was likely to make at home. I prefer my simple at-home version to all the others, but if I make it, I will eat it.
As much as I love pimento cheese, I probably love kimchi just as much. But it had never occurred to me to combine them, an idea worth exploring. Pittman and Mowbray start with a fresh red bell pepper, which they smoke before adding it to the kimchi. I did that once. It was good, but I don't like it better than the smoky jarred piquillo peppers I usually use in my own pimento cheese (instead of the standard pimientos). I did however like the addition of the kimchi, and the small amount of grated onion, neither of which had graced my pimento cheese previously. I don't think I would grate onions every time. And I won't make pimento kim cheese every time either but I do like it as a regular variation. I used jarred kimchi, and the results will vary depending on the kimchi used. Use a kimchi you like. I liked my first batch better than my second, but I also liked the first jar of kimchi better than the second. This whole experiment reminds me that I need to start making kimchi again. I miss my homemade kimchi, which I stopped making when I was going through breast cancer treatment. It really is time for a reboot in the kitchen.
In the midst of a fridge clean-out, I found just under a half-round of Sequatchie Cove Creamery's Walden, a soft reblochon-style cheese, hiding in a corner of the cheese drawer, and this reminded me that The Global Pantry included a recipe for a baked brie. Well, I couldn't use a traditional baked brie technique, but I thought I could adapt the recipe somewhat. I cut the cheese in quarters and placed it in a ramekin around an egg creating a kind of baked-brie/cocotte kind of dish with the egg and cheese and spiced honey topping. The recipe called for honey, tart cherries, black walnuts and Calabrian chiles, and the entire thing made a perfect, if also somewhat luxurious, repast at the end of an unusually exhausting day.
Last but far from least was another reworking of an old classic. I actually made "Damn Fine Meatloaf with Spicy Onion Glaze" twice, so there was a lot of meatloaf eating at the end of the month. Pittman and Mowbray update a classic meatloaf mix of beef and pork by adding oyster sauce and soy sauce, and topping the meatloaf with a spicy ketchup/sriracha glaze. The first time I made it, I did not use the recommended panko breadcrumbs, but instead dried out and crumbled up a piece of leftover homemade cornbread. The meatloaf mixture was fairly wet, and I wasn't sure if this was the difference between using cornbread instead of breadcrumbs, or due to the fact that gluten-free and gluten breads have different absorption characteristics. I baked the meatloaf in a bread pan, but even after adequate cooling I had trouble removing slices without the meatloaf crumbling. If I turned the meatloaf out of the pan as a whole, the delicious glaze was on the bottom, not so desirable, but the texture and flavor of the meatloaf as a whole was wonderful. The second time I used panko, but made the meatloaf free-form on a cookie sheet and covered with the glaze. This worked beautifully, but I think I preferred the texture of the meatloaf made with the cornbread. I am sure I will repeat it. Whenever I make cornbread, there is usually some left over, and this is a very simple meatloaf which yields big dividends.
None of my April kitchen explorations were particularly adventurous, unusual, or difficult. I am reminded that there is much I have neglected that I wish to do again, but that is true in all of the things that are important to me in my life. Rebooting kitchen, sewing, knitting, garden -- each is a life-time's task. Whatever bit I can do is enough.
