Simple Inspiration: Decontructed Guacamole

Avocado is my all time favorite food. I could eat it everyday at every meal and still want to eat it more. It's just so simple but rich, creamy and full of possibility. It's also really healthy, the only item with enough good-for-you-fat and nutrients that it could replace all other food in your diet. Even I wouldn't do that, but if I had to, I think I could.

The AC is aware of this other love. It was fully realized the first time we went to Mexico together and he realized I really could eat guacamole for every meal and still want more. He believes I will tire of it if I eat it too much, which I agree would be a tragedy. So, although he makes it for me, he tries to space it out a bit, which I must admit, does make me enjoy it even more. This post is about lazy guacamole, we call it deconstructed. The irony is, while it is very lazy, it stands on it's own, literally- there are no chips- and figuratively- it truly makes the best of the beauty that is a perfectly ripe avocado.

So we start there, with a perfectly ripe avocado. This used to be pretty much impossible to come by in good ol' Minnesota. When my love affair first started I would only buy them in little Mexican grocery stores on Central Avenue, and still had to put it in a paper bag for a day to ripen. Now they are everywhere and while it still takes about ten highly focused minutes evaluating a  box at the grocery store, you can get them ready to eat. It just takes patience and a little know how. First you want it to be soft, you should be able to squeeze it lightly and feel a fair amount of give. Second, feel around to see if there are any hollow spots, you'll know when you try to do this, it literally feels like the skin has separated from the fruit, don't buy it, it's too ripe. When I find a good one I'll buy another that's slightly under-ripe so I can eat it in the next couple days, once they're ripe you need to eat them.

After you've found the avocado, it's super simple. Cut the fruit in half, lengthwise, remove the seed by putting your sharp knife into it and pulling it out while twisting the nut. Remove the meat with a spoon, scooping in one smooth movement. Discard the shell. Place the avocado face down on the serving plate and slice into 1/2" size pieces, keeping the original shape. Squeeze the juice of a slice of lime over the avocado, add some salt, black pepper and a chili pepper. Don't use jalapeno, the tastes are not complementary. We use either Thai chili or habanero from our garden, if you don't have taste buds that can withstand nuclear heat, use a serrano pepper diced very small or a sprinkle of cayenne is good too. Add as much as you like. Then sprinkle with cilantro or parsley.  And you're done. This is great as a side for summer dishes, added to antipasto meals as a palate cleanser, it goes awesome with eggs for breakfast, or just a perfect mid-afternoon snack. Simple inspiration, it's the best kind.

A Nutella Ganache Risin' From The Dead

I cannot believe it is OCTOBER and this is my first post since July. Ahhhhh, writer's block, busy summer, lack of inspiration, too many house guests in short order and a ton of travel. This blog hit them all, but we're still here. Believe it or not, when I returned to write tonight I saw five half written posts in draft form, unfinished. Two in July, two in August, one in September, I vaguely remembered they existed. Whoa. Don't worry I just started mindfulness classes, guess it's overdue.

All of this ended at my breakfast table this morning. See the picture to right and you'll understand.

Last night I suggested oatmeal cakes, as they were a huge blog hit, I really like them and we haven't made them since. While AC was cooking I ran to the corner Super America for half and half. I scoured the shelves for yogurt to top the cakes and stopped to stare at the glazed donuts. It's mostly childhood nostalgia that causes me to do this. My childhood best friend and I used to go on walks that included the local SA and buy glazed donuts, joking that our exercise made up for the calories. Ever since, I have a hard time passing without at least checking them out. I reminded myself of the breakfast in progress, gave up on finding the yogurt, figuring we could use half and half with some preserves instead.  

I walked into my house to the most amazing hazelnut smell. We're talking the best-chocolate-croissant-you- can-find-smell. Peeking at the mixing bowl AC was standing over, I saw the jar of  Nutella that we always forget about and what looked like a rich, smooth ganache. Okay, somebody tell me again why I deserve this man? Oh yeah, never mind, there are lots of reasons. But the blog drought has ended!!

Make the sauce while the oatmeal is cooking.

• 3 tbsp Nutella
• 1 1/2 tbsp honey 
• 1-2 tbsp B&B liqueur (which is a spiced brandy, you could use spiced rum, if you don't want alcohol, use the equivalent amount of half and half with a pinch of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.)
• Stir together in a mixing bowl until smooth and creamy, it will thicken a bit.

Oatmeal Cakes:

• Heat a skillet on medium high.
• Put 1 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 cup milk in a sauce pan. 
• Add a pinch salt, 3-4 fresh ground cloves, 1 ground allspice seed(?), 1/2 tsp vanilla, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1/2 tsp fresh, finely minced ginger.
• Bring the mixture to a boil.
• Add just over 1 cup Old Fashioned Oatmeal 
• Boil for a little more than 5 minutes 
• When the oatmeal is fairly dry without burning, add 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground star anise. 
• Blend, cover, let sit for 3 minutes to continue to thicken. 
• Melt 1/2 tbsp butter on the skillet and coat. 
• Divide the oatmeal into four portions and place on the skillet. 
• Form a patty and with the spatula and cook one side only until it is nicely crisped. 
• Place on plate, fried side up, pour the Nutella sauce and put cut fresh, ripe peaches on top.  

Can you say wow?

Cocktails Volume 1: Margarita or Mojito?

Anyone who knows me knows I enjoy a good cocktail. Those who know me better also know that the Alpha Chef and I both used  to be bartenders. Very happy bartenders, I might add. In fact, if it wasn't for the horrible dermatitis I get on my hands when they are washed, soaked in alcohol and squeezing citrus too much and the shitty benefits, I'd probably be a bartender to this day. It's very similar to being a therapist, except you facilitate their relapses, listen well according to how much they tip, when they're jackasses you can kick them out and you don't have to write progress notes...um, someone tell me why I spent five years becoming a mental health professional again...

This post is the first in a series about summer cocktails. I will present a few of my favorites and the summer "well-stocked bar" essentials that will have you making so many variations, you'll never need a drink recipe again.

My first love is a good margarita. Making it is so simple, and yet so many people still buy that green syrupy crap to mix with (shockingly, even when in Mexico, I'm not naming any names, you know who you are!). A real margarita consists of three crucial ingredients, a fourth if you like it a bit sweeter and a fifth for interest plus a bit of club soda to top it off. That's it.

First and foremost, tequila. I prefer a 100% blue agave type, Sauza Hornitos happens to be my favorite right now. Don't fall for the Cuervo gold/1800/silver bullshit, they're all mostly corn based. Just go to the liquor store and find a tequila that says "100% agave" and buy it.

Margarita done simple. 

You'll start with a cocktail shaker, usually stainless steel with a top and a strainer. Put ice in the shaker, add a 1 oz shot of tequila. Next is the orange liqueur. There are options. You can go with a plain old triple sec or pay a bit more- okay a lot more- for Gran Marnier or Cointreau. Both are very good. Gran Marnier is sweeter, Cointreau more smoky and complex, both make a good margarita a killer margarita. Add 1/2 shot of whatever orange liqueur you choose to the shaker. Third, the limes. Using a citrus reamer, extract the juice of one lime, add to the shaker. That's the basic. If you want it sweeter, you'll add some simple syrup. Simple syrup is just that, simple. To make it, put one cup of sugar and one cup of water into a sauce pan and bring to a low boil. Remove from heat when the sugar is completely dissolved, let cool, done. It will save in the refrigerator forever- ours currently has crystals growing on it. Add the simple syrup (start with about a tsp and add to taste) to the shaker. Shake the cocktail mix until the shaker has cold condensation all over it. Pour into a glass, ice and all. At this point I'll add a pinch of kosher salt, straight into the glass. You can do this or salt the rim. To salt the rim simply take a bit of the lime and run it around the rim of the glass you're using. Put some kosher salt on a plate (or in a plastic supermarket deli container, if you're going to do this regularly) tip the glass upside down and put it in the salt, do this before you pour the liquid in. Flavor variations are endless. Simply use the above recipe and add whatever you like. Cranberry, orange, mango, pear, cherry juices (or any other juice I missed) all work well, just add a splash before shaking. Prefer blended? Add a little more ice and put it in a blender. If the mix is still too concentrated or sour, top the whole thing off with a little club soda and enjoy.

MINT!!! Makes the difference. 

Now we move to the mojito. I'm posting the margarita and the mojito together as they are just a simple variation of each other, but due to key ingredients, very, very different. For the mojito, put a generous amount of fresh mint torn into small pieces and about a tsp of simple syrup into your cocktail shaker. Using a muddle (you can find one at Target for cheap) mix the two together, add a slice of lime and continue to muddle. Once nicely mixed, add a generous amount of ice and the juice of one lime. Then add the rum of your choice. You have a lot of choices. We use dark rum- Rhum Barbancourt- it adds a more complex taste but this is not the traditional mojito. You can use a plain white rum (traditonal), Captain Morgan, whatever. Add about 1 1/2 oz shot into the shaker.

Mojito!!

Shake until very cold (see the bit about condensation above) and pour into a glass. Add club soda (basically any sparkling water) to fill and serve with a whole sprig of mint and a slice of lime. This recipe without the mint would equal a daiquiri (see? once you know the basics, it's very simple), adding ice and blending would give you the more traditional restaurant daiquiri experience. To the mojito you can add juice to flavor differently, as I did for the margarita.

There you go. Two simple summer cocktail recipes that do not include gross, pre-made, preservative filled mixers. It's quite simple people! Stay tuned, more cocktails to come.

AlphaChef Technique - Its Easy To Make Tuna Look Good

The UB is always on my case not to be constantly swimming up stream and making everything difficult. I tell her its not like I am cooking so hard that I spawn a new dish and die. We're simply talking tuna here.

First Rule: ALMOST ALL SALTWATER FISH HAS BEEN FLASH FROZEN. This means you have a lot less to worry about except for 40 dollar a pound Japanese delicacy called Fugu or porcupine fish to you and me, and according to Wikipedia "Fugu contains lethal amounts of the poison tetrodotoxin in the organs, especially the liver, the ovaries, and the skin. The poison, a sodium channel blocker, paralyzes the muscles while the victim stays fully conscious along with causing paralysis. The victim is unable to breathe, and eventually dies from asphyxiation. There is no known antidote. The standard treatment is to support the respiratory and circulatory systems until the poison dissipates."

Now back to tuna or almost all saltwater fish. Why is flash frozen fish so important?

The "Kori no Suizokukan" (Ice Aquarium)  displays around 450 specimens of fish from over 80 different species, flash frozen in a life-like state after being unloaded from fishing vessels at a nearby port.

It kills all the parasites. And yes, even that "fresh" 40 dollar a pound sushi grade tuna/snapper/salmon (not Steelhead; that's freshwater) get's flash frozen. Most fish is flash frozen right on the ship.

So this means, don't be scared to let your tuna be pink in the middle.

Now to the basic technique: Heat a pan on medium high. Take your tuna steak and sear each outside edge - usually for about 30 seconds. Then place one side of the tuna steak on the pan for 1 minute and then flip and repeat on the other side. remove from pan. Make sure your knife is really sharp. Slice across the grain. It makes the tuna softer to chew or gum if you are dentally challenged.

Advanced techniques. Marinate the tuna for twenty minutes in something before cooking it. Rub spices on the fish before cooking it. Pour a sauce on it after cooking it.

Most advanced technique. Eat it and don't choke.

Prairie Pride Farm's Pulled Pork: Three Days, Three Meals

We love the St. Paul Farmer's Market. Yes, Minneapolis has many, but St. Paul's is special. For one, everything sold there is completely local. It has a warm, community feel, there's always free parking and making trips there helps me keep up with all the new restaurants and shops popping up in St. Paul. But there is one more reason- the presence of Prairie Pride farm  . They sell pork. And it is amazing pork. Check out their website and they'll give you the details. We have two favorites, the pulled pork and the (ready??) cinnamon bacon. You had to have guessed that bacon had something to do with it. Cinnamon bacon is just that, bacon infused with cinnamon. It is delicious with our weekend morning oatmeal. Yum. Even better, the leftover fat can be stored and used to enhance many recipes, we have found that it combines amazingly with Salmon. But this post is about pulled pork, specifically, how easy it can make your life. One may not think of versatility when they hear pulled pork, but oh how versatile it is. You can go traditional and pair it with BBQ sauce, in fact Prairie Pride farm makes a kick-ass blackberry and chile BBQ sauce that is really good with the pork. In my opinion, though, just dousing the meat in BBQ, although classically delicious, just doesn't use it to it's potential.

Prairie Pride sells the pulled pork frozen in 1.5 lb. packages. Generally we buy one, bring it home to thaw and eat it for at least three meals. The goal is to make dishes that are so different we don't think "pulled pork again?" (I guess I do that a lot).

Day One: Salad style
This dish consists of three main parts. Pulled Pork, black beans and a salad, which will all be mixed together.
Salad:
1 shallot, sliced thin.
1 tomato, cored and diced.
2 Serrano peppers
Black pepper and salt.
Basil flavored oil and white balsamic vinegar.
Flat leaf parsley.
Fresh ground parmesan.
Slice shallot and immerse in the white balsamic, let it soak for about 20 minutes. Do this before you start the black beans and then use the extra time to make a margarita or mojito. Chop your tomato and sprinkle it with basil oil and salt. Dice parsley (enough for just a bit more than a garnish), the serrano peppers and add black pepper to taste. Mix all the above ingredients together and set aside. 

Pork :You'll need 1/2 lb Pulled Pork and an Achiote Annato sauce (at any Mexican grocer, or select Cub foods) it's basically a red Mexican hot sauce- not vinegary. Mix the pork with the sauce, and heat in a frying pan until warm.

Beans: We used 1 can of Kuner's southwestern spiced black beans and modified. Open the can and pour into a sauce pan over medium heat. Mix with black pepper, 2 small cloves garlic, cinnamon and 1/2 tsp dried oregano.

Assemble: Mix it all together (with about half the black beans) and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Day Two: Add an egg. Yum. 
So this is more like a hash. Completely different feel from day one, but you'll use a lot of the same ingredients. As you'll notice above, I said to use half the black beans, that's because you're going to use them again, see the picture?

This dish consists of four parts, you'll notice a vegetable slaw, the pulled pork, leftover beans and a fried egg. You're going to use the pork almost exactly as it comes, without sauce, but you'll add a bit of cayenne pepper to it. Then, in a frying pan coated lightly with butter, saute some onions, bell pepper and garlic, when the onions become translucent, add a fistful of parsley and 1/2 tsp dried oregano. In a sauce pan, heat the leftover black beans. Plate the slaw and heat the pork in the same pan you cooked the slaw. When heated through, place heated pork next to the slaw on the plate. Cook an egg (could use the same frying pan, too, it'll cook fast). Top with the egg and then add the black beans. Top with some slices of sun-dried tomato. Doesn't that look good? It tasted great, and I usually don't like runny yolk. You can cook the egg more if you wish, but the yolk adds sweetness.




Day Three: Pulled Pork Sandwich with Peach compote
If you're buying pulled pork, you do have to make a sandwich. This is the
easiest of all the recipes and equally as delicious. Simply take the remainder of the pulled pork, mix with a conservative amount of your favorite BBQ sauce (you can always add more, too much will ruin it). Buy a nice bun, add a slice of cheese and you're there.

To make this meal more than just a sandwich, the AC created an amazing peach compote. Pretty much dessert-worthy. Not healthy by any stretch. That's your warning.

Sweet Peach Compote: Put 1/2 c brown sugar in a sauce pan with a 1/2 c of water, bring to a boil and cook until the sugar completely dissolves, you're making a simple syrup of sorts, actually more like a caramel. While the syrup is cooking, grind 4-5 cloves and 3 allspice seeds with a mortar and pestle. Once the sugar is dissolved, add the ground spices to the pan with 1/4 tsp powdered ginger, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp vanilla, 1/8 tsp coconut extract, 1/8 tsp cayenne and a pinch of salt. Let the sauce reduce to about half and add two thinly sliced peaches and 1/2 tbsp butter, turn heat to simmer and cook until the peaches are soft. Remove the peaches from the sauce and continue to let the sauce reduce until thick. Pour the sauce over the peaches and garnish with fresh mint.

There you are. Three completely different, ridiculously simple, fairly cheap meals to serve three days in a row without any boredom. Don't eat pork? Bummer.

Got Pears?

Ahhh, Pears. It could be me, but pears seem to be making a comeback. They are sweet, like most fruit, but have a subtle, fresh taste that is reminiscent of summer. They can do savory just as easily as sweet and are just a bit unexpected. I work with really picky, McDonald's loving, adolescent girls and even they love pears. The cook has to put them out one or two at a time and even raw, they are snatched up and enjoyed.

The AC has been on a pear kick lately too, and it's pretty awesome. Even better, the pear kick has equaled more desserts, which is always good for me.

Exhibit A

I present to you three dishes, four pictures. The fourth is just to demonstrate the end result, and I liked the image- remember, this is also about photography for me.

Exhibit A. Made while we were hosting some new friends for Art-a-Whirl. Preparation was scant and overall, these were quite spontaneous- The AC gets up from the dinner table around midnight after an evening of over indulgence. He doesn't say a word.  I don't disturb him. And my art friends and I get a treat. Kinda like my sister when she visited. see the fried bananas post and you'll get the idea. A common, green Bartlett pear was sliced thin and marinated in St. Germaine Elder Flower liqueur for a little over 20 minutes. The AC put the pears and the sauce used to marinate in a med-high frying pan, coated with butter. He added cinnamon and ground ginger and fried on both sides until browned and slightly soft. He halved some dried cherries and served.  All were eaten voraciously. The result was a semi-sweet, buttery, warm, just perfect follow-up to a meal.

Exhibit B

Exhibit B. Oatmeal. Served on a standard Saturday morning, with bacon, or course. This was added to demonstrate yet another way to add excitement to oatmeal. Honestly, oatmeal had no idea how exciting it could be until it met the AC.

This version used the pears, again Bartlett, marinated in St. Germaine. The oatmeal was prepared with ground clove, cinnamon, orange and lemon peel and a small hint of french lavender. Think about that, meaty, hearty oatmeal, balanced with citrus, subtle pear sweetened with St. Germaine (yes, I guess that means we consumed alcohol for breakfast) and the clean taste of lavender. This is your license to go crazy on your oatmeal...ready?? Go!

Exhibit C

Exhibit C. Caramelized roasted pears. Enough said. This is truly bringing out the total dessert potential of this fruit. The AC really outdid himself with this. Bosc pears are used. They are the pears with the brown skin, they are ultimately slightly less sweet and very good for cooking.

Exhibit D

To make this, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, cut the pears in half and core. Squeeze fresh lemon juice on both sides. Turn round side up and then lightly drizzle vanilla extract and generously sprinkle with brown sugar. Place the pears on a baking sheet that has a lot of butter coating it, it will be used for more than release but part of a sauce when we're done. Create the sauce using various liqueurs, for these we used a combination of cointreau and plain triple sec. Add cinnamon, ginger, allspice, a bit of salt and a bit of cayenne. Cook the sauce until reduced, pour the sauce over the pears after the pears have cooked about 25-30 minutes (somewhat soft all the way through) and then place under a broiler. Broil until brown and bubbly. Remove from the broiler, pour the remaining sauce from the pan over the pears and then top with chopped dried cherries and fresh mint leaves.

Place in front of your lucky dinner guests and see Exhibit D.

Beta: Home Alone

Over the years the idea of being away from the AC for any length of time has evolved from the "missing you every moment, waiting by the phone" to "oh, good, the house to myself". I enjoy some time alone, in my house, without music, generally vegging out to Hulu.

I have been infamous in my malnutrition while the AC is away. Once, I subsisted on brie, crackers, olives, boxed wine and popcorn. And it was damn good. Of course, I felt way better when the AC came home and pumped actual nutrition into my diet, but there's something to say for a little bit of laziness.

My lack of nutrition when alone isn't because I can't cook, there's some element of rebellion to it. I have often wondered what level of cuisine I would settle on if left alone. I always assumed I'd have to find another chef to cook for me, should we part. But I have evolved. One staple at-home-alone meal for me was macaroni and cheese, yes, the boxed variety. I would fool myself and buy the Amy's, you know, the organic kind with the little bunny pasta, but it really tastes just as bad. Mac and cheese was something the AC wouldn't touch, that I could eat all alone without guilt. Then I added some kind of canned meat, usually chicken or salmon. This was my on-my-own staple, until I found orchietta pasta and tuna packed in olive oil. This elevated the whole mac and cheese concept to a new level of cooking.

It's so simple and easy, but tastes good, the perfect combination. The ingredients are simple: one portion orchietta pasta, one can of tuna packed in olive oil (Trader Joe's makes a really good one), leftover veggies-chopped, grated parmesan (no, not kraft, real parmesan), salt, black pepper and cayenne.  I cook the pasta, drain and remove from the sauce pan, then add to the same pan whatever chopped veggies we have around- helps relieve some of the guilt I was talking about earlier. I add a bit of olive oil from the tuna to cook the veggies, once soft I add the tuna with the rest of the olive oil, douse in salt, black pepper and cayenne and cook until warm, then I toss the pasta in and stir fry for about a minute. I then dump it all into a pasta bowl and cover with grated parmesan. For the version pictured here I used crimini mushrooms and black olives de provence.

So that leads us to the boxed wine. Yes, boxed wine. I'm assuming most of you have explored this new world of premium, not just for cheap parties, boxed wine. For me it has served a very specific purpose, namely, I'm home alone and want a glass of wine, but don't necessarily want to "drink alone"- a concept heavily frowned upon in the 12 step world. I've found that the white varieties are the most drinkable (with the exception of Chardonnay, never drink cheap Chardonnay), probably because it's chilled, but whatever. I have found that Sauvignon Blanc is usually the most drinkable. This brand, Silver Birch Sauvignon Blanc, is actually quite good, for a boxed wine. It's crisp, tangy, a tad sweet off dry.

So there you have it, the Ultimate Beta home alone, not so bad. Much better when the AC returns. But then usually I have had a couple days to decompress, enjoy the silence and eat enough junk to really appreciate what I have. I guess that's pretty perfect.