Busting Out the Winter Guns

All of this rainy cold weather is forcing me to bust out some hearty winter recipes. Rather than being outdoors grilling up some kabobs and burgers, I was tucked inside my kitchen blasting my oven conjuring up some Shepherds Pie. Growing up, Shepherds Pie was one of my dad's "go to" meals he fed to my brother and I when my mom didn't have time to prepare dinner. Due to his bland taste buds (he hates garlic!!!) his Shepherds Pie consisted of a layer of ground beef and onion, layer of canned creamed corn, topped off with some mashed potatoes. His seasonings simple: salt and pepper.
Out of nostalgia I still find comfort in this dish (my brother still refuses to touch it), but to make my own I would definitely stray from my Dad's recipe. Borrowing from an earlier Crow post, "Not Your Momma's Casserole" I have dubbed my creation "Not My Daddy's Shepherds Pie".


Not My Daddy's Shepherds Pie
1 lb ground beef (available at Harvest, JP)
1/4 onion, chopped
5 to 10 mushrooms, chopped
large bunch chard, chopped
stove top creamed corn (recipe below)
3 large yukon gold potatoes
1 large sweet potato
fresh parsley
1 large garlic clove, thinly sliced
butter, cream and stock (optional)
1/2 a beer (whatever the chef happens to be enjoying at the time)
olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

• Stove Top Creamed Corn: Pour a packet of frozen corn kernels into a sauce pan, add a mixture of cream and vegetable stock* to cover the corn half way, a couple dollops of butter and some salt and pepper. Simmer this mixture for 20-30 minutes, near the end start breaking up the corn kernels with the back of a spoon.
• Peel potatoes, cut into chunks and bring to a simmer in salted water. Once fork tender mash together with desired amount of butter, cream or stock, salt pepper and fresh chopped parsley.
• Saute onions and mushrooms in a large pan, once onions are translucent add beef and break up into small chunks. When beef is almost cooked through add half a beer and let simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.
• Saute garlic in a saucepan with some olive oil, add chard, salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes, simmer until just wilted.
• Coat a casserole dish with olive oil spray, add beef mixture, then creamed corn, chard, and top off with mashed potatoes
• Bake in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes, then let rest 10-15 minutes before digging in.

* If you want to cut back on using cream or milk, substitute with vegetable stock or use a mixture of the two.

Hopefully I won't have to bust this meal out until October but who knows with New England Weather.

Restoring a Cast Iron Skillet

I have a new love. It is old, dirty, and overweight.

But I love it anyways.

I think all crows have a basic opposition to Teflon.* There is just something incredibly disheartening about a chemical that magically makes food not stick to your pan. This becomes even more disturbing once you have started cooking with cast iron, because somehow, without the magic of polytetrafluoroethylene, food doesn't stick to the pan! Moreover, if there are any little crusties stuck on the bottom of your pan, a little dip in a warm bath will quickly lift the char.

Teflon is also not suitable for oven use, which severely limits what you can do with certain recipes.

Natural Magic!

So Billy came home one day with two disgusting looking skillets that I figured would become wall ornaments because they were so covered in filth. Upon hearing this Billy made this face:

. .
O

.....and proceeded to look up different methods of restoration. He tried a few, but they never lasted. He found success in removing rust, but could never get the rust to stay gone, no matter how thoroughly the water was removed. Thus far, I have used two methods of "seasoning," one of which has been profoundly more effective in not only remaining rust-free, but creating a non stick surface.

*If you didn't already, you will after reading that article.
You will need:

Steel Wool
Paper Towels or cloth rag
Vegetable oil
Bacon

Heat oven to 400.

In the hottest water you can handle scrub all the rust off of the pan. Note the difference between rust, and old cast iron. The scrubbing process will not yield the black cast iron we all know. This comes in the seasoning process.

After you are confident in your scrub, thoroughly dry. Coat the pan in Oil and place cooking side down on the middle rack of the oven. Place a cookie sheet or some aluminum foil below the pan to catch any drippings. Keep in oven until the skillet has turned a deep, dark black.

Seasoning is complete.

Bacon Version.

Complete all steps, except upon removing from the oven cook a hefty amount of bacon. Use A high fat, uncured bacon for maximum filth and grease. Once bacon is complete spread bacon grase all over the inside of the pan. Place back in the oven and cook for another 15-30 minutes with the pan underneath to catch drippings.

Now you have the ultimate non stick surface.

Pros/cons

So obviously the biggest hurdle is overcoming a fear of bacon. Bacon is disgusting. But it does the job if you can get over that.

The vegetable oil will season the pan and prepare it for safe, rust-free use, but there are two major problems. The first is that the oil creates an almost sticky surface and there is, thus far after 2-3 uses still visible evidence of the oil on the surface of the Pan. Whereas the bacon fat seems to have melded with the pan, the oil is clearly not evenly distributed across the cooking surface. You could try Crisco, but really Crisco, is just as disturbing to me as Teflon.

So now the next time you see an old rusty pan for $2 at a thrift store you won't be afraid to bring it home!

Great Uses

Searing Meat/Fish/poultry
One dish meals
Making a perfectly hearty tomato sauce
Caramelizing onions
Skillet + Grilling*
Hitting boyfriends
Pretending its 1859
Pies
Quiches
Attractive presentation

*You can actually throw the skillet right on the coals!

This Crow Has Landed!

My apologies on the lack of posts, this crow was busy soaring around Scotland for the past week enjoying lots of tasty morsels along the way. It was refreshing to go to a country that doesn't cram the phrases "fresh ingredients" "local" or "grass fed" down your throat; in most Scottish dining (as well as other European countries), these labels are not boasted, they are implied.

Nick and I treated ourselves to one fancy shmancy dinner while we were in Edinburgh at Maison Bleue (Its that first blue building shown in the picture above). It was classic french dining with some subtle Scottish flare. To start, we split a bowl of Shetland Mussels in a white wine and garlic sauce. I know this sounds sacrilegious coming from a Maine gal, but these were the best mussels I have ever had. To top it off they even brought over some tea cups with warm water and lemon slices so we could rinse off our grimy seafood hands (usually a reason that prevents me from ordering messy seafood in restaurants). For the main course, Nick ordered the special of the day- freshly caught sea bass served whole over roasted vegetables and prawns. The seasonings were very basic to not mask the fresh fish flavor. I was feeling a bit carnivorous that night, and I also knew I could peck at Nick's Sea Bass, so I went for the fillet of beef with potato gratin, roasted vegetables and a delicious creamed pepper sauce to top it all off. Meat was cooked perfectly to a pretty pinkish red, and I could cut through it with a butter knife- now that's perfection.

Unfortunately we didn't have time for dessert because we had to meet up with our Hostel's nightly pub crawl to catch some drink specials. Speaking of Specials, the hostel we stayed at had great deals with the surrounding cafes and pubs (which was desperately needed due to the awful dollar to pound conversion rate). This cafe was our go to spot for cheap, but delicious food and drink, they also had some Internet we could tap into. They offered backpackers Two for One Burgers and Panninis and Two for One Selected Beers and Mixed Drinks.

Overall the food was fantastic in Scotland, usually your diet suffers when you're on vacation but definitely not here! They could however use a couple of microbreweries- their national beer, Tennets, was quite possibly weaker than Budweiser ick!

I know this doesn't have much to do with food but this is the Castle we stayed in for Sarah and Jared's Wedding (the reason for our Scottish Adventure)

Grilled Chess

Eek, it was a very nice weekend here in the Bay Area.

Although... you'd be hard pressed to find a native to agree with me. 90+ and sunny! Woohoo!

Last night billy and I had a mini grill-session that included Burgers, eggplant and garlicy asparagus, and 3 games of intense chess.

I have little new to share recipe wise, except, that 1.5 lbs. of meat = exactly 4 patties!

In case you are ever unsure of how much meat to get for a party.

The Cock's in the Kitchen

Paul and I thought this was pretty funny:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_male_crow_called



Q "what is a male crow called"


A "male crows are called cocks"


Anyways, our good friends Steph and Jeff Spicer just moved into their first house out on the west island of Montreal and we finally got to go check it out! Upon seeing the diesel new grill on the back porch, Paul immediately suggested grilling (the grill master was in)


He marinated kebabs made with huge chunks of sweet onion, green and red pepper and chicken with his sassy homemade teriyaki marinade and grilled them to perfection.







Teriyaki Marinade


1 bunch of green onions, minced, whites only
3 large crushed garlic cloves
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
Another interesting technique, compliments of Mr. Jeff Spicer, is scoring halved zucchinis. Take a small to medium sized zucchini and cut it in half length-wise. Next, take a sharp knife and score the flat side in a criss-cross pattern. Jeff adds salt next and lets them sit for a few minutes, to get the juices flowing, then olive oil and season to taste. You can throw these puppies on the grill and let them roast away. They only need to be grilled face down.


And perhaps my favorite of the night, trout sausage, or as I called them, trousage. I must admit I was skeptical at first, but they turned out to be quite delicious. They were simply a mix of fresh trout, parsley and chive, made into a sausage, but they were flakey and delicious and I will definitely pick them up if ever again I get the chance.

Desert Dessert Desert Dessert

I am currently waiting for some milk and rice to boil to make a yummy treat.
This is what I am trying!

Rice pudding

1 1/3 c rice
4 1/2 c Whole milk- I use Strauss, its really good, really thick whole milk that has a disgusting layer of cream on top that just adds to its glory
Salt
Maple Syrup & Honey- a 1/2 c between the two
Almonds
Cardamom
Orange zest
Vanilla extract - if I had or could afford a bean I would use it
cinnamon
nutmeg
2 eggs

Bring milk, salt, and rice to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
In a separate bowl wisk eggs with remaining ingredients. 1T at a time add the rice mixture to the egg until you are satisfied that you won't scramble the egg. Simmer a few more minutes and enjoy!

Flavor overload? I think so, but we'll see if it works.

P.S. Billy is currently making a Braunschweiger (in honor of the swine flu) and onion sandwich. GROSS.


Update:

Success! I have to say this is one of the more successful cooking adventures I've had.
for more specific measurements: 1 t of both nutmeg and cinnamon. 1.5 t cardamom, 1 T vanilla plus some. 1/2 the juice of a large navel orange, zest from the entire orange.

After a brief scare of scorching the milk, things calmed and it came along beautifully. In the end it was none other than Billy that determined the missing flavor was some finishing salt and more vanilla!

First Fail CAW

Tonight I tried making two things, and neither were as delicious as I'd hoped for! It happens now and again, and again, and again, so I like to take the time to reflect when and where I went wrong.

Tonight was my first time cooking with a Kabocha.

I had it all planned out. A thirty Minute BART ride home allowed me ample time to devise a stupendous plan of attack. I would roast this new squash with green zucchini and yellow summer squash alongside delicious red onion (one of my favorite veggies to roast) that had been covered in a perfectly sweetened honey & fresh ginger combo.

Needless to say it was a complete failure. I forgot about the " perfectly sweetened honey and ginger combo" until it came out of the oven looking dismal, and tasting even more bland. The tedious process of breaking down the squash (which was particularly hard) clouded my mind. I overcooked it all, and resorted to adding the honey after the fact to make it somewhat okay. The onions and zucchini were yummy, but the Kabocha was just weird. The texture was something I have never experienced, and shutter to think about.







Billy claims it is palatable, but I beg to differ. I spit it out. I kept thinking that if I tried it again, it would get better. That never happened






The second dish was a simple pasta salad. Although not as big of an ego-blow, still a disappointment. I chose to use tortellini as opposed to a more traditional "pasta salad" type noodle, which was my main mistake. The texture of the 'loni didn't work with the other ingredients that I added. Alone the "extras" would make an excellent salad. I will share with you that much.

Quick Chicken Salad

1 can Trader Joes Chicken (similar to Canned tuna...but chicken...)
1 T grainy mustard
1 T mayo
Oil and Vinegar to your liking
Salt & P
2 radishes cubed into chicken salad sized chunks
1 apple cubed
4 chopped scallions in their whole or about 3-4T chopped onion
4 T Fresh chopped parsley
Lemon juice
Corn from 2 Cobbs

2 pieces toasted Dark bread
a fork


Mix all ingredients together. Toast bread. Consume with fork and hands. If you feel like getting extra racey, put the chicken salad on untoasts pieces of bread with a slice of Munster or Swiss on top. Put in the oven to melt the cheese and east as an open faced sandy.


Cook and learn, I suppose. I think that shall be my motto.

Also worth mention, there was an impromptu grill and eat out session in my backyard tonight. Totally basic all the way with burgers, hotdogs, and fresh skin-on sockeye salmon marinated simply in olive oil and lemon juice with salt and pepper.

Sides of leftover pasta salad and lettuce from boston organics with sliced fennel and holly's homemade balsamic dressing. Light and satisfying summer meal, great for outdoor mowing.

Back in the Bean

Well hello hello my lovely ladies

I am reporting to you live from McBride after weeks away in the great North (QC) and the wild west (Denver) for my debut blog. (hold applause)

While in CO celebrating my littlest sister's 21st birthday, she and I decided to make my mom's new lasagna recipe (I think an Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa) recipe. This recipe is great because first of all, it uses goat cheez...mmmmmm....and second third and fourth turkey sausage, home-made sauce, GREAT noodle cooking technique. details to follow.

the recipe is:

LASAGNA WITH TURKEY SAUSAGE
serves 8

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound lasagna noodles
15 ounces ricotta cheese
3 to 4 ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Heat the olive oil in a large (10-to 12-inch) skillet. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the sausage and cook over medium-low heat, breaking it up with a fork, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until no longer pink. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the basil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, until thickened. Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with the hottest tap water. Add the noodles and allow them to sit in the water for 20 minutes. Drain.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, goat cheese, 1 cup of Parmesan, the egg, the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.

Ladle 1/3 of the sauce into a 9x12x2-inch rectangular baking dish, spreading the sauce over the bottom of the dish. Then add the layers as follows: half the pasta, half the mozzarella, half the ricotta, and one third of the sauce. Add the rest of the pasta, mozzarella, ricotta, and finally, sauce. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling.

To make ahead, refrigerate the assembled, unbaked lasagna. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until bubbly.

After making this recipe for the second time I have several suggestions. There never seems to be quite enough sauce for the incredibly huge and awesome amount of chzzzz mixture you end up with, so I would suggest just dbl'ing the sauce mixture. You could also easily substitute you're favorite sauce recipe. A great way to really AMP up this dish is adding layers of spinach or roasted (or raw) veggies of your liking. I definitely plan to try the spinach myself next go around, I'll let you know how it goes ;) Also want to comment on the noodle cooking method, IT'S AWESOME. Because you don't technically "cook" the noodles before assembling the lasagna, the sauce finishes them off nicely while in the oven and you end up with perfectly al dante layers every time. Really adds a nice texture to the soft ingredients of the lasagna. Even if you don't end up trying this recipe, I would strongly suggest trying the noodles.

Glad spring has sprung and summer is around the corner. Paul's grilling marinades to follow (i promise)

cheers!

Riane

My Debut Caw

I need to play some catch-up with these posts- great Intro VBAR!

Lemon Thyme Chicken
Riane and I first made this for a BBQ a month back when the weather wasn't as warm but the food was just as tasty. We got the recipe from a Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, but i will modify it in my own words. The marinade calls for:
1 shit ton* of minced garlic, lemon juice and fresh thyme.
Whisk in some extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
If you have some white wine kicking around that is also yummy to add in, especially if you are making a larger batch.

* in future posts this measurement will be abbreviated s ton- basically this is when you don't need exact measurements, just add how much flavor looks good to you. If you're like me and love alot of flavor than a shit ton seems like a fitting measurement.

Successful bbq last night to ring in the summer weather. Winter has finally ended.

With honorary chef Mark at the helm of the grill we fired up: burgers, dogs, veggie burgers and chicken with a veggie pouch.

Veggie Pouch:

-onion, garlic, zucchini, green beans and a roma tomato.

-Chopped veggies and threw them into a tinfoil pouch with lemon juice, olive oil salt and pepper.

-poked holes in the pouch and threw it on the grill.

Ultra fresh and yummy.

Holly, you need to share your excellent chicken recipe; thyme, lemon....?

Tomorrow is our first day at the beach! Can't wait to taste the yummy Sangria being whipped up by Mo and Holly.

I made pasta salad- with lots of... what else, fennel. I've been talking about fennel (anise? whatever.) all week, because, as I keep saying it is super cheap at Harvest right now. $1.50 a bulb, and they are big and white and crisp; not the $4 each droopy browning bulbs they often have. Fennel is my favorite- it reminds me of Sicily, because I ate it every day there and came to absolutely love it. This lady Lana, who was from Rome and lived in the house with us always made fennel this way, and it is truly delicious.

Roasted Fennel with Breadcrumbs and Parm

-Slice up fennel bulb (a good sized on goes pretty far- maybe 4 good serving) into slices , reming the tough core and separating apart

-spread the fennel out on the bottom of a casserole dish and drizzle olive oil on top

-dust with a good sized handful of parmesan, and then dust over with breadcrubs. A little salt and a lotta pepper

-bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until fennel is soft