Jungle Jim's Food Finds

I finally made it to the international market! My mom and I went and got some goodies. The store was huge -- they had maps it was so large. It's an hour away and we decided we wanted to go around 5:30 on Sunday night. We didn't get back into town until 10. They had all sorts of fun and interesting things there. I did, however, have two failures. First, no burrata cheese. Second, no kaffir limes or lime leaves, which my Thai cookbook insists I should have. They seem very common in Thailand--it's entirely possible they had them and we just missed it.


Although I didn't get the burrata cheese, we did come home with a stash of cheeses. We bought a lot, but the cheese took up a significant portion of the final total. Cheese is pricey! The jar is actually not cheese, but double cream. I don't know what I need double cream for, but I'm certain that I need it. In the upper left, we have Oaxaca cheese. I was introduced to this cheese when I was in Mexico my senior year of high school. I have been searching for it for 10 years -- a whole decade, y'all! In the upper right, we have Stinking Bishop cheese, so named because it smells like dirty socks. Yuuuum. I like a stinky cheese. This may cross the line, but I had to try it.



Lemon grass for my Thai cooking. (I gave up the boy, not the food.)



This thing is called Romanesco, and it's in the cauliflower/broccoli family. It was a dollar, so we bought it. We're trying it tonight. With cheese.



Pork belly! Those top chef people use it, and so will we.


And finally the piece de resistance:

Pork hearts! We wanted to try something totally out there. I was deciding between beef tripe & pork hearts, but went with the hearts. At $3 for four hearts, I think it's worth the gamble. We'll let you know the outcome! (They also had pig snouts, cow's feet, and duck heads, among other things.)

Jamie's Chicken & Leek Stroganoff

This recipe is from Jamie Oliver's cookbook, Jamie's Food Revolution, a cookbook which my mother gives 2 spoons up or 5 forks, or whatever food-related scale you prefer. Jamie also has a special rice-cooking method:

snacks and sides | serves 4 - 6
This is my basic recipe for getting perfect rice every time. Have a go at mastering it – you’ll be amazed at the light and fluffy results.

Once you’ve got the hang of that, you can have a go at flavouring it - any flavouring you boil with the rice will infuse it with wonderful fragrances and flavours. So try boiling things like fresh herbs, a cinnamon stick, a few cardamom pods, a strip of lemon zest or even a green tea bag in the water with the rice.

Doubling the amounts in the recipe will give you enough rice to serve 8-12 people.

• Put a large pan of salted water on a high heat and bring to the boil
• Rinse the rice in a colander under running water for about 1 minute, or until the water runs clear (this will stop the grains sticking together later)
• Add your rice to the boiling water and wait for the grains to start dancing around
• From that point, boil for 5 minutes
• Drain the rice in a colander
• Pour 2.5cm of water into the pan, put it back on the heat and bring it to the boil again, then turn down to a simmer
• Cover the rice in the colander with foil or a lid
• Place the colander on top of the pan of simmering water and let the rice steam over it for 8 to 10 minutes
• Remove from the heat and if you’re ready, serve immediately
• If not, leave the foil or lid on and put aside until ready to serve – it should stay warm for about 20 minutes

I have placed my picture of it down here, because it really doesn't do it justice. It looks so colorless, which I suppose it is, but that colorless indicates starches, cream, and butter. I think we can all get behind that. (Skinny people who only like skinny people food need not apply.) I stuffed myself beyond what is natural. I looked like I was pregnant with a rice & cream baby.

Mama's Internet Cooking

My mommy is visiting me this week, and we have plans to make lots of food. We didn't feel like going to the grocery store on Sunday, so my mom poked around my fairly bare fridge and looked on the interwebs for some appropriate recipes. Dinner was simple, but quite delicious. The carrots were really good -- my mom was skeptical that they would be, but she was converted once we started eating.

Chicken recipe from Reluctant Gourmet:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1-1/2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1-1/2 tablespoons of olive oil (or vegetable oil)
• Salt and ground pepper
• 3 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup of dry white wine
• 1 cup of homemade chicken stock
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper on both sides.

Pre-heat your saute pan (frying pan) until drops of water quickly evaporate. This means the pan is at least 212° F.

Heat butter and oil in a heavy bottomed pan over high heat until butter stops foaming and just starts to turn a light brown.

Sauté the breasts until they are lightly browned on one side, approx. 3 minutes.

Turn breasts over and sauté for another 3 minutes, again until lightly browned. (At this point the meat should be firm to the touch.)

Transfer the chicken breasts to a plate, cover with aluminum foil, and keep warm in the oven or toaster oven set at low.

Remove the pan from the head source, and add half of the wine to deglaze the pan, stirring to dissolve the flavorful brown particles stuck to the pan.

Return pan to the stove and add the shallots and cook until translucent, about 2 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, making sure the garlic doesn’t burn. (It makes the dish bitter if it does)

Add the remaining wine and reduce (boil) until only a trace of wine is left in the pan.

Add the chicken stock and reduce to half the original amount, approx. 6-7 minutes.

Add the cream, and again reduce until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon.

Spoon sauce over cutlets and serve.

Carrots from We Heart Food:

**Note: Oregano was used in lieu of marjoram

Sauteed Carrots with Lemon and Marjoram
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 bunch carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch slices
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
2 tbsp lemon juice

In a medium nonstick frying pan, heat 1/2 the oil over moderately low heat. Add the garlic, carrots, sugar, 1/2 the salt, the pepper, and the dried marjoram. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Uncover the pan. Raise the heat to moderate and cook, stirring frequently, until the carrots are very tender and beginning to brown, about 8 minutes longer. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the remaining oil and the lemon juice.

Radicchio, Prosciutto, Pears and Fresh Mozzarella with Balsamic Reduction

Rach, Elizabeth, and I visited Asheville last winter and we took a food tour where we got to visit lots of stores and restaurants and eat our way through downtown Asheville (http://www.ashevillefoodtours.com/). It was so much fun and we got a ton of food! My kind of tour.

One of the restaurants we visited did a demo where he showed us all the ingredients and how he cooked everything. So this was my attempt at recreating the best dish on the tour. I definitely don't have it down. Everything tasted good except for the radicchio which I thought was too bitter and I can't figure out what I did differently. Maybe Rach has a better memory and has some suggestions for how to fix it :) Also, on the tour they gave us this really amazing burrata mozzarella cheese but I can't find it here. I did however find an Italian market (ironically located right next to my gym) and they had really amazing fresh mozzarella. Here is my imprecise and made up recipe. I think next time I try it I might cook the radicchio longer because it is supposed to be less bitter when you cook it.

Olive Oil
1 pear - sliced
1/3 head of radicchio- cut into strips
Balsamic Vinegar
Fresh Mozzarella
Prosciutto- chopped into small pieces

Reduce the balsamic to make a balsamic reduction. Just put it in a pan and simmer it over med heat. I added a little sugar (b/c I was cheap and bought the off brand balsamic). It takes a while to reduce it (like 20-40 mins) and you have to stir it almost constantly, otherwise it will burn on the bottom of the pan. I reduced mine about halfway and then let it cool and put it back in the balsamic bottle so I can use it on other things.

Heat Olive Oil in skillet over med-high heat
Add the radicchio and cook for about 2-3 mins
Then add prosciutto and pears. I just cooked for a while until it looked done.

When I plated it, I put a little more olive oil on it, and the balsamic vinegar.

Below is the picture we took from the food tour. As you can see, they are practically identical.

Creamy Pasta with Chard and Tomatoes

This is in our Gracewood cookbook but I don't think I ever made it before. It is from the Joy of Cooking. It took me a while to find chard in the grocery store but everything else I had in my fridge/pantry. It was very good and easy to make! I'll post the recipe, but my roomies can easily access it in the very fancy gracewood recipes cookbook :)


Ingredients:
olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 large ripe tomatoes, peeled & chopped OR 1 cup chopped, drained canned tomatoes
1 pound chard, trimmed and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt & pepper to taste
3/4 cup grated Parmesan

Cooking Instructions:
Heat & cook onion, garlic, & red pepper in olive oil over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes, until soft & golden.
Add tomatoes & cook for about 5 minutes or until most of the liquid is evaporated. Stir occasionally.
Add chard & cook until chard has wilted, about 2 minutes.
Add cream & salt & pepper. Cook 2 minutes or until bubbling. Remove from heat.
Meanwhile, cook pasta. When cooked, drain pasta, retaining a couple tbs of pasta water. Put pasta in completed sauce with some of the pasta water. Toss until well coated.
Add Parmesan.

Sappho's Stonewall Moussaka

This is my second thematic post. I have just finished reading Stonewall. When I made the first theme food for the book, I went through several options. One was to cook Greek food in honor of Sappho. I nixed that one, because the vast majority of Stonewall's patrons were men. Once I read further, though, I learned that one of the flashpoints for the riots was a butch lesbian who was getting roughed up by the police. I asked my Greek former roommate for a masculine Greek meal. She suggested Moussaka.

**I would cook the eggplant on lower heat or make thicker cuts...a lot of mine got burnt.
The use of cinnamon and allspice with beef was super tasty. I had leftover beef, so I made just the meat sauce later & put it over pasta. Yum. (The directions don't say to drain the meat, but you'd definitely want to do that.)

Ingredients

• EGGPLANT
• 2 large eggplants (about 2 3/4 pounds), unpeeled and cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch slices
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• MEAT SAUCE
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus to taste
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 1/2 cups whole, peeled, canned tomatoes (with puree), roughly chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• CUSTARD SAUCE
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups whole milk, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg yolks
• 
  
• 1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
• 3 tablespoons Pecorino Romano

Directions

Bake the eggplant: Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Brush the eggplant slices on both sides with the oil and lay on 2 small or 1 large foil-lined baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and bake until the eggplant is soft, about 25 minutes. Set aside covered.

Make the meat sauce. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the beef, oregano, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon. Break the meat up into small pieces and season with the 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring, until just cooked but still slightly pink inside, about 1 minute more. Add the tomato and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Cover, and cook until the sauce is thickened and fragrant, about 20 minutes.

Make the custard sauce. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add the milk, salt, and nutmeg. Return to the heat and while whisking constantly, bring to a boil. Simmer 2 minutes. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and stir to cool. When the sauce is cool, whisk in the egg and yolks.

Assemble the moussaka. Lower the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush a 9 x 13 x 2-inch casserole dish with the oil. Scatter the breadcrumbs over the bottom of the pan. Lay half of the eggplant in the pan, overlapping the slices if needed. Cover with half of the meat sauce and smooth with a rubber spatula. Repeat with the remaining eggplant and meat sauce. Pour the custard sauce over the layered mixture and smooth with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle with the Pecorino Romano and bake, uncovered, until lightly browned and the custard is set, about 1 hour.

Remove the moussaka from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon or spatula to serve.

I'll leave you with a quotation in the book by Franklin Kameny who wrote it in 1968:

"Gay is good. I say that it is time to open the closet door and let in the fresh air and the sunshine; it is time to doff and discard the secrecy . . . to live your homosexuality fully, joyously, openly, and proudly, assured that morally, socially, physically, psychologically, emotionally, and in every other way: Gay is good. It is."

How I used my leftover buckwheat

I made those buckwheat crepes a while ago and have never used buckwheat before in anything else so I looked around for a buckwheat pancake. I actually got this off of another person's blog/ website (dandysugar.com) and thought it looked really good so I tried it last weekend. I forgot to take a picture of it so I will just use her picture (it is way better than my picture would ever be :)



I thought they were really good- I like buckwheat pancakes! I would definitely make them again (after I eat all the leftover ones in my freezer). I put more apples and cinnamon in them.

Apple-Cardamom Pancakes

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of buckwheat flour

3/4 cup of quick oats

1/1/4 tsp of baking powder

3/4 tsp of baking soda

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

about 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 egg white

1 1/2 cups soy or rice milk

2 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 grated apple (I used fuji, they’re naturally pretty sweet)

Combine with a whisk the flour, oats, baking soda and powder, salt and spices into a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients to the top of flour mix- milk, egg white, honey, oil and grated apple. Whisk until just incorporated.

Heat a griddle on low to medium heat. Pour about 1/4 cup or so of batter on griddle. Let cook until bubbly on top and golden brown on the underside. Flip and repeat. Makes about 6-8 small to medium sized pancakes.