cooking @ home

Archive for November, 2007

It seems there’s at least three ways to make a Thanksgiving holiday turkey. The traditional oven method we all grew up with and usually do. The “set the back yard on fire” method that is all the rage right now, namely the deep-fried turkey. And then there is a lesser-done middle of the road method that straddles nicely between those two which is turkey on the grill, or to be more accurate, the barbecued turkey.

Which one to do this year? Well the weather decided it for me. Here in Philadelphia in November the norm is pretty much 55°F on a nice day, and on the occasional day when we get a Canadian down-draft maybe 42°F for the high. This year, as the weather tends to do what it wants, we inexplicably had a two-day warm spell with the day before Thanksgiving reaching to 66°F And the day of the feast just glancing the 70 degree mark. (Mind you, the very next evening it went down to 30°F). So with this as a sign — well, ok, I don’t actually believe so much in signs so I should say, with this opportunity presented I decided to make the most of it. One finally grilling for the year. And what a way to go out with a bang but with my first-ever BBQ turkey breast!

My obvious concern was: this could easily go wrong. Then again if I really thought that, I wouldn’t have begun the venture in the first place. That said, it was still a slight gamble. And what’s the best thing to do with a gamble? Why, hedge your bets of course. And so, along with my first BBQ turkey so also came my first time brining anything. I’ve been hearing about this brine technique for a few years now and I wasn’t completely sold on the idea. (I’m still not, not totally. It has it’s place though for certain.) You see if a turkey, whole or breast can get dry in the oven, then it most certainly could on the grill if I wasn’t careful. And so I took the plunge. Literally. Or at least the turkey breast did.

Now, I had a plan in mind. BBQ the turkey. Give it a dry rub. Offset the dry rub with some kind of a thin sweeter sauce. Once I decided that the sauce would be citrus, I knew when making the brine I would give it a bit of “umpf” in the same direction. You see, yes a brine is most definitely not a marinade; it’s something totally different. But I figured that shouldn’t stop me from in some way thinking of it a bit as a marinade too. And so I had the seven pound turkey with ribs. Got a huge metal pot, put in the water and the requisite salt and sugar mix. Then I also took two large juicy oranges, cut them in half, squeezed out at least half of the juice and plunked them in the brine with the turkey and let it set in the refrigerator for four hours.

As I did this at 9am and I wasn’t grilling until about 1pm, I then happily went back to sleep for a couple hours. I love it when something gets done *while you’re sleeping — that’s the true measure of quality multitasking to me. LOL!

Later, with my charcoal “tank” — my beautiful large outdoor grill — all ready, I proceeded with figuring out what to do for my rub. I definitely wanted it to have a nice smoky flavor, but not too overpowering either. So I decided a bit of a regular BBQ rub, minus some of the normal things I would use and other ingredients in less proportions — this was poultry after all, not a side of beef. I added some of the traditional turkey herbs of sage, rosemary and thyme and was off. I set the grill up for the normal off-set or indirect heating, charcoals on the two sides, open in the middle with a drip pan below. Grilled — as in direct flame — the top skin side of the two half breasts (I cut the breast into two halves for same reason, stack the odds in my favor, easier cooking, less time, therefore less change to dry out), and after five minutes of giving the top side a nice sear, went for the barbecue, the indirect heating with the turkey breast in the middle. Two hours later it was done.

Brought it inside. Crisp as you ever saw turkey skin with the strong dry rub and the smoky charcoal flavor. Super moist, very white, cooked meat with the slightest hint of orange from the brine. Made my light sauce, and the rest of my sides and there was the holiday feast. The techniques used for the turkey all worked out very nicely. Definitely not your momma’s or your grandmama’s Thanksgiving Day bird, but also definitely a winner. The barbecuing turned out to be a good idea. The brine worked out fantastically. The orange in the brine and then in the sauce offset the rub seasonings and complimented the smoky flavor marvelously. Some smoke, some herbs, some citrus. Moistest meat inside with the crispiest skin outside. What more could you want?!

  

Citrus-Brined Barbecued Turkey Breast with Orange-Herb-Wine Sauce
©2007 Harry Kenney

7 pound young turkey breast with ribs

citrus brine:

2 large, juicy oranges
1 gallon water, cold
1 cup salt
1 cup sugar

herb dry rub:

3 tblsps rosemary
3 tblsps sage
3 tblsps thyme
1 tblsp garlic powder
2 tsps onion powder
1 tblsp dried oregano
1 tblsp dried basil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tsps salt
1 tsp pepper

orange-herb-wine sauce:

2 cups chicken broth
1 cup white wine, dry, semi-sweet (I used chablis)
thyme
rosemary
1 tblsp honey
zest (2-3 tsps) and juice from one large orange
1/4 tsps
pinch chilli powder
1 tblsp garlic powder
1 tbsp minced onion (dehydrated)
salt
pepper
2 tblsps vegetable oil
1 tblsp butter

Brine: Cut turkey breast into two halves. Place in very large container that can fit into the refrigerator with brine solution ingredients for 3-4 hours.

Rub: Take out of solution. Wash completely off, especially to get salt off of it. Pat dry with paper towels. Get grill going. Mix herbal dry rub ingredients and rub onto both sides of turkey halves, especially the top. Set up grill for indirect heating.

BBQ: On the grates over the charcoals, place the halves top side (skin side) down and give a good sear for 4-6 minutes. Then place, top up, on middle grates over a drip pan, to the sides (or in the middle) of your grill for indirect heating. Cook at a minimum of 225°F and no higher than 325°F for about two hours. Check with internal thermometer and take off when thickest part of the meat reads at least 160°F.

Sauce: Make sauce in small pot on stove: Tossing in all of the ingredients except the butter and cornstarch and reducing it down. After getting it down about 1/3, add cornstarch, reduce further. Add butter two minutes before done for sheen and added flavor.

Serving: When turkey cools a bit, take out the rib section and all bones. Suggest serving by cutting the turkey more as you would a meatloaf or a roast: slicing across the short side and giving thick half-inch or larger slices. Two or three pieces per plate, staggered slightly atop each other, spoon sauce down the middle or completely over it and serve. Makes 10-12 servings.

Big Green Egg 1 1/2 lb. Jack Daniels Barrel Wood Chips Bag – 00020 (By:-Big Green Egg, BigGreen Egg) 1 1/2 lb Jack Daniels Barrel Wood Chips Bag

This year I wanted to make stuffing from scratch and I wanted to do something completely different from the usual, traditional Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing. I also wanted it to be something a bit more “modern”. Seems chorizo is all the rage, and as I finally got my hands on some — yes, it’s easier to find in the South and Southwest then here in the Northeast — so I decided that was where I would go with this recipe.

Now then we have the words “stuffing” and “dressing”. So what is what with that? Well, they’re pretty interchangeable, basically. In the US, stuffing is used more often in the Eastern and Southern areas, whereas dressing more preferable in the rest of the country. That said, none of this is written in stone by any means.

As to where did the word dressing come about, it seems the word stuffing was replaced in Victorian times with “dressing” because in that age of going all sexually conservative and repressive, it was decided that “stuffing” sounded rather vulgar to the new straight-laced society. Tsk-tsk.

Technically though, nowadays, stuffing tends to mean it’s been cooked in the bird. Whereas dressing suggests it’s not been in it. (Yes, I know, Stovetop Stuffing mix is technically incorrect; but then let’s ruin a good alliteration.) For my recipe, then, dressing is the more correct word as instead of an entire bird, I did the Turkey breast with ribs as I often do anymore. So there was nothing here to actually stuff in the first place.

The technique of stuffing, by the way, historically goes back quite a ways. Turns out the Romans were big on stuffing things, not just fowl. One of the oldest cookbooks we have is that of Apicius’s “De Re Coquinaria” with recipes for stuffing chicken, pig, hare and that lovely delicacy of the ancient empire, dormouse. Another fun historical fact, in France during the Middle Ages, stuffing was called “farce”; yes, the one we know from writing and comedy. And at the time it initially referred to a short, light-hearted skit or play “stuffed” in between more lengthy and weighty productions.

A recent search by me for this article on regional differences for stuffing, surprising I came up empty-handed. That said, I think it’s safe to say that oyster stuffing is more popular in the New England states, and cornbread stuffing is more commonly found in the Southern states. Fine. Enough of what the Romans and the French did and what they do elsewhere. What exactly did I end up doing?

I initially wanted to use Challah bread for my stuffing as it would have given a nice texture and sweetness to it. Unable to find any the day before I needed it, I decided upon good ol’ Italian rolls, specifically the kind here in Philadelphia we use to make cheesesteaks and hoagies with — soft but very firm inside, with a nice crust, not too much, on the outside. I took the classic mirepoix and rearranged the amount so there would be more celery, as to me, I can’t think of stuffing or dressing without having that more predominant flavor. That and of course sage.

So how did it turn out? Overall, enjoyable. It must be noted this is a strongly flavored dressing version thanks to the chorizo and the smoked paprika and other spices that make it. I wanted something not traditional but still delicious and that’s exactly what I got. One thing though what is missing from dressing (done outside the bird) compared to stuffing (done inside it)? Turkey drippings. So what ends up tasting best — no surprise here — is putting the stuffing on the plate and then being sure to add the traditional turkey gravy on top of it. By itself, this dressing is very nice; with the gravy on top, mmm, a home run.

Cranberry-Chorizo Dressing
©2007 Harry Kenney

1/2 cup red onion, finely diced
1/2 cup carrots, grated
1 cup celery, finely diced
12 oz. chorizo sausage
three six-inch Italian rolls, small chunks
2-3 cups chicken stock
2 cups dried, sweetened cranberries

to taste:

sage
rosemary
thyme
salt
pepper
onion powder
garlic powder

Take your chorizo sausage links and brown and cook them well in a frying pan on medium heat. Let cool. Remove to plate and cut up into chunks. Preheat oven to 350°F. Take your bread, or in this case, roll chunks. Place them on a baking sheet, drizzle plenty of oil (extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil, your choice) over them. Season well. Add more oil. Mix them around. Put in oven for 10-15 minutes until browned.

Take your onion, carrots and celery, place in a larger than needed sauce pan on low heat. You want to sweat these together, but zero browning. Add the chorizo to the pan, then the chicken broth. Stir and let simmer slowly a few minutes. Take off heat and add the toasted bread chunks, stir well, season as required. Add the dried cranberries. Add butter if desired. Add more chicken stock if needed to get the desired consistency.

Take mixture and place in a deep casserole dish, cover with aluminum foil and place in oven at 400°F for 20 minutes. Remove foil and let top get a bit crunchy, leaving it in another 10 minutes. Done. Be sure to serve with liberal amount of traditional turkey gravy on top. Makes roughly 8 servings.

Here’s another side — one I did for Thanksgiving — and yet another “odd” root vegetable. Now, depending upon where you live, you’re saying “that’s not at all odd; we have it all the time”. Here in the Northeastern United States, well, common as it is at the market during the winter, it’s also one of those vegetables most people tend to pass up when they’re shopping. Often for the same reason as they might a rutabaga or the various winter squashes, simply because they are both unsure of what it is and of how to cook it. (But then that’s why you come here to find out, isn’t it?)

While the recipe itself is one of the simplest and shortest, there does need to be a some-what extended backstory here. You see, not only is this vegetable very much confused with at least two other veggies, but to make matters worse, depending upon what country you live in, they all have different names. And, of course, to compound things still further these differing names all confuse each other, meaning the same veggie called one thing in one place, that same name refers to a totally different vegetable in yet another place.

In fact, I won’t even try to do this myself when Wikipedia has done such a good job with it, so, taking advantage of the Creative Commons usage, let me just plop down their table right here for you. I’ve altered the one row which deals with the turnip to stand out more.

Ok, we’re cool then. This recipe is about the turnip. The real turnip. The one sometimes referred to as a white turnip. (I also refer to it this way myself as I think it lessens the possible mixup.) And even though it is mostly white (where as a rutabaga or swede is yellow), there is also some purple on the turnip as you see in the photo where it has gotten extra sunlight.

Now that we have the name and the color down, there is one final slightly confusing thing you should know, and that is it can be found at the market in one of three shapes or forms. Sometimes you will see turnips either with the long tail root still attached, or with both the long tail root and the green crown of leaves on it, or, as they just happened to come where I bought them, pretty much round with what seems to be a nub on them, where all the excess has been taken off and looking more like an odd potato.

Whew! Are we through all that? Yes. So basically, in this particular case I treated the turnip much as I would a potato. That said, one thing to note is turnips can really hold water well. I’m talking about the same way chopped spinish does, where you have to not just drain but “smoosh” it or press it really well to get all the water out. Make sure you do this else your dish will not come out as well. So, to quickly recap, you boil it much like a potato for mashing, then drain it extra well as you would with spinach, and enjoy the unique and delicious taste.

White Turnip Mash
©2007 Harry Kenney

2 pounds turnips
butter
salt
pepper

Peel the turnips (may be easier with a knife than a peeler) and cut into chunks. Toss into boiling water. After about 20 minutes or when a fork can go through them with some ease, remove and drain thoroughly. Very thoroughly. Place in large bowl and mash as you would potatoes. Add butter, salt and pepper to taste and serve. Makes roughly four servings.

Although this is allegedly the time of “Web 2.0″ when people are supposedly all into being interactive, communicating and socializing, I notice at least with my little site here, that people rarely communicate or participate. Why? I have no idea. Despite the ease of leaving a comment, seems that other than spammers, you the regular surfer has little or nothing to say or even ask.

… Or do you?

Every server has stats and almost every server has a little program called Analog that helps sort and make sense of all those pieces of data. And in one section of that program is the “search query” section which relates what search terms were placed at the search engines that brought those folks to your site. It is through that that I can see what people were looking for, and which give me a glimpse of what’s on reader’s minds.

Among those you typed in and I had the recipes or answers for included: cooking brisket in oven, stuffed chicken Florentine, easy steak quesadillas, microwaves and food freshness. homemade pizza recipes, making simple syrup, buttermilk substitution, the difference between calzones and strombolis, difference between parfait trifles There were tons more, but you get the idea.

The rest of the search terms fell into two additional categories: normal and interesting things people wanted that were not answered on the site (even though the search engines for whatever reason led them here), and somewhat odd things that people were looking for (which not only I wonder why they were brought here, but I have to wonder what was going through these folks minds.)

Ok, so the bulk of this article, starting right here is my trying to answer those questions you never asked me, but obviously you were looking for. And then we’ll end this some raised eyebrows and maybe a laugh or two with the stranger items searched for.

Questions You Asked (Without Actually Asking)

“difference between frozen and canned pea” – I know why this was asked, it was because of my article on “Frozen and Canned Foods: A Cook’s Dream Come True” this very subject … In part I answered this question already, in part, didn’t. To repeat the answer on frozen peas: sugar in peas quickly converts into starch, these peas are picked and preserved at the height of their quality and so the canned variety does not do that, the canned peas the chemical process continues and therefore they are not as fresh and do not taste as good. One exception to this rule would be the young baby peas such as those in Le Sueur, which being not as mature as the regular pea, the chemical process is not as robust, and so they taste great even though they are in a can

Philadelphia Foods

“the frugal gourmet scrapple recipe” – Being from Philly, the land of scrapple and having been big into the Frugal Gourmet, I recall this recipe and seeing him doing it on his old television show. Basically there is no recipe for scrapple. That is, Jeff Smith, The Frug, was talking about regional foods in America. Scrapple was an ingredient, not a recipe. He pretty much cooked eggs and scrapple (the same one would eggs and bacon, eggs and ham). He didn’t actually make scrapple. I have no idea how one would. It’s a bit of a mystery meat. I assume as with sausage, if you saw what went in it, you would not eat it. That said, scrapple is delicious. At least I think so.

“make a real Philly pretzel” – I have no idea. I will say this. Whether it is a Philadelphia roll, a Philly pretzel or a Brooklyn bagel … it’s the water. These and other foods simply cannot be made anywhere else except their place of origin. Why? The water. No one can accurately duplicate a bagel made in Brooklyn or a pretzel made in Philly because of these. The water is so integral to the dough. Sure, folks can kinda make something like these items, but they can’t ever exactly duplicate them unless they are made there.

“cooking Philly cheesesteaks at home” – Like the pretzel, the key to a good and real Philly cheesesteaks is to get a Philly roll. Not easy to find outside the city. That said, here is the about the closest you can come to making one at home.

The roll. If you’re in Philly, you know where to pick the rolls up at, almost any deli and many convenience stores. If not, try to get a hold of an Amoroso Italian roll available in 39 states. If you can’t find that, then try to get a roll that is soft yet very firm on the inside and slightly crusty on the outside. The meat: Next, find a package of Steak ‘ems frozen meats, they’re thin sliced slabs of steak divided by wax paper, found in the frozen foods aisle of your super market. Some say you can use rib eye or brisket sliced thinly. I say it needs to be top of the round, and sliced thinly does not mean something you can do with a knife. We’re talking a commercial deli slicer set to a thick setting. The cheese: Can be American or provolone or scooped from a jar of Cheese Whiz. Fried onions are often put on it. And then ketchup. Tada.

The following are not not not authentic toppers nor ingredients. No hot sauce, no peppers of any kind, no chilies. Pizza sauce can be put on, but now it’s called a pizza steak sandwich.

Wine and Liquor

“red wine proof” – This is probably the most asked (but not asked) “question” I find over and over again in my logs, so I’ll spend a bit more time on answering this than the others.

Many red wines today contain between 12.5% to 14% alcohol. Note, that is exactly what it says, percentage of total alcohol. There are some red wines coming on the market now, a few from Australia which stand out in my mind, as being 16% alcohol. This was not always the case. The wine-making industry has for the past twenty-or-so years has worked hard to create better wine. More consistent quality between two harvest, looking for more vibrant fruits, finding and perfecting the art of picking the riper grapes. In doing so, the alcohol level has increased. You could easily find reds in the early ’80s that were between 10 and 12 percent. As you see the “standard” level has now risen.

Back to wines and alcohol levels. This question made me go look over my own wine collection and this is what I found. All of my “normal reds” fall exactly into the area mentioned above. There were two exceptions. I found my bottle of Dry Marsala (Which I use primarily for cooking) to be 17% and my Porto Special Reserve from Portugal to be 20%. While these two wines are definitely included in the category of “red wines”, they are indeed a bit more special and few folks would ever include them in the “normal” category of reds.

Lastly, a quick addressing of what the levels are for whites and what a proof is. If my own stable of wine is any indication, whites are, as you would expect, lower. My blushes and white wines fall between the 9.5% to 12% alcohol levels. Now, as to proof. Proof it used in alcohols that are not wine. A proof is twice the level of alcohol, so something that is 34 proof means it contains 17% alcohol.

“what can you put in your recipes if you don’t drink liquor? can you taste the liqueurs if you do use it?” – This is another question I’ve seen asked several times, though this is the version asked in the longest number of words used in a search engine question I’ve yet seen. So let me try to answer these.

If you don’t want to use liquor in your recipes but they ask for liquor … first, you can sometimes use an extract, for instance if a recipe calls for Amaretto, you could use almond extract (Amaretto being an almond liquor). Continuing this theme if a recipe calls for Grand Marnier, you could use orange extract. But but but … read this before doing that … There are problems. One, extract is a highly concentrated form. If someone says use 4 tablespoons of an orange liqueur, that might mean only a few drops of orange extract. Further, extract is used almost exclusively in baked goods. It might or might not work in a different recipe. For instance, substituting a fruit liqueur in whipped cream for the same in the extract will work. In a trifle or a sauce it won’t. Further, guess what? Extracts are almost always made with liquor. So, depending on your tolerance of or aversion to liquor, we’re back where we started.

Yes, this is a tough question to answer. So let’s go to juices and zests. You may be able to substitute an almond alcohol with almonds (depends if the recipe needs a liquid or a solid). You might be able to substitute orange juice or orange zest for Grand Marnier. But again, what kind of recipe is it? For a sauce, a stew, a dessert? There is no one all-encompassing answer as it very much depends on the recipe.

To the second part of the question can you taste it? Almost always, the answer is yes. Over 99% of the time, that is supposedly the general idea here. It wouldn’t be in the recipe in the first place if the idea was not to taste it. It’s an ingredient, a taste. No one is tossing alcohol in the recipe merely for the sake of alcohol. If so, they may as well use vodka or wood grain if the idea was to merely drunk up the food. It’s there to be tasted. So yes, you can taste the flavor. That’s the entire idea.

Rare exceptions? Sure. There are those times, for instance, when I use liquor to turn raspberry preserves into a raspberry sauce, when I’ll use a tablespoon or two of a liquor or a liqueur. Often this is added to give a texture or character to the sauce and I’m purposely not putting it in for the sake of flavor. Or to put it another way because that’s not totally correct, I am putting it in for flavor — but not for the flavor of the liqueur but to bring out and enhance the flavor of the raspberries. So, yes, sometimes, but rarely, you might not be able to taste it.

“fresh berries what type of liquor to put on them” – Good question. And a variety of answers. Grand Marnier often works well with fresh berries. But if you’ve read my article on substitutions “Ain’t Got It? Fake It – Cooking Substitutions” you’ll find I highly recommend Triple Sec instead. It doesn’t have the fancy marketing name but it has the same taste at 10 times less the price. If you want a different flavor, I’ve found a sweet liquor like Southern Comfort works nicely as well. If you want a more potent kick, regular brandy is excellent. For a kick where you can really taste the liquor, go with vodka or rum. Again, depends on what level you wish, from subtle to resonant to “wow”.

Strange But True Searches

“del gornio self rising pizza cooking instructions” – I have no idea why this brought you here or why you ask. The instructions are on the side of the box. This question has actually been asked several times, which scares me. And it seems few can actually spell the name “DiGiorno”, which actually neither scares me nor surprises me but does make me groan. Now I have a question for you: Are there a ton of DiGiorno pizzas floating around somewhere out there without a box or something???

“can’t tell red wine from white wine at same temperature” – That means you have no palette. Please purchase one as soon as possible that actually works.

“three cooking guys on TV” – Um, um …. I’m inclined to say Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short. Or could it be Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras? Maybe Sakai, Nakamura, and Morimoto? … Ok I admit it, I have no idea who you’re talking about.

“what are the ingredients in canned string beans” – Hold on to your hat now. This is going to shock you. …. String beans. (sigh)

“top 5 culinary robots” – I only know of one, Bender, the Iron Cook, who defeated Elzar for the title.

Without a doubt this will become a series of articles and I’ll have more for you in the future!

If you’re coming here for leftover turkey recipes, sorry. I work in “real time” like you. What does that mean? Well, it means beginning today I’ll start putting up recipes for what I had for Thanksgiving. But wait, shouldn’t I have put them up last week or the week before, you might be asking. You know, back when you were interested in such things. Like, before Thanksgiving? Well, as I said, I do what you do; I work in “real time”.

Again, what does that mean? It means I’m not the Food Network. I’m not even PBS. I don’t get paid for this. I am not given money by someone to go purchase a mess of food and cooking it all up weeks ahead of time. And then who would eat it all? My vast kitchen or network staff? You know, the one’s I don’t have. So that is why I don’t have things ahead of time. Because I am just like you. Average everyday person making meals on and for the days I’m going to eat them.

There is good news though. If you come by and read this a year from now, then I’m ahead of the game. There will be this nice archive area of what I did last time (this time, that is) that will work out. Besides that, come on, admit it. Today, or tomorrow, sure, you might be sick of looking at turkey. But Christmas is coming and you know — unless you’re doing ham or goose or something — you’ll be back looking for turkey recipes. And this time, I will be early and have it all here waiting for you. You might be here right now for that, who knows.

Ok, remember that butternut squash from the other day? Well I finally got around to the other one I showed you, the acorn squash. So did this taste like the other? Nope. This actually tastes something like a pumpkin to me. Not quite. I sure wouldn’t say interchangeable. But I would say, very reminiscent of pumpkin. I know of a few different recipes for acorn squash. It’s one of those interesting ingredients you put such-and-such with it and it’s more a savory dish. Or you can put something else to it and emphasize it’s sweeter flavors. And the latter is precisely what I did this time. It made a nice counterpoint to the rest of the foods on my Thanksgiving plate too.

Btw, unlike the butternut squash, this was not difficult at all to cut. Wham, right down the middle. You’ll see in the photo I went slightly off-center, but that’s not a biggie. Peeling wasn’t a problem as I waited to scoop it out after it was cooked. One more thing, you’ll notice I’ve again used that unsung cooking tool and appliance known as the microwave. Why? First, off it works just fine in it, that’s why. Second question you might ask is, if I was putting it under the oven broiler anyhow, why not do it completely with the oven? Easy answer: the first stage of this would have taken 45 minutes in the oven. It took 11 in the microwave. To do the identical thing. And when have you ever known me to recommend anything that takes four times longer with zero increase in taste benefit? Never.

So, do enjoy. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised and not only add this to your Thanksgiving or Christmas meal, but it’s such a quick and easy meal to prepare you might have it a lot more often. You never know but even the kids could enjoy this. Plus it’s a totally natural vegetarian dish. Now that’s what I call win-win-win.

Broiled Ginger-Apricot Acorn Squash
©2007 Harry Kenney

1 average acorn squash
butter (or margarine)
apricot jam (or preserves)
ground ginger (or regular, grated)
salt
pepper

Take an acorn squash, half it vertically. Place in a microwavable dish that can both accomodate both halves and also about 1/4 to 1/3 inch of water. Place halves face down into the water. With a fork, make two piercings on the outside skin of each (to prevent any exploding). Place in microwave. For an 1100 watt microwave, it will take about 11 minutes. For a more underpowered one of 6-700 watts probably closer to 14 minutes.

If you’re making several squashes, then opt for the oven instead, 350°F, laying them on a baking sheet, add a little bit of water if you wish, same thing, poke holes and put face down. This will take roughly 45 minutes, but keep checking as oven times will differ.

When done, place face up on a baking sheet (for oven version, turn over, remove any water). Lightly butter the rim and the inside. Also, again, lightly dust with ginger. Lightly spoon apricot jam everywhere on the inside too. Finally, a little salt and pepper. (The key to this everything with this recipe is lightly). Place under broiler for 5-10 minutes until browned.

Although this looks very nice the way it is, the skin is quite mushy, so I would not serve it this way (even though it’s tempting). Best to spoon out of skin, mix it up well with fork, and serve. One medium squash makes two servings.

There are so many combinations of meatloaf in the world. Use 100 percent beef. No, use beef and pork. No, has to be the tri-meat combination of beef, pork and veal. No, it’s lamb as the third, not veal. You can use milk-soaked bread, big crouton things purchased or made yourself. You can use breadcrumbs. Nope, use the oats in oatmeal. With and without eggs. Mayonnaise as an extra binder; no way, hold the mayo. Gotta have some gravy. Gravy has to be brown. No, it’s gotta be tomato. No gravy anywhere; that ruins it. … And the list goes on and on.

And then, like myself, many cooks have more than one meatloaf. Why? Same as above. There’s so many ways to do it and there’s no one right way. In fact, it’s pretty tough to mess up. Hope all you newbie cooks are listening up. Meatloaf is many things: The perfect comfort food being one. And an excellent dish to start on if you’ve never or rarely cooked before.

I mentioned various meatloafs myself. I recall it being one of the first things I ever did, back around the age of 18 or 20. I followed the directions on the side of the Quaker Oats box, and yeah, oats, the stuff I would have for breakfast on freezing cold winter days here in Philadelphia, it actually worked. It was a pretty decent meatloaf as I recall.

Since then, who knows how many variations. Many of the early ones I would overcook and make too dry inside, and sometimes burn the glaze (if I remembered to have one, that is.) Sometimes myself I use the triple combination of meats, sometimes it’s all beef. Each has it’s own interesting characteristic and flavor from the other. I came up with another interesting variation about a year ago when I had a big jar of salsa left over after a party. It dawned on me, the ingredients were basically three I would normally use in a meatloaf: tomato, and red and green peppers. And yes, the jalapeno gave it a really nice kick, not too hot either. I’ll no doubt get to making that one later in the season and of course, when I do, I’ll publish it here complete with the requisite photos.

For this recipe, I decided to do a gravy. I don’t always do that. This time it was simple. I had a half pound of gorgeous pre-sliced mushrooms I picked up from the store and needed to do something with. While a vegetable or chicken ratatouille came to mind, I knew with Thanksgiving days away, the last thing I needed in the fridge was going to be not one but two kinds of leftover poultry. In fact, each year the same thing happens. Before Thanksgiving you can’t wait to “get to the bird”, and days later you get tired of eating turkey and turkey and turkey. One of the best things I know is to get around that — besides creative leftovers, I mean — is to vary the leftover meals by having something beefy to switch off from. Meatloaf will work perfectly.

So, that meant I knew what I was going to do with my mushrooms, make a chunky gravy with them. I decided to go for the creamy and the wine version. Yes, it is more of a contrasting gravy than a complementary one, but I think it still works. That said, no, this meatloaf — and this new glaze I tried on it, big yums! — does in no way need the gravy. It’s got a bit of crispness on the outside and it’s moist inside. So, feel free to skip the gravy by all means, you will not miss it. On the other hand, if you want to treat yourself to something extra, something involving mushrooms, heavy cream and wine, I say go for it. You’re worth it.

     

Meatloaf with Tomato-Balsmic Glaze and Creamy Mushroom Gravy
©2007 Harry Kenney

Meatloaf:

2 lbs combination of ground beef, veal, pork

2/3 cup green pepper, cut finely
2/3 cup red pepper, cut finely
2/3 cup onion. cut finely
3 cloves garlic, cut into slivers
2 tbsps worchesterhire sauce
1 1/2 tbsps soy sauce
dash of hot sauce
2/3 cup grated parmegan
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1 egg, whipped slightly
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup dijon
to taste:
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder

Tomato-Balsamic Glaze

1/2 cup ketchup
4 tbsps balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp worchestershire
dash garlic powder
dash onion powder
2 tbsps light brown sugar

Creamy Mushroom Gravy

8 oz sliced button mushrooms
1 cup beef stock
1 cup red wine, Merlot
1/2 pint heavy cream
1/4 tsp corn starch
to taste:
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix all of the meatloaf ingredients well and by hand in a large bowl. Free-form into a loaf, place on baking sheet and put into oven.

Mix ingredients for glaze and apply to meatloaf, half-way through cooking (the 30-minute mark), covering the top and letting some spill down the sides.

For the gravy, medium heat, oil in pan, a light dusting of garlic powder in the oil, dump in the mushrooms, and cook well until browned, stirring often. Toss in the beef stock, mix, two minutes later toss in the cream and the wine. Reduce by at half to a third. Season. Add cornstarch. Let thicken and reduce until you get a nice gravy consistency.

Meatloaf should be done after one full hour. Check to make sure glaze is not getting burnt, and use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. Serve gravy a top of or on the side of the meatloaf. Makes 6-8 servings.

Whew! The last three recipes were each a bit complicated and time-consuming in terms of preparation and cooking … got to do plenty of interesting cooking things though: turned a slab of beef into steaks, pounded meat thin, made a meat stuffing, created a custard in a pot, made a ganache, took a squash apart, made a puree with the food processor, oven-roasted vegetables, got to cook some chorizo…

Time then to switch things up and do something quick and a bit more whimsical. So for today, it’s pizza for kids. Yes, I know, kids like any kind of pizza; but that said, they’ll like these even more. Moreover, you don’t have to have kids, these are definitely pizzas for the kids in us all!

Before diving in, be sure to check out my previous pizza foray, where I made the more convention Pepperoni Pizza as well as a Ham and Pineapple one. There are more basic tips in that one. Think of this as a continuation. As said, last time was somewhat more traditional. This time, I went and let my inner child run wild, hmm, maybe even a tad amok. hehe

And this is one of the best things about doing pizza at home: you can create pizzas you will not find at your average around-the-corner, down-the-street pizzaria. One element I kept running up against doing this — can’t recall if I complained about this in my other recipe or not — but that was that my dough wants to basically stay round, and my baking sheets are rectangular. What happened each time then, in my personal experience, was I would end up with one large rectangular pizza and one smaller rectangular one. You see I had to go the width of the baking sheets and that would have made too doughy a pizza. Following the outline or dimensions of the sheets though made for thin, crispy crusts. While nothing wrong with that, I do personally like a bit of more medium dough. I’d also like to make a “real” round pizza too.

So, realizing I am definitely going to make more of these in the future, I went out and got a round pizza pan. I measured my oven first to ensure I could get the largest that fit, and found a 16″ would do it. Next stop at K-Mart and I grabbed one for about 10 bucks. So I’m looking forward to — if not tossing it in the air — at least letting my dough make a nice big round one. If you follow my recipes and get some ideas of my philosophy when cooking I tend to like to go zen and let my food tell me what it wants. (Asparagus tells you where to cut it; frying pans tell you when you can have your browning meat…) Since pizza dough wants to stay round,

Ok, the cheeseburger pizza is fairly explanatory. Actually, so is this particular dessert pizza too. However, just so you can get into the mood of it, let me say all you have to do is think what would each particular ingredient be for a dessert pizza as compared to a standard pizza? Mozarella cheese … then you need a sweet cheese … ricotta or perhaps a mascapone if you can get a hold of some. Ok, what replaces the pizza sauce? At first you go “huh”, and then you start getting into the swing of things and go “ah, jelly!”. Ok, pepperoni or whatever topping becomes some kind of fruit. Garlic powder? Maybe it becomes cinnamon. Basil? Maybe (or not) it becomes sprigs of mint. Maybe jimmies. Who knows? You tell me.

Play with it, think it out, give whatever comes to mind a try. Now you’re getting the idea. So let that inner kid go run wild — better yet, do it with your children — have some fun, and enjoy!

Cheeseburger Pizza
©2007 Harry Kenney

pizza dough
tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce with meat works nicely
shredded mozzarella
American cheese
ground beef
ketchup

salt
pepper
garlic powder
dried oregano
dried basil

Too many variables (plus this is supposed to be fun) to list actual amounts. Just go free-for-all.

Make dough into pizza form you want. Place sauce on dough and spread with tablespoon or larger spoon. Don’t over do it. Spread some mozzarella, light, not as much as a regular pizza. Rip slices of American cheese and place on top. In frying pan, pinch off pieces of ground meat, make small, larger than a pea, smaller than a lima bean. Pinch, roll between thumb and forefinger, place in pan and cook. Do not overcook, keep moist, this is going to cook further on the pizza remember. Add tiny bits of American cheese on top a minute before done. Place atop pizza. Add spices to taste. Squirt small streaks of ketchup here and there. 350°F for 14-16 minutes.

Peach Ricotta Dessert Pizza
©2007 Harry Kenney

pizza dough
can of peach halves
Ricotta cheese
Apricot preserves
cinnamon

Make dough into pizza form you want. Spread out ricotta cheese, then preserves, put on peach halves, dust with cinnamon. This cooks a bit faster than a traditional meat pizza. Keep and eye on it. 350°F for 10-12 minutes.

Gourmet and gourmet food. Exactly what do these mean? And I am not talking about people who are “gourmets”, which by the way, is actually supposed to be “gourmands”, and either way (truthfully or not) seem to equate with snobbery. No, what makes something gourmet cooking or gourmet food?

The definition it seems nearly everyone uses is the same: “gourmet food is of the highest quality and flavor, prepared well and presented in an artful manner”. A three year old discussion on a forum a person, saying the thinks there should be more, posts: “I have had some of the best meals at non-’gourmet’ venues and some of the worst at ‘gourmet’-venues.”

Kate the global gourmet thinks likewise: “Personally, I think it’s important to keep in mind that ‘quality’ is the operating term here. I have had many a meal in fancy 3-star restaurants that I would not consider gourmet—the ingredients were tired, the flavors overwhelming and presentation in the form of skyscraping towers entirely overdone. For me, a simple dinner of a roast chicken, fresh vegetables and fruit and cheese for dessert can be the epitome of a gourmet meal—but only if the ingredients are of high quality and cooked properly.”

Which brings me around to what I think. I think the word is changing and evolving and becoming less “snooty”. I basically agree with the two people I quoted above on what they say. I think though it goes further … especially with food. I think if something is difficult to find or to procure or is expensive, that that often makes something “gourmet”. For instance, if you rarely eat duck or quail or frogs legs, then having them is for you a more gourmet meal.

Building on this, if I’m cooking with something that is available to me, and most people I know around me have never had it, it too is possibly gourmet (though, yes, it might just be unusual in the Anthony “I’ll Eat Anything” Bourdain style of things.) If I have something that is plentiful around me, and others too can easily get their hands on it, and it’s not expensive, yet because of either true or perceived difficult, people do not buy nor cook nor eat it much, that too might be gourmet.

The reason I am “going here”, you see, is I think this particular meal is somewhat “gourmet-ish” if that were an actual word. Chorizo (a spicy Spanish sausage) I finally found after a lot of looking. Now I’m betting a lot of people seeing it in the meat case at the market would pass it up though, maybe for simply not knowing what it was, and not wanting to try it. Meanwhile, while there were dozens upon dozens of butternut squashes at the market, I’m betting you would not see one in everyone’s shopping cart. In fact, I’d bet the number of people who might buy one to be a ratio of one against something with three zeroes, 1:100 or maybe 1:250 or 1:500, I can’t say which, but I’m betting the number comes out to less than 1 percent. And why? Because of difficulty and/or unfamiliarity.

Another thing about the term “gourmet”. And this has to do also with it’s opening up and evolving. Forty years ago a perfectly delicious meal cooked at home would not be called gourmet; in fact it would be ignored by nearly all chefs. Then about 20 years ago I started hearing the term “peasant food” used by chefs. It suggested that everything from hunter’s stew to a mixed fried rice, food of the poor or the peasants, historically — but weren’t they also suggesting the middle class of today I always suspected — came on the map. Today the terms are “comfort foods” and regional or local fare and this once overlooked field of poor man’s cooking or everyday cooking, is covered by everyone to some degree even if upscaled. For example, chefs Mario Batali and Lydia Bastianich co-own an upscale pizzeria in Manhattan. You would not have seen that twenty years ago, and never forty years ago, not by nationally and internationally known chefs, no way. Imagine Julia Child opening up an upscaled KFC! And just last week I saw Robert Irvine cook for the crew at Pixar; among items served was oxtails. These are what I’m talking about in terms of the evolution of what gourmet food means today.

So what brought these thoughts to mind, as said, is that in some ways I consider this recipe here to be “gourmet”. In part because chorizo is so hard to find and is regional to Spain and because the butternut squash, while cheaper and more plentiful, is often passed by as being too difficult or mysterious. In another way though, I sorta want to toss the whole “gourmet” word out the window, and say it comes down to good food — a perfect pizza slice or a beef wellington, a BBQ pork rib or coq au vin, an Italian merlot or a cold pint of Yuengling. Is it good? Really, really good? Do you like it? Do you absolutely love it? Would you have it again and again? To me that is the new gourmet.

With that discussion aside, do check out my recent article on Peeling and Cutting a Butternut Squash, if you haven’t already done so, before trying this recipe. Also, you can leave the rice and chorizo out of this dish if you want a simpler and more silky dish (or just a vegetarian one); obviously I wanted something more rustic and meaty and chunky. And finally, while they aren’t the same, if you want to substitute chorizo, I would suggest, in order: hot Italian sausage or smoked kabasa and add a healthy amount of paprika while cooking it.

Butternut Squash Soup with Chorizo and Rice

1 medium squash, peeled, deseeded, cut into 1 inch cubes
9 oz chorizo sausage, cooked, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

(mirepoix)
1 medium red onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 celery stalk, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 one large carrot, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1 cup cooked white long-grain rice (or your favorite rice)
32 oz. chicken stock
1 cup dry or slightly-sweet white wine
1/2 pint half-and-half
2 tbsps butter (not margarine)(optional)

salt
pepper
nutmeg
garlic
thyme
olive oil

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place cubed squash on baking sheet, drizzle with oil, mix around to make sure completely covered. Sprinkle on spices listed, go light on the garlic powder and the nutmeg, and heavier on the thyme. Sprinkle a bit more oil on top and once again, mix and turn to ensure coverage. Place in oven for 35-50 minutes until softened and slightly browned on bottom side. Let cool somewhat.

While the squash cubes are roasting, if you haven’t premade your rice, make it now. Ditto cooking the chorizo sausage. Place your mirepoix in a saucepan with oil and sweat for about 10 minutes. When mirepoix and squash are finished, place both in food processor. (Note, I will often save 10 percent of the squash chunks to put in separately later). Then add two cups of chicken broth into processor, puree, then the third, then the fourth cup.

Dump all back in the pot. Place on medium heat. Add half-and-half, wine, rice and chorizo chunks (and reserved squash chunks if you’ve done so) and stir to mix well. Add seasonings listed above to this as desired. Mix well for a few minutes over medium heat. You may optionally place butter in at this point to give a more velvety sheen to the soup. Serve. Makes 4-6 servings.

This soup is extremely rich. If you need to “cut” the taste further to your liking, use an extra cup of milk first; if you feel the need to thin it out more, then use an additional cup of water. Would serve with a salad to offset the taste if part of the main meal. Naturally this also serves as an excellent first-course appetizer.

If you desire, you can alter this by leaving out the chorizo and rice and no reserved squash chunks if you want a silkier and/or a vegetarian soup; if you do this you will probably need less liquid and so adjust by using less or no wine, or less chicken stock to offset the fewer ingredients.

Winter (and Summer) Squashes

Before getting into the following illustrated preparation of the butternut squash, let’s take a quick look at exactly what is a winter squash. So which vegetables are winter squashes? And why are they called that in the first place?

Normally we (mistakenly) think this seasonal termiology must refer to when they are harvested. As in, a winter squash might be something harvested in the winter, and therefore we wouldn’t see these in the market until maybe February — that, however, would be a very common and incorrect assumption. Actually it refers to the days before refrigeration and motorized transportation when everything was “local” and capable of quick spoilage and of short storage times.

Keeping the “olden times” in mind therefore, the term winter squash refers to those squashes that can be stored and used during the winter time. Winter squashes are usually harvested in September or October and show up in the markets at about that same time. They are almost always too hard to eat raw and are therefore almost always cooked, often for a long time.

Acorn and butternut squashes (image 1) are two winter squashes. Others include the hubbard squash and spaghetti squash. Pumpkins are squashes though are given a category unto themselves.

Summer squashes on the other hand are harvested while the rind is thin, tender and edible. And so they cannot (in the olden days) last until winter ergo they are squashes eaten in the summer. Zucchini and yellow squash are the two most popular summer squashes. While many folks, myself included, think of eggplant as being associated with summer squashes it isn’t biologically so. To be scientific, it’s actually classified as being most closely related to both the tomato and the potato.

Butternut Squash Cooking Preparation

Alright, let’s get down to the core of this article (no pun intended), the preparation of or cutting and peeling of the butternut squash.

First off, get a good sharp knife, and a long one at least seven inches long. A chef’s knife or santoku knife is ideal. Cut off the top quarter inch, and the same on the bottom (image 2). The bottom cut also adds to stability of standing the squash up solidly.

  

Personally, I’ve found when it comes to peeling to treat the butternut as two regions, the comparatively straighter top and more bulbous bottom section. For peeling the top, (image 3) I’ve found it works best to turn the squash on it’s side and peeling from the middle outward to the top. For peeling the bottom section, (image 4) I found placing it vertical and peeling, once again, peeling from the middle downward to the bottom works best.

  

Now that it’s peeled, time to cut it in half. Again, keeping it vertical and slicing right down the middle works well. This is where a long knife comes in handy. (image 5) Very carefully, you can put your second hand on the top (non-sharp) portion of the knife on the other side of the squash and press downward as you also slice with the knife hand. (image 6)

  

Although you could use a melon baller, I find a plain tablespoon is best for scooping out the seeds and pulp. (images 7 and 8). There, you’ve done it.

  

Now proceed with whatever your specific recipe calls for, which is usually either placing the two halves in the oven and scooping it out after, or often directions will be to cut the squash into 1 inch or so chunks, placing them either in a frying pan, a dutch oven or (image 9) a baking sheet for oven roasting.

Sometimes you just want to have it all. And sometimes you can — especially when you’re cooking. And in this case, baking. How this recipe came along was simple: I had a couple of bananas, I wanted to use them to make some kind of sweet desert, preferrably something baked and I wanted it to include chocolate.

While it’s true with this basis there’s a hundred things I could choose to do, the first thing that popped to mind was maybe a banana cream pie. Graham cracker crust, chocolate pudding (some folks do vanilla), sliced bananas and whipped cream. Yummy but way too easy. No challenge in it.

Then I thought about the Boston Cream Pie, which is actually a cake, but done in a pie pan. (No I have no idea why.). I checked out some recipes. Spongy vanilla cake, custard filling, chocolate, but nope, no bananas. I then said to myself: what the heck, there’s bananas in it now.

Looking around for inspiration and to see how others did it, I found a ton of recipes that called for plain old chocolate icing, the kind you get out of a can. Even made fresh, those recipes with photographs showed one sloppy affair. Where was the kind of topping I recall when I’ve had this in a diner or a restaurant long ago? And then I found one at last. The topping was a ganache. Yes, that looked correct.

Later when I traced the original recipe as having come from the Parker House Hotel in Boston about 150 years ago, it too said the icing should be a ganache. Why all of those slopping and boring “plain icing” recipes around? No idea. But hey, if I was going to mess with a classic, it was going to be the classic version I was going to mess with.

Btw, I had to do this recipe twice. That is, the cake twice. You see, I’ve baked before, but I am not a baker. Cook, yeah. And I think one darned good one. Baker though? I’ve said it before, cooking is an art, baking is a science. While it seems the second is easier, it isn’t, it’s quite unforgiving at times if you make a mistake.

To make a long story short, for those of you (who are like me) not experienced bakers: Do not let anything “foreign” get into your egg whites or they will not turn as they should. I had some batter on my beaters and couldn’t get a soft peak after 20 minutes. I knew I did something wrong, but instead I put it in the mix and baked it. Disaster. I should have know to toss it, and start over with two new egg whites. So that’s today’s tip for you.

In the end this turned out very well. Two bananas. One went into the pastry filling. The other one got split, half in with the cake mix, the other half sliced thinly and added in between layers. You see this desert is basically three elements, none of which I’d ever “played” with before … basically it’s a sponge cake, a custard and the ganache. I’ve made cakes from scratch before but not a sponge. Puddings before but never a custard. And first time for the ganache.

Toughest part of the recipe? Cutting the thin cake layer in half. And other than to tell you to use a long serrated bread cutting knife, I have no tips to tell you how to not go awry and to make a perfect half. Just do your best and it will work out. Remember if I can do it, you can too.

Quick note: As Thanksgiving is nearing, yes, this would make a nice and different desert for your guests to enjoy!

  

Banana Boston Cream Pie
©2007 Harry Kenney

cake:

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted, along with 1/4 tsp cornstarch
(or 1 cup plus 2 tbsps cake flour, sifted)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 banana, mashed
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 egg yolks
1 tsps vanilla
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

filling

2 cups whole milk
1 tbsp vanilla
6 egg yolks
2/3 granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 banana, mashed
plus 1 banana, sliced thin

ganache:

8 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream, boiling

Pastry filling needs to be made first as it needs to set, then cake, then ganache icing.

Filling: In a medium saucepan heat milk and vanilla, bring to boil over medium heat. In a bowl, whisk egg yolks and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add cornstarch and whisk vigorously until there are no longer any lumps. Whisk in a small amount (1/5) of hot milk into mix to temper the eggs. Once well mixed, take bowl mixture and pour all of it back into the saucepan with the hot milk mixture. Mix and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly until it is thickened and slowly boiling. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Let cool slightly, then place in bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill at 2-3 hours or until ready to serve. (The custard filling can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Must be refrigerated a minimum of 1 hour before using.)

Cake: About an hour after making the filling, start to make the cake. Doing it this way assures both will be ready at about the same time for assembly. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add milk, oil, egg yolks, mashed banana and vanilla extract. Beat with electric mixer on low to medium speed until combined. Beat an additional three minutes on high speed and set aside. Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a small to medium mixing bowl, beat eggs whites and cream of tartar together. If you are using the same mixer, you must clean the beaters before doing this, else the whites will not set. Set mixer on medium to high speed until achieving soft peaks. Pour egg white mixtures into egg yolks mixture, folding it in. Pour the batter into a greased 9-inch pie pan. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden and testing with a toothpick shows it is cooked inside. Place on a wire rack and cook.

When cake is cooled. Slice across to make two layers. Let cool further.

Ganache: In a medium bowl, pour the boiling cream over the chopped chocolate and stir until melted.

Assembly: Place bottom layer on plate. Atop put all of the custard filling. Atop filling place thinly sliced bananas. Place top layer on. Pour warm ganache completely over top, let some spill down the sides. Store in refrigerator at least one hour prior to cutting.

This is one of those delicious dishes I haven’t had for so long. The very first time I had it was many years ago when I actually made it. Yes, it was a recipe and it was during the days when I was all into The Frugal Gourmet, my first television chef inspiration. Braciole (pronounced bra’zhul) was one of the dishes featured on his PBS show and in one of his very first books. Really though how could a guy in his twenties having seen this being made on the TV screen not instantly fall in love with the idea of braciole? I mean: It’s like a jelly roll made of steak!!! Obviously the same Olympus god who created beer surely must have had his hand in the making this as well.

The second time (and the third and the fourth) I had this dish was in the best place on Earth or at least in North America I can think of to have it, namely in Little Italy in New York City. Luna’s on Mulberry Street to be precise. Huge portions, so juicy, so …. scrumptious. Really it was as they say “to die for”. And here I am once again faithfully revisiting a past delight.

I have no idea right now how I made the first one. Somewhere in this house I’m sure my old tattered copy of Jeff Smith’s hardback must surely reside (despite a few housing moves between then and now), but I can’t put my hands on it. I have no idea what kind of beef I made it with either, though traditionally it’s either a round steak or a flank steak, the former of which is how I made it this particular time.

Ok, I have to get into two things here. What “traditionally” means and what steak I actually used. I will however forgo explaining what the definition of “is” is.

First, traditionally in Italy braciole, also referred to as braciola, can mean different things in different areas of the country. It doesn’t even have to be beef; apparently, it can also be veal and sometimes even pork. It’s sometimes a cutlet and not always rolled up either. Some places it’s served with sauce and in others it’s not. And of course, the stuffings can vary as well. I’ve seen it with ingredients such as copacola and raisins in it, and several times chopped hard boiled eggs. And in still other cases the cheese used can vary too. I’ve seen this often made with pecorino romano. And a couple of times with mozzarella (though I woudn’t use that one for this specific dish, personally). So, I use the word traditionally somewhat loosely. As far as I’m concerned, if it’s good enough for Little Italy (using beef, rolling it up, etc) then it’s good enough for me.

Back to the meat. Well, this is what got me into making this dish the other day. I was looking through my freezer and my eyes ended up resting on the slab of London Broil before me. And I started to wonder what I could do with it that would be different. Then I recall reading that basically sliced London Broil was flank steak. (Which is and isn’t a misnomer or, as you’ll see, possibly two misnomers.) What get’s things confusing for me is there’s on the one hand what recipes say and on the other hand what actually exists or doesn’t exist at the super market.

I constantly see flank steak, skirt steak and similar ingredients listed in book recipes and mentioned on television cooking shows, yet in real life these are elusive creatures for I have never once seen either of these, not in passing nor even a comprehensive search for them at the super market. Not once. So recently I did a little research and found out that London Broil is supposed to be a method of cooking, not a type of meat. I dunno about you, but my area super markets are totally oblivious to this fact, for they indeed sell what is labeled London Broil. Doesn’t matter to them that every television chef and culinary school that’s impossible, the fact remains they do. And not a single super market, they all do, without fail.

Ah, you’ll recall I said something about two misnomers, well the second thing is, the cut they sell at the markets can actually come from either of two totally different sides of the beast. It could be a slab from the flank or it can be top round. (Mine turned out to be two pounds of the latter.) In any event, I took my so-called “London broil”, and sliced it down through three times, making a formerly one-inch thick cut of beef into four long 1/4 inch cuts. And then I pounded each even thinner still, making them even more tender before cooking.

That done, I thought, so, just what shall I do with this now? And it came to me … Steak roll, baby! Ray Barrone, eat your heart out.

  

Braciole
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

stuffing:

2 slices potato bread, toasted then crunched into bread crumbs
(you can substitute roughly 3/4 cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs)
4 tbsps minced garlic
10-12 unpitted kamala olives, minced (or green olives, or optional)
1/3 cup grated parmegen
1/2 small yellow onion, minced
salt
pepper
3/4 tbps dried oregano
1 1/2 tbsps parsley flakes
olive oil (see below for amount)

2 lbs top round (or flank steak or “London broil”), sliced into 1/4 inch thickness and pounded thin
1 28 oz jar Classico Carernet Marinara (or similar marinara or tomato sauce)
1.5 cups Merlot (or any find dry red wine)

Take your slab of beef, cut thinnly to about 1/4 inch thick. Take your cooking pounder or meat tenderizer and using the “textured” not the flat side, place each slice of meat on the counter between two sheets of plastic wrap, and pound thin and out towards the sides. Then reserve on a plate.

To make the stuffing or paste, take bread crumbs, garlic, olives, onion, parmegan, and seasonings, mix together and add olive oil until you achieve a not too thin, moist consistency. Take each slice of steak, spread out on a cutting board, season with salt and pepper, then spoon the stuffing lightly across the entire steak. Take the smaller side (if you ends are uneven) and carefully wrap up into a roll. Using toothpicks or kitchen string, bind the roll so it retains it’s shape and so stuffing doesn’t fall out of the ends. Repeat the procedure using up the rest of the stuffing and steaks.

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a skillet — preferably one you can place in the oven — place olive oil and brown all four sides of the steak on high heat. If it sticks, leave it until the pan tells you (yes, tells you) when it is done and you can have it. This will take 12-20 minutes.

Take steak rolls out of pan and place on plate. Add wine to the frying pan to deglaze (get the delicious brown bits out of the bottom of the pan). Once this is done, you have two choices. If your frying pan is able to be put into the oven, place your steaks back into the pan with the wine in it. If your frying pan is not able to be placed in the oven, this is the time to get out your oven dish or pan that you will be using, and place the steak in that and add the wine from the pan.

Now, in the vessel that contains the steak rolls and wine, add the marinara or sauce you will be using. Place the pan (if it’s not a pan, fine, I’ll be calling it a pan from now on though) in the oven with the lid on. Every 20-25 minutes come by and turn the rolls over 180 so the top gets sauce. After your second time doing it (roughly 40-50 minutes into the baking, take the lid off the pan and let it resume. At about 70-75 minutes, check your dish for the proper or desired meat temperature, and it should be done. Reminder: If you didn’t use string, do not forget to remove the toothpicks.

Suggest serving with the wine-enriched sauce on top, and along side a small helping of fresh spaghetti. Have a glass of the same red wine you used in the sauce as the perfect accompanying beverage. Makes 4-5 servings.

Time to go around the “dial” — remember when televisions had dials? or am I dating myself again” — and look at what’s happening and what’s worth watching in television food land.

The Next Iron Chef Finale

First to mention, as it’s a limited series and about to end tomorrow in fact is The Next Iron Chef. In two previous articles I’ve mentioned some of the “bad” or annoying that’s happened on the show. The behind the scenes and little known blunders created by the production team that put the competing chefs through hell as well as how later the judges seemed to think they were on another show where the idea was to change the essence of who each chef is. And while those were indeed valid revelations and criticisms, I probably wouldn’t have written about them unless on some level I cared. And indeed I do.

I’m glad they did it this way, that is, had a competition instead of just deciding behind the scenes and then announcing or crowning a new culinary warrior. Again, I think some things were stupid — what Iron Chef has ever had to run down aisles with frozen food to an airplane. Stupid, stupid. But I have to agree it made for interesting television, and that’s apparently what it’s all about — be it to the success or the detriment of the show. But again, I care. Doesn’t matter whether the chairman is an actor or not. Doesn’t matter if the chairman on the original Iron Chef of Japan was a quirky billionaire foodie or a producer with an imaginary alter ego and over-the-top sense of theatre.

Iron Chef America

The concept of the Iron Chef is excellent. It means something and it’s important. Anyhow the weird shenanigans that led to tomorrow night’s final episode aside, I am so looking forward to seeing Chefs Besh and Symon (the two I was rooting for) compete. And compete not in another insipid series of jumping flaming hoops, but where all of the contests should have happened – head to head in kitchen stadium. I’ll be happy for either of these two superlative chefs to win, and will feel bad for the one who comes in second.

Desired: Iron Chef World?

Meanwhile I have one hope — are you listening Food Network (FN)? — can somebody please figure out a way to have an Iron Chef World show? I would love to see America’s Iron Chefs compete against the original Japanese chefs from the 90s show. Or let’s say against an Iron Chef UK team of Gordon Ramsey, Michael Caines, Angela Hartnett and probably Jamie Oliver. Or against a Canadian team of perhaps Makoto Ono, Mark McEwan, Guy Richie and maybe Chef at Home’s Michael Smith. Would love it!! Now please FN, go do it!

Seriously. First, I know you don’t just own the Food Network here, but have the one in Canada. There’s two countries. Your Canadian show does deals with the BBC for programming, so you already have the UK “in”. What’s it take to talk to Channel Plus or the Sky Network and get into a cooperative sharing agreement? If television can do this for the Olympics, it can be done for the food olympics, right? So, you have your marching orders. Go make it so!

The Complete Pepin

So much more to say about different television shows worth watching, that I’ll have to wait and put them in to my next review. For now, since we started off talking about great chefs, let’s continue with two more shows involving great chefs, a redone new show of an old classic featuring a chef who’s contributions to the culinary arts are unparalleled, and another show that gets to show you over two dozen chefs who are making their marks today.

First, in the mid Seventies, Chef Jacques Pepin wrote a revolutionary book called La Technique and later La Methode, two seminal works on the culinary craft. How important is this? Wikipedia defines a seminal work as “a work from which other works grow. The term usually refers to an intellectual or artistic achievement whose ideas and techniques have been adopted or responded to in later works by other people, either in the same field or in the general culture.” Regarding the two books above specifically, I found these words somewhere to describe their importance: “Two books that present the principles of culinary technique and artistry and earned him a place in the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame, an honor bestowed each year on an author whose contributions to food literature have had a substantial and enduring impact on the American kitchen.”

Great, so what does this have to do with cooking shows? PBS is currently running: The Complete Pepin. On which his seminal works are updated and shown on video. To quote a description of this show: “a new twist on his 1997 hit series, Jacques Pepin’s Cooking Techniques. These thirteen half-hour episodes include his time-tested, classic teachings with brand new opens and closes from the culinary legend. To paraphrase Jacques Pepin, once you acquire essential cooking skills, your culinary repertoire is limited only by your imagination. Throughout the series, your viewers will learn the basics of everything from choosing and maintaining essential cooking equipment, to easy and fun ways to embellish your dishes. Both the novice and professional are sure to appreciate the solid lessons of the series, as well as the boundless passion and enthusiasm of the charismatic Jacques Pepin”

In short then, if you are missing this show and you seriously want to hone the fundamentals of your cooking, you are missing personal cooking lessons by one of the all-time great masters. If you’re interested in the accompanying book, here it is: Jacques Pepin’s Complete Techniques. You can also get the DVD: The Complete Pepin: Techniques and Recipes

Chef’s Story

The website for the program describes it this way: “These are icons, at the forefront of the American revolution of fine dining” and that comes from the show’s host, Dorothy Hamilton. And talk about creds, she’s only the founder of the French Culinary Institute. In case you haven’t figured it out, this is the cooking version of Inside the Actor’s Studio and Hamilton is our James Lipton. And the idea is marvelous!

Take 26 of the best chefs in America, place them in front of cooking students and an interviewed by a host with, as said, iron-clad credentials. And too, where the Actor’s Studio doesn’t give us the performers actually performing, Chef’s Story has the added bonus of the chef’s ending each session with a quick recipe as example of what defines them.

With an all-star culinary parade of guests that run the gamet from familiar TV faces such as Lidia Bastianich, Bobby Flay, Anthony Bourdain and Tom Colicchio to famous names (for their off-screen accomplishments not for their television appearances) such as chefs Michel Richard and Daniel Boulud. If you’re a foodie of any sort, or just interested in where and how American cuisine got so good in the past twenty years and where it’s at and where it’s going, then this is a must-watch show.

The book that goes with the series can be found here: Chef’s Story: 27 Chefs Talk About What Got Them into the Kitchen. While there is no single all-encompassing DVD for the entire series, each individual show has a separate DVD highlighting each interview and chef. Here’s the one for Chef’s Story Jacques Pepin and the other 25 are available as well.