My All-Time Favorite Pasta Dish

 

When I have nothing to eat for dinner and I am starving, this is my go-to recipe.  I always have eggs in my fridge, pasta in my pantry, and bacon in my freezer (wrapped in plastic, then in foil, & stored in a plastic zip bag.  To thaw, unwrap and place bacon on a plate in the microwave. Cook on high at 15 second intervals until bacon has thawed just enough so you can peel away your desired amount of bacon. Re-wrap and place back in freezer).  And EVERY self-respecting person should have a big block of parm in their cheese drawer!   Carbonara is a traditional Roman pasta dish, and this is a very traditional recipe for it.  The pepper is what gives this recipe its name – it is a dish the Italians have dedicated to their ravenous coal miners.  The peas, however, are an untraditional addition.  I added them simply because I was craving a vegetable and that’s all I had!  Spaghetti is typically the pasta that is used, but if you don’t have any, you can substitute whatever pasta is available.  Orechiette would be a good choice, as the “little ears” would provide a perfect vessel to transport the sweet little peas to your anxiously awaiting mouth. 

Spaghetti Carbonara, for 1 Really Hungry Person Who May or May Not Have Had Anything Else to Eat All Day Besides 3 Cookies

Half a box of dry spaghetti, or pasta of choice (8oz)

1/3 cup frozen peas

2 strips of bacon, pancetta or, even better, guanciale, cut crosswise into ¼”X1" strips (lardons)

¼ cup white wine, plus more for drinking

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

Several grinds of black pepper

A hefty grating of parm cheese (1/4-1/2 cup)

 

Bring a big pot of water to a boil. 

 

Thaw peas in the microwave very briefly -- about 30 seconds, just so they are no longer frozen solid.  If they are still cold, that's fine.

 

While you’re waiting for the water, place bacon in a cold sauté pan, large enough to hold all the pasta.  Heat over medium heat and cook bacon until it is almost crisp.  Deglaze pan with wine and let it simmer until it is thick & syrupy.  Remove from heat.

 

Once water is boiling, season with a handful of kosher salt.  Cook pasta until al dente.  Be sure to reserve ¼ cup of the starchy pasta water before you drain the rest.

 

As the pasta cooks, in a small bowl, combine the egg, egg yolk, pepper & cheese.  Set aside.

 

When the pasta is done, heat the pan with the bacon over medium-high heat.  Once it starts to bubble again, add the peas and the pasta to the hot pan, and toss to coat thoroughly.  Let it get good and hot, continuing to toss, for about a minute.  REMOVE FROM HEAT.  (This is the most important part!)  Give the egg mixture a final whisk, and get your tongs ready.  Pour over the hot pasta and IMMEDIATELY stir the pasta so it coats all the strands.  The heat from the pasta will melt the cheese and cook the eggs just enough to give you a nice, silky sauce.  Add a splash of the pasta water to loosen the sauce a little bit (not the entire ¼ cup … usually just a tablespoon or 2 is sufficient).   If you leave the pasta in the pan too long, the eggs will scramble.  So as soon as all the pasta is coated, place in a serving bowl.  Garnish with more cheese and a few more grinds of pepper.  Enjoy after a long day, with the rest of the wine :-). 

My Favorite Champagne

 

According to my ex-husband, I have many things that I label as "my favorite". The list of my favorite foods is pretty much endless. My favorite restaurants are innumerable. My favorite shoes, my favorite outfits, my favorite books, my favorite movies ....

 But my favorite thing in the world -- FOR REAL -- is champagne.  I love the sound the cork makes as it is pushed out of the bottle by the pressure from the gases contained within.  I love the ethereal fog that rises out of the opening of that bottle once the cork is expelled.  I love the shape of the champagne glass, and I love watching that perfectly chilled, sparkling wine cascade down its slanted slope.  I love watching the countless bubbles rise to the surface.  I love its crispness, its coolness and its magic.  I love its romance and its honor; its reputation.  And champagne, after all, can't come from just anywhere.  To be called "champagne", it has to COME from Champagne:  a region in France about 100 miles east of Paris.

 

And my FAVORITE champagne?  Veuve Clicquot.  Mostly because it is an outstanding wine, but also because of the legacy this famed widow left behind.

 

The House of Clicquot was founded in 1772 by Phillipe Clicquot-Muiron.  The family had several vineyards and he decided to establish a family wine business.  From the beginning, he vowed to "cross all borders" with his champagne.

 

Phillipe's son Francois joined the business in 1798, and the first shipment of the family's champagne was sent outside of France to Venice.

 

In 1805, Francois passed away and his widow (veuve, in French), Nicole-Barbe Clicquot-Ponsardin, took over the business at the age of only 27.  The original family business was also involved in banking and wool-trading, but she decided to focus on the champagne production.  Taking over the House of Clicquot, she essentially became the first business woman of modern times.

 

In 1811, a comet shot across the Champagne sky.  That year, there was an exceptional harvest and Madame Clicquot used grapes from this "comet harvest" to make "les Vins de la Comete", which set the foundation for the House's reputation of excellence.

 

As the Napoleonic wars came to an end, in the year 1814 Madame Clicquot made a huge move.  She risked her entire fortune and ran the blockade with 10,000 bottles of her most precious vintage.  They were sent o St. Petersburg, where celebrating Russians were charged the equivalent of $100 per bottle.  Her Champagne was praised by the likes of Pushkin, Chekov and Gogol.

 

By the time Madame was in her late 30's, she had become one of the richest women in France, with annual sales over $30-million.

Today when you pour a glass of champagne, one thing you notice about the wine is not only the bubbles, but the clarity.   Before the days of Veuve Clicquot, champagne was actually cloudy.  This was due to the lees in the wine -- the dead yeast cells.  Before drinking a glass of bubbly prior to the year 1816, you had to decant it or let it rest in the glass so the sediments could fall to the bottom.  The photo above illustrates these sediments in the wine, in a bottle that has been allowed to rest on its side over time while aging.

Madame Clicquot, however, invented something called a riddling rack.  After aging, the bottles are placed on one of these racks and held at a 45-degree angle.  Twice a day, the bottles are gently shaken and turned, alternately to the right and to the left, and the angle is gradually increased.  The sediments in the wine get pushed towards the neck, which allows them to be disgorged -- the wine near the cork with the sediments in it is frozen and then the cork and frozen plug are removed, then more wine is added as needed to refill the bottle.  Madame Clicquot kept this process a secret for 10 years, which helped set her champagne above all the rest, and earned her her respected nickname:  LA GRANDE DAME DE CHAMPAGNE.  This process is still practiced today.

 

The Veuve Clicquot vineyards occupies over 515 hectares (1273 acres), 485 hectares of which are in production.  Out of those, 360 belong to Veuve Clicquot, and 125 are owned by the LVMH Group (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy).  This land is spread out over the very best champagne growth areas in France:  12 of 17 of the Grand Crus come from here, and 19 of 44 Premiers Crus.  The average classification is close to 97% based on the wine growing properties of the terroir & the quality of the grapes.  Of the grapes grown here, 47% are white chardonnay, 42% are pinot noir, and 11% are pinot meunier.

If you look at a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, There are a couple symbols you will see that are behind the House of Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin. The first is the anchor on the cork, and various locations on the label. It is the Christian symbol for hope & rigor and was chosen in 1798 by Phillipe (the founder) as the cork brand. In that era bottles were not labeled, and the cork held the only distinguishing mark.

You will also see a royal seal.  Veuve Clicquot holds a Royal Warrant of Queen Elizabeth II of England.  It is the circular logo that appears on the yellow band.  The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the Royal Family, which gives a great deal of prestige, obviously, to the supplier.

Last, but certainly not least, you will notice the woman on the wire cage that secures the cork:  Veuve Clicquot herself.

 

Madame Clicquot died in 1866.  In 1877, The House began using their trademark yellow labels.  The company was placed on the French stock exchange in 1963, and by 1972, The House created a prestigious award called The Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award in her honor.  In 1987, Veuve Clicquot became part of The LVMH Group.

 

Much of what we associate with champagne today, Madame Clicquot is responsible for.  From its clarity, to its standard of excellence, to its association with style, elegance and glamour, we have La Grande Dame de Champagne to thank for.  Veuve Clicquot is, by all means, a favorite among favorites.

 



Butternut Squash & Swiss Chard Lasagna

 

 

As a personal chef, lasagna is not only one of my favorite things to make for my clients but also one of my favorite things to EAT!  I usually make it in aluminum loaf pans found in the baking aisle at the grocery store.  One lasagna noodle fits perfectly in the pan if you buy the flat, no bake ones made by Delallo.  That way, you don't have a huge pan of lasagna sitting in your fridge that you feel obligated to eat before it goes bad.  You can make a few loaf pans at time, if you want, and parbake the ones you aren't going to eat.  Let them cool, wrap them tightly in foil, and then simply put the extras in the freezer.  Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and bake, uncovered, in a 350 oven until hot and bubbly. 

Homemade lasagna beats the heck out of the crap in the frozen food section, and there are about a million variations.  Besides the traditional meat and cheese sort, you can make it with practically any vegetable (mushrooms, artichoke, eggplant, spinach ... to name a few), so it's a good way to utilize fresh, seasonal produce.  For those with wheat allergies, you can use gluten free noodles (rice noodles are actually really good!) or you can even SKIP the noodles and just layer vegetables like zucchini, eggplant, and roasted red bell pepper with sauce and cheese. 

Of all the different lasagna recipes I have come across, this Butternut Squash & Swiss Chard Lasagna is one of my favorites.  In place of the Swiss chard, you can substitute pretty much any green such as kale, collard greens, dandelion greens, broccoli rabe ..... Any one will work.  You can buy sauce in a jar, but I like to make my own.  It's super easy.  And if  you have any extra squash, just put it on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze; put it in ziplock bags the next day and it's ready for the next time!

 

Butternut Squash & Swiss Chard Lasagna

 



1 small butternut squash
Salt & pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
Nonstick cooking spray
4oz part-skim ricotta
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes (or more, to taste)
1 bunch of Swiss chard (or any leafy green), ribs removed & discareded; leaves chopped & washed
2 cups tomato sauce (purchased, or homemade -- see recipe)
3 flat, no boil lasagna noodles (if you are using the skinnier ones with the curly edges, you might need to use 2 per layer, and break them a little to fit in the pan)
1/3 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1 foil loaf pan (8" X 3-7/8" X 2-15/32")

Preheat the oven to 375. 

Cut the ends off of the squash.  To remove the skin, you can use a vegetable peeler or if you have a VERY sharp knife, cut the squash in half crosswise so one piece is the neck and the other pieces is the round, bulbous part of the squash.  Setting the squash on a flat end, you can now use your knife to carefully peel the skin away.  Cut the peeled chunks of sqush in half lenghtwise, remove the seeds from the bulbous end, and then cut them into 1/4" slices.  Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil & season with salt & pepper.  Place them in a single layer on a foil-lined cookie sheet and roast until just tender, about 8-10 minutes.

Coat the loaf pan with cooking spray. 

Squeeze the spinach with your hands to extract the liquid.  Stir together the ricotta, parmesan cheese, spinach, oregano, cinnamon & nutmeg.  Season with a little salt & pepper.

Heat a saute pan over medium heat.  Add remaining olive oil to pan and cook the onion until it is translucent.  Add garlic & chili flakes to pan and cook until you can smell the garlic, being careful that it does not burn.  Add the chard to the pan, and cook until it is wilted, stirring pretty constantly so it cooks evenly.  Transfer to a bowl & set aside.

Coat the bottom of a baking dish with about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce.  Lay pasta in sauce.  Spread half of the ricotta cheese on the pasta, then layer with squash.  Lay another sheet of pasta on squash & cover with half of the remaining tomato sauce.  Cover with chard (you can freeze any extra in a ziplock bag for next time, or use it to make a second loaf pan!) & spread remaining ricotta on top.  Cover with noodles & sauce, sprinkle with mozzarella.

Spray a piece of foil with nonstick cooking spray & tightly cover the dish.  Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes.  Test noodles for doneness by inserting a paring knife into the lasagna.  As soon as the noodles are tender, remove foil and bake until the cheese browns a little bit.  Remove from oven and allow to rest about 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 1 loaf pan; 2 servings.

Basic Tomato Sauce

2-28oz cans of whole tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

8-10 cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled & left whole

1 bay leaf

1/4 teaspoon chili flakes

 

Put the tomatoes in a big bowl and (this is my favorite part!) squeeze them with your hands!!!  Careful, because the juice tends to squirt a little bit.  Set aside.

 

In a large, deep saute pan (big enough to hold all the tomatoes), heat the olive oil over medium to medium high heat.  Toss in the garlic cloves.  Tilt the pan so the garlic is basically deep frying.  Continue cooking until the cloves are golden (do not burn because they will be bitter).  Carefully slide in the squished tomatoes (the oil will sputter because of the water content) and stir.  Bring to a simmer and then add the bay leaf & chili flakes.  Reduce heat to low/medium low, and simmer until the sauce had thickened, stirring frequently so the bottom does not scorch. 

 

You can leave the chunks of tomato, or you can pulse it in a food processor or with an immersion blender for a smoother texture. 

 

Season to taste with salt & pepper.

 

Makes about 1 quart.

Christmas Cookie Memories

One of my favorite holiday traditions is baking -- and eating! -- cookies. Each year, I glance over the multitudes of cookbooks on my shelves, and scour my library of issues of Bon Apetit from Decembers past, but I usually end up boiling it down to a few tried and true favorites. My top 3 choices for Christmas cookies are rugelach (which is actually an eastern European Jewish cookie), Viennese Crescents (the crumbly, buttery, nutty, powdered sugar coated variety), and my number one hands down choice for yuletide bakery is ......... SUGAR COOKIES. Yup. Kind of Plain-Jane for the likes of me, I admit, but they are without a doubt my favorites.

When I was in 8th grade, I conned my mom into helping me bake these sugar cookies. She usually opted for the kelly-green corn-flake wreaths decorated with red-hots (that made your bowel movements the next morning look a leprechaun's). Making actual cookie dough, with food-colored frosting was a little outside of her comfort zone. But she was willing to humor me!

All day, we rolled out dough and cut them into reindeer, Christmas trees, stars, bells, and Santas. We filled cookie sheet after cookie sheet with cutouts and perseveringly baked each one of them off. We waited patiently while they all cooled, and then .... it was time to decorate.

Up until this point, I felt I had this cookie-baking thing down pat. I had no idea what was in store for me. Over six dozen sugar cookies waited anxiously for me on the counter. I had my bowls of royal icing before me in shades of white, red, green, yellow, and blue. For very nearly 8 hours, I frosted and decorated these godforsaken cookies, one at a time. By the second dozen, my mom reneged her offer to help me. It was fun at first to make each one look prettier than the next, but by the last couple of dozen all the royal icing went into the same bowl to make BLACK frosting. I was no longer amused and no longer felt festive by ANY stretch of the imagination. My 12 year old back was aching and my patience was stretched thinner than a crack whore.

But at last I reached the final cookie -- a black reindeer with a redhot for an eye -- and I asked myself a question: WHO was going to eat all of these cookies?????? The F word may have escaped my lips. I asked my mom, because I was legitimately concerned. "We'll take them to Christmas dinner at your Grandfathers!" GREAT idea!!!! Good one, Mom.

So Christmas Day comes, and we go to my grandfather's house for dinner. There's a good dozen or so people there, and my step-grandmother was VERY happy to see that I brought some cookies to help feed them all.

We have dinner, dessert (Flaming Cherries Jubilee, which Step-Grandma spills on the tablecloth providing a VERY impressive Christmastime pyrotechnic display!) and coffee. People start to leave, and then my mom decides it's time for us to head home, too. We get our coats, and say goodbye to everyone. As we are getting into the car, I literally YELP. MY COOKIES! I rush back inside and grab the tin from the counter. Step-Grandma was mortified. Unbeknownst to me, when you bring cookies to someone's house, you're supposed to LEAVE them there! Was she CRAZY?????? Did she have any idea how many hours it took me to decorate those????? And so the remaining 4.5 dozen cookies came back home with me. :-).

As you can see in the above picture, while I still love my sugar cookies, I am now less inclined to reach for the royal icing. And Williams-Sonoma makes really pretty sprinkles! 

Happy Holidays, everybody.

HOORAY HOORAY FOR TURKEY DAY!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  A day that revolves around food?  What more could one hope for?!  It's Christmas, without the presents.  The GIFTS are on your dinner plate.  Every year, I put great time and effort into orchestrating a meal that balances my childhood memories of tastes and smells with my refined cooking skills and creativity.  It is a process that literally takes WEEKS.  My first step is scouring my Thanksgiving recipe collection, then I narrow it down to what courses I need.  Once that's figured out, I compile a shopping list that is organized into 6 categories:  fresh produce, dairy, meat, baking goods, miscellaneous dry goods, & liquor.  Then I make a timeline.  The bulk of the work starts on Monday or Tuesday, then Wednesday the real fun begins.  At 6AM, Operation Turkey Dinner will ensue in earnest.  My timeline for Thursday has everything nailed down to the minute, with 3PM - SERVICE at the end of the schedule.  My nickname in culinary school was "Timeline Girl".  And that is my secret to ANY successful dinner party.  You can never be too organized, be it down the the second or down to the ounce.  And always clean as you go!

However, there is more to this day than the food.  Americans see it as an opportunity to sit back and reflect on all you have to be thankful for.  What I am most thankful for is living in a society that is so diverse and rich in history & culture.  This would be such a boring world if we were all the same.  At my table this year alone, my meal will be shared with those of German, Swiss, Italian, Thai, Muong, and Ukrainian backgrounds.  What do we have in common?  Besides the fact that we all love food, we are all American. 

Which leads me to the month of September in the year 1620.  A little boat called The Mayflower left England carrying 102 passengers who were mostly religious seperatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith.  Crossing the Atlantic was a journey that lasted a little longer than 2 months.  That first winter, most passengers stayed aboard.  Many suffered from exposure, scurvy and other contagious diseases.  Only half survived to welcome spring.

In March of 1621, the "pilgrims" moved ashore to what is now Plymouth, MA, where they recieved a greeting in English from an Abenaki Indian.  He returned a few days later with Squanto, who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery.  Squanto had escaped to London and returned to his homeland on an exploratory expedition.  The pilgrims had brought their own seeds with them from Europe, but they were unsuccessful in cultivating them.  Squanto taught the pilgrims how to grow corn, extract the syrup from maple trees, catch fish in rivers, and to avoid poisonous plants.

After a successful corn harvest in November 1621, William Bradford, the governor, organized a feast and invited their new Native friends.  The celebration lasted the better part of 3 days.  Sadly, this is one of the ONLY examples of harmony between the Native Americans and the Europeans.

Most of the items on your traditional Thanksgiving menu are foods native to North America and were staples in the Native American diet.  Everything from the turkey to the sweet potatoes; from the cranberries to all the varieties of squash. As you load up your plate this year, take a second to appreciate the diversity not only at your dinner table, but in the world around you, and then be thankful for the freedom you have to do so.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Joy of Eating

 

There are few things we do in life that simultaneously satisfy all 5 senses at the same time the way eating does.  I, for one, eat with my eyes first.  From something as basic as an unblemished, perfectly ripe, ruby red strawberry to a colorfully artistic, meticulously balanced, spotlessly clean plate presentation, if something looks good I am going to want to eat it.  And the better it looks, the MORE I am going to want to eat it! 

 

The most obvious thing we experience when we eat is taste.  There are 5 different categories that you can boil "taste" down to:  salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and umami (which is basically savory -- it's nutty; earthy; buttery -- think truffles, parmesan cheese, and crabmeat).  One of these flavor profiles in an of itself in its purest form does not necessarily taste good.  When was the last time you had a spoonful of salt?  Or had a shot of straight lemon juice?  Or ate frosting all by itself?  But when you combine 1 of those flavor profiles with another one -- like a salty piece of prosciutto wrapped around a sweet, juicy piece of canteloupe -- your tastebuds explode and your eyes roll back in your head! 

The next sense we experience when we eat that we don't usually associate with food is "touch".  Believe it or not, temperature actually contributes to the taste of a dish. For example, when you make ice cream, the base you start with -- whether it's a sorbet base or the egg-cream-sugar base known as creme anglaise -- will taste WAY sweeter at room temperature than when you freeze it. If you taste that base unfrozen, partially frozen (fresh out of the ice-cream maker) and completely frozen (after spending a few hours in the freezer), you will have 3 very different degrees of sweetness.  Likewise, if you have a cold soup, such as gazpacho, you will need to season it more liberally than if you are serving it warm.

Also, food obviously has different textures.  When I bite into that freshly-picked, stop-sign-red strawberry, it is soft and succulent.  It is moist and ripe; tittilating.  And if it is still warm from the sun, it makes it taste even more sweet.  Its juices trickle down my lips toward my chin as I bite into this perfect piece of fruit, and again, MY EYES ROLL BACK IN MY HEAD!   Somethings, nature needs no help in.

 

In the textural scheme of things, there are sensations our mouths recognize:  crunchy, creamy, chewy to name a few.  The more of these textures you put on a plate, the more interesting it becomes.  Think of a pasta salad.  You combime the chewiness of the al dente pasta, with the crispiness of some raw vegetables (bell pepper, onion, celery), and some creamy mayonnaise, maybe some nice fresh herbs.  You add to that equation some "sour" in the form of vinegar or lemon juice, some saltiness like bacon or maybe some canned tuna, your bell pepper will provide some sweetness .... Your dish starts to become complex and more interesting not only to your tastebuds, but you also have a more diverse mouthfeel which directly contributes to how a dish "tastes".  Not to mention, you have a few different colors on your plate, so it becomes interesting to the eye as well.

This leads me to the sense of "sound".  Totally unrelated to taste, right?  Quite the contrary.  How does an apple sound when you take a bite out of it?  What do you hear as you slurp at a spoonful of soup?  As you greedily gulp it down?  What would eating be like if we could not hear these sounds?  It is part of the pleasure.  Not to mention an important part of cooking.  The sound a piece of meat makes as it hits the hot surface of a pan.  Most of the time when I make pasta, I know my water is ready because I can hear it boiling.  I also know that when I can't hear that meat sizzling anymore, it's probably time to flip it over.

The next stop -- which more accurately would be our first stop, even before sight -- on our sensual journey of eating, is SMELL.  I left this one for last, because it is the most important when it comes to food, and it is the most directly related to our sense of taste.  Some of my favorite smells are directly related to food.  After moving to California, late one spring I was sitting at a stoplight in rush-hour traffic.  I had all my windows down and a warm San Diego breeze swept through my car.  I experienced for the first time the smell of orange blossoms.  It caught me off guard, actually.  I didn't realize what it was at first, only that the SWEET smell was intoxicating and I couldn't inhale ENOUGH.  I looked to my left and saw an orange grove, and then suddenly it made sense.  You could ALMOST TASTE the sweetness. 

Although far inferior to other species, smell is our stongest sense.  Since our olfactory nerves are located at the top of our nasal cavity, there are actually 2 ways we are able to smell things:  orthonasally (or through the nostrils) and retronasally (through the mouth).  So, as we taste things, we are able to smell them at the same time.  Ever notice when you have a cold, food just doesn't taste good?  This is exactly why.  Our sense of smell -- therefore our sense of taste -- is inhibited.

Interestingly enough, the olfactory nerve is located near to the amygdela -- which is the area of the brain that is connected to memory and emotion.  Personally, there are many food smells that evoke both memory and emotion for me.  One is the smell of yams roasting in the oven.  Every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas, my mom would make her "sweet potato" casserole.  She would roast the yams the night before the dinner and our entire house would be permeated with the warm, sweet smell of them.  To me, that smell is the essence of the holiday season.  It evokes comfort and excitement.

And isn't eating, by nature, COMFORTING?  After eating a nice meal, when your belly is full of food that tastes good, you feel relaxed; secure.  When you go to someone's house for dinner, you ring the bell, and as the door opens the smell of food hits you.  It could be fresh bread, cookies, sizzling meat, roasting veggies ... all of the above!  Correct me if I'm wrong, but the smell of food puts a smile on your face. 

We associate the SMELL of food with the emotions of comfort and of fullness.  Food FEELS good; it TASTES good; it SOUNDS good; it LOOKS good.  As we rush through our meals so we can make it to work on time, get to that meeting, get the kids fed so everyone can go to bed and start the cycle all over again, I think we forget that eating is a sensual act.  It literally encompasses all of our senses.  I think it is important to take the time to enjoy food.  Whatever it is you are eating -- be it an animal or a vegetable or a fruit -- remember that that creature gave up its life for you so you could have nourishment for your body.  Enjoy it! 

 

 

Barbeque's Galore Cooking Experience

As I wind down my time as Chef Sal's Bitchin' Assistant at Barbeque's Galore, I find it only fitting to pay homage to the time I spent manning the grill, and to the subsequent gallons of sweat I lost in doing so.  The knowledge I gained working there I will keep in my back pocket for a long time to come.  I learned volumes about meat cookery and public speaking, and I gained a lot of self confidence preparing and presenting food to an audience of 12 every evening.  Also, taking a recipe that was meant for the oven, and asking myself the question "How can I make this work on the grill???" was always an enjoyable challenge for me.

I cannot properly pay tribute to this brief stop on my journey without telling you about the foccacia bread I made everyday -- on the grill of course.  Baking bread on a daily basis, you can't help but learn about the science behind playing with yeast dough.  Here is the recipe:

 Foccacia Bread on the Grill
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 tablespoon sugar
3-1/4 cups warm water (105-115 degrees)
2 pounds 12 ounces of all purpose flour (or half AP & half bread flour)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons prepared or store bought rub of choice
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Additional extra virgin olive oil, as needed for oiling bowl, pan & drizzing on finished loaf
Kosher salt, as needed for seasoning after baking

The most important step in bread baking is properly blooming the yeast.  If you have ever ended up with a dead, rock-like, lifeless loaf, this is probably where you screwed up.  I put the yeast in the work-bowl of my standmixer with a little bit of sugar.  To that, you need to add WARM water.  It HAS to be between 105-115 degrees.  Yeast is a living organism -- a single-celled fungus, actually.  When it's in the little packet or jar, it is sleeping.  If your water is not warm enough, it's going to stay sleeping; if it's too hot, you are going to kill it.  Either way, your yeast will not bloom and your bread will not rise.  Once you add the water, you want to whisk it so the yeast and sugar dissolve.  The warm water will activate the yeast, and when it wakes up, it's HUNGRY.  What happens is that it starts to eat the carbohydrates in the sugar.  As it takes in those carbs, it exhales carbon dioxide.  That's what makes the top of your water bubbly (not to mention your beer!), and that's what will eventually give your dough its lift. 

After about 5 minutes, you will start to see a lot of those bubbles on top of the water.  That's when you know it's time to incorporate the dry ingredients, and the olive oil. 

You want to knead the dough on your standmixer with the dough-hook attachment on low speed until it comes together and begins to pull away from the sides of the the work bowl.  It will actually start to climb up the sides of the dough-hook -- this is when  you know  it wants OUT.  It's OK if it still looks a little raggedy. 

Next, continue to knead it by hand until it is smooth and elastic, like a baby's bottom.  At that point, you put it into a bowl that is lightly greased with olive oil.  Cover it with a damp towel, or with a sheet of plastic wrap then set it in a warm, draft-free corner in your kitchen.  When I am at home, I like to put it in my oven with the oven light turned on.  This makes it a little warmer than room temperature, and the warmer it is, the faster those yeast cells will react.

After 1-1/2 - 2 hours, your dough will double in size.  If you have used plastic wrap, you can see the biproduct of those hungry yeast cells!  It traps the carbon dioxide in, and you end up with a big bubble.



If you bloomed your yeast properly, you should have a nicely risen ball of dough now.  Next, you want to gently press the air out of it with your fingertips.  By doing this, you are achieving a couple of things.  First, you are relaxing the gluten strands.  Those strands trap the carbon dioxide in the dough, giving you the "bubbles" in the bread when you bake it.  Second, you are redistributing nutrients in the dough to the yeast cells. You are also equalizing the temperature of the dough.  It's cooler on the outside than on the inside.  These things reset the feeding frenzy for the yeast.

I let the dough rest like this for 5 or 10 minutes while I oil up an 18"X13" cookie sheet with 1" sides.  Ever so gently, remove the dough from the bowl, and press it out into the pan. 

Let the dough rise a second time until it doubles in size again.  This step is called "proofing", and should only take about an hour.  While you are waiting for that to rise, go ahead and preheat your outdoor grill to high.  Once your dough has finished proofing and your grill is as hot as it can get,  you are ready to bake it.

Turn the burners of your grill off on one side.  Set the pan containing the bread over the indirect heat, and close the hood of your grill.  Your are essentially turning your barbeque into a convection oven, and the hot air will circulate around your dough.  Let it bake for about 6-7 minutes, until one side of the loaf is nice and toasty brown.  Rotate the pan 180-degrees, close the hood and continue to cook another 6-7 minutes.  The surface of the bread should be well crusted and an even, nutty color.

Remove the bread from the grill and brush it with a little extra virgin olive oil.  Sprinkle it with a little salt and you are ready to dig in! 


To all of my friends at Barbeque's Galore, and without a doubt to my Chef ....... Thank you so much for everything:  for the laughter, for the confidence in my ability, for the freedom to be creative and occasionally share the spotlight in the kitchen ...... I will miss you all very much.  It was an honor and a pleasure.  Respectfully yours, Beth.