Naomi Pomeroy’s Asparagus Veloute with Chive Oil

May 15, 2013 By 2 Comments

This is the story of how I found out I am doing everything wrong when I make soup.

Earlier this year, I had the incredible opportunity to attend a class at the New York Culinary Experience. Put on by the International Culinary Center in NYC, it is a weekend intensive full of intimate classes with celebrity chefs like  Masaharu Morimoto, Jacques Torres, and Daniel Bouley. The event is chock full of classes, luxurious meals, and a goodie bag that is worth its weight in platinum.  Next year, I am seriously considering taking the whole (expensive, but  amazing) session.

But I digress.

I was privileged enough to attend the Rites of Spring class led by Naomi Pomeroy, of Top Chef and Beast fame. This chef is so gregarious, so down to earth, so passionate and educated and humble and sweet…well, she is my new girl crush.

Hell, she is my new crush, PERIOD. The perfect mix of charm and candicy, of business and whimsy…I can see why she is so successful – she is driven but not grating and genuinely loves to cook and talk about food.

And she really knows how to cook.

This is her recipe. It is – to put it simply – phenomenal. Don’t skimp on any steps or leave out any ingredients. This takes a while but it is so worth your time. The steps are labor intensive (and without pictures because many components were prepared ahead of time for students –  so sorry!!) and meticulous, but they result in an absolutely perfect dish.

Asparagus Veloute with Chive Oil

For Soup Base:

2 cups finely diced onions

2 cups cleaned, sliced leeks

3 cloves garlic, diced

5 oz butter

1 3/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 cup water.

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp. creme fraiche

1. In a large stockpot, add the butter, onions, leeks, salt and pepper. Cook over medium-low heat until the veggies become translucent but not at ALL browned(maybe 15 minutes).

2. Add the garlic and water, then cook for another 20 minutes or until all the veggies are totally soft.

3. Puree in blender (or Vita Mix, by which Pomeroy swears) with the water, creme fraiche, and cream.

4. Set aside.

For Chive Oil:

6 bunches chives

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

1/2 tsp. vitamin c powder

1 tsp. salt

Large bowl of ice water

1. Drop the chives into boiling water, to which the salt and vitamin c powder has been added.

2. After 1 minute (in which time the chives have been blanched), remove them and “shock” them in the ice water to stop the cooking process and preserve the vibrant color.

3. Dry them thoroughly.

4. Place the chives and oil in a blender , going slowly at first then faster as the ingredients meld into one.

5. Once the ingredients are mixed, blend it for 2 minutes straight. Then, strain through a chinois or cheesecloth. Let it fall naturally without pressing it – it may take up to 2 hours.

6. Store in a squeeze bottle.

For Asparagus Spinach Puree:

2 cups washed fresh spinach

large bowl of ice water

2 tsp. vitamin c powder

Salt to taste

2 cups fresh asparagus, finely chopped

1. Boil some water and put enough salt in it to make it taste “like the ocean – salty” (directions straight from Pomeroy).

2. Add half of the vitamin c powder to the water, and put the spinach in it for about 30 seconds, just until it wilts.

3. Put the rest of the vitamin c powder in the ice water and move the spinach there to shock it. (save the boiling water and the ice water for the asparagus)

4. After it is cool enough to handle, dry the spinach well.

5. Add the asparagus until it is tender but not floppy – 3 minutes or so. Do NOT overcook or you will lose the color.

6. Shock it in the ice bath and then dry it.

7. Puree the asparagus and spinach in a blender.

For Soup 

Soup Base

Asparagus Spinach Puree

1 tbsp. creme fraiche

Salt and pepper, to taste

Chive Oil

Soup Base

 To pull the soup together:

1. Heat up the base slowly. Taste it to see if it needs salt or pepper.

2. When it is TOTALLY HOT, add the asparagus/spinach puree OFF THE HEAT. This preserves the vibrant green color.

3. Use an immersion blender to really froth everything up and make sure that it is perfectly blended.

4. Put in a bowl with…

creme fraiche

chive oil, and a bit of salt.

5. Serve.

This is absolutely a rite of spring. So fresh and grassy, with a hearty but not heavy or greasy taste. I have never made a soup like this. I have never slowly sauteed so many onions so they sweat and become sweet without caramelizing. I have never separately blanched spinach to preserve the beautiful green color of asparagus. I have never painstakingly let oil drip through a cheesecloth to add a sharp bite of chives to each spoonful of soup. I have never specially sought out creme fraiche for its smooth, silky texture. I have never used an immersion blender to froth a soup or vitamin c powder to keep some color or really salt each component. I have just been half  assing my soup.

But I won’t anymore, and neither will you. Because once you taste this soup, you can’t go back to  30 minute soup that you used to eat.

 

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Bodega Potato Soup

January 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I’m a lazy, lazy person.

I have admitted it here before, and I’m about to admit it again.

Though it might seem like I cook all the time, I really don’t. I love to go out to eat, and sometimes, I even love to go to the local corner deli and get a quick turkey sandwich and a bag of chips eat while watching the premiere of some horribly embarrassing tv show.

Don’t worry, I haven’t sunk so far as to start watching Buckwild.

One of the best items at any NYC corner deli is a stuffed baked potato. These are always huge and tasty, chock full of tender broccoli, salty bacon, and always loads of cheese. They usually warm it in the pizza oven, so the skin gets uber crispy while the insides stay creamy. And did I mention these are huge?

That’s where this recipe came from…a leftover over-stuffed twice baked potato. You can use, in its place, mashed potatoes, a frozen twice baked potato, or any cooked potato at all.

The only requirement is that you stay in your pajamas the entire time that you cook it.

It’s that kind of lazy recipe.

Bodega Potato Soup

Ingredients:

1 leftover stuffed baked potato/1 cooked twice baked potato/1 cup mashed potatoes

1 cup frozen cauliflower, microwaved until soft

2 tsp. butter

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 cup shredded cheese

assorted seasonings (cayenne pepper, cumin, bbq seasoning, etc…)

1/2 to 2/3 cup of milk (or to taste)

1. Melt the butter in a stockpot over high heat, and throw in the onion to get translucent. Sautee for about 10 minutes.

2. Add the milk and seasonings. Cayenne pepper is especially useful here, but adding things like curry, herbs de Provence, or dried thyme take the soup in any direction you like.

3. In a few minutes, the milk should be bubbling and starting to scald. Now…

4. Add the potato…

and the cauliflower. That should stop the milk from bubbling up so furiously. If it still bubbles like crazy, reduce the heat a bit.

5. Now stir in the cheese, and let the soup cook for about 5 minutes.

6. When everything is heated through and the taste is to your liking, puree in blender until smooth. You may need a bit more milk, since the soup will thicken up quite a bit (but not too much…the thickness is part of the whole deal!).

7. Top with a blanket of shredded cheese and serve.

I told you this was really easy. You don’t often think to use up leftovers – at least, I don’t – and this really uses a leftover potato to great effect. The soup is thick, creamy, and very flavorful. Whatever is mixed into the potato just enhances the soup with bits of broccoli or small shards of crunchy bacon. Don’t forget the seasonings – this is such a rich and milky soup that it needs a lot of flavor so it isn’t bland.

When done right, this should be a thick and cheesy bowl of comfort.

To be enjoyed while watching Buckwild.

Come on, you already knew I watched it.

Also:

 the winner of the cheese giveaway is :

True Random Number Generator

21Powered by RANDOM.ORG

 Sarah M. Shaker! Congratulations Sarah, I will contact you shortly to get you your prize!

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Lasagna Soup

December 28, 2012 By 2 Comments

GAWD I love lasagna.

The meat. The cheese. The noodles. That steaming-hot-melting-beefy-saucy quality that just feels like a hug from your nonna.

What I don’t love is how long it takes to make.

That’s why I love this soup. It has everything that lasagna has in a slightly different form. It’s so easy to make, so warming on a cold night, and not NEARLY as heavy. It’s basically a  chicken soup flavored with Italian ingredients.

Why don’t I just show you how to make it?

Lasagna Soup (adapted from here)

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken stock

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 28 oz. can peeled tomatoes

2 tbsp. italian seasoning

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 onion, diced

2 tsp. vegetable oil

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup breadcrumbs

1 tsp. sriracha

1 box noodles (any will do, but I like orzo or ditalini), cooked

salt and pepper to taste

Ricotta cheese to plate, room temperature

buffalo mozzarella to plate, room temperature

pecorino to plate

1. Sautee the onion, garlic, and Italian seasoning with the veggie oil in a large stockpot over medium heat for about 12 minutes, or until the veggies have turned translucent, but not browned or burned. In the meantime…

2. Combine the meat, mayo, and breadcrumbs in a bowl. Mix until combined but don’t overmix.

The reason that I don’t add seasonings or cheese here is because of the seasoned breadcrumbs. Those babies have a TON of salt, and I don’t want the soup to be over seasoned.

3. When the onions are browned, add the stock and entire contents of the peeled tomato can to the pot and bring it to a rolling boil.

4. Then, drop the meatballs in to let them cook. I like small balls, some people like large ones.

That’s what she said. 

Let the soup simmer, covered, until the meatballs are cooked through – about 15 minutes or so. Be sure to check them careful  because these are soft meatballs that easily fall apart. That’s why you don’t want to bring the soup to a full rolling boil while cooking them.

5. Add the  Sriracha. Trust me, the vinegayr taste disappears in the heat and you are left with a slight burn that works so well with Italian flavors – it’s one of my favorite new tricks! Let cook for a few minutes more and then taste for seasonings feel free to add salt or pepper if you need it.

6. You may need to skim some fat off of the top now. If you don’t have a fat separator (which I HIGHLY recommend buying) do it by ladling the very top layer of the soup into a glass and letting the fat come to the top, then spooning or pouring off the fat. Don’t skip this step, you don’t want a mouthful of grease.

 Finally, it’s time to plate! If your noodles aren’t freshly cooked, microwave them until they are quite warm, then…

7. Put some ricotta and mozzarella in the bottom of the soup bowl. How much is up to you – I always say the more the better.

8. Put the hot noodles on top…

then ladle some soup on top of that.

9. Top with the pecorino cheese and serve.

This isn’t the same as a brick of hearty lasagna, but in some ways, it’s even better. It’s lighter. It’s just as cheesy. The meat is softer and squishier, which I happen to love. And the flavor is spot on. The Sriracha adds a bit of heat and the herbed breadcrumbs carry the salt and aroma of Italian flavors all the way through the soup. The pasta adds the necessary starch, and though you could add tomato paste to thicken the soup, the contrast of the light broth with the juicy tomatoes and hearty meatballs is very satisfying. Be sure to let the soup sit for about 5 minutes before you serve it – that lets the ricotta and mozzarella warm, making the soup creamy and melty, stretching telephone wires of cheese from bowl to mouth. The pecorino is the final sharp touch to what might be the perfect bowl of soup.

I’m not giving up lasagna any time soon. But I might just be adding more soup into my repertoire.

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Chicken and White Bean Southwestern Chili

October 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Remember Beyond Bread? Well,they didn’t just serve sandwiches. They served the most delicious homemade soups that I had ever tasted in a casual restaurant. Creamy tomato soup, steaming with ribbons of fragrant basil. Baked potato soup loaded with sharp cheddar cheese and peppery hunks of soft potatoes. And green chile and corn chowder, teeming with piquant green chiles and tender shredded chicken.

This is my ode to that. It isn’t a chowder, but it takes the main elements of the dish – minus the corn(because summer corn was so sweet that I can’t bear to use canned corn yet) – and reworks them into a spicy, hearty chili. Don’t go easy on the seasonings here - you really want a riot of flavor in your mouth.

That’s what she said.

Chicken and White Bean Chile

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground chicken

1 can white beans, drained

1 cup chicken broth

1 4.5 oz. can diced green chiles

2 jalapenos, chopped

2 cloves garlic, diced

1/2 onion, diced

1 tbsp. each coriander and oregano

2 tbsp. cumin

1/2 tbsp. salt

pepper to taste

1 tbsp. butter

1/2 cup cleaned and chopped cilantro

garnishes (cheese, sour cream, scallions, etc)

1. Heat the butter in a high sided pan over medium high heat until it starts to melt.

2. Add the onion, garlic, and all spices.

When you combine them all, the onions should immediately start to small fragrant and spicy.

3. After about 10 minutes, when the onions are starting to become translucent, add the chicken.

 

Really mash it around in there, then let it cook for about 10 minutes, or till it is totally brown and the onions have turned soft.

4. Now, add the jalapenos,

the canned beans and chiles,

and the chicken broth.

5. Now, turn the heat on high and let the whole mixture boil away for about 20 minutes, or until the liquid has really reduced to almost nothing. Go back and stir every 5 minutes to make sure that the chicken does not burn on the bottom of the pan. If it looks like the sauce is not reducing, just let it keep boiling.

Eventually, the liquid will be almost totally gone, leaving the dish looking more like chili than soup.

6. Right before serving, throw in the cilantro.

7. Give it a stir…

assemble your fixins, and…

7. Serve.

This chili is better than the original dish that inspired it.  It is more robust, brighter, zestier. The chicken is juicy, the beans are creamy, and the chips jalapenos with the smoky canned chiles make for a great textural contrast. It is spicy, smoky, acidic, sour, and hearty. It is ideal with sour cream and cheddar cheese, and because it isn’t too heavy or salty, it lends itself well to second or third helpings.

Beyond Bread still has the best sandwiches on earth. But their soups might now have to be satisfied with second place.

 

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Cassoulet

September 27, 2012 By 4 Comments

One of the best things about visiting France for the first time is realizing how wrong you are about so many things. They don’t hate Americans. They don’t all wear Chanel. And the don’t all smell like rotting brie cheese.

Well, some of them do, but 11 year old boys don’t like to shower in this country, either.

One of my favorite things about visiting France was realizing that not everyone eats tiny crudites, expensive champagne, and tasting menus every night. There is a whole world of rustic, hearty, rather inexpensive French food. Food that you eat with family, drinking table wine, laughing and dipping spoons into each others bowls until you rise from the table, bellies ready to burst and eyes ready to take a wonderful fat-and-carb induced slumber.

Cassoulet is such a dish. This rustic pork, duck, and bean stew is everything I don’t associate with Paris – heavy, overt in taste, somewhat clumsy in serving. And yet I love it.

Don’t leave anything out, especially duck. That is the only really expensive part  this dish, but it serves such a large amount of people that it is totally worth it. Use a wine that you love to drink, so you can drink it with the meal. I used a Tarquiet Chenin-Chardonnay. This wine has the dry, crisp notes of chenin blanc blended with some buttery, yeasty flavors of chardonnay. It really stands up well to the pork without overshadowing the other flavors.

Cassoulet (adapted from Saveur)

Ingredients:

60 oz. cannellini beans

2 onions, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

10 tbsp.  olive oil

5 cloves garlic, smashed

1 lb. pork shoulder

1⁄2 lb. pancetta, cubed

1 bunch thyme, tied with twine or thread

4 tbsp. dried oregano

2 bay leaves

3 cloves, tied in a cheesecloth, or 2 tsp. ground cloves

1 28 oz. can whole peeled or crushed canned tomatoes

1.5 cups white wine

4 cups chicken broth

4 confit duck legs

1 lb. ground pork

2 cups panko bread crumbs

4 tbsp. melted butter

3 tbsp. each salt and pepper, plus extra to taste

1. Put the ground pork, the pancetta, the onions, the garlic, and the carrots into a large dutch oven with the olive oil. Let it sautee and steam until the pork is totally cooked through, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 325F.

2. Strip the confited meat off of the bones, and take the skin off. The skin should come off easily. Save it and set it aside.

3. Add the meat to the dutch oven,and, meanwhile…

4. Cube the pork into 1 inch pieces or thereabouts (removing excess fat and saving for future use),

and then add it to the dutch oven.

5. Add the beans, stock, wine, and tomatoes…

then the spices and herbs. Bring it to a rolling boil over high heat.

6. Set it to cook in the oven, covered. Do not disturb for 3 hours.

7. In the meantime, put the reserved confit skin in a skilled over medium low heat. Let it cook for about 40 minutes, or…

until you have this. Crisped duck skin, a pool of gorgeous duck fat, and an incredible smell wafting through your kitchen.

8. Chop up the skin…

and mix the skin and butter with your panko bread crumbs.

9. By now your stew should be pretty much cooked. Taste it. Does it need more salt, more spice from the cloves? Does it need more acidity from wine? Adjust it as you see fit, and have a bite of the pork to make sure that it is extremely tender. It should be so delicious that you literally start drooling immediately. If you do…

Add the breadcrumbs to the top…

and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is browned and fragrant.

10. When the juices start to bubble through the top of the breadcrumbs, the cassoulet is done.

11. Serve, mes petits, serve.

There is nothing cool or reserved about this dish. It is entirely out loud and unapologetic. Porky and sweet and tart and rich and savory. Creamy beans, tender pork, crisped bits of pancetta. Juicy tomatoes, the gentle spice of cloves, and the crispy, butter breadcrumbs.

Serve this with the leftover wine, or any other spirit that suits your fancy.  Eat it with a a light salad and top off the meal with some buttery shortbread cookies and coffee.

Or, just plan to finish off the cassoulet instead of dessert.

Eating like Paul Bunyon – betcha didn’t know France had it in her.

*The wine was provided to me as a sample. I was not required to use or write about it, and my opinions are my own and unbiased.*

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Pasta e Fagioli

August 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

One of my favorite childhood memories is of being sick. Not really sick, mind you – not sick enough to vomit or have a headache. Just sick enough to lay in my parents’ bed all day and watch reruns of I Dream of Jeannie while everyone at school was working on long division.

My favorite thing to eat on those days was Progresso’s Pasta e Fagioli soup. I remember carefully bringing the steaming broth to my mouth, inhaling the sweet tomatoes and delightfully squishy pasta. I always shook the green can of Parmesan cheese into the bowl so that a thin layer of white covered the top, adding a salty (and-now that I know what real Parmesan cheese tastes like-somewhat dusty) taste to the soup.

This is a dramatic upgrade on that classic. It takes only about 45 minutes to make, but the addition of pancetta, mushrooms, and a heavy hit of cayenne pepper create a complex, multilayered soup that is a real showstopper. It is thicker heartier than the original, so increase the stock if you want a thinner soup. Also, be sure to use a very large stockpot, since the pasta in the soup swells and increases in volume.

Pasta e Fagioli

Ingredients:

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

4 cups chicken stock

4 oz. pancetta, diced

1 onion, diced

1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, diced

1 tbsp. dried oregano

cayenne pepper to taste (I use about 2 tsp.)

2 cups ditalini or tubetti pasta

1 can cannellini beans

1 cup mushrooms, cleaned and sliced or quartered

1/3 cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese

1 large handful basil, chiffonaded

1. Sautee the pancetta in a large stockpot over medium high heat, until it is translucent and has rendered some of its fat.

2. Add the onions, garlic, oregano, cayenne, and mushrooms. Let sautee for about 20 minutes, or until the mushrooms are soft, the pancetta is entirely crispy, and the onions are fragrant.

The mushrooms will release a lot of juice in the first 10 minutes, and most of it should evaporate by the time you are done with this step.

3. Add the tomatoes and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then add the ditalini. This pasta should take about 10 minutes to cook. As it cooks, it releases starches and the soup will thicken dramatically.

4. Add the beans and cheese, and stir to heat through

5. Taste for seasonings, top with basil, and serve.

This soup is even better than my childhood favorite. The tomatoes have a sweet, concentrated flavor and the beans add a creamy component. The pancetta is salty, the mushrooms are meaty and savory, and the oregano adds an earthy, grounded note. The pasta should be cooked until it is al dente, not falling apart, and the trick of seasoning with cheese instead of salt means that the soup is not overwhelmed by sodium. The cheese melts and becomes crispy in some places, stringy in others. The cayenne adds a heat that is reminiscent of fra diavolo, and the basil is a fresh crowning touch. The soup is even better the second day and may need some water or stock added when it is reheated.

Still best enjoyed while watching I Dream of Jeannie reruns.

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Chicken Tortilla Bisque

May 28, 2012 By 1 Comment

Mexican food is tasty. That’s just the truth.   Slow cooked meats, crunchy fried tortilla chips, and spicy, intricate flavors…how do you not love that stuff?! Tortilla soup is one of my favorite Mexican dishes, and it’s really easy to make at home. Since you puree everything, there is no need to cut anything into tiny, perfect dices, and the whole soup can be prepared in less than an  hour. Feel free to substitute dried/frozen/canned herbs and peppers here. This is one place where fresh vs. canned doesn’t make a huge difference.This is a twist on classic tortilla soup, which is mostly chicken broth. This soup uses a lot of tomato puree to make a thick, opaque bisque that is hearty enough to enjoy as a meal.

Chicken Tortilla Bisque

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken stock/broth

28 oz. tomato puree or canned peeled tomatoes

1 onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

3 serrano peppers, sliced

1 chipotle in adobo + 1 Tbs. adobo sauce

1 tbsp. each cumin and oregano

1/2 cup cilantro leaves (or 1/4 cup dried cilantro)

juice of 2 limes

15 tortilla chips

2 pieces skinless chicken (or pre cooked chicken, shredded or chopped)

3 tbsp. vegetable oil

Garnishes – sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, sliced avocado, hot sauce

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a stockpot, and when it is hot, add the onions, garlic, and chopped serrano peppers. Let them saute for about 15 minutes on medium heat, or until the onions are soft the vegetables become fragrant.

2. Add the cumin and oregano.

3. Add the chipotle and the adobo sauce. Let everything cook together for about 3 minutes.

4. Add the chicken stock and the tomato puree.

5. Put your chicken in the broth to poach. The trick to poaching is to not let the liquid come to a rolling boil – just let it simmer with small bubbles the whole time. This lets the chicken poach gently and stay incredibly juicy and tender. Two bone in thighs should take about 20 minutes to poach, boneless chicken breasts should take about 12 minutes, depending on how big they are. Use a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the chicken if you don’t know when it is cooked. If you are using precooked chicken, allow the mixture to simmer for 10 minutes, skip to step 7.

6. When the chicken is done, remove it from the pot and cut or shred it into bite size pieces.

7. Add the tortilla chips to your soup. This is why you don’t need salt – the chips are salty enough to season the soup.

8. Add the cilantro.

When the chips are soft, after just a few minutes…

9. Puree with a stick blender or in a food processor until smooth.

10. Add the chicken back into the soup, and taste for seasonings. If you need more heat, now is the time to add more adobo sauce (smoky warmth) or habanero hot sauce (fiery heat). Also, add the lime juice.

11.  Serve.

This is much heartier than your standard tortilla soup. Using the tomato puree makes it thick and lush, and pureeing so many tortilla chips into it adds body the way that papa al pomodoro benefits from bread. It is layered with flavor – the smoky chipotles, the earthy cumin, and that fresh, tart lime juice that brightens and sharpens all the deep, savory flavors soup. I like to eat this with a spoonful of cool sour cream, some buttery avocado, and a hearty dose of sharp cheddar cheese. Though this might not be traditional, it is certainly a delicious homage to all foods Mexican.

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Snow Day Chili

January 21, 2012 By 7 Comments
The first winter snow hit NYC this weekend, and any thoughts of going out for brunch flew out of my head. When it’s snowy, I want pajamas and comfort food. I want something spicy, hearty, familiar, and easy to make.
I want chili.
This isn’t fancy vegetarian chili. This isn’t real-and-true Texan chili. This isn’t even good ole Skyline chili. This is ground beef, tomatoes, and a good hit of chili powder. If you like other stuff in there – corn, beans, or other ingredients – please feel free to add it. The important thing is to do what you like, how you like it. It’s a guilty pleasure, not a gourmet one.
Snow Day Chili

Ingredients:
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 can pureed tomatoes or whole peeled tomatoes
2 onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
4 Tbsp. no salt chili powder (I love Frontier blend, but you can make your own with dried chipotle chile powder, cumin, coriander, and just a dash of cayenne pepper)
healthy glug of Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup of vegetable oil.

 1) Heat the oil on medium heat in a large stockpot until it starts to shimmer. Then, add the onions and garlic and saute for 10 minutes, or until the onions start to turn translucent and the garlic becomes golden. If the garlic turns dark brown, remove it from the heat immediately – it is burned and can’t be salvaged. Just remove it from the pot, then return the pot to a lower heat.

 2) When the veggies are fragrant, add your chile powder.

 Your kitchen should immediately be filled with the most savory scent.
You may start to drool.

 3) Add the meat and turn the heat up to medium high. Let the meat brown for a few minutes before you turn it, because you don’t want to work the meat too much, or it will turn into hard, pebbly gravel.

 By letting the meat rest in between gently lifting and folding it, you will end up with soft, juicy hunks of meat.

 4) When the meat is thoroughly cooked  (about 15 minutes), use a ladle to remove most of the liquid from the pot.

 LOTS of this liquid is fat. Fat is great and all, but you don’t want a mouthful of the liquid stuff – that just tastes like a greasy film covering your mouth. So, use a separator to strain off the fat (pour off the light stuff on top, then pour the dark stuff back into the pot) OR just skim the fat off the top with a spoon.

 5) Add the Worcestershire sauce - quite a bit since there is no salt in this recipe.

 Take a little taste to see if you want more chile or spice, and and adjust seasonings accordingly.

 6) Add the tomatoes and/or sauce and break down the tomatoes with a spoon.

 7) Turn the heat up to medium high and let it simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the meat goes from looking like this:

to this:

 You really want all the ingredients to break down and become one homogeneous mixture. Taste it for spices here. Feel free to add some salt, pepper, or any other seasonings you may desire. You can also add some tomato paste or masa (corn flour) to thicken the chili.

 8) Make sure you have as many fixins as possible. That’s the best part about chili – the customization. If you want to go all out, follow my lead and use:
tortilla chips
avocados
diced tomatoes
sharp cheddar cheese
cilantro
scallions
serrano chiles
limes
sour cream
corn bread
sourdough bread

 9) Serve.
 This is all about the beef. It’s as spicy or mild as you make it, with none of the sodium or grease overload of diners. There isn’t anything fancy or challenging to the palate. This is just beefy, tomatoey, cumin-y chili. It is as good in a bowl with  cornbread and cilantro as it is on a potato bun smothered with melted cheese as a sort of sloppy joe. It’s also great the next day wrapped in a tortilla and doused in hot sauce.

And it’s the one and only reason I really love snow days. 
AND…
The winner of the Green and Black’s Chocolate is (You may have to look very closely to see):
True Random Number Generator  
Result:

22Joanna! Congratulations, Joanna! I will contact you by email and send these chocolates out to you STAT!

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Kimchi Jigae at New Won Jo

November 28, 2011 By 4 Comments
When the craving for something salty, garlicky, spicy and filling hits, there’s only one thing to get:
Kimchi Jigae. 
This Korean stew is filled with that most cherished of pickles, kimchi, and comes with a variety of other ingredients. It is warming, filling, and spicy enough to make me cry. Though I’m sure the best place to eat this is your Korean mama’s house, I don’t have a Korean mama. So, I have decided to take matters into my own hands and simply try every Korean restaurant in K-Town to discover the best version. 
Next up: New Won-Jo

This Korean restaurant, open 24 hours, was hopping at noon on a weekend, and there was a 45 minute wait to sit upstairs where we could barbecue at our own table. Luckily, I was all about the stew, so I got seated immediately.

Banchan

Not as good as Don’s Bogam – more muted flavors, and less interesting. The potato salad was not as creamy, the kimchi was not as spicy, and I was not a fan of the dried eel – too smoky and not sweet enough. The exception to this was the stewed chicken and potatoes on the far right. It was sweet-savory-salty that tasted similar to pork kakuni. The chicken was tender but not mushy, and the potatoes were perfectly steamed, soft and creamy. Really, it was so addictive that I could have eaten this over steamed rice and called it a day.

Kimchi Jigae.

This was so, so good. Spicy, garlicky broth with slightly wilted kimchi, slivers of pork, soft tofu, chewy rice cakes, and slippery glass noodles. It came to the table bubbling hot, so intense that I burned my tongue at first sip. So worth it. Not sour or sweet at all, not really even tangy. Just incredibly deep, with the meatiness of the pork and the faint oceanic taste of the anchovies in the kimchi enriching the broth and making it substantial and round. It made my nose run and my brow sweat, but try as I might, I just couldn’t stop eating it. It was restorative, warming, exciting, and complex. There is nothing familiar about it and that is the best part – chicken soup for the Korean soul? What the hell was I doing with matzo balls all these years? 
Won Jo is a reliable spot for Kimchi Jigae. Be prepared to be rushed in and out, but the price is right, the servings are plentiful, and between that chicken banchan and the Kimchi Jigae, you will leave full and happy. The only question is: is this the best Kimchi Jigae in town? I will just have to continue my search and report back. 
It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.
New Wonjo Restaurant on Urbanspoon
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Avgolemono

November 9, 2011 By 2 Comments
Stop lying to me.
No, more than that…stop lying to yourself. 
You have been stuffing yourself silly, haven’t you. You have been eating maple muffins, tamale pie and fig pizza nonstop. And, I will admit…it’s kind of my fault. I’m the one posting all these recipes, after all. But I want you to live a long, healthy life(so you can continue to read my blog). And, also…I’m at that point where I need to get bigger pants. I need a little detox action. And the perfect way to do this is with some Avgolemono. This Greek chicken soup recipe is so much more than plain old chicken soup. It’s incredibly tart, with plump orzo and rich chicken broth. I add cannellini beans and cayenne pepper to make this fully flavored soup, and though it takes awhile, it is incredibly easy to make. 
Avgolemono

Ingredients:
8 Cups boxed chicken stock
6-8 Chicken wings
1 Onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Bunch celery, roughly chopped
2 Carrots, roughly chopped
2 Whole cloves of garlic, peeled
1 Bunch oregano (on the stem) washed
Juice of 7 lemons
1 Can cannellini beans
1Cup orzo
4 Eggs, separated
Olive oil, in which to saute
Salt, pepper and cayenne to taste

1) In a large pot, saute the vegetables and red pepper flakes in a small amount of olive oil until translucent.

2) Add the chicken stock

 and throw in the chicken wings.

3) Cover the pot and boil it for at least 1 hour – the longer the better. The reason you use chicken wings is to release the collagen from the fatty, cartilage-y chicken wings into the broth, making it rich and gelled. Taste the soup when you are done boiling it and add salt or pepper as needed. It shouldn’t be insanely spicy – just gently zesty.

4) Using a slotted spoon or a colander, strain the soup so all the veggies and chicken are out of the soup, and toss the veggies. You can toss the chicken or shred the meat to use in the soup. 

5) Add the orzo to the soup and simmer until it is al dente, about 20 minutes.

6) While the orzo simmers, beat the whites until they are at medium stiffness…

then add the yolks

and the lemon juice to the whites.

Be sure to incorporate the yolks and juice gently so they don’t deflate the whites.

7) With a ladle, take a bit of the broth and put it in the bowl with the egg and lemon mixture, whisking the mixture furiously the whole time.

This is called tempering, and it gently brings the eggs up to the soup’s temperature without curdling them. You MUST keep whisking or the eggs will scramble.

8) Add the egg mixture to the soup.

9) Taste for seasonings again and adjust according to your preferences, add add the cannellini beans. 

This is so delicious. Incredibly bright yet also rich with that fortified chicken stock. It is deceptively creamy and decadent feeling, though there is no butter or cream in here. It has the texture of Turkey Tetrazzini and the bright zing of lemon with firm cannellini beans and a kick from the cayenne pepper. Serve this with a Greek or Cucumber Salad for the ultimate indulgence.

Well, the ultimate sinless indulgence, that is. 

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