Pasta with Leeks

I was listening to A Chef's Table, the radio cooking talkshow on WHYY last weekend and heard Mireille Guiliano talking about her new cookbook, and how it had some recipes with leeks in them. This recipe is inspired by what she was talking about. Like many of the things I post here, the ingredients are largely negotiable, and shaped by what I had on hand. I shot for a 4:3:3 leek:sunchoke:mushroom ratio by volume. You could omit the sunchokes (or replace them with something else that's tasty).

Overall, this is a delicious and pretty low-fat way to make dinner in 15 minutes. For real lowfat goodness, omit the unsalted butter and cheese.

Ingredients

• 8 oz pasta - I prefer campanelle, because of its shape complementing that of the leeks. Mireille preferred longer noodles, like fettuccine in order to contrast the shape of the noodles with the more compact leeks. So, it seems like - anything will do.
• 3 leeks, white and very light green parts only, sliced very thin
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 3/4 c sunchoke, scrubbed (not peeled) and sliced very thin.
  
• 4 oz good mushrooms, sliced - I used Crimini, which ended up making the sauce come out kind of an unappetizing color (since I didn't clean the gills), chantarelle would probably work even better in the recipe, but you've gotta go with what's in the 'fridge.
  
• 1c chicken broth
• 0.5c white wine
• 1t dried thyme
• 0.5t dried sage
• 2T unsalted butter
• 1/4 c parmesan cheese
  

Preparation

Make the pasta according to package directions. Aim for quite al dente, as you want the finished pasta to absorb the leek broth goodness. Try to time it so you can drain the pasta and toss it with the broth all at once.

Saute the leeks, mushrooms, and garlic in 1T EVOO for around 5 minutes, until everything softens up. Add the chicken broth, white wine, and herbs. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and mix in the butter and cheese, toss with the noodles. Enjoy.

Scallops with chutney

Scallops with chutney
Originally uploaded by ChrissyJ.

Although the scallops weren't perfectly seared, the chutney Eric made for this dish was really good! I liked the corn fritters with them too.

Pineapple Chutney

Ingredients

• 1/2 c crushed pineapple
• 1/4 c pineapple juice (from can is fine)
• 1/4 c pear juice
• 1 t pureed aji amarillo (you can get it in a jar at specialty food markets, or probably substitute with chopped spicy peppers)
  
• 1 t fish sauce
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 3 sundried tomatoes, chopped
  
• 1 T crystallized ginger, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 T onion, minced

Simmer for about 25 minutes, until chunky and thick. Serve on top of the seared scallops.

The dinner was served with steamed sugar peas, roasted cauliflower (a future posting), and corn fritters (from Joy of Cooking).

Paprikash

In the winter time, a good hearty beef stew always hits the spot. This recipe is an adaptation I made that uses pretty much just pantry and freezer ingredients. I had a roast in the freezer from some time that they were on sale. Everything else, I had on-hand. You could substitute the sun-dried tomatoes for an actual tomato, or a can of tomatoes, but in midwinter the likelihood of having good tomatoes on-hand is small.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs beef, trimmed and cut into 1" cubes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 6 T butter
  
• 1T paprika
• 4 sun-dried tomatoes
• 1c sour cream
  

Preparation

Melt the butter over medium heat in a heavy stewpot. Saute the garlic and onions for about 5 minutes, until softened and just barely colored. Mix in the beef, paprika, and sun-dried tomatoes, reduce heat a bit (medium-low), cover and stew for 90 minutes. Reduce heat to VERY LOW, mix in sour cream, and simmer for another 30 minutes. Serve over noodles, or with biscuits or dumplings.

Adapted from a Veal Paprikash recipe from Clifford A Wright's Real Stew.

Matsutake Chicken

The matsutake mushroom has a delicious, unique flavor. I'm not prepared to describe it, other than yummy. Anyway, those of you lucky enough to live on the west coast can sometimes find it fresh. The rest of us have to make do with dried. That's okay, the dried mushroom retains a lot of its flavor, and you get some good broth to boot, and even if you can't find dried matsus at your store, you can get it online (and it's worth it at least once, trust me). This recipe is something I whipped together myself in order to showcase the taste of the mushroom. I'm sure it would be good in a lot of other recipes, but this one is a little treat for the two of us whenever I get some dried matsus.

Ingredients

• 1 oz dried matsutake mushrooms
• 1lb chicken parts, cut up (I use thighs, personally)
• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1T fish sauce
• 1T soy sauce
• 1t five-spice powder

Preparation

Boil 2c water, pour over the mushrooms, let them sit for 30-60 minutes. Fish out the mushrooms, keep them aside. Strain the soaking water (I use a coffee filter) to get the grit out, into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes, until reduced to about 1/2c. Add soy sauce, fish sauce, and five-spice powder. Simmer for another 3 minutes, until the fish sauce doesn't smell so funky. Return the matsutakes to the sauce, remove from heat.

Stir-fry up the onions, garlic, and chicken over very high heat. In the last minute of the stirfry, mix in the sauce. Serve over white rice.

This is a pretty basic stirfry, feel free to mix in some other ingredients such as green beans, carrots, or even thinly-sliced sunchokes. I also sometimes add in 4-8 oz of more pedestrian mushrooms, such as shiitake or crimini.

Sunchoke Bisque

I love sunchokes, and so does Chrissy. They're the tuber (root) of a sunflower plant. It seems that in normal places, you can only get them during the winter or so. They're pretty rare, it seems. Of course, in California we were able to get them whenever we felt like it. So when I went to my local produce market and found some sunchokes for sale this weekend, I bought all they had. The first recipe I'll be cooking is from Deborah Madison's Local Flavor cookbook. An excellent cookbook all around for delicious ways to treat fresh produce. Tomorrow, I'll post something else to do with sunchokes.

Ingredients

• 1 lb sunchokes, scrubbed (not peeeled) and cut into chunks
• 1 lb potatoes, cut into chunks (not peeled)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 celery rib
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 6c chicken broth
• 2T heavy cream (optional)
  
• Hazelnut, Pumpkinseed or Olive oil (optional)
  

Preparation

Simmer the veggies for about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and simmer for 2 more minutes. Add the broth and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Puree until smooth, and mix in cream to taste. Salt, pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and drizzle oil on top of the soup to serve.

My favorite topping is hazelnut oil, but it's expensive and hard-to-find, and doesn't see a lot of use otherwise. EVOO is decent on top, too.

Cider-glazed, Stuffed Pork Roast

Ingredients

• Pork Loin Roast - 2-3 lbs
• 1/4c thinly-sliced, peeled apple
  
• 3 Oz Blue Cheese
• 4 slices Prosciutto, chopped
  
• 1/4 c chopped pecans
• 2T + 2T dried cranberries
• 1 butternut squash
  
• 4 T Cider Vinegar
• 3c Apple Cider
• 1c chicken broth
  
• 2 cloves garlic
• 8 sage leaves, chopped
  

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375
Peel and seed squash, cut into 1" dice. Toss 2/3 of the squash with olive oil, salt, pepper. Bake for 30 mins.

Slice pork roast open like a hot-dog bun. Place cheese, prosciutto, apples, pecans, 2T cranberries inside, roll closed and tie shut with twine. Line bottom of baking dish with reserved (uncooked) squash. Place tied-up roast on top of the squash, pour in 1/4c cider. Bake for 60 mins (okay if it overlaps with squash), until it's done.

Once the squash is baked, let it cool.
Saute 1 clove of garlic and half the sage in EVOO over medium heat. Add 2T cider vinegar, 1.5 c Cider, 1/2 c chicken broth, baked squash, 2T cranberries. Simmer until squash is tender and liquid is absorbed - moosh it up with a spoon.

In a small saucepan, combine 2T vinegar, 1.5 c Cider, 1/2c chicken broth, salt, pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Simmer until quite thick, and reduced to 1/2c or so.

Let the roast rest for 5 mins after removed from the oven - slice it 2" thick, plate on top of the squash moosh, and pour the cider reduction over it.

I served it with steamed collard greens on the side.

This dish is an adaptation of something I ate at Zingerman's Roadhouse in December of 2007. That was a stuffed porkchop with similar ingredients and a similar flavor. I didn't get their recipe, of course, but I wrote down the most obvious flavors in there.

Overall, the roast was absolutely delicious. Having quality blue cheese is key here - the roast really took on the flavor of the cheese. I used Point Reyes blue, which has a special place in my heart.

Shortribs

Shortribs
Originally uploaded by ChrissyJ.

Ingredients

• 6 beef short ribs, 14 to 16 ounces each
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup chopped carrot
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 4 whole sprigs thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1.5 cups port
• 2.5 cups red wine
• 6 cups beef or veal stock

Preparation

Season short ribs with thyme and cracked black pepper, using your hands to coat the meat well. Preheat oven to 425 F. Saute ribs on all sides over med-high heat. Just brown them, then stick them into the braising pot.

Reduce heat to medium and add diced onion, carrot, celery, thyme springs and bay leaves. Cook for 3 minutes or until vegetables just begin to caramelize. Add balsamic vinegar, port and red wine. Turn heat up to high and cook until reduced by half. Add stock and bring to boil. Pour liquid over short ribs, scraping any vegetables that have fallen on the ribs back into the liquid. Stock mixture should almost cover ribs. Cover pot tightly with both foil and a lid and braise in the oven for 3 hours. Let ribs rest in their juices for 10 minutes, then transfer to a baking sheet.

Increase oven temperature to 400 F. Place short ribs in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes to brown. Strain broth into a saucepan, skim the fat. If the broth seems thin, reduce it over medium-high heat to thicken slightly, or add 2T of roux. Plate the meat on top of something - I've served it on Chard, Mashed Potatoes and Mashed Chestnuts - and then pour some delicious juice on top.

I adapted this recipe from the one posted here. I've made this with tomatoes in the stock as well, add a can of tomatoes or six-eight sundried tomatoes to the braising liquid. Other things I've added at times include molasses, fish sauce, dried porcini (reconstituted, soaking liquid strained and reduced). Any way you cook it, it's delicious.