Simple and Good

Grape tomato, bocconcini, and basil skewers with

sea salt flecked upon them.

Yellow neeps with tarragon, thyme, and cream.

Roasted potatoes, onions, and squash.

Waste Not Want Not

We came home on Sunday with a turkey carcass from Mojo's and 

a very meaty hambone from Mom in VT.  On the left is turkey 

stock which usually is turned into turkey noodle soup, but

eighth grade daughter requested a velvety potato-cabbage

soup instead.  Usually, that soup is made from the remnants 

of the corned beef, cabbage, and potato pot.  The contents are 

boiled and pureed with a stick blender until smooth.  Cream

of Saint Patrick's Day.  They love it.

On the right is the ham stock with celery, carrots, and onions, 

a bag of split peas, chopped garlic, thyme, and bay leaves.

The ham bone was removed and the ultra-tender meat was

cooled and broken into chunks to be added later.  Again,

the soup was zapped (foodie term for pureed) and seasoned.

I cook for my family every day, but today I thought of our

friend Kelly while making this soup.  All you need to do is 

tell me once that you really liked something I made, and I'll

think of you every time I make it from then on.  

I made a pizza on Sunday night quickly, no fuss, because we 

were tired and I didn't want to use every pot in the house like

I usually do.  Again, I used leftovers to top the pizza:  2 

microwaved potatoes from last week, a half of an onion in the

veg drawer, and a piece of kielbasa from the freezer.  The plain

half was for my non kielbasa-eating wife.  Eighth grade

daughter dove in mouth first. Save all leftovers - throw nothing away.

Prelude to OFD

Smoky Sweet Potato Gratin.  Not yams, which are orange,

but sweet potatoes which are much paler colored and red-skinned.

The smokiness came from a dash of Wright's liquid smoke, which

I'm not afraid to admit.  Apparently it's not bad for you and it really

gives a nice flavor to things if you don't overdo it.  

Humongous U-7 dry sea scallops from Barnegat Light.  I went to the 

store to buy salmon for gravlax, and when I saw these I stopped at 

the kidney donation booth for some extra cash.  I pan-basted these 

with brown butter and pine nuts, then poured the baste over boiled 

broccoli florets.  And the big day isn't for three more days?

We're all in serious trouble. 

The Root of our Family Tree

Celeriac, otherwise known as Knob Celery, has been

the root of our family tree longer than I've been around.

OFD  is when we all enjoy it in a salad made very much

like German Potato Salad.  In fact it's virtually identical,

except that the knobs are used in place of boiled potatoes.

And the keeper of the tradition (Mom) includes chicory 

leaves for garnish and texture.  They're tangy and add a

slight crunch.  They happen to be my favorite part.

It's a grotesque looking vegetable, with roots and knobs

protruding in all directions, and I imagine most folks are 

just plain scared to tackle the thing.  The stalks resemble 

celery, but are more tough and bitter than their cousins.

The prize is definitely the bulbous root.  The whole root

is boiled in salted water in its jacket 'til tender, cooled, 

and then peeled and cubed.  Next step is to toss the cubes

in a simple vinaigrette with thinly sliced onions and chicory

and left to sit, marinating.  Close to service is when

mayonnaise is folded in, although not too much, just enough

to coat all involved, and then salt and pepper to taste.

It's a cold side dish to an otherwise warm array of 

accompaniments (except for cranberries which I don't 

dislike but have never found a use for on THXG).

You'll find yourself raiding the fridge early Thanksgiving

Friday morning, in your underwear, eating it from the 

tupperware with a fork, alternating bites with tugs of 

cold milk straight from the jug. 

B.A.T.

Oh man....Bacon, Arugula and Tomato sandwich.

Dude, you keeping those?

Calm down Doug, they're basil seeds.  I thought I might strip them

from the stalks on my basil plant outside the back door and see

if they sprout next April.  They still smell pungent and who knows?

Yeah yeah, I know.  Some things never change, thank goodness.

Simple and Good

Grilled boneless pork chops, roasted Yukon Gold potatoes,

Brussels sprouts with butter, and cured olives and oven-dried

tomatoes.  Almost every forkful has all the elements of  the

spread laid out before me.  It's no wonder I'm always the last

to get up from the table.

Dinner under the Dome

Whole roasted chicken, potatoes, and onions cooked with indirect

heat under the Weber grill dome.  Slow is the way to go.  

170 degrees in the thighs and 160 for the breast and taters

and onions tender and ready.  About an hour and a half.  Magic.

Once all of that stuff is off the grill, throw the zucchini

halves directly over the coals and watch for about 5

minutes, with a turn halfway through.  No mess in the

kitchen and minimum 3 days worth of dinners.  Probably

$10.00 of  product, but the flavor is priceless.

Yes, Pleese!

Can you spot Sponge Bob?

Stacks

Sliced baguette fried in olive oil, with Grana Padano

(a cousin of Parmigiano Reggiano), whole basil, and

of course field-grown Jersey plum tomatoes.  Sprinkled

with grey sea salt (sel gris) and cracked black pepper.

Obviously you don't have to eat it like this. It's just that,

well you know, I like to play with my food now and then.

  

Thinking of Charley in Ireland, I dug up this photo

of the sea stack at Downpatrick Head, County Mayo.

It was one of the most spectacular sights we came

upon during our visit.  I'm thinking my stack was a 

bit more tender to the bite.

Pizza Night

I don't think being perfectly round is the most important thing.

I made two, and there was not a slice left.  

Cosas Verdes

Are you thinking what we're thinking?

So I was wondering what kind of Mexican Squirrel was chewing

on my jalapenos lately.  I probably missed him the other day

because he is kinda green.  Holy guacamole!  Bonnie, what kind

of caterpillar is this again?

Don't worry, I brought him inside just to get a better look at him

before I batter-fried him.  Kidding.  Just like with the mouse I caught

 in my living room years ago, I went outside and threw him into the 

woods.  No way they'll ever find their way back here, right?  

The one ripe jalapeno he didn't get.  I don't know what's wrong 

with me and growing certain vegetables.  The herbs do fine, but the

freakin tomatoes take forever to grow, and half of them rot on the

vine before I pick them.  The jalapenos have not even been remotely

hot, just chewy green pointy bell peppers.  At least someone likes 'em.

And yes, blowfish again.  This time panko crusted.  I'll get tired

of them soon, right around the end of their season.

Blown away

I Stopped at Ahearn's on the way home today.  I am

usually drawn to the dry sea scallops immediately, but 

I also scanned the fish case for some nice fin-fish fillets.

At first I thought I saw frogs' legs, which are certainly

good but not typical of Ahearn's offerings.  I looked

more closely and was thrilled and inspired to see

blowfish!  Of course I asked if they were local, which

they were not (Maryland), but where do the best

crabs come from?  Along with a half pound of

scallops, I got a half pound of blowfish bodies.  The

spine, tail, and dorsal fin were still included, but 

otherwise there were two beautiful loins on each fish.

First I cooked the scallops with a scant amount of 

oil on high heat, removed them to a dish on the side...

added some more oil to shallow fry, lowered the heat 

to 2/3, dredged the blowfish in flour, and fried both sides 

until crisp and brown.   

I had some leftover sticky, Japanese sweet rice which

I mixed with scallions, sesame seeds, sesame oil and

a touch of bacon fat, and snow peas which I boiled

quickly and tossed with oyster sauce.  At the table, I 

drizzled sweet chile sauce over the fish and scallops,

and had a couple beers to wash it all down. The fish was 

mild, sweet and super easy to pry away from the backbone.

No pesky pin-bones to deal with, just two perfect bites per

fish. I kept the presentation simple in honor of a good friend 

of mine who scoffs at over-decorated plates.  What

really matters is flavor, texture, and proper doneness,

all of which were well-achieved. Promise.

P.S.- the tails were crunchy and delicious.  Eat some today.

Sweet Corn Salad

I've finally slowed down on buying corn.  When it first appears

at farmstands in the beginning of July, I can't get enough of it.

Now, once a week will do, and leftover ears are usually cut down

and mixed with diced Kirby cucumbers, tomatoes, scallions,

cilantro, a can of beans (any kind will do - these happen to be pintos),

olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and cumin.  Not too

much cumin, but just enough to notice.  For an hour before dinner,

continue folding the salad every ten minutes or so to keep the

ingredients coated.  Cool, crisp, and refreshing.  When you're 

done eating, you'll be going back to the bowl with your fork for

just one more flavor-bursting bite after another.  Until someone 

tells you to cut that shit out. 

Can't beet 'em

I had been asking for beets at one of my favorite farmstands

for a week or two, and today they got sick of me asking.  The 

farmer went out back and pulled 2 bunches for me while I waited.

Within an hour they were trimmed, washed, and roasted in their

skins with olive oil until a knife easily went through them.  Roasting

as opposed to boiling the beets retains all of the juices and the 

deep red color and concentrates the flavor of the beet as well. 

When cooled, rub off the skin, slice the beets, and mix with a 

sliced onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Simple. And phenomenally delicious.  

Comfort

Check out the veil of smoke escaping from the grill and

 then being sucked up over the lid.  Ghostlike, it clings

to the exterior of the dome and then releases at the top.

With the indirect cooking/smoking of the rib-ends and

potatoes complete, more charcoal was added and

soon the marinated flank steak would be grilled.

Of course, Jersey sweet white corn was also served,

and all the while dark & stormies were consumed.

This test rib yelled out to be eaten.  Barely clinging to its

own serving utensil, the meat, cartilage, and fat slowly

receded from the bone, leaving a perfect, tidy mouthful

of smoky heaven.  I'm hungry again just writing this.

A Must-Stop

We drove our younger daughter to camp in the Poconos this

morning, travelling north on rt. 31 and then east on 46 on our 

way to the Delaware Water Gap.  While passing through Buttzville, 

I couldn't help noticing Hot Dog Johnny's, a throwback roadside 

mecca of  deep-fried hot dogs and draft birch beer.  Note to self:  

Stop there on the way back, at any cost.  Do not eat a single bite of

food between now and the moment you pull into that parking lot

on the way home.  The lot was empty at 8:00 a.m., but surely they'd 

be jamming at lunch time.  My intuition proved to be accurate as the 

place was abuzz with travelers of all shapes and sizes.     

We waited only a couple minutes in line, and when I got to the

window, I realized how customers were served so quickly.  I

naively asked if there was a menu to see, for I had scanned the 

walls and found nothing of the sort.  The reply was no.  I then 

asked what they had, and in a single breath, the girl behind the

counter said, "hot dogs, fries and soda".  Then give me two hot

dogs with pickles and mustard, fries, and a birch beer.  My order

was taken so quickly, I had forgotten to ask about the buttermilk,

which apparently some people drink cold from a mug with their

dogs and fries.  Next time......Buttermilk?  

We found a picnic bench out of about a dozen, which on the average, 

turns in around ten minutes or so.  The birch beer was deep red and

delicious, the fries were crispy and salty (perfect), and the dogs were

pretty average, truth be told.  A little bit wrinkled from the deep fryer,

they were good, not great.  Didn't matter.  This place smacked of

Americana and to pass by would have surely amounted to treason.

And far be it from us not to be American-like.

Full Swing

New Jersey farmstands are just about in full swing, with the 

world-famous sweet white corn, tomatoes, and yellow peaches 

headlining the bill.  The Kirby cukes make great asian cucumber

salad, and the beans are rock hard and dark green, picked this

morning.  I try like hell not to buy vegetables in the grocery store

from July thru September, relying on the bounty of the local stands

instead.  Yeah, you may pay a bit more for certain items, but just

knowing that the stuff is that much fresher makes it all worthwhile.

A close blogging friend put it best: "There's a lot to be said for letting 

fruit and veggies ripen in the field instead of a warehouse."  This 

produce I consider to be 'artisanal', in that it takes more time to 

nurture, to mature, and to bring to market than mass-grown and

harvested crops.  There's a difference in the look, feel, and taste

of these fruits and vegetables.  And they might not always appear

as perfect as their store-bought cousins.  Billy Crystal once said,

"It's not how you look, darling, but how you taste."  Or something

like that.  By the way, this white corn was " the most obscenely 

sweet and juicy, kernels pop in your mouth, where did that ear 

just go? corn"  I've had in about ten months.  I'll be leaning over 

the sink later-on tonight devouring the rest of the leftover ears.

Even if I'm not necessarily hungry. 

BTW, is anyone else's basil exploding? 

  

Okay, summer's finally here in NJ

I can without hesitation say:  Summer's here in New Jersey!

For the last week or two, my eyes have been trained to the

roadside for 'Sweet Corn' signs, and this morning my patience

paid off.  We passed a couple of familiar spots before pulling in

to our go-to stand, Krowicki's of New Egypt.  They were selling

bread and butter corn, not my favorite but still good, at $5 a dozen.

The only stand on our normal route that sells a baker's dozen.

Mrs. Krowicki assured me that the B&B is first to mature, and

the sweetest of the bunch.  I disagree.  Their Silver Queen is by

far the most obscenely sweet and juicy, kernels pop in your mouth,

where did that ear just go? corn I've ever had.  I've spoken with

people from Iowa and Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio, Maryland 

and Long Island, all claiming theirs to be the best of the best.

How do you spell the sound you make with your mouth when

you completely dismiss something someone just says to you?

Atlantic City sea scallops accompanied the corn, with

soybean/chile paste, and cherry tomatoes, mozzarella,

thyme, basil, and chives in a pile to the side. 

Oh yeah.  We bought the first of the Jersey peaches this

morning too.  The juice ran down our cheeks all the way

down to the boat.  

Pig Roast

I'd always been intrigued by a pig roast, and when the monumental

occasion of my daughter's High School graduation presented

itself we decided that a whole hog would be a fitting centerpiece

to a day of celebration.  We were right in thinking so.

Two days earlier, I picked the pig up at the butcher's and brought

it home to prepare for the big day.  With a marinade syringe I

injected the larger portions of the pig with an apple cider and

brown sugar brine, which was to moisten as well as flavor

an otherwise fairly mild-tasting meat. I found as the pig roasted

slowly for 9 hours, some of the brine oozed out of the needle

holes and caramelized on the outside of the skin; kind of like

self-basting.  Later in the day when I tapped the keg, the first 

few cups of foam that were drawn were ceremoniously

poured over the pig as well, for added flavor of course.

I learned a few things from my first attempt at roasting a whole

hog.  First off, you can't start cooking early enough.  My

pig started turning at 8:30 a.m. They say to allow an hour for 

cooking every 10 pounds of pig at 250 degrees.  The final

internal temperature of the pig must be at least 160, especially

in the thicker sections of the roast.  In a charcoal roaster with an 

open top, in my opinion, there's no exact science to maintaining

a constant temperature of 250, unless of course I just haven't

figured it out yet.  I used about 140 pounds of charcoal, adding 

around 15 pounds to the embers per hour.  In retrospect, the grill 

probably could have been hotter over the course of the day, as

the meat was certainly cooked through and moist, but it wasn't

coming off of the bone as easily as I had envisioned it.  Guests

seemed to enjoy it nevertheless, and we will continue to be fed

by this roast for many meals to come.

I also didn't foresee this job of serving being so incredibly tricky.

 Even after letting the pig rest for over a half hour after removing

it from the rotisserie, the inside was still quite hot, which made

getting a hold of it rather challenging.  Add to that a good amount

of grease (yes, pigs do have a lot of fat) and it's a slippery

hot assignment.  There must be some kind of heat/grease

resistant gloves that I can use next time.  I can see the BBQ

experts reading this right now, doubled over and laughing O L.

Being one who never likes to let anything go to waste, the next

day I put the remaining parts of the hog into two of my largest 

stockpots and simmered them for 24 hours.  I would find out

the next day that the constant heat and moisture from the pots

fried the smartboard in my over-the-range microwave.  To 

repair it, I found out, would be twice the amount it would cost

to replace it.  A new one is coming tomorrow.  No more 24

hour cooking.

One of the products of killing the microwave was about 10 

pounds of extremely tender pork, which I painstakingly removed

from the bones.  This I divided into five piles, vacuum sealed,

and put in the basement freezer for future pulled pork sandwiches.

After straining the two pots, I had 5 gallons of beautiful stock,

which I boiled down to just under 3 quarts of rich, dark glace.

After cooling the glace, I cut it into sections to freeze.  This glace

has an incredibly high gelatin content due to the bones and 

especially  the trotters.  This will be the base for sauce in the 

future or a glaze for roasted potatoes or vegetables, or simply

re-constituted and used as broth for soup.   This pig went a 

long way for us and we're grateful for its noble existence.

Whole Hog!

Patiently awaiting the charcoal spit-roaster, this 87 pound hog is

going to be the centerpiece of my daughter's High School

graduation party on Saturday.  Tomorrow, I'll inject an apple

cider brine and let it marinate overnight.  Saturday at 8:00 a.m.

it'll start slow-roasting and hopefully around 4:00 we'll have

crispy skin and juicy, fall-off-the-bone meat.  I call the cheeks!

Clams Casino

Dad used to shuck the clams, sprinkle chopped raw onions and

green peppers on each one, then place a square of bacon on top.

Simple.  Broil til done and the bacon curls up.  Then, several dashes

of tabasco later, scrape out the contents of the shell with your two

front teeth, chew and wash down with cold beer.

I usually find a way to make everything more complicated and

time-consuming.  I partially steam the clams with vermouth just

until I can get a clam knife inside the shell.  Saving the liquid in

the pot, I discard the top shells, free the clam from its adductor

muscle in the bottom half  and line the clams up on a sheet pan.

Saute diced yellow and red peppers, onions, and garlic with fresh

thyme and Old Bay seasoning.  Add some of the vermouth/clam juice

mixture and reduce.  When dry, set aside to cool.

Using a teaspoon, scoop the mixture onto each clam, turning the

spoon upside down and patting the mound firmly within the shell,

creating a domed shape.  Lay a square of  uncooked, room

temperature bacon on top of each, allowing it to conform to

the shape of the mound.  The clams are ready for a 400-450

degree oven until the bacon is rendered and crispy.  If you're

not heating them right away, throw them in the freezer for a

couple of hours.  When the bacon freezes in the dome shape,

it tends not to curl when cooked.  Tastes the same, but visually

they are alot more uniform looking, if you give a crap.

Cold beer is great with clams casino, but a Tanqueray 10

Gibson fits the bill nicely as well.  Is it five o'clock yet?   

Let's Roll

Rice spring roll wrappers make any leftovers fun

to eat and frankly, really cool looking.  It helps to

have some basic asian ingredients handy.  This roll

contained chicken, which I slow-roasted on the

Weber grill the other night, sliced crimini mushrooms,

shredded cabbage, and Thai basil leaves.  Then,

after a drizzle of oyster sauce and some chile paste,

I rolled her up tight.  It's a great, light alternative to

a sandwich, and the wrappers keep indefinitely

 in the pantry until you're ready to roll.