Wrapped and Warped

When you're a foodie, going grocery shopping is hardly ever a chore, but a quest. There's something stimulating about walking up and down each aisle, looking for new products and getting inspired to do new things with old favorites. I've found it's one of the best ways to stay connected to the mainstream food world. Anyone can page through glossy magazines, watch endless hours of cooking programs, and buy over-priced one trick pony tools, but in order to be in touch with what's going on in the food world outside of the gourmet, one must get to the source.
Recent trips to my local grocery stores have yielded some disturbing findings. Yes, I shudder at neon colored kids' drinks, pudding that can stay at room temperature, and the fact that butchers' twine is shelved in the pet aisle, but these are trivial. The new supermarket culprits prove that bad things come in multiple-package products.
Take for example, the wave of 100 calorie snack packs flooding the market. On the surface, these products are a convenient way to stick to dietary goals. Dive a little deeper and these snacks no longer seem helpful.
Is it true that we as a society are unable to make healthful decisions that we require corporate America to preportion our meals? Have we gotten so lazy where we are unwilling to create our own packages of cracker, cookie, and trail mix portions? Above all else, the question I would love to see answered is what happens to all of this needless packaging?
Foil-like packaging is not biodegradable. Cellophane will be with us for the next few thousand years if pitched carelessly into a landfill. So I have to wonder, with the popularity of these uber-expensive doll-sized snacks, how much harm is convenience doing?
Here's my solution: stop buying these snacks and start recycling. Learn what a portion of your favorite snack is and stick to it. Reusable containers will save the earth and your wallet when used instead of baggies.
By limiting the amount of packaging you waste, you truly can make a difference.

Get Lost

Before gas prices got too bad, one of my favorite things to do was get lost. Not in a literal sense, but simply answering the question,"what if?". "What if I go straight instead of turn here?" "What happens if I try to find a new way home?" The rules were simple: no map, no crazy turns, and turning around was only allowed as a last resort. Once I got lucky and managed to shave over three miles off of my commute. Other times, I enjoy the ride, make a few discoveries, but know the route is impractical.
Food is the same way. Think of a dish as a starting point. This is the familiar, perhaps a classic dish, something you've created and consumed plenty of times. Now, make a different turn. Add red wine instead of white. Use salmon instead of tuna, rice instead of pasta. Omit ingredients. Take what you've seen before and make it your own. After all, isn't that where making food becomes truly cooking?
So grab that basic milk chocolate mousse recipe and try something different. Dark chocolate standing in for milk. Up the number of egg whites. Scrap the vanilla extract in favor of creme de menthe. Above all else, enjoy:

Mint Chocolate Mousse

4 egg yolks

7 egg whites

6 oz bittersweet chocolate.

*note: Start with decent chocolate, not Tollhouse morsels.
4Tbsp sugar

3 tbsp unsalted butter

2Tbsp Creme de menthe or mint extract
1/2 C heavy cream

Using a mixer, whip the whites and half of the sugar to soft peaks.
Meanwhile, heat a large pan of water until it simmers. Add the yolks, mint, and rest of the sugar to a metal mixing bowl. Beat the mixture constantly until sugar is dissolved and the yolks are cooked. You can tell the mixture is ready when the bowl is clean when a whisk is used to scrape the bottom of it.
Remove the bowl from the heat and add the chocolate and butter. Slowly stir the egg chocolate mix until all the chocolate is melted. Put the bowl back over the simmering water if needed.
Carefully fold in the whites 1/3rd at a time. Whip the cream to almost firm peaks and fold it in. Chill the mousse for at least 2 hours. Serve with additional whipped cream and mint sprigs as desired.

A Soup for All Seasons

It's finally starting to feel like spring in northern New Jersey, cold in the mornings, but warm enough for me to have my windows open on my way home from work. It's a slightly fickle time for foodies. Here we are, ready to fully embrace the bounty of spring, but not quite comfortable giving up our coats. Lately, I've been craving an almost oxymoronic dish: hearty, healthy, and warming, yet with just a tease of spring. The answer is nothing short of sublime and simple: soup au pistou.
Soup au pistou hails from the south of France, the regions closest to Italy. It will come as no surprise that many of the ingredients, from the pasta to the pesto-like garnish, give the soup an Italian feel. What follows is a basic recipe, but don't hesitate to add your favorite vegetables or leave out others. I've used chicken stock as a base, but omitted any additional meat. If you prefer, use vegetable stock to keep the soup vegetarian. For a main course soup, add diced chicken with the onions in the first step. Serve with breadsticks and round the meal out with a seasonal fruit crisp for a hearty, yet healthy way to wait for spring.

Soup Au Pistou - Serves 4
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, cleaned but whole
2 ribs celery, peeled and sliced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 Idaho potato, peeled and diced
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 small zucchini, seeded and diced
3 quarts chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup French green beans, cut into soup spoon pieces
15 strands dried linguine pasta, broken into matchstick size pieces

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until soft, but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic clove, celery, potato, and carrots. Cook another 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and the zucchini. Mix the vegetables before adding the stock and the bay leaf. Season to taste. Add the beans and bring the soup to a boil. In order for the pasta to cook properly, the soup must be boiling. Stir the soup every so often until the pasta is fully cooked. Serve garnished with pistou.

Pistou
1 bunch basil, stems removed
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp toasted pine nuts
Salt and Pepper to taste
Optional: 1 tbsp each parmesan cheese and sun dried tomatoes

In a food processor, grind the garlic and nuts until minced. Add salt and pepper to help break down the garlic. Add the basil and grind until minced. Drizzle in the oil to form a paste. Finish with cheese and tomatoes if using. Extra pistou will keep one week if keep chilled.

Notes: for a heartier soup, add 1 cup of tomato juice with the stock. For a lighter soup, omit the potato and use vegetable stock.

Having a moment

Some of the best advice I have ever been given in the food service industry came from an unlikely source: the happy-go-lucky class clown of my cooking school group. Nothing against this person; he and I just never really saw eye to eye on many issues, but we did enjoy each other's company. His words before I was about to complete a major part of my formal culinary education remain with me over three years later.

Part of the CIA program is a series of practical cooking exams, one prior to externship, the other prior to AOS graduation. Students are required to complete all components of a set menu and answer 10 oral questions. Menus are provided a month before ever stepping into the practical kitchen, but are chosen out of a hat the day of the exam. Questions are selected from a list of almost 500 ranging from regional Asian cooking to product identification and food safety. I think it's pretty obvious why I was nervous before taking my first practical! Despite proving myself as a top notch student, I was still uncertain as to what to expect during this exam.

A few hours before I was to take this exam, my friend tried to calm me down with the following words, "Migton, why are you freaking out? Go in there and cook like you know how to cook."

It was so simple really. Trust your instincts. Take a deep breath and enjoy the process. Nerves only get in the way.

2 practical passes, an AOS graduation, and a BPS degree with honors later, I still remember those words when I feel myself getting anxious in the kitchen. Cook like you know how to cook. Once I remember those words, I put myself back in the moment of what I am doing. The nerves never really go away, but the instincts come back even stronger.

Cook like you are cooking for yourself. If the food you just put on the plate is something you would want to be served, congratulations, you are successful. A competent cook knows when he or she has done a good job and trust me on this one, the next plates will also be wonderful. Cook with love, cook with passion, and above all else, cook like you know how to cook.

While I choose not to discuss any aspect of my professional life on this blog, I welcome comments and questions at Chris_migton@yahoo.com.

See you at the stove,
Chris

Restaurant Week: Craftbar

One of my favorite events happens twice a year: NYC Restaurant Week. For 2 sets of weekdays in the winter and summer, many of New York's finest eateries feature a $24.07 prix fixe lunch and $35 dinner. Considering how easy it is for an entree alone to cost $35, this certainly is a great way to try some famed restaurants without taking out a second mortgage. Recently, I tried Craftbar, an off-shoot of create-a-meal Craft.

I tried making a reservation for Craftbar for 1:30 PM on Monday January 28th. Opentable.com informed me that 2 PM was the only available time for that day and I grabbed it, thinking that Craftbar must really be booked.

My dining companion and I arrived 15 minutes early to a mostly empty restaurant. I began to wonder why I was unable to get the time I wanted. We were escorted to a corner table, my favorite table configuration. They don't believe in table cloths at Craftbar; instead, the tables are covered with brown paper. I suppose this makes turning tables easier and can be fun for impromptu games of tic tack toe as you wait for your server to take your order.

We were handed menus, perhaps the longest menus I'd seen for any Restaurant Week menu. Our server was laid back and casual, no stuffy service here! Our order was taken promptly and drinks appeared within a reasonable amount of time. My ginger martini was poured right in front of me from a small cocktail shaker. When our server realized that there was not enough liquid in the shaker, he quickly left the table and returned a split second later with more martini mix in another shaker. I began to wonder if the signature cocktails are premixed and left to chill.

I started to glance around the dining room while we waited for our starters. All of the servers wear the depressing uniform of a muted gray long sleeve t-shirt and their own jeans. No aprons, nothing identifying them as staff other than their proximity to the POS system.


My chickpea fries with black olive aioli were more of a discovery of texture rather than of flavor. The smooth chickpea puree was encased in some sort of batter; my dining companion described it like eating flan. Her coppa fritters were more fritter than coppa; crunchy balls of firm polenta with the barest mince of coppa. The golden raisins served with them added a nice touch.

As soon as our appetizers were cleared, new silverware hit the table, and our entrees arrived. My buccatini with clams, merguez and mustard greens was well cooked, if not light on the lamb sausage, greens, and overtly enthusiastic on the chives. It also could have used a touch more salt, which was not provided on the table. Sorry, Craftbar, but your food is not perfect enough for there to be no chance for a diner to alter it to her preference.
My companion enjoyed her braised short ribs with beets and onions. The short rib was fork tender and the beets were nicely cooked in cranberry juice. This dish, like mine, was also heavy on the chives.

Dessert and coffee followed. Surprisingly, the milk for my coffee was served piping hot, a nice change from ice cold milk that cools coffee on contact.
My almond parfait with citrus soup was creamy and loaded with almond flavor. The "soup" was bitter, reminiscent of pith, and served with inedible kumquat and lemon slices. My companion's chocolate cake was served with lovely malted milk ice cream. The cake itself was dense, almost to the point of being dry, and rich.
Craftbar is worth the $24.07 Restaurant Week price of admission, but I’m not sure I would run back for a full price sit down dinner. I would, however, enjoy stopping in for a snack of those chickpea fries and another ginger martini.

Rib Stickin' Vegan

Like many foodies, I often find myself going through "phases," times when I'll favor certain ingredients or eschew others depending on my mood, time of year, and food supply conditions. Trust me, the e coli spinach outbreak was painful!
In keeping with my New Year's outlook, I'm in the process of rethinking some of my eating habits, hopefully making some changes that will be more than phases. I know I'm not the only one trying to do this. Around this time of year, many people vow to get healthier, make lifestyle changes, and, in the most simple terms, atone for holiday sins.
Healthy food need not be a punishment! If you're tired of stale rice cakes and frozen diet meals that make you feel hungrier than you did before the microwave dinged, stay with me.
The following recipe will get you at least 2 of the recommended servings of vegetables in one meal. It's vegetarian, but leave out the optional ingredients to make it vegan. Hot, hearty, and perfect for a cold winter weeknight, this dish can be made in less than 45 minutes.

Savory Bean Stew over Roasted Cauliflower
For stew:
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 15oz can kidney or black beans, drained and rinsed well
1 bag baby spinach
1 tsp chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: Your favorite cheese

For roasted cauliflower:
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 small head cauliflower, cleaned and sliced into 1/2" sheets
Red pepper flakes to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In an oven proof saute pan, heat the oil over high heat for the cauliflower until it shimmers. Add the cauliflower and sear until golden on all sides, about 8 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Place the pan in the oven. While the cauliflower roasts, prepare the stew.

For the stew: In another saute pan, heat vegetable oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the minced onion and saute until transparent, about 3 minutes. Add the minced garlic and lower the heat to low. Keep the garlic moving to prevent it from burning. Add the beans to the pan and toss to coat. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, and the chili powder.

When cauliflower is tender after about 10 minutes of cooking and the bean mixture is hot, add the spinach to the beans. Cook for another 2 minutes, adding additional salt and pepper. When spinach is wilted, turn off the heat.

To plate: Place a good size "sheet" of cauliflower on the bottom of the plate. Top with 1/3 of the stew. Garnish the stew with some of the crispier cauliflower bits and a sprinkling of cheese if desired. Grab a fork and get ready to rethink vegetarian cuisine!

Remaining roasted cauliflower can be used as an omelet filling, mixed in with pasta, mashed and used as a spread or dip, or even cooled and mixed into your favorite meatloaf recipe instead of eggs.

Extra stew can be used over rice or even heated and served over tortilla chips!

Enjoy!
Chris

Saturday Survival

Turn up the heat
No second guesses
Will it all over
To the instinctive alter ego
The primitive banshee
Who swears and slams pans
Claws and gets it done

Do not question her.

Simply let her go

My inner warrior who wails her battle cry
As I am the one who
Gets the pat on the back and signs the paycheck