Fiddle Me This

I like to consider myself a forager of sorts. When I was young, I tended to eat anything that looked remotely edible. True I had been educated in poisonous plants, berries and especially mushrooms. But if there was a bright red berry on a bush, or even just a sprig of green that caught sunlight the right way – I was going to eat it. I figured if it tasted bad, it might be poisonous and I could just spit it out.

Many years later my sister and I were telling our mom how we used to eat a ton of blackberries from the bush in our backyard at the house we lived at in Connecticut. She looked at us with some slight revulsion and informed us that we did not have a blackberry bush, and she had no idea we were eating things in the backyard. Or buttercups, just because Willy Wonka had buttercups you could drink from, didn’t mean I could nibble on the ones in the front yard. At any rate, we still don’t know what those berries were – but they were delicious and did not kill us, so score one for Jamie and Jen.

Since then I have been known to pluck wild wineberries or the occasional grape off a vine in the woods, but that’s about it. I’d rather consider myself an urban forager. I can hunt down a taco stand that won’t inflict lower gastrointestinal distress, and I know the best places for a drink and appetizers on a sunny afternoon.

So when fiddlehead season approached here in Maine, I was torn. Last year while doing some canvassing work for the Census, I spied a few lone fiddleheads on the side of the road. At least I was pretty sure they were fiddleheads. So I picked them, steamed them and ate them. They weren’t very good. Afterwards, I realized they needed a special set of cleaning and preparation guidelines.

This past weekend, when I bought a pound of cleaned fiddleheads from a woman inside a pickup truck on the side of the road, I thought I would put some more effort into their prep. There have been some reports a few years ago that indicated fiddleheads had caused some instances of food sickness, but there was never any proven toxin found in them. It is most important to make sure they are cooked completely.

If you have fiddleheads in your area, and feel comfortable foraging, or know of a good pickup truck to get them, I highly recommend it. They have a light vegetal flavor, almost like asparagus. And go very well with other spring dishes.

Sautéed Fiddleheads

1 pound fiddleheads
2 TB Olive Oil
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tsp crushed red pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice of ½ a lemon

Wash the fiddleheads thoroughly, and remove and brown “gills” that are wrapped around them. Blanch the fiddleheads in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Then place them in an ice water bath to keep their color. Then drain.

In a large frying pan, heat the oil and sauté garlic and crushed red pepper for about a minute. Add fiddleheads, with whatever water is still clinging to them. Toss fiddleheads to coat with the oil mixture. Sauté for about 5-7 minutes, until the fiddleheads are cooked trough but not soft. Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Making Whoopie

Before moving to Maine, I guess I had heard about whoopie pies, but they did not leave a big impression on me. Once I got here though, they were everywhere. Restaurants of all shapes and sizes claim to make the best or biggest (I’m talking dinner plate size). But to tell you the truth, I never really felt the urge to eat one. They were always packed into tightly wrapped cellophane with their fillings pressed up against its edges. There were chocolate, peanut butter, strawberry, maple and the list goes on from there.

Until at work one day we celebrated a birthday. My coworker had specified that we were not to get her a cake, but some of us wanted to do something at least. I mean who could pass up the chance to take a 15 minute break to convene in the kitchen and chit chat. So despite her protests, a friend of mine offered to make whoopie pies for everyone. I was indifferent to that decision, but everyone else was on board, so who was I to poo poo such a Maine tradition.

I wish I had taken pictures of those whoopie pies, but alas, they were consumed far too fast. Each one was a perfect sand dollar sized sandwich of heaven. After my first few bites, I managed to stop shoving the whoopie pie in my face long enough to lean over to another coworker and ask “Do all whoopie pies taste like this?!”

“No.” She told me emphatically. Thank goodness I thought to myself, if they did I would no longer be able to resist them at restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations. I was also happy to know that I hadn’t been missing out all these months. But the ones my friend had put together were far superior to the average (I’m willing to go so far as to say ALL) whoopie pies.

I like the ‘special dark’ cocoa powder in this – I find that it gives chocolate desserts a deeper flavor, and not to mention the fact that the color is so intense. The batter for the cakes is unlike any batter I have made or seen before. It has an almost thick, sticky consistency, but bakes up dense. When I was talking to my friend she told me it’s similar to a thick pancake batter – which is completely accurate.

Despite the lopsided and misshapen examples I have here for you, these are very easy to prepare and don’t take a lot of time.

P.S. If any of you have tried any of the recipes I have shared here – please let me know how they have turned out! Leave comments on the post that corresponds to the recipe – and if something doesn’t work out as well, again please let me know. I want t make sure these recipes are perfect for you!!

Whoopie Pies by Mainer, Sharon Beaulieu

For cakes
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
* 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 large egg

For filling
* 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
* 1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
* 2 cups marshmallow cream such as Marshmallow Fluff
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

Make cakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until combined. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl at medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and alternately mix in flour mixture and buttermilk in batches, beginning and ending with flour, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, and mixing until smooth.

For Large Whoopie Pies: Spoon 1/4-cup mounds of batter about 2 inches apart onto 2 buttered large baking sheets.

For smaller Whoopie pies: Drop spoonfuls, onto large baking sheets 2 inches apart.

Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched, 11 to 13 minutes. Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack to cool completely.

Make filling:
Beat together butter, confectioner’s sugar, marshmallow, and vanilla in a bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Spoon filling onto the flat side of one cake, press the other flat side of another cake on top to push the filling out towards the edges. 

Enjoy!

Jerking Around

I fell in love with Jerk Chicken a few years ago when I was in Jamaica. Notice how I didn’t write ‘I fell in love with Jamaica’, nope, just its chicken. That’s not to say, that Jamaica isn’t a great place. I’m sure it is. But Negril during spring break is not the best exposure to Jamaica and all it has to offer. In fact spring break Negril only offers 2 for 1 drink specials and reggae at 7am.


I’m just not that kind of spring breaker. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed going out for a walk at 6:30am to watch kids stumble home, visit the bar as soon as it was open for a breakfast pick-me-up, and then pass out on a chaise lounge with daiquiri spilled on their chests - only to be awoken later to sun poisoning. Good times. I actually tried to lobby a visit to Prince Edward Island for the Anne of Green Gables tour, but I was voted down by some of my other travel companions. Perhaps Charlottetown needs to host some kind of Foam Party…..

At any rate, the jerk chicken was by far one of the highlights of the trip. There were a few vendors grilling butterflied chickens on the beach, along with sliced fruit from a neighboring vendor, that we made a meal out of several times. It was amazing to sit on a balcony, picking at the chicken, and licking the spicy charred sauce off of my fingers.

And since I am dreaming of warmer weather and trying to revel in as much sunlight as possible these days, I thought it might be nice to try and recreate this experience in our backyard in Maine. I hadn’t tried to make a jerk sauce before, so I scoured cookbooks and the internet for recipes. They all seemed fairly similar, with such variables as how many scotch bonnets and other seasonings were included.

Joe and I don’t have a high tolerance for scalding heat in spices, so I decided to substitute the peppers for other ingredients. (And I may have forgotten to buy the peppers at the grocery store, but that is another matter.) Most recipes I found called for 4-5 scotch bonnets, which made my eyes water just thinking about how hot that would be. But if that’s your thing - go for it. I also liked the addition of cinnamon and allspice into the mixture as well as the heat from some pepper.

I only let this marinate on the chicken for about six hours, but most of the recipes recommend letting it sit overnight to help develop the flavors. I had some dried chipotle peppers in the pantry that used to help impart some heat, as well as red pepper flakes. But I’m sure any kind of chile would be fine, depending on your heat tolerance.

Grilled Jerk Chicken
As adapted from Gourmet May 2002

For the Marinade

3 scallions, roughly chopped white and light green parts only
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 dried chipotle chiles, stems removed but seeds included
1 tsp dried red pepper flakes
1/4 c fresh lime juice
Zest of 1 lime
3 Tb soy sauce
4 Tb olive oil
1 Tb salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

For the Chicken
1 4-5lb chicken, or enough chicken pieces to equal about 4 or 5 pounds.

Combine the scallions, onion, and garlic into a food processor or blender. Pulse a few times until they are in a fine dice.

Add dried chiles, lime juice, zest, soy sauce, oil and other spices. Process until the mixture is completely combined. It shouldn’t be too pasty, or too runny, just about the consistency of a half melted milkshake.

Butterfly the chicken and place in a doubled zip lock bag (so the bones don’t poke through, I use two bags), or place in a shallow dish. Pour the marinade over the chicken and rub to ensure full coverage.

Be sure to turn the chicken at least once while it is marinating. Let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for at least six hours or longer if you remember to start the night before.

When you are ready to grill the chicken, remove it from the marinating receptacle and reserve some of the marinade for basting.

Grill the chicken skin side down first, turning and basting as necessary. The marinade will turn black, but that does not mean it is burnt. Check the chicken to be sure it’s done before serving, and let it rest before cutting.

Serve the chicken alongside tropical fruits or grilled vegetables. And I think it’s best eaten with your fingers.

Easter Feast-er

Hey don’t judge. Rhyming is harder than it looks. But as most of you probably know, this past weekend was Easter. I don’t have any specific recipes for you this week, just some stories and suggestions.

The first year I was in charge of cooking Easter dinner was in college. My friends and I were subletting a town house in D.C. and not everyone was going home for Easter. My parents and sister came down to see me, so we decided to host Easter for all the college and DC transplants we knew. In all, there was going to be about 9 or 10 of us.

I wanted to make ham; that was all I knew. This was also before I really started cooking, and before I really knew what I was doing. Some of the other side dishes I made escape me right now, but I know there was a butternut squash custard, green beans, and maybe potatoes. What really stands out in my mind was how much ham I made.

I took my roommate’s brother grocery shopping with me, which would have been fine, except they were raised as vegetarians. Never ask vegetarians how much ham to serve at Easter dinner. When I hoisted the 8 pound ham into the cart, he looked at me and asked “Do you think that’s enough?” No other word’s strike fear in my heart like those. I never think there’s enough. And if I ask you, if you think there’s enough, you should probably always say YES.

Needless to say I bought a second 8 pound ham. By the time my mother came over from their hotel, I had both hams jammed into a 9x13” pan, and had started cooking them. It took about an hour longer than anticipated, but in all, there was no giant fiasco. My housemates and I happily ate ham sandwiches for the next week. And I gave leftovers to all our guests.

I would love to tell you that I have learned from that mistake, and only buy the amount of food that can be reasonably consumed by two people. But alas, I have not. So this year, I hadn’t planned on eating with our neighbors, I just hoped we would. I bought the smallest leg of lamb I could find – which was still like 7 pounds, not to mention vegetables, appetizers, and cake.

But since the weather was good, we did it all on the grill. I am of the opinion that if you toss any kind of vegetables into a foil pack you can cook them on the grill. This year we had sweet potatoes, red onion and asparagus packets, as well as grilled, marinated red peppers and zucchini. For the lamb I like to cut slits into the meat and jam things into them. This year we tried lemon peel, garlic and rosemary.

Of course, when all was said and done we had about one metric ton of lamb leftover. I counted on Joe to eat a lot of that lamb, but still, that’s only half a ton. So I decided to make a simple lamb ragu to use up the rest.

So my suggestion for this week is ‘Leftover Lamb Ragu’.
Ready?

Shred left over lamb into some tomato sauce, simmer for at least an hour. Serve over pasta.

Yup, that’s it. You can make your own sauce, or if you have a mountain of dishes and 4 loads of laundry to do, I wouldn’t judge if you tossed that lamb into the jar of sauce you keep in the pantry in case work is especially bad and your boyfriend comes home to find you one and a half martinis in. Not that that happens to me. But the lamb will make the sauce taste great. I also add an extra can of crushed tomatoes, a bay leaf and some more oregano to the jarred sauce.

Marsala

I was going to regale you with tales of granola last week. I made 7 cups of granola, and it was good, but not quite right. Well, actually I overcooked the granola. So I have been chipping teeth on rock hard blueberries and cherries all week. So once I get the timing right, I’ll share that recipe with you.

But this week I have something else. I have Veal Meatball Marsala. I love marsala. It’s a different kind of love then the one I have for mac and cheese. That’s more of a lusty relationship. But marsala, I want to bring marsala home to meet my parents, but only to special occasions like Thanksgiving and Easter. Not to the everyday dinners and foibles of a family.

I’ve had the standard chicken or veal marsala. I’ve had great marsala and I’ve had terrible marsala (I’m looking at you hotel weddings). And unlike mac and cheese, I only like marsala when it’s good or great. Mediocre marsala is just a huge let down. So, if I were to bring mediocre home, it would hit on my sister at dinner.

But on one of the first dates Joe and I ever went on, we ate at a restaurant in Washington DC called Grillfish. And I got monkfish marsala, which was a special for that evening. (I know, because I looked for it unsuccessfully every subsequent time thereafter). Which made me think, that maybe you could ‘marsala’ anything. You know, make a bet , dress it up, teach it how to speak, and then bring it out. With a little work, maybe I could My Fair Marsala anything!

Honestly, though, I only stuck to the standards. Until yesterday. When I was grocery shopping, I found ground veal on sale. It was such a good price that I couldn’t pass it up. But I was at a loss for what to make with it. That’s when I thought – Meatballs! This recipe makes a great weeknight meal that feels a little fancy. It’s the makeover movie for unlocking ground veal’s hidden beauty – with marsala!

Veal Marsala Meatballs

For the Meatballs

1 lb ground veal (although I bet chicken or turkey would be fine too)
1/3 c breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic, finely chopeed
½ small onion, finely chopped
2 Tb rosemary, finely chopped
1 egg
Salt and pepper to tatse

For the Sauce

½ onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, diced
2/3 c dry marsala wine
1 c chicken stock
1 Tb rosemary, roughly chopped
1/3 c heavy cream

1 10oz. bag spinach, thoroughly washed

1. Mix all of the ingredients together for the meatballs. Roll into 1 – 1 ½” meatballs.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Place meatballs in pan, but don’t crowd the pan, sauté in two batches if needed. Brown on all sides. Then remove to a plate.

3. Add spinach to remaining oil in pan and cook until just barely wilted. Sprinkle with salt, to preserve color, and remove t another plate.

4. While keeping pan on heat, add more oil if needed and onions and garlic. If there is some spinach water left in the pan, that’s fine. Sauté until onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Then add the meatballs back to the pan. Add in marsala, chicken stock, and rosemary, reduce heat and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes.

5. After 20 minutes, remove lid and continue simmering for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Just before serving add in cream to help thicken the sauce.

6. Meanwhile cook whatever pasta you want to serve this over.

7. To serve, place pasta on a plate or bowl, add spinach on top of pasta, then spoon meatballs and sauce over everything.

Refried Bean Odyssey

I lived in Southern California for two years and during that time, Joe and I managed to eat a lot of Mexican-American food. There was one hole-in-the-wall spot in Manhattan Beach that we were a little crazy for (and still are!). They had the best refried beans and rice that accompanied every dish they served. I would usually neglect the burrito or whatever I had to pounce on those beans first. They were perfect.

Well, in order for me to get my fix, I thought I could try and make refried beans myself. Not by opening a can and dumping them into a frying pan (but I will say, that in a pinch, those are pretty darn good too). When I worked for the cookbook author, her housekeeper had a recipe for refried beans (which is now in the cookbook - so you won’t be getting that recipe!). She was El Salvadorian and she said that beans are different everywhere you go. Her version of course started out with soaking the beans and then cooking them. Then heating up a little oil, and sautéing some chopped onions in the oil. She then removed the onions, and dumped in her beans and mashed them up with a little salt. She told me I could put the onions back in if I wanted to, but most people didn’t. I asked her if people every used canned beans, and she laughed. I said “no, really. Do people ever use canned beans?” (hoping to alleviate some of my guilt) and she said maybe but they weren’t very good cooks who did that. Ouch.

I usually tried making beans that way, but they never turned out as fabulously as when she made them for me. So while I was in California, one of my coworkers told me her family’s recipe for beans. She said to crumble up some chorizo and cook it with a jalapeno, then take them out, add the beans and mash. Then add the chorizo back to the beans and season them as necessary. You have to add more oil at this point - hence the RE-fried- to thin it out and make the texture more smooth. She also suggested adding some queso fresco to the mashed beans to give it a slightly creamy feel.

She made the beans a few days later and brought them in to work for me to try, they were amazing. I was sold. But, I don’t make those beans every time we have refried beans because of the significant caloric content that they have. But for special events, or to impress people, I will make them.

So last night, I brought the beans over to a pot-luck Taco night at a friend’s place. I think they were pretty good, and judging by some of the portion sizes the beans were being consumed in - I’m guessing other people thought so too.

I tried taking amazing pictures, but it is rather hard to make smashed up sausage and beans look anything more then, well, smashed up beans and sausage.

Judi and Carmen’s Refried Beans

For the chorizo - size, flavor and quality can really depend on where you buy this sausage. So use your best judgment about how much chorizo you want in there. Just don’t put in more chorizo then there are beans (I would say use about ½ to ¾ the volume of sausage to beans)

1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained (or 16 ounces, dried beans, soaked overnight and simmered until tender)
½ small onion, roughly diced
1 link chorizo, casing removed and crumbled
1 jalapeno pepper, sliced in half (pith and seeds removed if you want your beans with less heat)
Olive oil
Salt

1. Add about 2 Tb of olive oil to a frying pan and heat until shimmering. Add diced onions, chorizo and jalapeno. Sauté until the onions are translucent and the chorizo starts to brown. Add more oil, if the chorizo soaks up the first amount. Remove the mixture from the pan, but try to keep in as much of the cooking oil as possible.

2. Add the kidney beans and sauté until the beans start to shed their skins and split. Then mash the beans - you can use a potato masher but I like to use the bottom of a heavy glass. Once mashed add the chorizo/onion mixture back into the pan along with any liquid that may have accumulated with them.

3. Add a few more tablespoons of oil, and stir together. The mixture should start to look soft and matte. You don’t want the beans to stick to the pan, but you do want them to brown a little in the oil. Add more oil, if you think it needs it. (this does take a lot of oil, so don’t be skimpy with it). If you have the queso fresco, add it just before you take the beans off the heat. Season with salt and serve.

German Food, the begining

I was struggling this week for something to cook. I was hoping to have some awe-inspiring, miraculous recipe to post. But alas, I don’t. Instead I have an old standby that I have made and adapted numerous times from its original version. But first let me tell you a little about the progression of this recipe.


As you can guess from the title and description of this blog, I know a little about German food. I studied abroad in Freiburg for a semester while in college and fell in love with the food. I mean what’s not to like - chocolate? check, sausage? check. cheese? check. bread? check. beer? double check. (I could go on, but I’ll spare you on the list of foods I love) We did a lot of cooking in Germany, but we didn’t cook a lot of German food. My exposure came from farmer’s markets, fairs, Biergartens and other restaurants. Mostly, I did a lot of baking while I was there. Just wait until I make my Apfelkuchen recipe in the fall!

But when I came back to the states, my sister’s birthday was coming up. And she decided to have a “German Food” party, for which I offered to cook. My mom had always made us sauerbraten and red cabbage but that was the extent of our German food exposure. So I offered a complete list of foods for my sister and her friends to eat: Potato Leek Soup (it can kind of count as german), Jägerschnitzel, spätzle, red cabbage with apples, sauerbraten, potato pancakes, stuffed tomatoes (you’re surprised about that last one I know) etc. as well as chocolate desserts.

Some friends of mine came over to help me cook and keep me company, and we were having a blast in the kitchen. As my sisters friends came over, they congregated at the kitchen table, in plain view of the kitchen and my antics. If any of you know me - then you know I have a propensity to make a ton of food. Needless to say I managed to make a full 8 quart pot of gravy for the sauerbraten alone. So, with enough German food to feed my sister’s entire graduating high school class, I forgot about the possibility that these 15 year old girls might not want anything to do with German food.

I don’t know if they came out of respect for my sister. Or if they thought German food was like hamburgers and french fries. But only a few of the girls ate anything - and only when we forced them. My friends ate the food, and as we tried to make the night more entertaining for everyone, the only response we got was “Jess, your sister and her friends are so weird!”

That ‘weirdness’ I must say, has yet to disappear - but thankfully neither have the recipes I cooked that night. The Jägerschnitzel recipe is a great way to use cheap cutlets of any kind and an easy way to get dinner on the table quickly. Since Jäger means hunter in German, it was originally made with wild board or rabbit. So I look at this as a versatile recipe. You can use veal, pork, chicken, turkey - whatever. The recipe calls for mushrooms but since Joe doesn’t really like them, I leave them out. But you can add your favorite herbs to this, or leave it as is. I also tossed some spinach into the pasta water at the last moment to add something green into the mix.

Jägerschnitzel

As adapted from recipecottage.com 2003

1 lb. pork cutlets
2 eggs
¾ cup bread crumbs
Salt and pepper
Canola Oil

5 strips of bacon, diced
1 large onion, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
½ cup chicken stock
½ dry white wine (or a 1 Tbsp lemon juice and ½ c, stock)
2 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp paprika
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp sour cream
Salt and pepper

Egg Noodles

1. Scramble the eggs in a shallow bowl. Combine breadcrumbs, salt and pepper in a separate shallow bowl. Place a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Dredge the pork in the egg followed by the breadcrumbs and place into skillet. You can also double dredge each cutlet for an extra thick coating. Repeat with remaining cutlets, being sure not to crowd the pan. Brown pork on either side for about 4 minutes (or until nicely browned). If the pork is still underdone (depending on thickness, place on baking sheet and keep warm in a 350°F oven until you’re ready to serve).

2. Remove pork from skillet and let rest on a plate (if it’s not in the oven). Drain the fat from the pan, but don’t worry too much about loose brown breadcrumbs. If those crumbs are black however, you should discard them.

3. Add bacon to skillet and sauté until some fat has rendered out, but they are not quite brown. Add onions and cook until onions and bacon are golden. About 5-7 minutes more. Stir in mushrooms (if using) and tomato paste, and sauté another 3 minutes. Add wine, stock, thyme, paprika, salt and pepper. Simmer for about 5 minutes until sauce is slightly thickened, then add sour cream and parsley.

4. Meanwhile boil egg noodles according to package directions. Drain and add a pat or two of butter to keep the noodles from sticking.

5. To serve, place noodles on a plate, lay a cutlet on top, and spoon sauce over.
Serves 4