Some recent photos

by Giff on August 22, 2010

Picking basil at Gills

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Hoo boy, it has been a long time since I have written a post here.  The startup is the guilty party of course. I’ve been cooking, but mostly variations of things already found on here.  This weekend I did a variation on brisket that I wanted to record.

4 or 5 lb brisket, from the lean end (in this case, grass-fed)
1.5 tbsp smoked paprika
1.5 tbsp kosher salt (if you use regular salt, use much less)
2 poblano peppers
4 or 5 pieces of bacon
2 spanish onions
1 28oz tin of whole, peeled tomatoes
7 or 8 cloves of garlic, peeled
7 bay leaves
2 sprigs of oregano

Preheat your oven to 275F.

Remove the excess fat from the top and bottom of the brisket, and rub the salt and paprika all over. Get your dutch oven nice and hot, splash a little grapeseed oil down, and quickly sear both sides of the brisket. Remove to the side, turn the heat way down, and saute the onions until translucent, then add the tomatoes.  Chop up your fresh oregano and mix in, along with half of the bay leaves.

Remove the stem and seeds from the poblano peppers.  Nestle the brisket on top of the onions and tomatoes, and wedge around it the poblano peppers, garlic cloves, a half cup of water, and the remaining bay leaves. Lay the bacon strips on top. Cover and cook in the oven for 5 hours, flipping the brisket halfway through, but keeping the bacon on top.

When done, remove the brisket and set aside on a carving board.  Slice across the grain to serve.

To make a sauce, remove the garlic cloves, bacon and the bay leaves. Skim as much of the oil/fat from the top as you can. Then blend the rest together with an immersion blender. Taste for salt. You might also brighten the sauce up with some fresh herbs such as parsley and/or oregano.

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Photos: Ramp Pickle

June 6, 2010
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While I am tossing up photographs, I thought I would include a few pictures from earlier this year that never made it onto the blog, due to startup mayhem.  Back in April, when ramps were in season, I had compared two pickle recipes: Stephane’s (which he had adapted from someone at the Union Square Farmers’ [...]

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Strawberry and Buttermilk Cake (1 year later)

June 6, 2010
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A year ago, Gourmet Magazine lit up quite a few food blogs with their Raspberry Buttermilk Cake recipe.  Munchkin and I made it and everyone loved it.  This year I found myself at a crossroads of two nice happenstances.  The first was a surplus of delicious strawberries from a farm in the Catskills.  The second [...]

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Summer Meals: Bean Salad, Tenderloin Marinade and Salad Dressing

May 31, 2010
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It is so nice to have grilling season back upon us. In many cases, our jobs as cooks is to get out of the way and let the food and fresh product do the talking.  Here are notes from Saturday’s dinner, when we had a few guests over for Lisl’s birthday.
Three Bean Salad
1 can [...]

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Chard and Cranberry Bean Gratin

May 27, 2010
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It feels like forever since I’ve had a moment to write a post.  Interesting recipes have come and gone, never written down, photo-less, and unblogged.  Furthermore, it sucks not having the time to keep up with the blogs of all the friends I have made in the food blogosphere. Such is the nature of starting [...]

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Forage & Feast, the sequel

April 19, 2010
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It’s ramp season here in New York, and with that comes Forage and Feast led by Jonathan of Lab 24/7 and Marc of No Recipes (here’s my post from last year’s event). I had been looking forward to this for weeks.  Nothing beats tromping around outside with a bunch of fun people and digging [...]

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Green Pea and Red Lentil Soup

March 22, 2010
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I’m a huge fan of pea soup on a chilly day.  I make it slightly differently every time, but one thing I’ve learned is that a soup needs to be built up. When I was young, I would dump everything in the pot at once, turn up the heat and simmer, and wonder why [...]

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Cauliflower, Fennel and Potato Mash

February 24, 2010

This was a delicious variation on cauliflower mash that I threw together and wanted to remember. The fennel adds a bit of sophistication, but it was still wolfed down by our 4 year old.
1 head of cauliflower
1 large fennel bulb
2 or 3 medium potatoes
2 tbsp butter
heavy cream
salt and pepper
Cut the fennel bulb into eighths (halve, [...]

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Winter Vegetarian Stew

January 21, 2010
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This vegetarian stew was completely winged tonight but I ran with the concept of trying to heighten each flavor first, and then bring things together. I loved how it came out. The idea of the turnip puree came from Kevin on Top Chef last season and I loved it — was almost like [...]

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