The Constables Larder

Fava, Arugula and Shaved Parmesan: perfect starter or palette cleanser

Here’s a very simple something to start off a meal, or to act as a palette cleanser part way through — best served with a crisp white wine.

I have not been a happy CSA customer this summer (I’ll just say, it’s not *just* the fault of the weather), but I’ll spare you the detail on that. One nice thing they have given us is fava beans, and I was able to pick up some arugula from the farmer’s market this weekend. They paired very nicely here.

Fava Bean, Arugula and Shaved Parmesan Salad
Serves 4
4 large handfuls of fava bean pods, shelled
2 handfuls of arugula leaves, washed with bottom stems removed
1 lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper
dijon mustard
parmesan cheese

After shelling the fava beans, boil them in water for 3-4 minutes then drain and quickly plunge into ice water to stop the cooking. Once cool, you want to remove the outer layer of the fava beans. I find it easiest to pinch at the edge of the skin at the dimple of the bean, and then squeeze the bean out — it should slip out quite easily.

Make the dressing by combining the juice of 1 lemon, an equal amount of olive oil, a pinch of salt, a small amount of dijon mustard, and a teaspoon of finely grated parmesan cheese. Wisk it up well with a fork, then combine with the fava beans in a bowl for about 15 – 20 minutes.

Right before serving, gently mix in the arugula leaves and plate with some fresh pepper and some parmesan shavings on top.

Salsa: if you can’t beat the heat, join it!

There’s an old saying, “if you can’t beat em, join em.” It applies quite aptly to summertime heat and a good, fresh salsa don’t you think?

My current favorite method of salsa making is about as simple as it gets, and just relies on fresh ingredients.

Fresh Salsa
6 medium tomatillos, diced
2 large ripe tomatoes, diced
1 red onion, diced
5 or 6 spring onions, finely chopped (use all the green)
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 3 fresh jalapenos, minced (add heat to personal taste; can also use cayenne or serrano)
juice of 1 to 2 limes, to taste
large bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp rice vinegar (or to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

Just chop everything up and combine in a bowl. Serve with some tortilla chips, or toast some bread with a little olive oil for a simple bruschetta, or serve as a garnish alongside a well-seasoned and grilled flank steak.

Don’t forget the beer. 🙂

Today Lisl had some friends from her choir over for lunch, and this went over quite well (we also had a hit with a black-eyed pea salad that was sort of a combination of this and this).

Below the fold, I’m attaching a few more photos from our recent trip up to the Catskills.

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Summertime: mint watermelon lemonade; cilantro chimichurri w/ flank steak

Summertime has finally come, although here in the Catskills the spring rains have decided they like hanging around. They enjoy our company in the afternoons. That, or they’re out to kill everyone’s tomato plants, and doing a good job of it too. We are just finishing a week vacation here in “slightly-upstate” New York, and while work and mozzies invaded quite a bit, it has been quiet and beautiful. (if you don’t speak Oz, mozzies = mosquitoes)

The farms have been fighting with the weather – what a tough profession farming is, subject to the whims of weather. I was really looking forward to the return of fresh roma beans at our local farm, but the wet weather has left them tough and unenjoyable, resistant to even a long stew in tomato sauce. The cucumbers have suffered even worse, including the little kerbys.

Still, the chard, wax beans, and golden zucchini are all beautiful, and I have high hopes for the corn season. I was glad to see Gill’s farm stand open for business. Here is my first payload:

Given the onslaught of work (trying to get a new venture off the ground in this environment is not a simple task), I have only had time to cook oldies but goodies, rather than creating new dishes. With summertime eating, I also tend to go simple — fresh salads and well-seasoned meat cooked on the grill.

A dry rub of smoked paprika, ground coriander, salt, and brown sugar was a smashing hit with our niece visiting from Sydney. We have also been playing around with chimichurri-like green sauces to go with flank and skirt steak, some with parsely and some with cilantro. My favorite so far was the following:

Cilantro Green Sauce (chimichurri inspired)
large bunch of cilantro (fresh coriander)
2 cloves of garlic
1/3 of a hot jalapeno
pinch of salt
1 tbsp of olive oil
red wine vinegar and rice wine vinegar to taste

You can finely mince everything and combine with the liquids, or just use a food processor (which is what I did last night). The bite of the vinegar and the heat of the jalapeno are a fabulous complement to a flank or skirt steak, well seasoned with salt and pepper, cooked to medium-rare on the grill, and sliced thin across the grain.

I also love making twists on lemonade. Last summer I had fun freezing watermelon cubes and using them instead of ice. This year I did a similar thing, but with more of a mohito-making approach.

Lemon-limeade with Watermelon and Spearmint

Juice 4 or 5 lemons and 2 limes, and place in a large jug. Add mint leaves from several sprigs of spearmint or regular mint. Add in 1 lime, washed and quartered. Cut a half-inch slice from a watermelon half, and slice into 1/2 inch cubes. Add in 3 tbsp of sugar. Mash everything up. Pour in cold water and ice, then taste for the amount of citrus juice and sugar, adjusting to taste.

Breakfast Pancakes

I can’t tell you how many times I have wanted to make fresh pancakes and struggled to remember the ingredient ratios. So here is the mix I like to use, which is adapted from Joy of Cooking but with much less sugar:

Mix in one bowl
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp salt

Mix in another bowl
1.5 cups milk
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

I find that this amount can support roughly 4 people — increase the ratios as needed. Combine everything together, possibly with some fresh blueberries tossed in there and maple syrup ready to go on the side, and ladel away.

Pork Shoulder Braised with White Wine and Napa Cabbage

I keep on playing around with pork shoulder braises, and what’s not to love? They make a great meal, and the leftovers can be used in a myriad of ways such as pulled pork sandwiches, stews, chilis, meat pies, etc. The picture above was the only one I had time to grab for this recipe, but I was so happy with it, I wanted to record it up here. I made it the night before, so putting on dinner the next day was a snap, and boy was it good!

Pork Shoulder Braised with White Wine and Napa Cabbage

5 or 6 lb pork shoulder butt, on the bone (preferably Berkshire pork)
1/2 lb slab bacon, 1 to 1.5 inches thick
1/2 napa cabbage, sliced 1/4″ thick
3 medium vidalia or yellow onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, diced
4 or 5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp coriander seed
bouquet garnis of parsley, winter savory, and 2 bay leaves, wrapped in string
salt and pepper
dry white wine
water
grapeseed oil

Preheat oven to 300F. In a mortar and pestle, coarsely grind the fennel and coriander seed.

Remove the skin from pork shoulder and score the fat. Rub 1 tsp of salt and the ground spices around the pork, let it come to room temperature for 20 minutes or so. Heat a splash of grapeseed oil in a dutch oven until very hot. Sear all sides of the pork and then remove to the side.

Slice the slab bacon 1/2 inch thick and brown it in the dutch oven, then turn the heat down to medium and remove the bacon to the side as well.

Saute the onions until they start to turn translucent, then add in the carrot, celery, garlic, and spices. Place the pork shoulder on top and pour in half a bottle of white wine. Bring the liquid about 1/4 up the side of the pork, adding water if needed. Scatter the slab bacon around, place the bouquet garnis in the pot, and scatter around the napa cabbage. Cover and cook for two hours, then flip the shoulder and cook for another 2 hours.

Remove the pork shoulder to a cutting board and let cool for 15 minutes, then using two forks gently pull the shoulder apart to separate the bones and fat from the meat. Also remove the slab bacon. If you refridgerate the pork and bacon overnight, as I did, then slice any large chunks of pork into half-inch-thick pieces, and sear the meat on both sides in a hot non-stick skillet. Do the same with the bacon, and plate, grinding some coarse salt and pepper onto the pork.

If you are serving the braise immediately, skim the liquid fat off the top of the braised vegetables in the pot. If you put in the fridge overnight, the fat will solidify on the top making it much easier to remove. Re-heat in a pot, not a microwave! Ladle several large spoonfuls into a food processor and blend into your gravy.

With a slotted spoon to drain excess liquid, plate some of braised vegetables next to the meat and serve with a side of your choice — in our case, Lisl made a salad of fresh peas (parboiled and then immediately cooled in ice water), jicama, red onion, and cherry tomatoes, with a lemon juice, olive oil and thyme dressing.

Weekend Pictures

Rose prosecco is pretty and refreshing when very cold. Unfortunately, it does start to taste an awful lot like bubble gum as it reaches room temperature!

There is something about warm weather that makes us crave raw food. My taste buds have also been clamoring for simple sides like sliced cucumber, greek yogurt, and chopped oregano tossed together.

I have discovered that while cooking is a hard task for our 4 year old to help me with, given the sharp knives and hot pans, baking is something that is not beyond her reach. So all of a sudden I find myself baking. Last Sunday, we made the raspberry buttermilk cake Smitten Kitchen recently posted, and it was delicious.

Well, okay, actually munchkin and I started the cake, then realized that we had no eggs, started driving to the store and got a flat tire. This happened right next to an angus beef farm, and it was a toss-up which was more exciting: cows or daddy “fixing” the broken car (I did not disclose that I know as much about cars as I do particle accelerators or cricket rules, i.e. very little). As I took the car in to buy a new tire, Lisl finished the cake. Thankfully eating this cake was a lot less dramatic, and a lot more enjoyable!

Roasted Lamb with Grain Mustard and Soy Sauce

Lisl first made this lamb roast not long after we met. If I went for sensational titles I’d call this the “how to impress your new boyfriend without slaving in the kitchen, but make him think you did” lamb roast. It actually remains my favorite way to cook lamb by a long shot, and it is so easy to do that it isn’t really a recipe but a simple process (which is one reason why I have time to blog it at the moment).

Lisl prefers to do this roast with a leg of lamb, but we used a boneless lamb sirloin roast and while it fell apart a bit when slicing, I found this cut to be incredibly good. I also loved the gratin we served with it, which I’ll describe at the bottom of the post.

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Birthday Pavlova

Every year on my birthday, my family would have my favorite dessert, Pavlova. Inspired by the famous prima ballerina, Anna Pavlova, who toured Australia in the 1920s, this meringue, whipped cream and fruit concoction is an Australian institution. I’ve since heard that it has been also claimed by New Zealand, which Pavlova also visited on her 1926 tour. This is, of course, just one in a long line of disputed cultural icons ranging from film actors to politicians. Difficulties in Australian/NZ relations aside, it’s a pretty delicious dessert.

Being a busy working woman, my mother purchased my birthday pavlovas from Pavlova Pantry — yes, the dessert was so popular in Sydney through the 1970s and 80s that a chain of these popped up serving huge and quite good pavlovas. I don’t know if they still exist. Much later, after moving to the US, I found that it is really easy to make yourself, and quite a bit nicer than the store-bought variety.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees

Beat the following until stiff peaks form:
4 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar
¼ salt

Add:
1 cup sugar, ¼ cup at a time until incorporated and mixture is stiff and glossy

Then add:
4 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Put mixture into a lightly greased and floured 8” springform pan, heaping so slightly higher at sides than center (don’t worry about what the top looks like, as this will be completely covered at the end)

Bake for 1 hour until firm and lightly browned. The pavlova will have a crisp meringue crust but stay moist on the inside

Cool slightly and unmold. When completely cool, top with 1 cup heavy cream whipped stiff. Top this with berries tossed in Grand Marnier. You can also use other fruits (e.g. passionfruit, kiwi fruit). Refrigerate uncovered until ready to serve.

Out to Lunch

By “out to lunch”, I mean that work has been an all-day, all-night thing lately, so while I have been making some time to cook with the family, the closest thing I’ve come to a food blog in the last two weeks has been reading David Lebovitz’s absolutely delightful The Sweet Life in Paris on the train. My RSS reader has quite a backlog.

My goal with this blog is to continually improve the quality of content and photography, so I’d rather be quiet than slapdash, but please pardon the radio silence (speaking of photography, I’ve been bothering a few of you out there about Digital SLRs and thank you so much for helping me make sense of the Canon/Nikon world).

We did disappear up to the Catskills last weekend and I was delighted to see that we had beaten the deer to the wild strawberries. Hunting tiny strawberries makes for a marvelous 4-yr old activity. Of course, like a scrawny kid dreaming of Charles Atlas, our wild strawberries can only fantasize about becoming the beauties shown at the top of the post, which came from a local farm.

I also briefly attended an event held at the Institute of Culinary Education put on by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (that picture is chef Dave Zino doing a demonstration). I rarely work with tenderloin, so it was fun to roll up my sleeves and learn how to properly trim a full tenderloin from an expert.

The PR team is smart to reach out to food bloggers, who can be considered the “early adopters” and “evangelizers” of the food world. I winced, however, when we started with a braise 101 demonstration. I know that I braise a *lot*, but I would have been surprised if any of the food bloggers in the room did not already know the information. I guess food bloggers are a tough audience to calibrate, since there can be such a range of background and experience, but there are a lot of very sophisticated cooks out there. My advice, which I try to follow when I speak at conferences, is to always over-estimate your audience rather than under-estimate them. With the former, you risk confusion but at least the audience feels challenged; with the latter, you risk boring or, worse, offending.

However, I don’t want to sound snippish because I enjoyed myself. The Beef representatives were incredibly nice, put a lot of effort into the event, and even deflected my attempts to talk agri-business politics in the sweetest of ways!

I haven’t completely abandoned the kitchen for financial models and startup planning. For Lisl’s birthday, kiddo and I made the chocolate cake from Alice Water’s The Art of Simple Food, albeit with all-purpose flour not cake flour, and it was fantastic, like everything from that book. My wife tells me that my newly discovered, and positively surprising, interest in baking must be from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day book. It reminds me of a a funny T-shirt at Fleisher’s that says “bacon, the gateway meat”. Perhaps that book is the gateway bake!

Finally I’ll note that when I last made a peasant bean stew (my hack cassoulet), I speculated that leftover braised pork shoulder would be great in the dish. I can now emphatically state that this is the case, but I suppose there never was much risk of that being wrong! (I don’t braise a pork should quite as often as Stacey roasts a chicken, but it might be close!)

Sauted Beet and Turnip Greens with Bacon and Legumes; misc food notes

Beet greens are a new, delightful discovery to me. For the longest time, I carried a grudge against beets for the appalling way they treated my childhood taste buds. My conclusion, at age 8, was only the only one logical, or even thinkable: like Romeo from Verona, the vegetable must be banished. Of course, my mother wished that I could think in terms of the Bard at that tender age, but I was probably too focused on drawing spaceships destroying each other with intricate multi-colored laser beams.

Lisl has brought many new things into my life which I find surprisingly enjoyable, like children (well, maybe the jury should be out on that one), washing up as I cook, pavlova (more on that below), and beets. Roasted beets with goat cheese, walnuts, and arugula. That’s so good, it doesn’t need to be a grammatically proper sentence. However I digress from the initial impetus of this post, which was me using more of the greens from the vegetables I purchase. Who knew that you could eat beet, turnip, radish, dandelion, etc etc greens? (Answer: many of you, but not me until last year!)

I purchased some beets with the greens still attached and fresh. I also found these baby turnips with their greens at the Kingston, NY farmers market (now open). When Lisl and I had dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns the other weekend (wonderful experience), one of my favorite elements was the simplest: raw baby turnips with a subtle dressing. And that is exactly how I ate the beauties in the above picture. But rather than throw out the greens, which I might have done in an earlier, more ignorant phase, I sauted them with the beet greens in this fairly classic combination:

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