Wish Upon A Chef

There comes a time when you have to let go of things....the ratty old sweatshirt that you pull out of the closet every time you need "comfort clothes", the love letters from a long lost sweetheart that take up space in your underwear drawer, the warm, balmy weather of summer.....

Being an overly sentimental person, it's hard for me to let go of things that have meant so much to me in the past. As I fold my favorite sweatshirt and lovingly place it in the charity bag, I remember all the chilly evenings that it kept me warm. As I read for the last time and toss the tattered love letters into the garbage, I remember how seeing my high school sweetheart in the hallway before class would make my heart skip a beat. And as the first frost of the season lays on the ground, I long for the garden fresh produce and simple meals of summer days gone by....

But wait.....frost? winter? what? where? Are we stuck in a global warming time warp? It's freaking November for heaven sakes and temperatures are still hovering in the low 70s. Being a cold weather wimp, I'm not really looking forward to the the Artic blast, however I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and assimilate myself to the climate change. I've tried rotating hearty soups and stews into my menus. I've pulled out the sweaters, coats, and flannel jammies... I'm trying to get over summer days gone by and move on! But nooooo......

So finally, I just gave up the ghost. It's no longer a fashion disaster to wear white after Labor Day, so who says we can't throw together a quick and easy summer inspired meal in mid-November?? You just go right ahead and report me to the FoodNetwork police.....

Couscous. It's an odd little thing, isn't it? Say that out loud to someone who isn't familiar with it and the next thing you know, they're saying, "bless you!" because they think you just sneezed or something. Prepare it straight out of the box and it's bland and unexciting. But throw in nearly any fruit, vegetable, meat, seafood, herb or spice you can imagine and you have a versatile quick and easy meal. So, here on the brink of bygone summer days, I'm sharing my favorite way to prepare couscous as well as telling you about a great product that I stumbled across over a year ago but am just now getting around to trying....

I was given a sample of Seasoned Skewers at the 2006 Fancy Food Show. They've been in my kitchen drawer all this time and I figured since I was already pressing my luck with the out-of-season-food-preparation, I'd go ahead and break them out for a trial run. They're wooden skewers that are seasoned with various flavors - mine were Coconut Curry with Lime - and they infuse the flavors into whatever you skewer and cook without any additional seasonings. Whoever heard of such a thing? Probably the same person who's never heard of couscous or wearing a tank top and shorts in November! I used 16-20 count peeled shrimp with no additional seasonings, let them sit for about 10 minutes to absorb the flavors and cooked them on a grill pan. By golly it worked! A lovely mild coconut curry flavor resonated throughout my shrimp and paired with my vegetable couscous it was quick...easy....perfect. Just like these warm November days....


Vegetable Couscous

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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2 each carrot -- diced
1/2 cup celery -- diced
1 each onion -- diced
1/4 cup sweet yellow pepper -- diced
1/4 cup sweet red pepper -- diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 each zucchini -- diced
1/4 cup fresh basil -- minced or 4 tsp dried
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 dash hot pepper sauce
1 cup couscous
1 1/2 cups chicken broth

In a large skillet, saute the carrots, celery, onion, and peppers in oil for 5-6 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add the next five ingredients; mix well. Stir in the couscous. Add broth, bring to a boil. Cover and remove from the heat; let stand for 5-8 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve immediately.

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Several months ago, one of the ladies who works in my catering kitchen was passing around one of those fund-raiser order forms to help her kids raise money for school. You know the ones I'm talking about....the "I feel obligated to buy something or else I'll look like a miser" fund-raiser. I thumbed through the catalog pages wondering what useless trinket I'd end up with this time when, to my delight, I realized that magazines had been added to the fund-raising repertoire! I gladly shelled out my $12 for a year's subscription to Bon Appetit and anxiously waited for the first issue to arrive.

The October issue didn't disappoint. I've ear-marked several great recipes that I hope to blog about very soon but for now I want to share this dessert with you, my "Sweet Tater Friends." I've copied the recipe verbatim from the magazine's website and I didn't make any changes when I prepared it. While the flan was baking, I was thinking that maybe I should have kicked it up a notch by adding some cinnamon or nutmeg or just something because you foodies know what I'm talking about when I say I can't help but screw around with a perfectly good recipe. In the end, I'm glad that I didn't....it turned out to be a perfectly smooth and creamy blend of flavors (I know my picture makes this look anything BUT perfect, but I'm working on taking better photos!) I did, however, run across this nifty idea for decorating the flan for Halloween. If I can make one suggestion to you, it would be to keep your eye on the caramel when you turn it to high heat. If you take your eyes off of it, you'll end up with something that resembles black strap molasses and smells equally as unattractive (listen to the voice of experience...) Oh, and also, I cut the baking time by 15 minutes. When I checked the flan at 45 minutes, it was perfect, so do pay attention to that as well. Bon Appetit!

Sweet Potato Flan

1 large red-skinned sweet potato (about 12 ounces)
1 cup sugar, divided
2 tablespoons water
1 cup half and half
4 large eggs
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons tawny Port

Preheat oven to 350°F. Pierce sweet potato with fork; roast until tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on width of potato. Cool. Cut potato in half and scoop flesh into mini processor; puree until smooth. Measure 1 cup puree (reserve any remaining puree for another use). Maintain oven temperature.

Stir 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons water in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and boil without stirring until syrup turns deep amber, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with wet pastry brush, about 5 minutes. Immediately pour caramel into 8-inch-diameter metal cake pan, leaving about 2 tablespoons caramel in saucepan. Using pot holders, swirl cake pan, allowing caramel to coat bottom and about 1/2 inch up sides.

Add half and half to remaining caramel in saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until caramel dissolves. Whisk eggs in medium bowl until frothy. Whisk in cream, salt, 1 cup sweet potato puree, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Gradually whisk in hot half and half mixture. Strain into same saucepan. Stir over medium heat 1 minute. Remove from heat; whisk in Port. Pour custard into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan. Bake until just set in center, about 1 hour. Remove flan from water. Chill until cold, about 5 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; keep chilled.

Dip bottom and 1 inch up sides of cake pan into pan of hot water 15 seconds. Wipe dry. Invert onto rimmed plate, scraping caramel in pan over flan.

I'm sure that you are aware of the noticeable absence from my blog these past couple of months. Some of my readers already know the reasons for my spotty and nonexistent posts, but for those of you who don't, let me just say that a few months ago the earth tilted on its axis and wreaked havoc on my personal life. In an effort to reposition the world as I know it, I'm returning to the blog world. After all, my main reasons for starting this blog in the first place were to help find my seemingly lost inspirations. Inspiration is a funny thing....one day it's here and the next day it can't be found anywhere so I do appreciate your dedication in hanging with Someone's In The Kitchen during these dust-gathering months.

Earlier this week, I was listening to my favorite radio talk show hosts, Bob and Sheri, when they started talking about this compelling video that aired on ABC's Good Morning America where people summarize their lives in three words.



Bob and Sheri started taking calls from listeners who wanted to summarize their lives in three words and it got me to thinking...what would my three words be? I thought about it long and hard over the next couple of days and came up with several different choices, each one reflecting the various moods I've seemed to experience this week. When all was said and done this week, the three words that I would use to summarize my life as it stands now would be....."I Won't Settle."

But some of us are prone to change our mind as often as the wind blows, and so this morning I decided that I should change my summation to "Cooking Is Life." Why? Just think about it..... There I stood staring into the crowded abyss that is my refrigerator and I realized that each morning I wake up wondering, "What's the plan for the day?" much like I stood there wondering what was on the menu for dinner. A quick glance of the fridge contents revealed left overs from last week's meals nestled beside new additions from this week's grocery shopping. Subconsciously, I was thinking about how cleaning out the fridge is like cleaning up your life. You salvage what you can of the old and combine it with the new and cook up something fresh and exciting.

I pulled out an almost forgotten piece of left over roast and commenced to turning it into Tarragon Beef Stew with Vermouth, a recipe that I snagged from Allrecipes earlier today. When cooking, as in life, you have to roll with the flow, use that you've got on hand, and spice things up with a few additions that weren't expected. Even though I followed the suggestions of other reviewers and decreased the amount of liquid called for in the original recipe, it turned out more like soup than stew, albeit a good soup. I have a feeling it will be better tomorrow after the flavors have a chance to meld. I had dry vermouth on hand instead of sweet, dried tarragon instead of fresh, and regular potatoes were substituted for new potatoes. Click here for the original recipe or try my version below. After you've put your stew on to simmer, I'd love to hear how you'd summarize your life in three words.....Enjoy!



Alison's Version of Tarragon Beef Stew with Vermouth

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 pound beef stew meat
5 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups dry vermouth
2 cups potatoes, cut into large chunks
2 large carrots, quartered
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Melt butter In a large dutch over medium-high heat. Combine meat and flour in a large ziplock bag and shake until meat is coated with flour. Add the meat to the dutch oven, and fry for 2 to 3 minutes, or until evenly browned on the outside. (Since my roast had already been cooked, I completely skipped this step.) Pour the chicken broth and vermouth into the stock pot. Add the potatoes, carrots, and garlic. Season with tarragon, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, honey, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cover. Cook 2 1/2 hours to blend the flavors.

Remove cover and continue cooking 20 minutes, or long enough to evaporate enough liquid to reach your desired thickness. If stew does not thicken to your likening, combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water and bring stew to a boil. Stir in cornstarch mixture and continue cooking until desired thickness is achieved. Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh parsley.

Granola is one of those foods that I never really liked until I started making it myself. The store bought stuff is always dry, essentially tasteless, hard as a rock, and loaded with yucky raisins. And let's face it, the stuff's not cheap. I ran across this recipe on the message forum that I mentioned in my last post and according to the poster, it is loosely based on a recipe by my idol, Ina Garten. The first time I made this granola, I decided it was a keeper so now we make it in the catering kitchen to bag and sell in the gourmet market. It's versatile in the sense that you can use whatever dried fruits that you want and the recipe can be halved or doubled, depending on how much you want to make. I revised the cooking time and temp a bit from the original version and made a few notes about the type of fruits and nuts that I used - pineapple, papaya, dried cherries, and dried blueberries (no yucky raisins!) and I picked up a can of Planter's Cashew Lover's mix.


I made this granola at home with the good intention of storing it on my counter in a pretty glass jar and using it to spoon into yogurt (another good intention of trying to eat a little something in the mornings so my blood sugar doesn't do a nose dive before I get around to eating lunch). The stuff was so moist, tasty, and (no raisins) loaded with fruit that once I started nibbling on it, I couldn't stop!! I'm somewhat ashamed to say that the entire jar of granola was gone in only a couple of days.




* Exported from MasterCook *

Granola

Categories : Breakfast

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
4 cups quick-cooking oats
2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
2 cups favorite mix of nuts
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
4 1/2 cups favorite dried fruits -- small dice

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, coconut, and nuts. Whisk together the oil and honey in a small bowl. Pour over the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until all the oats and nuts are coated. Pour onto a 13 by 18 by 1-inch sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake, stirring occasionally with a spatula, about 15 minutes. Increase oven temp to 350 and continue cooking for 5 more mins, until mixture turns golden brown.

Remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool, stirring occasionally. Add the dried fruit mixture and mix well. Store the cooled granola in an airtight container.

Yield:
"12 cups"
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When I was a kid, my grandfather built the most awesome playhouse for me. It looked very similar to the yard barns that you see nowadays with the dome shaped roof line and it sat across the driveway in our side yard. There was a small flower bed on each side of it, curtains on the windows and door, and it was filled with furniture that was also handmade by my grandfather. There was a couch, a chair, a coffee table, a stove, and the neatest thing of all was the sink. He made two cutouts in the wooden frame and inserted two plastic wash tubs. There was a hole in the bottom of each one of the tubs and a hose ran through the bottom of the frame and down through the floor. I could pour water into the sink to wash my dishes after a play dinner party and when I was finished, I could pull the plug and the water drained out just like a real sink. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world to have a "real" sink! My kitchen shelf and refrigerator were stocked with miniature boxes of play food and I would spend hours and hours playing house and hostess to imaginary and real friends who stopped by for some freshly baked playdough biscuits or just-cooled mud pies. Evidence shows that having a good imagination as a child translates into more creativity as an adult and while I can't say that I'm extremely creative, I think all of those hours spent pretending in the kitchen can't have done me any harm in my catering career :)

I woke up this morning to a rainy, dreary day. You know, one of those days where you have all the lights on in the house in the middle of the day and it's still too dark to see. It was the first drops of rain we've had in probably two months and our temperatures have hovered in the high nineties for weeks and the humidity has been so high that I feel like I'm living in the tropical rain forest. For some strange reason, I equate rainy, dreary days to also being cold. This was a day made for staying in your jammies all day, curled up by the fire with a really good book while a pot of soup simmers on the stove. The kind of day where the ingredients for a big pot of creamy clam chowder are beckoning you from the pantry. Since the thermometer was confirming 85 degree temps, I knew I was going to have to drag out my old imagination and dust it off. Time to turn the AC down, put on my flannel jammies, and pretend it was cold outside.

Clam chowder isn't something that I crave. I can't even say that I really enjoy it but for some reason it was calling my name today. Maybe it was because just the other day one of my friends was telling me how much he enjoyed a bowl of good clam chowder and I was bragging about my recipe. I got this recipe from a message forum that I frequent and it claims to be a copycat of the "world famous" clam chowder from a restaurant located in Depoe Bay, Oregon called Gracie's Sea Hag. How close it is to Gracie's, I don't know, but coming from someone who doesn't even like clam chowder to begin with, this recipe is definitely worth trying. It is a little time consuming and you have all the stove eyes going at once, but it's rich, creamy and satisfying - exactly what you need on a pretend cold, rainy, dreary day. Enjoy!

* Exported from MasterCook *

Sea Hag Restaurant's Clam Chowder

Serving Size : 8
Categories : Soups

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
3 cans chopped clams -- 6-1/2 ounce cans
4 bottles clam juice -- 8 ounce bottles
1 tablespoon Minor's clam base
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 pound bacon
3/4 cups celery -- chopped
3/4 cups onion -- chopped
3 cups potato -- peeled, chopped and cooked
4 cups half and half -- or milk
salt and pepper -- to taste
chopped fresh parsley -- for garnish

Drain clams, reserving juice. Combine reserved juice and clam juice in a large soup pot. Stir in clam base, basil and thyme. Set aside.

Melt 1 cup butter over medium heat in a small saucepan. Stir in flour to make a roux. Continue to cook on low for about 10 minutes, stirring fairly often.

In a separate skillet, cook bacon until limp and slightly brown on the edges. Rough chop bacon and set aside. Drain off excess fat, (but save some to saute veggies). Add celery and onion. Continue to cook for 5 minutes, or until tender-crisp.

In the meantime, bring clam juice to a boil. Stir roux into boiling clam juice, using a wire whisk to blend thoroughly. Stir in clams, bacon, celery, onion and potatoes. Bring mixture back to a boil, then reduce heat. Stir in milk or half-and-half. Do not let soup boil. Top each serving with chopped fresh parsley.

Description:
"Our often copied but never duplicated recipe has been selected as the "Very Best" in the New York Times Heritage Cook Book, by Jean Hewitt. It is a creamy treat, swimming with chunks of chopped ocean clams."
Source:
"Contessa's Kitchen msg board"
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