Norwegian Cabbage Rolls a Springtime Traditional Dish

Cabbage is not what we think of as a traditional Spring vegetable. Mostly in this country we think of it as a winter veggie or as a summer vegetable chopped up and made into coleslaw.

But in Norway the appearance of bright green leafed spring cabbages is a sure sign that winter is on it's way out and Spring has sprung.

This recipe is an ode to that wishful thinking we all have this time of year that Winter is waning and Spring will bloom.

For the Rolls:

1 .5 pounds beef and pork ground and mixed together
1 small onion finely minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons powdered ginger
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon corn starch
1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
1 Tablespoon chopped parsley

¼ cauliflower, cut in pea sized pieces
8 big cabbage leaves, boiled for 2 minutes
1 cup chicken stock

For sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste
2 chicken bullion cubes
2 tablespoons chopped parsley for garnish
Lingonberry jelly

Method:

Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C).
Mix all ingredients for the rolls together really well
Divide the mix between the cabbage leaves
Fold around the filling and place the packages into a baking dish seam side down
Pour the chicken stock into the pan
Bake for 45 mins in the oven
In the mean time add butter to a small pot and melt then add flour and stir to make a roux.
Cook for 3 mins. until the flour has cooked
Slowly whisk in the milk till combined and cook till the mixture has thickened.
Add the chicken bullion and seasoning
When the rolls are done serve the rolls with the sauce and garnish with the remaining parsley and a spoonful of the jelly

Duchess Potatoes, Winner Winner Christmas Dinner

Duchess Potatoes are mash potatoes all dressed up. Like fancy bundles of baked mashed potato goodness.

Now if you have been following this blog you know how big I am on Mashed potatoes but Duchess potatoes are kinda like the royalty of mashed potatoes. Butter, Eggs and Cream nothing poor or low calorie about this dish. It's definitely a special occasion dish.

SO for Christmas this year the house feast will include these very luxurious potatoes and they will be paired with some big meat. But given the body and richness of  these beauties I think whatever the protein will be it will have to work hard to keep up. I mean lets face it all these giant holiday meals are all about the side dishes.

So if you want to make a little something that looks fancy and is stupid good make these and everyone around your table will think you worked way harder than you did and love them. Winner Winner Christmas Dinner!

Duchess Potatoes

Ingredients:

5 lbs of Yukon Gold or other yellow potato
8 egg yolks
1 stick butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs beaten with 2 tablespoons water

Method:

Cut potatoes into pieces and boil until soft
Drain really well and put on to a baking sheet then bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 mins
Place in a bowl and mash well or put through a ricer
Add the eggs and butter and cream and mix well
Add salt and pepper and taste for seasoning and adjust if you want
Let cool down then place into a pastry bag with a large flower tip ( you can get this at a kitchen store)
Pipe into small florets onto a baking sheet or two
Place into the fridge to cool
When ready preheat oven to 350 then to serve remove from fridge and brush with egg wash
Place in oven and bake for 30 mins. or until it browns.
Serve while hot. Be a winner!

Hippy Dippy California Burning Man Kale Salad with "Goddess" Dressing

So several years ago I met a group of people through my friend Stuart who attend something called the Burning Man Festival. Now for those of you, like myself, who do not know anything about Burning Man it can be summed up in one word, sandy. Well, you will see why.

According to Wikipedia:

Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event begins on the last Monday in August, and ends on the first Monday in September, which coincides with the American Labor Day holiday. The 2012 Burning Man Festival took place between August 27 and September 3. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening. The event is described as an experiment in community, art, and radical self-expression. Burning Man is organized by Black Rock City LLC.  In 2010, 51,515 people attended Burning Man. 2011 attendance was capped at 50,000 participants and the event sold out on July 24.  In April 2011, Larry Harvey announced that the organization had begun the process of transitioning management of the festival over to a new non-profit organization called the "Burning Man Project".

So what this excerpt doesn't tell you is that it's a massive community effort on the part of the people there to leave no visible footprint. That means what came in goes out. And with 50,000 people in attendance that's no small feat. It's really interesting.

Of course ultimately it's all about experience at burning man. Partying, drinking. drugs. music and art all collide in a sort of hippy spirited free living environment where social norms are challenged as free thinking takes it's summer holiday.

The event is divided into groupings called camps. Each camp has a theme and a proposed purpose. Some self involved and other open and public. There are whole camps which are focused on music, dance, and even food. One of the most interesting was one I heard about that offered showers. And then there's one that just makes bacon all day and night. Hello Bacon! I would have been there all the time. I know my burner friends are cringing.

So what does this have to do with Kale Salad. Well let me tell you. Nothing really except as a segue into talking a little about the Hippy movement of the 1960's.

Years ago when California became a hotbed of the so called Hippy Movement, it also became the home for the first serious vegetarian food movement in this country. Why, well because one of the outgrowths of this culture was an awareness of nature and naturalism as it applies to life, including what and how one eats. This led to the growth of the vegan raw and vegetarian food culture in the west and this went on to inspire California chefs in their first looks at a farm to table cooking mentality. Isn't connectivity an interesting thing.

One of the hallmarks of the early California raw, vegan, and vegetarian food trends was a heightened awareness of produce and sourcing fresh foods. Another was also the further development of the salad as a meal concept.

Of course California had led the way in pretty inventing the "Salad Meal" with the introduction of such dishes as the Cobb Salad ( introduced in LA. at the very famous Brown Derby restaurant) or the Crab Louis Salad ( which was introduced much earlier in San Francisco). Or the Caesar Salad which came out of prohibition era Tijauna Mexico, where wealthy Californians would go to escape the liquor laws.

Further in the 1950's and 60's Sunset magazine introduced the US readers to a variety of Salad meals like these. Some of which, like the Taco Salad, are so common today one would never think that it was not a known quantity everywhere in the US. all the time.

Another hallmark of the Hippy driven vegetarian food movement was a moving away from animal fat based sauces and dressings. As a result there are interesting and delicious ingredients that when used together make for very nice results. As with everything this movement moved into main stream culture in California and helped to shape California cuisine.

One such dressing that has become as famous over time as ranch dressing, especially on the west coast is something called "Goddess" dressing. The name comes from another dressing very popular in the 1960's  "Green Goddess" which is rich in dairy and not vegan. So goddess dressing was the vegan version of this using tahini (sesame paste)  as the base and incorporating other flavors to make a rich creamy satisfying dressing without the dairy.

As I continue to experiment with Kale Salads I have made my own version of this dressing. It's so good you can put it on anything. Annie's all natural products and Trader Joe's make a version of this that is really good but making it at home makes it a little better I think.

And I put together a Kale salad recipe that I think is as good as any Californian Vegan Hippy Dippy Chef would make. Maybe even a little better....but that's for you to decide. Enjoy Ya'll.

California Style Kale Salad with "Goddess" Dressing

1 bag of kale stems removed or 1 bunch kale stems removed both options cut into small pieces or ribbons
2 small carrots shredded
4 radishes sliced thinly
2 tablespoon sesame seeds white/black mixed
10 oz baby bella mushrooms quartered and lightly sauteed and cooled and drained
1/2 medium red onion finely diced
1 bunch mint leaves finely chopped
1 bunch parsley finally chopped
2 green onions diced on a bias
1/4 cup crushed parmesan croutons or toasts ( optional leave out if you want this salad gluten free)

Mix all ingredients except sesame seeds and green onion pieces in a big salad bowl and toss generously with "goddess" dressing, garnish the top with the sesame seeds and the green onions.

"Goddess Dressing"

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons Tahini paste (plain)
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
5 whole green onions chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce (if you have it)
3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons dried parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
  water as needed to thin out if desired

Place everything in a food processor and blend till smooth
Will keep covered for up to two weeks in the fridge

Southern Crab, Avocado and Basil Green Goddess Rice Salad, Summer just got better.

OK I know I know stop posting about rice Forrest! First it's that risotto dish that from the hits is not doing well in the readership polls....sorry? But now a rice salad, I mean come on this is 2013 we don't eat rice salad in the hallowed halls of foodie America anymore or the carb conscious society we live in. Well then hold on my foodie friends cause I have a whole new twist on bringing back a little life to an overlooked starch. And carbs aren't bad they just need to be eaten in moderation.

Now when I was growing up in the USA we as a country ate a lot of white rice. Probably still do. But in my house it did not make major appearances on the dinner table unless we were having Chinese food or a specific dish that screamed for it. The reason was my father had eaten so much rice growing up he never wanted to eat it that often. So other starches graced our dinner table and rice was a reserved treat.

However, generally in the South rice is something that regionally is either very widely eaten or not really eaten at all. Coastal areas in the Carolinas and Virginia as well as the Gulf states and New Orleans in particular are bastions of rice culinary prowess. I mean Mondays are red beans and rice day in New Orleans and what Carolina seafood buffet would not be graced with some flavored or dirty rice. And of course tex-mex cuisine is full of red rice dishes.

But white rice as we eat it mostly in the USA is a buttered side dish best enjoyed with salt and pepper or smothered in some kind of gravy and served along with a protein. Chicken and rice comes to mind as does  Pork Chops and onions. ( Remember the Brady Bunch and Peter's "Pork chops....and Applesauce".  Well either way it's sort of a filling side with a rather bland flavor profile.

Another somewhat forgotten way of serving rice comes from the finest luncheon parties of the ladies of the American South. Yes in the 20's 30's and up through the 1970's rice salads were a major player on menus offered during ladies auxiliary meetings all over the South. In the low country of South Carolina rice salads featuring seafoods were very prevalent. Usually lightly flavored rice with a delicate flavor was mounded on a bed of tender lettuces and topped with a choice of seafoods or shellfish and finished off with something like canned or poached asparagus or fresh tomatoes and maybe a hard boiled egg.

Well I was entertaining a few ladies the other day and decided that I would take this idea and turn it around in a modern way. So to make my rice salad I thought about flavoring the rice more and adding the seafood ( I chose to use crab) directly into the mixture.

Now also in keeping with my love of green summery foods I thought I would try and flavor the rice with a herbal dressing. But I didn't stop there, I also added something I knew would add to the creaminess of the rice with out adding oil or mayonnaise, avocado! Yes avocado and rice actually go quite well together and it certainly goes with crab.

Then instead of serving it on a bed of lettuce I thought about turning it on it's head and topping it off with some greens, fancy tomatoes and a touch of goat cheese. All in all it turned out pretty darned good. And it looked like this.

Fancy huh? Well it's actually super easy and quick. It made for a delicious warm evening dinner and had everyone very happy. So give it a try and give your dinner time a little southern seafood magic. Enjoy ya'll.

Southern Crab and Avocado and Basil Green Goddess Rice Salad

1 1/2 cups jasmine rice
3 cups either water or seafood stock flavored with some garlic powder and salt
1 can of jumbo lump crab drained
2 med avocados
about 1 1/2 cup packed basil leaves
3 garlic cloves crushed
4 tablespoons lemon juice
snow peas cut both into small pieces and longwise in half
4 green onions sliced on the bias separate the whites and greens
1/4 cup good quality olive oil
1/4 cup of water
salt and pepper
small yellow or red tomatoes sliced in half
1 cup baby arugula
crumbled goat cheese such as Cherve
Note* ( you could add finely chopped red pepper as well that would bump up the color and goes well with the crab but I didn't have any)


Method

Rinse the rice a couple of times in a strainer under cold water to remove starch ( helps rice not stick)
Add the stock or water, the garlic powder and big pinch of salt and the rice to a pot
Bring to boil and let cook about 13 to 15 mins till done remove from heat and fluff with fork.
While the rice is cooking peel and chop the avocado and place it, the basil, the green onion whites, the garlic, lemon juice into a blender
Start to blend and slowly and add olive oil in a drizzle till it becomes rich and creamy and about the consistency of sour cream. If too thick thin using the water a little at a time until you get to where you want it to be. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Add to the rice and combine. Stir in the greens of the green onion and the snow peas
Taste and season to taste
Stir in the crab gently
Check again for seasoning.

To serve use a mold and place in the center of the plate and carefully un-mold on the plate
Then top with the arugula, tomato pieces goat cheese crumbles season with maldon and drizzle a little olive and balsamic vinegar over the greens and around the plate as garnish.

Serve immediately. ( You could make the "timbals" ahead of time and using a spatula place them on the plate when ready to serve ), Enjoy Ya'll.

San Diego Farmers Market: Chicory Salad with Mushrooms, Asparagus and Radishes in a Black Truffle Lemon Vinaigrette

I feel like telling everyone about this salad for the Spring and even the Summer. It's my new favorite salad and it's a total accident that I made it. It was an attempt at using up all the wonderful fresh vegetables and salad greens that were on hand in the fridge the night I was asked to make a salad for Pizza night.

San Diego has wonderful local farms like most of California. In fact the produce is so fresh and wonderful it's no wonder that salads as a meal became a thing in California. So the CSA that my friends belong to drops off a box of veggies every Friday on the doorstep! I mean gorgeous stuff. Leeks the size of your head. Garlic chives, lettuces and greens, mushrooms and root veggies in variety and quality so fresh it's amazing! I cooked two meals while I was out there and each time had use of this wonderful produce.

So one evening, actually my last, we decided to make a salad to go along with the Pizza that we were getting from a wonderful local place known as the Hut. Yes funny! But really local fresh and delicious. So for the salad I opened the fridge and found the following ingredients. Giant white mushrooms, fresh asparagus, chicory, and red and black radishes. I loved these ingredients because they played off the earthy flavors of some and the spicy almost picante flavors of others. They created contrast and visual interest. Layers of green with soft white and brilliant red and deep black accents. I also found for the dressing lemons, california slivered roasted almonds and some wonderful walnut and Black Truffle oils. So armed with these few ingredients I made a salad that even with out any dairy ( and you know how I love cheese ) was so wonderful! I know that cause the entire bowl disappeared. That and the pizza!

Of course I can't leave out the setting for this meal. Tom and George have a pool and a table out back on a lovely concrete lanai. As well as a little sitting area and fire pit. How wonderful it was to eat great food and share great drink around such an amazing table with built in mood lighting and flickering candles and then relax around a a fire in the cool dry evening air later on. Heaven!

So here's the recipe for the salad. Enjoy it this spring when the asparagus is at it's peak and all summer while available. The colors of the veggies and sharpness of the flavors with the rich oils contrast wonderfully.  While I know it's not really original, it is delicious! And that's really the only kind of food I want to cook. You know the kind people want to eat! Enjoy Ya'll!!

Chicory Salad with Mushrooms, Asparagus and Radishes in a Black Truffle Lemon Vinaigrette

For the Salad:

2 small heads of Chicory cut into 1/4 inch chiffonade whole head chopped down to the stems
1 1/2 pounds large white mushrooms sliced
2 small bunches asparagus cooked on high in the microwave for about 5 to 7 mins each or blanched for 8 mins stove top and shocked in cold water with ice ( either method requires cold water to stop the cooking process) Then cut into 1 to 11/2 inch pieces
1 bunch of red radishes thinly sliced
2 black radishes thinly sliced ( I used a mandoline)
1/3 cup slivered roasted almonds reserve about 2 tablespoons for garnish

For Dressing:

1/4 cup Walnut oil
3 to 4 tablespoons to taste of  fresh Black truffle oil ( note* if you like truffle flavor use white truffle oil it is MUCH stronger)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix well till combined

To Serve: 

In a large bowl combine all ingredients
Add dressing and season with more salt and pepper to your taste and toss
I add a little cracked pepper on top as a garnish and sprinkle the top with remaining almonds.

New American Cooking, Smokey Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Horseradish and Sour Cream

OK. So Thanksgiving is over. But the holidays are just beginning and if you are like me you are getting ready to find a way to perk up those dinners you might be having for friends and or your family which celebrate the season.

There are all the usual suspects to be found on my Thanksgiving dinner table. The turkey, dressing (aka Stuffing), you know all the regulars, but I have an aversion to one of the mainstays of the holiday table. The sweet potato! Well, that is till this year. You may well ask why do I not enjoy the potato of sweet with it's brilliant orange color and deep sweet flavor. Eh...who knows but I guess it has to do with liking regular potatoes so much I can't imagine sweet potatoes taking their place. But as I said this year was different.

Now the sweet potato is probably one of the earliest indigenous foods that the Pilgrims took over from the Indians when they landed in the New World. Sweet potatoes were a mainstay in the Indian diet all over South, Central and North America but it would have been one of the crops that the settlers saw and tasted along with corn that they saw themselves also planting. So needless to say in the early part of the culinary history of our country the sweet potato was pretty common. Sweet potatoes are not Yams and should not be confused with them. Yams were brought to this country by Christopher Columbus to his credit, and are from Africa. It was not until the rise of the white potato that Americans crossed over into eating the sweet potato as an afterthought. Mostly popular in the American South sweet potatoes graced the tables of my family my whole life. And I never really liked them. "Healthy", "Good for You", were all phrases attached to this vegetable's name. ( tell a kid that and it's never a good thing) And for me the worse part was... they were sweet. And while I like a little dessert now and then, I have already discussed how I would rather eat a bag of doritos over a gallon of ice cream, so I definitely did not enjoy the sweet flavor aspect at all.

As an adult I have come to appreciate the sweet potato for it's place in the culinary pantheon, but I still would rather eat creamy salty buttery white mashed potatoes any day! Also while I do enjoy a traditional preparation of the sweet potato as a casserole, it is cloyingly sweet and seems to almost be a dessert. However, this Thanksgiving it was requested that I make sweet mashed potatoes. So I did. However, I decided to try them the way I have prepared white mashed potatoes before, that is with savory ingredients. And I have to say... I not only liked them, I loved them! I used sour cream as the dairy element and I used Horseradish as the flavor choice. I also used a touch of my favorite secret ingredient liquid smoke as a background flavor and a touch of honey to compliment the sweet in the sweet potatoes. They came out really well and were a huge hit during the meal. In fact two people took them home with them. So here's the recipe. maybe you can mix it up a bit this season and find a little savory in your sweet.

Smokey Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Horseradish and Sour Cream

3 pounds of sweet potatoes washed peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup dairy sour cream
1/2 jar prepared horseradish (more or less depending on the potency and your taste)
1 1/2 Tablespoons honey
1 1/2 Tablespoons salt
1 Tablespoon black pepper
4 drops to start with of liquid smoke add more after you taste the potatoes, it should be a background flavor so keep that in mind or it will end up tasting like charcoal!

Boil the sweet potatoes in highly salted water till they pierce easily with a fork about 25 mins.
Drain well and rinse again with warm water to drain off some of the excess starch
Mash roughly
Add sour cream
Mash into the potatoes
Stir in the Horseradish and the honey and season well to taste, you might want to add more salt and pepper. Add in the liquid smoke and taste, add more to your liking if necessary! Enjoy!

Easy Roasted Olive Appetizer Plate using California Ripe Olives in the Can

I love an easy appetizer. Who doesn't. But sometimes we get in a rut and pull out the same old chips and dips and cheese and crackers we always do. Well I was recently at a gathering and thought I need to do something different. Something lighter and something tasty. Olives came to mind as one options. But how to make them more interesting than getting them from the deli olive bar and opening up a tub into a bowl? You know open a can! Well that got me thinking about olives in a can.

I really only knew there were 2 kinds of olives growning up. Green oilves that came in a jar with pimentos and California Black or Ripe olives that came in a can. Kalamata oilves and all the other varieties were just not on the tip of everyone's tongue in the US. when I was a kid. I didn't learn till much later the joy of the cultivated olive. When I did discover Greek Olives I was really blown away. The flavors and the textures were all so good and slowly I relegated the canned black olive to a culinary position which included mexican foods and salad recipes which called for them.

Recently I have been on a kick to try and reinvent uses for ingredients deemed old school or passe in the more modern kitchen. I used black olives for something the other day and thought they could be more interesting. I mean how is it that olives produced in the US. have this profile flavor-wise. Well I did some research and this is what I found out.

From the California Ripe Olive Producers:

The roots of the California Ripe Olive go way back. Wild olive (scientifically known as oleaster) once grew all over the Mediterranean, southeast Asia and other areas, but this unimpressive, straggly plant bore little resemblance to the graceful modern olive tree. That is, until about 5,000 years ago when it was first cultivated in Crete and Syria into the beauty as we now know it.

Once established, olive trees flourished in Spain, Tunisia, Morocco and other Mediterranean countries for thousands of years, featured in many of the regions culinary specialties. The Spaniards were the first to realize that this fabulous fruit could have international appeal and took the first cuttings to Peru in the mid-sixteenth century.

From there, Franciscan Monks took olives to the New World and moved north through the missions of Mexico. At last, in 1769, the first olive cuttings were planted in California at the San Diego Mission. As most transplants do, they responded quite well to the California climate-sunny days, cool nights, fresh air-and they set their roots.

Surrounded by such a cooperative climate, Californian’s started planting acres upon acres of olive trees in response to the high demand for olive oil in the 1800s. Then the market became saturated (with monounsaturated oil ironically) and prices dropped. Farmers who had used all of their land for olive oil were doomed if they didn’t come up with a new plan.

A resourceful German woman named Freda Ehmann and her son, Edwin, were part of this population. Who would’ve guessed that they would soon be the ones to figure out the solution? The Ehmann’s had trees that bore little fruit and selling pressed oil was not an option. After consulting with a Berkeley professor on processing methods, Freda began experimenting with 280 gallons of olives in barrels on her back porch. Thanks to her creative dreaming and stick-to-it-ness California Ripe Olives were created right then and there.

California Ripe Olives may not be prepared on the back porch anymore (in fact, we can assure you, they are always preserved in one of two state-of-the-art facilities), but they are made through the same exact process that Freda invented. This is what makes our olives taste decidedly American. Mild, versatile and meaty, they continue to add great flavor to everything from American country cooking to a melting pot of ethnic cuisines.

Who knew right? So obviously the flavor profile of these olives make them open to being used with other flavors to create something special. 

So having been to plenty of restaurants and events where a tasty olive bowl is available all mixed up with herbs some oil nuts and maybe garlic or citrus bits for flavor, I decided to make my own. However I would use the California Ripe olive out of the can!

So I did it. It was easy and it was well received. I used pearl onions, California Roasted Almonds ( staying with the state theme) some oilve oil, some garlic slices, fennel seeds, rosemary, sea salt  and of course California Ripe oilves. Stir it up. Saute lightly on the stove top then roast for 10 mins in the oven. Yum! So give this a try and mix up your nut bowl at the next party! Enjoy Ya'll!

Roasted California Ripe Olives with Almonds Onions and Herbs

preheat oven to 425 degrees

1 can 8oz California Ripe (black) oilves

4 tablespoons olive oil

10 pearl onions ( if frozen thaw)

1 large sprig rosemary leaves chopped

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

1/4 cup roasted almonds whole

2 cloves garlic sliced thin

Sea salt

Place oil in oven proof pan and heat over medium heat

add spices and allow to bloom a few minutes

add onions and cook till a little brown on one side

add the other ingredients and stir

cook for 3 to 5 mins then place into oven for 10 mins

take out and let cool on the counter, serve with bread.

Steak salad...well a Salad that can stand up to steak

There are salads and there are salads. There was an amazing post on 101 cookbooks the blog, the other day about a yellow bean salad with a coconut dressing. Sounded delish and it inspired me to look at beans again as another source of side dishery for the summer. I make several mean green bean salads. I love them. They are lighter than a starch yet give you that feeling that you are eating something substantial. And salads are a source of summer culinary joy! But I mean there are salads that stand on their own and are an entree unto themselves, and then there are salads that are part of a collection of dishes in the summer that help to make up a feast. This post is about such a salad.

 The other day a friend brought over the most amazing rib-eye steaks ever. Aged for 30 days and so decadent. He wanted to serve it up grilled with some soft blue cheese from france melted on top and a dap of butter. Heart healthy I know! So I was to come up with some sides that would support this very ambitious red meat eating frenzy.

At first I thought I would make a potato salad and a tomato salad. This sounded pretty good. But as the evening approached and I went to the store I decided on a little something more summery. Inspired by the 101 cookbooks post I looked around the store and decided that a green bean and fresh corn salad with a warm bacon dressing and some other tasty tidbits was in the works.

Now before you scoff at this being another one of these "I love bacon things",  let me say that this salad actually came out very light. There was in fact very little dressing on it and because of the crunchy beans, corn,  onions and almonds it was hefty but not heavy. The dressing was really little more than the left over bacon drippings some red wine vinegar, some danish dill sweet mustard ( I had in the pantry) and a dash of olive oil. Believe me when I say lightly dressed yet delicious. The mustard and the dill helped a lot.

But the real tribute to this salad was that it really stood up flavor wise to the steak. And that's what's great about it. So the next time you are going to try and use some green beans, give this a try.

Haricot Vert and Fresh Corn Salad with a Warm Bacon Dressing.
make 4 to 6 servings depending on other sides

8 ounces Haricot Vert ( I used one package from the Trader Joe's Veggie Aisle)
2 ears of corn yellow sweet
2 stalks of celery finely diced
1/3 of a red onion finely diced
1/3 cup sliced almonds
3 oz slab bacon cut into lardons
1/3 cup french fried onions ( I use the fancy french ones you could use French's)
1 teaspoon pink peppercorns ( optional for garnish)

Cook beans in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes on high remove and cool
Cut beans into three segments
Cut corn off the cob
Cook the bacon slowly to release the fat. Remove leave drippings in the pan
Put all remaining ingredients into a bowl along with the beans, corn and bacon.
Toss in the dressing taste and season with S&P to taste and let stand at room temp for about an hour, or serve immediately if you want.

Dressing:

Warm the bacon drippings in the pan ( about 2 tablespoons)
Add 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoon Dill mustard ( Or mix dijon with some dill and sugar)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon water
S&P taste
Stir together over low heat till warm and mixed through, dress salad while warm.

Fresh Corn and Shrimp Salad

Every now and then I try to use the fresh ingredients that are totally seasonal and in the rawest form. This is especially true in the summertime when we have access to things being sold in their real growing season. I also have been trying to eat more fresh foods ( aka salads) in the heat wave we are having because grilling is hot!

Now being from coastal South Carolina. I have over time and upon reflection recognized that people down there are slightly Shrimp obsessed. I mean it's clear why. Shrimp are fresh and local and Shrimp are good eats. In any form fried, boiled, poached, bbq'ed, roasted, hot or cold Shrimp are good! They are also a great summer warm weather protein. Light and fresh they go well with the "it's too hot out to eat a big meal" mentality. I mean your could consume a pound of peel and eat shrimp and still have room for that burger right...but I digress.

So this summer for some reason I have also returned to my memory of eating fresh corn. I mean it's a memory because I only remember it as a small boy in the summer at my Big Mama's house. Corn right  out of the garden and right off the cob, blanched for a hot second and served up at the table with lots of butter and salt and pepper. Yum! It was amazing. So this summer I thought why not return to that goodness. And so I have, serving up a corn salad which I wanted to pair up with a seafood as an entree salad for a rooftop meal. I choose shrimp because they are so easy breezy cover girl to throw into anything right out of the freezer bag. Just thaw, de-tail and go! But I suppose you could use just about any seafood/shellfish.

The point is the corn salad is nice and crunchy and fresh. I mean it's not even cooked!
The seafood you could leave out and no one would miss it. In fact I made this again the other day and left out the tomatoes and the seafood and it was amazingly good! So eat a little corn Ya'll it's good!

Fresh Corn Salad with Herbs ( Shrimp and tomatoes optional)

Feeds 4 to 5 as a side dish

6 large ears of freshest corn cut right off the cob
1/2 small red onion finely diced
5 scallions chopped including whites
12 basil leaves chiffonade
1/4 cup of fresh chopped parsley

Dressing:

1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayo
4 tablespoons tarragon vinegar ( use cider if you don't have )
1 bunch of chives
1/2 cup parsley
4 tablespoons milk plus more added only if too thick in the blender
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Place everything in a blender and puree till smooth.

Mix dressing with the corn and other ingredients till lightly dressed and serve right away. Or chill in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight for a more marinated flavor.

Additions:

Add chopped multi-colored cherry tomatoes and some heart of palm sliced also some peel and eat shrimp for an entree salad.

Shrimp and Fresh Corn and Herbs Salad

Sweet Corn Pesto Pasta (Italy and the American South collide!)

One of the great joys of growing up in the South and in a Southern family was that no matter where we might have been geographically,  my father made sure that several activities were a part of us where ever we would go. These included Church going, gardening, and an evening meal together. Because of that we also had several food items nearly always present with us. For instance tomatoes were grown in the house gardens, which we always built when we moved in. Those along with squash and zucchini and a few other random veggies. Summer time always meant tomato and onion sandwiches with mayo and black pepper, corn on the cob, and weeding! I can also remember visiting my uncle's garden where corn came right out of the field and onto the table. It was so tasty.  As a family we enjoyed our corn in a lot of ways during the year in our family from fresh to the creamed stuff in a can. But  to this day sweet summer corn was one of those things that really reminds me of family eating  that only came around in the summer time.

The other part of this pasta story ( which has nothing to do with corn)  is that I am wary of making pasta dishes in general. Yes wary!  Partly because I live in New York City, where one can access amazing or at least really good pasta very easily. And partly that one of my best friends in the entire world Angelo Musco is from Italy. And if you know an Italian, you know how picky they are about their pasta. You see several years ago I met Angelo through a dancer friend of mine here in New York. Well we hit it off quite well and he was voted the new best friend of 2002. And here we are 10 years later and he is still a major influence in my life and one of the most driven, intensely talented people I have ever met. That and one of the most willing to share his view of life and world, especially of food! And when I score with a dish, I get raves from him! You can see his work at his web page if you are interested at,  AngeloMusco.com. It is stark and rich, physical and spiritual, dark and vibrant  full of contrast and ultimately very fully human, which is what speaks to me.

Well Angelo has cooked and exposed my palette to a variety of amazing pasta dishes in the last 10 years. There was mushroom pastas, lemon pasta, spicy red sauces and white sauces, oil sauces even bacon sauces. There were noodles thin and noodles fat and wide. Let's just say it's been an education. But regardless of the sauce or pasta type, they were all super yummy! Which brings me to my issue. If I make pasta for this particular friend it either has to be really good or it has to be something he would never cook! So when I did the bow tie pasta with sundried tomato and black pepper cream sauce entry which you can see at http://cookforrestcook.blogspot.com/2012/02/bow-tie-pasta-with-bacon-sundried.html  I knew I had a winner cause Angelo would never cook this. And it got rave reviews!

So after hearing about a corn based sauce for pasta I was really intrigued. I mean something as Southern as corn in a sauce for pasta could potentially be an awesome thing. So I did a little research and found that this idea for a corn pesto was already out there. Not a lot of recipes but enough to make me think, well maybe I should try this. In fact one of the reasons I tried it was that people compared it to carbonara but a lighter summer version. So I did try it and let me tell you the results were nothing short of delicious. The corn cooks into an amazing sauce which you would swear has cream in it but it is really just the sweet fresh corn pureed down into a silken starchy sauce. So without further adieu I give you Sweet Corn Pasta Pesto. Enjoy ya'll.

   Corn Pesto and Bacon Pasta


  what you need:

• 4 slices thick bacon, cut into lardons
• 4 cups fresh corn kernels from about 6 ears
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 pound taglietelle, fettucini, or other pasta ( I think bow tie would work well too)
• 3/4 cup slivered basil leaves

            Method:

• 1.   In a large skillet, cook the bacon pieces over medium-low heat until chewy and beginning to crisp and the fat has rendered into the pan, about 10 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

        Add the corn and garlic to the skillet and toss to coat in the fat. Add a couple pinches of salt and pepper and cook until the corn is just tender, about 5 minutes. Reserve 3/4 cup of corn, then scrape the rest into a food processor. Add the pine nuts and Parmesan and pulse to combine. Add the olive oil with the machine running and blend until almost smooth. Add some of the cooking water right before the pasta finishes cooking and pulse to smooth it.

        In the meantime, bring a pot of salty water to boil and cook the pasta until al dente. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the pasta cooking water before draining.
  2.    In a large skillet, combine the cooked pasta, corn pesto, reserved corn, most of the basil, and 3/4 of the bacon. Over low heat, toss to combine, adding some of the reserved pasta cooking water until the sauce comes together and coats all the noodles. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  3.    Divide the pasta among bowls and top with remaining basil, bacon, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and pepper if desired. Serve immediately. It's really good!

Better than Hillstone's Loaded Potato, Super Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes with Attitude

As many of you who are reading this know I have a slight compulsion with starch. I mean I love it! It's the glue that ties all meals together. It's a safe bet to assume that where there's starch there's flavor. Which is what brings me to today's entry.

Another slight obsession of mine is dining at the Hillstone ( aka Houston's) restaurant chains. Not obsession, just a preference perhaps, but my love of their food, service and atmosphere is shared by many. They have in their repertoire an astoundingly good baked potato. Perfectly prepared and served up "loaded" with butter, sour cream, bacon, white vermont cheddar cheese, and scallions. Amazing. In fact I recently took a friend there and he commented that it might be the best baked potato he had ever had. This may be true for me as well. It is first off HUGE! Then perfectly baked, and perfectly topped and they give you double toppings if you want! Cause that's heathy! Well OK it's not but it sure as shooting is good once and awhile.

                                                  Loaded Potato at Hillstone in NYC


Well you know I like to take things a bit further than they are done elsewhere. So on with the story.

In my travels I came across the twice baked potato which was brought to my attention at a young age while eating at an Naval Officers Club in Hawaii (story for another day) and I thought it was the best idea in the world! Well, these potatoes were baked split in half and then stuffed with their loaded mashed insides and baked covered in cheese. Wow, were they were good. I have over the course of time made twice baked potatoes many times before. And I have always halved them like with the blue cheese stuffed baked potatoes I blogged about in an earlier entry.

However, the other day it occurred to me it might be tasty to serve them up stuffed but the whole thing, like a double stuffed loaded potato. So that's what I did. Taking the whole potato I baked it, spilt it open, scooped out the flesh, mashed it with all the "loaded" toppings, re-stuffed the potato and served it with a sprinkle of cheese and more scallions for color. And can I tell you it was da Bomb! So good.

So this Summer when you are serving up baked potatoes with your grilled deliciousness, try these decadent beauties. Enjoy Ya'll!!

Forrest's Double Stuffed Jacket Potatoes

4 giant Idaho Baking potatoes
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup non fat greek yogurt
1/2 cup dairy sour cream plus 1/2 cup for garnish reserved
4 tablespoons chopped bacon
1 cup shredded white extra sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded extra sharp yellow cheddar cheese
Salt and Pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 cup chopped green onion
plus 1/4 cup for garnish
2 teaspoons veg. oil
Sea course salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Wash and scrub potatoes till clean
Rub with the oil and sprinkle with the sea salt
Pierce with a folk several times
Place potatoes on a foil lined baking sheet
Bake in the oven for 50 to 60 mins until soft when pierce by a fork
Turn down oven to 300
Remove and cool
Once cool enough sliced the potato's very top off exposing the flesh inside.
Carefully scoop out the insides being careful not to break the skin
Mash the potato with all the remaining ingredients except for the garnish items ( yellow cheese and extra green onions)
Carefully re-stuff each potato till flowing over and puffed out on the top
Replace potatoes on a foil lined baking sheet
Bake for about 25 mins till warmed through
Remove sprinkle with the remaining  sour cream, yellow cheese and green onion, enjoy!!

Dirty Martini Salad a Salty Indulgence for the Summer!!

OK. I know that salt is both a boone and a bane to modern man. I mean salt has preserved, flavored and finished foods for centuries. Our bodies need it to function. But too much of it is a bad thing, especially nowadays with so much added salt added to everything we eat in this country. And yet still I love a good salty indulgence. It's that part of me that will always favor a salty snack over a sweet one.

I have had the opportunity over the last several years to go out to folks houses and prepare some great summer meals for them. This summer will prove to be the same I hope. I also come up with special recipes for entertaining during the summer on my roof deck. It's so awesome to be up there in the summer when my neighbors are not. And they rarely use the buildings roof, ah well more for me!

Two years ago I was invited out to Jersey to my friends John and Mike's house for a impromptu cookout. John asked me if I could bring a salad. I of course said yes. But time go the better of me that weekend with work being busy and Sunday morning I found myself looking at a bus trip in an hour and nothing prepared of even really though through. So I did what I always do, I looked in the fridge to see what I had on hand. After observing the goods, lettuce, green olives, red onion, and blue cheese, I came up with a crazy idea. I had been making martini's the night before for a client and it dawned on me then that I love to eat the marinaded blue cheese stuffed olives while I am drinking my Martini. The salty bomb of flavor just is so satisfying, even as the martini with it's bitter edge and sweet undertones strikes a contrast with the salty pungnet flavor of the olives and is in a word...divine.

So I thought about how I would make this flavor combination come to life in a salad. And it struck me, just mix all the elements into the salad and add a few things to give it texture and contrast and how could that be bad. So that's what I did. I chiffonaded the greens and I chopped the olives. I made a dressing out of sour cream blue cheese and vermouth with a little bit of spices, olive juice and vinegar. I added both chopped red onion and French Fried Onions form the can for spice and I crushed up some Parmesan Crisps I had into little chards to add crunch. It all came together beautifully and I had people asking for the recipe at the end of the afternoon.

So I give you this recipe for your summer party time. Shaken or stirred it's a winner! Enjoy Ya'll

Forrest's Dirty Martini Salad

2 Hearts of Romaine lettuce chopped into chiffonade
1 head of tuscan or black kale ribs removed and chopped into fine chiffonade
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 table spoon water
sprinkle of salt
8 oz blue cheese crumbled
1 carton on dairy sour cream
3 tablespoon olive juice from the jar
2 tablespoon vermouth (dry)
2 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon powdered garlic
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup water
1 small jar of green stuffed olives chopped into slices
1 large can French's brand french fried onion pieces ( 1/4 cup held in reserve for garnish)
1 small red onion chopped
1 package Eli's brand parmesan crisps slightly crushed into bite sized chards

In a bowl add chopped kale lemon juice and 1 tablespoon water and a dash of salt, toss and let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes

In a mixing bowl add the next 7 seven ingredients and whisk to combine and dilute with the water a little bit at a time till your dressing had you desired consistency. ( mine is runny but lumpy)

To serve: Add lettuce and kale to a large mixing or salad bowl
Add the olives, both kinds of onion and the parmesan crisps
Add dressing to taste and toss till well coated. Top with freshly ground pepper and reserved french fried onion pieces. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving's Summer Vegetable Casserole Cousin

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I mean go figure. It's in the fall when the seasons have turned and the chill in the air is whispering that the holiday season is near. It's a historical holiday which has it's roots in the story of the Pilgrims and their struggle to find a home here in the new world. And it's a blow out crazy foodie fest day of unrivaled proportions! A day of feasting and celebrating the bounty of the world and the graces given to us. It is a spiritual moment in which we reflect upon all that we have and all that we should be grateful for. It is in short a perfect holiday!

Now many dishes are well known as part of the Thanksgiving menu landscape. Mashed Potatoes, Green bean casserole, Sweet Potatoes glazed or mashed and swirled with bourbon and brown sugar, and of course the Bird are all dishes which we have come to expect in one form or another on the groaning board of our feasting holiday tablescape. These dishes especially the vegetable side dishes are the normally the favorite dishes in both cooks arsenals and in eaters menu choices. I mean who doesn't love Green bean Casserole! Well, there are some. However, many have now tried to reimagine the famous casserole taking it to new and interesting places and new taste and texture and ingredient frontiers.

Which brings us to the dish at hand. What does summer yellow squash casserole have to do with Thanksgiving you might ask. Well in the South it is sometimes served along with other vegetable casseroles as one of the holiday evenings feasting dishes. Indeed I have it every Christmas Eve at my Aunt Beverly's house! However, it is not where I first encountered it. No it was in the summer time in South Carolina on my Big Mama's lunch table. Warm, bubbly, buttery and full of fresh summer squash goodness! My oh My! Was it ever good. It was served with  steamed fresh beans or corn  and sometimes it was maybe the only other thing on the table that was warm. Served along green beans and a platter of sliced ham,  with fresh slices of big ruby juicy tomatoes and cornbread and butter, this casserole was wonderful.

Yellow Crooked Neck Squash or the Yellow Summer Squash are southern vegetable favorites. Easy to grown and voluminous in the amount of food the plants yield it is normal in my mind that along with zucchini it is a staple of the summer table. Vegetables are a huge part of the traditional Southern diet. Something we don't normally acknowledge when we think about Southern food. But even the "Meat n Three" served up at old school Southern restaurants or diners it tribute to how important vegetables were in the traditional Southern diet. Now one must admit that the old school manner in which many of these vegetables were prepared ( i.e. boiled to death)  was not the best preparation. but they were a major part of the diet. Back when "Mac n Cheese" was not a vegetable, as it is often joked about being today in the South.  Squash Casserole is one of those in between dishes. It has many incarnations and it has many varied ingredients but the key is the things that go into it must elevate the lowly squash to culinary nirvana. In short it's a favor bomb born of butter and fat! Yeah Vegetables!

Today's recipe is certainly not one of those newly redone modern takes on vegetables. Oh no! However, as part of a meal balanced with fresh or freshly prepared foods it takes it place as the succulent side dish of the Summer table. It is in short the fatty, yummy dish that while it could, in it's goodness, grace the Thanksgiving Table. It remains a staple of the Summer when fresh vegetables are the center of the table's focus and the bounty of the garden is the fodder of the kitchen's counter. So when you are preparing your summer meals give it a try. It could not be easier and as part of a balanced menu it is that side that indulges that part of us which wants Thanksgiving everyday, even in the middle of the Summer! Enjoy Ya'll

Squash Casserole ala Renee ( Old Family Recipe)

1 pound yellow crookneck squash, cooked and mashed
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup grated extra sharp cheese
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 egg, beaten
1 stick butter, melted
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

Combine squash, onion, cheese, sugar, salt, pepper, mayonnaise and egg in a large mixing bowl. Stir to mix well. Pour into a greased 2 quart baking dish or 6 individual baking dishes.

Combine melted butter and crushed Ritz crackers in a medium size mixing bowl. Stir with a fork to combine.

Sprinkle cracker mixture over casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool a few minutes before serving, Enjoy!

Between Soup and Side...French Onion Casserole

When I was in college I lived with some very interesting folks. You see I attended JMU or James Madison University in the late 80's and I had a very interesting time there. You see the town where JMU was located, Harrisonburg, was rather...well small. In every sense of the word. It has since grown and expanded and the University I went to is hardly recognizable any longer it's gotten so large. But trust me when I say it was not the intellectual or cultural mecca I had thought college should be, nor was it located in a town which fostered say...anything beyond the Baptist church.

However, Harrisonburg or "the Burg" as we called it had pockets of interesting and free thinking people. It was just hard to find them. Of course I was always on the search for them. I found them in the Music and Art departments and I found them in the school of hospitality. Creativity comes in many forms and across many disciplines.

 One of my friends Stevie in college was very creative. She had a knack for making up foods that were representations of themselves but not really the dish itself. She was from rural southern Virginia and had grown up eating very limited foods. In college she learned to experiment with both art and food! For example she loved to make casseroles. She loved to make casseroles out of dishes that were not casseroles at all. For example she would take sandwiches like a reuben and make a casserole out of it with corned beef and sour kraut and rye bread and cheese and somehow make a sauce and put it all together and bake it and voila! Casserole Rueben!

Well one day she challenged me to make a casserole out of whatever was in the fridge at the time. There were onions and swiss cheese and parmesan cheese. I also had beef stock and croutons. So I made soup...sort of. And this is how this recipe first came into being. It's not really a main dish casserole I will admit but as a side to pan roasted chicken thighs it can't be beat. It's got all the elements of the classic French onion soup but placed in another form, hence casserole. Give it a try, I am sure you will like it! Enjoy!!

Forrest's French Onion Casserole:
makes four servings

5 to 6 Medium Onions sliced
3 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of flour
1/2 cup Beef Broth
1/4 cup Sherry ( always have sherry on hand in the house)
S&P
1 1/4 cups garlic flavored salad coutons
4 tablespoons butter melted
1 cup Shredded Swiss Cheese
1/3 cup Shredded Parmesan

Method:


Saute onions in butter till they start to turn a lovely golden color
Add in the flour and stir in the beef broth.
Add sherry and season to taste with the salt and pepper
Melt the 4 tablespoons of butter and toss with the croutons
Place into a oven proof pan and top with the croutons
Sprinkle with the cheeses and place under a broiler until the cheese melts
About 2 mins don't brown too long or the croutons may become hard and chewy
Serve as a side dish