I daydream a lot about cooking during the week, especially when I’m on the train. Its rhythmic click-clack, the morning fog, and a warm cup of coffee are just the right combination for daydreaming about things I want to cook. During the week not so many of those dreams become reality, but during the weekend I break out of my daydreams and actually head into the kitchen.

Last week Elizabeth David’s book Italian Cooking kept me company on my train rides to and from work. Ms. David is one of my favorite food writers of all time. Eloquent, elegant, humble, and humorous are all words I would use to describe her writings. Her recipes are less like instructions and more like suggestions. I’ve made quite a few things from her various cookbooks over the years, and I find they turn out best not when you follow her words and ingredient lists exactly, but rather when you use it as a starting point and utilize your own knowledge and creativity to complete the dish.

Her Polpettone recipe (Italian meatloaf stuffed with hard boiled eggs and cheese) is no different. I have an odd love of loaves of meat, and typically turn to Paul Prudhomme’s cajun meatloaf whenever the craving strikes. Moist, spicy, and with a wonderful texture, I am not sure it can be improved upon (except by using rolled oats rather than breadcrumbs — a personal preference that results in a more tender meatloaf). So, when I decided to make Ms. David’s Italian meatloaf, I fused her suggestions with Prudhomme’s technique, and added spices and other ingredients as I saw fit. The result? Fantastic! Don’t get me wrong, I am not abandoning my beloved cajun meatloaf, but this Italian version is different enough that I can definitely make space for both in my repertoire.

Polpettone: Italian Stuffed Meatloaf
Inspired by Elizabeth David

olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 t. salt
1 t. black pepper
1/2 t. white pepper
1 t. dried sage
1 t. dried marjoram
1 t. dried oregano
1/4 c. catsup
1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. chopped parsley

4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 c. rolled oats
2/3 c. bread crumbs or stuffing mix
1 1/2 lbs ground beef (15% fat or higher is best)
1/2 lb ground pork

2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
2 oz. ham, minced
3 oz. grated provolone

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare vegetable mixture:
Heat about 2 T. olive oil in a large saute pan.  Add onions and saute until softened.  Add the carrot, saute for another minute, then add the garlic and red bell pepper.  Saute the mixture until vegetables are softened, about 3 minutes longer.  Add salt, black pepper, white pepper, sage, marjoram, and oregano, mix well, and saute another minute or two.  Add catsup and milk, mix well, and cook for about 3-4 minutes until mixture starts sticking to the pan.  Remove from heat, fold in the chopped parsley, and set aside to cool.

Prepare meat mixture:
Mix the raw eggs, oats, bread crumbs, beef, and pork in a large bowl.  Using your hands, mix until everything is well amalgamated.  Add the cooled vegetable mixture, and combine well with your hands.  Divide the mixture into two roughly equal parts.

Shape the loaf:
In a 9×13 glass pan shape half the meat mixture into a flat loaf about 6 inches wide, 12 inches long, and about an inch high.  Sprinkle the hard boiled eggs, ham, and provolone evenly over the meatloaf, leaving about a 1/2 -1 inch border at the sides.  Now working with the other half of the meat mixture, take small handfuls, flatten it between your hands, and place atop egg mixture, creating ‘patches’  of meat to enclose the filling.  Take care to enclose the sides with meat mixture so no eggs or cheese will leak out.  Once you’ve used up all the meat mixture, smooth with your hands to make a compact, neat loaf.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, then raise heat to 425 and continue to bake until meatloaf is done, about 35 minutes longer.  Allow to stand for 10 minutes after removing from oven.  Slice into 1-2 inch pieces, and enjoy!  Serve on its own or with some spicy tomato sauce alongside.

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Yesterday I inaugurated my new canning equipment — a huge 12 quart stockpot, a canning funnel, a magnetic lid lifter, and a bright red rubber coated jar lifter.  Joy!  Granted, I actually received most of this for Christmas last year, but since I didn’t envision myself doing much canning in Germany, I packed everything away in storage and forgot about it for a year.

But, now I am back in San Francisco and getting settled into ‘life as normal’, whatever that means.  One of the things that signifies ‘life as normal’ is being settled enough that I feel like embarking on culinary adventures.  Homemade tofu, jelly, pickles, sauerkraut, tempeh, and sausage are the sorts of things I am talking about here — things you can easily buy at the grocery store, but sometimes are just fun to make from scratch because 1) seeing the process is interesting, and 2) the results are often more unique and flavorful than their store bought counterparts.  When things are up in the air or unsettled, the farthest thing from my mind is making something like tofu from scratch, but I can tell when I have finally settled in somewhere because I typically develop the urge to make sausage, pickle something, or cook up some marmalade.

Such is the case now… finally!  sigh of relief that our move is over…

This recipe is adapted from Christine Ferber’s beautiful and imaginative book, Mes Confitures.  Divided by season, this volume focused entirely on unusual preserves and jellies is the jam maker’s dream.  There are SO many things I want to try out of here.  Judging from the fantastic results of my first foray into her book, I expect great things from her other recipes.  A few of the standouts that I plan to make are: Pineapple with Vanilla and Rosemary, Banana with Bittersweet Chocolate, Clementine with Lemon and Cinnamon, Kumquat with Apple and Grapefruit, and Praline Milk Jam to name a very few (and these are just from the ‘Winter’ section!).

This both is and is not a great book for beginners — to me it feels a little like reading through a grandmother’s notes — scant detail, few instructions regarding proper sterilization methods, no tips on how to tell when the jam is set, etc.– but on the other hand it has so many wonderful and imaginative recipes that are sure to inspire the beginning preserver.  Also, there is no packaged pectin to be found in any of her recipes!  For low pectin fruits, Ms. Ferber calls for the addition of green apples or pectin-rich homemade Green Apple Jelly.  I really like this aspect of the book, as I have always felt a little put off by those strange little packages of powdered pectin one buys at the grocery store.  Call me crazy and old-fashioned, but they just don’t feel natural to me.  Her approach is truly ‘from scratch’, and instead of being daunting, I think it actually demystifies the whole process of making preserves (i.e. no magic powders…)

Anyhow, these preserves of orange, pomelo, lemon, and ginger are a wonderful mixture of sweet, bitter, sour, and spicy.  So far my favorite thing to do with it is stir it into plain yogurt.  It’s also tasty on toast or stirred into oatmeal.  Ms. Ferber recommends mixing these preserves into fromage blanc, which I am sure would be delicious as well.  As with so many things, the final result depends heavily on the quality of the ingredients you use.  Citrus is in prime season right now, so try to buy the ingredients at your local farmer’s market.  You will get fruit that is flavorful, perfectly ripe, and truly in season.

Do you make preserves? do you have any favorite recipes?  I’d love to hear them.

Essential ingredients: citrus and sugar

Bring mixture to a boil, then refrigerate several hours

Notice the foamy bubbles — these preserves are not set  yet

See how the bubbles have changed? They are less foamy now.  These preserves are nearly set (set point is ~220 degrees F)

Orange, Pomelo, Lemon and Ginger Preserves
Adapted from Christine Ferber’s Mes Confitures
makes a scant 6 cups

1 3/4 lb oranges (800 g), or 1 lb 2 oz (500g) net (cara-cara oranges are delicious here)
2 lb pomelos, or 1 lb 2 oz (500g) net (or substitute grapefruits to follow Ms. Ferber’s original recipe)
2 lemons
3 3/4 c. (800 g) sugar
11 oz (300g) candied ginger, finely chopped

Peel the oranges and pomelo, removing all the white with the rind.  Slice the fruit into rounds a little less than 1/2 inch thick.  Remove the seeds and cut the slices into quarters.  Rinse and brush the lemons under cold water and cut them in very thin slices, removing the seeds as you go.  In a preserving pan (5 qt is a good size), combine the citrus fruits, sugar, and ginger.  Bring to a simmer, then turn the preparation into a bowl.  Cover with a round of parchment paper and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Pour the mixture into a preserving pan and bring to a boil, stirring gently.  Skim and continue cooking on high heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring continuously.  Check the set.  Put the jam into jars immediately and seal.

This post is part of Food Renegade‘s Fight Back Fridays!

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Three Infused Vodkas: Persimmon, Lemon, and Pear/Ginger

- Wild Elderberry Preserves with Honey and Almond

- Lacinto Kale with Lemon and Candied Ginger

I read cookbooks to relax.  There is no better way for me to unwind than to read a recipe, imagine the finished dish, and consider when I might possibly try my hand at making it.  I go in phases — I rotate between 2-4 cookbooks within a theme for a month or two, then move onto another set of books on a different topic.  For a while I might read about sausage/charcuterie/meat, then move onto indian cooking for a month, then start on simple vegetable preparations for a bit, then head towards bbq for a while, which might then bring me back to sausages and meats.

As of late, my interest has been french cooking.  Old style french cooking, more accurately.  It started after Steven and I went to southern france for a week in late May.  Since then I have been cycling through Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking, Richard Olney’s Simple French Food and The French Menu Cookbook, and Jane Grigson’s Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery, all of which were originally published more than 35 years ago (1960, 1974, 1970, and 1964 respectively).  Simple French Food is emerging as my favorite due to the multitude of not-too-difficult, yet elegant vegetable preparations; with its charcuterie and sausage themes, Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery is coming in a close second.

This delicious chicken preparation, however, is not from any of these four books.  Instead, it is based on a recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking (which I do not own yet… I am waiting to get back to SF and buy it from Omnivore Books).  It’s a lovely preparation, and not too difficult at all.  The sauce couldn’t be simpler, and the only chopping involved is cutting up 2 T. of fresh basil.  The result is a moist, flavorful dish with a rich eggy sauce that looks beautiful on the plate.  I served it alongside a zucchini and chard gratin (recipe coming soon), a simple green salad, a warm sesame-topped roll, and a glass of not-too-sweet Hungarian Riesling that we picked up on a recent trip to Budapest.  A feast!

Do you have any favorite french cookbooks? old, modern, or otherwise?

Poulet Sauté Aux Herbes de Provence
adapted from Julia Child’s recipe at Epicurious

Chicken:
1/2 c. butter (or goose fat, if you have it)
1 3 – 3 1/2 lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces (or an assortment of chicken pieces, all legs etc)
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. dried basil
1/4 t. fennel seeds, ground in a spice grinder
3 unpeeled garlic cloves
1/2 c. dry white vermouth ( or 2/3 c. dry white wine)

Sauce:
2 large egg yolks
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. vermouth or dry white wine
2 T. chopped fresh basil

Chicken:
Melt butter in a large wide pot over medium high heat.  Working in batches, if necessary, add chicken pieces and cook until golden, turning occasionally, about 8 minutes per batch.  Once all chicken has been sauteed, transfer chicken breast pieces to a plate, and return all other pieces to the pot.  Sprinkle about 2/3 to 3/4 of the thyme, basil, and fennel over the chicken in the pot, and the remaining spices over the breast pieces.  Season all pieces with salt and pepper.  Add garlic to the pot.  Cover pot, reduce heat to medium, and cook 8 to 9 minutes.  Return breast pieces to pot, then baste chicken with butter in pot.  Cover and cook until chicken is cooked through, turning and basting occasionally, about 15 minutes.  Transfer chicken to a platter, and cover.

Remove peel from garlic, then mash the cloves in the pot.  Add vermouth or wine, then boil until reduced to about 3/4 c., occasionally scraping the bottom of the pan.  Pour the pan juices into a measuring cup and reserve for sauce.

Sauce:
Off heat, whisk egg yolks in heavy small saucepan until beginning to thicken.  Whisk in lemon juice and vermouth or wine.  Gradually whisk reserved pan juices into eggs, a small bit at a time.  Set sauce over a very low heat and whisk constantly until warm and slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes.  Remove from heat, stir in basil, and season with salt and pepper.  Spoon chicken over sauce and serve.  Enjoy!

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I have been craving some serious American food as of late.   A week ago I had the overwhelming urge to make meatloaf.  Then it was chili.  Then it was deviled eggs.  This past weekend I was dying for pulled pork + coleslaw + eastern north carolina bbq sauce.  Today the craving was shrimp louis salad with thousand island dressing…

Reality check, reality check… no, this isn’t the 1960′s…  I actually *like* Louis salads — shrimp, crab, lobster — let me have it!

In german grocery stores there is something that *vaguely* resembles thousand island dressing called (embarrassingly) “American” dressing.  It has the same pale orange color, but the similarities end there.  When I think of Thousand Island dressing, I think of something tasty but with mixed connotations — perhaps bourgeois, perhaps unsophisticated, but still rich and well flavored.  It should be thick and creamy, a little pickle-y, a bit tomato-y, rich but not overly so, a little spicy, even a little sour…  This “American” dressing in the grocery store just wouldn’t cut it, so I decided to make my own, which was a good decision indeed.

Made with ingredients that are typically on-hand, this is a great dinner for a night when you don’t really feel like cooking.  It helps if you have some hard boiled eggs ready and some already cooked bacon, but by nature, this is am improvised salad.  If you don’t have any bacon on hand and don’t feel like cooking it, then don’t bother.  It’s still good (though of course, everything is better with bacon:) )  Same with the eggs, and with any of the toppings. Make due with what you have — I am sure you won’t be disappointed.

Shrimp Louis with Homemade Thousand Island
Serves 2

Thousand Island Dressing:
1 1/4 c. mayonnaise
1/3 c. chili sauce (something with some sweetness and not *too* spicy)
1/4 c. roasted red pepper, finely chopped
1 large hard-boiled egg, finely chopped
3 T. cornichons (or regular dill pickles), finely chopped
2 T. smooth dijon mustard
2 T. capers, finely chopped
2 T. green onions, finely chopped
salt and pepper
20-40 dashes hot pepper sauce (Tabasco, etc. to taste)

Salad:
8 large leaves romaine lettuce, cut into ribbons, approximately 6 c. total
2-3 T. cilantro, chopped
2/3 lb. cooked, shelled shrimp (about 15-20)
4 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 a small persian cucumber, cut into bite sized pieces
10 pimento stuffed green olives
1 hard boiled egg, cut into wedges
6 slices cooked bacon

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl. Season to taste.

In a large bowl combine the lettuce and cilantro. Add 4-6 T. of dressing, and toss until well coated. Add more dressing if the salad looks dry.

Divide lettuce mixture on two plates. Artfully arrange shrimp, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, and egg on top of salad. Top with bacon slices. Serve with a small amount of dressing on the side, if desired. Enjoy!

**Note: There will be leftover dressing

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Mint and Parsley Salad with Persian Cucumbers

- Simple Basil Buttermilk Salad Dressing

- Deviled Eggs

Oven Baked French Onion Soup
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated January/February 2008

Soup
3 T. unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
6 large yellow onions (about 4 lbs), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4 inch thick slices
2 cups water, plus extra for deglazing
1/2 c. madeira
6 cups mixed beef and chicken stock (I used 4 c. beef stock plus 2 c. chicken, though the original recipe calls for 4 c. chicken stock plus 2 c. beef stock)
6 sprigs fresh time, tied with kitchen twine
1 bay leaf
Ground black pepper

Cheese Croutons
1 small baguette, cut on bias into 1/2 inch slices
8 oz Comte or Gruyere, shredded (about 2 1/2 cups)

1.  For the Soup:  Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees.  Generously oil the inside of a large dutch oven (5 qts or larger).  Place butter in pot and add onion and 1 teaspoon salt.  Cook, covered, 1 hour.  Remove pot from oven and stir onions, scraping bottom and sides of pot.  Return pot to oven with lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring after 1 hour.

2.  Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat.  Using oven mitts to handle pot,  cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until liquid evaporates and onions brown, 15-20 minutes, reducing heat to medium if onions are browning too quickly.  Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until pot bottom is coated with dark crust, 6-8 minutes, adjusting heat as necessary.  Watch the pan closely, as a golden crust can turn into a blackened charred mess easier than one might think!  Stir in 1/4 c. water, scraping pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6-8 minutes.  Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times until onions are very dark brown.  Stir in madeira and cook, stirring frequently, until madeira evaporates, about 5 minutes.

3.  Stir in broths, 2 cups water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 t. salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot.  increase heat to high and bring to simmer.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for at least 30 more minutes, and up to an hour.  Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

4.  For the Croutons:  While soup simmers, arrange baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet, and bake in a 400 degree oven until bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes.  Set aside.

5. To Serve:  Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler.  Set individual crocks or ramekins on a baking sheet and fill with hot soup.  Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with cheese.  Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, about 3-4 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A few weeks ago on the same France trip that introduced me to Feves au Lard Fume, Steven and I met up with his Aunt and Uncle in the northern foothills of the Pyrenees.  After not having seen each other for almost a year, we first covered the basic “what have you been up to?” questions on both sides.  The conversation soon turned to food, as it often does when food lovers are involved, and Jane started telling me about the most delicious french onion soup she had ever tasted.  ‘It’s baked in the oven’, she said, ‘it takes four or five hours’, she said, ‘it’s the best french onion soup you’ll ever taste’, she said…  I was absolutely intrigued.

Soon after returning home, Jane sent me the recipe she had been talking about.  I made it the following weekend (how could I not, with all of the build-up?)…

The onions cook ever so slowly in the oven until tender and sweet, then are subjected to not one, not two, but three deglazes!  A little madeira and the stock is added, then the whole thing is simmered slowly for another hour or so to blend the flavors further.  The rich flavorful soup, topped with homemade croutons and gooey melted cheese, is gastronomically stunning.

Granted, like nearly all soups, this one improves in flavor if aged for a day or so.  But, unlike many soups, this one is fantastic straight out of the pot as soon as it’s made.  The long, slow cooking creates something delicate, complex, round, and toothsome.  I officially agree with Jane — it’s the best onion soup I’ve ever tasted.

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Desperado Onion Soup

- Nettle Soup

- Flammkuchen (Onion, Bacon, and Creme Fraiche Tart)

When I try to explain what tempeh is to a person who isn’t familiar with it, it never ends up sounding very appetizing… well, it’s cooked, hulled soybeans that have been mixed with a special mold spore and incubated for about 24 hours until a thick layer of white mold grows throughout the beans.

Yummm…… moldy soybeans……

I swear though, tempeh is actually very delicious — a little nutty, chewy in a great way, mild but with a unique earthy flavor — I love it and eat it at least a few times a month.

I used to make the mistake that I am sure many people make when first making tempeh — not steaming the tempeh before using it.  Typically when I would buy tempeh, I would simply cut it into cubes, lightly fry it in a mixture of butter and oil, then serve the cubes with a flavorful dipping sauce.  It was acceptable, but the texture was quite dense.

Then, after seeing a mention of it on an Indonesian cooking website, I tried steaming the tempeh cubes for about 15 minutes before frying them.  And the result was fantastic!  The dense texture that I wasn’t wild about changed to perfectly chewy with enough body to keep things interesting.

Since I like tempeh so much, I decided to make it from scratch to understand the process.  As many of you know, I have a thing for making things from scratch — tofu, jam, pickles, limoncello, gravlax, sauerkraut, and sausage to name a few.  Tempeh had been on my to-make list since seeing the recipe in Sandor Katz’ book, Wild Fermentation (a fantastic book with great explanations of fermentation at home, plus recipes for more unusual tempehs — I highly recommend it).  The process isn’t very complicated (much easier than making tofu from scratch in my opinion), but it does take a good two days from the time you start to soak the soy beans to when you have finished tempeh.  Thankfully, patience is something I have a lot of.

The two most difficult parts of the tempeh making process are 1) acquiring the tempeh spore, and 2) hulling the soy beans.  For problem 1, I bought my tempeh spore from Budiman Food in San Jose, CA.  I just sent them an email and asked for enough tempeh starter to make a few batches of tempeh.  A good sized package cost somewhere in the vicinity of $5-$10.  For problem 2, I decided to remove the skins of the beans by pinching each one after they had been soaked but before they were cooked.  This took me the better part of an hour for the pound of soy beans.  Some might call it tedious, but I prefer to think of simple repetitive cooking tasks like this as meditative….  I just checked out the Budiman Food website again after not visiting for a few months, and I see they now sell tempeh making kits that include already hulled soybeans!  Talk about two birds with one stone.

Anyway, if you’re feeling adventurous and have some free time on your hands, I recommend you try making tempeh at home!  The process is fascinating as well as being a nice way to spend a lazy weekend.

Homemade Tempeh
Adapted from Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz

1 lb dried soy beans, soaked overnight in plenty of cold water
2 T vinegar
1 t. tempeh spore

Hull the soaked soybeans. This is the most tedious part of the whole process. Pinch each soybean between your fingers to separate the skin from the bean. Discard the skins, and put the beans into a large cooking pot.

Cover the beans with cold water so that they are covered by about 2-3 inches. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, and cook until beans are almost cooked, about 1 – 1 1/2 hours. Stir the beans every now and then, and remove any leftover hulls that float to the top.

When the beans are nearly done (the beans should be slightly underdone — they will continue to soften during the incubation process), drain the beans, discarding the cooking water. Spread the beans over a large kitchen towel, and dry with another towel. Dry the beans very well — one of the main reasons for failed tempeh is too-damp beans. After drying the beans, you may even consider spreading them over a different dry towel and allowing them to air dry for another 2-3 hours (or even overnight).

Mix the beans with the vinegar and tempeh spore, and spread evenly into a 9×13 inch baking dish. Poke holes every inch or so in a piece of aluminum foil large enough to cover the baking dish. Press the foil fairly tightly over the beans.

Incubate the beans at 85-90 degrees for somewhere between 24 and 36 hours (longer at cooler temperatures). I incubated my tempeh in the oven with just the pilot light on. For the first 12 or so hours, not much will happen. Eventually, patches of white mold will begin to appear. Then the mold will start to fill all of the spaces in between the beans. The tempeh is done when there is a solid coating of white mold, and patches of black being to appear (probably near the air holes in the foil). The finished tempeh may have the distinct smell of ammonia — this is ok, and totally natural.

Cut the tempeh into large squares and either use immediately, refrigerate for up to 3 days (allow tempeh to fully cool before refrigerating, otherwise it will continue to incubate), or alternatively, cut into smaller pieces, steam for 10-15 minutes, then freeze for up to two months.

To cook, cut the tempeh into cubes, steam for 15 minutes, then fry in your favorite fat — butter, olive oil, bacon drippings, etc. Serve with a flavorful dipping sauce. Enjoy!

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Homemade Tofu