Chop and Stir

Would you like some bacon with that?

Following Michael Pollard's lead to use meat as a flavoring agent, instead of making it a main course, we'll juice up our brussels sprouts recipe with some bacon. If you happen to have some pancetta lying around, even better, but really, who has that? Bacon we've got in the fridge all the time

A couple things to note about this recipe. We're blanching the sprouts first to cook them evenly and preserve the green color. Then, we're using the hot bacon drippings from our browned bac-o-bits to give some color and flavor to the sprouts. Finally, we're adding some chicken stock and extra virgin olive oil to create a thickened sauce to bind the dish together.

And here's a short video of the whole process:

The recipe is here on Freebase:

Braised Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, ideally with a large mesh frying basket inside to pull your sprouts from the water.Trim off the...

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Author: Mike Shwe

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Calling all Collards!

Continuing our CSA saga, last night I braised the collards from the faux-CSA basket of last week. That's the beauty of CSA and farmer's markets-- the stuff is so fresh that is lasts at least a week in your fridge.

Most restaurants will overcook the collards, or braise them far ahead of when you order them. That leads to bitter, dark, and mushy greens. Eeeewww. Even Farmer Brown and Perbacco in San Francisco do that. I sometimes wonder, "Do they actually mean to do that?" but I'm afraid to ask.

I like to braise them just before serving, with some sweet yellow onions, so that the sweetness of the onions offset the slight bitterness of the collards. Also, finish them with so good extra virgin olive oil after you take them off heat, so you get some more sweetness in your dish. And some good quality, coarse sea salt, sprinkled on top to finish them off. You'll end up with a bowl of soul-satisfying bright green collards.

One note about washing them-- cut before washing, put them in a very large bowl of cold water, swish them around to get any dirt off, and then lift them out the bowl of water, and let drain in a colander. You want to lift them out of the water bowl, instead of pouring them along with the water into the colander, so you leave the dirt in the water, instead of pouring it back onto your greens. Also, it ok to have some of the water left on your greens, as that will form your braising liquid, to keep your collards from burning or drying out.

CSA Survivor! What to do with all those vegetables?

Being part of a CSA is such a good thing-- supporting small farmers directly, getting fresher higher quality fruits and vegetables, and having healthy foods around the house all the time. Too much of a good thing, sometimes.

What to do when you're overwhelmed with vegetables? It's not so green if you've just got to send them to the compost. And as for me, I can only eat so much soup.

So, I want to start a series of blog posts on simple preparations for vegetables. We want to highlight the freshness and quality of the vegetable, minimize preparation time, and also take advantage of other ingredients that are easy to get or that you'll probably have lying around the house. Lots of these preparations you'll find as sides dishes or contorni at your favorite restaurants like Delfina.

On the right, is my fake CSA basket... I got all this stuff today at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. Some fresh heirloom shelled beans from Yerena Farms; escarole and tatsoi from the lady with a lot of tatoos; and Romano beans, sugar snap peas and brussels sprouts from Iacopi Farm.

First up, the mighty brussels sprout. If you can find them on the stalk, you know they are really fresh. The brussels sprout gets a bad rap because it's often old or prepared incorrectly-- you know, that funky wet shoe quality that comes from a tired brown brussels sprouts that has been overcooked? Start out with some firm, bright green sprouts.

Some basic tips on the technique-- blanch the sprouts to cook them evenly and preserve that enhance their bright green color, and finish with some chicken or vegetable stock with a liaison (thickening agent) like  olive oil or bacon drippings (or both!) to give them a little sheen and moisture. Optionally, you can crisp up some small chunks of bacon, and make these sprouts into a meal-- bacon will tend to make a meal out of any vegetable that you add it to.

Here's the recipe on Freebase, courtesy of a new Freebase widget called TopicBlocks.

Braised Brussels Sprouts

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, ideally with a large fry basket inside to pull your sprouts from the water.Trim off the bottom...

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AuthorMike Shwe

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KRRUNCH n munch

Crunchy, sour, salty, spicey, buttery. All in one bite. What more could you ask for? Another bite?

Try these Worcestershire croutons--if only I could pronounce them without stuttering--adapted from a recipe from Chef Suzette Gresham at Acquerello, from one of her classes at Draegers over ten years ago. Yes, I have been making them for a while.

But now it seems they're becoming a staple in the house. A supply and demand kind of thing. Lots of supply because of all my sourdough bread experiments. As for the demand, let's just say that about an hour after I pulled them from the oven a few nights ago when I made them, I heard some loud crunching noises coming from the kitchen, as I was reading in bed.

There's a number of variations to try, like adding a bunch of thyme still on the stem, to the roasting pans as the croutons toast in the oven. Or, adding some finely grated parmigiano reggiano to the croutons during the last 10 minutes or so of the toasting. Drop the Worcestshire with either of these variations though. That would be too much flavor going on.

Chef Suzette originally intended these to go along with a truffled asparagus salad, but we like them as a snack. That's another reason why I keep the bread chopped so large, so you can grab a handful and munch on them. So much better than those funky sourdough chip things from the market. No weird chemical aftertaste going on here, cause there's no weird chemicals!

I'll put the recipe on Freebase soon, but they are so easy, you can just catch the video and make them. Store them in an airtight container, and they'll last for weeks. Except that they don't.

Breakfast Crepes with Alex

This morning Alex woke up with a need for a cinnamon sugar breakfast crepe. We pulled out our favorite recipe in the back of Crepes with Suzette, which is an amusing read for kids. You'll also start to crave some crepes when you read this book, by the way.

He mixes up the batter in the video below, and I cook it up on our Staub cast iron crepe pan, another of my favorite pieces of kitchen equipment.

As you can see, the whole process takes only a few minutes. Freshly made crepes with high quality milk and eggs are so much better than what you get at most restaurants. Warm, golden, spongey, and slightly sweet. Yum!

Another sweet crepe favorite of his is a generous slathering of Nutella. In the summer, berries and yogurt is my favorite. For a savory crepe, like with eggs, cheese, and spinach, just omit the sugar from the recipe. Recipe to follow on Freebase, soon.

Watch out for the loud music toward the end of the video-- Alex at his editing best.

Best Bread Ever

Well, so far.

Hurry on down to Metaweb HQ at 631 Howard to get some.

I inched up the hydration to 77%, increased the salt to 1.8 oz (about 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons), and used only the mixer for kneading. I'm gradually figuring out a good shaping technique for the batard, as well. More video coming soon.

In the meantime, a new Freebase widget with my latest recipe:

Country Sourdough Bread

The perfect chocolate chip cookie

At last, the secret of Cheryl's chocolate chip cookie revealed!

I've eaten only about five of these today. Good thing we had a bike race in the morning to burn off a few of them.

 I put the recipe on Freebase.   

Cheryl modified the recipe from an Epicurious recipe for chocolate chip cookies from 2003. She simplifies the mixing procedure, adds more chocolate chips and nuts, and has a handy tip for arranging the cookies on the sheet pan.

My big contribution was the coarse sea salt on top--always good to have a little savory with your sweet.

Enjoy!

Mixing and Shaping

Baking and Eating

Shake and Bake

Yum! Brings back some fond memories of childhood family meals. And really, who didn't have Shake and Bake as a child?

Let's try to duplicate that warm and fuzzy feeling of salty, fatty pork chops, in a golden brown crust, without visiting the center of the supermarket.

A couple of things I wanted to talk about here. Varieties of pork,  bread crumbs, seasoning meat, searing meat, and roasting meat.

Oink oink

First off, though, try to get an excellent pork chop. Heritage breeds such as Berkshire or Red Wattle offer a more marbled and juicy chop, than the industrial variety, which has been bread to be lean and dry. Ewww. Get a thick cut if you can, about 1.5 inches tall. Bone in-- that makes them even more flavorful.

I do think that it matters what your pork is eating. You are what you eat eats.  I remember getting some pork from Cal-Mart a few years ago, the industrial grade variety Iowa, and it was really really bad. It just had an awful flavor. The smaller farmers raising the heritage breeds feed them more of the organic feeds and let them roam around a bit more. That's got to be good for them and for you.

In San Francisco, Bi-Rite has excellent pork. I think they can cut you a thick chop-- I'll see when I'm back there next week. We bought a quarter of Red Wattle pig from Heritage farms a few months ago, and tossed it into our deep freezer.

Bread Crumbs

Making bread crumbs at home is great because its a good way to make use of some left over bread, and you also know what's exactly in them-- none of those strange corn products in the store-bought variety. You can also add flavorings to your liking-- choose your herbs and seasonings. I'm just using fresh Italian parsely and thyme in these. Onion powder would also be fun to try, or maybe a little cayenne or paprika.

Seasoning Meat

Seasoning meat properly makes all the difference in the final product. You want an even, thin coating of salt. No clumps and no bare spots. Use kosher salt because its easier to work with than sea salt. Definitely not the Morton's variety, as that iodine has an awful flavor.

Searing meat

Start with a very hot, heavy pan. I love cast iron, because it just gets better with age and holds heat because of its mass. It goes straight from stove top to oven, and cleans easily. Done right, your food won't stick to them, either.

You want enough oil in the pan so that it will coat the bread crumbs, so they brown instead of burn. Always heat your pan to your desired temperature before adding the oil, so that your oil won't be smoking in your pan as you're heating it up.

You can tell your pan is pretty hot if the oil moves around easily. If the pan is cold, the oil will hardly move when you tilt the pan. If your pan is too hot, the oil will smoke immediately and turn brownish. You might want to wipe the pan out with a paper towel, let it cool a bit, and start over at that point.

Starting the meat out in a hot pan is the key to keeping things from sticking. Especially if you're searing meat without a coating, it's no fun to have the meat stick. A hot pan sears the meat before it has a chance to stick.

You want to sear the meat presentation side down. If there's a nicer side to the meat than the other, well, that's the presentation side. Then, after they brown a bit on the bottom, just after a few minutes, flip them gently, hit them with some white wine to add some moisture and acidity, remove from flame and roast them in your oven. At that point, your presentation side will be up.

Roasting meat

The slower it roasts, the juicier it will be. The juices will stay locked into the meat, instead of rushing out, leaving you with a pan of juice and leathery meat. 300 is a great temperature. I'm roasting at about 350 in the video, because I'm just using the left over heat from baking bread. Notice how we have no juices swirling in the pan when I pull the chops from the oven--all the juices are locked into the meat, just where we want them.

Broccoli Raab Pasta-- dinner in only 30 minutes

Here's another Shwe family favorite that's perfect for weeknights. Keep a bunch of Rustichella orecchiette pasta in the cupboard, so that you only have to fetch some spicy Italian sausage and broccoli raab to make this.  In San Francisco, the Rustichella orecchiette is a better deal at Rainbow Grocery, but you can also find it in your fancy neighborhood stores like Cal-Mart or Whole Foods.

Cheryl loves this one because it's very satisfying and you can crank it out in less than 30 minutes from first chop to your last stir!

Here's the recipe on Freebase.

Broccoli Raab Pasta

Bring a large pot of liberally salted water to a boil.Meanwhile, wash and chop your broccoli raab, chopping into approximately 3/4...

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AuthorCheryl Shwe

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And here's Cheryl on video: