Any Excuse to Grill

I am so frustrated!

I spent a bunch of time yesterday afternoon detailing all the goodies I got from Idaho's Bounty on Wednesday night and what I planned to do with them but when I uploaded the blog Blogger was experiencing a scheduled outage (hat I somehow missed) and all was lost! I will try to recreate it later today or tomorrow.

On the brighter side, I made steak sandwiches last night using some Alderspring Ranch flat iron I found in the freezer. Granted, steak sandwiches are really hard to screw up, but this endeavor turned out especially good and I didn't use a recipe. I thought I'd record the basic idea for posterity and share it here:

Steak and Arugula Sandwich

Servings: This served my husband, me and our four-year-old for dinner.

Ingredients/Directions (seasoning proportions can be adjusted to your taste):

1. Rub ~1 lb. flat iron steak with with cumin, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, salt, dried oregano, and brown sugar, then grill until medium rare. Make sure your fire is pretty hot - the sugar caramelizes nicely.

2. Split two sourdough baguettes (I used Alpicella Bakery baguettes) in half lengthwise and toast on the grill or in the oven. Spread one side with garlic aioli (put ~2T light mayo, 2 cloves garlic and a squeeze of lemon in the food processor and puree). Drizzle the other side of the baguette with a little balsamic vinegar.

3. Thinly slice the steak and layer it into the sandwich with jarred roasted red peppers (or fresh ones if you have the time) and lots of arugula. I used beautiful baby arugula from Fair Mountain Farm and then made a side salad out of the remaining leaves.

4. Eat.

(These were inhaled too fast for me to get a picture, but they are kind of pretty. I'll try harder next time. And there will be a next time.)

"Envy is Thin Because it Never Eats." -- Spanish Proverb

I discovered this Seasonal Ingredient Map on the Epicurious site.

I selected "March" and clicked on Idaho. I'm not sure what I expected to find, but this little window pops up and says,

"The growing season is currently dormant here; opt for items from storage such as apples, pears and root vegetables."

It might as well have just said, "NAH, nah nah, NAH, nah NAAAAAAH!!!" (...and stuck it's cyber-tongue out at me.)

I clicked back one month to February ... then January -- same story.

April looks more promising with apples. asparagus and potatoes being listed -- but -- Potatoes?

I'm supposed to get excited about potatoes? We have been eating potatoes for what feels like a decade now and ... oh, GOODY, I only have one more month to wait for spring POTATOES.

And apples? I'm still satisfied from the bumper crop last fall.

Thank God for the asparagus. (weeping...) I do have something to live for.

Hmmmm.

Let's see...

Maybe I'll select 'March' again ...

... and just mouse over and down a little bit and click on 'California'. You know, just to see?

(I'll stop blogging about this now, though. My reaction is bound to be ugly...)

Breaking News: Ground is Broken for a White House 'Kitchen Garden'

Did anyone get to see Alice Waters (of Chez Panisse fame) discussing the Slow Food Movement on 60 Minutes last Sunday night?

She mentioned in the interview that it was her greatest dream to see a kitchen garden established at the White House.

Check this out.

Wow. That was quick.

Homemade Coffee Creamer

I was so relieved when, a little over a year ago, my all my beloved non-dairy liquid coffee creams jettisoned the trans-fats from their recipes. Bravo!

Lately, though, I've begun feeling a little bit like a fraud for promoting fresh, local foods when I'm dumping a bunch of chemicals into my coffee every morning.

I've tried to force myself not to think about it. It was my dirty little secret.

(I have another chemically derived food I can't seem to live without but that will be a subject for another blog. I have to keep some secrets!)

In an attempt to realign my coffee-whitening routine with all of my eating related ethics and values I ...

...tried Splenda (more chemicals) and half-n-half.

(Boring)

... tried sugar and half-n-half.

(Bad.)

... tried Splenda and skim milk.

(Worse.)

... tried black coffee.

(Just. Plain. Awful.)

At this point I was getting desperate, and when I'm desperate I usually go to the Internet.

(That works out better for me some times than others.)

I found pages and pages of recipes for homemade coffee creamers.

Some looked so rich that I might as well have just had a piece of cheesecake instead of my morning cup 'o joe.

Some had so many ingredients and steps that I knew I could never manage to throw them together in the right proportions my early morning state of half awakeness.

I ended up trying several and, the good news is, I met with some success. It isn't an exact duplicate for a non-dairy creamer but it's super-easy to make, has about the same fat and calories, costs less and is infinitely better for your health.

Mix one 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk (make sure the ingredients only list milk and sugar) with about the same amount of skim milk in a medium sized container with a lid. Add a few drops of a flavoring extract like vanilla or peppermint or, my favorite, banana and coconut. Shake very well. That's all there is to it!

(I know the flavoring agent are chemicals, especially the imitation flavors, but this recipe calls for such a minuscule amount that it doesn't really bother me. It's a vast improvement over the additive laden non-dairy creamers.)

So far I've tried cherry, cinnamon, banana/coconut, vanilla and chocolate/ peppermint (just added cocoa powder to get the chocolate-lyness).

Cuban-Style Burgers

Trying to eat fresh local produce in Boise in early March can present a bit of a challenge.

Why? You ask?

There simply isn't any.

I have spent the past few weeks using up all of my stored potatoes, onions and winter squashes and sorting though the mysterious cans in my cupboards and bags in my freezer.

But yesterday, I decided, HECK with it. Who needs produce?

In a mood to and throw calories and caution to the wind, I made Cuban-Style Burgers. The closest thing to produce in the recipe is roasted garlic and pickles. Bingo! A perfect late winter comfort food.

I used ONE pound of local bison (I didn't have ground beef -- and one pound was plenty for four burgers) and a single slice of Swiss on each one. Otherwise, I prepared them as directed.

These are a veritable orgy of fat and calories ... but most importantly FLAVOR.

Incredible.

I don't regret a single bite.

Appliance Angst

We received an unusual gift from my in-laws a few Christmases ago - a garbage disposal.

Not just any garbage disposal, mind you. It has one full horsepower of grinding ferocity.

I wasn't able to fully appreciate the significance of all of that power until I accidentally lost my STONE pestle down it the other day.

The damage inflicted in less than three seconds was sort of terrifying.

I'm considering installing a remote control sensor so that the garbage disposal can be operated from a safe distance away.

Say...

... about 300 feet.

Idaho Riesling on National Public Radio!

Follow this link to listen to Joshua Wesson discuss the resurgence of food-friendly American Rieslings (and mention Ste. Chapelle!) on this weeks episode of The Splendid Table.

Little Miss Muffett ...

Thursday night I took a stab at making homemade ricotta. I must admit I was growing weary of reading things like "every serious cook should have a decent ricotta recipe in their repertoire".

And now I do.

I have arrived.

I was inspired to try buy Barbara Kingsolver's new book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle ...

She devotes a portion of the story to inducing readers to Ricki Carroll (a.k.a. The Cheese Queen) of The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company . I checked Ricki's book ...

... out of the library and was instantly hooked. I ordered some basic supplies, like citric acid and animal rennet, from her company and they arrived yesterday! I can't wait to try my hand at chevre, kefir and mozzarella. Homemade ricotta doesn't require any special supplies. All I used was a stainless steel pot, a thermometer, two limes, cheesecloth, a strainer and some salt. It's pretty hard to screw up.

STACY'S SEAT-OF-PANTS RICOTTA RECIPE: Mix the salt into 1/2 gallon of whole milk and then heat the gallon of whole milk to 185-195 degrees (be careful not to boil it). Add about 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice. The milk should begin to separate into curds and whey and the curds will fall to the bottom. Wait until the whey on the top doesn't look milky any longer (just a few minutes). Turn off the heat and let the concoction set for about ten minutes.

Line your strainer with several layers of cheesecloth and dump the curds and whey in there. I just drained the whey down the sink (I know there are other cheese making applications for pure whey and in the future I will reserves it for experimentation, but I just wanted to keep things simple this time) for about 30 minutes. My ricotta came out less like ricotta and more like ricotta salata - meaning it was rather dry and more appropriate for tossing with pasta or sprinkling on salads than for using in lasagne. If you want a moister ricotta simply drain it for less time.

Dryness be damned -- I used it in Deborah Madison's recipe for
Lasagna with Chard, Ricotta & Walnuts.

Yum!