Food, culture and hilarity.

Don't be fatuous, Jeffrey.

Iron Chef America _ Super Chef Battle _ January 03 2010 @ 9pm EST.

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I personally can not wait to see Mario obliterate Bobby 'Chipotle' Flay.  I'll tell you where you can put those peppers Bobby.  Bow to your sensei.  

Iron Chef Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse battle Iron Chef Bobby Flay and White House Chef Cris Comerford. 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/iron-chef-america/index.html

Sunday Cookin' _ Pork Carnitas w/ Tomatillo Salsa _ December 6th 2009

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__Carnitas__

To make the carnitas, I used 1- 6 lbs. bone in pork shoulder (boston butt). Cut into strips, gristle and tough fat removed. Most of the tender fat will be rendered in the pot, so keep it on the pork.

Add to large stock or pasta pot, 2 cups orange juice and 6 cups water, 8-10 cloves garlic (1 head) cleaned, cleaned and cut pork, and season with cumin, salt and black pepper. I added 2 stem removed habaneros for flavor, if you are scared of the heat them you can substitute for jalapenos or no peppers. The habaneros have a unique sweet flavor, I love them, but I also love the heat, so be mindful.

(I also added the bone from the boston butt to the stock / pork mixture to add flavor. Using a boneless shoulder would be ideal, much easier to clean but might not have as much flavor. )

Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer for 2-3 hours, uncovered, until tender but not overly tender. The last part of the process is a vigorous browning so you want the meat to have some holding property.

Bring to a med high heat and boil off most of the remaining liquid for ~10 minutes.

The remaining liquid will be most of the broken down and rendered pork fat, this is where you can separate the pork from the fat content if you are looking to keep it healthy-(ish).

To brown the meat as a final step, I transferred the pork to a large saute pan and spooned in 3-4 ladles of the rendered pork fat, cook on high heat until liquid is gone and meat has just started to brown.

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__Tomatillo Salsa__

12 tomatillos husked and chopped (should be about two cups)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
3 serrano chiles, stems removed, diced
1 small/medium yellow onion
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro (substitute for parsley if preference)
Juice of 2 Limes
A small pinch of sugar
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

Combine everything in blender until chunky yet smooth and incorporated.


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__ To serve __

I sauteed some of the browned meat with a few spoonfuls of the salsa in a pan to heat through, then put on a tortilla and topped with jack cheese.

Into a 500 degree oven for 1-2 minutes until cheese is melted.

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Sunday Cookin' _ Pasta Fagioli _ December 6th 2009

Quick and easy filling soup. Cook time ~ 30 Minutes.

This is a very healthy Italian Classic, beans for fiber and protein, fresh herbs and garlic for antioxidant power, everything else to fill your belly.

Best to use a ceramic crock pot, or large soup pot with a thick bottom. Pasta pots are too thin to saute the starters.


1 large Yellow Onion, Medium Dice.
1 head garlic, smashed and chopped, approximately 8-10 cloves.
4 Stalks Celery, Large chop. Ends cleaned.


-- Sauté w/ 2-3 Table Spoons olive oil 4-5 minutes until onions are starting to turn clear, add garlic, cook for another 1-2 minutes.

-- Season w/ red pepper flakes, dried thyme, dried parsley or italian seasoning, salt and black pepper.

-- Add 1 large can of crushed tomatoes with juice.

-- Add 2 Quarts Chicken or Vegetable stock.

-- Bring to boil and add 1lb. pasta of choice, something with volume and curves.

-- Cook for ~8 minutes until the pasta is al dente.

-- Add 1 large handful of *fresh* chopped basil and parsley. -- Add 2 cans cannellini beans w/ juices, bring to a boil and remove from heat. Spoon into bowls, top with shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano.


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Dinner tomorrow night !

This recipe and commentary was posted from www.101cookbooks.com.

All phototogrpahy and credit to Heidi Swanson.

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Richard Olney's Garlic Soup Recipe

The following recipe reflects how I make this soup, with my notes/words. The original recipe often calls for a range of a particular ingredient, for example, 10 - 15 cloves of garlic, or healthy pinch of thyme....I decided to included the amounts I use when I make it.

1 quart (4 cups) water
1 bay leaf
2 sage leaves
3/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
a dozen medium cloves of garlic, smashed peeled, and chopped
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Binding pommade:
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

day-old crusty bread & more olive oil to drizzle

Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan and add the bay leaf, sage, thyme, garlic, and salt. Heat to a gentle boil and simmer for 40 minutes. Strain into a bowl, remove the bay and sage leaves from the strainer, and return the broth and garlic back to the saucepan, off the heat. Taste and add more salt if needed.

With a fork, whisk the egg, egg yolks, cheese, and pepper together in a bowl until creamy. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, beating all the time, then add (slowly! slowly!), continuing to whisk, a large ladleful of the broth. Stir the contents of the bowl into the garlic broth and whisk it continuously over low-medium heat until it thickens slightly. Olney states, "just long enough to be no longer watery." I usually let it go a wee-bit beyond that - until it is the consistency of half-and-half or cream. Place a handful of torn bread chunks into the bottom of each bowl and pour the soup over the bread. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil, and serve immediately.

Makes about 4 cups of soup.

This recipe was adapted from The French Menu Cookbook by Richard Olney. Originally published in 1970, this edition was republished by Ten Speed Press in 2002.

Do Want.

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 guess it is a good thing I am a sucker for packaging. Otherwise I might have walked right by the little round of Saint-Marcellin. But it was tucked so perfectly inside its tiny blue terra cotta pot that I couldn’t stop my hand from grabbing it and putting it in my shopping cart.

At $7.99 for 3.5 ounces (100 grams) of cheese, my impulsive purchase did not come cheap. But it was a worthwhile splurge. Saint-Marcellin is considered one of the best cheeses produced in the Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France.

Its “intensely nutty (imagine black walnuts) and rustic flavor combined with an unctuous texture represent to me the very essence of France,” writes Steven Jenkins in his "Cheese Primer" (Workman Publishing, 1996).

Indeed, Saint-Marcellin is a soft-ripened, pasteurized cow’s-milk cheese with a rind so delicate that, once you puncture it with a knife or a spoon, it practically melts into the runny interior paste. That crock, you see, serves a purpose.

The cheese is at its runniest when it is fairly young, and in fact it should be enjoyed within a month or two of production, as it loses its extravagantly silky texture and gooeyness as it ages. Its flavor is reminiscent of good brie, but with lots more character. It tastes, as Jenkins describes, of black walnuts, as well as mushrooms and earth. It is buttery, but with a slightly bitter finish.

All of these characteristics make it — to me, at least — a perfect cheese to enjoy on a crisp early-fall afternoon. The first time I bought Saint-Marcellin, I served it with ripe Black Mission figs, which I sliced in half and arranged on a plate, with the crock of cheese in the center. The second time I decided I wanted nothing more than a fresh baguette, slightly warm, to accompany the cheese. I let the cheese sit out for a couple of hours and by the time I served it, it was so runny a spoon was required to scoop it onto the bread.

(Yes, I splurged twice. But now I have two baby crocks in my pantry!)

What is your most recent cheese discovery?

-- Domenica Marchetti

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/say-cheese/say-cheese-splurging-on-saint-.html