Ruth Reichl's Blog, page 16

What I Discovered at the Good Food Marketplace

That's me,  Alice (Waters) and Nell (Newman), at the end of the Good Food Awards in San Francisco. We hand out the medals every year, to a slew of impressive artisans who are making outstanding charcuterie, cheese, honey, chocolate, oils, pickles, preserves, coffee, beer and booze. Afterward there's a Marketplace at the Ferry Building where you can taste the country's best sustainable food products under one roof. 

I always discover a few new foods to fall in love with. This year, to my surprise, it was chocolates. Two chocolatiers really had me hooked: Black Dinah Chocolatiers from Maine and Askinosie Chocolate from Missouri. 

Black Dinah Chocolatiers produce their delicious products on Isle Au Haut, Maine, an island 45 minutes from the coast (by mailboat). Isle Au Haut has so few inhabitants that almost all of them serve as chocolate tasters to the company. The center of the operation is an enchanted-seeming chocolate cafe. Getting there isn't easy, so it's nice to know they sell their chocolates online. Smooth, mellow, balanced... their Cassis de Resistance won a medal this year. No surprise. 

An even more exciting operation: Askinosie Chocolate, the brainchild of former criminal defense lawyer Shawn Askinosie. He's an impressive person who does much more than merely buy chocolate from good farmers. He pays them well - and also shares the profits. Among the many programs Askinoise has engineered is one that feeds 800 schoolchildren free lunch at Milagros School in Davao, Philippines. He does it by selling hot chocolate from the community on the Askinsowe website and returning 100 percent of the profits. There's also a chocolate university - and so much more. If you have any interest in chocolate, this is a man to follow: he makes you proud to be a chocolate eater. As for the chocolate itself - it's fantastic. 

Meatballs for a New Year

A Taste of the Past

I love revisiting the cookbooks I used growing up.  They shaped me as much as any novel, and flipping through the sauce-splotched pages takes me back, makes me remember long-forgotten dishes.

But dusting off the Time-Life Foods of the World books is an entirely different experience. These 27 books, with their accompanying spiral-bound recipe books, opened up whole words to me. They were beautifully produced and written by some of the greats: Julia Child, James Beard, MFK Fisher, Richard Olney..... Today, as I was looking at the recipes in Middle Eastern Cooking I was struck by how radically things have changed. So many of these once-exotic foods are now available in your average supermarket. Hummus, dolmas, tabouli.....

Then I came upon this recipe for keftedakia.  When I first got the book I was enchanted by the idea of meatballs laced with ouzo and mint, and I immediately gathered the ingredients.  My friends were equally excited.  Making them again, after all this time, I was struck by one anachronism in the recipe. After you mix your ground raw beef, you're supposed to taste it for seasoning. In this age of e-coli and ground beef recalls, no mainstream publication would dare make that suggestion. On the other hand, if you buy your meat from a whole animal butcher, or grind your beef yourself .... 

Keftedakia (Adapted from Time-Life Middle Eastern Cooking)

Serves 4-6 as an appetizer or first course (about 40 meatballs)  

2 slices white bread, trimmed of crusts and torn into little pieces

1/4 cup ouzo

olive oil

vegetable oil

1/2 cup finely chopped onions

1 pound ground beef

1 egg

1 tablespoon finely-cut fresh mint leaves

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon salt (or less)

black pepper

1/2 cup flour

Soak the bread in the ouzo for five minutes. Meanwhile, sauté onions in a few tablespoons of olive oil until wilted, about five minutes. Be careful not to brown them. Set aside in a large bowl.

Squeeze the bread dry and discard the ouzo. Add the bread, ground beef, egg, mint, garlic, oregano, salt and a few grindings of pepper to the onions. Knead vigorously with both hands, then beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. (Taste for seasoning.)

Moistening your hands periodically with cold water, shape the beef mixture into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Then roll the balls in flour to coat them lightly. Refrigerate balls for one hour. 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Add 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the skillet and bring to medium-high heat. Drop 10 or so meatballs into the pan at a time, shaking the pan from time to time to brown them evenly. Cook for about 6 minutes, or until cooked through. Transfer the meatballs to the oven to keep warm. Serve with fresh mint as garnish. 

It's not in the Time-Life recipe, but I like a squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the top.

 

 

Sunny Weather

 

First Taste of LA

You can smell the rich scent of the beef cooking from halfway down the block. So that is, of course, the first thing that you order at Mexicali Taco & Co. The name makes it sound a lot fancier than it is.  This is a humble place on an odd stretch of Figueroa Street - not quite Chinatown, not quite downtown - where the tacos are a fine example of simplicity. 

The carne asada taco is just that - grilled beef, hacked into chunks and slipped onto a flour tortilla (the owners bring them up from Baja, and they're fantastic).  You dress the taco yourself, from the bar in the back, where you have a choice of salsas, and an entire array of vegetables: cucumbers, radishes, pickled red onions. This is made totally to your own taste.  

There are other great options here.  Vegetarian tacos, filled with mushrooms, zucchini and a single grilled scallion.  Tacos de camaron, the Baja way, with cheese.  

Something called a vampiro, which also involves cheese and lots of garlic.  Guacamole, of course, which is particularly good spooned onto the gueros - those completely addictive whole chiles pictured at the top. 

If you like food that's made with pride, with good ingredients, and with such simplicity that there's nothing to hide behind, then this is the taco for you.

  702 N Figueroa St., Los Angeles (213) 613-0416, Mexicali Taco & Co.

 

The Christmas Capon

That, my friends, is the head of the capon I cooked for Boxing Day dinner.  (Capons are castrated roosters; they are larger, firmer, fatter and juicier than ordinary chickens. They're less active than your regular rooster, which makes the meat especially tender.  And because these capons are older than commercial birds, they have a lot more flavor. )

Simply roasted, with butter rubbed beneath the skin, the capon made a very festive dinner.  I stirred the juices into a bit of roasted lemon juice, which made wonderful gravy.  But six of us failed to finish the entire bird, so the next night I made capon pot pie.

It's been a long time since I had pot pie, and this one was so comforting I've resolved to add it to my winter repertoire.  

Probably won't be using capon next time around, but this recipe would, I'm sure, work equally well with chicken or turkey. 

Capon Pot Pie

2 celery stalks

2 medium carrots, peeled

1 large onion

4 tablespoons butter

fresh thyme or parsley

salt and pepper

leftover chicken or capon, shredded (about 2 cups)

1/4 cup flour 

2 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup white wine

frozen peas

1 cup heavy cream

1 egg yolk

Dice 2 stalks of celery, 2 medium carrots and an onion.  Saute them in 4 tablespoons of butter for a couple of minutes. Add a teaspoon of salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a bit of chopped fresh thyme or parsley. Toss in your shredded bird, add a quarter cup of flour, and stir for a couple of minutes until it's nicely incorporated.

Add a good splash of white wine and two cups of chicken stock, stirring constantly. Add a small package of frozen peas. 

Break an egg yolk into a cup of heavy cream, mix well, then stir some of the hot chicken mixture into the cream. Now slowly stir the cream mixture into the contents of the pan and stir, over low heat, for about 5 minutes.  It should become deliciously saucy. Taste for seasoning and pour into a casserole or deep-dish pie pan.  

Cover with pastry, cut in a few slits to let the steam escape and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about half an hour until the crust is golden.

This will serve 6.

  

You can top this with any kind of pastry; frozen puff pastry works well too. Here’s what I used:

Pastry

Put a cup and a half of flour into a bowl, sprinkle in a half teaspoon of salt and cut in a stick of cold butter.

Beat an egg into small bowl; pour out half, reserving to brush on the crust.  To the remaining half add 3 tablespoons of cold water and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar.  Mix into the flour and butter mixture, then pat it into a small disk, wrap in wax paper, and set in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.  

Roll out the pastry until it’s a bit larger than the casserole or pie plate and fit over the chicken mixture, decoratively crimping the edges.  Stir a bit of water into the reserved half egg, brush over the crust, cut in a few slits and bake. 

 

 

 

 

Pleasing a Crowd

Great Garlic Bread

A fragrant loaf of garlic bread is the best way I know to please a crowd.  While it bakes it perfumes the neighborhood, broadcasting such deeply nostalgic signals that it can send the staidest  grownup straight back to childhood.

It is both easier and harder to make a great loaf of garlic bread than it once was. Easier because these days it is far easier to find a great loaf of bread to begin with, And harder because the influx of cheap, imported garlic has made finding good garlic increasingly difficult. 

You don’t want old garlic because as it gets nasty and bitter when it sprouts.  You know the terrible taste I’m talking about.  If you can’t get your hands on good garlic, the only remedy is to go through your garlic, clove by clove, removing the bitter green sprouts.  It’s painstaking work, but it’s worth it.   

There are three other tricks to making great garlic bread.

 

Use a lot of garlic.
Melt the butter - don’t just soften it - and brush it liberally across the bread.  When you think you’ve used enough, use more.
Bake it twice. Once to get the bread warm and completely infused with the garlic butter.  And again, to get a crisp, golden, crunchy top. 

 

Begin by buying a good loaf of sturdy French or Italian bread. Cut it in half, lengthwise (a serrated knife helps).  

 Melt a stick of sweet butter. Add one entire head of garlic that you’ve peeled and finely chopped.  (For an easy way to peel garlic, drop the cloves into a pan of boiling water for 10 seconds, which will loosen the skins.)

 Slather the garlic butter onto the bread with a brush.  Let it soak in. Use it all. 

 Place the loaf, cut sides up, in a 350 degree oven.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Turn the heat up to broil and broil for about 2 minutes, watching carefully to make sure it doesn’t burn. 

 

Optional additions.

Chopped parsley or chives will give your garlic bread a lovely spring-like look. Use about 2 tablespoons.  I also like to add the zest of one lemon, right before broiling. But my favorite addition is a quarter cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese, added just before it goes under the broiler, which makes this truly, decadently, delicious.  

 

Rich Little Crackers for Christmas (or anytime)

Cheddar- Bacon Wafers

My friend Robin showed up for Christmas dinner last night with these really fantastic (and very rich) cheese crackers.

I asked for the recipe - and thought I'd share.

Gruyere and Bacon  Wafers

2 slices bacon
4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup finely grated gruyere
3 tablespoons grated parmesan reggiano
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
pinch cayenne

Cook the bacon in a cast iron skillet and chop in a food processor into small bits.
Add the butter, flour, cheeses, salt, and cayenne to the food processor.
Process until a ball forms. Be patient. It will happen eventually.
Form the ball into a log shape 1 1/4 inches in diameter using a sheet of plastic wrap.
Wrap the log in the plastic wrap and a sheet of aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Heat an oven to 375 degrees

Cut the log into 1/4" slices and place on a sheet of silpat or parchment paper. (do not grease)
Sprinkle with a little Maldon salt.
Bake until very lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes. They will get a little darker out of the oven.
Cool on a rack.

yield: about 36 wafers

2014 Gift Guide: Day 31

Share the Wealth

Here is a remarkably simple—and smart—idea. Sharetable.org has persuaded dozens of San Francisco restaurants to donate a portion of gift certificate sales to the SF Food Bank. (Just make sure you buy the certificates through the Sharetable website, otherwise it's just a regular certificate.)

So while treating an SF-based loved one to an exquisite meal—you’re also helping feed those without enough to eat. What’s more, nearly all the best restaurants in San Francisco participate. 

What would I want? I can’t think of a better way to start off the new year than having $50 to spend over time at Humphrey Slocombe, one of this country’s great ice creameries.  

Here’s hoping Sharetable spreads to other cities in 2015. 

(Pictured above: Michael Tusk's irresistable agnolotti at Cotogna.)

If you're on the East Coast, and looking for an organization to support, I'd like to suggest my own favorite charity, Rural and Migrant Ministry, a group fighting for justice for farmworkers. 

Through their three offices around the state, RRM does advocacy, runs community education programs, and lobbies the state legislature to update the infuriatingly inept labor laws. In a time when it's estimated that at least half of the farmworkers in America are undocumented - and therefore open to exploitation - this has never been more important. Our food system cannot be sustainable until we recognize that the people who pick our food and care for our farm animals deserve decent lives. 

Learn more, and how to donate, here.

 

 

2014 Gift Guide, Day Thirty

Books to Cook By

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to stand cooking in the kitchen, surrounded by wonderful aromas, listening to a good book.

If you know someone who's rather be in the kitchen than anywhere else, why not give them a good book to listen to?  A subscription to audible.com is an instant gift - and it will give your friend hours of cooking pleasure.

Here are some of the books I've cooked to this year.  (I've just realized that they're all by women; not sure what that means.)

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman living in America goes in to get her hair braided, and in the course of one long day recalls how she got here - and where she's going. Beautifully written, it's about love and politics, race - and well, everything. It stays with me.

 

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill. Read by the author, who puts the emphasis on all the right places. Offill has a unique voice; she describes a marriage in shopping lists, in snatches of conversation, in notes and asides.  Somehow she makes you know these people; I often found myself putting down my knife, just to listen.

 The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. What if, one day, you went to mail a letter and just kept going?  Harold walks across England on a mission to see a dying friend, collecting friends, enemies and adventures along the way.  It's a quirky book, and utterly unforgettable.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith, who we all know is really JK Rowling. Pure fun. Cormoran Strike is a fantastic character; when this one ends you'll want to hear the other Galbraith book, and then you'll find yourself hoping Ms. Rawlings writes the third installment very quickly. She sure knows how to tell a story.

 

\

People of the book, by Geraldine Brooks.  I've loved every book Geraldine Brooks has written, but this literary mystery, which takes place across six centuries, is my favorite.  The adventure begins with a modern love story and then goes back through time, tracing the origin of a rare Haggadah.  

 

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Some books are better listened to than read; having consumed Mantel's books with both eyes and ears, I'd argue that this is one of them. Read by Simon Vance, this will have you dreaming up new dishes to cook, just to keep listening.  And when it's done, you still have the pleasure of Bring Up the Bodies ahead of you.

2014 Gift Guide, Day 29

Some Like it Hot

This is probably the last day you can reasonably order a gift online to arrive in time for Christmas. So I'm going to suggest my favorite small kitchen appliance.  

I've had this small spice grinder for many years, and it just keeps trucking along. But these days, as I find myself using more spices, cooking more Mexican and Indian foods, I use it with increasing frequency. 

This is what I love about it: the motor is strong enough to pulverize even really tough spices like annato, and it reduces nuts to powder in a matter of seconds.

It does equally well with wet spice pastes like moles and marinades.

It's easy to clean; you simply throw it in the dish washer.

It's easy to store.

And it comes with a top, so if you want to save a marinade you simply put the entire cup in the refrigerator.

The grinder also makes a great gift because it's inexpensive (about $40) and not yet part of everybody's ordinary kitchen battery. Besides, you can always use an extra for super hot spices. 

 

 

Gift Guide, Day 28

Gifts from the Sea

We're getting close to Christmas, and  I've been wandering the aisles of local shops, looking for plausible presents.  That's when I saw the seaweed. 

Kombu comes in dried ribbons that unfurl into long sheets that are at least as tall as I am. It's wonderful stuff. 

A small piece steeped in simmering soup for fifteen minutes adds an extra layer of depth that's delicous - very hard to place.  Kombu also does wonderful stuff to braises and stews: reconstitute a wide piece, drape it on the surface of  a slowly cooking stew and notice how it locks in flavor. It makes wonderful seaweed salad.  And there’s nothing better than homemade dashi. 

You'll find seaweed in the Asian aisle of your supermarket.  If you have access to a Japanese store, I recently discovered that Sunrise Mart, in New York, sells my favorite seaweed, mozuku, already marinated. It makes the seaweed salad now sold in every sushi aisle seem silly. 

Want to explore other exotic seaweeds?  Rising Tide Sea Vegetables, offers an entire range of seaweeds sustainably harvested on the West Coast. 

Think of it as a fashion-forward present; we don't eat a whole lot of seaweed now.  But it's definitely in our future.