GeezerGourmet.com seeks to foster a renewed interest
in home culinary arts among experienced home cooks
The GeezerGourmet (brief bio) caters to
clientele who have life-long experiences in home cooking and now, as empty
nesters and retirees, have the time to renew their love of good food and
its preparation. The Geezer Gourmet assumes
that you routinely cook for one or two people; eat out quite often;
still like to entertain and are experienced at it; have adequately equipped
kitchens; and enjoy life and good health.
If you have some of the above attributes but are not a geezer nor even
approaching pre-geezerhood, thank God for that, press on regardless, and
welcome.
This is not a Website for food phobics or wellness hypochondriacs
We're Back From Key West
We spent in week in Key West comprised of three nice days, three cold
windy days and one warm day with rain. Worst February on record,
they say. But we ate well and shopped the town between meals.
For what it's worth, from our short experience and talking with local foodies,
the two best restaurants in town are Cafe Marquesa and Pisces--both in
the $$$ range but worth it. We had great breakfasts at Pepes Cafe,
classic Italian dinners at Antonia's, and good Cuban pulled pork and beef
at El Meson del Pepe.
The
hottest shop in town is Peppers of Key West, where thousands of bottled
hot and savory sauces line the walls. A knowledgeable staff tends
a bar where samples from squeeze bottles are offered in tiny paper cups
with crackers--the place is packed--gotta wait for a bar stool. We bellied
up and then told our bar tender that we were interested in hot and savory
sauces with culinary value, that is, sauces with complex tastes that survive
to the back of the tongue and not be overwhelmed by heat. "I have
no interest in 'metallic' hot sauces with bragging rights," said I.
Undaunted, she presented four sauces. We bought a mixed case of three
and passed on the fourth, which had nice notes of rosemary that got lost
in a serious rush of high heat. Still, I had to come back the next
day to try that one again only to conclude that it was indeed too hot to
work with.
Here
are the three sauces we shipped home. The first is PKW's own sauce, described
as Caribbean-inspired and banana-infused hot sauce. It has lots of
ingredients, which combine nicely into a hot sauce with depth, complexity
and sufficient heat. We will use this stuff and give a few bottles
to valued friends as house gifts. The Harissa Moroccan Sauce is a
chunky savory sauce with finely chopped onion, tomato, pepper and garlic
with oils and citrus. It has coriander in it but not cumin or caraway
(thanks) that are traditional in Tunisian harissa sauces. This will
serve well as a bracing addition or topping to meat loafs, soups and other
dishes, as well as a dip for chips, et al. It's almost mild enough to eat
by the spoonful. The Runcon Heat originated in Puerto Rico and is
comparatively a straight forward, tomato based, hot sauce, not unlike Tennessee
Sunshine that we've used for years. Since I'm currently out of that,
I'll use this. It was touted at the store as having some bacon
notes, but I don't taste them. Will these new sauces replace our
tried
and true sauces? Not likely, but the banana and the harissa sauces
will become pantry staples.
Eggplant Parmigiano II (quickie recipe)
My
Egglant
Parmigiano recipe has been up for over two years. Since that time,
I've become convinced that the oft required procedure of salting eggplant
slices and setting them aside for 45 minutes to "sweat" has no culinary
value. It just oversalts the eggplant and lengthens preparation time.
So of late, when making eggplant dishes, I have skipped the salt and sweat
routine and I am still alive and well without it.
Here is "weeknight" eggplant Parmigiano recipe using unsweated eggplant,
a commercial marinara sauce laced with sauteed shallots and garlic, Italian
sausage, but no ground beef and no mozzarella. (1.5 hours less prep time)
EGGPLANT PARMIGIANO II (Quickie Recipe)
See abbreviations, if needed
2 eggplants, sliced
¼ inch thick
1C AP flour
2 eggs,
beaten
8oz Panko or other bread crumbs
1 C grated Parmigiano Reggiano
2 medium
spicy Italian sausage links
2T EVOO
2 cloves garlic,
pureed
2 shallots or
small onion, diced
24 oz bottle of prepared marinara sauce
FOR THE EGGPLANT:
1. Set up an "English Breading Station": (three pie plates
or paper plates: a, b, and c)
a. flour and S/P
b. egg wash-2 eggs
c. Panko and a 1/4 C of the Parmigiano
Reggiano
2. One at a time: Flour an eggplant slice, then transfer it to
the egg wash plate, then coat it
thoroughly in the Panko plate
3. Place all slices on a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Or on a sheet pan greased with EVOO
4. Bake the eggplant in a preheated 400F oven for 30 minutes,
turning the pieces at 15 minutes,
and then remove the crispy eggplant but leave
the oven on
FOR THE SAUCE:
5. Place sausages in pan of water and BTB, cool, peel and slice
into bite sized pieces
6. In a large evaseé like
pan, sauté the diced shallots and garlic in EVOO, to translucent
and then the sausage
7. To the evaseé, add the marinaro sauce and BTB,
then reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes
TO ASSEMBLE:
8. Spread some sauce in the bottom of large buttered baking
dish
9. Layer in half of the eggplant slices
10. Add more sauce over the eggplant
11. Layer in remaining eggplant and some more sauce but don't
drown this top layer
12. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmagiano Reggiano
13. Bake at 400F until bubbling, about 15 minutes
14. Brown top under broiler
NOTE: The crispy eggplant takes a little more time, but it's
worth it.
In this Momofuku Era, Kimchi is Flying
Off the Market Shelves
David
Chang, chef/author of the best selling cookbook, Momofuku
(see below), likes kimchi, and so too his readers. Well . . ., the
Koreans have been serving it most meals since the 16th century. Kimchi
is combination of cabbage, other veggies and bold seasonings pickled in
vinegar and then fermented to produce a pungent spicy hot condiment.
It serves well also as the supporting ingredient to wok-prepared or stir
fried meat and fish dishes. It likes rice. Recipes for the stuff
abound: "winter" kimchi is hot, "summer" kimchi is more fresh and
light. In the West, it comes in glass jars and is often make with
napa cabbage and spicy but not flaming hot peppers, ginger and garlic.
It keeps forever in the fridge.
So, while reading and thoroughly enjoying Momofuku, TLW
found a kimchi and pork recipe there and also in the latest issue of Fine
Cooking, (they read the book too). "Let's have a couple over and
make this in the wok fired on the Blue Star," said she. Here we have
the results inspired by the book and magazine recipes. This dish
is best prepared a la minute with guests watching
the show. Have courage! Do it. It takes about five minutes, if you
have your mise en place.
Wok Stirred Pork and Kimchi
For four
(See abbreviations, if needed)
1 pork tenderloin,
cut in quarter inch slices and then into half inch strips
2 T soy
sauce
4 T grapeseed oil or peanut oil
8 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed
and hand-brokened into quarters
8 scallions cut
in 1.5 inch lengths, white and green
16 broccoli, small flowerettes
(not shown in photo--after thought)
1 T garlic,
pureed
3.5 C kimchi, drained and coarsely chopped
4 T mirin (sweetened sake) or white
wine and some sugar
1/2 t sesame oil (for aoma--not taste)
1/4 C beef or chicken broth
2 T white and black sesame seeds,
toasted
1. Prep pork, toss with a tablespoon of soy sauce and set aside
2. Prep mushrooms and veggies and have them lined up ready to
pop into the wok
3. Add 2 T of oil to the wok, heat gently and swirl carefully
up the sides
4. Heat the oil to shiny hot and then add the marinated pork
(don't splash)
5. When pork strips break free of the bottom, stir or toss until
pork is whitened but still rare
6. Scoop out the pork and hold in a clean container (not the
one used to marinate)
7. Add 2 more tablespoons of oil and when very hot, add the scallions,
mushroom, garlic and broccoli,
in that order--about three minutes for this
step
8. Add the kimchi, another tablespoon of soy sauce, a few drops
of sesame oil and toss or stir
9. At this point, if the whole mess looks too dry (no sauce for
the rice), add some broth and BTB
10. Serve immediately in heated bowls over rice with maybe a
side of
Asian Cucumbers
11. Garnish with the toasted sesame seeds
How to Peel a Pineapple and Not Waste
so Much of it

Pineapples are usually peeled by slicing off the skin with a deep cut
that removes the skin and all the eyes. OK, its quick but a layer
of edible pineapple is tossed out with the skin. A better method
is to slice off the skin with a shallow cut, leaving most of the eyes.

Notice that the eyes have a pattern to them that can be lined up to
cut out, 3 or 4 at a time, with a sharp paring knife making v-shaped trench
cuts.
This method leaves more pineapple on the pineapple.

Then quarter the fruit, trim off the hard part, dice and place in containers
to cool. A $4.75 pineapple yields two nice containers of chunks that
go for $4.50 each at the market.
Waste not, want not . . .
How to Puree Garlic with your Chef's
Knife (revisited)
One of the more popular pages on this Web site, year after year, concerns
pureeing garlic with your knife. It was posted quite sometime ago
without photos, so I've added some to make the process more understandable--hopefully.
Read the whole thing here
A Brief Salad Amusement
For a Christmas
Day dinner salad we wanted something light and amusing, since the entree
was Osso Buco Milanaise with Butternut
Squash Soup and mashed potatoes and parsnips--all pretty heavy
stuff. So here we have fresh tender watercress simply dressed with
sugared rice wine vinegar. On top of that is one small just-sauteed
crab
cake, piped with a spicy hot raspberry wasabi mustard dressing.
Nice contrasts here: bitter watercress, sweet rice vinegar, seasoned
crab cake and spicy hot creamy dressing.
I always use ring molds to shape crab cakes. You will find 80mm
and 60mm stainless steel rings molds in good kitchen supply stores.
Both sizes too big for our purposes here. So at the hardware store,
buy a length of PVC pipe with an ID of 40mm. Take it home and cut
it into rings about an inch high. One pound of crab meat prepared
as crab cakes yields four 80's or six 60's or twelve 40's.
Tilapia Stuffed With Crabmeat
We
had a little canned crabmeat left over from Thanksgiving and an unfinished
container of tabbouleh, both of which we got at Costco. Though vacuum
sealed, the crabmeat had to be used soon. Tabbouleh is a tasty low
fat Middle Eastern spread made with bulgur wheat and finely diced tomato,
onion, cilantro, mint and lemon in EVOO. It goes great at room temperature
on taco chips, crackers or bread points. So what to do?
Make a fish dish.
Tilapia is a major food fish, farm raised. It is fine textured and low
fat, a bit more so than flounder. Cheaper too. So we seasoned the
crabmeat with a few ingredients from our crab
cake recipe and layered it onto one tilapia fillet and topped it with
another and tied them off, as shown. The fillets were seasoned with S/P
and EVOO. I then dumped the tabbouleh into a buttered dish, plopped
the tied fish fillets on top and baked the whole mess in a 400F oven for
about 30 minutes. The fillets were 3 inches thick stuffed and
tied. So, using the ten minutes an inch rule, 30 minutes was right
on.
How'd it come out? The tabbouleh got a little too crispy in the
baking process and lost the individual tastes present when served uncooked.
But it was OK. The crabmeat did not come through, as distinct from the
talapia, as I had hoped. Recipes abound for crab stuffed sole with
the crabmeat usually fattened up with cream or mayo, which I didn't do.
Since the cost of the lump crabmeat is greater than fish, there are better
uses for it. Why not do crab cakes one day and fillet of tender sweet fish
the next?
But we're talking leftovers here. We agreed that it was a nice
dish and an interesting use of tabbouleh, but we would not brag about it
at the bazaar in Marrakash.
This is a Cook's Cookbook
Would
you believe that over 3200 cookbooks will be published this year, up from
2800 last year? If there is any hidden meaning in that, it escapes
me (recession, home vs restaurant, etc...., bah). One of these cookbooks--forthcoming--looks
promising.
A young fellow named David Chang is a "hot chef" these days according
to the foodie media. An early review of his forthcoming cookbook caught
my attention because a) he's grounded in French technique, b) combines
Asian with American, c) likes pork, d) hasn't dumbed down his recipes for
a book contract and e) is a restaurant chef versed in that world's grueling
work and not a TV star where line cooks do the mise off camera.
(His penchant for profanity might save him from TV fame.)
He's cooked in Japan and in NYC where he opened his first restaurant,
Momofuku Noodle Bar. Since, Momofuku Ssäm Bar and Momofuku Ko both
high end restaurants have opened, with rave reviews. Chang and his
cookbook, of course named Momofuku, got a nice
enough review in the Wall Street Journal to prompt me to order it.
It's due out next week.
So wait, there's more...
------------------------------------------
Got the book today, here's the photo (new camera: Canon G-11). At second
glance: well edited, good photography on coffee table grade paper,
heavy on commentary regarding the art of cooking and the trauma of making
it pay, with recipes at the margin--all very well written and nicely presented.
Awful introduction. Contents are organized by Chang's restaurants:
Noodle Bar, Ssäm Bar and Ko.
This is a French Laundry type cookbook that takes the reader into the
head of another innovative chef and his crew. In the book at
least, these concepts drive Chang:
-
"Serve food with integrity at an affordable price. That is, undersell,
over deliver.
-
...do not subscribe to the idea that there's one set of blueprints that
everyone should follow.
-
. . . you take it, cook it, make it delicious . . . elevate it, honor it,
lavish it with care and attention.
-
when you start to cook on autopilot, when you stop paying attention to
details--not to mention big things like seasoning--no amount of press will
make up for it. What is the point of cooking at all if you're not gonna
do it right?"
More than enough recipes here, and a lot of them have recipes inside of
recipes or demand a commitment to Asian ingredients. As I read, I have
a habit of pencil-checking recipes in cookbooks that are of interest to
me, in theory or practice. Quite a few got a check--simple things, innovative
ideas or old war horses cooked differently: ginger scallion sauce
and scallion infused oil, the whole section on pickling, maple syrup and
yogurt, his fried chicken and pan-roasted rib eye, his bánh mì
sandwich, fingerling potato chips and shaved frozen foie gras.
This cookbook is an important addition to the literature and it's a
fun read.
PS: A reader asked where "Momofuku" came from? Chang says
that one of the most important events in the history of food was the invention
of instant ramen by "Momofuku Ando." Best read the book for the origins
of Ssäm and Ko.
A New Cookie Paradigm?
When is a cookie done?
In school we were instructed to look
for a trace of browning around the edge of the cookie. Corriher
says the same thing. Reichl says 'until
golden.' I'm now convinced that waiting for evidence of browning
results in an over baked cookie: one that dries when cooled and gets
hard when stored. The 'until golden' works better for white sugar
than brown sugar'd cookies. The conundrum is compounded in a convection
oven, which shortens baking time by 20%, for sure, and maybe more.
Which also means that the time to take out the cookies comes sooner and
passes faster.
So . . .
I just baked a batch of Pantry
Cookies and a batch of my new Nut, Coconut
and Health Bar Cookies. I took them out when they appeared
set. That is, when they were fully shaped, with a dry surface
top and with edges sharply defined and not clinging to the silicone pad.
No evidence of browning. The result: moist, chewy cookies!
This is heavy...but a change is required
on all my cookie recipes. Got to do it.
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