A "Quick" Vegetable gratin

Vegetable gratins are full of pitfalls. The vegetables cook unevenly, there is too much liquid so they end up sloppy, toppings are uneven..

So to overcome these we need to think about cooking in "layers" or stages. This recipe details the stages and techniques.

Ingredients

1 Medium Italian eggplant (aubergine), peeled in stripes and cut into 1/2" thick rounds

1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil (divided use)

1 Tbs Aleppo pepper

2 Medium yellow onions coarsely diced

1 Red bell pepper cut into 1/2" pieces

1 1/12 lbs cherry tomatoes

1 Russet potato (coarsely grated - lke for hashbrowns)

4 Oz Melty hard chese (Cheddar/Gruyere) grated

Salt/Pepper to taste

Finely chopped chives for garnish/decoration

Method

Preheat the oven to 425F (Fan). Rack in the middle

Microwave the eggplant slices until they are soft and much of the water has been driven off. Meanwhile lighly oil a gratin dish.

Seperately saute the onions and red pepper using a little oil, Aleppo pepper, and salt ad pepper. The onions should become translucent, but not browned.

Place the eggplant slices in a single layer in the bottom of the gratin dish. 

Rinse the grated potatoes to remove the surface starch. Microwave the grated potatoes to mostly cook and dry off as much water as possible. 

Meanwhile, cover the eggplant with the sauteed onions/peppers. Sprinkle the tomatoes over the onions. Place the gratin dish into the oven, uncovered, for about 20 minutes. This will cause the tomatoes to wrinkle and soften.

MIx the grated potatoes with the grated cheese. Salt the gratin and then cover with the grated potato/cheese.

Return to the oven and cook until the internal temperature of the gratin reaches 200F.

Switch the oven to broil, and brown the potato/cheese topping until it is nice and crunchy. Sprinkle the gratin with the chopped chives.

Serve with a crisp dry wine and a side salad

Cheese Straws

A very easy go to appetizer. They hold together nicely, and look quite pretty arranged as a "bouquet".

Ingredients

5 oz grated sharp Cheddar cheese

2 oz finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano

2 oz cold butter

3/4 cup of All Purpose flour + a small amount extra for dusting

1/4 - 1/2 t kosher salt. Depends on whether your butter was salted or not

A few grinds of black pepper

1/4t finely ground Cayenne Pepper (40,000 Scoville Units)

2 T Greek yogurt

1T milk  (I used 2% or semi skimmed)

Method

Heat the oven to 350F. I grated the cheddar using the crater attachment of the food processor. That left the cheese neatly in the bowl. Add the other cheese, cold butter, flour, cayenne and salt. Pulse several times for 5 seconds per pulse. This until the butter is fully incorprtaed and the mixture looks like fine sand.

Add the Greek yogurt and let run checking consistency. If it does not form a ball at this stage, add 1/2 the milk. Repeat until a ball is formed.

Roll the dough on a floured surface to an 8x10 rectangle (it will be about 1/8" or 3mm thick).

Using a pizza cutter, cut into long strips and place in a parchment lined sheet pan. Bake for 14-17 minutes - until the straws are medium brown and dry to the touch. You may need to rotate the pan.

Cool the straws on a wire rack. They keep quite well for about 3 days.

Baked Vacherin Mont d'Or

Vacherin Mont d'Or is a French washed rind cheese from the Franche-Comte region of France. It is traditionally made from raw (unpasteurized) milk. It is typically made in the autumn/winter months when there is not enough milk to make Comte. It goes on sale in September each year.

The cheese itself is made in rounds of 400gm (14 oz) which are in spruce boxes. Often hard to get in the USA - you have to have an outstanding cheese monger (like the amazing Scardello in Dallas)

A way of serving it is to bake it with some of the local wine (Macvin) and a few slices of garlic. Macvin is a bizarre almost wine. It is a mixture of barely fermented grape juice and marc (a liqueur made from the left over skins, seeds and stalks resulting from pressing the grape juice).

The Macvin that we used is a Chateau D'Arlay - typically sold in 1/2 bottles. We also made a variant of a Vacherin Mont D'Or using a Jasper Hills Farms Winnimere cooked the same way. 

Ingredients

1 400g Vacherin Mont D'Or 

2 garlic cloves, sliced very thinly

3 T Macvin

Method

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Remove the lid from the cheese, leaving the cheese itself in the box. Lay the box on a sheet of aluminium foil. Fold the foil tightly up the sides of the cheese box. This makes sure that the box does not come unglued.

Create slits in the cheese in various places with the point of a paring knife. Go as deep as the cheese, but take care you don't go through the bottom of the box. You want about 16 slits overall evenly spaced. I do them in concentric circles, with the outer circle starting about 1/2" from the outer edge. 

Insert a garlic sliver into each slit, pushing down until the top edge of the garlic sliver is below the top of the cheese.

Once you have filled each slit, pour the wine over the top surface of the cheese, allowing it to top off the slits.

Place the cheese on a baking sheet and put into the pre-heated oven on the middle shelf. 

Bake for around 20 minutes (check at 16) until the top is bubbly and the inside gooey.

To Serve

There are a couple of ways to serve this. My favourite is to serve with some charcuterie and awesome baguettes. But it is also served as a main course with a salad and boiled potatoes. The gooeyness of the cheese coats the potatoes making a sublime pairing. To drink, serve the remaining Macvin (remember it comes in 1/2 bottles so you will need more than one) .

khachapuri - First attempt

A facebook friend had been traveling in Georgia (the country, not the US state) and mentioned that he had had a fabulous dish - called khachapuri. He suggested that I try making it. He knows that I am a sometime baker and so would relish the challenge.

This is the finished dish..

A small loaf of bread filled with gooey cheese and an egg baked in the hole. He was right, it is delicious - and pretty easy. The dough is a bit soft and wet, so it is tricky to handle, however.

Ingredients - Bread

1 t yeast

pinch of sugar

70 ml luke warm water

70 ml luke warm whole milk

15 ml olive oil

200 gm bread flour

5 gm kosher salt

Ingredients - Filling

200 gm queso fresco (or other soft crumbly cheese)

50 gm fresh goat cheese

a little milk to make the texture a paste

2 large eggs

Method

This bread has a lot of yeast for the amount of flour, so it has a tendency to rise very quickly. I retarded mine by keeping it in the fridge. Partly because we didn't eat it the day we expected to. It had to sit for 24 hours longer than anticipated.

Dissolve the sugar in the milk/water and add the yeast. Allow to become foamy - about 10 minutes

Mix in the flour, oil and salt and knead for about 5 minutes by hand. You may find you need to add a little more flour to stop it being too sticky.

Allow to rise until about double original volume. This is largely a temperature thing. If you do it in the fridge at 37F (2C) it takes about 24 hours.

When ready to bake, set a pizza stone (or upside down baking sheet) in the oven and preheat to 500F - yes it really is that hot. Allow to heat for at least 45 minutes.

Make the cheese mixture by creaming the cheeses - adding a little milk if necessary.

Shape the dough into 2 equal sized balls and roll each out until it is 10 inches (25cm) in diameter. I did it on parchment (greaseproof) paper.

Put 1/4 of the filling on the first round, leaving a margin of about 1" (2.5 cm) all the way around.

Roll one side of the circle towards the center. You want to stop about an inch (2.5 cm) before the center. Roll from the other side so you have a center channel. Twist the ends to make small knobs. 

You will have made little boats.

Divide the rest of the cheese mixture between the boats

Repeat with the other round.

Bake the boats on the pizza stone or baking sheet for 15 minutes. The cheese mixture will be all bubbly and gooey.

After 15 minutes, crack an egg into each boat - you may need to poke the filling first to make room for the egg. Return to the oven and bake for 4:30 - until the white is set, but the yolk is still runny.

Serve with a green salad - and in our case a glass of pinot noir. I would imagine that a really nice 

Belgian Trippel would go well. 

Simple but not easy - cacio e pepe

Some good friends introduced us to the Roman dish - Cacio e Pepe (Cheese and pepper - in this case black pepper). It has very few ingredients, is simple to make but everything has to be just right. I made it this evening as a rehearsal for an event next weekend. Madame (who generally sneers at anything pasta) was blown away by this. So thank you Rocco and Judy.

Ingredients

2T kosher salt

6 oz bucatini - preferably extruded through bronze nozzles to get that slightly rough texture - ideal for holding sauce

1 1/2 cups Pecorino Romano - salty sheep's milk cheese

3 T butter (divided use)

1 t cracked black pepper

Method

Bring 1 gallon of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook until just shy of al dente (this is what makes it simple but not easy). Meanwhile, melt 2 T of butter in a large skillet. Add the cracked black pepper and toast the pepper until you can just smell it. Again, simple but not easy.

Reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta water and drain the rest. Add the drained pasta to the butter/pepper skillet. Add all but a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water to the skillet and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, cook for a minute or so. Turn the heat down to low and add the cheese and remaining tablespoon of butter tossing quickly with tongs.

Serve in warmed bowls.

Vegetable casserole (again)

With my new dietary requirements, vegetables playe a much larger part than even before. So we have taken to making a lot of vegetarian dishes. This one is a very pretty casserole with sweet potatoes, leeks, mushrooms, cauliflower, and tomatoes. The trouble with these kinds of casseroles is that the vegetation all cooks at different rates and releases liquids unpredictably. Soggy, tasteless liquid in the bottom of a casserole full of improperly cooked piece parts. Yuk. So this was our attempt to fix that. It got the, "we can serve this to people" accolade, so it must have worked! The saucy flavoring was made from a bechamel - a bit thicker than normal, but plenty tasty. And of course there was cheese - after all cauliflower and cheese are a great combo.

Ingredients - Vegetables

4T vegetable oil

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed - 1/2" cubes

3 leeks (white and light green, rinsed and shopped fine)

6 large carrots, scrubbed and sliced into 1/2" pieces

1 head of cauliflower

12 cherry tomatoes

1oz unsalted butter

8 oz mushrooms, roughly chopped and microwaved to extract liquid

1 Recipe cheese sauce (below)

6 T breadcrumbs

salt/pepper - to taste

Method - Vegetables

Pre-heat the milk/onion/cove misxture as described in the cheese sauce.

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Oil a large casserole dish, stir in the sweet potatoes and carrots. Place in the casserole dish in the oven. After about 10 minutes add the leeks and toss together to coat. Leave to cook/dry in the oven for about 35 minutes. 

After 35 minutes, slice the cauliflower (florets only), and toss lightly in oil. Nest the tomatoes in among the vegetables, turn up the oven temperature to 425, sprinkle salt/pepper onto the vegetables. Replace the casserole into the oven. Chop the mushrooms roughly, and put in a microwave safe bow with the butter. Microwave on high for 4-5 minutes. Spoon out the mushrooms (leaving any liquid behind) into the casserole and return to the oven. Start making the cheese sauce (based on a bechamel sauce). As soon as the cheese sauce is made, pour over the vegetables, spread out the sauce, top with breadcrumbs and return to the hot oven for 25-30 minutes.

Remove from the oven when the breadcrumbs are brown and crunchy. Allow to stand for 15 minutes before serving - perhaps with crusty bread....

Ingredients - Cheese Sauce

1 Medium onion, peeled and left whole
24 cloves
1 US Quart whole milk
2oz unsalted butter
3oz All purpose flour
1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
12 oz grated cheddar cheese

Method - Cheese sauce
Put milk, onion in a saucepan and heat slowly until bubbles form on the surface. Turn heat off, cover and leave to steep for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, melt the butter over medium heat, and when foaming has stopped, add the flour and cook, stirring vigorously for 3 minutes to cook out the floury taste and make a blonde roux. Do not let the butter flour mixture brown.
Strain the hot milk mixture into the roux while whisking constantly to ensure no lumps. Discard the onion from the strainer. Add the nutmeg.
Bring the roux/milk mixture slowly to the boil allowing it to thicken. Boil gently for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Off heat, add the grated cheese and stir in thoroughly.

Superbowl Nachos

This is a recipe that is more assembly than cooking. We were invited to a super bowl party and needed something appetizer like and suitable for the occasion. I had made these before (or some variant of them), so was able to recreate fairly easily. The nice thing is that there are some parts you can simply buy, and then just cook the bits that make a difference.

Ingredients

4 T spice rub (I used the same one I use for smoking brisket)

8 oz skirt steak

2T vegetable oil

1 medium yellow onion - diced

1 can refried beans

1/2 cup finely grated Mexican cheese mix

3 pickled jalapenos, sliced thinly (I used Goya brand).

35 Tostito "scoops"

Method

24 hours ahead of time, rub the steak with the spice rub, wrap tightly with cling wrap and refrigerate. An hour before cooking, bring the steak out of the refrigerator, unwrap it, and rewrap into paper towels to dry out.

Saute the onions over just until the edges begin to brown. Remove the onions to a small bowl. Turn the heat up a bit, and add the skirt steak - making certain that the surface was dry.

Cook the meat for about 4 minutes each side - testing doneness as you go. It wants to be cooked to medium.

Once the meat is cooked, take off the heat and allow to rest. Meanwhile start assembling the nachos.

Into each scoop, place 2 pieces of onion, 1/2 tsp of refried beans. 

When the meat has rested, cut it into 1/4" cubes. Place 2 cubes on top of the refried beans in each scoop. Ad a few strands of grated Mexican cheese. Top with a thinly sliced jalapeno round.

Bake in a 350F oven for 8 minutes - or until the cheese is properly melted.

Serve with drained salsa, sour cream and avocados on the side.

Mac and Cheese

This Macaroni and Cheese dish was made for Madame's faculty party and the students working the TV station. It seemed to go down quite well, so I was asked for the recipe. It is a pretty standard M&C in that it uses a Bechamel sauce as the base. The quantities were substantial, however. There is absolutely nothing low-fat, healthy, low-carb, gluten free about it. I make no warranty if you don't use butter, if you don't use whole milk, and if you don't use lots of full fat cheese.

Ingredients

1 medium yellow onion, peeled, left whole and studded with a dozen cloves

3/4t freshly grated nutmeg

6oz (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

6 oz (1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour

6 pints (US pints, 4 3/4 Imperial pints) whole milk

2 lbs sharp cheddar, shredded

1 1/2 lbs Monterrey Jack, shredded

2 lbs elbow macaroni

1 lb Parmesan cheese grated

2 lbs bacon cut into 1/2 " strips

Salt/Pepper to taste

Method

Place the milk in a large pan and add the onion (studded with cloves) and the nutmeg. Warm through until about 180F. Leave to stand for about 30 minutes to infuse. Discard the onion.

Meanwhile make a roux by melting the butter until it stops foaming. Add the flour all at once and stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes - until it is a pale straw color. You are cooking out the raw flavor of the flour.

Bring a large pot of salted water (I used about a gallon) to the boil. This will be used to cook the macaroni.

Once the roux is cooked, add the warm milk, whisking in the roux until it is smooth. Bring to the boil and leave bubbling for about a minute. Allow to cool for about 15 min. When cooled add the Cheddar and Jack cheeses stirring thoroughly.

Cook the bacon gently in a skillet. You don't want it crispy.

Cook the macaroni for the amount of time specified. Once the macaroni is cooked, add it to the cheese mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Layer the macaroni and cheese mixture in low pans to a depth of about an inch. Sprinkle cooked bacon on the surface and cover with more macaroni and cheese mixture.

On the very top of each pan, sprinkle with the parmesan. 

Either bake the pans in a 350 oven covered for 30 minutes, uncover and cook for 10 more. Or microwave on 50% power for about 20 minutes (depends on the microwave) until heated through.

Serve.

The Hallow-tini party

We held a party for about 50 people last evening (October 30). The idea was to serve "martinis" where the gin/vodka were chilled (freezer then dry ice) and a dozen or so mixins were made available. Using medical pipettes, guests could doctor up their drinks to make flavor combinations that they wanted.

We had a variety of hot/spicy flavorings and some milder ones. The glasses were small, so folks could have several and try lots of flavors. Since the theme was halloween (and slight geek) we named the flavors appropriately. The one that had the best cross over name was dragon drops (drag and drop?) which was vodka infused with dried habaneros. We had some habaneros left from last years crop so dried them.

The spicy flavors were

• Habanero vodka
• Tabasco pepper vodka (made with the peppers not the bottle)
• Black pepper vodka
• Ginger vodka
• Kaffir lime vodka
• Joy (pickled jalapaneos) pickle juice

 The milder flavors were:

• Blue Curacao
• Lime juice
• Tia maria (dessert anyone)
• Sweet pickle juice
• Vermouth

Of course we had cocktail onions and stuffed olives too.

We decorated the yard (thanks Lisa) with appropriate pagan symbols, and fired up the fog machine, played suitable music, hired fantastic help and served the drinks and food.

Outdoor food

• Empanadas from the Argentinean bakery
• Various wings from wing stop
• chips/salsa (hardly touched!) Too much fun

Indoor food

• Pumpkin soup served in its shell (recipe in a following post)
• White Chili (recipe in a following post)
• Lasagne (recipe in a following post)
• Mac and cheese (recipe in a following post)
• Cheeses - details in a bit + crackers
• Soprasetto salame
• Olives, roasted red peppers, cippolini onions 

Desserts

• Party tray from Corner bakery
• Fantastic cookies made by Claudia
• Halloween M&Ms

The cheeses:

• Delice de Bourgogne -  A triple cream cows milk cheese from Burgundy
• Pierre Robert  - Another very decadent French triple cream
• Keen's - Cheddar from England
• Morbier - A raw milk cheese from france
• Gorgonzola - from Italy

A good time was had by all.

A Quark like substance

In my travels, I found a delicious dairy product that seemed like a cross between yogurt and cottage cheese. In Germany this is called quark (pronounced kvark). In looking for something similar in the US, I happened upon the following. It is delicious - not as acidic tasting as yogurt, and not as bland nor as granular as cottage cheese.

Bring 1 gallon of milk (I use 2%, but Madame prefers it with 1%) almost to a boil, and then allow to cool to about 100F. When it has cooled, stir in 1/2 cup cultured buttermilk. Decant into plastic containers, cover and leave overnight (12 hours at least) in the oven with the light on. That is 116F in my oven.

After it has set, remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temp. Strain through a double thickness of cheesecloth in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours - so it thickens up nicely.

Store in a container with a tight fitting lid.

I use it in almost any recipe that calls for yogurt, but it does especially well when mixed with mayonnaise, roasted garlic and a little tarragon or cilantro for a spectacular dip.

Then of course you can make elegant parfaits with it too. or some pureed raspberries, sieved with a little sugar, heated through to dissolve the sugar and drizzled over it, perhaps with some cassis......

We keep a batch in the house at all times - one never knows when an emergency dip is called for.