I wrote up a strawberry rhubarb compote recipe last year.

 

Omit the strawberries.  Add the seeds of 4-5 (green) cardamom pods, freshly ground.

 

That is all.

I like fennel, and have been using it in a lot of different ways lately.  A dish of rabbit (braised?  confit?  i can't remember) with really thinly shaved fennel/celery salad was a revelation, though.  Slice it thin enough and it becomes light, crispy, and refreshing.  The celery adds to the effect.  I wanted something to contrast with that, though, so made this simple salad with olives to contrast the cool flavors and crisp texture.  Omitting the celery made it seem earthier, dirtier, more direct.

 

a head of fennel, shaved as thinly as possible

15-20 pitted black olives, roughly chopped

champagne vinegar

good olive oil

salt and pepper

 

Add vinegar, salt, and pepper to a bowl.  Slowly pour in the olive oil, whisking as you go to emulsify it.  Combine the fennel, olives, and dressing, and serve at room temp or a little below.

 

I served it as a main course under halibut fillets, cooked really simply with salt and pepper, but it's equally good on it's own as a salad.

 

 This has been the winter of cauliflower - in soups, but mainly just plain, roasted.  Roasting brings out a depth of flavor that it just doesn't have otherwise; if you haven't tried it, you should.  Lately, i've been looking for other things to do with it once it's roasted - this one turned out well, is super easy, and is versatile.

 

a cauliflower

approximately equal quantities of diced shallots, golden raisins, and pine nuts

white wine vinegar

 

Preheat your oven to 425.

Slice the whole cauliflower into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices, and toss in a bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Roast the cauliflower, turning occasionally, until browned.  Chop roughly.

 

In a dry saute pan, toast the pine nuts over medium heat, tossing occasionally.  Remove them, add some olive oil, and saute the shallots until soft.  Add the raisins, toss, then add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar.  Allow it to reduce by 1/2 or 2/3, then add the toasted pine nuts back and toss again.

 

You can serve them together as a veggie side dish, as a bruschetta topping, or tossed together with loads of parmesan (and some of the pasta water) as a pasta sauce.  Awexome.

 

 

I've never been a huge fan of southern style greens, though it's possible i've just never had good ones.  So i never buy kale, and haven't got a clue how to cook with it.  Turns out the first attempt to do something with it worked out well; this soup was tasty, hearty, and could easily make a meal.  Kale's texture works well here, making the soup seem more substantial.  The real star of this version was the bacon, though - rich, meaty, incredibly smoky chopped bacon ends from Don & Joe's.

 

2 ounces bacon, diced

a 14 oz can of cannelini beans, drained and rinsed

a bunch of kale, washed thoroughly and chopped roughly into bite size pieces

half an onion, in large dice

a quart of chicken stock

two cloves garlic, minced

a splash of white wine (optional)

 

Heat a pot and add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  Saute the bacon until crisp, and turn down the heat.  Saute the garlic and onions until soft, then deglaze with the wine, if you're using it.  Add stock and beans, bring to a boil, and cook 10-15 minutes.  Add the kale, cook for an additional 3 minutes or so, and serve.  If you feel like grating some parmesan over it, making croutons, or adding another splash of good olive oil, all the better.

 

There's something really funny about giant sandwiches.  And about how people go crazy for giant sandwiches.  I like the foot high sandwich on normal bread, but the 6 foot sub is even better.  Images of bad office parties abound, but can we recapture the giant sub as our own?

We threw a Super Bowl party on the weekend, and it was the perfect excuse to bust one out.  Who turns down a giant sandwich?  The bonus here is that a small chunk of it goes a long way, so people eating wings, nachos, and a pile of other stuff can still enjoy it without stuffing themselves on one thing.

 

a baguette

 

grainy mustard

 

3 pounds short ribs

a carrot

a rib of celery

half a medium yellow onion

a couple of cloves of garlic

2 cups beef stock, red wine, water, or a combination of them

 

The day before, heat olive in a medium saucepan and brown the ribs over high heat, in batches.  Remove them, lower the heat, and saute the carrot/onion/garlic/celery.  Add the beef back, add stock or wine and herbs.  Bring to a boil, and reduce to a really slow simmer.  Cook, covered, for 3 hours or so, until the beef is fall-apart tender.  Refrigerate overnight. 

 

The next day, preheat the oven to 400.  Remove the layer of fat on top and reheat in an open frypan.  Shred the meat, remove bones, and cook (turning often to keep beef moist) until the liquid is mostly evaporated.  Allow to cool slightly while reheating the bread briefly in the oven - depending on the bread, you may want to sprinkle some water on it to keep it moist.

 

Slice the baguette in half, and cover one side with mustard.  Toss the beef mixture again to evenly coat it with the sauce, taste for seasoning and correct it if needed, and fill the baguette.  Slice into approx 2 inch lengths, and enjoy.  Or don't - if someone can eat the whole thing, they get it for free.

 

Additional toppings optional - pickle slices? a tiny bit of old cheddar and some roasted red pepper strips?  red onion?  I'm sure there are plenty of ways to improve it, but it doesn't need anything - it's fantastic as is, with no distractions from the beefy goodness.

 

Pork is good.  Multiple pork is even better.  The pork confit seemed like it might be too rich to eat as the main component of a meal, so this got invented as a way to build a lighter meal around such a rich element.  The port confit is the complicated part; the rest of it's straightforward.  Each part is great on it's own or as part of a simpler dish, if you don't feel like putting the whole thing together, or want to mix and match.

 

1 pound pork confit

 

a medium cauliflower

2-3 tablespoons champagne vinegar

4-5 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon sugar

 

1 pound mixed mushrooms

1 leek

a glass of red wine

1/2 a cup or so of chicken or beef stock (optional)

a 2-3 pound pork loin roast

 

Break up or cut the cauliflower into small florets, reserving the rest for some other use.  Pour vinegar into bowl with some salt and pepper, and gradually add olive oil, whisking as you go to emulsify it.  Set aside.

 

Chop the leek and mushrooms.

 

Preheat the oven to 400, and heat a heavy 12" skillet over medium heat.  Sweat the leek in olive oil, add the mushrooms, and cook until they stop giving off water.  Add the wine and stock, and reduce by at least half.  Season the pork loin, add it to the pan, and transfer the pan to the oven.  Roast until done, about an hour, setting a pot of water on to boil at some point.

 

Remove the pork and mushroom/leek mixture and set aside to rest in foil for 10-15 minutes, with any liquid left in the pan.  Put it back over medium high heat.  Form the confit into 8 patties, add a bit of fat to the pan, and sear the patties for 1-2 mins each side.  Drop the cauliflower into the pot of water.  Slice the pork into 8 thick slices, top with some of the mushroom mixture, and a confit patty.  Drain the cauliflower, toss it with the vinaigrette, and serve around the pile of porky goodness.

 

The word confit gets thrown around a lot, to the point where it's technical meaning sorta gets lost.  So, actual confit is both a means of cooking and a preservation technique - meats are cured and cooked in their own fat, making them storable (in fat) for a long time.  Fruit is cooked with sugar, infused and covered to the point that it, too, can be stored for a long time.

 

When i hear "confit" i think duck - tasty, tasty duck.  Discovering that Don and Joe's sells duck confit at $10 for 2 legs has made me a very happy man.  But discovering that i could buy a few pounds of pork shoulder and turn it into pork confit, at least temporarily, has made me even happier.

 

2 quarts lard

a 3 pound pork shoulder roast

1 tablespoon juniper berries

1 tablespoon (whole) allspice

2 bay leaves

1-2 tablespoons kosher salt

pepper to taste

a shallot

a couple of cloves of garlic

 

Bash up the juniper and allspice in a mortar and pestle, or grind in a coffee grinder.  Crumble the bay leaves, and add along with the salt, pepper.  Mix/bash/whatever a bit more.  Mince the garlic and shallot and add them, and mix/bash/grind very briefly.  Rub the spice mixture into the pork, and leave (refrigerated) overnight.

 

Remove the pork from the fridge, remove as much of the garlic/onion/berries mixture as you can, and dry thoroughly with paper towels.  Preheat your oven to 300.  Find a pot that is just barely wider than the pork shoulder but somewhat taller.  Melt the lard, and add to a pot with the pork - you should have enough lard to submerge the pork completely.  Cover the pot (i left the lid slightly ajar), put in the oven (over foil to catch any bubbling over, just to be safe), and cook for 4-6 hours, checking occasionally to make sure that your oven's not on fire.  Remove the pot carefully, and leave undisturbed for an hour or so, to cool.  Remove the pork, and savor it's fatty goodness.  If you're eating immediately (or within the next few days), you're done - drain off more fat with paper towels, if you like, and serve whole or shredded.  The confit can be reheated in an oven or saute pan.  To store for longer, jar it under a layer of lard.

 

After the pot of lard has cooled, strain it a couple of times and put it back in jars, saving it for the next time you want to make yummy, yummy pork confit.