16 oz Queso Fresco, 8 Meals

Sometimes I talk myself out of buying exotic ingredients. Whether they're expensive (meyer lemons), difficult to locate (farro), or just plain scary (uni), I can come up with many reasons to avoid a potentially awesome dish.

I had talked myself out of making macaroni with cream and cheese, Gourmet Feb. 05, for some of the above reasons. It had a number of red-button items in the ingredient list; it called for over 1 pound of chili peppers (I'm scared of spicy things, though I do often like them), and two types of Mexican cheeses: queso fresco (a firm, crumbly cow's milk cheese, similar to a mild feta), and crema (like creme fraiche, but more viscous).

While the recipe was not on the top of my list for those reasons, I happened upon all of the ingredients in my trusty SpaHa Associated. After buying some, I realized I had forgotten the serrano chiles but decided the poblanos would be spicy enough. (I was right, though I've heard the serranos are not quite as aggressive as they could be)

The recipe was incredible, the balance between the chile heat and the mild, creamy cheese made it totally worth it. Roasting the chiles was another first experience for me; I probably could have charred the outsides a bit more, but I was afraid I'd overcook them. The chiles came out tender and gave the dish a significant cumulative spiciness, but nothing unbearable.

At the end of the meal I was left with 3/4 of the queso fresco wheel. For a day or so I considered remaking the macaroni, but then the Feb. 07 Gourmet came. And with it, another intriguing recipe containing about a half-pound of queso fresco: an Andean potato stew. The editors billed it as comfort food, and considering the extreme cold it sounded ideal.

The achiote seeds seemed like they'd be difficult, but I found them, surprise surprise, at the same supermarket in the spice section. And the bottle was about 25x larger than I needed, so I'll be set with achiote for a while. Let me know if any of y'all need to, say, color some American cheese or dye some textiles (other popular uses include Mayan warpaint)

Preparation was easy and the product was satisfying. I'd say I increased the total poundage of potatoes to about 5; with the original 3 1/2, the potato stew was somewhat paltry on the potatoes (though I may have stretched it into more meals than the recipe foresaw ...). For clarity, the additional potatoes were cubed, not mashed. The queso fresco muted the mild achiote heat and looked quite handsome topping the stew. The avocados were crucial.

All of that left me 4 oz queso. I ate 2 oz standing over the range waiting for the potatoes to boil, and sliced the rest and topped it with red wine vinegar (kind of gross; balsamic would have been better).

One wheel of queso fresco, 8 meals. (It might have been 10...)



Technorati Tags: Food, Cooking, Queso Fresco, Cheese

Say it with me: "Role-lah-din"

Tonight Liz made rouladen (not to be confused with rolladen). Rouladen, for the uninitiated, is (are) a german delicacy in which one wraps up slices of pickle and onion with a thin piece of tender beef. It's then sauteed in stock and savored with, in our case, mashed potatoes.

I will admit that it doesn't sound appetizing. Pickles, mustard, onions, and beef sitting on an island of mashed potatoes, surrounded by a sea of broth, doesn't even make me want to eat it, but trust me. It's damn good, easy to make, and really quite inexpensive.

I had to leave for work before I could get a recipe out of my roommate, but the basic ingredients are the thinly sliced (1/2-inch thick) beef [tenderloins?], dijon mustard, liberally applied to raw beef, paprika (very liberally applied; I'm talking Ralph Nader liberal), dill pickle slices, white onion, cut into 1-inch wedges, flour for dredging, and some vegetable oil for browning. After you assemble, in above order, you roll the little buggers up, fasten with 3 toothpicks, and then boil the hell out of them in 3 or 4 cups of stock. There is no time limit on the boiling. The longer the better (so she says).

Serve the slug-looking things on a bed of something unhealthy and you're set.

They taste good, but they look like sauteed slugs. Just eat, don't look. I'll get more details eventually.

Technorati Tags: Food, Rolladen, German Food, Cooking
Yes, the picture is mine. In its grainy glory.

Je t'aime, Coq au Vin

Go and buy the Nov/Dec issue of Cook's Illustrated. Go now. It food gold. Food gold.

Aand dear readers, the following post breaks practically all of our standards; if you're looking a fast, inexpensive meal, you should look here or here (or here), because this certainly isn't one of them.

When I saw the coq au vin recipe I knew I had to do it. "Fast" the editors suggested, "easy". It was neither, but oh my God it was amazing; perhaps the best dish I've ever made. One of the top five for sure.

After a rough start foraging at the Pathmark (no frozen pearl onions, only ones frozen with a sherry cream sauce, hardly any skinless/boneless chicken thighs, and, not surprisingly no cremini mushrooms [actually, I ended up with baby 'bella mushrooms, which are another name for creminis. The things you learn on wikipedia- skp]), I got some editing done and started cooking at about 5:30.

At about 8:45 I started to get nervous. They said this was going to be easy. And fast (90 minutes). Boiling down the wine, cutting up the chicken, and mushrooms, browning both, making lardons, browning them, peeling and cutting up the vegetables for my root vegetable puree, boiling them, boiling down the wine more should not have taken so much time. It did.

And after it was all over I did get to spend about minutes enjoying it. The sauce was incredible; a whole bottle of pinot noir, some butter, garlic and mushrooms. Damn. The chicken thighs were juicy and tender.

Oh, and the aforementioned mashed root vegetables:

6 medium yukon gold potatoes cut into 2-in cubes
1 lb carrots, cut into 2-in cubes
1 lb parsnips, cut into 2-in cubes
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup chicken stock
4 tablespoons (or 1/2 stick) butter
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Boil potatoes, carrots, and parsnips until tender in salted water. Drain. Mash viciously (in boiling pot). Add milk, stock, and butter. Mash on. Feel free to add more milk or stock to your taste.

And while you're at it, grab the October and November Gourmet issues. Lots of great recipes in Quick Kitchen and the other sections near it. I served the coq au vin and roots with some roasted acorn squash with chile vinaigrette from the Oct. issue.


Technorati Tags: Food, Coq au Vin, Parsnip, Cooking
Special thanks to ginandtonic1978 over at flickr for the coq au vin picture and epicurious for the squash.

Baked Ziti Redux

This one'll be short but there will be more this week. I swear. Working 60-plus hours a week will not stop this gourmetro. (mono might, but we'll cross that bridge when we're forced onto it)

Last week I made one of my favorite fall/winter meals, baked ziti. It's near and dear to my heart and I tore it up when I made it last week. Oh, and tearing it up is like ripping it apart. It's a good thing, I think.

When I decided to eat ziti for the week I had a momentary epiphany: why am I adding 3/4 cup of water when I could be adding 3/4 cup of wine? That's it. Red wine made that kickin' ziti even better. I used a Cabernet Franc, but any full-bodied red should do. If you're a purist, use an Italian red like Chiante or Barolo.

My other alteration was that I shredded my own block of mozzarella. It made a big difference, much more stringy and moist than the pre-shredded stuff. And I used Polly-O, so nice, fresh mozz would be even dreamier.

Oh, that and a pound and a half of mild sage sausage (most of the fat reserved ;) ).


Technorati Tags: Food, Ziti, Recipe, Cooking
Special thanks to viamarisol over at flickr for the extreme close-up.

Hungry, stressed.

It's been a while, I know. I've been in the midst of moving for the last month, and now that I finally have moved to my amazing new SpaHa residence, all of my jobs have started to give me all the hours I've wanted at once. And now my diet, and the Gourmetro, suffers. Does it ever.

For the last week, my intake has consisted of kickin' Peanut Butter & Jelly Co. White Chocolate (and Cinnamon Raisin Swirl) peanut butter with Whole Foods 7-Grain bread (which sucks), expired Barilla tortellini, and Patsy's tomato and basil sauce. And lots of bad Chinese food. How could I forget. I'm not starving by any means, but I'm looking forward to having all of my cooking tools back (which should happen this Sunday)

This morning I decided to break my good food fast by hitting up the Union Square Farmer's Market, and with only $15 in my pocket, I knew I would have to work to get everything I needed without getting distracted by the colorful tomatoes.

A few pats of butter, salt and pepper, and some olive oil turned a pound of organic fingerling potatoes, crisp lemony French Sorrel, a bone-in wing of Skate, some yellow pear-shaped grape tomatoes, and a bag of summer squash into a pretty sweet dinner. The potatoes broiled until fork tender while I sauteed the skate and the then-sliced summer squash. From beginning to end it took about 45 minutes and tasted great. I wish I'd had some of my spices, but they're still on Long Island with the rest of my stuff. Salt, pepper and lemon were the only seasonings I had to work with, and they worked quite well.

It was nice to eat something real. Oh, and I sauteed the just-shy-of-a-pound skate (after rinsing and rubbing down with olive oil and salt and pepper) over medium-high heat for about six minutes. It probably could have used one or two more.

I'll have to learn how to debone the skate, because while the cartilage wasn't too off-putting, it would be better removed.

Technorati Tags: Food, Skate, Squash, Cooking