Here's what's coming...

I've been toying with this idea for a while.

I like to read all sorts of books, but especially literary fiction, history and gastro-writing. And when it comes to the last category -- books about food -- I don't just mean M.F.K. Fisher, Ruth Reichl, Michael Pollan and the like -- people who write about food (more than they do recipes). I'm also referring to actual cookbooks, which I have been known to read from front to back, as you would a novel.

It's also no secret that I like to cook, but I'm a little bit sheepish to admit that even though I have been working at becoming a competent cook for a while, there are some basic skills that I still haven't mastered well enough to just whip something up without consulting a recipe. And it bothers me when I have to refer to a cookbook in order to accomplish simple tasks that should be committed to memory.

As it happens, I have several cookbooks in my library that address just that sort of deficiency. Alice Waters's In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart; Michael Ruhlman's Twenty: The Ideas and Techniques that Will Make You a Better Cook; Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything; and (my favorite) Tamar Adler's An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace all take on the task pretty directly, but there are other books that also deliver instructions on various basic cooking skills (Jenni Ferrari-Adler's Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant : Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone and Gabrielle Hamilton's Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef come immediately to mind).

I've read them, and cooked from them, but I'm thinking that I might like to make a study of them. Every general cookbook I've ever read has a recipe for a simple roast chicken. That means there could be hundreds -- or thousands! -- of roast chicken recipes out there. Or maybe there's just one and everyone includes that recipe when they're assembling a book. Honestly, how many ways can there be to simply roast a chicken? But at the same time, if you're writing a basic cookbook, how can you not include a recipe for a simple roasted chicken?

And that's the sort of thing that I want to find out. Pull six or eight cookbooks off the shelf and compare how each author tackles some basic skill, and then become a master of it myself.

And then last week, I ran across this list at Food52: 20 Essential Dishes Every Cook Should Know. And then it struck me. I should do this as my next blog project! Maybe not Food52's list, exactly, because while there are some good ideas on the list (tomato sauce, salad dressing, pesto), there are a few things that I don't really care about being able to improvise (chocolate bundt cake). But between that, all the books on the shelves in my kitchen, and so many wonderful blogs out here in the aether, I should be able to keep myself (and maybe a few others) entertained for a while this year.

So, there you have it, and stay tuned. I have a project I need to finish up by this coming Friday's deadline and then I'll get to start on something new...

(and I might even start with that roast chicken... or take requests...)  :-D

Thanksgiving Porn

And then...

Once you've (literally) sucked the marrow from the bone, what comes next?

You boil the bones for a few days, than then... (but of course!!) you make French Onion Soup!

Bone marrow...

It's what's for dinner!

Frittata

I've been extremely derelict in putting up food porn here lately -- mostly because I'm just plain lazy when it comes to taking the photos (or perhaps too hungry to take the time once the food is done!). But last night, I managed to snap this shot with my phone of our dinner: some mushroom, millet and leek frittatas from Sprouted Kitchen.

I realized after I had assembled the ingredients that I had recently given my muffin tin away, so I instead cooked my frittatas in some ramekins (which worked out better anyway, since some of mine came with tops, and that made storing the leftovers ever so easy!). I served them with a nice light German (Nahe) Riesling and a simple green salad with a thick balsamic dressing.

Panini Porn

I've been such a slacker of a blogger in the past year that I have a huge backlog of food porn and other cool photos to share. And as I sit here on a Saturday morning, trying desperately not to get sick (it started with the scritchy throat yesterday and I have been in full battle mode ever since), I have been inspired to put something up.

And I'm sorry for this part, dear reader: what I'm about to share with you is something that you simply can't make at the moment, unless you live in the southern hemisphere. You see, I've been inspired by  The Shiksa's History Kitchen post about the history of the sandwich, and I'm going to share with you my favorite kind of sandwiches: panini. But you can't make this particular version in winter, because you need fresh-from-the-farm ingredients.

Here's what I'm talking about -- these photos date back to this past July, when I was recently back from the farmers market, where I'd picked up our weekly CSA share. In the photo below, you see a fresh sliced tomato from Tant Hill Farm, basil leaves plucked from our backyard garden, some cheese from the Sequatchie Cove Creamery, and some whole wheat bread made by Maria at Sonrisa Farm.

That spread on the bread is just some plain greek yogurt, topped with a few grinds of fresh pepper. What you don't see in the above photo are the onions (also from Tant Hill Farm), which were caramelizing in a nearby skillet. But here they are, at the top of the panino, as it's getting ready to go on the panini press (we use a cast iron griddle and press from our nearby Lodge outlet store).

And voila!! Here's a panino, hot off the grill, with a side of sauerkraut made from Tant Hill Farm cabbage (and some expertise from Sandor Katz, a semi local guy who's become a worldwide fermentation guru thanks to his excellent series of books, the latest of which is The Art of Fermentation).

Stay tuned, though! I'll have more to say about the panini in a later post. I've since -- inspired by a number of wonderful cooks, including Kathy Strahs of Panini Happy, and Dan Leader and Lauren Chattman, authors of Panini Express (and the also awesome Local Breads) -- been tinkering with the panino and have come up with my own recipe for whole wheat panini bread that can be cooked on the grill. But more on that later...   ;-)

Results!

On Sunday, Emmie went to the tomato festival and got about 70 pounds of tomatoes. She canned for the rest of the day, and then brought me her leftovers on Monday (yesterday). Then I canned for the rest of the day. Between the two of us, I think we have a total of somewhere around 30 quarts of tomatoes put up for after the season is over. Yum.

A Little Saturday Food Porn

I just ran across this photo of a previous year's tomatoes and it reminded me that tomorrow is the Tomato Festival at the Chattanooga Market! Get those canning jars ready, folks!  ;-)

A yummy thumbs up...

... to my post-run smoothie!

(...and test post from my droid.)

Friday Food Photo

These photos are from Easter Sunday. Usually, I put together a big dinner for the holiday, but it's been so chaotic lately that I just didn't see it coming this year. I didn't even do any shopping. But Emmie came over anyway, and we hastily threw together what turned out to be a lovely lunch, which we enjoyed out in the back yard since the weather was so pleasant.

We dug around in the fridge a bit and found some leftover lentil burgers and some eggs. I boiled the eggs and pulled some fresh lettuce out of the garden, and that pretty much did the trick! We deviled the eggs individually so that there'd be lots of variety (in the photos, they're still paired up, but when we sat down to eat, we mixed them around so everyone got a bit of everything). We managed to get photos of two of the plates (spicy, pan-asian and olivey eggs)  -- the rest will be left to your imagination!

Woot!!

My copy of An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler just arrived in the mail, courtesy of the Culinary Librarian -- and it is signed by the author!!

I have not had the chance to think about food and cooking at all in the last few weeks, so this will be just what I need to get my brain back into the kitchen!!

Thanks so much to Mary at the Culinary Librarian! And to all of my sevens of readers, keep an eye out -- this will hopefully get the food porn flowing again!

Friday Food Photo

This was the lunchbox special today at Sweet Basil, a local Thai restaurant my friend Jason and I like to visit as often as possible. Tofu and veggie soup, curry, cucumber salad and sushi. It was a delicious meal with a great friend, and he hooked me up with my very own iPad! How awesome is that? (I should be posting from it, but I'm not, as G-Dog is playing with it at the moment...)

Have a great weekend, everyone!! We are unexpectedly hoping for some weekend rain here -- normally that's the last thing we'd want, but everything outside has an unbelievably thick coating of pollen, and everyone inside is sneezing and coughing (or seeking relief at the pharmacy). We've gotten a little bit of rain so far, but only enough to create some yellow puddles, not enough to wash it all away. 

A-choo. 'Scuze me while I reach for the neti pot.

Friday (wish there was some) Food Porn

Sorry, I have no food. This week has been just plain nuts. No time for serious cooking or food photography. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back into the swing of things this week, but at the moment, my headspace is occupied with other things...

Regardless, have a great weekend, everyone!!! Be safe, healthy, happy, and enjoy the awesome weather!!! And for future food inspiration, check out the frame/mesh cage that I built yesterday to keep the varmints out of my veggies and herbs. I have to build another one this weekend, and then we can finally shake off the lame bamboo stake/chicken wire rigs (in the photo on the right) that I threw together last fall when we had seeds in the ground that the squirrels would not leave alone.

F*ck xmas. This is the most awesome time of the year. I love being out in the yard when it's just warm enough for short sleeves and bare feet, and the air smells fresh and green. I love the sweat and sunburn and getting sore; dirty fingernails, clogged up sinuses and cuts and bruises from working out in the yard. Playing in the dirt, starting seeds indoors and moving the big plants outside. Pulling weeds and setting the plan for the summer garden. Everything is coming back to life and it smells and feels awesome. Can I get an amen?  :-)

Friday Food Photo

G-Dog got a mushroom patch as a gift this past xmas and we harvested our first crop recently. Here's the little fungi just getting starting to sprout...

And here they are just a few days later, starting to look like proper shiitakes...

We let them get quite a bit bigger before we made a proper dish out of them. And now, the patch is drying out for a bit before we resoak it and start the process over again.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Don't forget the cursed time change (wasn't Obama supposed to do away the madness?).

Friday Food Photo

It's been such a beautiful spring-like week here that I'm going to stretch the food porn category just a little and share a photo of my backyard rosemary plant, which has been going nuts lately -- growing like crazy and putting out all sorts of little flowers. It started out as a little sprig of a plant, but in the year or so since I put it in the ground, it has turned into quite the big bush! I'm constantly popping out back to break off a sprig for cooking, so this budding herb makes it into quite a lot of the food I cook.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Friday Food Photo

Who says you can't find great local food in the middle of winter? I found this monster head of collard greens at the farmers market (courtesy of Riverview Farms) on February 15th!

This provided me with a much-anticipated opportunity to try out this awesome dish from Bryant Terry's new cookbook, The Inspired Vegan. I cooked up some white wine-simmered collard greens with oven-dried tomatoes that evening (alas, we're nowhere near tomato season yet, but the sun-dried tomatoes I used were fantastically tangy).

This was an amazing dish -- and as Terry says, it's not just for the side. I served it with some simple quinoa and it made quite a yummy, satisfying weeknight meal. (Sorry, I couldn't find a recipe online, but use my contact form if you're dying to try it but don't have the book yet and I'll hook you up!)

Seriously, folks. You do not have to be vegan to love these recipes -- or Terry's previous two cookbooks, Grub and Vegan Soul Kitchen. The menus are a blessing for any omnivore who loves interesting food but doesn't always want meat with a meal. Just last night I made the most amazing spicy barbequed tofu triangles from one of the Grub menus and they were absolutely irresistible (served with Tant Hill Farm kale and Riverview Farms Milling cornbread). Yum!

And yes, it's finally Friday, folks! The weather here is crazy at the moment (I actually had to mow the lawn already! In February!!). The temps were up in the mid 70s yesterday, but today is blustery and I think we reached our high temperature at midnight. I don't know what the weekend has in store, but I'm happy it's here! Have a great one, everybody!

Friday Food Photo

Who knew you could make a pizza with a cauliflower crust? And that it would be this awesome? And easy! Thanks to Keera for the recipe and the farmers market for the cauliflower and kale!

Just grate a half a head of cauliflower (for a single pizza):

Steam or nuke it to soften and, after cooling, add an egg, cheese and some seasonings. Spread it all out on a pizza pan:

Bake for a few minutes, and then spread your sauce and toppings on the crust (for my sauce, I thinned out some tomato paste with water and added parmesan, honey and lots of seasonings):

Broil for a few more minutes to heat things through, and voila! A delicious, thin crust pizza (also, depending on the toppings you choose, it is potentially low-carb, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan and/or probably a bunch of stuff I can't think of at the moment).

I put a bit of cheese on mine, along with some sautéed onions and kale, a few chunks of pineapple, and because I didn't have any ham to balance out the sweetness of the fruit, I sprinkled on some capers to add a little salty/sour flavor.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Friday Food Photo

Slowly, but surely, things are coming together for the new, improved food photography. Last week, I dug out the tripod and this week, I finally made it to the hardware store to get some decent lighting (without spending a whole lot -- score!). I set up something similar to this, though in my kitchen, the easiest way to position the light is to simply open the cabinet that's closest to my subject, clamp the light to the door and then get it properly pointed in the right direction (that puts the light coming from an angle above and to the side of the food, which seems to work well).

I still need to soften the light a bit (the second two pics below lose some detail in the harsh light) and work on staging... I think a couple of interesting cloths and a few different kinds of dishes would give me some options beyond my dark counters, cast iron cookware and clear plates (perhaps a trip to goodwill is in order!).

Here are a few photos from my inaugural night of Cooking with Light.

This first one is of some glazed shallots, just finishing their reduction. I found several recipes for this amazing dish, and ended up going with this version (though I only made half), which uses a bit of sugar at the end to thicken the glaze but leaves out what I thought might be gratuitous fat (though I might try it with oil or butter at some point for the sake of comparison). It's a really delicious dish that I've made a few times already. The leftovers are also lovely to slice and use in a salad, panini, or as a garnish.

That night, we had the shallots served on the side, along with some sautéed beet greens (right), marinated bok choy (left, chopped and set in a mix of olive oil, vinegar, garlic, mustard and honey), and these absolutely awesome Lentilballs in Lemon Pesto from Sprouted Kitchen. This is the second time I've made them (this time, I formed them into more of a patty) and I can't wait to have them again. They are soooo good.

Unfortunately, for some reason I snapped the above photo before adding the flourish of the lemon pesto to my lentil patty. So, for the record, here's the garnish to my featured dish. Yum.

Have a great weekend, everyone!! Be safe and warm and content!

Friday Food Photo

OK, so since my gushing post on Tuesday, I've done some cooking but I've run upon a problem. I cook in the evenings. In winter. It's dark out, and the lighting in my kitchen isn't up to taking decent photos of the food. This has been a problem for quite some time, but I'm finally resolved to do something about it. I'm going to try and step up the food photography a bit.

To that end, I dug around a bit yesterday and found my old tripod. It's so frustrating to snap a series of images that you think are good, only to find out later, at the computer, that there was some slight movement that spoiled the pictures with a bit of a blur.

I've also come up with a plan to improve the lighting in the kitchen, but haven't made it out to the hardware store yet, so that will have to wait just a bit. But in the meantime, we had some lovely weather yesterday and I took advantage of the sun pouring through the window to set up a shot of some radish leaf pesto I mixed up after finding some fresh (Tant Hill Farm) radishes at the market on Wednesday.

(Yes, I've posted about this pesto once before, but I think this is a better photo. Besides, this is some of the most awesome pesto ever, so let this serve as a nudge to try some if you haven't already.)