Fish & Chips

I recently finished reading The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten. Although I had thought that the whole book would be about how Steingarten overcame certain food aversions to become the man who eats everything, really the book is a collection of his articles (published mainly in Vogue, I believe), where this is just the opening piece. Anyways, one of the last pieces was about French fries, and it included a recipe from world-renowned Italian chef Cesare Casella. Theoretically, the secret here is that frying the potatoes in oil at varying - but carefully monitored! - temperatures (i.e. you let the oil re-heat gradually after adding the potatoes) is supposed to mimic the effect of doing the "double fry" that defines the French fry: one long fry to cook the inside, one fast, hotter fry to crisp the outside. The other secret is to add deliciousness like garlic cloves, salt and fresh sage to the oil at specific points during the frying process.

Long story short, we attempted this method with sweet potatoes, and as we should have realized from the get-go, this method is probably potato-specific - different potatoes differ in density, starchiness etc. So although the fries came out okay, we didn't achieve the crisp exterior we were hoping for. We'll have to try this again with the "all purpose boiling potatoes" specified in the recipe.

Pan-fried crab-cake with grape tomatoes

Canape with chanterelle mushroom & nori cream sauce, horseradish and smoked trout

Lobster bisque

Sweet potato fries with grated Parmesean

Eggs & Toast by Me

Scrambled eggs with goat cheese, smoked trout and grape tomatoes

Toast

Mini-Meal

After a day of snacking, we decided on a mini-meal for supper, so called because of it's small overall size, and because of the "teeny tiny potatoes" (that is actually what it says on the label) and "mini pearl" grape tomatoes that we could not resist buying at Trader Joes. Seriously, I just can't say no to food that is novelty sized!

Smoked trout with a nori, chanterelle mushroom and horseradish cream sauce

Mini potatoes, grape tomatoes and radishes boiled in chicken stock

Mom's Spaghetti Sauce

One nice thing about my mom's spaghetti sauce recipe is that it freezes really well. So I'll make a huge batch (once when my mom was visiting we made so much sauce that we needed every pot I owned!) and then it makes for a quick and easy meal. Amazingly, my boyfriend spoils me so much with his cooking that this is the first time I made it for him. Of course it was a success.

Spaghetti with Mom's meat sauce and grated parmesean

Things are getting a bit out of control...

I was thrilled earlier today when I learned about the ISO setting on my camera. From what I understand, this setting controls the sensitivity to light, where higher ISO values let you shoot in darker settings. (But please check out this post on White On Rice for a much better and more thorough explanation). Without getting out the manual, I discovered that I can change the ISO setting on my point-and-shoot digital camera from "auto" to "hi", and preliminary tests suggested that this might get me better focus on my pictures and reduce some of my shadow issues without needing to rig up elaborate lighting.

So off I went to play racquetball, excited to experiment with this when photographing dinner tonight.

... then I got home an hour later to discover that my boyfriend had set up a photo studio in the corner of our kitchen. In case you can't tell, that's SIX additional sources of light pointed at "the set". And let me be clear: our kitchen is not large enough to house a professional photo studio. You may notice that this is all set up in the kitchen doorway - this was as inconvenient as it looks.

But, I'll concede, the picture tonight came out fabulously, whether this is due to the change in ISO setting, the obscene number of lamps, or the beautiful meal my boyfriend made, I can't say. I really think he got fancy with his cooking just so the picture would be great and I would deem his photo-studio effort a success.

Next step: finding a place in our house that is NOT the kitchen to set all this up permanently. Oh, and I'm pretty sure my boyfriend is now planning on buying me professional photography lights for Christmas.

Pan-friend lamb chop with a shallot, sage & red wine reduction

Peas boiled with shallots and sage

Six-cheese tortellini with a pesto & mascarpone butter sauce

Fried sweet potato slices with grated parmesean

The New Yorker Food Issue

My downstairs neighbor, who has the pleasure of smelling all the delicious food my boyfriend cooks for me before the pictures are posted on the blog, subscribes to the New Yorker. Of course when she saw that the November 23rd issue was devoted to food, she knew I would need to borrow it.

Unfortunately, most of the food articles are not available online unless you are already a subscriber. The only one I could get in full is the piece about why we use cookbooks and follow recipes. Luckily for me (and this post!) this is clearly an article of interest to food bloggers, who basically create their own online cookbooks. It also attempts to explain my own behavior: obsessive recipe and menu-reading, but very little cooking; my main role in the kitchen is the collector of food facts, cooking tips and ideas that I pass on to my boyfriend who then puts it all into practice.

A short pod-cast from Calvin Trillin who wrote a wonderful piece about Poutine - the french fry, gravy & cheese curd concoction that is on the rise as Canada's national dish - is also available online. In this podcast he tries poutine at a New York Restaurant, T Poutine. I strongly recommend the New Yorker piece to anyone who can get their hands on it. It was fabulous, and possibly my favorite piece in the magazine (although as a Canadian I may be biased on this!).

Meat & Three

No idea why the light here is so yellow. Our double-lighting system clearly needs tweaking..*le grand sigh*...It's disappointing, because the picture does not do justice to how amazing this meal both looked at tasted. However, of all the greens we've sauteed this year, radish greens are my least favorite. And my boyfriend - the greens fanatic - agrees. Luckily parsnip puree makes everything better!

Roasted pork tenderloin with a mustard-sage sauce

Sauteed radish greens

Parsnip puree

Sauteed radishes & shallots

NEW ADDITION: At Steph's suggestion I did minor tweaking in photoshop (see below) - I feel better already! Thanks, Steph!

In this week's box...

Kale

Radishes (with greens)

Beet greens (without beets)

1 butternut squash

1 bag of peas in the pod

4 apples

5 turnips

2 sweet potatoes

Fresh sage (!)

Steak Frites

Pan-fried steak over sauteed beet greens

Oven-baked French fries with wasabi mayo

How To Eat Meat

Check out this article from Huffington Post about how to avoid factory farmed foods. In particular, this article focuses on eating sustainable meats, although dairy products are also discussed.

I think that it is possible to eat meat responsibly and morally, and this article is wonderful because it provides practical tips for how to do so. Above all, I appreciate that one of the points made in the article is that baby steps are okay. One of the primary reasons my boyfriend and I joined a CSA was because, after reading Michel Pollan's books, I felt uncomfortable not knowing where my meat was coming from, and we were lucky enough to have a CSA in our area that does meat. One thing that surprised us was how much we could really taste the difference. Unfortunately, we just can't afford to buy all of our meat from the CSA, so it is nice to get affirmation that just getting eggs & one meal's worth of meat from the CSA each week over the summer was a notable and worthwhile step in the right direction.

We're actually very excited, because starting this Sunday we will be receiving a meat & eggs package from Avalon Acres every other week until April. Because there is no produce package for the winter, we can afford to get more meat each week, which is great.

Thanks Modern Gastronomer for posting about this before me, and pointing me to this article!

Food should not be this colour!!!

Cooking with beets makes me a bit nervous because of the way they turn everything red (especially my hands - I've peeled just about every beet we've eaten this fall, and I'm always very concerned about accidentally touching something right afterwards). And grating them in the food processor? Well let's just say it looks very disturbing and...violent...and leave it at that. So I probably shouldn't have been as surprised as I was when the batter for my beet muffins turned an incredible shade of pink. I was particularly thrown off because this is a colour normally associated with the kind of sweet or berry flavors that I actively avoid. Weirdly, the bubble-gum fuschia of the batter completely disappeared in the final product, leaving the muffins with just a faint and somewhat eerie pink glow....WHERE DID ALL THAT PINK GO?!?!

I followed this recipe for beet cake, but baked it in muffin-form (this recipe made about 14 muffins), and didn't bother with the icing. We were also mysteriously unable to locate our white sugar (which remains very weird, as white granulated sugar is an important part of my morning coffee ritual), and we didn't have packed brown sugar, so I just substituted cane sugar for both.

Kale & Sweet Potato Gratin

I saw this recipe for a swiss chard and sweet potato gratin on smitten kitchen, and it seemed like the perfect way to use up some of the ingredients we've been accumulating from our CSA.

Things we changed:

1) The biggest change is obviously that we used kale instead of swiss chard

2) We used some butternut squash in addition to sweet potato.

3) We supplemented some of the gruyere with comte that I found at the back of our cheese drawer, and since I am particularly fond of melted cheese, we also added a bit of extra Italian blend cheese on top.

I have to say that this was outstanding. Although my boyfriend loves the bitterness in greens, I'm less of a fan, and sometimes sweet potatoes can be, well, too sweet. Here the balance between the kale and the sweet potato was amazing - not too sweet, not too bitter, just perfect.

Pan-fried steak

Kale & sweet potato gratin: sweet potato, butternut squash, kale, onion, garlic, heavy cream, nutmeg, parsley, thyme, gruyere, comte & Italian blend cheese

Mountain of Deliciousness

My boyfriend and I have now discovered one of the secrets to better food photography: double lighting! (Well, triple if you count the overhead light). After a brief argument where I couldn't understand why my camera always tells me that there isn't enough light when the pictures come out looking fine, we set up a double lighting situation, and I understood: there was enough light to get a decent picture, but not to get the best focus. I think you can see the difference in this picture - overall it's more "crisp". A step in the right direction, in any case. As a prize for being right, my boyfriend will now be helping me schlep two lamps into the kitchen every time I want to take pictures of our food. Actually, the next logical step is to find a place in the house where we can keep the lights set up permanently...but we're not quite there yet.

Mountain of Deliciousness, from the bottom up:

kale sauteed with garlic and bacon

sauteed sweet potato shreds

meatballs

red pepper sauce

In this week's box...

an obscene amount of kale

radishes

beets & their greens

4 apples

1 winter squash

2 sweet potatoes

Lighting Test

It is my new life goal to get a picture accepted on Food Gawker. Already this endeavor is giving me low self-esteem as three of my favorite pictures were rejected today. Where am I going wrong?? Since finding a pristine solid colour surface with nothing at all in the background isn't going to happen in our kitchen anytime soon (nor is acquiring a fancier camera), we decided to try and tackle what is within our reach: lighting. Tonight we tried bringing a desk lamp into the kitchen so I wouldn't start crying when my shadow was cast over every shot (this is my main photography woe - our kitchen is set up so there is no counter where I can put food and then not block the light when I stand near it to take the picture).

What do you think? Does the lighting look any better in this picture, or is there too much not-created-by-me shadow?

Ground beef, onion, garlic & gruyere in a roasted butternut squash bowl

Beets simmered in chicken stock with goat cheese & meat balls

Carrot, turnip & radish simmered in chicken stock

Roasted pork tenderloin on a bed of roasted red cabbage, apple, fennel & turnip with a balsamic, garlic & fennel reduction, garnished with fennel fronds

MYO...sushi...kind of...

After going out for a fancy dinner last night and stuffing ourselves silly, we needed something light tonight. My boyfriend decided that we should make our own sushi...despite not having proper sushi rice. This made things a lot messier during the eating phase than I would have liked, but you can't go wrong with these flavors. I am also not going to offer any tips on how to make your own sushi, since we had to consult youtube after our first (failed) attempt (note that the way the ingredients are laid out in the picture is NOT how you lay out the ingredients to roll sushi!). Good thing we had tons of both nori and rice so we could try again after watching this guy.

Sushi rolls: smoked salmon, carrot, avocado, radish & wasabi mayo

Panko-crusted fried tofu* on sauteed red cabbage

*We also took more pieces of the fried tofu and dipped them in wasabi mayo...seriously, that wasabi mayo is one of the best things we ever bought, and we are going to have to buy more THE SECOND we run out.

Leftovers-Hash: potato, butternut squash, chicken, black beans, Gruyere, smoked paprika and cumin topped with bacon & tomato

Over-easy egg & bacon on toasted Italian round

Home-made butternut squash ravioli with pumpkin-butter glazed beets & raw apple

Butternut Squash & Potato Tart

I saw this recipe over a month ago when it was first posted on I Ate That, and we finally decided to try it tonight. It was definitely more technically demanding and "hands on" compared with the last butternut squash tart that we made (that was perhaps more of a savory pie), and the two tarts are very different in terms of flavor profiles. But look at the picture: obviously it was delicious! And please check out the post on I Ate That for better pictures...the pictures on that blog are beautiful and put me to shame!

Grilled lamb chops

Turnip greens sauteed with garlic

Butternut squash & potato tart: gruyere, shallots, bacon, basil, sage & thyme

Fried & Cheesy

Fried squash balls: roasted acorn squash, goat cheese, panko breadcrumbs

Quesadilla: chicken seasoned with smoked paprika, garlic and cilantro, black beans, sauteed kale, tomato & cheddar cheese

In this week's box...

kale

turnips

radishes

3 beets

4 apples

2 sweet potatoes

1 butternut squash

When I think of Japanese soup, I think of...squash?

Okay, so the flavor combination is a bit odd tonight, because we still had some Asian goodies from our trip to K & S, but we also have an abundance of squash from our CSA. My boyfriend tried to link the appetizer and entree with the tuna, but really the squash balls were so wonderful I would eat them with, before or after anything (we are buying more goat cheese so we can make these again tomorrow!). The tuna looked delicious when it was raw, but turned out to be sub-par once cooked. The problem is that tuna is a fish I prefer raw anyways, but for some reason raw fish is something we seem to trust more at a restaurant than in our own house, so I think in the end it was overcooked.

Balls of goat cheese coated in roasted acorn squash, panko breadcrumbs, then fried, served with seared tuna.

Soup with udon noodles, tuna, sauteed greens, garlic, onion, turnip & carrots

Five-spice chicken lo mein with cabbage, hot pepper, garlic and green onions

Pork dumplings

Fried butternut squash mac & cheese discs topped with tomato slices, sauteed greens, diced salami and over-easy eggs.

Food News

This past week The Economist featured several articles on food-related issues, most of them focusing on an issue I feel strongly about: claiming "health benefits" on the labels of processed foods, or adding vitamins or minerals to foods to allegedly make them "healthier".

One of the articles discusses how Nestle is trying to break into the "functional foods" market, one is a about the regulation of health claims on food products, and another article looks at this same issue specifically with respect to omega-3 fatty acids.

The last food article is in my view more positive, and is about the chemical explanation for why red wine does not pair well with fish. Why foods "go" together is fascinating, and in my opinion is the key to maximizing the health-factor in our food: foods taste good together because at the chemical level they work together.

My Vision: Politically Incorrect

On my way home from work I stopped at Provence with the intention of buying some nice interesting cheese. While I did accomplish that goal (Italian truffle cheese!), I was completely distracted by the the fact that they were also selling pieces of foie gras, and I couldn't resist, despite how politically incorrect it is. So tonight's appetizer was my vision for the foie gras (inspired by the flavors I know it works well with - thank you food television!). The main course was my boyfriend doing what he does best: looking at the ingredients we have, and just starting to cook, without any ultimate plan or goal except to end up with something tasty.

Seared foie gras and apple with a red wine and balsamic reduction and julienned raw apple

Fried thinly sliced rib-eye garnished with slices of Italian truffle cheese and green onions, served with a creamy vegetable medley (carrots, cabbage, turnips & leeks).

Fried rice with Korean-style short ribs, red and green bell peppers, broccoli, turnip greens, onion, garlic, egg, soy sauce, sriracha and five-spice

Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

We were really in the mood for something gooey and cheesy, so we attempted a butternut squash mac and cheese. Unfortunately, despite the copious amounts of cheddar in the sauce, the mac and cheese was missing something. It was good - because you really can't go wrong with mac and cheese, can you? - but was ultimately a bit bland. This was our first time making mac and cheese, so I guess we now have a base recipe that we can play with and try to perfect.

Butternut squash mac & cheese: macaroni, butternut squash, sharp cheddar cheese, milk, flour, chicken stock, nutmeg, paprika, dijon mustard, panko bread crumbs & green onions

Sauteed mustard greens

In this week's box...

One issue with nutritional advice is that people don't interpret it correctly. When people hear "eat more vegetables" they think of vegetables like carrots (which is the most popular answer when people are asked to list vegetables). But what we are supposed to hear is eat more leafy greens. Well, we are going to be extremely healthy this week, because we got THREE different kinds of leafy greens from our CSA.

I'm not the biggest fan of greens, but my boyfriend absolutely loves them, the more bitter the better, and he has been waiting for a CSA box like this. I guess I'm lucky to have him around so that he'll cook healthy food for me and make sure I eat it!

collard greens

turnip greens

rapini (so says the box, but my boyfriend disagrees)

4 apples

1 butternut squash

1 green pepper

2 sweet potatoes

9 beets

9 carrots

Today we decided to spice things up and do a big grocery shop at the somewhat sketchy but definitely awesome K & S World Market. We got a lot of random ingredients that we don't normally buy and that will be fun to have around to play with. Not surprisingly, tonight's dinner was inspired by these ingredients.

"Greens Maki": rice, cabbage, leeks, bacon and turnip greens wrapped in nori and topped with wasabi mayonnaise

Korean-style short ribs marinated in soy sauce, ginger, sriracha, garlic, maple syrup, rice wine vinegar and lemon juice

Over-easy egg

Roasted squash and potato pancakes with monterray jack

Bacon

Toast

Tomato slices