Just a quick post tonight and a great little recipe for your Christmas Dinner. First, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!! I hope your holidays are full of family, friends, fun and lots of great food! I’m looking forward to our quite Christmas with me, my wife and daughter so we don’t have to deal with travelling. If you do have to travel I wish safe journeys and a quick stress free trip. It looks to be a relatively quite weekend weatherwise, at least here in the USA, so hopefully no one will have any difficult driving or flight delays.

I my last post I promised a Cranberry Chutney to go along with the pork recipe I posted. The cranberries in this chutney are tempered by dried cherries, helping to mellow out their tart, cranberry kick. The recipe is given a very subtle exotic accent by the addition of coriander and green cardamon. If you can’t find green cardamon pods then you can use ground cardamon or even skip it all together although I like the faint Indian flare it gives this chutney. Besides pork, this relish would pair perfectly with duck, goose, turkey, and lamb.

Cranberry and Dried Cherry Chutney
serves 8-10

6 pods green cardamon
1 tsp. whole coriander
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 Tbl. vegetable oil
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
12 oz. fresh cranberries
1 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup crystallilzed ginger

Lightly crush the cardamon pods and remove the seeds, discarding the outer pod. Coarsely grind the cardamon and coriander together then add the ground cinnamon. Reserve. In a medium sized pot heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic, and spice mixture. Cook for 2-3 minutes to toast the spices. Add the cranberries, sugar and orange juice. Bring to a boil and cook for 5-7 minutes or until the cranberries start to break down. Add the dried cherries and cook 5 minutes longer. Add the crystallized ginger, cook 1 minute then remove from heat. Allow to cool and store in the fridge. While it is ready to eat as soon as it is cool, the flavors will more fully develop and meld if allowed to sit overnight, in the fridge.

Tonight we picked up our last box, of the season, from our CSA. Well, technically the last regular season box was delivered a few weeks ago, but we had also opted for the late season storage share. I can’t wait to eat my way through all the killer produce that was delivered. But, before I go on, I really should thank Nicole and Joe, and family, of Good Earth Farm. Through their hard work and tremendous efforts my family was supplied with a bounty of produce all summer and fall long. It was truly a pleasure to get to meet some of the people that supply us with our food. It’s heartwarming to see and meet people with such a passion about the food they raise and their impact on the environment. I look forward to next season and seeing what Good Earth Farm has in store.

Back to the cauliflower; in this box we received both the standard white variety and a beautiful orange variety. Knowing that I was hungry for caramelized cauliflower I decided to skip the orange variety for now as I wasn’t sure how it would look once caramelized. But hey, that leaves me with some cauliflower for another day, not a bad thing in my book.

The spicing I use in this recipe is quite subtle, almost to the point of not realizing its there, but I selected these spices to help play up the earthy quality of the cauliflower while the cinnamon helps to elevate the inherent sweetness of the vegetable. Feel free to leave them out if you choose, but I think they really help to make this dish.

If you aren’t a fan of cauliflower this dish won’t change your mind, but if you’re kind of on the fence out this vegetable, try it this way, it might just make a fan out of you yet.

Caramelized Cauliflower
serves 4

1 large head cauliflower
3 Tbl. butter, melted, divided
12 each Ritz crackers
1 pinch nutmeg, freshly ground
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. ground coriander
salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 475°F. Crush the Ritz crackers and add 1 Tbl. of the melted butter. Stir until well mixed. Cut the cauliflower in half, cut out the core and split into 1-2 bite florets. Mix the cinnamon, cumin and coriander with the remaining butter and drizzle over cauliflower to evenly coat all pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Place in an oven proof skillet and put into the oven. Bake for 12 minutes, stir and cook for 8 minutes longer. Stir again and sprinkle the crushed crackers over top. Return to the oven and cook another 4-5 minutes or until the topping is golden brown. Serve immediately.

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and I can’t wait!! I love Thanksgiving; a day of cooking, eating, chilling in front of the TV, eating, playing board games, eating, hanging with family and/or friends, and eating. This year we are making the 5 hour trek to my parent’s house in Indiana which means I won’t have to do much of the cooking (a wonderful break, as any chef will tell you). I’ll still be involved and will gladly help out as part of the joy of Thanksgiving is having the whole family in the kitchen helping out, but I’ll also have a chance to chill in front of the TV watching the Macy’s T-Day parade, yes, cheesy I know, but it’s tradition although I can only handle about 30 minutes at a time, with breaks for helping out in the kitchen.

If you’ve followed this blog over the last couple of years you’ll know that I don’t really do much for Thanksgiving. Many bloggers I know will do “fake” Thanksgiving at the beginning of November so that they have fodder for blogging. Sorry, but for me, that just seems to lessen the excitement of the actual holiday. But I’m trying to get into the spirit of things a bit and hope to have, at least, a couple of Thanksgiving inspired posts.

Our family, probably like most families serve our meal family style with large platters of food gracing our table. But I have been involved (mostly in restaurants) with plated Thanksgiving meals. This recipe is perfect for doing plated meals although you could easily platter these and have people serve themselves.

Corn Bread Stuffing Stuffed Squash
serves 8

8 Acorn Squash (or similar squash)
9 cups corn bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes and dried
3 ribs celery, diced
1 large onion, peeled and diced
4 Tbl. butter
2 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3 1/2-4 cups turkey broth
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries, chopped
3/4 cup pecan pieces, toasted
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced

Preheat oven to 375°F. Slice a small bit off of the bottom of each squash so that it stands upright. Remove about 1/4 of the squash from the stem end and scoop out all the seeds and membrane. Place in 2 baking dishes with 1/4 cup of water in each. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Meanwhile heat turkey broth to a simmer. In a skillet melt butter and saute onion and celery until tender, about 5-6 minutes. Place remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Add the onion and celery mixture and finally 3 1/2 cups of the turkey broth. Mix until well combined and the bread is moistened. If stuffing is not moist enough add the remaining broth. Stuff the cavity of each squash, mounding it up above the squash. If you have extra stuffing place in a greased pan and bake along side the stuff squash. Recover the squash and bake for 20 minutes longer. Remove foil and continue to bake until squash is tender and stuffing is nicely browned. Serve 1 squash to each person.

Okay, one more post about beets, and I promise I will be done for awhile. As a kid I wasn’t fond of beets, to say the least. The first time I really enjoyed beets is when I finally gave in and tried my parents pickled beets. They were a revelation. I couldn’t believe that I had disdained these bright red root vegetables for so long, although I don’t think at age 10 I actually used the word disdained. I doubt I even knew the definition of that word at the time. Well, for the first time in my life my parents did not have to force me to eat my beets. Since then, I’ve come a long way. I love beets, and find many ways in spring and fall to incorporate them into my cooking often.

Back in October 2009 I posted a recipe for Pickled Golden Beets. You can use the same exact recipe to pickle red beets if you want. The recipe I offer up today is almost the same as that older recipe with a few small changes. Use either recipe.

Pickled Beets
makes 1 quart

1 1/2 pounds Beets
1 cup Cider Vinegar
1/2 cup Water
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
2 tsp. Canning Salt or Kosher Salt (do not use table salt)
1 each Cinnamon Stick
10 each Cloves, whole
1 1/2 tsp. Allspice, whole
1/2 tsp. Yellow Mustard Seed
2 each Bay Leaf
1 each Onion, small

Place beets in a deep baking dish. Add 1/4 cup of water, cover with aluminum foil and bake, at 375°F for 45-60 minutes or until just barely tender. Allow the beets to cool. Peel the beets and remove any stems. The skin should slip right off the beets. Slice or dice the beets to your liking. Personally I like to cut them into larger chunks about 3/4 – 1 inch in size. Peel and slice the onion into 1/4 inch rings. Toss with the beets and place into a sterilized glass canning jar. Meanwhile, combine the rest of the ingredients in a nonreactive sauce pot and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Strain, return to the pot and bring to a boil. Pour boiling liquid over beets and onions, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Top with sterilized lid and allow to cool to room temperature. Place in fridge and allow to mature for at least 2 weeks before eating.

While I usually just make these and refrigerate them, these beets can be easily and safely canned for long term storage. Follow the same directions as above, but leave the beets slightly undercooked. Once you have covered the beets with the pickling liquid, place the lids on the jars and place in a boiling water bath and process for 15 minutes. Make sure the water covers the jars by at least 1 inch, and don’t start timing until the water returns to a boil. After 15 minutes remove the jars from the water and allow to cool to room temperature. Immediately refrigerate any jars on which the lids did not seal properly. Store the rest in a cool, dark place and they should last a year.

It’s been a long, hard couple of weeks the last few weeks. Work has been difficult as I’ve had supervisor out sick so I’ve been covering her shift, along with all of my work. It finally culminated on Friday when I had to let go of one of my supervisors. While normally I have no problems firing someone (because most often it has been because they weren’t doing the job and I have no tolerance for that kind of thing) this one was different as she had been doing a good job. Unfortunately, a drop in revenue made it necessary to eliminate a position. While the rational side of me knows I had no choice as I had to do what was best for the company, and for my remaining staff (if I didn’t lay off one then they would all have had to go to part time) the emotional side of me was wrecked over this difficult task. Unfortunately, this scenario has been playing out way too often in the recent years. Too many people I know have lost jobs due to downsizing or loss of revenue. I feel lucky that I still have a job, but my heart goes out to the many that have been unemployed for months and months. It is my hope that our elected officals can come together, put their petty partisan politics aside and come up with a solution to help the economy and the American people get back on their feet.

While I could go on and on about politics and the crappy weeks I’ve had, that’s not what you are here for so I should probably bring it back around to food. In my last post I promised a number of beet inspired dishes so today’s offering is a wonderful Autumn time side dish, Roasted Beets. Add to those beets some onion and a few cloves of garlic and you have a dish that delights both the sense of taste and smell.

While this recipe works well with red beets, I prefer to use golden, Chioggia, or candy stripe beets. These beets tend to bleed off less color than your standard red beets, keeping the onions and garlic from taking on a pinkish hue. If that doesn’t bother you or you can’t find anything other than red beets go ahead and use the red.

Roasted Beets with Garlic and Onions
serves 4

2 pounds beets (I used a mixture of golden and Chioggia beets)
1 large onion
8-12 cloves garlic
3-4 small sprigs rosemary
3 Tbl. extra virgin olive oil
salt
fresh ground black pepper

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Peel the beets and cut into 1-1 1/2 inch cubes. Place in a baking dish. Peel the cloves of garlic and place in a bowl. Peel the onion and cut into bite sized wedges and add to the garlic. Add the olive oil to the garlic and onions and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper then pour over the beets. Add the sprigs of rosemary to the baking dish then cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake. After 45 minutes minutes remove the foil, increase the temperature to 400°F and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender and slightly browned (approximately another 20-30 minutes). Serve immediately.

It’s Fall and that means that our CSA box is starting to fill with root vegetables. Onions, potatoes, celery, and beets have all made appearances in recent weeks. Hopefully they will continue to show up in our boxes along with other root vegetables such as rutabagas, parsnips, and turnips. Take well to all sorts of cooking techniques, from frying and sauteing, to boiling, roasting, braising and pickling. Raw they can often have a sharp, but pleasant bite, but cooking them slowly oftentimes draws out their intrinsic sweetness, mellowing them and lending a deep, rich earthiness to many dishes.

As a kid I hated beets, and even as an adult they were probably the last root vegetable for me to imbrace, but now that I have I love them and look forward to both the Spring and Fall crops when beets can be found fresh, locally. Luckily for me, our CSA farm did produce both a Spring crop which was quickly used up and a Fall crop which has been showing up in our boxes the last couple of weeks. The first week was a nice large bunch of typical red beets, but the other week saw a mix of golden and Chioggia (red and white striped) beets.

Hopefully, you like beets as much as I do. If not, your out of luck as the next 3-5 posts will all be revolving around beets. I hope you enjoy these brightly colored, gifts of nature as much as I do.

Beet and Blue Cheese Spread
adapted from Cooking Light Feb. 2008

1 pound beets, medium sized
2 apples (any tart variety will work well)
1/3 cup blue cheese, crumbled (I used Gorgonzola)
1 1/2 Tbl. horseradish

Trim beets of any greens, rinse well, removing all dirt and place in a baking dish. Add 1/4 cup of water, cover with foil and bake at 350°F for 1 hour, or until the beets feel tender when pricked with a knife. Allow to cool then trim off root and stem ends and peel. Roughly chop and place in a food processor. Peel, core and chop the apples, placing them in the processor along with the blue cheese and horseradish. Process until well blended and somewhat smooth. Serve with crackers or toasted pita chips.

Well, I’m finally back up and running. What a pain that was. If you read my previous post you know that my computer got hit with a major virus that left me without a computer for the past few weeks. Unfortunately, this little nasty buried itself in my root directory which means that even though they would get it cleaned up each time the computer was rebooted the virus reinstalled itself. This meant a complete wipe of my hard drive and a reinstall of my operating system. This in turn meant reinstalling all my programs, finding all my data on the backup they created and basically reconfiguring everything the way I had. But everything is good now…I hope. I’m sure there will be more work to do, but at least I have enough done to get a new post up.

I was really excited about this recipe when I first made it. Unfortunately it is now a bit past both peach and corn season although you can still find them in the stores and markets. And with the new round of warm weather we’re having here in Wisconsin this dish feels right at home.

Peach Salsa

2 peaches
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
2 Tbl. cilantro, minced
1/2 lime, juiced
1/2 Tbl. sugar
salt

Peel the peach by cutting a shallow “X” in the blossom end of the peach, dipping it in boiling water for 30 seconds then plunging it into an ice bath. Once it cools down the skin should slip right off. Pit the peach and cut it into a small dice. Combine with remaining ingredients and stir to mix. Set aside.

Corn Fritters
serves 4 as a first course

2 cups corn, cut fresh from the cob (frozen will work also if you can’t get fresh)
1/3 cup red pepper, finely diced
1/4 cup green onion, minced
3 slices bacon, thick cut
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbl. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup milk

Chop and fry the bacon, reserving rendered fat in skillet. In a large bowl combine the bacon with the corn, pepper, and onion. In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add the egg and milk and mix to form a batter. Add batter to the corn mixture. There should be just enough to bind all the ingredients with not too much batter.

Add a couple of tablespoons of oil to the bacon fat in the skillet and reheat. Make fritters by placing a scant 1/4 cup of batter into the hot oil, spreading it slightly.

Fry for 1-2 minutes or until starting to brown around the edges. Flip and fry another 2-3 minutes.

Drain briefly on paper towel and serve, topping with peach salsa.

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It’s late August and that means I am right in the middle of that 2-2 1/2 month window when I will eat a BLT. While I try not to be a “food snob” too often, when it comes to BLT’s I have to admit, I am a full blown food snob. If you haven’t read my rant about BLT’s, and wish to, you can find it here. This week our, when I went to pick up our CSA share it not only contained tomatoes and a mix of baby lettuces, but our bread share included a wonderful sourdough bread. All I needed was the bacon, already sitting at home in the fridge, as was the mayo. Score!!!!

Because I wasn’t really in the mood to do much cooking, and because we received yet again, more cucumbers in our box, I decided to wipe up a quick Asian inspired cucumber salad to accompany the BLT’s. This salad doesn’t get much more simple, but for it to be at its best it should be made at least 3-4 hours before you plan on serving it. Overnight is even better.

Cucumber Salad
serves 4

2 large cucumbers, seeds removed, and peeled if skin is thick
1/2 onion, red or yellow
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tbl. sugar
1/4 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. sambal (garlic-chile paste)
1 tsp. soy sauce

Slice the cucumbers and onion as thin as you can and place in a bowl. In another bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, adjusting the sambal to suit your heat level. 1/2 tsp. of sambal will give the cucumbers a pretty good kick. Pour the sauce over the cucumbers and toss to coat. Cover and allow to marinate for at least 3-4 hours or overnight.

I first discovered Elote when I was living in Chicago. There were all these Mexican street vendors in my neighborhood pushing carts and selling, what I discovered, was corn on the cob. But this wasn’t ordinary corn on the cob has I had known it. Instead of slathering it with butter, salt and pepper they slathered it in mayonnaise, dipped it in grated cheese and sprinkled it with ground chile and a squeeze of fresh lime. I have to admit, at first I was kind of disgusted. Mayo on corn on the cob?! But being a chef and a rather adventurous sort I had to give it a try. Besides how bad could it be? Ultimately it was just corn on the cob. Well, I tried it and fell in love. And let’s face it, what’s not to love; creamy, rich mayo, salty, nutty cheese, a bit of spicy heat, and the freshing tang of lime juice, all backing up that wonderful sweetness of fresh corn.

This week, our CSA share contained 5 ears of freshly picked corn on the cob. I racked my brain, coming up with all sorts of wild and crazy things to do with this corn (and hopefully I’ll get to do one or 2 of those things in the near future) but ultimately decided the best way to showcase such wonderfully sweet, freshly picked corn was to serve up in the ultimate summertime fashion; on the cob. But that wouldn’t be much of a post, which got me to thinking and wondering how many other people had never had corn on the cob done the Mexican way. See how I selflessly put my readers first. Trust me it has nothing to do with the fact that I’ll use any excuse to add as much fat and dairy as I can to just about any recipe…really.

Just a few notes before I get to the recipe. First off, I often talk about how produce is so much better the fresher it is. While this is true of most all produce, it is especially true of corn. Corn is the sweetest the moment it is pulled off of the stalk. Once picked those sugars begin to get converted into starch, losing much of its sweetness at an alarming rate. While supermarket corn, in the middle of summer, may taste pretty darn good, I challenge you to stop by your local farmer’s market, pick up a couple of ears of corn that were picked early that morning and have them cooked off by noon. If you have never indulged in this summertime luxury you’ll be amazed at the sweetness and depth of flavor that you never knew you were missing.

Traditionally, the cheese used in making elotes is Cotija Anejo (Queso Anejo). Outside of cities or in area without larger hispanic populations, this cheese may be difficult to find. Not a problem. Just use parmesan cheese instead. As always I will state that doesn’t mean that nasty stuff that comes in a green container and has a shelf life of a million years. Use the real stuff!! Cotija Anejo is not exactly like Parmesan, but close enough that the vast majority of people couldn’t tell the difference.

Finally, when I make elotes, I use ground cayenne pepper as my choice of chile. You could use ground ancho, chile de arbol or even ground chipotle if you want a bit of that smokiness that comes from chipotle, but please stay away from “chili powder.” While chili powder has its uses for this dish it doesn’t work so well, in my opinion. Of course there are plenty of recipes, gracing the web, for elotes that use chili powder, but I disagree with its use here. Chili powder is a spice mix containing, not only, ground chile, but usually ground cumin, ground oregano, and other various herbs and spices. To me this muddles up the flavor a little too much, taking away from the bright freshness of the food.

Elotes

fresh corn on the cob, still in the husks
mayonnaise
finely grated Parmesan cheese (see my rant above about the stuff in the green container)
ground cayenne pepper (or your choice of chile, not chili, powder)
lime wedge (cut limes into 1/6ths)

One and half hours before you are ready to eat prepare the corn. Rip off the exposed part of the corn silks but leave the husks intact. No need to remove them completely as they are easy to remove after being cooked. Submerge the corn in cold water. After the corn has been soaking for 45 minutes to 1 hour, fire up your grill and set it up for direct grilling over medium high heat. Place the corn on the grill and cover, checking every few minutes and turning every 4-5 minutes. Don’t worry, you will have the occasional flame as loose bits of husk or stray bits of corn silk catch fire. Unless your fire is too hot that initial soaking should prevent the entire ear from catching fire. If this is your first time cooking corn on the grill you might want to keep a spray bottle with water, just in case. The corn will take approximately 20 minutes, depending on the size of the corn, how hot your grill is, how often you remove the lid, yada, yada, yada. You can tell the corn is done by gently peeling a bit of the husk back to expose the kernals. Raw corn will have a dullish look to it. Cooked corn will have a slight sheen to it and the colors will be a bit more vibrant.

Once done, remove from the grill and serve. I usually make this a serve yourself affair. Everyone grabs an ear of corn. I peel the husk down to the stem, which I have left on to serve as handle for eating the corn. Most of the corn silk should come with the husks, but it is easy to remove any strays that still cling to the corn. I then liberally slather the entire ear with mayo, just like you would with butter. I probably use between 1 and 2 tablespoons per ear. Next sprinkle with the grated cheese. Don’t be shy…load it on. Next sprinkle with the chile powder. This is a personal preference on how hot you like it. I like medium hot. Just enough to get a bit of burn but not enough to interfer with the taste of the corn. Finally grab a lime wedge and squeeze the juice all over the ear and enjoy. Since the cheese is usually pretty salty no need for any added salt unless you are a complete addict!

It was Week 3 of our CSA deliveries and if I’m not mistaken our boxes are starting to feel a bit heavier…not a lot but a bit. I expect over the next few weeks they will increase in weight as early season greens transition into various other vegetables. Not that I’m complaining about what we get now. I am a firm believer in quality over quanity and everything we have received so far has been excellent. I’ve been especially thrilled with the Hakurei turnips, but I’ll get back to those in a minute.

This week our box was filled with more strawberries, baby greens, spinach, radishes (although this is probably the end of them for the summer), and turnips. Making their first appearance in our box was garlic scapes (the green shoots of the garlic), sugar snap peas, kohlrabi (a favorite here in our house).

Now back to the Hakurei turnips. I’ve become quite enamored with them. While they still have a slight “bite” to them I find them to be more subtle then their autumn counterparts. Also unlike their autumn counterparts, these little beauties don’t require peeling before using. Their skin is much thinner than turnips from fall harvests and much less fiberous. Just wash them and give them a good scrub to remove any dirt and then use them in whatever dish you are making (although if making mashed turnips you might still want to peel them) or just slice them thinly, sprinkle with a bit of salt and eat raw.

I don’t often cook radishes, although I do on occasion. I came up with the idea of making a gratin out of the turnips and since their flavor profile was somewhat similar to the radishes we had received I decided that I would add a layer of radishes to the gratin. While it might be a bit heavy for a hot summer day, this gratin, nonetheless, goes really well as an accompaniment to grilled steak.

Turnip Gratin with Radishes
serves 4

1-1 1/2 bunches Hakurei turnips, washed well
1 bunch radishes, washed well
2 Tbs. butter
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated (I used one of my favorites, Sarvecchio, by Sartori foods out of Plymouth WI)
salt
pepper
nutmeg
1 cup cream

Preheat an oven to 350°F. In a medium sized, oven proof saute pan melt the butter. Remove from heat. Thinly slice the turnips and radishes approximately 1/8-1/4″ thick. Place a single layer of turnips on the bottom of the saute pan. Cover with the radishes. Sprinkle with a bit of salt, peper and just a hint of nutmeg. Top with 1/4 cup of the parmesan.

Add another layer of turnips, followed by more salt, pepper, nutmeg and another 1/4 cup of parmesan. Top with the remaining turnips, more salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour in the cream and press down on the vegetables to make sure the are just barely covered by the cream. Add a bit more cream or milk, if necessary. Cover and bake for 15 minutes. Remove cover and bake for 15 minutes more. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of parmesan and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is nicely browned the the liquid as thickened. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes. This will allow the gratin to set before serving.