If Ali is home you’re likely to find her endlessly watching “Friends” on DVD, even though she’s seen every episode so many times she can quote the lines right along with the actors. So when it came time to title this post I looked to one of her favorite shows for inspiration. You may find the menu inspiring enough on it’s own.

I like to cook special things for special occasions and believe that food and cooking are powerful ways to express love, offer hospitality, and bring people together to share in the experience. Since it was Renée’s birthday yesterday we invited a few friends over for dinner with a menu of her choosing. Being a Maryland girl, she loves seafood, so I turned to my trusty James Beard cook books and found a few entrée recipes for her to choose from. For an appetizer, I suggested something from Michael Symon’s Live To Cook. For dessert, Renée chose something she’d seen Chef Anne Burrell make on Food Network. So here’s the Brewer’s Daughter‘s birthday menu:

Appetizer: Roasted Dates with Pancetta, Almonds, and Chile

Entrée: Shrimp Floridian en Papillotte

Dessert: Panna Cotta with Roasted Figs and Balsamic

The One With Dates

This is one of the best kind of dishes: it’s easy to make and has complex, layered flavors. The sweetness of the dates and the saltiness of the pancetta combine with the almonds and spicy heat of the chile flakes for a perfect balance of intense taste elements.

Begin by preheating your oven to 350°F. Put the dates on a small rimmed baking sheet and roast them in the oven until heated through, about 5 minutes. Turn off the oven but leave the dates in there while you cook the pancetta.

In a medium sauté pan over medium heat, cook the pancetta until it is three-quarters crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the almonds and continue cooking until they brown, a few minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so. Add the red pepper flakes and stock and bring to a simmer, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter, stirring continuously until the butter is melted. Stir in the lemon juice and parsley.
Add the dates to the pan and swirl and toss them in the sauce. Divide the cooked dates among four to six plates and spoon the sauce over them.

The One With Shrimp

This recipe combined two of the things that Renée loves most: seafood and blue cheese. Like the dates, it’s easy to prepare–unless you have to peel and devein the shrimp like I did, which isn’t hard, just time-consuming–and it can be prepped ahead of time and popped into the oven while your guests are enjoying their apps. The creamy, flavorful cheese mixture marries with the juice of the lemon to bathe the shrimp in a wonderful sauce.

Blend the blue cheese with the cream cheese and the chives, parsley, and garlic. Thin the mixture with the wine.

Take four large squares of aluminum foil and heap one-quarter of the cheese mixture on each. Top with a quarter of the shrimp and a slice of lemon. Bring the edges of the foil up over the shrimp and fold them together. Fold up the ends of the foil to make a tight package. Arrange packages on a baking sheet and bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Simply unwrap and enjoy!

The One With Heavy Cream

Panna cotta is a soft, creamy, eggless custard whose name literally means ‘cooked cream’. This dessert continues the theme of easy to make but flavorful dishes. Despite its luxurious texture and elegant presentation, panna cotta is easy to prepare and is a blank slate for many added flavors. The fig topping adds a terrific contrast to the wonderful texture and sweetness of this dessert.

The first step is to soften the gelatin. Here’s where it got interesting. I couldn’t find sheet gelatin. In fact, the people in the grocery stores I went to didn’t even know what it was. So I bought powder. Then I had to figure out what the ratio was for converting sheet gelatin to powder. I posted the question to Michael Ruhlman on Twitter and got a plethora of responses. Based on that Twitter exchange, Chef Dan Moody was kind enough to put together an entire blog post outlining the conversion from sheet to powder. Thanks, Chef!

For sheets, submerse the gelatin sheets in a small bowl of cool water to soften. If using powder, sprinkle the powder over the surface of 2-3 tablespoons of cold water and allow it to bloom for several minutes. Make sure you don’t just dump it in; the powder in the center won’t absorb enough water. If it doesn’t absorb enough water, the gelatin and your dessert will be grainy. I used a bit too much water, so although my panna cotta did set up, it was not as firm as I would have liked.

In a small saucepan combine the cream and 1 cup sugar. Slit the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds. Add the seeds and the hull of the vanilla bean to the saucepan. Whisk to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil and turn off immediately. Remove the softened gelatin sheets from the cool water and whisk into the hot cream mixture. Remove and discard the vanilla bean. Pour immediately into serving dishes and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Toss the figs together with the remaining sugar and balsamic. Let macerate for about 15 minutes. Roast in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until the figs are soft and the sugar and balsamic have started to caramelize on the figs.

Top the panna cotta with the roasted figs and enjoy! (This paired really well with New Holland Dragon’s Milk Oak Barrel Ale!)

It All Comes Together

In addition to what I made, Renée put together a wonderful salad with toasted pine nuts, dried cranberries, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, English cucumber and a terrific balsamic vinaigrette. Each dish had it’s own opportunity to shine, but together I think it made for a special birthday dinner for my beautiful bride and our wonderful friends. She’s always proud of my cooking and I’m always proud to serve her something that makes her happy.

In mythology, consumption of ambrosia was typically reserved for divine beings. In the real world, you can make your own and can accompany it with some great music. Beyond the fact that it’s one of my favorite tunes, the Ambrosia song, “Nice, Nice, Very Nice“, which sets to music the lyrics to a song in Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, is significant to this post for several reasons beyond the obvious riff on the title. The dish in question is made with rice, is very nice indeed, and is one of my strongest food memories. I’d consider it one of Mom’s many ambrosia-like dishes. She didn’t make these often, which turned the days she did into a special treat. Crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, these are warm rolls of mozzarella-filled goodness that I dare you to resist. Add your favorite nectar and you’ll be set.

The proportions below make 6-8 rolls; I quadrupled it when I made it, but I know Mom used to make dozens at a time. Here’s what you’ll need:

First, cook the rice and let it cool until you are able to handle it. Obvious, right?  But I’m going to encourage you to adopt a different and better method for cooking rice: cook it like you would pasta. In this method, used by no less than James Beard, there is no measuring of water, no careful timing, or delicate balance of heat. You simply bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt, add the rice, and boil it for 10-15 minutes. Drain it into a colander or strainer, just like pasta. The key to this method is to add the rice slowly so the water never loses its boil. Try it, you’ll get perfect, fluffy rice every time.

Once the rice has cooled, add the eggs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, and salt to taste. Next, make a patty of rice, lay a cheese strip inside and cover to make an egg-shaped roll. Roll it in the bread crumbs and deep fry in 350 degree oil until golden brown, about 3-5 minutes. You can put a little butter on your hands to keep the rice from sticking to your hands or you can do what sushi chefs do and use water.

These are best warm, but watch out, the cheese inside will stretch into long strands as you bite into them if you’re not careful.  You can also refrigerate them for later enjoyment. A quick zap in the microwave brings them right back to warm, melty goodness.

Following one of Mom’s recipes is one thing. Getting it to turn out like hers did visually, in texture, and taste is another. I’m happy to say I nailed this one. Nice, nice, very nice. Thanks, Mom!

My Sunday began with a great breakfast scramble prepared by Renée with tomato, mushrooms, Lucky Penny Farm goat cheese and bacon on the side. I don’t think you can get much better than the simplicity of scrambled eggs accented with good, fresh ingredients. And bacon. Because everything’s better with bacon, right? After breakfast I did a little mod to the Mustang by installing an HID headlight system, then it was time to get in the kitchen.

I had several things I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to make pumpkin pie and since we had several small acorn squashes from our last CSA basket, I wanted to try a recipe from Mollie Katzen’s latest book, Get Cooking. I had picked up the ingredients I needed the previous day while shopping for Thanksgiving fixins, so I knew I had everything, but while I was shopping I contemplated getting some pecans to try a pecan pie but didn’t buy them. I’d never made one before and I’d found a good looking recipe in my Williams-Sonoma Holiday Favorites cookbook, so when Renée had to run out for a few errands I asked her to pick up some pecans. When I posted on Facebook that I was making pies and the Acorn Squash stuffed with Apple-Almond-Cherry Basmati Pilaf I got lots of replies asking for the recipe. (I’ll write about the pecan pie in another post; it was easy and it turned out great!)

A Squash By Any Other Name

Acorn squash is typically considered a winter squash but it belongs to the same plant species as all summer squashes including zucchini, pattypan squash, some types of pumpkin, spaghetti squash, and yellow squash. It was introduced to early settlers from Europe by Native Americans and we’ve been enjoying it ever since.

Katzen calls acorn squash “a natural edible bowl that was born to be stuffed” and this pilaf stuffing fits the bill perfectly. In fact, the pilaf is so good you will be tempted to eat it on its own.  The apples and cherries marry well with the onions and garlic and the basmati rice is hearty and flavorful. This is a simple, healthy meal that you’ll want to make again and again. Cooking methods vary but most people roast acorn squash. They can also be microwaved, steamed, or sauteed.

Rice seed collection from IRRI via Wikipedia

A Rice is a Rice is a Rice, Right?

Not so fast, Gertrude. Rice is cultivated in many places around the world including Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe, Caribbean and Latin America, United States, and Australia. The largest collection of rice cultivars is at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, with over 115,000 types of cultivated rice and wild relatives.

Basmati has been cultivated in India and Pakistan for thousands of years, but it’s also grown in places like California. Its name means different things depending on who you ask: in Sanskrit it means “the fragrant one”, or “the soft rice,” and in Arabic it means, “my smile”. Basmati is a long grain rice that comes in brown and white varieties and has a unique fragrance and a nut-like flavor. In addition to the scent and the taste of basmati rice, two other characteristics distinguish it from other kinds of rice. First, the grains are the longest of the long grain rices. Second, the grains don’t tend to stick together while cooking or serving. These qualities result in a rice with a pleasant aroma that is flavorful, soft and ideal for serving alone or as part of a recipe.

Just Stuff It

Basmati rice takes a while to cook, so you can cook the rice and bake the squash at the same time. There are several methods you can use for cooking the rice. Katzen provides a simple method below but also recommends another that I’ve used successfully since finding it in Beard’s American Cookery: you cook the rice in an unmeasured amount of water just as you would pasta. Either method works just fine. Be sure to rinse the rice with cold water several times before cooking.

Here’s Katzen’s recipe:

1. Combine the rice and water in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a boil. Then turn down the heat to the lowest possible setting (insert a waffle heat absorber under the pot, if you have one), cover the pot, and let the rice simmer undisturbed for 40 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, adjust the oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 400°F.

Line a baking tray with foil, and pour 1 tablespoon of the olive oil on it. Use your fingers to distribute the oil so that it coats the area where you’ll put the squash. Place the squash, cut side down, on the olive oil. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until you can easily insert a fork or a sharp knife into the squash from the skin side.

3. While the squash is roasting and the rice is cooking, place a small skillet over medium heat. After about a minute, add the remaining ½ tablespoon (that’s 1½ teaspoons) olive oil, and swirl to coat the pan. Add the butter and swirl until it melts into the oil. Add the onion, and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes, or until it becomes very soft and is beginning to turn golden. (If it appears to be browning too quickly, turn the heat to medium- low.) Add the almonds and cook them with the onions, stirring frequently, for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the almonds begin to toast and give off a lovely aroma. Stir in the garlic and salt, and cook for 5 minutes longer. Remove the pan from the heat.

4. When the squash is done, remove the tray from the oven, and set it aside. Turn the oven down to 300°F.

5. After 40 minutes of undisturbed cooking, you may now disturb the rice by fluffing it with a fork. Give it a taste. If it is a little too crunchy, add another 3 tablespoons water, and without fluffing or stirring it further, put the top back on and let it sit for another 10 minutes with the heat turned off. It will steam itself a little further and become more tender.

6. When the rice is done to your liking, transfer it to a medium- large bowl. Add the onion-almond mixture (using a rubber spatula to scrape in all the delicious essence that might otherwise be left in the pan) and toss until well combined. Add the apple and cherries, and mix until thoroughly combined.

7. Turn the squash halves over, so their cavities are facing up. Divide the rice mixture among the squash, using a soup spoon to fill the cavities; pack down the filling and then mound the top. (There will be a generous amount of filling. If it’s too much, you can snack on it or serve it as a side-dish-refill component of the meal. I assure you no one will complain.)

8. Cover the filled squash loosely with a tent of foil, and return the tray to the oven. Bake for about 10 minutes, or just long enough to heat everything through. (If you like, you can skip this step and just serve the squash halves as soon as you stuff them.)

This is a terrific, healthy meal that is easy to make. The rice stuffing alone is worth making as a side dish or guiltless snack. It’s also perfectly sized; each stuffed half is just the right serving for kids and adults alike. So don’t overlook our friend the acorn squash or any of her relatives. They’re versatile and delicious and they’ll enable you to turn any Sunday afternoon into a something. So put on some good tunes, and get cooking!

Well, he went down to dinner in his Sunday best
Excitable boy, they all said
And he rubbed the pot roast all over his chest
Excitable boy, they all said
Well, he’s just an excitable boy
~Warren Zevon, Excitable Boy

The first day after turning the clocks back to standard time seems like a good day to make pot roast. Matt and I did some grocery shopping on Saturday and I picked up an English cut chuck shoulder roast for under $10.00. This boneless chuck section comes from the shoulder and neck of the beef, and is one of the most economical cuts you can buy. It’s also one of the most flavorful. There is a downside: these cuts tend to be tough and fatty, and the 7 bone cuts can have quite a bit of bone and gristle. (They’re called 7 bone because of the shape of the bone, which looks like a 7.) Perfect for low and slow cooking in a liquid, the typical chuck steak is rectangular and about 1″ thick.

This is a recipe based loosely on one found in my 1972 edition of James Beard’s American Cookery. The measurements are guesses because I just added ingredients as I went. Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 medium onion
• 1 cup of sliced mushrooms
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 t rosemary
• 3 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 cup tomato juice
• 1 12 oz bottle of good craft beer (I used a Misery Bay IPA from Erie Brewing Company)
• 1/2 t coriander
• 3-4 medium potatoes cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 T vegetable oil

Begin by adding 1-2 T of oil to your Dutch oven and it over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes to get it nice and hot. While it’s heating up, mix some flour with salt and pepper in a Zip-loc bag big enough to hold your roast. Put the roast in and toss it to coat evenly with the flour mixture. Add the roast to the Dutch oven and brown on all sides. When it is well browned, remove it and set it aside. Add the onions and mushrooms and cook until softened, then add the garlic and cook until aromatic, about 30-45 seconds. Add additional oil if necessary. Return the roast to the pan and add the liquid, herbs, and coriander. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 2 hours. Add the vegetables, cover, and continue to simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until you can pull the meat apart with two forks.  Remove bay leaf and serve.

This dish serves as a great example of how you can turn a lesser cut of meat into a terrific meal. It’s as comfortable as comfort food gets and like many dishes, it’s even better the next day. It freezes well, too, so don’t worry about leftovers.

Now put on a little Warren Zevon and get cooking! But please, just eat the pot roast.

This past weekend marked the outdoor opening of the North Union Farmers Market at Shaker Square for the 2010 season. With summer-like weather for the first weekend in April, there was no excuse not to stroll among the market’s vendors and see what kind of goodies we could bring home.

There were only a few fresh fruits and vegetables, but there were plenty of cheeses, grains, baked goods, and meats to make up for it. We bought some fresh eggs from Rolling Meadows Farm in Millersburg, sweet Italian sausage, ground beef patties, beef short ribs from Millgate Farm, and a fresh pecan pie from Gray House Pies that we took to Erie for Easter.

The sausage was the first thing cooked on the grill this season. Served along side a freshly made macaroni salad, it made me feel like it was already summer even though we could still see a flurry or two before we’re completely finished with winter.

Rib Cage Match: Beef vs. Pork

Compared to pork spare ribs, beef short ribs tend to be bigger, more tender and meatier. Short ribs come from the rib, plate, and a small corner of the chuck, with a full slab being about 10 inches square  and from 3-5 inches thick. Each slab has three or four ribs with a layer of boneless meat and fat which is thicker on one end of the slab than on the other.

Most rib cook-off events have pork and beef categories with purists on both sides. Barbecued and/or smoked ribs can take 6-8 hours to cook properly but it’s well worth the time. Many people have only cooked one or the other. Geography and availability have a little to do with it as well. I say choose what you like or what you can get, and most of all, choose to experiment a little. With so many good ways to cook ribs, try them all until you hit on something that you like. I like them both, but tonight, it was time for the short ribs.

In Praise of the Braise

Done properly, braising is one of the easiest and most flavorful ways to prepare meats and vegetables. Dry cooking methods like grilling, roasting, and frying are great at browning. Wet methods like boiling and steaming are best at softening tough food fibers. Braising is the best of wet and dry cooking methods in one. First you brown with dry heat, then you add liquid and simmer until tender. The long, slow simmer enables the tough collagen proteins to dissolve into tender morsels. Braised meats are cooked through; there is no such thing as a medium-rare pot roast, so don’t bother with thermometers or charts of cooking times. The only test for doneness is tenderness, which is why most most recipes give general time guidelines but also stress to cook “until fork tender”. When you can easily stick a fork into the meat, it’s done.

Braising can be done on the stove top or in the oven. Oven braising will take a bit longer, but you don’t have to worry about turning the meat because the heat is coming from all around instead of just the bottom. Best of all, braising enables you to get first class flavor from a less expensive cut of meat.

Braise the Beef and Pass the Tomatoes

Braising is one of the most popular ways to prepare beef short ribs and for good reason. The fat makes for an unctuous, wonderful sauce and the wide, flat bones help carry low, slow heat throughout.  There are many variations to the herbs and vegetables you can add. I chose to modify a recipe from my trusty Beard’s American Cookery. Chef Beard’s recipes are straight-forward yet layered with textures and flavors. No matter what I’m cooking, I find you just can’t go wrong with Chef Beard as a starting point.

Beard recommends browning meats under the broiler before braising instead of pan searing to draw out much of the fat. Broiling also gives you more visual control because you can clearly see the meat’s surface to monitor the browning process. The braise is finished in the oven for even cooking and one-pot convenience.

Here’s the recipe:

First I brined the ribs overnight using 1-1-1/2 ratio of 1/2 gallon of water, 1 /2 cup of salt, and 1/4 cup of brown sugar.  To that I added a little ground red pepper, coriander, and a bay leaf. After removing the ribs from the brine I let them rest in the refrigerator for about 8 hours. The brine isn’t essential, but I’m too in love with the flavor it adds to not do it.

Place the ribs fat side up on a broiler rack and pan, and sprinkle with half the herbs and garlic. Broil about 6 inches from the heat until brown and crisp, flip and sprinkle with the remaining herbs and garlic and brown the opposite side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. When browned, drain the ribs on paper towels and reserve 2 or 3 tablespoons of the drippings from the broiling pan. Set your oven for 300 degrees.

In the meantime, heat the butter and oil in a heavy, deep-sided pan with a tight fitting lid or a dutch oven and sauté the onions and carrots. Add the ribs to the pan and spoon the reserved drippings over them. Pour the tomatoes over the ribs and sprinkle with basil to taste. Add enough stock to cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil, cover tightly and braise in the oven until the meat is very tender, about 2 hours. Skim the fat from the pan juices and serve with the vegetables and the juices.

The sauce will be rich and layered with the tomato and vegetable flavors and the beef drippings. The carrots are soft, yet have a nice bite and are as sweet as can be. The best part? It tastes even better the next day.

I’m not sure if it’s poetic justice or just a cruel twist of fate that the return of my cooking blog begins with a post about SPAM.  Depending on who you ask, it’s either loved, hated, or looked upon with indifference.

The first can of SPAM Classic was produced in 1937 in Austin, Minnesota, and 73 years and 7 billion cans later, it’s still going strong.  SPAM is particularly popular in Hawaii–where it has been dubbed “The Hawaiian Steak”–as well as in the territories if Guam and the Commonwealth of the Norther Mariana Islands. SPAM celebrations are held across the country in small local festivals and events known as Spam Jam and Spamarama. There is SPAM Classic, Honey SPAM, SPAM with Bacon, and Hot and Spicy SPAM. Through the years the virtues of SPAM have been sung by Edward R. Murrow, Gracie Allen, Dwight Eisenhower, and Margaret Thatcher, and of course, Monty Python. There is a SPAM Museum and a SPAMMobile.

Any way you look at it, SPAM is prolific–almost as prolific as that annoying stuff that shows up in your email inbox–and it deserves a mention as a cooking ingredient. Especially when it’s the central ingredient in a cook-off help annually at theFraternal Order of Eagles in Chagrin Falls.

And so it was that on this fine day I spent the late morning preparing my entry for the contest – Spicy Baked Ziti with Crumbles SPAM. Based my concoction on a recipe for Baked Ziti with Crumbles Italian Sausage found in Cover & Bake. Having entered this contest in the past, I had a good idea of the different kinds of dishes that would be submitted, and I not only wanted to prominently feature the main ingredient, I wanted to make something that I’d want to eat.

Here are the ingredients from the original recipe:

Here are my additions and substitutions:

I began by pre-heating my oven to 400 degrees and putting a pot of water on to cook the pasta. I also got a skillet heating to brown the SPAM. While I waited for the oven, water, and skillet, I prepared the rest of the ingredients.

Since the original recipe called for the sausage to be removed from its casing and browned, I wanted the SPAM to be as close as possible to the consistency of the sausage, so I first diced it into 1/4 inch cubes. Then I used a potato masher to make it look more like ground meat. I also peeled and minced my garlic, picked some fresh basil from the plant I still have from last summer and got my seasonings ready to go.

Once my water reached a boil I added about 2 T of salt along with the pasta. That might sound like a lot of salt, but pasta water should taste like the sea; it’s the easiest way to impart flavor to your pasta and you’ll notice the difference in the finished dish. The Ziti normally takes about ten minutes to cook al dente, but since this dish finishes in the oven, I wanted the pasta to be slightly underdone before it went in the oven, so I set my timer for nine. When the pasta was done, I drained it, reserving about 1/4 cup of the water and added it back to the pot where I tossed it with 1 T of olive oil.

Meanwhile, I added 1 T of olive oil to my hot pan and when it began to shimmer, added the mashed SPAM. I cooked it until it started to brown, which took longer than it would it I had used the sausage. Once I obtained the brown I was looking for, I added the

Coriander, Cumin, and Cinnamon to taste. (These three spices–especially the Coriander and Cinnamon, used in very small quantities–can add amazing flavors to many dishes. They add and enhance flavors that you won’t be able to immediately recognize, you’ll just know it tastes good.) The garlic and red pepper are next, cooked until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Then, the tomatoes go in, simmering for about 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Finally, stir in the basil off the heat and add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the tomato sauce and reserved pasta water to the pasta and stir to combine. Pour half of the pasta into a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with half the mozzarella and half the Parmesan. Add the remaining pasta and top with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover with foil and bake until the cheese

melts, about 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the cheese begins to brown, about 5 minutes more.

I enjoyed putting this dish together and it turned out tasting very good. My competition included Chocolate Covered SPAM, Italian Wedding Soup with SPAM Meatballs, SPAM Corn Chowder, SPAM Sliders, SPAM Baked Beans, SPAM Carbonara, and SPAM Deviled Eggs, among other dishes. But alas, I did not win, didn’t even place in the top 5. Oh well, there’s always next year. At least I have half a dish of pasta to eat. And some leftover SPAM.