Stuffed Grape Leaves... Euprika?

Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves. Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.

I was so excited for this month's Daring Kitchen challenge!  When I was a kid, I remember my Stepmom used to spend hours making, rolling and cooking our family's version of stuffed grape leaves.  My Grandfather called it "Euprika" (and I have no idea how to spell it... this is only a guess).  I would get sooooo excited when I found out that we were having euprika for dinner!!  And as you can probably imagine, getting a teenager to eat grape leaves is no easy feat - nevermind getting a teenager to LOVE it.  She would make what seemed like millions of these delicious parcels of goodness and freeze them in batches for dinners later in the year.  After finally making them myself (which took me 2 days, mind you), I appreciate all her hard work so so so much more.  I also now realize why we only got this "treat" a few times a year :)

Now, because I can never leave good enough alone, I of course changed up some of the ingredients.  Overall, I thought it was an improvement and each bite had a nice hint of nostalgia.

Ingredients

grape leaves
1/2 lb ground lamb (thank god for Sulmona Meat Mkt!!)
1 1/2 C brown rice, cooked

1 small onion, finely diced
1/4 C chopped tomatoes (I used some CSA tomatoes I oven-dried & packed in EVOO)
2 tbsps chopped kalamata olives
2 tbsps toasted pine nuts
1 tbsps chopped herbs (I used mint & basil from my garden, parsley would be good too)
3 oz crumbled feta
1 large jar of tomato juice (I used low-sodium)

Step 1) In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients (except the grape leaves and tomato juice).  Use your hands to really knead the filling so that it becomes a nice homogeneous mixture.

Step 2) Open a grape leaf with the veins facing up.  Place an oval-shaped mound of filling near the stem-side of the leaf, like so:

Step 3) Roll the bottom (stem side) up over the filling, tuck the 2 lateral sides over, and continue rolling to the top of the leaf... burrito-style.

Step 4) Continue this until you are out of filling and have consumed about 2 glasses of wine.

Step 5) For me, this was Day #2... it was already 9pm by the time I got done rolling all the leaves on Day #1 so I just packed them in a storage container and stuck them in the fridge.  

Tightly place all of the rolls into the bottom of a pot, then cover them with the tomato juice.  Place a plate over them inside the pot so that they don't unravel and/or float around in the juice.

I know this is a terrible picture... just wanted to give you and idea what it looks like

Step 6) Let them simmer over low heat for approximately 3 hours.

I served these with a salad, pita, and some homemade hummus.  They would probably be pretty good over orzo as well.  So good, even Boyfriend liked them, and he was pretty hesitant when I brought up the whole "we're having grape leaves for dinner" conversation.

Clam Chowder, The Black Pearl Style

Last summer Boyfriend and I went to a wedding in Newport, Rhode Island.  I hadn't ever been there before and let me tell you... it was AMAZING.  The mansions.  The ocean.  The Black Pearl's World Famous Clam Chowder.

Now, there was a lot of hype leading up to this bowl of chowder.  A. LOT.  I was prepared to be disappointed actually.  Don't get me wrong, I love clam chowder.  Every time people come to visit I make sure they get 2 things - clam chowder and a lobster roll.  Its New England for god's sake!

However, I have to admit....

It was shut-your-mouth-smack-your-mama-I-refuse-to-share GOOD.  I had not, and since have not, had chowder this good ever.  It's not super-thick they way I normally see it here and it had lots of dill and a hint of booze... maybe sherry?  I wish I could have brought some home with me.  I should have.  Although... I'm not 100% convinced it would have made the 2 hour trip back safely.  I mean, hell, we still had a wedding to go to and there was no way that chowder would have survived our state of debauchery.  4am drunk and hungry?  No. Way.

I've never actually made clam chowder before so I figure hey, why not tackle the most amazing, unreproducible chowder ever?  Why not?

Ingredients

1/4 stick of butter

4 slices of bacon, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced into smallish cubes
2 cans of minced clams, with juice

2 cup light cream

2 cups milk (I used 1%)
2 shot glasses dry vermouth
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tbsp cracked black pepper
2 tbsps dried dill weed, or more to taste

Cook the bacon until nice and crispy.  Add the butter and chopped onions to the bacon/grease and saute until the onion is starting to soften. Add the parsley, dill, clam juice, and potatoes, and just enough water to cover all ingredients. Simmer 15-20 minutes until potatoes are cooked but not mushy.  Add the cream, milk and vermouth. Heat just a little more so the cream does not cool it. Add the minced clams when you're almost ready to serve it to make sure they don't get too tough.  Taste.  Season. Taste again.  *Note: if you like your chowder a little thicker you can either make a roux using flour and butter or mix a little cornstarch with water and add that to your chowder before adding the clams and let it thicken your chowder.

I had this for lunch the next day and I have to say, it re-heated very very well.  Boyfriend liked it but said he would have added more dill and less potatoes.  Also that there wasn't any bacon in the original Black Pearl chowder.  Whatever.  I thought it was f-ing delicious and my favorite chowder recipe so far.  I might toy with it in the future... add fresh clams instead of canned, etc etc.... but I think this is the only style of chowder I plan to make for a long, long time.

Fettuccine with Shrimp in a Tomato, Olive, and Feta Cream Sauce

I had a revelation this weekend... fresh pasta is SO. MUCH. BETTER. than the dried stuff.

During prime tomato season on the farm, I oven-dried a bunch of tomatoes with whole garlic cloves and thyme, then let them marinate in olive oil and fresh-from-my-herb-garden basil for about a week.  Oven-drying tomatoes isn't hard, it just heats up your kitchen and takes a couple hours.  Store-bought sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil would be a great substitute.

And this dish is super-fast.  I mean, seriously, it was ready in T-minus 20min.

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg fresh fettuccine

1/2 lb shrimp

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 C dried tomatoes (oil-packed), roughly chopped

3 tbsp oil-brined black/kalamata olives, roughly chopped

1/2 C greek yogurt

1/4 C crumbled feta cheese

3 tbsps chopped herbs, I used mint and basil from my herb garden

sprinkle of crushed red pepper, optional

These are, of course, estimates in measuring... use your eyes and tastebuds as a guide.

1) Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2) Melt butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add shrimp and cook until just barely done (2min per side?).  Remove shrimp and put to the side.

3) Add the garlic and tomatoes (with oil) and optional red pepper to the previously shrimp-y pan and heat through over med/med-low heat. 

4)  When that's all nice, warm, aromatic and incorporated, add the yogurt and olives.  Let this simmer on a low burner while you cook the pasta. And that's the great thing about fresh pasta, it only takes 3-4min MAX.

5) When the pasta is al dente, add it to the sauce skillet with ~1/4C starchy pasta liquid.  

6) Add the shrimp and 2 tbsps chopped herbs.

7) Stir, mix, smell.  It should come together into something magical.

8) Top with crumbled feta.  Give it one more mix and serve, sprinkled the the remaining tbsp of mint/basil.

This dinner turned out better than I could have ever expected considering I made it up on the fly with ingredients sitting around in my fridge.  I hope you find time to try some fresh pasta, it really does make a dramatic difference.

Mangia!

Look how GREAT my mint and basil is doing!!

Daring Cooks Challenge - Canning & Preserving

The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

In case you didn't know, I've been super-busy this month, with travel every weekend in addition to the start of the school year & teaching responsibilities.  Whew!  

At least I was able to complete my Daring Cooks Challenge this month, using fresh apples from my CSA (great timing!)

Apple Butter

2 lbs peeled and cored apples, roughly chopped

2 tbsps honey

1/4 C apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

a pinch of nutmeg

Add the apples, honey (or sugar) and vinegar to a saucepan over medium heat.  I didn't use as much sweetner as the recipes called for because my super-fresh apples were already pretty sweet (thanks Stillmans!).  I let that cook for 20 minutes or so until the apples looked more like apple sauce than individual apples.  I then added the spices and used a stick-blender to incorporate everything and smooth out my sauce.  

Let that cook for another 30min or so until you have a thick, dark brown, tasty apple butter.  The trick is to plop a spoonful of the apple butter onto a cold plate and see if it releases any juices.  If it holds its shape and doesn't ooze everywhere, you have yourself some fruit butter!

I will start posting more often as soon as my schedule calms down (and I get a new computer... my personal one died... sad).  Enjoy!

Restaurant Week!

So, I realize I haven't posted anything in quite some time... but that's because 

IT'S RESTAURANT WEEK!!!!

Oh my absolute favorite time of the year.... I get to eat at super nice restaurants and not break the bank!

So, I brought my camera with me to each restaurant I've been to so far, but I can't seem to bring myself to actually whip it out in the middle of dinner to take pics of my delicious, yummy, well-presented, amazing food.  I'll try to be a little more ballsy in the future.

Dinner #1:

Union Bar & Grill

Boyfriend and I had a wonderful time at Union.  The decor reminded me of a Chicago saloon with dark walls and black pleather booths.  Our server, Jesse, was outstanding and the food... oh the food!

I started with a few sliced ripe melon wedges wrapped in prosciutto with fresh mozzarella.  Melon is the epitome of summer and I love the way salty prosciutto really complements its sweetness.  Boyfriend started with the chilled local peach and tomato gazpacho.  I took special notes on this one since my CSA box has been overflowing with peaches and tomatoes the past couple of weeks. 

For our entrees, Boyfriend got the char-grilled marinated hanger steak
with blue cheese stuffed roma tomatoes and grilled smashed potatoes.  The blue cheese stuffed tomatoes were incredible.  I really liked this presentation versus the typical blue-cheese-on-top-of-the-steak thing you normally see at steakhouses.  The steak was cooked to a perfect med-rare.  Yum!  As you can imagine, I only got one tiny bite of Boyfriend's dinner :)  

I got the oven roasted cape bluefish with spicy watermelon pickle charred sweet onions, grilled summer corn and basmati rice pilaf. Bluefish is one of those fishes that I don't get very often so I was excited to see it on the menu. It's hard to find in the stores and most of the time I'm too lazy to haul myself down to the fish pier to get anything fresh. My fish was cooked perfectly and the spicy watermelon relish gave a surprising kick!  The pilaf blew my mind!  It was soooo good.  I'm going to try to re-create it at home... stay tuned!

For dessert, Boyfriend was drooling over the strawberry ice cream soda
with house made syrup, fresh berries and cream, as he should!  It came out in a big mug and the fresh strawberry flavor and aroma just oozed out. I was quite jealous.  I ordered the raspberry spiked chocolate brownies
with pistachio ice cream....but unfortunately, I somehow got the bread & butter pudding with roasted peaches and vanilla ice cream.  I was slightly bummed because pistachio ice cream is a gift from God!  My personal opinion :)  However, the bread pudding was pretty amazing, so no serious complaints here.

To drink, we got a bottle of 2007 Valpolicello, Corte Rugolin (Veneto,Italy).  I picked this because the method used to make Valpolicello is similar to that used to make my favorite wine ever, Amarone.  It was superb!  It had a nice, relatively high acidity and moderate tannins, and I got dark berries and hints of bitter almond on the palate.  I'm sure it paired better with Boyfriend's steak than my fish, but I certainly wasn't complaining.

Looking ahead, we'll be dining at Beacon Hill Bistro, Tremont 647, and EVOO.  Have I mentioned how much I love Restaurant Week?

Shells with Arugula, White Beans, and Mushrooms

I got to make myself a quick & healthy dinner the other night because Boyfriend was in New York for work.  Not that I don't make quick & healthy stuff when he's here... its just that trying to pull off a vegetarian dinner usually results in a predictable, "this would be better with chicken" -type of comment.

Ingredients
Pasta (shells, farfalle, orecchiette would all work great)

Homemade Ricotta

Arugula
Cremini mushrooms, sliced

Small white beans
Olive oil
salt & pepper, to taste
truffle oil, optional

1) Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Once boiling, add your pasta of choice and cook until al dente (check the box's directions).
2) Heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat in a non-stick skillet.  Add the mushrooms and let them cook and caramelize for about 5min.  Try to resist the urge to stir constantly, you'll get better "crispy" bits if you just let them cook without messing with them too much.
3) When the mushrooms are almost done, add the white beans, arugula, and ricotta and cook until heated through.
4) Add the al dente pasta to the mushroom-ricotta mixture and mix.  If the sauce seems a little dry, add a little of the starchy pasta water to loosen things up.
5) Season with salt & pepper, drizzle with the optional truffle oil and enjoy.

I drank a nice white blend with my dinner, which was nice because it didn't overpower the delicate flavors in my bowl.  I also think a nice light Pinot Noir would have complemented the mushrooms, truffle oil, and peppery arugula.

a different view of "food"

So on my way into work today, I noticed something a little... oh how do you say... out of the ordinary?  

Trust me turkeys... you don't want to work here.  It's really not all its cracked up to be....