Ratatouille

A great artist can come from anywhere.
Happy Harvest! Happy New Year!
Bon Appetit! (and Bon Voyage, Jonah!!!)
peace, love and Ratatouille!
jane

This is in today's Times, and I had to put it up in case you didn't see it.  It looks fantastic.  Get to the market and buy what you need and then get the rest from wherever else you shop and then get home and make this!

RECIPE

Ratatouille and Sausage Potpie with Cornmeal Biscuits

Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

FOR THE CORNMEAL BISCUITS:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup fine cornmeal

2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3/4 cup sour cream or plain whole milk yogurt

Milk

FOR THE RATATOUILLE:

1 large eggplant (1 1/2 pounds) cut into 1-inch chunks

3 small zucchini ( 3/4 pound), cut into 1-inch chunks

7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3/4 pound Italian sausage, casings removed [Whole Foods makes great Italian chicken sausage!]

1 large onion, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 red pepper, cored and cut into 1-inch chunks

3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or basil.

1. For the biscuits: In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Fold in the sour cream. Gently knead mixture until it comes together in a ball, adding a drop or two of milk if necessary. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. For the ratatouille: In a bowl, toss eggplant and zucchini with 5 tablespoons oil; season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Spread vegetables in a single layer on one or two large baking sheets (do not crowd vegetables). Transfer to oven and roast, tossing occasionally, until golden, about 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a large, deep, preferably oven-proof sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil. Crumble sausage into pan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 7 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer sausage to a paper towel-lined plate.

4. Return pan to medium heat and add remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Stir in the onion, pepper, garlic and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and thyme sprigs; simmer gently until tomatoes are cooked and mixture is stew-like, about 10 minutes. Stir in the sausage, roasted vegetables and parsley. If you are not using an oven-safe pan, transfer mixture to a 2-quart gratin dish or baking pan.

5. Divide biscuit dough into six equal balls. Use your palm to flatten each ball into a 1/2 -inch-thick disk. Arrange on top of ratatouille mixture. Brush biscuits lightly with milk.

6. Transfer skillet or pan to oven and cook until biscuits are golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: 6 servings.

Pluscious Plum Torte

This has to be one of the easiest and most delicious cakes you can make in the early fall.  The famous NY Times Plum Torte was printed year after year from about 1983 until the late '80's.  Over the years, I've personalized it, but it's pretty "true to your school".  Pastry is notoriously an exacting art, but this recipe allows for you to bake the cake in an 8", 9" or 10" spring form, each producing a similar, but subtle difference in fruit to cake equation.  You can play around with cinnamon and lemon juice too.  (Borderline pastry-hedonism.) And there's an apple/cranberry variation too.  


Simply put, it's pluscious.

Plum Torte

(and Apple-Cranberry Torte Variation)

Adapted from the 1989 NY Times recipe by Blue Heron Kitchen

Make this in the early fall when prune plums come into the market.  The plums should sink to the bottom.  This torte (theoretically) serves 8.

Ingredients:

½ c. unsalted butter, room temperature (83% European style, preferably)

¾ c. sugar

1 c. unbleached flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

2 eggs, size large, at room temperature

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

24 halves pitted purple plums (“prune plums” that come into season in the fall)

Sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and coarse sugar for topping

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Butter an 8”, 9” or 10” springform pan, depending on how cake-like or plum-ish you prefer your torte (or what size pan you have on hand).

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Cream the sugar and butter in the bowl of a Kitchen Aid or another electric mixer.  Add eggs and beat until incorporated.  Add vanilla extract. 

Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture and mix until just incorporated.  Finish incorporating wet and dry ingredients with a spatula.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and top with halved plums, skin side UP, on top of the batter.

 

Sprinkle with cinnamon and lemon juice (depending on how sweet the plums are) and on how much you like cinnamon. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of coarse sugar (you can use granulated if you don’t have decorating or coarse sugar on hand) over the batter.

Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour, until cake is ‘done’ (when the cake springs bake to the touch and/or a tester come out clean).

Cool and serve warm, plain, or with whipped cream.

This freezes very well.  But, be sure to cool it completely and then wrap it well in plastic and then foil before freezing. When serving a torte that has been frozen, warm it in the oven (remember to take the plastic wrap off!) at 325º for a few minutes.

VARIATION:  To make an apple-cranberry torte, follow directions for plum torote, but peel, seed, quarter and slice two or three large baking apples.  Arrange ½ cup of raw cranberries over the batter and top with the apple slices.  Sprinkle generously with cinnamon; squeeze ½ to 1 tablespoon of lemon juice over the apples.  Sprinkle generously with sugar.  

Mushroom Ragout

"Ragout" (French) means "to revive the taste". It's fall, y'all! That means more layers - of clothes, of blankets, and more layers of tastes too - spices, ingredients and heartier fare.

So, I'll begin with Mushroom Ragout. This can be served as a main course with salad, bread and some red wine. Unsweetened chocolate finishes and thickens the sauce to a warm, velvety and rounded dish that pairs well with polenta (try Bob's Red Mill organic polenta. The most extensive selection (other than online) can be found at Fairway Market, where an aisle is devoted to Bob's Red Mill! Locally, in Long Beach, this brand of polenta is available at a reasonable price at Wild By Nature in Oceanside on Long Beach Road.

Stop at Dan Madura's at the Long Beach Farmer's Market Wednesdays (and sometimes, he's there on Saturdays!) for unusual and delicious mushrooms. This recipe calls for a pound of mixed wild mushrooms, which can get pretty pricey - so, since we're not all made of money, use some conventional mushrooms, say half, and then go to town with some of Dan's more exotic varietals. Try his organic garlic - it'll reshape and deepen your love for garlic. Please: freshly grind your nutmeg. And for other spices, invest in an inexpensive coffee grinder and use it just for spices. Grind your own cardamom and white pepper together in it. It'll clear your sinuses and you'll be amazed at how aromatic this dish becomes from a whir of your little grinder. Try buying spices at Patel Brothers - there are several. This link is for the one in Flushing. There is one on Hillside Avenue near the Cross Island Parkway too - it's very bright, clean and tons of fun to shop there. The low cost of spices alone is worth it - and you can buy frozen samosas, fresh pistachios for a ridiculously low cost, almonds, raisins, tandoori mixes, and last time I was there, I bought an idli steamer! (Then can buy all the chutneys your pantry can hold - from tamarind to mint to coconut - and don't forget roti (breads) for dipping too!) In New York, go down to Lexington Ave. and 28th Street. You can market for your provisions there. Check out Kalustyans while you're down there (123 Lexington Ave.). Plan on spending a couple of hours there. 

Here's some dirt on the fungi - keep them in your fridge in brown paper bags - never in plastic bags. In plastic bags, they'll get slimy and disgusting. In paper bags (buy lunch bags!), they'll keep for close to a week.

Wild Mushroom Ragout

Adapted from Alice Medrich’s bitter sweet

Ingredients:

1 lb. mixed wild (and cultivated) mushroom, such as shitake, cremini, hens of the wood, portobellos, chanterelles, cêpes

About 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

2/3 c. dry red wine such as Cabernet, Côtes du Rhone or Malbec

Scant 1/8 tsp. nutmeg (freshly ground), ground cardamom and white pepper

A pinch or two of ground cloves (if you like cloves - I omit them, because I only like cloves in Indian food and very little else)

¼ tsp. kosher salt

¼ c. water

1 Tbsp. grated unsweetened chocolate* (Scharffen Berger is a good choice)

Procedure:

Keeping mushrooms separate, rub or quickly rinse, dry and then slice to about ¼ inch thick. Discard tough stems.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add a tsp. of olive oil.

Add one type of mushroom and sauté, stirring frequently until browned. Scrape them into a bowl and set aside. Repeat this with each mushroom, scraping them into the same bowl. If needed, add a tsp. of olive oil to the pan before you sauté them.

Remove pan from heat and let cool slightly. Return to the burner and over medium-low heat, add 1 Tbsp. olive oil and sauté the minced garlic until translucent, but not brown.

Return mushrooms and any accumulated liquids from them to the pan, add the wine, spices and salt and simmer for a few minutes to evaporate the alcohol in the wine.

Add ¼ c. water, cover and simmer for 6-10 minutes to cook the mushrooms and release their juices into the sauce. Uncover and cook until the sauce is reduced and slightly syrupy. Stir in the chocolate until it melts, smoothing the sauce.

Taste and if necessary, correct seasonings.

Serve over fried or soft polenta or serve over egg noodles.

Yield: Serves 4 as a small main course or 4-6 as an appetizer

*You may substitute 2 ½ tsp. unsweetened, good quality cocoa powder for the unsweetened chocolate

Drive Safely, School's Open

Have a great school year and a happy, healthy and sweet new year'

Honeycake's in the oven at Blue Heron Kitchen

peace and love,
jane

Honeycake

I'm glazed from sitting in meetings about H1N1, hand sanitizing, how best to sneeze, peanut allergies and Smart Boards. For some (that would be me), it's the start of a new school year. I think I'm going to have my choruses sing into the crooks of their arms. comments welcome

For some, it's soon the onset of a new year too. Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish calendar, means eating lots of sweet food, symbolizing a sweet new year.

So Happy New Year! Go wash your hands!

Make this honeycake asap. Wrap it and store it in the fridge. It'll taste much better if you let it rest (already).

Honeycake

Blue Heron Kitchen

Dark, Dense and Delicious for a Sweet New Year

Ingredients:

½ lb. honey (5 1/3 – 6 oz. or about ¾ c.)

1/3 lb. unsalted butter – softened

1 c. granulated white sugar

1 c. strong, freshly brewed coffee – the coffee should be HOT

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg – freshly grated is best

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

2 c. all purpose flour

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 c. raisins, nuts or dried fruit (opt.) – in any combination

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Sift together the flour, soda, powder and spices and put in Kitchen Aid mixing bowl

Pour hot coffee over the butter and honey

When dissolved, add the sugar and mix well

With paddle attachment on low speed, add wet to dry slowly until paste forms, increase speed to eliminate lumps

Add remainder of wet to dry, gradually but being careful not to overmix.

Add optional dried fruit/nuts etc.

Pour into 2 well greased medium/small loaf pans (2/3 full)

Bake 1 to 1 ½ hours or until tester comes out clean

Cool on rack.

Wrap tightly (flavor improves with time)

Cold Tomato Soups

It's tomato time! Two cold tomato soup recipes: Gazpacho and Moroccan Tomato Soup.

Here's a tried and true recipe for Gazpacho, adapted from The Silver Palate's original cookbook. It calls for the addition of (raw) eggs. It's your call ... we have the freshest eggs at the market! I have made this both with and without, and it's good either way.

All ingredients you can buy at the Long Beach Farmer's Market are *asterisked*.

The Moroccan Tomato Soup recipe is from July 19, 1009, NY Times - the Magazine. The recipe is from 1991, Barbara Kafka.

Bernadette will be making Gazpacho on the Plaza today at the market today - so come down for a sample of her version of this fabulous cold soup!

Gazpacho

adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook by Blue Heron Kitchen

Ingredients:

6 large ripe tomatoes*

2 sweet red peppers*

2 medium-size yellow onions*

2 large shallots*

2 large cucumbers* or 4 - 6 Kirby cucumbers*

1/2 c. red wine vinegar

1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 c. canned Sacramento tomato juice

3 eggs*, lightly beaten (optional)

pinch of hot sauce (I ♥ Sriracha!) or cayenne pepper

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 c. chopped fresh herbs of your choice - suggestions: cilantro*, parsley*, dill*

Procedure:

1. Wash and prepare vegetables. Core and coarsely chop tomatoes, saving the juice. Core, seed and coarsely chop pepers. Peel and coarsely chop onions and shallots. Peel, seed and coarsely chop cucumbers.

2. In a bowl, whisk vinegar, olive oil, reserved tomato juice, canned tomato juice, and if using, eggs.

3. In a blender or a food processor, fitted with a steel blade, purée the vegetables in small batches, adding tomato juice mixture, as needed, to keep blades from clogging. Do not purée completely! You want some crunch to this experience.

4. Stir in cayenne, salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped herbs. Cover and CHILL FOR AT LEAST 4 HOURS.

5. Correct seasoning and serve into chilled soup bowls or mugs. As garnish, chop up some cucumbers, peppers and other vegetables that are in the soup.

Yield: 8-10 portions

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Moroccan Tomato Soup

NY Times, Barbara Kafka

Ingredients:

5 medium cloves garlic*, smashed, peeled and minced

2 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika

1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin (truc: toast whole cumin seed until they're aromatic in a small cast iron pan, then grind them in a spice grinder. you won't believe the difference and the aroma will make your eyes roll up in your head. i learned this from my friend, Suvir Saran, the amazing chef and owner of dévi)

Large pinch of cayenne pepper (or use Sriracha!)

4 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 1/4 lbs. tomatoes*, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces

1/4 c. packed chopped cilantro* leaves plus additional for garnish

1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Kosher salt

4 stalks celery*, diced

Procedure:

1. In small saucepan, stir together garlic, paprika, cumin, cayenne (or Sriracha) and olive oil. Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Pass the tomatoes through a food mill fitted with a large disk. Stir in the cooked spice mixture, the cilantro, vinegar, lemon juice, 2 tsp. salt, celery and 2 Tbsp. water. Add more salt as desired.

3. Refrigerate until cold. Serve, garnished with cilantro leaves.

Serves 4.