Why does butter have to be so bad?

As I was cooking last night I realized that I tend to use butter pretty regularly. (Menu included mashed potatoes and corn on the cob -- each featuring a different compound butter.) It's hard to cook without it. Butter has so many excellent properties -- flavorful, malleable, great for caramelizing, finishing sauces, you name it. I like to use olive oil too, but nothing can really take the place of butter. I suppose this means I have to resign myself to a future involving either high cholesterol or less perfectly flavored (and fattened) foods.

Fete recap

I had wanted to post the full fete recap on Monday as quoted, so that the details would be fresh in my mind. As tends to happen, the week got away from me and here I am at home on a Friday, nursing the gaping holes where my wisdom teeth used to be. Apologies if you're of the squeamish persuasion...I'm only sharing this fact to let you know I'm on a soft food diet for the next day or so, which means my Chefty tales will (if all goes according to plan) involve things like swiss chard risotto, carrot soup, and (later today) poached eggs & grits.

But, back to the fete last Saturday. It was quite a feast. The food we had to work with was so fresh and delicious, you just can't beat summertime as the season for parties! I can't take credit for the menu--I was there to work and work (not to mention cavort) I did. Here are some shots of the fruits of our labor, taken by various partygoers.

First, the canapes. One is a crostini with goat cheese and a cherry Pinot Noir confit. The other is walnut crostini with dolce gorgonzola and blackberry honey.


The trio of chilled soups was a big hit. Cucumber wasabi...Radish buttermilk...Cantaloupe amaretto. Melon soup, when made with heavy cream and liqueur, is a beautiful thing. I loved the array of colors, the soups were festive and easy and also a great conversation piece.


I wasn't sure how these were going to turn out, these mini chicken and apple sausages. We grilled them and popped them into regular buns with a forkful of caramelized onions, some arugula, and a succulent grilled peach. I was pleasantly surprised with how the flavors came together. Smoky, sweet, pungent, with just enough of a peppery kick from the arugula. With these we also served some little lamb burgers with tahini and grilled radicchio -- quite yummy. Not surprising that those didn't make it to the photo shoot.


The real piece de resistance was the paella, made by our fantastic hostess right on the Weber. Very dramatic and worthy of an Iron Chef episode. Look at the size of that pan--you could sled down a hill in that thing.

And last but not least, the cake, also made by our hostess and also delicious. This is a delectable mascarpone frosting, a nice match for the lemon curd in between the cake layers.

So there you have it! I've left out the picture of the great cocktail we made with cucumbers and vodka, but I'm including the recipe for you here. This is of course great for a party but would probably be just as happy hanging out in your fridge for you to sip on whenever you feel like it.

The Cuke
New York Times Dining section Summer Cocktail 2006
submitted by reader Adam Frank

Makes 6 servings.

6 limes, rinsed
1 cup packed mint leaves, no stems, plus 6 sprigs for garnish
3 medium cucumbers, unwaxed (or 1 1/2-2 English cucumbers)
1/2 cup superfine sugar (or simple syrup if you've got it)
2 cups vodka or gin
Sparkling water

1. Thinly slice 3 limes and place in a pitcher. Juice the rest and add juice to pitcher. Add mint leaves. Slice 2 cucumbers and add, then add sugar. Muddle ingredients. Add vodka or gin. Place in refrigerator to steep for 30 minutes or longer.

2. Peel remaining cucumber and cut length-wise into 6 spears.

3. Fill highball or other large glasses witih ice. Strain mixture from pitcher into each. Top with a splash of sparkling water, garnish each glass with a sprig of mint and a cucumber spear, and serve.

Cheftigued.

It's been a long, fun, food-filled weekend. I am beat! I'll log in at some point tomorrow to record all the juicy details...highlights included cucumber cocktails, grilled peaches, and a trip to another farmers market that totally blows my neighborhood one out of the water.

Do I seriously have to go to work tomorrow?

I would be eminently more happy staying at home, daydreaming about farming, and cooking.

So much food, so little time.

Here's something to chew on: what do you do when you want to cook but have no one but yourself to feed? I need to figure out how to host willing diners. For a reasonable flat fee, people could just come over and eat whatever it is I'm playing with that day.

Sounds kind of like a restaurant. But at my house! And only sometimes! And for less money than a restaurant meal. I dunno. Clearly the mental faculties are slowing down over here, but I feel like I have a seed of an idea...

Melons, soup...melon soup?

Earlier this week I had a brief discussion with one of my readers (let's call him No. 2) about the merits of melon. No. 2 is of the mind that melon is gross, but he chokes it down anyway for the sake of good nutrition.* Now, I have not been a lifelong lover of melon--once upon a time it was one of the many foods that I didn't like--but I've come to appreciate its unique natural sweetness and juicy texture. Also, melon is darn pretty. I've been going to my local market on Sundays, where there's a great selection of varieties I've never tried, like orange-fleshed watermelon and Magic Pumpkin. Intriguing, no? This week I'm hitting the melon cart first so I don't get bogged down with other purchases and end up with no room to carry one of those sluggers.

Further to my title here, I think I've had melon soups before, but since my recall is poor on this point they can't have been too memorable. Ultimately I'd rather eat the melon by itself then take it in liquid form, but I can see how it might be a nice palate cleanser or part of a light summery dessert.

Savory soups are much more gratifying, I think. With fall coming on I'm looking forward to some good soup & stew projects. Earlier this week I made a tomato bread soup that came out pretty tasty (and was a nice complement to a grilled two-cheese sandwich), but it didn't quite suit the warm weather we're having. I added some banana and anaheim peppers along with beefsteak tomatoes, spicy garlic, and thyme. Next time I'll need to use some hotter peppers to give it a little kick. Also, the blending was kind of tedious -- hand-held immersion blender is now on my kitchen tools wish list.

Happy Friday kids. I'm back to the grindstone over here, but I'll be getting my Chefty on tomorrow. A friend is throwing a birthday fete which includes a fairly elaborate menu, so I've volunteered to lend a hand. There's nothing I love more than a day full of cooking.

*I always thought melon was low on the nutritional totem pole, but it turns out that cantaloupe (my favorite, No. 2's least) has got loads of good stuff going on, including antioxidants and nitric oxide, which helps to prevent heart attacks. So, it looks like you can have your bacon as long as you have your cantaloupe too.

Non sequiturs abound.

I had a Quizno's sub for dinner that was serviceable but is now sitting like a brick in my stomach. Hereby committing to fruit and veg for the rest of the month, with limited alcohol consumption.* A mini-detox, if you will, in preparation for a trip back to Massachusetts (birthplace of Chefty) which in order to be a fully satisfactory trip will have to include lobster as well as mocha chip ice cream from Pinecroft Dairy.

Speaking of Pinecroft, I just tried to find a link for y'all but they're not online. Fair enough--I will assume they are too busy making delicious ice cream to worry about a website. What I did find in that search was a curious little link from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette:

Gone But Not Forgotten

Hard-core Worcester natives are nothing if not nostalgic. Even if you're not from Worcester, I think you'll enjoy scrolling through this message board. It may be the second or (ok, Springfield?) third biggest city in New England, but when you come down to it, it's a place where everybody knows your name. For those readers hailing from the heart of the Commonwealth: don't miss the Spag's link and the call out to Cottage Donuts.

Alton Brown beckons. Gotta run.

Stay tuned tomorrow for thoughts on melons and the joys of homemade soup.

*This time, however, I'll not bore with you the details.

Patience is a virtue.

I'd say there's no greater fault to have in the kitchen than impatience. It's easy when you have a lot of things to cook to make hasty decisions and try to find shortcuts. These inevitably lead to frustration and compromised results.

Take for example the vegetable tart I made on Saturday. I used some frozen puff pastry and in my rush to get the thing in the oven, I filled the pastry while it was on my board and realized too late that I still had to get it on the baking sheet. That was a messy, frustrating affair. Did it come out OK? Sure, it was tasty if a little wonky-shaped. But as soon as I took it out of the oven I knew my impatience had cost me the satisfaction of seeing my original vision for the tart (complete with puckered edges and neat rows of roasted vegetables) come to fruition.

I should also mention another flaw in this tart was the tomatoes. I sliced them and put them in a low oven to dry out, so the tart wouldn't be mushy. However, I underestimated how long this would take--in fact, I didn't know how long it would take, because I'd never done it before and I didn't consult a reliable reference--so by the time I was ready to assemble the tart, my tomatoes were well on their way to sauce consistency.

There were other slip-ups throughout the afternoon, not worth mentioning here except that one slip-up seems always to lead to a whole series of them. Moral of the story: think about what you are doing. Mistakes can be good lessons (now I know I have something to learn about tomatoes and the heat-drying method), but--as with the pastry--they can also be stupid mistakes made in haste.

Onwards & upwards!

Food p*rn

Yes, this is another post about blueberries. I realize this may be getting a little old, but don't fret:
I'll be putting this ingredient on the back burner after today. (Though I still have roughly 6.5 of the 8 pounds I picked, so expect posts on various experiments from time to time.)

Since my kitchen has been something of a monoculture lately, I thought photoblogging my adventures with blueberries would spice things up a bit. It's been fun and I kind of like how my pics came out. Certainly these wouldn't make the cut at Gourmet--easily the grandest of the food pimps--but overall they tasted as good as they looked.

Here's where it all began. The bounty and beauty of U-Pick.





Big fluffy blueberry muffins.




A great recipe from 101 Cookbooks, which I actually didn't make until this very Saturday morning. I loved the whole grain pancake--it had a really good crumby texture and you could taste the nuttiness of the wheat flour. I expected them to be more dense than the traditional pancake but they were actually pretty airy. The next time I try these I think I might substitute a quarter of the flour with some coarse cornmeal and see what happens.

The blueberry maple syrup was a nice match for these. I cheated and used fake maple syrup ($10 for an 8 oz bottle of the real stuff! This is what I get for leaving New England). I added a few shots of the blueberry syrup I made earlier in the week and a heaping cup of blueberries. When it was all finished I added another handful of fresh berries (but frozen) and they plumped up nicely...as you can see:


Last but not least...lavender ice cream with blueberry maple syrup. The lavender flavor is subtle, but it's neat how you can smell it and taste it at the same time. Tangy fruits like blueberries and marionberries are a nice match with it.

I don't know how food photographers manage to photograph ice cream so well. They must work in freezing cold rooms! You can see that my little wannabe quenelles are melting quickly. I like the second picture because one of the berries slid down the ice cream just as I snapped it. Food in action!




And yes, to answer your question, I did have (most of my) pancakes and ice cream for breakfast. I'm a slave to my art.

PS--I know my counter looks less than spotless, but try as I might, I cannot get these old tiles to sparkle. Old apartment, old kitchen -- everything gets prepared on my cutting board.

Blueberry Cocktail Test #1: The Huck Finn

This submission came from a faithful reader in the Windy City. I've christened it the Huck Finn because it is adventurous, sweet, and would absolutely be the thing I'd want to drink were I rafting down a river.

The original recipe included Jack Daniels. I tried it with Jack, and then with bourbon. Both versions were delicious, though the one with bourbon was a tad sweeter.

My favorite element here was the basil. It added a really fresh, green note, with an underlying licorice-like sweetness that was the perfect complement to the whiskey and ginger ale.

Golf clap, all around!

Here's the recipe as I tested it.

Makes 2 drinks.

4 good size basil leaves, torn in pieces
Handful of fresh blueberries
Shot of blueberry syrup (recipe follows)
4 oz Jack Daniels or Jim Beam (your preference)
Ginger ale
Lemon slices, small basil leaves, fresh blueberries for garnish

1. Toss a good handful of ice into a shaker. Add basil leaves and blueberries and muddle hard for a minute or so until the ice starts to break up and the fruit is mushy.

2. Add blueberry syrup and whiskey or bourbon. Shake vigorously.

3. Pour over ice, fill glass with ginger ale, garnish with lemon, blueberries, and basil leaves.

Blueberry syrup (makes about 2 cups)

2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
Juice from one lemon
Lemon zest from 1/2 lemon
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup water

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and stir to combine. Bring to a roiling boil, then lower the heat to simmering and cook until the liquid loosely coats the back of a spoon. (The blueberries will burst and release pectin that, along with the sugar, will thicken the syrup. The longer you cook it, the thicker it will be. Since this is for drinks, I recommend keeping it on the loose side so it will mix easily).

Strain the syrup through a sieve and cool to room temperature, then pour into a squeeze bottle and refrigerate. Give it a good shake before using.

If you want a sweeter syrup, you can increase the sugar up to 1 1/2 cups and the water to 1 cup.

Postscript on cocktail contest

I am removing the deadline on the contest offer outlined below, for several reasons. First, I really didn't give y'all enough time to get to my blog, read all about it, and come up with a brilliant idea. Secondly, I've got gazillions of blueberries, enough to make cocktails through Christmas, easily. So feel free to send along drink ideas (alcoholic or non) whenever they might occur to you. Test kitchen is open 'round the clock. For now, I've got three very nice suggestions (two of which you can read about below) which I'll be mixing together this week. In preparation for the task before me, I've made some blueberry syrup (and have a blue-spattered stove to prove it). It's quite yum.

On the menu for Saturday morning...

Whole grain pancakes with blueberry maple syrup!

Thank you, 101 Cookbooks. :)

A glaring omission from my last post!

I can't believe I forgot to mention that some portion of my harvest will certainly need to find its way into a cocktail or two. Blueberry cosmopolitan... mojito...sloe gin fizz... shandy? The possibilities are endless.

Get your drinking caps on and come up with your dream blueberry beverage. I'll recipe-test all entries and provide sip-by-sip coverage, complete with photos! All entries due by Friday, August 4, 5:00pm PST. The winner gets...to be a winner, obviously, and will receive a dedicated Chefty post and the inaugural place in this blog's yet-to-be created Hall of Fame.

Why I heart U-Pick, and why U should 2.

This weekend I found myself in North Bend, Washington. It's not far from Seattle but it feels like it is. It sits in the shadow of a tall craggy mountain, which I think (but I'm not positive) is part of the foothills of the Cascades. Pretty. I was there on business of sorts, having made the decision to be a good corporate citizen and attend the company picnic. Tres blah, sayeth Chefty.

In the end, though, it turned out to be the right decision. On the way out there we saw signs for a local blueberry farm inviting all would-be U-pickers to head on over and fulfill their blueberry dreams for just $1.30 a pound.

OK, the signs didn't say that. But that's what the signs said to Chefty.

So. We put in our time at the picnic and...three beers, several half-eaten meals, and one ice-cream sandwich later, we found ourselves with bucket & coffee can in hand, making our way down the rows of blueberry bushes and plucking clusters of dark, plump berries at every turn.

U-Pick is the best!

And just how many blueberries did we pick?

The final haul came out to eight pounds. (Beams.)

I froze about 3/4 of the berries, figuring my indecisiveness around what to make would last long enough to jeopardize their shelf life.

My first effort with the remaining 1/4 resulted in a nice batch of Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins. They came out very big and fluffy, chock full of blueberries and just the right touch of sweetness. I was toying with the idea of a blueberry panna cotta, but that seems a bit froofy. I'd love to try my hand at blueberry jam. Pancakes and pies will also be on rotation for the rest of the year. But what I'd really like to do is come up with a good savory use. I may investigate a blueberry vinegar to use in salad dressings...maybe a sauce or chutney that could accompany fish, or perhaps pork. Inspired suggestions are welcome, don't hesitate to post them now.