at the farmers market: zucchini

There stands the glass

That will ease all my pain

That will settle my brain

It’s my first one to day

There stands the glass

That will hide all my tears

That will drown all my fears

Brother, I’m on my way.

“There Stands the Glass” by Webb Pierce

Some interesting zucchini recipes:

Zucchini Fritters from Simply Recipes

Quinoa and Grilled Zucchini from 101 Cookbooks

Italian Sausage and Zucchini Soup from Kalyn’s Kitchen

fried chicken

You want me broken

You want me dead

I’m livin’ rent-free

In the back of your head

Hey, chicken you’re all talk

Hey, chicken you’re all talk

“Hey Chicken” by Loose Fur

I didn’t eat a lot of fried chicken growing up, but I’ve had enough to know what I like. I remember that my mom had the phone number to the local pizza joint that whipped up beautiful buckets of greasy goodness memorized.  For whatever reason, this small feat of memorization always amazed me as a kid and it still does today (I have trouble remembering my own cell phone number).

This recipe uses a buttermilk marinade which is important because it creates a moister chicken and gives the coating a good base to stick to.  I used vegetable shortening for my recipe but if that scares you, you could replace it with any high smoke point oil that does not have a lot of flavor (I’m talkin’ to you peanut oil).

Like I said, I may not be a fried chicken guru but I know good chicken…this is good chicken.

Ingredients:

2 cups vegetable shortening

Buttermilk marinade

1 quart butter milk
1 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons Franks Red Hot Sauce
3-4 pound fryer chicken broken down into wings, thighs, and breasts

For flour coating

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

Directions:

1. Combine buttermilk and hot sauce
2. Salt chicken pieces and place in buttermilk, let marinate in refrigerator for at least 3 hours
3. Remove chicken from refrigerator and place flour mixture in a large dish
4. Melt the shortening in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat
5. Toss each chicken piece in the flour mixture
6. Once shortening has melted and reaches 350°F, add the chicken (light meat on the outside and skin side down)
7. Cover loosely with foil and cook for 12-15 minutes or dark brown
8. Discard foil, flip and cook for an additional 12-15 minutes (turn the heat down if the chicken appears to be browning too fast)
9. Season with salt and serve

pistachio crusted rack of lamb

They’re really rockin’ in Boston

In Pittsburgh, Pa.

Deep in the heart of Texas

And round the ‘Frisco Bay

All over St.Louis

And down in New Orleans

All the cats wanna dance with

Sweet Little Sixteen

“Sweet Little Sixteen” by Chuck Berry

I love lamb, my wife Elissa does not.  This recipe can be filed under “things to make when the wife is out of town”  due to the fact that she would rather starve or chew on an old hippie’s Birkenstock than eat lamb. If you like lamb, you will like this recipe.  This simple preparation really works, it produces an elegant looking dinner.

Ingredients:

One rack of lamb (a little over a pound), frenched
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
¼ cup fresh parsley
1 clove of garlic, chopped
½ cup Pistachios
¼ cup bread crumbs

Directions:

1.    In the food processor, combine parsley, pistachios, garlic and bread crumbs, blend until smooth
2.    Brush mustard on lamb, press pistachio mix into the mustard
3.    Place lamb in fridge for at least 30 minutes
4.    Preheat the oven to 400° F
5.    Lightly oil an oven proof skillet, place rack in oven for 20-25 minutes
6.    Let lamb rest for 10 minutes before slicing
7.    Slice into double bone cuts

skillet baked ziti

Fruitcakes in the kitchen

Fruitcakes on the street

Struttin’ naked through the crosswalk

In the middle of the week

Half-baked cookies in the oven

Half-baked people on the bus

There’s a little bit of fruitcake left in everyone of us

“Fruitcakes” by Jimmy Buffett

I love PBS cooking shows! One of my favorites in the Saturday morning line up is America’s Test Kitchen.  Although the dialogue can sometimes have that endearing nails on a chalk board feel, the recipes are always solid.  This unique recipe for ziti does not precook the noodles and is all done in a skillet. This is a great midweek recipe- simple, filling, and delicious.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt, divided
3 cups water
12 ounces ziti pasta
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup fresh basil leaf, minced
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 475 F
2. Combine oil, garlic, pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in 12-inch oven safe nonstick skillet and saute over medium-high heat for 1 minute
3. Add tomatoes, water, ziti and 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. Cover and cook, stirring often maintaining a simmer, for about 15 minutes or until pasta is tender (I used tinfoil because I didn’t have a lid for my cast iron skillet)
5. Stir in cream, Parmesan, and basil, season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over ziti. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until cheese has melted and browned, about 10 minutes.

This recipe comes straight from America’s Test Kitchen.

fried green tomatoes

Everybody said she needed to move on

That he was all but lost, so deep was his coma

When he finally came to the girl he loved was long gone

She’d married a banker and gone to Oklahoma

He bought a little land with the money from the settlement

And even bought the truck that had hit him that day

He touched the part where the metal was bent

And if you were there you wouldn’t hear him say

“I Remember Me” by The Silver Jews

It’s  not just a movie anymore… If I could start everyday with this dish for the rest of my life, I would be a very happy man.  I put the tomato on an English muffin with a poached egg and some oven-baked speck.  I am currently in Wisconsin visiting relatives.  You will be happy to know that this trip has given me some awesome stuff to blog about!

Ingredients:

4 green tomatoes, cut into ½ inch slices
1 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt for seasoning
Vegetable oil for frying, about ¼ inch in depth

Directions:

1.    Heat oil in over high heat in a cast iron skillet
2.    Beat egg, milk, and hot sauce together well.
3.    Mix flour, cornmeal, cayenne, and black pepper.
4.    Dip slices in egg then flour mixture.
5.    Brown tomatoes on both sides and drain on paper towel
6.    Season immediately with salt and serve

at the farmers market: green tomatoes

Another rainy day, we’re trapped inside with a train set

Chocolate on the boil, steamy windows when we met

You’ve got the attic window looking out on the cathedral

And on a Sunday evening bells ring out in the dusk

“Another Sunny Day” by Belle and Sebastian

Some interesting green tomato recipes:

Green tomato relish

Fried green tomato BLT

Green tomato pizza

now for something completely different

If you follow my blog, I rarely stray away from the topic of food.  Tonight’s post is a little pat on the back for the students and staff at Live Oak High School.  Thursday was the end of the school year, so I thought this would be a good way to honor everyone at my school and all of the hardworking educators around the country that may be finishing up their year.

The school that I teach at is a continuation high school. For those of you that are not privy, continuation schools are smaller high schools that are created to help students that are deficient in credits.  Students come to Live Oak for a variety of reasons: truancy, suspensions, health problems, etc.  This post is also to show the naysayers that “those kids” at “that school” are very intelligent, creative, wonderful, young adults.

I have a link to a live radio broadcast the KPFA, a progressive radio station in Berkeley, did at Live Oak a couple of weeks ago.  The producer graduated from Live Oak many years back.  As a way to say thanks, he thought this radio show would be cool.  He was right…the radio show, which was hosted by students, sounded awesome.  Not only did students host the show, they also did commentaries, performed music, and were interviewed themselves. Oh yeah, I was interviewed too (the nerdy sounding dude about twenty minutes into the program). Now for a couple of months off to recharge my batteries and then back to the grind!

cornish hen with artichoke and olive dressing

And lay me down on birds of paradise

It’s pretty womanly in here!

Roses noting every move

Nothing goes on except what should

A vast legacy of good

And I don’t know if I can uphold it on my own

I don’t know if I can uphold it on my own

I don’t know if I’m to be trusted

In our room alone

A man needs a woman or a man

To be a man

A man needs a woman or a man

To be a man

“A Man Needs A Woman Or A Man To Be A Man” by Bill Callahan

Props to Arjun for inspiring this dish.  He had Elissa and I over recently and introduced us to the roasted chicken on top of stale bread method that he blogged about. Arjun used the crispy chicken fat infused bread as croutons in a salad and served it with a soft cheese that melted with the warm croutons…holy crap it was awesome! For this recipe, I went with the same concept but used the bread as a dressing to serve alongside the birds instead of as croutons in a salad. Either way, you can pretty much forget about the chicken because the bread is the star of the show.

Our friends at Beetses have also done the bird and bread thing inspired by Zuni Cafe…

Side note: after editing the photo for this post, I realize that the butt end of a bird is not that sexy…

Serves four

Ingredients:

2 Cornish Game Hens
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon plus ½ teaspoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
4 cups of stale crusty bread cut into ½ inch cubes
1/4 cup of assorted Greek olives, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup Gouda cheese, shredded
2/3 cup canned artichokes, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 350° F
2.    In a small bowl, combine butter, Dijon, and thyme
3.    Place 1 tablespoon of the butter mixture underneath the skin of each of the birds and the rest on the outside of the birds
4.    Season the cavity and outside of the birds with salt and pepper
5.    In a medium bowl, combine bread, olives, artichokes, cheese, thyme, and a pinch of pepper
6.    Lightly grease a cast iron skillet with olive oil
7.    Place the bread mixture in the bottom of the skillet
8.    Place the Cornish hens on top of the bread mixture
9.    Cook the birds for 1 hour or until they reach 160° F in the thickest part of the thigh

pizza on the grill: caramelized leek, potato and speck pizza with roasted garlic

Cool of a temperate breeze from dark skies to wet grass

We fell in a field it seems now a thousand summers passed

When our kite lines first crossed

We tied them into knots

And to finally fly apart

We had to cut them off.

“Pink Bullets” by The Shins

This is not a ground breaking idea, you can find stuff all over the internet on the art of grilled pizza. I will be the first to admit that I am no pro with the process, although I am relatively happy with my results.  While I would have liked a crispier crust, I loved the combination of ingredients, they worked together better than the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.  If you pay attention to my recipes, you will notice I use smoked paprika a lot, well…that’s because it’s pretty much awesome.  The smoked paprika really goes well with the potatoes, adding a good depth of flavor.  I am anxious to continue my pizza endeavors, I have read that bricks work really well, anyone else have good ideas to create a really hot pizza cooking apparatus?

What the speck?

Ingredients:

Weber grill
Charcoal chimney
Charcoal
Pizza stone
Pizza peel
Pizza dough
1 oz. speck, cut into 2 inch squares
6 oz. shredded cheese (I used Parmesan, Asiago, and Fontina)
4 small waxy potatoes
Smoked paprika
Olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
One large leek, sliced in half lengthwise and then cut into ½ inch thick half moons, soaked in cold water to remove sediment
2 heads of roasted garlic (there will be a future post on this topic)

Directions:

1.    Place the potatoes in a medium pot covered with heavily salted water
2.    Cover and cook on high heat until a fork can be easily inserted and removed about 15 minutes (do not over cook unless you want mashed potato pizza)
3.    Slice the potatoes about ¼ inch thick, season with smoked paprika, salt, pepper, and drizzle with olive oil
4.    Over medium heat, sauté the leeks in butter and olive oil (season with salt and pepper) until just starting to turn brown about 10 minutes, set aside
5.    Prepare grill by lighting a full chimney of charcoal waiting for the coals to turn just gray
6.    Place charcoal in the grill and put the grate on the grill
7.    Place pizza stone on top of grate and cover, let sit for about 30 minutes
8.    Meanwhile, assemble the pizza, roll out the dough to your desired thickness
9.    Place enough cornmeal on the peel to ensure dough won’t stick, and place rolled out dough onto the peel
10.    Smear garlic on the dough, place cheese on top of garlic
11.    Place leeks and potatoes on top of the cheese
12.    Place the speck on top of the leeks and potatoes
13.    Preheat the broiler on your oven
14.    Cook the pizza on the stone should take about 3-4 minutes
15.    Broil the top of the pizza in the oven if necessary for about 2 minutes

More information on grilling pizza:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/grilled-pizza-recipe.html

http://pizzatherapy.com/grilling.htm

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Pizza-Margherita-108167

blueberry pancakes

Did you hear about the midnight rambler

Everybody got to go

Did you hear about the midnight rambler

The one that shut the kitchen door

He don’t give a hoot of warning

Wrapped up in a black cat cloak

He don’t go in the light of the morning

He split the time the cock’rel crows

“Midnight Rambler” by The Rolling Stones

If you are going to buy blueberries, you have to make blueberry pancakes.  Make your own pancake mix, it is worth the extra five minutes.  Making your own mix will ensure that you produce light, fluffy, beautiful cakes.  Also, make sure to not over mix your batter, over-mixing will make them dense and similar to bisquick cakes.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, separated
3  cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons melted butter, cooled slightly
Butter for greasing the griddle
2 cups of blueberries

Directions:

1.    Heat griddle to 350° F
2.    In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients, whisk with a fork to mix
3.    In a small bowl, whisk the egg whites and butter milk
4.    In another small bowl, whisk the egg yolks and melted butter
5.    Add the buttermilk mixture with the egg yolk mixture, mix until combined
6.    Pour the buttermilk/egg mixture on top of the dry mix
7.    Whisk the ingredients until the batter just comes together, LUMPS ARE OKAY!
8.    Lightly grease the griddle with butter
9.    Ladle batter onto the griddle, place blueberries on top
10.    Wait for bubbles to form on the edges of the pancake, then flip
11.    Cook for about 3 more minutes
12.    Serve immediately or keep warm by covering the pancakes with a towel and placing them in the oven set to it’s lowest temperature