Pie dough

 If you missed it, I was on the cover of Cville the other week. Here’s the article.  It’s me, Craig, Melissa, Angelo and some French guy, forgot his name. 

“What’s that, hon?  Huh?”

“Vincent who?”

“Oh, yeah, silly me. His name is Vincent.   

Sorry. All this fame has kept so busy I’ve been missing my intravenous fish oil treatments, which I do regularly being that it’s good for my, uh, um, ah man, on the tip of my tongue ………Memory!

Yep, last week was a lot fun.  That ticker tape parade down Preston Ave was something, even if it did get a little boggy down by Bodos. And to think they made those floats entirely out of marzipan, I tell you, I was impressed. Then the whole talk show tour (a little tiresome I must say, except Kimmel, he’s a trip).

So back to work, though of course, nothing will ever be the same.  Try getting through Trader Joe’s unscathed being such a celebrity chef.  Can you believe they have already run out of pumpkin pie chai tea mix? I mean, we’re four weeks out from T-day!  What the hell am I supposed to drink until then?

Can’t answer that but I tell you what I’m cooking again now that fall is here, Chicken Pot Pie.  Since this procedure is almost as long as the last sentence from Ulysses, I’m breaking into two parts.  Part one, the dough.

Let’s get baking.

 That's three cups of flour, eight ounces of butter.  Throw a teaspoon of salt into the flour.  Cut the butter into chunks, add the the four, and begin to work the two together.

 After a few minutes you should have something that resembles course sand. 

 Make a little well in the center of this mix, then add 3/4 cup of cold water

There's the water in the well ( get it?) 

Take a fork and mix the water in.

Once the water is incorporated, dump the mix onto a floured surface.  The flour is important here boys and girls.  We are not going to knead the dough, rather we are going to smear it.   Like this

 and this

Do this four to five times.  You should have something that looks like this

Wrap the dough and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before rolling.  You can also freeze some or all of it for another time.  

Stay tuned for part two, using this dough for chicken pot pie.

Until then, Salute!

Bouillabaisse

If you are married like myself, a man, you must just love when the wife throws out something near and dear to your heart.

Now I’m talking about the brown sweater (circa 1986), the well-worn Miami hat ball cap, or even that T-shirt with 17 holes and counting that is just approaching it's sweet spot of comfort.  No, I’m talking Fume. That’s (Phoo-may) for those not versed in French.  

So I had this Fume (Phoo-may) in the freezer for some time now, I don’t know, 3 months maybe 6, certainly no more  given our power outage in March ( (read here)  

“What are doing?”

“Throwing this out”

“No!? That’s my Fume (Phoo-may).”

“It’s gross, and unwrapped.”

True, it was unwrapped. A solid piece of liquid, albeit one with a lot of flavor, sitting in a strange container with ice crystals. Last time I checked we didn't saran wrap the ice cubes either. 

“It’s Fume(Phoo-may), it’s good, I plan to use it soon.”

So was our banter a week before I decided to make a bouillabaisse for dinner.  And then one morning, it (the Fume (Phooo-maay) not me) was gone.

 Needless to say, the Bouillabaisse went on as planned, it just wasn't as good.  It needed the Fume (phoooo-maaaay).  So yesterday, with my wife securely holed away in an artist residency north of Chicago,  I made another one and this time I had the goods.

That's my buddy. He's seen better times.  This is the basis for Fume(Phoooo-maaaaay), fish bones head to tail.  Also we'll need some celery, leeks, parsley, and fennel. 

Notice I use the "ends" of these products.  Save the best for the Bouillabaisse, but utilize the trimmings for the Fume(Phooooooo-maaaaaaay).  Add these to the pot with half a lemon and some fresh thyme, cover with water and simmer for 30 minutes

Now strain the Fume(Phoooooo-maaaaaaay) and discard the solids.  Set aside and hide it from your better half. 

Obviously, this could be done before and you could refrigerate for 3 days or in my case, freeze for five months minus 6 hours before I intended to use it.  I'm continuing on thank you. God forbid any ice crystals are to form.

Let's get on with the Bouillabaisse.  Assemble this cast of characters.

That's a helluva cup of fennel, one red pepper diced, cup of celery and leeks, and 3 cloves of pasted garlic.  Start sweating these guys in your saucepan. Meanwhile, dice a tomato, slice some red potatoes, and (here is my twist ) a sweet potato.  I love sweet potato in fish stew, it's the West Virginian coming out.

Let's add the tomatoes and both potatoes and cook just until the are knife tender

The rest of the gang should be nearby.  Make sure the clams and mussels have been cleaned and any of those guys that are open, discard. It means they're dead and not worth cooking

and the bass filets cut ( any light fish will do here )

Add the clams first as they take the longest to cook. Stir the pot and when you see the first clam open, add the mussels, shrimp and finally the fish

And the parsley

Stir the pot to insure even cooking.  Just minutes away from heaven here folks.  Once the mussels open and the shrimp and fish are cooked, remove from heat.  Toast some bread, grab some aoili and enjoy!!

and freeze any extra Fume (Phoooooooooooo-maaaaaaaaaay) you might left over.

Rare Seared Tuna

I have a laundry list of first world problems to unload.

     the lap pool has multiple leaks, many patches, more leaks, no good. I do however, posses the largest  terrarium this side of the Blue Ridge
     my Thermadore Range is out, not great for baking
     the land line phone ( yeah we have one ) is fried in the old part of the house
     my computer is still groggie from the roundhouse a virus hit it with last week
     direct TV (they blow) is down for fourteen days, ( that's two weeks no football/breaking bad)
     and the plastic shell of my otter box is ripped

How do I cope? For starters. I've formed my own group therapy BAMA ( Bitch and Moan Anonymous), plus I've taken up Sloga ( a kind combination of yoga and sleep, actually, it's a lot of sleeping) and I have to say it's helping me.

So, I take what lemons life tosses towards me now and cook stove top. Thankfully, the exhaust fan works.

 Folks, I'm going to show you how easy it is to cook a beautiful piece of rare seared Tuna.  However, you must have a large cast iron skillet, if you don't, then scroll through some of the other blog entries, I don't know, bake some scones or something ( You can, I can't, remember? ).  It must be cooked on a white hot cast iron skillet like this


.

Looks like the milky way.

Maybe, but this galaxy is orbiting at about 600 degrees and there is not another pan in your cupboard that can hold that kind of  heat.  It takes about 30 minutes on high  to get to this point so turn it on and get busy preparing the rest of the meal.

I did this. A little onion and garlic, sweated and then  add tomato, mushroom and haricot verts (pre blanched).

Back to the Tuna.  This is the second most important step, seasoning.  Rub some oil (Canola or Peanut, no olive) on the flesh then shower with salt and fresh ground pepper.

See that?  No pinching here, if you want yours to taste like mine then you need to make it rain with the seasoning.  Also, do this right before you intend to cook it.  Don't season and then go shoot off a couple emails..  Salt draws moisture and moisture is bad for searing.  Now slap those babies on the skillet.

Oh yeah, your exhaust fan needs to be on high right now.  If you don't have one, then open some windows and disengage the smoke detectors because it's about to get smoky.

You should hear a smack as the tuna hits that heat, and if it whistles a bit, you know it's hot.  Let them sear about 30 seconds or so, then flip

See the sear and just how little of the tuna we've actually cooked? That's what we're looking for.  Another 30 seconds or so and pull them out.  The rest of your dinner should be ready because we want to eat these guys right now.  With a sharp knife, slice the tuna

Perfect.  Lay this beauty on top of whatever else you cooked and we're talking first class cuisine.

Salute!!

Advertisement 5

I must walk around looking like a guy who knows where he’s going.  I say this because I always get asked directions. It’s as if I put out a vibe “Lost? I can help.”

So it came as little surprise when a white van slowed next to me as I walked towards the mall towards Bizou. The driver, thick headed with a shneck ( big shoulders, no neck) the size of a wheel barrow tire sporting a heart shaped tattoo on this shneck with the name Tina bannered across it asked me where the closest lingerie store was. 

As I tried to shake the image of a half naked Tina who would be with such an animal  from my noggin, I heard the side door wahrroosh open as I was thrown into the back. Seconds later I am pinned to the floor board with a rolling pin pressed across my throat.

“Sandwiches eh?  Very cute says a second thug.  You act like you represent Bodos and not the Space.”

“Um, technically, Bodos does Bagels, and I was simply demonstrating a Panini s…….”

“Shaddupt!!  Boss is not happy and you better get back to promoting the Space Downtown. You got that?  Blog the Space, or else.”

“Isn't that my rolling pin you have across my throat?”

“Shaddupt!! or else it goes upside your head next time!”

 Goons.

 They tossed me out right in front the Space, like a Sunday morning paper. I dusted myself off, knowing full well I would have to go buy another rolling pin, and began this entry, just to keep the brass happy.

 So happy we were last Sunday doing a fundraiser for the Local Food Hub.  I can't think of a better group of folks. Simply put, they gather goods from all the local farmers in the area, and act as the distributor to restaurants and such throughout the area.  What a niche they are filling for our town, I can't say enough about them.  

 So here was the deal.  They give us product, we create. Perfect marriage. 

 They give us stone ground grits from Woodsons Mill and some local Shiitakes, we did this 

Those bits were juicy.  They give us Kale, fresh black-eyed peas and sausage from the Rock Barn, we did this 

They give us figs and berkshire bacon, we add Caramount Boursin 

They gave us quail eggs and Serrano Ham, we did "Ham and eggs". 

They gave us Fresh Pork Belly (again from the Rock Barn) and Macintosh Apples ( Good night they were tasty) and we did this

They gave us red and yellow beets, we made Sushi

Are you starting to get the picture(s).  Let us go, and we create beautiful food.  This was such a great event at the Space Downtown.  There were many others platters I didn't get pictures of:   The Caramount Cheese Board ( Gail is a rock star), a baked goat's cheese station with crostinis and organic strawberries.   A salad of local asian pears, cherry tomatoes, watercress, sesame, and olive oil ( show stopper!), and  from the feedback we get

I think we are on to something.

Salute!!

Panini

Couple years ago I'm hulled up in a ski condo and the only thing between me and finishing my Black Bean Chile was this thing

I mention this because the other day someone asked me what my favorite home kitchen gadget was.  While I took a few minutes to ponder the question, that thing pictured above is the gadget most likely to meet the same fate as the fax machine in Office Space.  Invented in the latter part of the Hoover administration, it ranks a close second to the worst calamity of his term.  No wonder he wasn't re-elected.

Needless to say, it was no small task for me to open a couple cans of beans.  It makes no sense. There's the magnate thing, and the little catch thing, and I'm cussing and the thing is humming and nothing is getting opened.  Uggh!

I will tell you who is climbing on Santa's good list, it's this guy.

The Panini maker.  This blog is less about cooking and more of assemblage. The fact I ate this sandwich 3 lunches in a row should tell you something, so I will share it with you.  First, have these condiments around.

Top to bottom we have Dijon Mustard, Tapenade, and Sliced Dill Pickles.  Yes, I make my own Tapenade at work, this is lunch at home folks.  Next, you'll need a Ciabatta Roll, sliced turkey, salami, and some purple basil ( green works, too. As does Arugula or even Kale).

Then, coat one side with mustard, the other with tapenade

Pickles on the mustard, Salami on the pickles, turkey on the tapenade

Basil in the middle ( we want it to get the least heat )

Put these together and place on the Panini Press

Close the lid, locate your electric can opener ( if you have one ), take it outside and bludgeon it with the dull side of an ax ( I really don't like them )  and in about five minutes you are in business.

Enjoy!

Black-eyed Peas

The way I see it, either you are an Apple or a PC person. I, unfortunately, seem to be the latter.  That explains why I am a day late and now a couple hundred bucks short ( nasty virus, I'll spare you the details ). So this blog was supposed to launch yesterday, September 10 commemorating a rather special day.

You see, twenty five years ago on that day, my partner, Vincent began his career in Charlottesville at the Galarie Restaurant.  For those of you not around ( or alive ) at that time, it's the bombed out looking structure on the corner of 250 and 240 as you head towards Crozet.  I too, began work the same day at the Silver Thatch Inn just north of town.

We wouldn't meet until the next April, when I moved across town to the Galarie and, well, the rest is a bit of history.  We had planned on doing a Pop Up dinner to celebrate the day, but as I mentioned a a few weeks ago, the ABC isn't really thrilled with the idea.  Oh the horrors! We do have a pretty cool event happening this Sunday. It's a fund raiser for the Local Food Hub.   Basically, they are giving us a ton of raw ingredients including meats, vegetable, quail eggs and grains and we turn them into a series of small apps.

We'll be doing something with black-eyed peas, what at this moment I do not know. I did take the liberty to cook a handful last night, so I thought I share a recipe with you.  Most of you recognize them dried, but here they are fresh.

Gorgeous aren't they.  First we need to shell them.  Just split them in half with your fingers, and peel back one side.

See the green color, those are nice and fresh.  Once you have shelled them, bring a pot of salted water to boil.  We are going to blanch them for 30-40 seconds.

They should still have a bite to them, don't overcook them.  Drain and set aside.

Now, in keeping with the season, I've got three types of tomatoes, basil, and eggplant, all from the garden.  Also a little chopped shallots and garlic.

This couldn't be simpler.  Sweat the garlic and shallots in olive oil.  Then add the eggplant and let it brown slightly.  Finally, add the chopped tomatoes and let them give up some liquid, then the basil and finally the peas.

Give the pan a shake or two

This by itself is a nice light dinner.  I ended up topping mine with a seared piece of Grouper ( not pictured)

Enjoy!!