Giving Thanks

Well the Thanksgiving turkey put me into a tryptophan-induced stupor and I never got around to writing about what I am thankful for. But, it's never too late! Sometimes it can be hard to be thankful when you haven't seen the sun in days and you've had the same headache since yesterday and nothing in the world sounds appetizing (except hot chocolate).

I laughed really hard at this "article" I read today: "10 Things 90s Kids Will Have to Explain to Their Children". Granted, I am an 80s baby, who grew up in the 90s, and I think most of these references would be most understood by those older than me than younger. In any case, I am thankful to have had such a normal childhood that I can look back at and laugh. No Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber. Just romantic fantasies of boys throwing rocks at our windows and tri-fold notebooks covered in rainbow polar bears.

I'm thankful for my family for giving me this childhood and caring about me enough to make it easy for me to come home for the holidays. They are the most important thing to me, especially as I confront adulthood one day at a time. I think about how little I have achieved for myself at this age, and how many thousands of dollars in student loans I have, and I'm thankful that if things don't go "according to plan" at least I won't have to do it alone!

Speaking of those student loans...did I mention that every penny was worth it? I'll have to keep that in mind when I'm cursing myself and the 90% of my paycheck that I'll be paying back to the lovely government. I'm thankful for my education which molded my mind and gave me the ability to reason. I was lucky enough to have a group of friends who were all interested in different things but unfailingly generous, cultured, and intelligent. They taught me so much. I also got to make music with some of the best. The night before Thanksgiving, a promotional video for the symphonic wind ensemble's new CD "rising," which we recorded in February, hit the internet.



I've never been so proud of my accomplishments with this group or in general. I remember the hard work, but also so many good memories.

Perhaps one of the best things to come out of my time at Northwestern was meeting Jacob. He challenges me and teaches me so much about music. He lets me know when I'm being insecure and never fails to cheer me up. Without him, I would not be the musician I am. Without him, I would have little interest in cooking except to feed myself (i.e. the same three pasta dishes in constant rotation). Our very first conversation was even about food. I told him I make a mean chicken pot pie! The rest was history.

These are the big ones! Better late than never! Enjoy your long-awaited Christmas music until I regain my appetite.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Every year around Halloween I say something crotchety about how stores start decorating or playing Christmas music too early. It's not because I want to suck away your joy. It's because I don't want us to forget the best holiday of the year: Thanksgiving!

Of course I would like a holiday that's celebrated through food, but what's best about Thanksgiving is its spirit and universality. Thanks-giving is something that we can all and should all do. It's not limited to a certain religion or ethnicity, but instead is a holiday which unifies our country. And we celebrate by cooking and eating with our loved ones! What could be better?

The last time I had Thanksgiving dinner at home was in 2006 so I am very happy to resume the Thanksgiving traditions I left behind. Today I helped my mom make two pies - chocolate pecan and pumpkin - and made red pepper bisque, which will be the first course tomorrow. Later tonight we will be peeling chestnuts for stuffing (they're roasting in the oven at the moment).

It's a little late to do your Thanksgiving grocery shopping, but it'd be a missed opportunity if I didn't leave you with a little side dish idea. This isn't part of my traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but it would go great with turkey and mashed potatoes. Roasted brussels sprouts
with bacon. I've actually seen a similar dish pop up all over the place, which is funny because as I recall, brussels sprouts were THE vegetable kids love to hate. My parents never made me eat them, except for once when I might have even asked for them because I was curious.

Ingredients:
3 slices of bacon, cut crosswise into strips
Brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
1 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper
sage (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400.

In an oven proof pan, brown the bacon over medium heat until crispy and set aside. Drain all but 2 Tbsp of the bacon grease (pretty much enough to coat the bottom of the pan). Add the butter and melt, add the sprouts and sage if using and sautee until brown on one side. Season with salt and pepper, stir, and transfer to the oven for 20 minutes or until tender and brown.

Toss with the bacon bits.

Enjoy your holiday! I will be checking in tomorrow with what I am thankful for.

Pepper Bisque Revisited

I literally just want to sit and write all day today. I have to review a concert for a class and I just finished it. I thought I'd get a head start on the next assignment - a review of a pop music CD - because I think that'll come pretty easily to me. But of course, no matter what, I still have moments of procrastination which I fill with blogging! Yayyy!

A while ago I posted a recipe for red pepper bisque and said it could be cool to make red and yellow and serve them together. Well...I finally did it! I just divided the recipe in half and kept everything separate until it was time to put the soup in bowls.

Instead of red pepper flakes, I used dried aji amarillo to spice up the yellow pepper soup. You might have noticed that this is the same pepper I made into a vinaigrette for the asparagus in the surf & turf post. That's because Stephanie Izard swears by it in her cook book and uses it in almost everything. These dried chiles really aren't that spicy. They just add a hint of heat in the back of your throat.

It's funny, because these chiles are actually the cause of the only qualm I have with Girl in the Kitchen, which is that she correctly translates aji amarillo to mean "yellow pepper" but then refers to them from then on as "aji chiles" which is like saying "pepper pepper." "Amarillo" means yellow, not "aji." Oh well! Editorial mistake.

Faddy Foods : Food Trucks

Cleveland is growing on me! After visiting the West Side Market and being thoroughly overwhelmed by it, I decided Cleveland has some promise. I am thankful for my car, although I would rather live in a place where I didn't need to drive (ahem, Chicago). In my opinion the Chicago train system is far better than the buses here. Although I have never yet been late to class because my bus showed up late, I still find buses a more stressful means of transportation. And while I know there are big draw-backs to the El, I always lived near a train stop, and I was never in a hurry.

Thanks to an email from CIM's associate dean this week, I found out that Cleveland has food trucks and they come to University Circle every now and then. You'd think that food on wheels would make us lazy. But I like to think of it as food that meets you halfway. You have to find out where the truck will be and track it down, but it also comes to you. And because it's not around all the time, you don't get stuck in routines eating the same lunch everyday.

On Tuesday I had a some Massamun curry from Umami Moto and a delicious Thai peanut/BBQ pulled pork sandwich from StrEat on Wednesday. I ate my lunch at "the lagoon," which is probably one of the prettier parts of Cleveland. I think they call it a lagoon because it's somewhere in between pond and swamp, with lots of ducks and geese. There's even a very ugly duck.

These food trucks provide affordable, fast, quality food to the University Circle area. I would happily replace my lunch latte with real food if it's worth it. I hope they keep coming back!

Surf & Turf Anniversary-Style

Well, it's been three years since Jacob asked me to dinner for the first time. I remember I was very sick with the usual hacking cough and I think even a fever! But I had been admiring that cute tuba player from a distance for so long that I knew I had to go. Good thing I did!

Jacob came to Cleveland on Thursday night and I had an exciting weekend planned for us. I had braised pork belly ready for dinner on Thursday and tickets to the Cleveland Orchestra on Friday night. I made fresh pasta and the homemade meatballs I had frozen for dinner on Friday.

Jacob got me a cast-iron skillet for an anniversary present, which is awesome because previously, the only pan I had that could go from stove to oven was my Dutch oven. He also brought me a bottle of Allagash Curieux and a bottle of Black Currant Ephemere, which I thought was only available in Canada! The black currant colored the beer pink and made me think of sparkling grapefruit juice. It was super fruity, but with a "beer-y" finish, unlike its apple counterpart which is more floral.

On Saturday morning, we went to Cleveland's West Side Market, to look for dinner ideas. We bought some asparagus, scallops, and a steak and proceeded to surf and turf it up! Jacob had been wanting scallops ever since I showed him a recipe for seared scallops with goat cheese-yukon puree from Girl in the Kitchen. He's been lusting after goat cheese purees after having his favorite steak at Carnivale in Chicago which comes with malanga root-goat cheese puree. I've never seen a malanga root in its original form, but the puree was heavenly.

We spent Saturday afternoon in the kitchen, drinking our Ephemere, watching TV, and making dinner. The scallop technique was lifted from Girl in the Kitchen, but everything got a little tweak.

IZARD-INSPIRED GOAT CHEESE-YUKON PUREE
Ingredients:
1 lb. yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup half & half
3 oz. soft goat cheese
salt and pepper

Directions:
Bring the chicken stock, potatoes, and 1 tsp salt to a boil and simmer, covered for 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over low heat, combine goat cheese and half & half, stirring occasionally until goat cheese has melted into the cream.

Drain potatoes and return to pan. Mash immediately, adding the goat cheese mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside and keep warm.

THE TURF

I'm kind of a meat n00b when it comes to cooking. I'm hoping that this new cast-iron skillet will allow me to practice my meat cooking skills so I can hypothetically audition for Masterchef some time and not make a fool out of myself!

Ingredients:
1 Delmonico steak, about 1-1 1/2 in. thick
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:
Season steak with salt and pepper. Marinate steak in soy sauce and garlic, covered in the fridge for about 2 hours. Let steak come to room temperature before cooking.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In oven-safe skillet, heat the olive oil on high heat. Dry the steak with a paper towel (re-season if necessary), and sear in the skillet for 2-3 minutes. Flip and immediately transfer to the oven. Let cook for 6-7 minutes and remove. Let meat sit (it will continue cooking in the pan, so remove it or leave it as you see fit based on its doneness).

ASPARAGUS IN AJI AMARILLO VINAIGRETTE
Ingredients:
1 dried aji amarillo chile
1 Tbsp champagne vinegar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb. asparagus trimmed and sliced diagonally into 1 inch pieces
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Remove stem and seeds from chile and reconstitute in a bowl of very hot water for 5 minutes. In a food processor combine chile, vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use (this can be done well in advance)

Heat olive oil in a saute pan and saute asparagus for 5-7 minutes, until just tender. Season with salt and pepper. Toss in a bowl with enough vinaigrette to coat and set aside, reseason if necessary.

THE SURF
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
6 sea scallops
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp butter

Directions:
I'll quote Stephanie on how to best sear a scallop, since her directions were very clear and fool-proof! I was very proud of what I accomplished because of her.

"Pat the scallops dry and season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the scallops to the hot pan. (Avoid overcrowding the scallops in the pan. If they are too close together, they will steam instead of sear. Sear them in batches if the pan is not big enough to hold them all at once.) Let the scallops brown for 1 minute, then reduce the heat to medium. Continue to cook until a brown crust forms. Add the butter to the pan. Turn the scallops over to brown the other sides. While browning, spoon the melted butter over the tops of the scallops to baste them. Remove them from the pan once you've basted them well and all edges are nice and browned."

Since I had my hands busy, Jacob was my food photographer throughout the process and took all these awesome pictures. He likes to make fun of me for the way I say scallop, with an "a" as in "hall," instead of scallop with an "A" as in "hat." I think it's just one of those words like "Halloween" that some people just say differently. Either way we get to make fun of each other whenever the word comes up, and marvel at the many inconsistencies in the English language.

"Meatball Time!"

I've been having some typing issues lately. My brain seems to get ahead of my fingers, which makes sense because I never learned how to type the "proper" way. From growing up with AIM, I learned to type fast, knowing that friends on the other side could see that "MRYHAUTBOIS is typing..." Little did they know I was sweating on the other end, hoping they didn't notice how long it took me to respond, and how long my response was. Stupid, I know, but I did learn to peck away pretty speedily. And whatever my method is, my brain usually knows what to do and where to go on the keyboard. No thanks to elementary school. I never got to use those cool looking typing programs. I don't know how it is these days, but each classroom had 4 or 5 computers in it, which we only got to use during indoor recess on rainy days. So the computers were for the four kids who got there first. I've never felt the need to run anywhere, so I never got to use the computers. Anyway...when I gchat with Jacob, I get a little ahead of myself and hit "enter" before i get all right letters in the last word. It's frustrating.

Rant over.

I don't know if anyone else has seen this, but Yahoo has hired a crazy Italian guy to do 5 minute Italian cooking videos online. At first I thought this guy was just insane, but he's growing on me. And let's face it, I have a weakness for Italian food. So after my fresh pasta adventure, I saw one of his videos and got a craving for meatballs. I loved the idea of putting ricotta cheese in the meatball and simmering them in sauce, infusing the sauce with meaty goodness while keeping the meatball moist.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1 shallot, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

If you want to add some parsley, basil, and oregano, more power to you. I was just going for simple here. I "doubled" Fabio's recipe and froze most of them so I can make meatballs and fresh pasta for Jacob when he visits at the end of the week for our 3 year anniversary!

Just follow Fabio's directions on how to make the perfect meatball and you'll be all set! You will need to make some tomato sauce, which I had simmering while I made the meatballs. It took basically no time at all.

He claims that the meatballs sear in the pan, but the brownness really comes from the tomato, not the meat, browning. So if you prefer a deeper, darker flavored meatball I recommend searing them in a frying pan on each side for a few minutes before adding them to the sauce. Don't fry the crap out of them though because you want the sauce and steam to be able to penetrate the meatball and keep them moist.

Finally, Fresh Pasta

It's finally happened...I made pasta from scratch. I thought nothing could shake my love for dried pasta. But this first attempt was pretty darn delicious.

I used Miss Stephanie Izard's recipe for fresh pasta, and to be honest, it started out a little hairy. First of all, I started the process at 8:15pm, already hungry. The first step is to make a well in the flour into which you pour your eggs and olive oil and water. But unfortunately, my well was a bit structurally unsound, and since I was doing this on a flat surface and not a bowl, all the water leaked out and dripped onto the floor. I had to add a little water as I mixed the dough with my hands, a very sticky process. Then my reserved 1/4 cup of flour fell off the counter and landed upside down on the floor. Oh well! Sometimes you have to make a mess. I had my doubts but I didn't let myself get too frustrated.

Also, I don't own a pasta maker so I improvised and rolled the dough out myself until I thought it might be thin enough, folded the dough loosely, and cut it into strips. I was wary of how soft the noodles were, but once they were cooked they turned all silky and luxurious. I was so surprised!

I tossed the pasta with a quick tomato sauce I made while the dough was in the fridge, and voila! A yummy, completely homemade pasta dinner! (And it only took me until 10pm to get dinner on the table, without the luxury of a pasta maker to do the dough-rolling for me.)