Summer Food Goals

Does anyone else get summer fever at the supermarket this time of year?

I admire the photos my gardening friends share on social media.  June, July, August, they proudly share the bounty they've grown in their backyards or in community gardens.

When I had a yard, the most I could manage was herbs.  Born without a green thumb, I was fiercely proud of those herbs.  During the Michigan summers and falls, I could grab my kitchen shears and walk outside to gather fresh herbs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  In October, I'd try to harvest sage, rosemary, and thyme to use at Thanksgiving, just in case an early frost decided to land.

My culinary life bloomed in Michigan.  That's where I met and married G.  My mom lived an hour away on five acres of land.  For the first time in her life, she had raised bed gardens where she grew tomatoes, peppers, lettuces.  Those lettuces!  I'd never seen so many different kinds.  That was my favorite crop to to collect and take home with me.  I loved the tender leaves of oakleaf and red sails, the different colors of loose leaf baby lettuce.  All of a sudden, my salads had character!  Mom even grew kohlrabi, a vegetable that's still kind of a mystery to me now.

In Michigan, I started taking cooking classes.  I earned my culinary degree and worked at a farm-to-table kitchen.  Visiting farmers' markets became a frequent pastime.

We moved to San Francisco where I was lucky to be able to walk to the farmers' market at the Ferry Building on Saturday's.  I volunteered there and helped pick and prep vegetables and herbs for cooking demos.  After my work was done, I'd visit the stalls to do some grocery shopping and pick a pastry for my walk home by the bay.

The farmers' markets in Chicago were small, but mighty.  Now that I think about it, I could walk to the markets there too.  Was that a subconscious prerequisite for choosing a neighborhood?  The Chicago markets had excellent produce, a lot of it grown in Michigan, a stand or two with donuts or artisan bread, and great coffee.

Nowadays, I find my summer produce at the grocery store.  I'm still learning the in's and out's of Florida farmers' markets.  I look forward to the dishes that have become tradition in the summer months.  I have my usual stand-by's.  A stellar BLT when tomatoes arrive.  Daily Caprese salads when tomatoes arrive.  Summer fruit for ice cream and homemade popsicles.

Drum roll, please for this year's summer food goals:

• Attempt gazpacho.
• Make copious amounts of pesto.
• Try a stovetop shrimp boil.
• Choose something nostalgic to make from our childhoods.
• Use tomatoes galore!

Chicken Stock

One thing you do over and over again in culinary school is learn how to prepare stocks.  Chicken, beef, veal, fish...you name it.

Stock is a flavored water preparation; it forms the basis of many dishes, particularly soups and sauces.

I wanted to make some soup last week and discovered that I didn't have any chicken stock in the house.  I usually keep a few quarts of the boxed stock (low sodium version) in the pantry at all times, but we were all out.  I remembered that I'd bought some chicken backs specifically for making stock so I thawed them Monday and today I took out the stockpot and started to work.

All you need to make chicken stock:  a chicken carcass or necks/bones; carrots; onion; celery; parsley; bay leaf; thyme; peppercorns; water.

Put all of those ingredients into a stockpot, add eight quarts of water, bring just to boil, and then simmer for at least two hours.  The longer you can let the stock simmer, the better.

Strain the stock and let it sit in the fridge overnight.  The fat will rise to the top and solidify in the fridge so that you can easily remove it and use your homemade stock.  That's all there is to it!

Onions, carrots, celery.

Parsley (including stems).

Backbones, bone-in breast.

Just about to boil; time to simmer.

Strained stock.

Skimming fat.

The stock will keep in the fridge for three days.  I also try to freeze some as well in case I need some homemade soup ASAP.

A great source for stock recipes (among other tasty dishes) is:  Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

Ciabatta Rolls

I was going to post my adventure in the kitchen while making ciabatta rolls.  Photos, tips, the whole shebang.  But guess what?  It was a failed experiment.

The dough didn't rise properly and it was still a sticky, elastic mess after a few hours of sitting in a warm place.  I should have taken a photo to show you, but I just sighed and walked away from the blob of dough.  I'd used my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook attachment for the first time.  Did I not keep the dough in there long enough?  Was the warm place not warm enough? So back to the ol' drawing board.

I still posted this attempt because I think it is important to talk about the experiments that did not work as well as the ones that did.  The kitchen is like a little lab.  Sometimes you use your tools and formulas and ingredients and you make something delicious.  Other times, maybe all that happens is a poof of smoke (though not literally, let's hope!)  The rule in our house has always been, "If this doesn't work out, we order pizza."

By the way, this is what a successful ciabatta roll looks like (courtesy of 'wichcraft, NY):

Me + Mom + Wednesday = Foodie Feasts!

Today I'm headed to Mom's for our weekly foodie experiment. This summer we've been meeting up each Wednesday and playing in the kitchen.

Depending on what mood we're in, we make simple salads or complicated French-y dishes. If we're in Ann Arbor, we make a trip to the farmers' market for some ingredients.

We've made panini sandwiches with turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado (courtesy of my new favorite kitchen toy, the Griddler---thanks, Mom!) When we felt super fancy, we made fried artichokes with garlic aioli. Neither my stepdad nor my husband like artichokes so we enjoyed those all by ourselves. A transcendent moment.

Up next is a southern dinner: pulled pork, braised collard greens, cole slaw, hush puppies, and peach cobbler.

First Day of School

Ah, charcuterie.  From the French, literally cooked meat or in Italian, Salumi, the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, pates, and confit, primarily from pork (courtesy of Wikipedia).

The chef for this class is world renown for his skill and passion for charcuterie.  He has two restaurants in the Detroit area, Five Lakes Grill and Forest Grill.  His text, co-authored with foodie writer Michael Ruhlman, is THE book on the subject.

On day one, the chef gave us a brief tour of the classroom and the equipment we'll be using:  sausage stuffer, smoker, meat grinder.  Then we partnered up and started production after an introductory lecture.  "All hail the pig!"

This week, my partner and I are working on products that will be smoked.  Today, we soaked whole chickens and duck breasts in brine and set them in the cooler overnight.  We sliced up some beef and mixed it with a spice rub for jerky.  We prepped smoked salmon, again by mixing a spice rub and leaving it to sit overnight.

I hear that we'll be tackling confit by the end of the week.

Ravioli Day

I was lucky enough to spend the day with my friend, Mary, earlier this summer.  She is a fantastic cook.  Even better, she's a fantastic Italian cook.  Back when Mary & I first met, I was domestically challenged.  And proud of it.  She would bring these fabulous leftovers for lunch everyday and make everyone else envious while we ate crummy fast food or humdrum frozen "entrees'.  Once we became friends, Mary would pack extra food and share her lunch with me.  I don't think I'd ever seen a yellow squash until she introduced me to her summer squash stew.  At Christmas, she'd make black bottom cupcakes and I couldn't get enough of them.

So fast forward and here I am in culinary school.  First of all, I believe that Mary is still shocked about that development.  Every fall, Mary makes a huge batch of raviolis for her family, "Ravioli Day".  I asked her if she wouldn't mind having a mini-ravioli day with me so I could learn from her expertise.

We made the pasta dough and the filling.  Then she taught me how to use the pasta machine and the molds.  We laid out the raviolis on the dining room table to dry.  

It was one of my favorite days of this summer.  I think we made 130 cheese raviolis, not to mention some fettucine noodles as well.  We stopped for a lunch break and Mary served some raviolis tossed with olive oil, parmesan, and blanched broccoli from her garden.  A simply perfect lunch.

Farmers' Market Bounty

So I've been having a blast with my farmers' market bounty.  I made fried green tomatoes for the first time.  I dipped them in buttermilk, then in cornmeal and flour seasoned with garlic powder and cayenne pepper.  I don't fry much food, but I do make exceptions.  When I served the tomatoes, I squeezed some lemon juice and drizzled hot sauce on them.  What a tasty summer snack.

Next up, I made a green chile sauce.  I roasted poblano peppers, grilled an onion, and then pureed them with fresh oregano, garlic, honey, salt and pepper, and a splash of water (recipe courtesy of Bobby Flay).

I made a potato salad with the fingerling potatoes.  Once I simmered them and cooled them down, I tossed them with cider vinegar, salt and pepper, and then made a quick dressing of olive oil, more cider vinegar, garlic, shallot, and a bunch of fresh herbs.

So tonight's dinner will consist of green chile cheeseburgers (on the grill, of course), potato salad, and a TBD vegetable.

Fall Classes

I registered for fall classes which start September 9th. Fall semester includes: Charcuterie When I've told friends that my first class is charcuterie, I've gotten funny looks. "What the heck is charcuterie?" Usually, they're sorry they asked. Straight from the school's course description: Students in this course will acquire professional skills in variations of hors d’oeuvres and savories, seasonings, condiments, stuffed meats, curing, pickling, smoking of meat, fish, and poultry. Proficiencies in sausage-making, garde manger, pates, terrines, galantines and stuffed meats are also taught. Restaurant Cooking & Prep Some of my readers will remember that I took a dining service class last year. I had to wait on tables in the school restaurant at lunchtime. This fall, I'll be prepping all of the food that will be served at lunch. Students will participate in four workstations: Roast—Grill, Sauté, Entremetier (middle station) and Garde Manger—Pantry. Students will learn classical and modern cooking techniques and recipe development and the importance of consistency and clean work methods. International and American Cuisine This is the big one. Eight hours in the kitchen four days a week prepping AND cooking dinner for the school's restaurant. Students will learn the culture, history, and terminology of various regional American and international cuisines, while also studying their traditional and contemporary cooking techniques. Students will prepare multi-course dinners, small plate offerings, wine pairing dinners, as well as buffets that are offered to the public, served in the American Harvest Restaurant.