Food of Our Father

Our dad, J.P. Ford, MD, was down here checking out the Cackalacky Kitchen this past weekend. In honor of our dad, who may well be our only blog reader, or at least our only reader who has this site "Favorited" (way to go, Dad!) I thought I would post an iconic Ford recipe:

THE UNADILLA POWER BREAKFAST

Unadilla is a small town in upstate New York where my dad has a house. He works in State College, PA for most of the week, so this house is at the present mostly a weekend place. Unadilla is our dad's Shangri-la. Even when he is traveling to France or Montreal, which are close seconds to Unadilla in his book, he is always satisfied that he would still prefer to be in Unadilla than any place else on the planet. Part of its charm is that not much changes. Unadilla is sort of like the town time forgot, and the Unadilla Power Breakfast is likewise a little outside the mainstream. A culinary eddy if you will.

The Unadilla Power Breakfast is the name Abby gave to the gastronomic experience that begins at about 8 or 9 in the morning and continues until around noon, when preparations for the afternoon meal begin. As a note of warning or explanation, our dad loves to eat and there is really nothing that he doesn't eat.

To set the stage, before breakfast Dad will have hopped on his bike or just walked down Main Street to the Great American to pick up the New York Times and any key ingredients that weren't on hand. When he gets home he'll turn on some German opera CD really, really loud. There are no speakers in the dining room where the stereo is so what sounds like a reasonable volume in the dining room is ear splitting in the kitchen.

Phase One--The Classic Unadilla Breakfast

Break up some shredded wheat into a cereal bowl. Drizzle maple syrup over the shredded wheat. Add a handful of frozen blueberries. Pour milk over the berries and shredded wheat (it is advisable to check the date on the milk and do the sniff test if no one has been at the house for a while!). Retreat to the sunroom to read the paper and enjoy the wholesome goodness of a nutritionally sound breakfast.

Phase Two -- The Unadilla Power Breakfast

You realize 20-30 minutes later that you are still hungry and something in the Times made you mad, so you go back into the kitchen to see what you can scrounge up. This is what puts the POWER in the Unadilla Power Breakfast. Out comes the salami or sopresatta, Roquefort and/or Epoisses cheese (the stinkier the better), smoked salmon, capers, cornichons, and Wheat-thins. All washed down with "fizzy water" with lots and lots of ice. You might not know that the best thing to chase blueberries and shredded wheat is a cured meat and stinky cheese bender, but then you would not have experienced a true Unadilla Power Breakfast. This Phase of the meal continues until all the edible provisions (and frankly, often many non-edible provisions) have been consumed.

Then we go outside and pull weeds, lament the damage done to the garden by the woodchucks/deer, and start planning what we'll eat for supper.

Easy Weeknight Dinner

I made a really easy dish of grilled green peppers, pineapples and Aidells chicken teriyaki meatballs. The meatballs were on sale so I thought I'd give them a shot. Man, they were good! We grilled the pineapple and peppers on an indoor griddle and I made a sauce from the pineapple juice (can you tell I used canned pineapple?!?!) some soy sauce, garlic, and Thai sweet chili sauce and thickened it up with some corn starch. I served it over rice. The whole meal took about 15 minutes to make and was really scrumptious.

Faux Burgers

Today marks the official end of summer. Summer is usually grilling season, but since it's usually hotter than the surface of the sun on our patio in the late afternoon, we haven't been grilling much. The advent of fall means that we can finally get back out there.

These are two awesome burger recipes that we've enjoyed at our friends' houses. Once it cools down we'll try grilling them at home. They are absurdly delicious.

GOAT CHEESE-STUFFED LAMB BURGERS WITH YOGURT CUCUMBER SAUCE
Source: Raichlen’s Indoor Grilling by Steven Raichlen (Workman,2004)

For the burgers:
1-1/2 pounds ground lamb
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint, or 2 teaspoons dried mint
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Greek)
1 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea) or more to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound goat cheese

For serving:
4 pita breads
4 rinsed romaine lettuce leaves
4 paper-thin slices red onion (optional)
1 medium-size cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium-size ripe tomato, thinly sliced
Yogurt Cucumber Sauce (recipe follows)

Place the ground lamb, chopped onion, garlic, mint, parsley, oregano, salt,
and pepper in a mixing bowl and stir with a wooden spoon to mix. Wet your
hands with cold water and divide the mixture into 4 equal portions.
Working quickly and with a light touch, pat each portion into a thick patty
with a 2-ounce round of goat cheese in the center. (Make sure cheese is
completely covered with meat.) Place the patties on a plate lined with
plastic wrap and refrigerate, covered, until ready to grill.
Set up the grill for direct grilling and preheat to high.

Grill the lamb burgers until cooked through, about 7 minutes per side (about
170 degrees on an instant-read meat thermometer). Remove the burgers and
cover to keep warm.
Place the pita breads on the grill, and lowering the temperature and working
in batches, if necessary, grill until toasted, about 1 minute per side.
Cut a slit in each pita. Place a lettuce leaf inside, followed by a burger, an
onion slice, if using, some cucumber and tomato slices, and a generous
dollop of yogurt sauce. Serve at once.

Yogurt Cucumber Sauce
Makes about 1-1/2 cups
1 medium-size cucumber
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea), or more to taste
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint, or 1 teaspoon dried mint
Freshly ground black pepper
Peel the cucumber and cut it in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds with a
melon baller or spoon. Coarsely grate the cucumber.
Place the garlic and salt in a mixing bowl and mash to a paste with the back
of a spoon. Stir in the grated cucumber, yogurt, olive oil, and mint. Taste
for seasoning, adding more salt, if necessary, and pepper to taste. The sauce
should be highly seasoned.

Oprah's Favorite Turkey Burgers
When Oprah says these "may be the best turkey burgers in the entire world," you gotta believe that she knows what she's talking about!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
3 Granny Smith apples , peeled and diced
1/8 cup canola oil
4 pounds ground turkey breast
2 Tbsp. salt
2 Tbsp. black pepper
2 tsp. Tabasco® chipotle pepper sauce (hello, this stuff is AWESOME!!)
1 lemon , juiced and grated zest
1/2 bunch parsley , finely chopped
1/4 cup Major Grey's Chutney , pureed (try Patak's brand chutney)

Sauté the scallions, celery and apples in the canola oil until tender. Let cool.Place the ground turkey in a large mixing bowl. Add sautéed items and the remaining ingredients. Shape into eight 8-ounce burgers. Refrigerate for 2 hours.Season the turkey burgers with salt and pepper. Place on a preheated, lightly oiled grill. Grill each side for 7 minutes until meat is thoroughly cooked. Let sit for 5 minutes. Serve with remaining chutney rather than ketchup. Yum!

Eclairs with Procrastination

OK, better late than never. I finally made the eclairs which were the Daring Baker's challenge for August. Abby finished the mini-eclairs that we started together and posted about it in a previous entry.

I also did an orange-chocolate pastry creme. I don't think I put enough orange essence in the pastry creme. It sure SMELLED like orange but one of my tasters said they couldn't taste much orange. I thought the chocolate was a little too dark for my taste. I would have wanted it a bit less intense. Unlike Abby's cute little eclairs with the glaze drizzled just so, mine weren't so pretty. The glaze was fun to do, and I think next time I'd try to be a little bit neater. I wonder what else I could do with chocolate glaze?

For the record, here is the recipe that we from the Daring Bakers. It looks pretty complicated, but I think that's just because we aren't used to making eclairs. Now that I've done it once (or twice counting making the pastry with Abby) I think it would be a lot smoother. It really wasn't that tricky. It's not exactly a last-minute dessert though.

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with
waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the
handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the
oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue
baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking
time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the
bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40
degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of
the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the
bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms
with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream
and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,
stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create
bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium
and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very
quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You
need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do
not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you
have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking
sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the
piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Notes:
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

Raising the bar

"Per se" is one of my favorite expressions, because you can sort of throw it into almost any sentence and automatically sound like you have a working, casual knowledge of Latin. It literally means "by itself", and it is the humble name for a restaurant judged to be in a league of its own by many New Yorkers who KNOW how to eat (even if they don't know how to cook.)

When I told Anna that I was going to this zenith of cuisine, she insisted I document my evening. You might think that it would take something away from the refined atmosphere of the classiest restaurant in Manhattan to be taking photos of each course... But everyone was too polite to bat an eyelash at any gauche behavior. (This is a theme of truly fine dining that I have already recognized and appreciated in the context of more "colorful" moments of Ford Family Dining Adventures.) So snap away I did, during the few seconds between each course hitting the table and then disappearing.

It was an enchanting evening, but I regret that I didn't memorize any of the names of the dishes or their ingredients. So we shall see whether this experience informs the culinary activities of the north and south branches of the Cackalacky Kitchen. There were some other courses not pictured here including dainty little salmon sashimi ice cream cones. Don't hold your breath for that one to appear at my next cocktail party.

Oysters and caviar to kick off the menu. I personally got more of a kick out of the little mother-of-pearl spoons and the houndstooth pattern on the dinnerware, but my fellow diners were pretty excited about this.

An interesting combination of different kinds of melons, radishes and pine nuts.

Seven different types of salts - the one in the middle (I kid you not) is brought down the Himalayas on the back of a yak. The waitress told us this with a straight face.

Some fish, I am embarrassed to say I have no idea what kind. I had already started to lose track.

The scallop in some sort of fruity balsalmic sauce was absolute perfection - my favorite course.

This Wagyu steak was served with spinach and mushrooms and a perfect disc of finely sliced potatoes. (Basically an extremely fancy version of french fries, and just as good.) I am never as excited about meat as the trappings around it, but everyone oohed and aahed over this course.

This cheese - barrata - is mozzarella made from cream, and tastes as good as it sounds.

It seemed like a very good idea to celebrate the nearest birthday, which I think was about a month away from our dinner.

If this coffee and doughnut weren't part of the flock of desserts, it might also double as the best breakfast ever.

If I hadn't been stuffed, I can imagine trying to stuff my cheeks like a chipmunk with these freshly made truffles.

Good thing they gave us a goody bag - I can imagine getting really hungry on the way home.

Pasta Within Reach

I didn't take any pictures of last night's culinary adventure, because I did not expect it to be notable. It was the first time that I have cooked dinner at home in more than 2 weeks, because I just logged a long stretch of time in the hospital. I had planned to have dinner with a friend, hoping to barbecue on the deck and enjoy a moment of Indian summer.

From the window of the recovery room, I saw that the weather had changed my plans. It was pouring. The day got busy, and I realized I had no plan - and no groceries - for indoor dinner.

One of my favorite cooking activities is making fresh pasta, but I have never thought of it as a last-minute dinner idea. I had a recipe from Gourmet Magazine which had about 50 ingredients. After multiple steps and almost as many hours, it came out perfect. Ideal for a Saturday, but not quite Tuesday evening material. I had forgotten those details when I called my friend, explained my plan for the new menu, and dashed home from work.

My cupboards were embarrasingly bare. I could not find the recipe. I had a pile of cookbooks, but no time to fish through them for recipe hints. I had no cake flour, which I believed to be essential to this endeavor. So - just as I do in my work when I am looking for an elusive answer - I turned to Google. "All-purpose flour fresh pasta?" I implored.

Here's the recipe I found:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs
a splash of olive oil and a pinch of salt

It took just a few minutes to make the dough, I rested it 30 minutes while we chatted and had a salad tossed together of tomatoes, avocados and fresh mozzarella, and then rolled it out. Right away, I tossed it into the boiling water, and just a few minutes later - DELICIOUS. I was so proud. For the first time, I understand how Italian grannies can toss fresh pasta together for their families for an ordinary meal. We made linguini because that is what my pasta roller can make, but next time? Orechiette!

Eclairs with elan

Orange Chocolate Mini-Eclairs with Chocolate Glaze

I'm going to post for Abby since it is the Daring Baker's deadline and this is our first challenge and she seems to have abandoned this post after coming up with just the title, and a nice one at that.

Just to provide some context, the way this blog came to be is that I (Anna) joined an online baking group called the Daring Bakers. The Daring Bakers is a group of amateur baking enthusiasts and bloggers (not quite as dorky as it sounds...ok, maybe it is.) Anyway, each month a member of the Daring Bakers proposes a "challenge" to the group in the form of a recipe that each member has to make and report about on their respective blogs. There is no point other than to try new recipes and maybe push the limits of what you might try making if left purely to your own devices. I thought it sounded like fun so I recruited Abby to join me in this endeavor.

So, we are off to a stellar start because I didn't even get a chance to make the DB challenge this month (chocolate eclairs). Abby and I made the pastry part when I was visiting her a few weeks ago but we ran out of time to finish them together. I thought I would have time to make my own batch at home sometime but, what can I say, I was out of town and then hosting Ryan's family and before I knew it the "deadline" was upon me. I must say missing a deadline is not an entirely unfamiliar position to have found myself in so I know that it is best not to make too many excuses as it just draws more attention. So, with that in mind let me present the results of ABIGAIL'S Chocolate Eclair experiment. They look delicious! She served them at a little party she hosted on her roofdeck a few weeks ago. I'm sorry that I wasn't in NYC to enjoy them myself. I plan to make them next week so perhaps I'll post my results as an addendum. And Abby, you can fill in some of the critical details that I missed.

The challenge was to make chocolate eclairs with chocolate glaze. You could change one of the chocolate elements if you chose, so we decided to make orange chocolate custard filling. Again, I didn't taste them, but Abby reports that the guests at her party gobbled them all up and a few were seen stuffing mini-eclairs into their pockets and handbags for later. Actually, I just made that up. Abby's friends are not that type. They are, however, the type who stuff bottles of booze under their coats as they make a run for the door at my wedding after party...but that's another story!

This is Abby's kitchen. Can you believe that such scrumptious creations come out of such a tiny space? She's a genius! We had to make mini-eclairs because her mini-stove can only accommodate mini-pans. And also mini-eclairs have mini-calories.

We used a small pastry tip (the only one we had) so we had to go back and forth to form the eclairs. We weren't sure that it would work but it did really well.



There's Abby. What a babe! She is by far the sweetest confection in this kitchen!

This is Abby:

I am so proud of myself for learning how to add to a post on here. I am not the "blogging champion" that my big sister is, and so I didn't even realize that my title would get saved. I worried that I would face dire consequences at the hands of the Daring Bakers for posting before the end of the month about the ultra-secret challenge. I am such an amateur...

To add to what Anna said about our eclair-making: an important detail is that we made the dough together on my birthday. It was sandwiched between two overnight calls for me, and so it was such a treat to get to see Anna and her adorable younger baby, Elliot, who encouraged our daring baking from his perch on the couch. OK, Elliot pretty much slept through it, but it was fun to look at him. And we got sidetracked because two of our cousins showed up with flowers and then it was time to go to work... So after making the little dough torpedos, we tabled the project.

It seemed slightly unconventional, but we had seen frozen eclairs at the supermarket before, so I decided to freeze the dough to continue the project when I had time. The party was actually more than a week later. After a few days, I made the chocolate orange creme and the glaze. (Just a splash of orange essence into the creme patissiere). I put the creme and the glaze into the frozen shells and stuck the lot back in the freezer. How daring!

On the day of my birthday party, I just let the eclairs come back to room temperature over several hours. No one was the wiser. While what Anna says about bite-size eclairs is true, but the mini-calories add up when you pop them into your mouth like peanuts!

No one tried to run out the door with eclairs in hand, but the felons from Anna's wedding were busy in other states. I did get a request from a new friend for the recipe, which I count as a success for our first baking experiment. I look forward to the next challenge.