Culinary Comments by Cinnamon Girl

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MMMinestrone Soup

My favorite soup to make is minestrone, because of it's versatility. I use the same base, then add whatever vegetables are in season. The batch I made on Superbowl Sunday was especially good, so I thought I'd share.

Ingredients:
Olive oil
3 slices bacon, diced
2ea. carrots, celery, garlic
1 c savoy cabbage
1 zucchini, large dice
2 T tomato paste
1 c water
Sprig or 1tsp thyme
6 c beef stock
1 can cannelini beans
1 c ditalini or other small pasta shape
Salt & pepper
Parm cheese

Saute bacon in a heavy stockpot with a light film of oil. Cook until rendered on medium heat, about 8 minutes. Add 2 sliced carrots, 2 sliced stalks celery, 2 cloves minced garlic. Cook 3 minutes. Add any other veg now if you like. I put some sliced savoy cabbage and zucchini. Put in 2 tbsp tomato paste, stir to coat veg and let cook for 3 minutes. Add 1 c water and scrape bottom of pot. Pour in 6 c beef stock bring to simmer. Add some thyme, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add beans and pasta, cook 15 more minutes until pasta is done. Season with salt and pepper, serve garnished with grated Parmesan.

Star Chefs International Chefs' Congress

This year's theme was creativity, Art vs. Craft.  The discussion on the mainstage re this topic was between a stellar group of Chefs.  Maybe you've heard of them...

 
 from right, Dan Barber, Thomas Keller, David Kinch, and moderating was Michael Ruhlman.

They each spoke on the topic, with the consensus being that Chefs don't go into the kitchen to create art, but instead to practice their craft.  If they do this extraordinarily well, it may be elevated to an art.  My opinion is that artists are born, not made.  Some can create art on a plate, but some, no matter how many years they spend in the kitchen, never achieve that plateau.

What do you think? 

Eggplant Done Right

This beauty came from my garden and was the star of our Pasta Ala Norma dinner. There are countless recipes for this classic dish, but here's the short version of mine:
Cut an eggplant into cubes. Sauté with olive oil and a sprig of thyme until lightly browned. Add 2 chopped cloves of garlic and cook 1 minute. Pour in 2-3 large peeled and chopped tomatoes with their juices.(or a 28 oz. can diced tomatoes) Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, remove thyme sprig, stir in 3T chopped mint leaves, 3/4 cup diced fresh mozzarella, and a drizzle of olive oil. Pour over hot, cooked rigatoni and serve. Pass Parmesan to grate over top if desired.

Visit to Jose Andres' Jaleo

In August, my family took a short vacation to Washington, DC.  We stayed in Arlington, VA, and ate most of our meals in the Crystal City area.  The highlight was our dinner at Chef Jose Andres' Jaleo, a tapas bar/restaurant.  My husband trusted me to order plates for us all to sample and share.  My first choice was Chef Andres' version of the classic salade Nicoise for my older son:

 

I couldn't pass up the asparagus with romesco sauce (a fav of mine):

 

For my younger son, I thought bacalhau fritters with honey aioli was a good choice:

 

We also had a really amazing wild mushroom rice dish, which was eaten so fast I didn't get to snap a pic of it!  The adults washed all the scrumptious food down with sangria (yum!) and not a crumb remained at the end of the meal, except for part of the hot pepper on top of the salad.  I now want to visit more of his restaurants to see if all of Chef Andres' food is top flight like Jaleo's.  You can read about his restaurant group at www.thinkfoodgroup.com    

A Homegrown Recipe

 
 In my garden, this is the year of the wild squash.  Tomatoes are coming in a close second, but we can't seem to keep them around long since my sons eat them like candy.  These squash came from plants that just popped up in the garden this year, I'm sure due to the zucchini, pumpkin, and other squash scraps that went into our compost last year!  I love to watch all the different colors, shapes and textures grow up from the bottoms of the female squash blossoms.  This picture shows a few that have grown so far this year. 

So, what to do with these lovelies?  I have a go-to recipe that I like to use since it works with all types of winter squash and best of all is easy.

Roasted Winter Squash with Parmesan Sage Cream

Ingredients:

1 winter squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed

1 clove garlic, minced

salt and pepper

grated parmesan cheese

about 6 large sage leaves

heavy cream

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 325 F.

In a bowl, combine squash, garlic, and some salt and pepper.  Toss to combine.  Transfer to a baking dish.  Cover squash lightly with parmesan.  With the back of a knife, gently bruise the sage leaves, then tuck them in between the squash.  Pour enough cream over the top to come halfway up the level of the squash.  Bake covered with foil until squash is fork-tender (usually about an hour). If top is not brown, remove foil, raise heat to 400 F for a few minutes until top begins to brown. Remove from oven, cool 5 minutes then serve.

The return of Cinnamon Girl

Hi again! I was planning to discontinue this blog and focus on my new one, Chef at the Market, but it seems there are CG readers out there that want this blog to stay. So since my daughter is away at college, and my sons are back in school (see pics) I have a little more free time to blog. I will try to keep both of them current with interesting topics and my original recipes. Requests are welcome and please check out my work-related blog www.chefatthemarket.wordpress.com Thanks to all who have supported me and continue to read my entries!

In with the new

In an effort to keep my posts in sync with what's going on in my professional life, I will no longer be posting on this blog. In short order I will start a new one, "Chef at the Market". It will have info and recipes for cooking all of those wonderful things you buy at your local farmers' markets. Look for lots of great pics and useful tips. Come join me in my travels! Will post the link to the new blog here soon so you can follow. And remember- No farms, no food! Ciao for now, CG

D'Artagnan 25th Anniversary Bash

Last night I volunteered (along with about 20 other FCI students) to work the dinner celebrating D'Artagnan Gourmet food purveyors 25th anniversary. We had also done prep Sunday in the school's kitchens. I worked on plating and garnishing pheasant and duck terrines, foie gras with truffles, and French kisses (prunes stuffed with pate) with Michelle. We were asked to work the station on the floor with those items since we were familiar with them (see pic). It was a large crowd, about 1500, many of them dressed like Musketeers. Everyone certainly was hungry and they sure love their pate! I wish I had time to check out who was in the crowd, but Michelle and I couldn't get replacement plates on the table fast enough! I hope everyone had a good time- our group worked our butts off to do FCI and D'Artagnan proud :)

Stuffings and forcemeats

Interesting day in the classroom. We made stuffing for vegetables with mushroom duxelles, shredded zucchini (scraps and trimmings), shallots, bacon and Parmesan. We stuffed hollowed out blanched zucchini, mushrooms, and halved, seeded plum tomatoes, then baked them till slightly soft. The meat is beef, pounded thin, but you can use veal for a more tender texture. The filling is sausage, mushroom duxelles, parmesan, and garlic. Place filling in center of the meat, then fold it up like a package and tie with butcher's twine. Sear it in oil till browned on all sides. Remove. Add some finely diced onion and carrot to pan. Brown, then deglaze with red wine. Reduce by half, return meat to pan , then add enough beef or veal stock to come halfway up sides of the meat. Add a sprig of thyme, then bake covered 35 mins in a 325 degree oven. Remove meat, reduce cooking liquid on stovetop. Season, then spoon over sliced meat. In the afternoon we made chicken liver pate served on toast points. We also watched Chef Sixto demo chicken mousselline cut into quenelles, and also shaped into a log wrapped in plastic. (sorry, no pics of that-I was distracted by a chocolate creation the Pastry Arts class sent in) Ciao!