Pasta Revelation

I can tell you without irony that this post will change your life (unless you don't eat pasta). I came across this examination of the techniques behind cooking pasta that doesn't require a rolling boil. I had my doubts, but tried it last night and it absolutely worked. I can't tell you how much of a pain it has been making pasta on an electric stove, because if I had the pasta on at high, it was really hard to get the other burners up to speed. No more!

Shakshuka [Eggs Poached in Spicy Tomato Sauce]

Adapted from Saveur, stolen from Smitten Kitchen (notes about chiles in ingredient list are from SK)

Serves 4 to 6

1/4 cup olive oil
5 Anaheim chiles or 3 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped (I was nervous and only used 2 Anaheims; I would go for 3 or 4 next time for a more moderate but still gentle kick)
1 small yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, crushed then sliced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
Kosher salt, to taste
6 eggs
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
Warm pitas, for serving

Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat [KV: I thought this was a bit too hot on my stove top]. Add chiles and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes.

Put tomatoes and their liquid into a medium bowl and crush with your hands. Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with 1/2 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Season sauce with salt.

Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle shakshuka with feta and parsley and serve with pitas, for dipping.

RESULTS:
You know me, I'm all about following the directions (um, just ignore the last three years of blog posts, ok?). Yep, that's me, ol' Follow the Recipe KV. But I just couldn't find the right kind of chiles, okay? I got Anchos. There are a lot of letters in common with Anaheim. They're also both mild to medium heat, but I suspect that if anaheims are the same size as jalepenos, then anchos are much bigger than anaheims. So anyway, because of this, I really can't tell you how many chiles you should use, other than what's written in the recipe. I used three dried anchos (seeded), and the sauce is definitely on the upper end of what I would consider comfortable and starting to immigrate into the Land of Inedible if I eat too fast. I probably have a lower tolerance for heat (well, non-old Bay heat) than your average 20-50 year old, so take that for what you will.

Otherwise, the dish sure looks really pretty. I'm not sure I can tell you what it tastes like. Thanks to my cold I definitely can't tell you what it smells like. But it's pretty. By the way, I had no pitas, so I'm eating this with some leftover rice, which helps a (very) little with the heat.

Beth, Jean and I were pondering over the issue of leftovers. When you're cooking this sort of dish for less than 4 people, how do you save some for later? Other than simply halving the recipe, we decided it would work if you make everything up until the egg. Portion the sauce out and freeze or refrigerate those portions. When you're ready to eat them, just thaw and bring them up to a simmer and add the egg and cheese. As for the portion you're eating the day you make it, move that into a smaller saucepan or pot before adding the egg so there's enough liquid. I haven't frozen and then thawed the sauce yet, so I don't know if this would work, but I freeze tomato sauces all the time and it turns out.

Also, as a side note, do make sure before you put it on the food that your old feta isn't growing un-authorized mold or mildew. That may help you get over your cold, but in this case the cure would be worse than the, uh... illness? I forgot the phrase. You know what I mean.

Simplest Split Pea Soup

Feeling a cold coming on, so soup seemed the way to go. This is from How to Cook Everything, and it's really simple, er, as the name implies. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but what I love (LOVE) about this book is 1) the index is awesome. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you haven't seen a fantastic index. Those of you who have are thinking, "man, I love me a good index." 2) He'll give you the basic recipe and then tell you how you can change that up. But, it's not just that. He'll give you ways to change up entire families of recipes. So the variations he gives for the pea soup are also variations for any bean soup. It's fantastic.

And the soup turned out fantastically. Bethie got me hooked on a particular dry pea soup mix that we saw in the grocery store. This is not as good as that (or, not yet), but it is cheaper and almost as easy.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups split peas (1 lb), rinsed and picked through (look out for rocks!)
• 6 cups chicken or beef stock or broth, or water
• salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. put the peas and the liquid in a heavy pot over medium high heat until boiling, reduce heat to low and partially cover. Simmer until peas are very soft, 45-60 minutes.
2. Mash the peas with a potato masher, or run it through a blender/immersion blender for a smoother soup.
3. Adjust liquid (add more if it's too dry, simmer some off if the reverse), and salt and pepper to taste.

Variations:
there are too many to list here, but basically towards the end I added some smoked paprika (that was my idea), a carrot chopped up, frozen corn, a Parmesan rind, and a minced garlic clove. When I served it I drizzled a little olive oil on top. My cold is still with me, but at least I'm not hungry anymore.

Kale Chips a la me

I've been tweaking and experimenting, and this is the kale chip recipe I've decided I like.

• 1 bunch Organic Kale (ie, enough to be laid in a single layer on two baking sheets).
  
• 1.5ish TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 small glug sesame oil
  
• 1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
  
• 1/2 tsp table salt

1. preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Rinse kale and pat dry with a paper towel or take it for a spin in a salad spinner. Cut off stems and tear leafs off of the rib. Throw away the center rib pieces and set aside.
3. In a large bowl whisk together oil, vinegar and salt and add the kale. Gently AND THOROUGHLY toss. The kale has to be evenly coated or you'll get giant salt deposits. Not good.
   
4. Divide kale among two baking sheets (parchment paper unnecessary, but I would wash the sheets not too long after using them). It's important that the kale is in a single layer or you'll get soggy kale.
   
5. Bake for 20 minutes until crispy. If you have some pieces that aren't dried yet, take off the ones that are and stick the undone leaves back in for a couple minutes.

NOTES: Jean asked me if I thought this recipe could be used with other leafy greens. I didn't try it with spinach, but I think that wouldn't work out well at all (too weak). Tonight I tried it with collards and it turned out pretty comparatively. The only thing was that, at my grocery store at least, a bunch of collards is about twice the size of a bunch of kale. Adjust the dressing amount accordingly.

Jean was also wondering if they could be made with chard. I have a love-hate thing with chard. Sometimes I really dig when you make something with the leaves and then you have the ribs left over to do with what you will. Bonus vegetable! But other days those ribs are a burden, and I feel shackled by the responsibility of having to do something with them so soon after using the leaves. So I haven't tried it, but you are welcome to. Let me know.

Hello from South Carolina!

I'm lying in bed here in Charleston, trying to figure out what we'll do en route from Charleston to Myrtle without waking Beth up. I'll have to do that eventually because breakfast ends in an hour, but not yet. Bethie and I are having a great time. The weather has been just hot enough to make me appreciate Wisconsin. Highlights so far have included: lots of Spanish moss, 8 alligators (one that, had we wanted, we could have gone up and touched. We didn't.), lots of jasmine, and no bugs. Yesterday we went on a walking tour of the city and then spent the afternoon at a plantation outside of town with a fantastic romantic-style (or informal) garden. In the evening we went on a wine stroll through a formal garden (think Jane Austen) at a neighboring plantation. We figure the plantation owners must not have much liked each other, their gardens were like night and day. Yesterday we walked around the city some more on our own and saw the insides of two old historic houses, one preserved (meaning, it's all crumbly and old looking) and the other restored (meaning it looks like how it did when it was built in the 18th century). Both were very cool. We also went to the Exchange Building, which has a ballroom on the top and a dungeon on the bottom. Spooky. Lots of pirate talk at that building. We went window shopping, and ate at the same haunted restaurant (Poogan's Porch) that Chris and I ate at 10 years ago. Today we're driving up to Myrtle for Marisa'a wedding!

Seafood successes

Our favorite coffee shop also does fresh seafood. On Tuesday we get an email asking if we want one of the items they are offering that week, and on Thursday we get to pick it up. Last week I made Steelhead Trout, which, to me, was almost identical to salmon in every way expect it's much cheaper. Highly recommend. And yesterday we got two pounds of PEI mussels, which I thought turned out fantastically, although 2 lbs was too much for two people along with artichokes, cheese, and bread.

What I've been liking about these is that the seafood is really easy to cook. For the trout I just marinated it for less than an hour in olive oil, salt and pepper, and then I broiled it in a cast iron skillet. The mussels were even easier. I just had to clean them and then steam them in a dutch oven with garlic, some wine and some beer. I felt like a real chef, even though both of those were probably easier than half the pasta dishes I make.

My first cover story!!

I got my first cover story! It's in the Spring 2010 edition of the Chippewa Valley Business Report and it's about a guitar maker (or luthier) in Eau Claire. He wrote me last night (which is how I knew that the issue was out) to say that it was the best article he'd ever had written about him, which was very very sweet of him. The pictures are cool, too!