Cacio e Pepe

Cacio e Pepe

In the decade that was my 30's I cooked almost exclusively Italian food. Northern, Southern, Peasant, etc. Last night I tried a recipe I had seen on a Travel Channel episode. Oddly enough, I had never cooked this recipe before. After inhaling this amazing dish I will add that the only other Italian dish that punches this much above it's weight is Aglio e Olio. I blogged about the Aglio e Olio recipe a few years ago and if you haven't seen that recipe you might want to check it out. My version has enough garlic to ward off any lurking vampires that might be coming around in anticipation of Halloween.

Cacio e Pepe is Roman staple and this dish can be ready in the amount of time it takes to boil noodles. Try out this version from Bon Appetit (you might want to add a touch of olive oil too).

Open a Chianti or a Barbera and revel in how great something so simple can be.

Zankou's Garlic Sauce Clone

Grilled Game Hen w/Garlic Sauce

I had come across a news story about an Armenian-Lebanese restaurant called Zankou Chicken. This Armenian-Lebanese rotisserie chicken restaurant with a store in Anaheim, California (home of Disneyland) Little Arabia, is widely known for its white garlic sauce.  
At first I was thinking "how good could this possibly be"? After a little more reading I figured that a tiny shop that nets over $1 million annually must be doing something right. As good as the chicken is supposed to be, this sauce defines what they do.
Last night I did a simple grilled game hen that I cooked with just salt, pepper over hardwood charcoal that I added a couple of sticks of applewood to. This chicken was moist and juicy and the Zankou Garlic sauced absolutely killed.
Before you break this out for a special date please keep in mind that this recipe calls for an entire head of raw garlic.

Zankou Garlic Sauce Clone
1 large, peeled russet potatoes
1 whole head of garlic, peeled
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, reserve half
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil

Zankou Garlic Sauce 

• Make sure the potatoes are completely peeled, with any green or brown discoloration is removed.
• Boil the potatoes in salted water until soft, then mash to a smooth consistency. Allow to cool.
• Pour the oil into a measuring cup with a spout to allow for easy administering.
• Place the peeled garlic cloves, salt and half of the lemon juice in a blender. Be sure to secure the lid.
• Turn the blender on high, and slowly stream the oil through the hole in the lid until the mixture combines into a smooth consistency.
• Pour out the garlic "mayo" into a bowl
• Add the mashed potatoes to the mixture 2 tablespoons at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon until it's the consistency of loose, mashed potatoes. 
• Add the remaining lemon juice a little at a time until the tartness tastes balanced to you.
• Cover the bowl, and chill the sauce completely.
• Temperature will affect how salty foods taste. Adjust the salt after the sauce has cooled.

This sauce had the consistency of frosting. The starch from the potato when pureed gets a pasty texture and next time I might not use a ricer to mash the potato. The sauce keeps its texture when cooled and the flavor is out of this world. This could easily become a "go to" for sandwiches or just about any other protein dish you want to give a garlic kick to.

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Whole Bowl

The Whole Bowl

There is a small restaurant (that started as a food cart) here in Portland called: "Whole Bowl".

The ingredients are basically a burrito, but without the tortilla wrap.

Brown rice, red and black beans, cheddar cheese, avocado, onion, cilantro, salsa, sour cream and and addictive mustard yellow sauce they call: Tali Sauce. Locals also call this sauce "Crack" sauce as it is something you just want to keep eating.

I did some digging around on the interwebs and came up with a recipe that is close to the original. If you are going to the trouble to put this sauce together go ahead and scale it up.....this stuff seems to disappear way too fast.

(Almost) Tali Sauce

• 1/4 cup almonds
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup garbanzo beans
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup large flake nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 TBS whole grain Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor and then add 1 tsp each of:

• curry powder
• onion powder
• turmeric
• chili powder
• cayenne

Blend again until combined and serve with your bowl ingredients.

Sex in a Bowl

Sex in a Bowl

This time of year when it is cold and wet in Portland (every day) I love to make comfort food. I had a friend over for dinner and we started some short ribs and then went out for drinks while they braised for 3 hours.

These are simple enough that you don't really need a recipe-brown some beef short ribs that have been seasoned with salt and pepper and dredged in flour, Cook a mirepoix of carrots, celery and onion. A bit of tomato paste and 2 cups of canned roma tomatoes, a bottle of wine and 2 cups of beef stock and let it cook for 3 hours. Remove the ribs and keep warm. Strain the remaining braising liquid and then reduce in a sauce pan by half. Serve over Creamy Cheddar Polenta and top with the sauce and Horseradish Gremolata and pour a "big" Zinfandel (Turley if you have it). The result as my friend said is: "Sex in a Bowl".

Boeuf Bourguignon

This Christmas I received a copy of Julia Child's "My Life In France". Seeing the movie "Julie & Julia had made me want to find out more about Julia Child. Yeah, I had known who she was forever, but I had never really watched her cooking shows on PBS and the only cookbook of hers that I had was "The Way To Cook" (which is fabulous).
Anyway, after reading "My Life In France" I decided I had to have a copy of Julia's seminal work "Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This first cookbook took Julia and her co-authors a little over 10 years to write and get published. The love of France and attention to cooking detail is all over this book. Julia loved good food, but she really loved to share meals with her husband Paul and her many friends. Cooking became an outlet for her feelings for her family and friends. I have to admit that I had no idea how much time and effort this book had been. I also knew by Julia's description of the work she had done that this book is truly a classic and that anything in it is going to turn out well.
What was my first recipe cooked out of the book? Why, of course it was Boeuf Bourguignon. This was the recipe that Julia's editor (Judith Jones) used as a test. This is hands down the best wine based beef stew you will ever have.

Boeuf Bourguignon

My friend Joan told me a story of seeing TV food celebrity Alton Brown at a lecture. Someone asked him: "If you could have anyone in the world cook for you who would you choose"? Apparently he answered immediately with: "My wife". Alton said that no one cooks for you like someone who loves you. I don't know about you, but I love that story. Valentine's Day is around the corner and you could do worse than to make this meal for someone special.