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In my first year of business school, we were presented with the following problem (slightly modified):
A farmer in Iowa owns 45 acres of land. She is going to plant each acre with corn or potato. Each acre planted with potato will yield $200 profit; each with corn yields $300 profit. Each acre of potato requires 3 workers and 2 tons of fertilizer. Each acre of corn requires 2 works and 4 tons of fertilizer. One hundred works are available and 120 tons of fertilizer are available. What is the optimal mix of potato and corn that the farmer should plant to maximize profits?
I plugged all the numbers into an excel spreadsheet, opened the solver box, and clicked “solve”. The computer spit out the answer, 20 acres of each.
The computer modeling fascinated me. The following week, during spring break, I headed down to Even’ Star Farm. I wanted to utilize this new tool to see if I could help Brett maximize his profits. During the week, we calculated all the costs to get crops into the ground, out of the ground and to market. We then calculated the annual yields (based on previous years) and the profit. I wrote up the “case study” and submitted it to my professors.
They liked it! So much so, that they paid me retro-actively for my work; got the paper presented at the “American Accounting Association-Management Accounting Section International Case and Research Conference”; and now use the case-study in the MBA curriculum.
It was through this case-study project, that I was offered the opportunity to teach accounting at Babson, and begin the transition from chef to accountant/consultant.
A few weeks ago, I was in a Chinatown market, stocking up on pantry supplies. Looking for corn starch, I grabbed a bag and threw it in my shopping cart. I wonder if this came from that fabled farmer in Iowa??
After I write an exam for my freshman accounting class, I take the test myself. My goal is to finish in 20 minutes – a good gauge that it will take the students an hour. Similarly, when I’m cooking dinner, I know that I can accomplish in 20 minutes what will take the typical home-cook an hour. With 15 years of professional cooking under my belt, I chop faster, and can attend to several pans on the stovetop while doing other prep or clean-up.
I realize that what I define as “quick and easy,” may not be for others. I try to reconcile this difference when friends and family call or email for recipe suggestions.
Last weekend, I prepared hors d’oeuvres for a dinner party, and wanted to keep it simple since I knew the meal preparation would be more elaborate. As I started to write up my blog-post, I read noble pig’s post about a “quick and easy” appetizer: bacon-peach pinwheels. Though, they sound *delicious*, they did not seem “quick and easy” even to my standard. They require several components, some stove top cooking followed by some baking.
For me, quick and easy are recipes that require little or no cooking, and can be made with a few ingredients.
One of my favorites is cucumber slices topped with broiled eel or smoked salmon.
How do you define “quick and easy”?
Cucumber with Broiled Eel and Green Apple
1 English cucumber 1 package broiled eel (available at Japanese or Korean markets in the freezer section) 1 green apple Radish and/or scallion to garnish.
1. Slice cucumber into ¼ inch rounds. 2. Slice eel filet in half lengthwise, and then into 1/2 inch strips. 3. Put eel pieces on a cookie sheet and warm in a 400F oven for 5 minutes. 4. Meanwhile, slice green apple 5. Top each cucumber slice with a slice of green apple and a piece of eel. Garnish with radish slices or scallions if desired.
Risotto is one of those exceedingly flexible dishes. Now, I haven’t read Ratio by Michael Ruhlman, but I’m guessing that risotto would be in there.
The basics are simple, the adaptations are infinite. Let me rewrite the ingredient list a little differently:
3/4 cup arborio rice ½ cup aromatics 1/4 cup alcohol 3 cups liquid 1/3 cup grated or crumbled cheese 4 tbs. whole butter garnish lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste
Depending on the “garnish” you put in your rice, whether it’s shrimp, mushrooms or duck confit, you can adapt the other ingredients to fit. For example, the aromatics can be onions, shallots, garlic or any combination. The alcohol could be cognac (for shrimp), sherry (for mushrooms) or red wine for beets. The cheese could be Parmesan, goat or smoked Gouda. And for the liquid – any combination of water, chicken, lobster of vegetable stock. Heck, you could use apple juice if you wanted…. Though I wouldn’t recommend it.
Conventional wisdom dictates that risotto should be stirred continuously while the rice is cooking.
But Lydia Shire is not a conventional chef. As a line cook at Biba, she taught me how to cook in her style… risotto, for example, was cooked in a large, 3 gallon rondeau pan. The large surface area allowed for even cooking, and easy pan-shaking. Lydia did not stir her risotto; rather she’d shake the pan occasionally just to make sure it wasn’t sticking on the bottom. After cooking the risotto ¾ of the way, it was spread out on sheet trays to cool quickly (and prevent over cooking). During dinner service, we (the line cooks) would finish the risotto by stirring in butter and cheese. The final stirring was just enough to coax out the creaminess while keeping the grains of rice separate.
I didn’t think much of this technique, one way or the other… until I was cooking with my brother-in-law. As we divvied up the cooking responsibilities for dinner one night, he offered to take on the risotto – an old friend had taught him how to make it, and he felt confident in his technique. I watched him stir and stir the risotto, just as his friend had taught him, slowly adding hot liquid. I didn’t question his technique – though different than mine, I knew this was traditional.
But as we sat down for dinner that evening, the risotto seized up into a glomy mound. All that stirring produced too much “creaminess” to the point of starchiness that glued the rice grains together.
To my taste, I prefer shaken, not stirred, risotto. And now I know why.
Risotto
Leftover duck confit makes a wonderful additional to risotto.
3/4 cup arborio rice 1 1/2 cups chicken stock 1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup white wine 1/3 cup parmesan 4 tbs. whole butter lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste
1. Bring chicken stock and water to a boil. Keep hot while making the risotto.
2. Heat large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add butter. When it is melted, add shallots, and sweat for 2 minutes. Add rice, stirring to ensure each grain is coated in butter.
3. Deglaze with wine. When the rice has absorbed the wine, add 1/3 of the liquid. Gently stir, to ensure that nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add 1/2 of remaining liquid. Cook rice, uncovered and without stirring, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add remaining liquid and continue cooking in the same method.
4. Test risotto to ensure that it is cooked almost completely. If not add more hot water, and continue cooking. Otherwise, season with salt and pepper. Stir in parmesan and butter. Adjust seasoning with fresh lemon juice, if desired.
Roasting the bird whole is perhaps the easiest way to contend with it. The perennial problem with this method is that the breasts cook quicker than the legs. And legs need to be cooked through, whereas the breasts are best medium or medium rare. If you break down the bird you can give each part its proper attention. Consistent in the cooking methods of each part of the bird is rendering the fat. This extremely fatty bird can render as much as 2 cups of fat.
I butcher the bird into 4 parts – the breasts, the legs, the carcass and the excess fat.
I reserve the carcass for duck stock. But before I even think about the stock, I shove it in the oven at 350 for an hour. The bones roast golden brown, which will add depth of flavor to the eventual stock, and the fat that coats the bones renders away. The stock will be much leaner for this extra step. I then throw the bones into a pot with a carrot, onion and celery stalk; a few sprigs of parsley, a pinch of salt and a twist of pepper. The whole thing is covered in water, and back into the oven for several hours. The stock can be used to make a sauce, soup or even to make risotto.
My favorite way to prepare duck legs is to confit them. If I’m organized, I start the process at least 1 day in advance. Classically, confit means “to cook in its own fat.” Chefs have taken liberties with the word to mean, braised in fat. If you’ve even seen “tomato confit” on a menu you can see what I mean. Obviously, a tomato doesn’t have its own fat, so in order to confit it, it is slowly roasted in olive oil. For duck legs, the long, slow cooking tenderizes the meat, melts away the excess fat, gives the meat a chance to absorb the flavors of the marinade and keeps it moist and succulent. The legs get rubbed with salt, plenty of garlic and warm spices, including cinnamon, cumin and ground ginger. I place them in a pyrex dish, skin side up, and put the excess fat on top. After 24 hours, of marinade, I cook them slowly in a 250F oven… at least 3 hours, but 6 hours is better. The fat melts away and creates a broth in which to braise the legs.
The breasts get broken down further, separating the skin from the meat. The skin goes into the oven at 350. This renders out the fat, leaving crackling, crisp skin. After a little marination in soy sauce and vanilla, I sear the breasts to medium rare, a process that takes only ten minutes.
A single bird is enough to serve four people a gracious meal of “Duck Three Ways”
Duck Confit This recipe is adapted from Madeleine Kamman's recipe 4 Duck legs 1/2 tsp. each cumin, coriander, cinnamon 1/4 tsp. each allspice, dried thyme pinch cloves 1/4 tsp. each cardamom ginger nutmeg lots of garlic, chopped half "a lot" of shallots, chopped salt and pepper duck fat (or fat trimming from whole duck)
1. Combine spices.
2. Season duck generously with salt, pepper and spice mix on the flesh side.
3. Toss with garlic and shallots.
4. Let sit for at least 24 hours.
5. Cook duck legs in 250 oven covered in duck fat for 2-3 hours, or until meat is very tender, and skin pulls away from the tip of the leg bone.
Cultures around the world have tricks for re-purposing leftovers into something delicious… The British recycle Sunday dinner into Bubble and Squeak – potato and cabbage patties with leftover mashers and braised cabbage. The Chinese fry day-old rice to refresh it with scraps of meats and vegetables. And Americans mix together all the Thanksgiving leftovers to come up with pot pie.
Is it coincidence that these dishes represent comfort food?
Of course, I didn’t make pot pie at Thanksgiving – though it would have been perfect with leftover pie dough scraps, creamed mushrooms, turkey, green beans and gravy all mixed together. Instead, I waited until a weekend when I hunkered down to cook.
I was cooking for a friend who recently lost her husband after a long battle of with MS.
I sensed she hadn’t been eating well, so I devised a strategy to provide both nourishment and a restorative. A nice meal always lifts my spirits, so I opted for my new favorite lobster dish that she could enjoy on the evening I stopped by. I made a quart of chicken soup to feed the soul, and a few pot pies to offer a little comfort.
Pot pie is the perfect freezer food as it can be made in individual ramekins and baked without defrosting. I was able to use up broccoli stems, some carrots and a few random mushrooms. You can use whatever vegetables you like. Once assembled, I put them in the freezer so they can be baked whenever you’re in need of a little comfort.
Chicken Pot Pie This isn’t so much a recipe as it is a suggestion. 1 – 2 potatoes 3 tbs. butter 3 tbs. flour ¼ cup white wine 3 cups liquid – a combination of chicken broth, cream and/or milk. Cooked chicken, cut into ½ bite size pieces Diced carrots Broccoli or peas Mushrooms Pie dough – frozen or use your favorite recipe Salt and pepper Fresh herbs like parsley, thyme or basil
1. Cut potatoes into ½ inch dice. Put in a pot of cold water. Add salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Drain. 2. In a medium pot over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook for two minutes or until butter bubbles up again. Add wine first then the liquid slowly, whisking constantly. 3. When liquid is incorporated, bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to simmer. 4. Add vegetables and chicken. Check the seasoning for salt and pepper. Add fresh herbs. 5. Put filing in ramekins. 6. Cut pie dough to match the ramekins in size. Top each ramekin with dough. 7. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown and the filling is bubbling. 8. Serve with a salad.
Most of my childhood food memories are good ones. I remember the first dish I ever made on my own: chicken simmered in wine and seasoned salt. I remember my mom taking me for sushi lunch on the day before my Bat Mitzah. And I remember making a gingerbread house that required a late-night bicycle run to get marshmallow fluff.
And there were a few bad ones… mostly involving foods which had that astringent aftertaste reminiscent of overly tannic wines (though growing up I couldn’t have defined that). Pecans were the first, and I later discovered I was allergic anyways, and the other was persimmons. Those sweet, creamy winter fruits can be lusciously rich. But if they’re under-ripe they can make you pucker like you’ve been sucking on lemons.
I don’t scare easily, but I’ve shied away from them ever since… they can be expensive and didn’t want to open the persimmon only to discover it was astringently under ripe. When I was at the market last week, a little bird whispered in my ear, reminding me that Fuyu persimmons don’t have that problem and I decided to give them another whirl.
When I got home, I tentatively cut it open and gingerly nibbled at the meat. The flavor was somewhat cloying but no sign of tannins. It was tasty, but didn’t feel like a snacking fruit. Maybe it was just too sweet for me? It needed something to balance it.
As luck would have it, I had a perfectly ripe avocado at the same time. A quick Google search revealed that the two would pair beautifully along with a little miso, ginger and lemon. And into the kitchen I went to prepare dinner.
This was a quick and delicious dinner. But it requires careful planning to have a ripe avocado *and* a ripe persimmon at the same time. If you can do it, it’s well worth it!
Fuyu Persimmon and Avocado Salad with Roast Chicken I served this on a bed of wilted spinach.
2 chicken breasts 1 ½ tbs. miso 1 tbs. chopped ginger 1 tsp. chopped garlic ¼ tsp. chili flakes 1 tsp. canola oil Salt and pepper
1. Mix miso, ginger, garlic, chili and oil. 2. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Schmear miso all over chicken and let marinate for 20 minutes or more. 3. Bake chicken in a 350 oven for 20 minutes, flipping once after 10 minutes of cooking. While chcicken is cooking, prepare the salad Salad 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 1/2 tablespoons miso paste 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup olive oil 1 ripe avocado 1 ripe Fuyu persimmons, thinly sliced Salt and pepper to taste
Whisk together lemon juice, miso, and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. This dressing should be a bit more acidic than you typically prefer as it will soften with the avocado and persimmon. Halve, pit, and peel avocados, then thinly slice crosswise. Gently toss together avocados, persimmons, and dressing.
Mother Nature is brilliant – she stealthily tells us what foods to pair with what and when. Tomatoes and basil, the classic flavor marriage born in southern Italy: we don’t even think about it now, but the fact that they grow next to each other in the hot Mediterranean sun tells us. Similarly, dill, potatoes and salmon from the cooler northwestern region of Europe taste great together too, and by no coincidence they hail from the same region.
We can also be guided by the seasons. Asparagus and Morels are quintessential spring and pair beautifully. Apples and cabbage peak in flavor in the fall and elevate each other’s flavors. I hadn’t really thought about it previously, but Brussels sprouts and tomatoes just don’t work together. Let's suffice it to say, I have the pictures to prove it.
When unsure about pairing flavors together, if I don’t reference The Flavor Bible, I think about the seasons and the origins.
The other night, I was cooking dinner and thinking about how to cook the beets I had in the fridge. I had more clementines and recalled that orange and beets are a classic combination. But as I thought further, I was confounded… beets grow in the summer: I know this about beets because I see them at the Farmers’ markets and also grew them myself. But citrus are native to the winter. How could this be? This flavor pairing couldn’t be a classic if Mother Nature hadn’t intended it, could it?
Interestingly, the root vegetables like beets and potatoes tend to be considered winter vegetables even though they are grown in the summer and fall. They get this reputation because they store well through the colder months in the *root* cellar. When I think about it like this, it’s not surprising that the root vegetables also pair well with the winter flavors.
See, she had it figured out all along… Mother Nature is brilliant!
Beet and Clementine Salad 3 beets 2 clementines or 1 large orange 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/2 tsp. ground cumin 1/4 tsp. ground coriander salt and pepper to taste torn mint to garnish
1. Wash beets. Toss them with 1 tbs. olive oil and put them in a 375F oven (in a pan) for 30 minutes or until a knife easily pierces through. 2. Meanwhile, peel the clementines and cut into sections. See Helen's blog for a great photo montage of how to do it. 3. When beets are tender, let them cool slightly. Peel them with a peeler or paring knife. Cut them into wedges, and place them in a heat proof bowl. 4. Heat remaining olive oil in a small skillet. Add cumin and coriander and cook over medium heat until fragrant. Pour over beets and toss. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 5. Add the clementines. Garnish with mint just before serving.
I arrived in Hong Kong at 6pm, bleary-eyed from a 24 hour flight but also fully aware that I should get a bite to eat and try to stay awake until 9pm. I headed down Wanchai Road in search of food and adventure.
I was intrigued since I had never seen such culinary action in the US. And so the quest began to learn how to make these two dishes. The la mein has been a long saga without a happy ending, so I won’t regale the details here. The rice noodles on the other hand…
I took two cooking classes during my trip to mainland China, but had to wait until my trip to Vietnam to see the rice paper/noodle in action. As I explored various cooking school options, I focused on a course that would teach me had to steam rice paper or rice noodles.
A woman in the Mekong Delta making rice paper
In the class at The Red Bridge Cooking School, we learned how to steam the rice paper for fresh summer rolls. The chef gave us instructions for making the batter… soaking raw white rice in water over night and then pureeing it with 4 parts water for 7 minutes. The batter was already made for the students to then steam on the steamer-contraption they had set up. Imagine a tambourine (without the jingle) with a taut, translucent fabric set over a steamer. The batter is poured onto the drum and smoothed out with a ladle; I made one rather successfully. As I started to make a second, the instructor stopped me… “No, no, no. Only make one.” I was disappointed but also felt I had enough resources to try again when I returned home.
Attempt #1 was an unmitigated disaster. I tried to fashion a steamer-drum using a cotton napkin and an extra-large rubber-band. I soaked the rice overnight and then put it in the blender to puree. And puree. And puree. The batter never became smooth enough to make the thin crepe-like batters, but I tried cooking a few anyway. The napkin smoldered around the burner, the batter seeped through the napkin leaving the grainy rice on top. I was defeated and didn’t think about it again until I saw the recipe for steamed rice rolls on Ravenous Couple’s blog.
For their batter, they used rice flour and tapioca starch. This seemed doable to me. So I set out again to make the rice paper. Making a steaming device remained the unresolved challenge. But then the flash of brilliance passed before me just long enough to realize that a silk screen (typically used for making art and t-shirts) might also work.
Did you know that silk is flame-proof? I learned this in the Arab markets in Jerusalem. If the salesperson claims the fabric is pure silk, ask if you can take a match to it. If they say okay, they know that the silk won’t catch fire. If they say no, then fabric is probably made of polyester or other flammable material. This was a useful factoid to remember as the silk of the steamer dangled precariously above the burner.
At the local craft store, I bought a sheet of silk (though I could have also bought the whole silk screen set up, the size didn’t seem right for me) and a large rubber band. I wrapped the silk around the bamboo steamer. Success #1.
I then made a filling of pork and mushrooms to go inside the eventual rice papers. Pretty straightforward, and another check in the success column.
Batter… Easy. I measured out the flours and mixed with water. Check.
Cooking the batter was a bit of challenge, but after a few attempts I was able to successful ladle the batter onto my steamer-drum, fill it with the pork and roll it up.
As I was photographing the final dish, I thought to myself, “Self, this was good, but I don’t think it’s good enough to go through the effort. Glad I tried it.” And then I tasted it and thought, “Well, okay. That was pretty damn tasty. Let me think of an occasion when it would be appropriate.”
And then I started to clean the kitchen....
Steamed Rice Noodle Rolls with Ground Pork
4 oz. rice flour 3 1/2 oz. tapioca flour 1/4 tsp. salt 2 1/2 cups water plain oil filling (see recipe below) dipping sauce (see recipe below)
1. Mix together flours, salt and water. 2. Put silk-steamer over a water bath. Bring water to a boil. 3. Brush oil over silk. Brush oil over cookie sheet. Brush oil over spatula that will be used to turn noodle. 4. Ladle a scant quarter cup over silk-drum. Spread the batter so it's very thin. Cook for 2 minutes, or until it begins to look translucent. 5. Sprinkle pork on top of noodle, and use the spatula to roll it up, starting from the edges. 6. Gently remove from steamer and placed on greased cookie sheet until ready to serve. 7. Serve with dipping sauce, garnish with scallions and fried shallots.
Filling
1/2 lb ground pork 8 shiitake mushrooms, steams removed, caps chopped 1 shallot, peeled and diced 2 garlic cloves, peeled and diced 1 tbs fish sauce 1/2 tsp. sugar 1 tsp. oil pinch salt and pepper
1. Heat a medium skillet over high heat. Add the oil. When oil is hot, add shallots and garlic.
2. Season pork with salt, pepper and sugar. Add to the pan, breaking up the meat. Cook until there is no more pink.
Now that I’m a food blogger, I view meal-time differently – no longer is it about nourishing myself nor gathering with friends for an engaging repast; it’s an occasion to tell a story. And as I prepare my dinner, I think about what that story might be, whether it’s the vegetables from the garden, a trip to Asia or the fish I’m cooking.
Dinner the other night was brimming with stories.
I was driving home my milking experience and stopped en route at my favorite fish store. As I scanned the case, I noticed whole pompano. It’s a fish I’ve only eaten once, and probably 25 years ago. The recipe came from the Time-Life Cookbooks; I served it with kiwi and Jerusalem artichoke. The memory is etched in my mind of one of my favorite fish, though I’ve never eaten it since. I had to purchase it and remind myself what so enticed me.
When I got home, the ground had thawed again, allowing me to harvest more Brussels sprouts. These prized jewels would make a lovely accompaniment to the fish. Trying to get out of my bacon-rut, I opted instead for a relish of clementines and ginger. I still had a few citrus left in the case I bought, and they were on the verge of rotting… a relish would be a quick and easy way to use them up.
And, of course, I had to use the milk – fresh from the cow, only hours old. The dairy manifested itself into wonderfully light and buttery spaetzle.
The story of my dinner may be incoherent, but the meal was eloquent and divine!
Broiled Pompano with Clementine Relish and Roasted Brussels Sprouts (spaetzle recipe coming soon.......) 1 whole pompano, filleted 3 clementines 1 shallot, peeled and diced fine 1 tbs. minced ginger 1/4 cup Chinese Rice Wine 2 tbs. butter 1 sprig fresh tarragon, or 1/2 tsp. dried olive oil canola oil
salt and pepper to taste
1. Cut Brussels sprouts in half. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place them on a cookie sheet in a single layer, cut side down. Roast in a 400F oven for 20 minutes, or until crusty brown on the bottom. 2. Meanwhile, section the clementines, removing the white membrane. 3. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Season fish with salt and pepper. Add a thin layer of canola oil to the pan. Gently place fish in the pan, skin side up. Cook over high heat for 5 minutes, or until brown edges are visible around the fillets. Flip the fillets, and cook for two minutes more. Remove fish from pan, and set aside in a warm place. 4. To the fish pan, add the shallots and ginger, and cook for 2 minutes or until they soften. Deglaze the pan with the wine, and reduce. Remove from heat and swirl in butter. Stir in the clementines and tarrgagon.
Serve fish with Brussels sprouts and clementines drizzled on top.
, but I’m guessing that risotto would be in there.
recipe
, I think about the seasons and the origins.
