A Very Eggy Thanksgiving

Despite a couple of kind offers, I chose to stay home and dine solo this Thanksgiving, in the company of my favorite kitty. Freed from the responsibility of cooking for other people’s palates, my menu options were so wide open it took a while to figure out what to fix. One of the multitude of holiday cooking shows I’ve watched recently mentioned that although turkey may not have been served at the first Thanksgiving in Massachusetts, lobster and venison likely were. Aha! A starting point. I had a couple of lobster shells left from the recent sale at Lobsta Bakes of Maine, and I could pull a package of venison out of my freezer.

For my Autumn Seafood Stew, I made lobster stock with a chunked onion, the stalks and part of a bulb of fennel, four evacuated corn cobs, a healthy handful of fresh sage, and two lobster shells. I filled the pot with almost enough cold water to cover, then half a bottle of white wine. Trouble was, that was a lot of water and the lobster shells themselves didn’t give off much flavor. Next time I’ll try to remember to add some fish trimmings (or do what I did today to tweak the leftovers – I bought some lobster stock from Kevin at Lobsta Bakes – he has more fish trimmings and lobster shells to work with than I could ever hope to). Last night I took about a third of the stock, added clam juice, fennel seed, celery seed, and dried chipotle pepper and reduced it significantly, then added the other half bottle of wine and reduced some more, until it finally started to taste like something.

I fried a couple slices of Eckerlin’s double-smoked bacon, sautéed fennel, onion, garlic, and corn in the renderings, then quickly cooked some oysters. Part of this mélange went on my dinner plate and the rest, along with shrimp, lobster, and roasted red pepper, went into the reduced stock to which I added a bit of cream and brandy – a definite boost to my rather weak stock.

For my meat course, I went with an old favorite, venison carpaccio, which, I am thankful to say, went in a delicious new direction this time. First I thin-sliced a couple of these butterflied steaks.

I had in mind to do a little taste-testing with my carpaccio, so, using the corn as a colorful divider, on half the venison I used fleur de sel and Banyuls vinegar from Le Bon Vivant, along with some Meyer lemon and blood orange olive oils I’ve been hoarding since my trip to California last year. On the other half I tried three products from Stuarto’s Olive Oil Company I came across on my Wednesday night trip to Lexington: wild mushroom and sage infused olive oil, espresso salt, and espresso balsamic.

I will have much more to say about the magnificent dinner/cooking class I attended at Azur Wednesday night. For now I will mention that Azur chef Jeremy Ashby used Stuarto’s products in several of the evening’s dishes, and Stuarto’s owner Stuart Utgaard was on hand to talk about his products and offer some for sale. The first time I happened onto chef Ashby was at the Incredible Food Show in Lexington in October, and during his demo there he raved about one of Stuarto’s olive oils that he described as being an excellent all-purpose finishing oil. It was not available either at the food show or on Wednesday at Azur, but I had a moment to ask the chef for a recommendation. When I told him I planned to make venison carpaccio for Thanksgiving, he suggested the wild mushroom and sage oil (which I purchased), and then his eyes lit up. They weren’t among the products Stuart brought that evening, but Jeremy went into his kitchen and came back with these samples of Stuarto’s espresso salt and espresso Balsamic. Thank you, Jeremy! I would never have thought to mix espresso flavors with my tried and true carpaccio, but these were amazing, giving the dish a whole new dimension and depth!

I topped the seasoned venison with capers, sliced garlic, and, in place of my usual parmesan, shards of sheep’s milk cheese from another KY Proud company, Good Shepherd Cheese.

This dish made me so happy I didn’t think twice about not having turkey for Thanksgiving :)

It just wouldn't be right to have a holiday dinner without dessert, and I came up with one that entailed hardly any work. Last weekend at Jean-Paul's Paradiso, I picked up some house-made pumpkin sorbet.

I love chocolate with pumpkin, so I made some ganache. If you’ve never made your own ganache before, what are you waiting for? It is dead simple even if you, like me, are no pastry chef. Just chop some chocolate (Joy of Cooking says 8 oz.).

Bring some cream to a boil (Joy of Cooking says 3/4 cup).

Remove the cream from the heat and stir in the chocolate. That’s all there is to it (although I like to add a splash of Grand Marnier to mine). It keeps well in the fridge, and a few seconds in the microwave will return it to a creamy consistency. Don't let the fancy-sounding French name intimidate you – this recipe is almost impossible to mess up.

I drizzled a little ganache on the pumpkin sorbet.

Because it was a holiday, I added some toasted pecans. And then, my best idea of the evening hit me: I added a bit of that espresso salt from Stuarto's! What a magnificent match with the chocolate!

So there you have it, how I holiday cook when left to my own devices. And I enjoyed every moment of solo, stress-free self-indulgence. Of course I missed being with family and friends. But this just wasn’t the year for it. I’m still in overly protective mode since Scout returned from his 2-1/2 week walkabout and didn’t want to go off and leave him for the long weekend. But I am happy to report he has bounced back from his ordeal – so much so that today he went outside for the first time in a week. You can bring the kitty indoors, but Scout is one kitty you just can’t take the outdoors out of.

Thankfully, he came back in too.

Wishing you all the best of holiday weekends, and if you’re out shopping, please shop local and handmade.

xoxo, eggy

Culinary Smackdown – Cindie's Part of Our Entry for Battle: Oktoberfest

It’s that time again. Stephie of Small Girl Adventures was chosen as the winner of the August Smackdown winner by last month's host, Grumpy Granny (GG was otherwise occupied this month, traveling from Colorado to San Francisco from her epic swim around Alcatraz!). For this month’s contest, Stephie elected Oktoberfest as our theme. She’s already up with her post here, so head on over and check the comments for links to what the other participants came up with this month.

As for Cindie and me, after last week blew up on both of us, we ended up modifying our original plan to make sauerbraten (basically, German pot roast marinated in vinegar and red wine), one of my favorite German dishes. There’s nothing difficult about throwing beef into the marinade, then braising it 3 to 7 days later (the longer in the marinade the better, I say). But I didn’t get to the store early enough last week to make that happen, so we switched our entrée to sausages and kraut and forged ahead with the sides we had originally planned. Every time we’ve cooked together this summer we’ve tried to adhere to the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle. This time we think we finally achieved it. And I managed to remember to take some step-by-step photos along the way. So let’s roll.

HOT SLAW

This side was Cindie's baby, and she approached it the same way I often tackle recipes I haven’t made before. She googled several variations, then combined what she liked about each into her own version, which I had the foresight to ask her to write down while she was prepping. (It's always harder to remember after the fact, especially with a full belly.) I’m doing my best to read her handwriting as I transcribe here.

5 slices bacon, cut up, fried and drained

Keep the the bacon grease.

1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and chopped

Add these to the warm bacon grease and saute until translucent. Season with salt, pepper, celery seed, and whatever else you choose. Caraway seed would be good, but Cindie's not a fan. We also declined to go the cinnamon-nutmeg-brown sugar route. We like our slaw vinegary.









1 large or 2 small heads of red cabbage, heart removed and thinly sliced

(You might want to beware of small cabbages. Cindie came to the conclusion later that the ones she'd purchased were old, with the outer layers removed, making them look smaller.)

1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon olive oil

Place melted butter and olive oil in the bottom of a casserole dish, then add alternating layers of raw sliced cabbage and the sauteed onion, apple, garlic mixture, ending up with top layer of cabbage. Add the crisp bacon.

Vinegar - oops, Cindie forgot to note how much she used. She used white wine vinegar because that was what she had on hand. I'd say cider or red wine vinegar would work just fine too.

Place the casserole in a 350 degree oven for at least an hour, turning twice.

Cindie wanted her hot slaw to retain some cabbagey crunch rather than braising it for several hours. An hour at 300 didn't get the raw cabbage cooked, so she bumped up the temp and cooked it some more. Eventually she had to add some more liquid - beer and hard cider worked great.


SAUSAGES AND KRAUT

This is dead simple, especially if you have good sausages and fresh sauerkraut to work with. Neither of us can resist the great sausages from Cincinnati sausage artisans like Kroeger's and Eckerlin's at Findlay Market or Avril-Bleh's on Court Street. Turns out Cindie had overbought, and frozen, an interesting array from our food forays over the summer, and this was a perfect time to use them. I headed to Avril's on my lunch hour last Friday for a couple pounds of their fresh kraut (Cindie's favorite). And I couldn't resist adding one of my own faves, smoked seafood brats from Lobsta Bakes of Maine, in Newtown (more about them in an upcoming post).

We had so many different kinds that we piled them into a Dutch oven (sprayed first with vegetable spray - Cindie always does that).

Put them in a 350-degree oven, uncovered, until the brats (yep, those are those giant ones from Eckerlin's) start to puff up and split.

Dump the sauerkraut and some beer on top of the sausages and continue to bake until the kraut is warmed through.







ETA: Here's my part of our entry for Battle: Oktoberfest - potato pancakes!

Culinary Smackdown: Battle Bacon

My friend Cindie’s mantra this summer has been the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle. But sometimes we just can’t help ourselves.

When Grumpy Granny announced bacon as the theme for the August Culinary Smackdown, Cindie decided we should do a bacon tasting. Cindie selected three of local fave Eckerlin’s bacon varieties and had me make little signs for them, insisting my handwriting is better than hers (when you've been friends as many decades as we have, you learn to roll with it).

First up, the applewood-smoked bacon.

When it came out of the oven, Cindie tried to make the number “1” out of toothpicks.

Next, the double-smoked bacon.

Aggravated with trying to make the number “2” out of toothpicks when it came out of the oven, Cindie resorted to a Roman numeral II out of basil stems.

Here's the one we saved for #3, Eckerlin’s hickory-smoked bacon.

By the time it came out of the oven, I convinced Cindie to quit worrying about numerals.

Results of our at-home taste test experiment? We both liked the way the bacon turned out baking it on a rack in the oven instead of frying it. Neither of us could pick up much apple or applewood taste in the bacon smoked that way, and thought it was saltiest of the three. We liked the double-smoked bacon better and it had a firmer texture to it (Cindie had also asked for it to be cut thicker). Our unanimous favorite was the hickory-smoked bacon. Which is what the guy who waited on Cindie on our previous trip to Eckerlin’s said was his personal favorite. Once again, it pays to ask vendors what they recommend.

Regardless of KISS, Cindie has made a pie or cobbler every time we’ve cooked together this summer. I peeled and cut the apples while she made the crust and a streusel topping she added later to this one.

For hors d’oeuvres, Cindie had in mind to reprise my Rumaki recipe, which we made earlier this season: Marinated Chicken Livers and Water Chestnuts Wrapped in Bacon. Thinner works better than thick-cut bacon for this application, although I struggled with some (not from Eckerlin’s) that was so thin it frayed apart and was tricky to secure with a toothpick.

If you’d like to try our version of Rumaki, we used a pint of chicken livers, a 5-ounce can of water chestnuts, rinsed (which wasn’t quite enough to match the amount of chicken livers we had, although two cans would have been too much), and however many half-slices of bacon it took to wrap them in after we marinated the chicken livers and water chestnuts in 1/2 cup soy sauce mixed with 4 tablespoons sugar. The marinade is one I use for bacon-wrapped water chestnuts without chicken livers, a much lighter bite. (Half as much marinade will be plenty for a can of water chestnuts if you go that route.) Ginger can be a nice addition too.

You can bake these puppies, but you’ll need to turn them. We found it easier to turn them and attend to even bacon cooking by frying them either on top of the stove or in an electric skillet. Look at Cindie’s tongs-wielding, rumaki-turning fingers fly!

As another supposed appetizer, we opted for classically simple bacon-wrapped scallops. I kept warning Cindie both apps would be rich and filling and finally talked her down to only nine of these lovely 10-20 count sea scallops from Luken’s at Findlay Market (they have larger ones too – this one just looks as large as it does because I biggified one of my best photos from the weekend).

Yep, I was right. We ended up with 3 or 4 appetizer platters like these (minus the mayo dipping sauce, which was actually intended for our main course/Smackdown entry). Luckily a couple of Cindie's husband’s friends stopped by and helped eat them.

While the men ate and shot the breeze outside on the deck, Cindie and I were glued to Hurricane Irene coverage inside on the TV. Our rich “snacks,” not to mention our early morning at Findlay Market and an ample lunch on the way home, caught up with us. We were both too full to eat our Smackdown dish that night, or, alas, that pie.

But I was not going home Sunday without photos of our entry – or tasting it. So here’s what I had for breakfast, er, brunch.

A couple of toasted slices of Blue Oven bread:

Some of these gorgeous red and yellow heirloom tomatoes Cindie picked at a friend’s:

And, of course, bacon. Plus some Romaine and leaf lettuce we picked up Saturday morning from one of the farmers at Findlay (barely visible here). I tried fancifying it a bit with Pimente d’Espelette in the mayo (I failed to add enough to store-bought mayonnaise for it to be a noticeable difference), and adding some fresh basil. I love the summertime combination of fresh tomatoes and basil so much that its addition worked for me.

Verdict? No need to mess around with a BLT when you have perfectly ripe home-grown tomatoes. They were unquestionably the star of this sandwich, although the rest of it was pretty darn good too. And as much as I enjoyed the ciabatta-style Tortano loaf I purchased from Blue Oven, you get more surface area – aka more room for bacon – when you keep it old-school like Cindie’s husband Odie did with his.

For much more innovative Battle Bacon entries, head on over to Grumpy Granny’s, where her own post as this month’s host (and last month’s winner) features a dish that will have you salivating (even if you’re vegetarian or have a sweet tooth) and you can find your way to the other Smackdown entries in the comments, which keep rolling in.

Ran out of time to participate this month? Got caught up in a hurricane frenzy or other real-world concerns? No problem. If you have power or are online in some fashion, you can still join in the fun and support the revival of this little thing we call the Culinary Smackdown by checking out the submissions, commenting if you choose, and staying tuned for where the Smackdown will go in September.

A Perfect Saturday Morning at Findlay Market + Battle Bacon Kick-Off

While all too many on the East Coast were contending with Irene's ill effects, she kept a high-pressure system in place over Cincy this weekend, with blue skies, comfortable temps, low humidity, and pleasant breezes.

Cindie and I couldn't have asked for a more lovely morning when we headed to Findlay Market yesterday to pick up ingredients for this month's Culinary Smackdown: Battle Bacon, hosted by Grumpy Granny. For my out-of-town readers, one of Cincinnati's nicknames is Porkoplis, stemming from my city's deep German heritage. We know how to embrace our nickname and have fun with it. The Cincnnati marathon is called the Flying Pig, and a few years ago, the Big Pig Gig had artfully decorated fiberglass pigs like the one in the photo above popping up all over town.

We made a point of arriving early so I could pick up some Blue Oven bread before they sold out. I took my place in the Blue Oven line while Cindie headed inside the Market House to the always-busy Gibbs to stock up on requests from her husband and father.

I was rewarded for my efforts with this hearty loaf of Blue Oven's Tortano, made with wheat flour and potato, plus some of Blue Oven's legendary English muffins, now safely stowed in the freezer for next weekend.

The Market Shed was abuzz with customers and offerings like these from LeGrand Vegetables.

Cindie and I never make a trip to Findlay Market without a stop at Fresh Table, at the east end of the Market House (just inside from Daisy Mae's, which also offers downtown delivery and a Quick Pick Produce option, where you can order ahead, then drive up for curbside delivery).

Fresh Table's prepared foods always taste as good as they look, and most are made with ingredients sourced from other Findlay Market vendors, including Daisy Mae's.

As much as Cindie and I love our old favorites at Findlay Market, we always seem to discover something new to us as well. This time we explored Skirtz + Johnson (in a store front across from Findlay's Market House on the south side). After seeing this window display, how could we not?

We treated ourselves to a couple of Skirtz + Johnson's lovely macarons on the spot. Cindie picked up a loaf of their salted rye from S+K's impressive bread selections for her father, and, powerless to resist a cannoli, I purchased their pistachio version after spying it in this dessert case inside.

Skirtz + Johnson also offers breakfast and lunch (you can find a menu on their website), including a uniquely Cincinnati goetta danish, made with goetta from Eckerlin's, Cindie's new favorite goetta.

Eckerlin Meats is another of our must-stops at Findlay, in part because Cindie's dogs love their smoked bones. Cindie passes up no opportunity to spoil her dogs (and these captivate Oscar's attention  enough to actually keep him from barking).

We were also on a quest for bacon for this month's Culinary Smackdown, and Eckerlin's was our go-to source.

Cindie had the idea we should do a bacon tasting, selecting Eckerlin's Applewood-Smoked Bacon, Hickory-Smoked Bacon, and Double-Smoked Bacon, although I wouldn't have minded trying their Cajun Bacon as well.

Knowing Cindie had a list with her, and would probably get carried away with additional purchases, I left her to her own devices at Eckerlin's while I headed to Dojo Gelato for some of their amazing Porkopolis gelato -  maple gelato mixed with candied bacon from another fine meat vendor at Findlay, Kroeger + Sons, thinking it would be a perfect way to kick off our Baconfest weekend. If you think that combo sounds odd, clearly you were not one of the people who caused Dojo to sell out of it between the time I finished in the Blue Oven line and went back an hour later. I had to console myself with memories of tasting it at Dojo's Hyde Park Farmers Market booth, and a cup of their Up in Smoke (made with a porter/ale?) and a hazelnut flavor with an Italian-sounding name I have sadly forgotten. However, it is difficult to stay sad long when tasting any of Dojo's flavors.

Thanks to all the great Findlay Market vendors I am happy to support with my local dollars, and stay tuned for more of my Battle Bacon adventures with Cindie later in the week.