Tiny Carrots!

This year, my father grew carrots in his garden.  Tiny, tiny carrots.  And when he pulled them up, he gave a bunch to me.  Yay for tiny, tiny carrots!

They were, I have to say, spectacular.  Better even than the carrots at the farmers market.  But, I suspect a lot of that is due to the fact that I can't really eat a carrot.  It's on the list.  The day I get my braces off I am having a caramel apple, corn on the cob, Laffy Taffy, and carrot party.  So, really, any carrot would taste good.  But, I suspect these were still better than average.

Carrots are one of those foods that I kind of feel like it should be a crime to cook.  Carrots, peas, beans, and broccoli are all on this list.  I have not had any of those foods cooked in a way that caused them to taste better than the raw version.  And they're all so good for you - and cooking pulls out the nutrients - so why would you want to cook them?  But, if I would have just sat down and eaten them raw, I probably would have broken a bracket.  So I decided to cook them up.  Plus my dad told me that he was only giving them to me so he could see them written about on my blog, and I bet he wouldn't have been happy with this:

Sat on the couch.  Ate so many carrots my skin turned orange.*

*True story.  This happened to my aunt when she was a kid!

I also was left with the question of what to do with all the beautiful carrot tops.  Google "Can you eat carrot greens" and you will receive responses ranging from "Absolutely!  Put them in your salad!  They are delicious" to "Absolutely not!  They are poison and they will kill you immediately!"  So, for the record, I do not recommend eating carrot tops.  If you eat them, and they are poison, and you die, I cannot be held responsible.  Also, if they are a slow killer, and you die someday (like at the age of 97), you cannot come back and blame me.  Okay?  Good.

But I threw them in my freezer and I intend to put them in my chicken stock.  I did eat a leaf off of one, and it tasted like a cross between spicy parsley, a carrot, and grass.  Not something I would want to eat raw or even wilted, but I think it would add a nice taste to chicken stock.

The other exciting thing about this dinner is that I made it on a Saturday.  That very next day I was engaged in my normal Sunday behavior (cleaning the house and watching cooking shows) and the SAME recipe I made was featured on Good Eats!  It was an old episode (Garlic), but one I had never seen before.  The part that made me jump up and down and clap my hands with joy was when it came to peeling the garlic.  When I read the recipe, it said to leave the garlic in its paper while it cooked, and then run the whole thing through a food mill or fine meshed sieve to get the paper off after cooking.  "That sounds like the dumbest plan ever," I thought to myself.  "What possible benefit could come of that?  I'm just going to take the skins off now and mash the garlic at the end - save myself making a mess!"

And what did Alton say the very next day? "Traditionally, this meal is made by leaving the garlic in their papery skins while cooking, and then removing them at the end.  That seems to be to be a good way to make a mess and burn your fingers, and I can't see any benefit to it!"

Huzzah!

I modified my recipe from my Essentials of Slow Cooking Cookbook, but it is also very close to the one presented in Good Eats "In the Bulb of the Night".  I think I probably like Alton's better, because it is Alton's, after all, and because you end up with garlic oil.

This meal should have had mashed potatoes.  It didn't, and I was sad.

Garlicy Chicken

• 1 chicken (3 to 4 lbs), cut into serving pieces (L)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 heads (yes, heads!) garlic, separated into cloves, peeled and lightly smashed (L)
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup chicken stock (L)
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (L*)

Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper.  In a large dutch oven over medium high heat, warm the oil.  Working in batches, brown the chicken well on all sides.  Remove from the pan and set aside on a large platter.

Add the garlic to the pan and saute over medium heat until lightly golden brown.  Pour in the wine and deglaze the pan.  Add the chicken stock, and stir again, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.  Add the chicken back into the pan and stir so the garlic is not trapped on the bottom.  Cover and cook on low until the chicken is tender and cooked through, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Once the chicken is cooked through, transfer to a platter and cover loosely with aluminum foil to keep warm, retaining any garlic cloves and remaining wine/stock/chicken juice in the pan.  Mash the garlic in the sauce with a potato masher, until the sauce is smooth.  Raise temperature to medium high and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Add thyme, and allow to simmer, uncovered, until sauce is thickened.  Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if necessary. 

Return the chicken to the pot and stir to coat the chicken well.

Honey Candied Carrots

The thing I found somewhat annoying about making this recipe is that none of the carrots were the same size.  When I make Jeff be my kitchen bitch, I always harp on him to cut things the same size so they cook evenly.  I can't do that, if the food is already different sizes to begin with.  I guess I could have cut all the carrots down to be the size of the smallest carrot... but that seems like a lot of work and I would have ended up with carrot mush, because some of these carrots were tiny.  So, instead, I sorted the carrots into different sizes and added them strategically to the pot so they were all done at about the same time.  What made it extra OCD was that I had to write down a list of what time each pile went in.  This list also included a diagram showing which pile was which number on the list.

I may be a crazy person.  It's okay, though...

• Salt
• 1 lb carrots (L)
• 2 tbsp butter (L)
• 3 tbsp honey (L)
• Freshly ground black pepper

Bring well salted water to a gentle boil over medium heat.  (A note on boiling vegetables.  As I said before, I am totally against cooking the nutrients out of vegetables.  So you want to use as little water as possible, and then, if you can, do something with that water so you're still eating it!  Put it back into your food!  But you certainly don't need enough water to cover the vegetables you are cooking.  In fact, I try to do half as much water as I have veggies...)

Once the water is boiling, add carrots and cook until they are just tender.  They should be soft enough not to break your braces off of your teeth, but still firm to the bite!  Remember, they're going to continue cooking after this, so they shouldn't be completely "done."  Drain carrots, and return to pan with butter and honey.  Cook until a glaze coats the carrots, about 5 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Preserving Experiment #5

Beets.

Prior to this year, I had never eaten one in my life.

I do have a cousin who loves beets.  He talks about them a lot - almost inappropriately so - on Facebook.

They are scary looking.

They look like weird, brightly colored potatoes.  They are dirty.  I expected them to taste dirty.  Not entirely sure why I thought that would be a bad thing... after all I do love potatoes and mushrooms, and I prefer my red wine to taste a little bit like dirt.

They have probably become the favorite vegetable in our house - both the root and the greens.  It's kind of shocking.

Doing some quick research on the interwebs, I learned the following about beets.  Very little of this is from scholarly sources, and if I were grading this from one of my students, it would totally get an F:

Supposedly, the eating of beets can prevent or reverse the following ailments:

• Acidosis, which leads to acid reflux
• Cancer
• Anemia
• Athersclerosis, which is a hardening of the arteries
• Vericose ceins
• High blood pressure
• Constipation
• Liver Problems
• Kidney and gall bladder diseases
• Gout

My husband has acid reflux, and I have anemia (and all the women in my family have vericose veins).  Also my body apparently really enjoys getting kidney stones, so I'm pretty excited that I can magically cure these things just by eating beets!  Okay, I don't think it works quite that way, but never-the-less it's good to know that something I like is good for me.

I don't have kids, but I feel like beets would be a good thing to try to feed your kids - as long as they don't know what they are or get to see them ahead of time!  The fact that they are sweet and brightly colored makes me think you could trick a kid into thinking they're candy or something.  Another good thing about beets is that, after you cut them up, it looks like you killed someone in your kitchen - which is always fun.

Apparently the growing season for beets is June through October, so we're just about done.  I wouldn't want to be without this magical vegetable for a full winter, so I'm glad I got this done in time!  I also thought this was my prettiest canning batch yet, and it made me sad to put the finished jars down in the basement where visitors can't admire them.  Next house: display shelf for canning!

I haven't tried these yet, since all the jars closed properly and I still have fresh beets to eat.  I will report back as soon as I do!

Pickled Beets
From the Art of Preserving

• 1 pound beets (L)
• 1 white onion, sliced (L)
• 1 cup cider vinegar (5% acidity)
• 1/4 cup honey (L)
• 1 tbsp cardamom pods
• 1 tbsp whole cloves
• pinch of salt

Have ready hot, sterilized jars and their lids.

Put the beets (whole.  Leave a little bit of stem so all the skin is intact and covering all the beet.  This helps keep the nutrients in) into a large saucepan (if using different colored beets, put each color into their own sauce pan) and add water to cover by 2 inches.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover partially and simmer until the beets are tender, 25-30 minutes.  Drain the beets, reserving 2 cups of the cooking liquid.

When the cooked beets are cool enough to handle, peel them (once the beets are cool, the skins slide right off - almost like the tomato skins, but not quite as easy)  and then cut into slices 1/4 inch thick.  Divide the beet slices and the onion slices among the jars.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the reserved cooking liquid, vinegar, honey, cardamom, cloves and salt.  Bring just to a boil, then ladle the hot mixture into the jars, evenly distributing the spices and leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.  Remove any air bubbles.  Wipe the rims clean and seal tightly with the lids.

Process the jars for 7 minutes in a boiling water bath.  Let the jars stand undisturbed for 24 hours, then set them aside for one week for the flavors to develop.

The jars can be stored in a cool dark place for up to 3 months (so I have to eat them all by Christmas!)

The recipe said this made 4 pints.  I only got two.  I ended up making three different batches, and stored them in half pint and 4 oz jelly jars.  I figure how many pickled beets do I really need at once?

I have to image that these beets would go great in this recipe.  I actually made this salad with fresh, grilled beets, but the pickled beets would go well too.  Cut out the tomatoes, and this could be a great winter salad when all I can get my hands on is greens.

Smoked Salmon and Beet Salad
(this recipe is for one salad)

• 1 or 2 large handfuls of mixed greens, washed (L)
• 1 tomato, quartered and cut into slices (optional) (L)
• 1 small or 1/2 large beet - steamed, grilled, boiled, or pickled, sliced into bite size pieces (L)
• 4 oz smoked salmon (L-ish.  Okay, this is smoked by Rushing Waters fishery, but not grown there)
• 1 oz goat cheese - I used a honey goat cheese (L)
• 2-3 tbsp Honey Basil Vinaigrette, or to taste 

Put greens in a bowl.  Top greens with other stuff.  Cheese can be crumbled or left in one chunk for presentation purposes as I did in the picture.

Honey Basil Vinaigrette (from this post, except modified to be basil instead of thyme!)
Makes about 1 cup

• 3 tbsp minced shallots (L)
• 1/4 cup champagne vinegar
• 1/2 cup raw honey (L)
• 2 tsp fresh basil (L*), minced
• 1 clove garlic (L), minced
• 3/4 cups extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

A Giant Steak Can be Good for You!

Red meat is, okay, not the healthiest choice.  It's high in fat, high in cholesterol, and has been linked to colon cancer, breast cancer and Alzheimer.  What the hell?

On the other hand, it's high in iron (and I'm anemic, so that's a plus), zinc (which is good for the immune system), and protein.

I'm not a doctor.  (Oh, gosh, had you not realized that yet?  Seriously, I'm not.  From a medical perspective this website is even less helpful than WebMD - the Wikipedia of Medicine!), but here's my problem with studies on the negatives of red meat.  All the studies I've seen compare the "Western Diet" (burgers, french fries, fried chicken), to the "Mediterranean Diet" (fish, grains, olive oil).  Yeah, the Mediterranean Diet is going to win!  But, what if the problem isn't the red meat?  What if the problem is the fact that our meat is being fed crazy antibiotics and ground up animal byproducts and god knows what else.  What if the problem is that it's being cooked in pure trans fat?  There's too much to separate.

In the end, everything is bad for you.  Yeah, I'm probably going to die of cancer.  But I'm also going to die of cancer because I like to garden in a tank top without putting on sunscreen.  Or because there was asbestos in my high school.    Or because of the aluminum in my deodorant, or in my aluminum cans.  There's too much to worry about.  If we don't all die of cancer, it's probably only because the terrorists won.  I can try to be healthy, but that's the best I can do.

1 giant-ass T-bone.  My husband and I shared this for dinner.

And that's what this post is about.  It's about the fact that I have recently found that I really like steak.  It is about my desire, with that realization, to eat steak.  And it is about the fact that, when eating steak, my husband seems to think that bigger = better.

My realization about my love for steak was slow to come about.  I've said before that real meat - that is to say, local food from a local farm - tastes different than meat from a grocery store.  I didn't think I liked beef, unless it had been slow cooked to the point of melting in your mouth.  I didn't understand when people said that a steak melted in their mouth.  Steaks don't melt - they're chewy.  Like chewing on people, I have said in the past.  Too fleshy.

And then I realized, bad meat = bad.  Cheap meat = bad.  Processed meat with fillers and added solutions = bad.  Happy cow, killed humanely, processed properly and minimally, and prepared well = amazing.

I'm not worried about eating too much red meat.  Red meat is expensive.  If it's not, you probably shouldn't be buying it.  Try the real thing... or don't.  Once you do, you may never be able to go back.

I justify the cost of red meat, and the possible health consequences, by making sure the rest of the meal is full of healthy, inexpensive, vegetably choices. 

A good steak has it's own flavor.  The best recipe is this:

Take steak (L).  Season generously with salt and pepper, and maybe a little minced garlic (L).  Sear on a grill over high heat, until medium rare.  Cook it any more than that, and I will find you and punch you in the neck.

A good steak meal, in my mind, is about the side dishes.  They should complement the steak and fill you up.  I was very happy with both of these.  The salad was especially good, and even my husband - who I think tends to see salad mostly as a filler item - was really happy with it.  The greens were a last minute addition to the potatoes, but they were a little peppery and I really enjoyed them.  You can't tell so much from the pictures, but I used a combination of red, Yukon gold, and purple potatoes.

Still a lot of steak...

Grilled Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Honey Vinaigrette

For the Vinaigrette:

• 3 tbsp minced shallots (L)
• 1/4 cup champagne vinigar
• 1/2 cup raw honey (L)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp fresh thyme (L*), minced
• 1 clove garlic (L), minced
• 3/4 cups extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

For the salad:

• 2 lbs whole beets (L)
• 1/4 cup water (L)
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 sage leaves (L*), minced
• 3 sprigs time (L*), minced
• 1 sprig rosemary (L*), minced
• 1 bayleaf
• salt and pepper
• mixed greens (L)
• Cherry tomatoes, sliced in half or quartered (L*)
• Crumbled goat cheese (L)

Combine dressing ingredients and shake vigorously.  


Wash well and chop beets into 1/2 inch pieces (I learned there is no need to peel them).  Place into the center of a large piece of aluminum foil and fold up the edges to make a "boat."

The first piece of foil I used was too small :(

 Pour in water, olive oil, sage, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, and salt and pepper.  Fold up to create a "packet."  Grill packet over medium high heat, until beets are cooked through and soft, about 30 minutes.  Top mixed greens with beets, tomatoes, and goat cheese, and dress with honey vinaigrette.  The dressing saves well, but you will need to pull it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving, because the olive oil will congeal.

Beets in their packet

Finished salad.  So pretty!

Pan Fried Potatoes with Beet Greens

• 1 lb potatoes (L) - I used a mix of Yukon, red, and purple, but you could use anything you wanted.  Unpeeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 tbsp butter (L)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (L)
• Greens from 2 lbs beets, sliced into 1 inch strips (L)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper.

Place potatoes into a large pot, and just cover with cold water.  Salt water, and bring to a boil, cooking at a gentle boil until potatoes just start to be tender.  Drain.

Meanwhile, add butter to a large skillet and melt over medium high heat.  Add garlic, and saute for about two minutes.  Add potatoes and greens, and cook until greens are well wilted, and potatoes are cooked through and golden brown.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Hey, I learned something!

One thing that I would really like to do is go to culinary school.  Right now, that's not an option.  But I'm working on it, so maybe someday (spoiler alert) soon.

But for now, no culinary school.  So I have started amusing myself by going to cooking classes at the Milwaukee Public Market.  And by "started" I mean I went to one.  But I'm supposed to go to another one tonight!

The class that I went to was on cooking ribs.  And, as we know from previous posts such as this one, this one, and this one, I love me some ribs.  But I've only ever made them in the crock pot.  Ribs take a long-ass time, and I just have too much to do.  I know that "grilling" is not "barbecuing," and since I have a grill I assumed I did not have a barbecue.  What I learned from this cooking class is that I am wrong.  I CAN barbecue.  Go team me!

Of course, now I need cooking toys for my newly found BBQ abilities.  I'm thinking about a wood chip box, and a stand that I can put a chicken on to make beer can chicken.  Like a beer can, only from Williams-Sonoma.  This may be why I never have any extra money...

Anyway, I made ribs.  They were delicious, but a little chewy.  I think that I cooked them too hot at first, because they started to char a little and then I turned the heat even further down.  On top of that, I think I might not have cooked them quite long enough.  I'm not a BBQ expert, though, so I will have to keep trying.  What a pity.

Much of this recipe was taken from the class, with a few changes to make it a little more local:

Honey Ribs

• 2 racks pork spare ribs

• Juice of 1 orange

Spice Rub:

• Zest of 1/2 orange
• 2 tbsp honey (L)
• 1 chopped garlic scape (2-3 tbsp) (L)
• 1/2 minced dried Thai chili (L* from last year), or any hot chili
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 2 tbsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp allspice
• 1 sprig rosemary, minced (L*)
• 2 sprigs thyme, minced (L*)

Mop Sauce:

• 1/4 cup honey (L)
• 1/4 cup champagne vinigar
• 1 bottle (12 oz) beer (L) - I used Leinenkugel's Summer Shanty

Rub orange juice into ribs.  Allow to sit for about 30 minutes.  Because I was moving slowly (it was crazy hot and I had danced the four days previous in the hot, hot sun) it took me 30 minutes to put together the rub.

Combine all rub ingredients and rub into ribs.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to overnight.


Grill ribs over indirect heat, about 200-250 degrees.  I accomplished this by putting the ribs over the middle two burners of my four burner grill and turning on the outside burners.  I was told that you should also put a pan underneath the ribs to catch any drippings, but I couldn't figure out how to get the grill rack out.  Baste the ribs with the mop sauce every 30 minutes, and cook until ribs are "done."  They should be tender, but not quite falling off the bone.  I don't think 3 hours was enough, but you might have better luck depending on your particular ribs.

I served this with a tomato mozzarella salad and coleslaw.

Green Coleslaw:

• 1/4 green cabbage head, sliced thinly (L)
• 1 kohlrabi bulb, julianned (L*)
• 1/2 large red onion, sliced thinly (L)
• 4 Tbs. white vinegar
• 4 Tbs. olive oil
• 1/2 tea. mustard powder
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and minced (L)
• dash of Worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbl. sugar
• juice from 1/2 lime
• 1/2 cup orange juice
•   mayonnaise to taste

Combine cabbage, kohlrabi, and onion.  In a second bowl, combine all additional ingredients except mayonnaise.  Add to cabbage/onion and stir to combine.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Just before serving, add mayonnaise until the whole thing starts to just be a little creamy.  Frankly, I don't enjoy over mayonnaised coleslaw.  I think I used about 1/4 cup.