Salmon Bagels

Well, I guess technically this is an open sandwich. I've grown quite fond of bagels while I've lived in the states, and this classic is one of my favorite bagels recipes.

Ingredients:
- bagels [1]
- cream cheese
- smoked salmon
- (pickled) capers
- arugula

On toasted bagels spread cream cheese, add a layer of thinly sliced smoked salmon, some capers and a top of fresh arugula. Eat immediately.

[1] I prefer everything bagels, but do as you please.

Italian Sausage Pizza

Pizza with 2 Italian 'sweet' sausages, 1 red bell pepper, 1 shallot, mozzarella and tomato sauce.

Jícama

When I first told one of my friends about the sunchokes, he asked me if they were anything like jícama. Shamed, I had to admit that although I had noticed jícama at the store I had never tried them and actually had no idea what they were like. He told me he had had them in salads, where they were somewhat like pears. I immediately resolved to buy one and see for myself.

I discovered that the jícama had an interesting texture, tending a little bit to fall apart in flakes. From my friend's description I guess I shouldn't be, but I was actually surprised at how sweet the taste was. In the simple salad that I made with it at first it didn't work very well.

However, balancing the sweet with something sour works quite well, and I was much happier with the result the second time around, when I cut the jícama in cubes and soaked it in a mix of freshly squeezed juice of 2 limes, 1/2 pink grape and 1/2 orange (added a little salt & pepper to taste). As I said, I liked this a lot better, but the result still isn't quite what I expect from a salad. More like a fruit salad.

Corn Chowder

A chowder is a thick soup, and the following is a modification of the first chowder I ever encountered (Ironically, I spent a month in Boston prior to this and didn't have clam chowder even once). Once this dish was introduced at the cooking club at my dorm it occurred repeatedly.

Ingredients:
- oil
- caraway seeds & ground cumin
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 large onion
- 1.3-1.4 kg (3 lb) potatoes
- 2 dL (1 cup) flour
- 1 L (1 quart) vegetable broth
- 1 L (1 quart) milk
- 650 g (23 oz) frozen corn
- bunch parsley [1]
- 150 g (5-6 oz) sharp cheddar cheese
- salt and pepper
- sour cream (to serve)

In a big pot heat up a little oil, then add generous amounts of caraway seeds and ground cumin, followed quickly by crushed garlic and chopped onion. Stir for a minute before adding the potatoes as cubes 1 cm (1/2 inch) to the side. Stir till the onions are translucent, then add the flour and stir it around so the potatoes get even coated with flour. With stirring pour in the vegetable broth and milk, and continue to stir constantly while bringing it to a boil. Now cover, reduce to low heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes. Then add in the frozen corn and the chopped parsley, and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. Stir in grated cheddar cheese and stir till the cheese is melted. Season with salt & pepper. Serve with a little sour cream on top.

[1] could just as well be chives or cilantro

Mrs. Throat-Erator's Signature Cheesecake

For the recent Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner that we participated in we brought along this cheesecake - always a winner. Especially with the raspberry coulis.
Ingredients:
(cheesecake)
- 200 g (7 oz) digestive biscuits
- 100 g (3.5 oz) butter
- 150 g (5 oz) cream cheese
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) plain yogurt
- vanilla beans from 1 vanilla pod
- 65 g (2 oz) sugar
- approx. 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) whipping cream
- 4 sheets husblas [1]
(raspberry coulis)
- 100 g (3.5 oz) frozen raspberries
- 1 tbsp sugar

Crush the biscuits (e.g. in a closed ziplock bag) while melting the butter in a small pot. Mix the biscuit crumbs with the butter. Spread the mixture in the bottom of a springform pan and press it to a firm layer.

In a bowl mix the yogurt with the cream cheese (till creamy and homogeneous), then mix in the sugar, the vanilla and 1-2 tbsp lime juice. In a separate bowl whip the cream stiff.

If using 'husblas': Cover the sheets of husblas with cold water for 10 minutes, then transfer them to another bowl (now they're soft, do not let them drip off). Place in this bowl in a hot water bath till they are molten. Now add about 1 dL (1/2 cup) of the cream cheese-yogurt mixture to this and mix it quickly before pouring it all back into the rest of the cream cheese -yogurt mixture with stirring. Add the whipped cream. Add lime juice to taste. Now cover and place in the refrigerator until the mixture becomes semi-firm (1/2 - 1 hour), then place on top of the biscuit crumb bottom, cover and put it back in the refrigerator for some hours (preferably overnight). Serve with raspberry coulis.

Raspberry coulis is made by blending raspberries (if frozen, thawed and drained) with sugar.

[1] Husblas is a type gelatin sheets. As this recipe details, it needs a little bit of preparation before use. While I'm sure other gelatin sources could be used we haven't really found out how much to use of the other types (e.g. powdered, as is easily bought around here).

Lasagna with Eggplant

By now I know a couple of people who swear by making the meat sauce for lasagna using so-called Italian sweet sausage (see here), but this is the first time I'm trying it .. but it won't be the last.

Ingredients:
- 225 g (8 oz) lasagna plates
- 1 eggplant
- bread crumbs
(meat sauce)
- 5 Italian sweet sausages
- 1 red onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 800 g (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
- 170 g (6 oz) tomato paste
- oregano, rosemary, salt & pepper
- water
- oil
(béchamel sauce)
- 25 g (1 oz) butter
- 3 tbsp flour
- 4-5 dL (approx. 2 cups) milk
- ground nutmeg, salt & pepper

If your lasagna plates need to be boiled get started on those first, then proceed to the meat sauce while they're boiling.

Otherwise just start with the meat sauce: In a big pot heat up some oil, add the diced onion and stir for a few minutes. Then add the sausages, and work them well with the spoon, so you get a pretty homogeneous mixture. Add crushed carlic and continue till the meat is cooked. Then add crushed tomatoes and tomato paste, plus a little water to rinse out the cans (and to make the sauce a little less thick). Bring to a simmer and leave it simmering while preparing the béchamel sauce.

Preparing béchamel sauce is basically just like preparing the kind of gravy I grew up with [1] - on the one hand I don't think it's all that complicated, but on the other I do seem to remember some learning curve when I was a kid, and I've definetely met a lot of people who seem puzzled about the whole concept. Anyway: I a small pot, melt the butter - be sure not to brown it. Once melted turn down the heat and stir in the flour to get an even, thick paste. Now, on medium heat add the milk in smaller portions with constant stirring - for each portion of milk added stir until the mixture is homogenous and turns thick again. Finally season it.

The eggplant is simply cut in slices about 1 1/4 cm (1/2 inch) thick.

Now assemble it: In an oven proof tray, put alternating layers of béchamel sauce, lasagna plates, meat sauce and the eggplant. It's a good idea to have béchamel sauce as both the bottom and top layers, and using 1 eggplant I got just a single eggplant layer in the middle. On top put a layer of bread crumbs.

Bake it in the oven, at 225 C (450 F) for the first 10 minutes, then at 175 C (350 F) for the last 20 minutes.

Serve with a little grated pecorino (or parmigiano).

[1] That kind of gravy goes well with boiled potatoes, which I ate regurlarly when growing up.

Chickpea & Couscous Salad

When using canned chickpeas this becomes a really easy and fast salad to make.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup couscous
- 1 cup water
- 1 can chickpeas (= garbanzo beans)
- 1 tomato
- 1 shallot
- 1 small bunch italian parsley
- salt, pepper and paprika

Bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat and mix in couscous, salt, pepper and paprika - stir it up and let it stand, covered, till most the water has been absorbed. Add the drained and rinsed chickpeas together with the diced tomato and shallot. Finally mix in chopped parsley.

Roast with tubers (Sunchokes ]I[)

Roast is something I have relatively little experience with. My parents would make it sometimes, but cooking most oftenly just for myself I have tended to make it only seldomly. Well, trying to get by on a tight budget probably played a part too. Then I lived for a couple of years with a guy who would grill a tri-tip every so often and after moving out of that house I find myself being more interested in cooking roast (although I don't plan on getting a grill any time soon). As mentioned recently cooking sunchokes brings out the flavour nicely so for this roast there'll be tubers on the side.

Ingredients:
- 1 tri-tip roast
- salt & pepper
(tubers)
- 8 potatoes
- 8 sunchokes
- salt & pepper
- rosemary
- oil
(mushroom relish)
- 3 shallots
- 100 g (4 oz) mushrooms
- 4 tbsp sour cream
- 1 dL (1/2 cup) red wine [1]
- salt & pepper
- tarragon
(salad)
- red leave lettuce
- 1 roma tomato
- kalamata olives

Season the tri-tip roast with salt and pepper, then seared it on all sides for a few minutes before putting it in the oven at 200 C (400 F) for about 50-55 minutes. After it comes out of the oven, let it rest for a few minutes, then slice it thinly.

Cut the potatoes in 3-4 pieces each, and put them in a oven proof tray together with the sunchokes. Drizzle a little oil over them and season with salt, pepper, and rosemary. This tray also goes in the oven at 200 C (400 F) for about 50-55 minutes.

Sautee the finely diced shallots, then add sliced mushrooms, salt, pepper, tarragon, and red wine. Reduce the volume for a few minutes, then add the sour cream and stir well.

Cut the lettuce, dice the tomato and add some kalamata olives.

Serve everything together.

[1] While I'm somewhat of a beer and whiskey snob, I am quite the opposite when it comes to wine. Usually a $5 bottle of cabernet sauvignon will do just fine for me.

Biksemad with sunchoke salad (Sunchokes ][)

Biksemad is Danish and translates roughly as "fiddled food" - I guess in America the term 'home fries' would cover the concept most accurately - and it's a typical left-overs dish. In my family we would traditionally get it when there were too many left over potatoes that needed to be used [1]. Other ingredients include any of the following: onions, carrots, green beans, bacon, meat balls, roast and so on.

In my cooking I rely somewhat less on boiled potatoes, and also often don't boil so many that I find myself with that excuse for making biksemad. Fortunately I've found that if you're willing to give it some extra cooking time the potatoes don't actually need to have been boiled and cooled first: fresh potatoes can be diced and fried just as well (particularly with a non-stick pan).

Biksemad tends to be a rather heavy dish, so adding a some salad on the side makes for a nice combination - and since recently I promised to use sunchokes, it will be a sunchoke salad.

Ingredients:
(biksemad)
- 4 medium-large potatoes
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 small onion
- 300 g (2/3 lb) frozen corn
- 2 eggs
(sunchoke salad)
- 6 leaves lettuce
- 6 sunchokes

Cut the bacon in small pieces and fry till crisp in a large non-stick pan, then add medium-finely chopped onion and stir till the onion is translucent. Then add diced (cubes 6 mm (1/4") to the side) potatoes and cook till the potatoes are cooked through. This takes a while and requires stirring relatively oftenly [2]. Then add the frozen corn and cook for a few minutes more. Make eggs however you like them. Serve with ketchup.[3]

The salad is really simple - coarsely cut the lettuce, add thinly sliced sunchokes and serve with a vinaigrette.

[1] Since boiled potatoes were the staple food of my upbringing this would not happen all too seldomly.
[2] If not using a non-stick pan this should be almost constant stirring.
[3] Of course this dish goes extremely well with beer.

Sunchokes I

The other day I was shopping for a few things at a local store and suddenly I noticed these tubers looking slightly like ginger. I immediately recognized my old friends the sunchokes. When I was a kid my parents always grew these in the garden - back then I didn't appreciate them too much, but I've later grown to like them a lot.

Judging by the puzzled looks on peoples' faces I'd say they are not very well known here in southern California, but they do go by quite a few names nonetheless: sunroot, jerusalem artichoke and topinambur as well. They are not closely related to the artichoke, in fact they are much more closely related to the sunflower - and they are in several ways reminiscent of potatoes, although with interesting differences. Continuing the confusion they have no connection to Jerusalem - that name probably comes from the Italian for sunflower girasole. In Danish they are called jordskokker, which seems to be derived from jord-artiskokker (earth artichoke). And certain German-speaking regions they even go by Erdbirne (that is: earth pear - just like potatoes are "earth apples" in French).[1]

Because there's almost no market for them here they are somewhat pricey - especially considering that they are very easy to cultivate and give high crop yields (when I quoted my parents what I pay for them here they concluded they had a small fortune in the garden). Untill recently I only knew one store that carried them, but right now I know a least 3 stores around here carrying them.

They can be eaten raw or cooked. Raw they add a nice crisp crunch to a salad, but cooking them really brings out the flavour in them. If you decide to boil them, beware: They cook much faster than potatoes and quickly turn to a mush if boiled for too long. This is possibly because they contain inulin instead of starch.

Upcoming posts will showcase a few uses.

[1] Reading up on this I just learned that in southern Germany they make a schnapps from distilled sunchokes - now there's something I'm curious to try.

Carnitas

It's already the 11th and no posts in November yet - overnight visitors kinda disrupted things around here. But before all this happened I finally got round to trying my hand at making carnitas - browned pieces of pork, Mexican style. I say finally because I grew up eating a lot of pork, so it's a little funny that I'm not trying out this variety any sooner although I've heard about it for years.

Ingredients:
- 1 pork shoulder
- water
- salt

The pork shoulder should have the bone and the skin removed, but some of the fat should remain. Cut the meat in pieces - about 2" x 1" x 1/2" (5 cm x 2.5 cm x 1 cm) and place in a large pan. Add salt and enough water to barely cover the meat. Bring the water to a boil and reduce the heat a little, so that the water can evaporate over the next 45 minutes to an hour. When the water is gone reduce the heat a little more and continue cooking while turning the pieces over until the fat is rendered out and they have been browned nicely. Serve immediately [1] with e.g. tacos, sour cream, guacamole, jalapeño beans, green salsa and red red rice.

[1] While they taste just fine being heated again later, the special delicious texture is only really there when freshly prepared.