July 03, 2007

from every mountain side...

... or this picture is a decoy

by the handful

Like many of you, 4th of July among a few other holidays make me think endless opportunities to cook, drink and be merry with friends - who can resist such joys?

Ever since living in America, I connect the memory of summer to some kind of a 4th of July celebration. Be it taking my parents to an overcrowded Brooklyn Heights Promenade, or a cook out with friends, each year holds some kind of a memory. However, when I think of my summers spent growing up in Russia, I think of my grandmother's spacious apartment - sunlit, glorious, full of delicious food, my grandmother up at 6 o'clock in the morning to fix me and my cousin breakfast. Everything from scratch. Whole, fresh, local ingredients. And berries. Endless bowls of berries: gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries and currants in red, white and black variety. I would eat them until I could eat no more. I miss those days because it's not that simple to find fresh currants in America. But when I found red currants at our green market for $3 a box, I felt like I found a hidden treasure and immediately grabbed two cartons!

memories of a blissful childhood

While I am a bit low on content this week (on Monday, KS cooked us a killer meal of steamed wild salmon and sugar snap peas with curry-spiced couscous (did I get lucky or what?) and yesterday I was at work late so we ordered Peking duck and eggplant with garlic sauce - mmmmm), I'd like to revisit some of the dishes that might be good inspiration for your celebratory needs and excellent for group meals! I hope you find this useful and enjoyable.

Me - I'm planning on making a sour cherry pie among other goodies! And of course, I wish everyone a festive and safe Fourth of July!

The SassyRadish signature salad
Apple Pie
Awesome Spicy BBQ Wings
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Marinated Onions
White Bean Salad with Tomato and Basil
Pissaladiere

And over at Accidental Hedonist where I am guest blogging for another five months:
Tomatillo Black Bean Salsa
Smitten Kitchen's Potato Salad
and
Watermelon Martinis (a must for every hot summer night celebration!)

Posted by radish at 05:05 PM | Comments (2)

March 19, 2007

a touch of the irish

corned beef with cabbage, potatoes and carrots

I have, on a number of occasions, claimed that give me a holiday having nothing to do with my culture, throw some good food in it, and I’ll be more than happy to celebrate it just for the food of it. A few people in the past raised their eye brows at me when I told my stories of lamb roasts over Easter weekend, or trying (albeit unsuccessfully) to make aloo ghobi over Divali. My own favorite holiday, Thanksgiving comes with my favorite dishes, plenty of them, and a table full of friends. Interestingly enough, I quickly grew to love Thanksgiving and kind of forced it on my family. And now my mother kind of even likes it. But I digress.

after the bath

I realize that there’s just about as much Irish in me as was in Golda Meir, and I’ve never even visited the Emerald Isle. And even despite the fact that in my heart, I always felt a little Irish, with what, my love of Guinness, Irish music, my favorite writers are all Irish (Joyce, Wilde, Yates, Shaw, Thomas Lynch), cabbage and potatoes (undoubtedly stemming from my Russian upbringing) and whiskey; I cannot, rightly, lay claim to the heritage, being its eager admirer nonetheless. And yet, despite all that, when KS emailed me about making corned beef and cabbage with mustard for dinner Friday night, I leapt at the opportunity, immediately researching the recipes online. Give me slow-cooked tender meat that has been braising in the oven for hours on end, and I’m a happy girl.

corned beef ready for slicing

If any of you reading this are New Yorkers, you will probably remember Friday as the worst weather day in the history of winter 2006-2007. I don’t even know what that was that fell from the sky, but I’ve never seen anything quite so nasty. Microscopic icicles? A new strain of sleet? Spiked, armed snowflakes?

Nursing a cold and a Rudolph-red nose, the last thing I was looking forward to doing is going to Whole Foods and picking up the ingredients for our Irish-pride feast. But KS, being a gentleman and world’s most glorious boyfriend, did it for me, picking up a succulent cut of corned beef brisket from Bazzini along with a few other ingredients.

introducing - the savoy

As soon as I came home from the office, I got immediately to work around starting around 5:30pm, and by 9:30pm we had ourselves a simple, Irish meal, so delicious, we regretted not buying a larger brisket so that we could have leftovers or make it into corned beef hash (but we later decided that not only are we going to make this again soon, we're going to brine the brisket ourselves - ha!).

kicking it up a notch

The four hours of waiting was worth every minute. And while corned beef with potatoes & cabbage is one of the simplest, easiest things to make (I still cannot believe how little effort it took and how good it tasted), it has an honesty to it that is filling, satisfying and comforting. While the weather outside was frightful, we, wrapped in fleece and wool, ate on the couch, watching the Empire Strikes Back, and gobbling up our food. The only thing missing from our dinner was soda bread, but given the fact that I just learned the soda bread I have known and liked in the past is apparently an impostor, maybe that’s okay. The authentic version sounds a bit unappetizing.

So okay, I’m not Irish by blood, but perhaps being a little Irish at heart is acceptable? And while on Saturday, I didn't imbibe(colds and beer rarely go hand in hand), I did pick up a tome of Yates and read a few poems.

Ingredients:
One 3-pound corned beef brisket (uncooked), in brine
16 cups cold water
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
4 whole allspice berries
2 whole cloves
1/2 large head green cabbage (about 2 pounds), cut into 8 thick wedges
8 small new potatoes (about 1 1/4 pounds), halved
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tbs chopped dill

Serving suggestion: Whole-grain mustard

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Place the corned beef in a colander in the sink and rinse well under cold running water.

Place the corned beef in cocotte like Le Creuset or Staub, with a tight-fitting lid; add the water, bay leaves, peppercorns, allspice, and cloves. Bring to a boil, uncovered, and skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Cover and transfer pan to the oven, and braise until very tender, about 3 hours and 45 minutes.

At about 3 hours, pull out the pot, and pour some of the liquid into another large pot, add potatoes to it and bring to a boil. For the last 10 minutes of potatoes cooking, throw in the cabbage (you don't want mushy cabbage, trust me). Once the potatoes and the cabbage are done, drain them and toss with some freshly cut dill.

Pull the brisket from the pot, slice and serve immediately with cabbage and potatoes, and mustard.

Posted by radish at 08:05 PM | Comments (0)

November 29, 2006

Turkey for Me, Turkey for You

Thanksgiving_2006 (9)

Thanksgiving is yet another way for me to remember how good I have it when it comes to friends. I must've done something right in my past life because I am blessed with some amazing people in my life. For that, I will eternally be grateful. And I'm grateful to have the means to feed a large group (not without help) of these friends, all hungry for Thanksgiving meal.

Turkey's never looked better. Or tasted better. When we carved it, the juices ran clear and flooded the pan. We tasted the breast meat, and our knees went weak. This was turkey to be reckoned with.

Thanksgiving this year went smoothly and without a hitch. There was turkey. There were three cheesecakes. There was the now traditional and requested porcini mushroom soup. The chestnut stuffing. The spicy baked acorn squash. The apple celery salad. Cranberry relish with lemon zest and Cointreau. Apple pear pie. Pumpkin Souffle Bread Pudding so delicious, it disappeared almost instantly with people clamoring for more. And more.

I didn't have a single meltdown. I was cool and composed and even wore my cooking frock.

IMG_1171

And in the end we fed 27 people, all of whom ate a good meal with some good friends. The turkey, dubbed as TheBeast weighed 26 pounds and there wasn't a scrap of it left by night's end.

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This recipe is adapted from Alton Brown's method of preparing a turkey. I have three golden rules of making sure that the turkey comes out right each and every time:

  • Buy a kosher turkey - the bird comes pre-brined, which means you don't have to do the dirty work
  • Basting is evil
  • Stuffing is evil

    The rest, is fairly easy stuff.

    1. Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with herbed, salted and peppered butter. What herbs you use, is up to you, but I'm a fan of dill and rosemary. Now, make sure the put some of that butter where you might feel embarrassed to: under the skin of the bird as far down as you can reach. Tie the legs together with some twine.

    2. Pour a cup of orange juice in the pan, add to it a sliced apple, quartered lemon, sliced onion, and chopped shallots.

    3. Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

    4. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15-30 minutes before carving.

    Yield: 10 to 12 servings

    Posted by radish at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)

    • November 20, 2006

    Thanksgiving 2006 - The Menu

    P1010174

    I've not posted much, I will admit, but those who know me will tell you that I live and die by Thanksgiving holiday. Not only is it my opportunity to flex my cooking skills, but it's also a way to gather my friends together and feed them. Over the years, I've met an amazing number of amazing people. And while people say that your friends reflect who you are, I am truly humbled by the friends I have - generous, kind, sensitive people who are full of life and love.

    As of last week, the Radish has found herself unemployed. Downsizing and restructuring have put her in the ranks of those laid off and while the lifestyle of leisure has its appeals, she is not one to sit idly.

    With more time on my hands to plan, I was able to finalize our menu for this year. I am going to start composing entries for the recipes to publish them one by one once I have good pictures of the dishes. But for now, consider this an amuse-bouche, an preview of things to come.

    2006 Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

  • Turkey
  • Stuffing
  • Mashed Potatoes
  • Pumpkin Souffle/Bread Pudding
  • Apple Pear Pie
  • Green Apple and Celery Salad
  • Mushroom Soup
  • Sweet Potato Salad
  • Cheesecake
  • Cranberry Sauce
  • Roasted Acorn Squash
  • Roasted Fennel (Ew!) - my best friend is making it.
  • Roasted Beet Salad

    Posted by radish at 04:55 PM | Comments (2)

    • November 27, 2005

    Thanksgiving - The Dinner Itself

    The Turkey Dictator weighs in...

    P1010196

    The final menu went as follows:

  • Dandelion Salad with Delicata Squash
  • Apple Celery Salad
  • Prosciutto e Melone
  • Porcini Mushroom Soup
  • Roast Turkey with Orange/Apple Cider Reduction
  • Stuffing
  • Mashed Potatoes with Goat Cheese and Caramelized Leeks
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Roasted Carrots & Parsnips
  • Cranberry Sauce with Lemon Zest
  • Roasted Fennel & Haricots Verts in Lemon-Rosemary Dressing
  • Pumpkin Soufflé Bread Pudding
  • Pumpkin Cheesecake
  • Apple-Cranberry Lattice Top Pie

    In the end, 17 people showed up, last-minute place cards were made, and there was much rejoicing. Yay. The night before, Rob’s sister made tablecloths from the leftover material they had from when they made his 18 foot wide Venetian blind. The red covered tables looked very festive and holiday-like.

    Some of our friends brought some dishes that Rob and I asked them to make. In the process of this whole ordeal, I've obtained a new nickname - the Turkey Dictator. I suppose I barked out orders right and left, but my simple justification for it is that I delegate well. That's management for ya.

    Cooking began the night before. I made the apple-cranberry pie and a few of us worked on the pumpkin soufflé, which turned out to be my absolute favorite thing on the menu. I am making that again really soon!

    I showed up at Rob’s apartment the next morning around 8:30 with coffee and donuts in tow. We immediately started cooking getting the easy things out of the way first.

    The cranberry sauce was a cinch. The very first one Rob’s ever liked and the one that requires very little prep. We blended the cranberries, sugar, lemon zest and some scotch in his super powerful blender and stuffed the ready-made concoction into the fridge. I immediately started upon the mushroom soup, because I wanted to make sure it had hours to develop the flavor.

    Once the soup was on and happily simmering, I turned my attention to the turkey. I’ve already waxed dramatic on the virtues of a kosher turkey. I have, however, forgot to mention that the turkey, no matter if you go kosher, organic, free-range, or all of the above, needs to be fresh. As in never previously frozen. And yes, it is worth paying 3-4 times the cost of the affordable Butterball. I kid you know. This is worth it. Every bite.

    After rubbing the turkey with butter in places I should and shouldn’t (I felt like I was violating the bird) and placing the herbs inside the cavity, I made sure the turkey rested comfortably inside the roasting rack that was places inside the roasting pan. The turkey, weighing in at 22lbs was not an easy bird to transport back and forth. I added a few ingredients to the bottom of the pan and followed Alton Brown’s turkey-preparation instructions. Once I blasted the turkey with a lot of heat to brown the skin and made its breast plate armor, I stuck the thermometer inside its breast (the thickest part), pulled the cord out of the oven, adjusted the temperature and never looked back.

    Until the timer for temperature went off, that is.

    I did not baste a single time. Not once. And you know what? Several people came up to me to tell me this was by far the best, tastiest turkey they’ve ever had. My boyfriend, who is a dark meat aficionado, confessed that for the first time in his life, he had a hard time deciding between the white meat and the dark meat. Everything was moist, juicy and flavorful. I was pretty amazed – and not at my own cooking – but at the fact that by simply getting a quality turkey and following a what has got to be the easiest turkey preparation instructions, I wound up with a winning recipe.

    So while the turkey was roasting and I was forgetting all about it, because I didn’t have to remember to baste, Rob and I got to focus on other dishes, like the stuffing and roasted fennel with haricots verts. And while I hate everything fennel, I had to oblige and accommodate those who actually are crazy enough to like this rather untasty vegetable.

    In the end, the dinner went without a hitch. People stuffed themselves into a stupid oblivion and were lightly groaning by the evening’s end. I would have gladly partied til dawn were it not for having to report to work the next day.

    I’ve recipes to give out. A few are family treasures and some were developed by me in a painstaking fashion. If you want them, drop a comment in here and I’ll give them to you. The mushroom soup, for instance, is a family-old recipe which I’ll share. The exact flavoring for the turkey is coming in the next entry. It’s long rather.

    Here are a few easy ones: cranberry sauce and the apple-celery salad.

    Cranberry Sauce:

  • 4 Bags of Cranberries
  • 1 cup of granulated sugar
  • zest of 3 lemons
  • 2 tbs of scotch or bourbon

    Mix in a food processor or a blender. It beats the cooked, gellatious stuff any given day.


    Apple Celery Salad:

  • 3 Granny Smith Apples
  • 1 bunch celery
  • ¾ cup of caramelized pecans (roast pecans in butter and brown sugar)

    Dressing:

  • ¼ cup of lemon juice
  • 1 tbs traditional country French mustard
  • 1 tbs maple syrup
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

    Slice the apples into thin slices, chop celery and throw in the pecans. Add the dressing. Toss well. Serve immediately.

    • Posted by radish at 10:49 PM | Comments (4)