The Food Nanny

August 31,32 2010

Meal 1: Stir Fried Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce and Sweet Potato Noodles

• Rinse the noodles under cold water until they separate and become manageable. Drain. Warm them by: plunging in hot water, microwaving with a dash of water, in a steamer, or pan fry them in a hot pan with a little oil. Dress them with a little soy sauce and sesame oil if you like. Transfer them to a serving plate.

• Heat a sauté pan to very hot and add a little oil. Being careful to avoid letting too much liquid into the pan, add the vegetables and stir them around a bit. Now, shake the sauce very vigorously and add it to the pan. Add the remaining liquor from the veggies. Stir and let the sauce simmer until the eggplant are soft and the sauce has thickened. Add a little water if necessary to allow the eggplant the time to cook before the sauce becomes too thick.

• Serve atop the noodles.

Meal 2: Bouillabaisse Illinwa, Whole Wheat Knots a la Pistu & Mixed Greens

• Warm the stew in a saucepan. Add some water if necessary and adjust the seasoning.

• Warm the knots and dress the salad.

What Makes Food Artisanal ?

Continued from August 21, 2010

So, who is an artisan? An artisan sees the beauty in what they do whether it is writing computer code, day trading, or making chocolate from cacao. Artisanal work is a product of mind, body, and spirit: we consider it, we labor to make it, and it refelects something about our character be it aesthetic, idealogical, or perceptual. As you mature your works shape your character and your character influences your products. It becomes you.

Now, what makes food artisanal? Is it product quality, provenance,… packaging? I suppose the answer is all of these. Recall Dan’s bars: the labels printed from drawings onto heavy paper, a hand formed jacket of wax paper around the bar itself, and finally the chocolate – well made, consistent, true to form, and delicious. My personal favorite had the coffee beans studded into it. Moreover, I observed that the chocolate became a favorite item for people to give to others. Our first taste of Flatlander chocolate was from a gift bar. We received and gave others too. What a beautiful life of their own.

An artisan cook then is taking care of all aspects of their profession from conception to consumption – they have become or aspire to be, consummate. But also, their food is able to become something in itself, something perhaps beyond its creator’s intention. Maybe it becomes a symbol or a tradition or habit or a hobby or an inspiration for others. That is perhaps the ultimate expression of artisanship, for nothing is greater in cooking and eating than transformation, be it the communion of ingredient into food or death into life.

(The pits.

Sorry, low hanging fruit.

Again! Oh, somebody stop me...)

Back To School

August 24, 2010

"Back to school, back to school,
To prove to Dad that I'm no fool.

I've got my lunch, my shoes tied tight,

I hope I don't get in a fight.

Oh back to school, back to school."

 

Meal 1: Mac N’ Cheese, Cream of Tomato Soup, Blue Moon Mixed Greens

• Warm the Mac gently~300° for 10-15 until just hot.

• Heat the soup, grate some romano (Prairie Fruits Mollisol is great) on top for a treat.

• Dress the greens.

Meal 2: Nacho Grande

• Warm the beans/rice in the microwave or an oven (325° for 10-15).

• Flash (sauté quickly) the vegetables in a hot, oiled pan and season with a pinch of salt.

• Place the nacho’s atop the warmed casserole, add the vegetables atop of them and dress with a little fresh cheese, yogurt, or sour cream plus piquant condiments of your choice! Dig in.

Thinking About An Artisan

 

     The other night I shared a bar of Dan’s memorial chocolate with my family and some friends – the first I had eaten since the pieces distributed at the co-op memorial on July 28th. That night, he visited me in a dream. I recall clearly his face and the feeling of his arm as he placed it around my shoulders and inclined his face to my ear. He assured me and encouraged us. The sensation of this is still clear from the reverie. My cooking work is often solitary and there is a lot of time to contemplate; Dan, and his perspectives, are in my thoughts considerably these days. In particular: What is an artisan, and what makes food artisanal, and what is its value?

     First of all, I think, an artisan needs to be a professional. It is not enough for him to be just a talented amateur. His work and his livelihood must be intimately linked. The professional accepts the risk of the art; he may fail either in execution, or in business. Either way, their livelihood is at stake when they work, and that means something.

   

  Secondly, there is a prerequisite of practice and permeation. Despite being a professional the artisan practices even when not working; and, the degree to which they execute this balance (see the Razor’s Edge) will affect their style and proficiency. An example would be an artisan fishing guide who still fishes in his own time. He thinks about fish as well as fishing. He ties flies, and studies rivers in all times of day, through all times of year. His fishing is in his mind and work. His life is permeated by his work. An artisan farmer really loves good vegetables and loves to eat them. Her farm reflects her mind. Her food is both beautiful and potent. She knows that when she sits down to a meal of her hard work she feels it in her hands and back and heart, and she knows that she is privy to the delicacy of vivaciousness that few know.

     Inasmuch, a professional cook who loathes his job, and there are many, for good reasons, cannot be an artisan regardless of his talent. Can someone who doesn’t even like cucumbers grow and market them well? Well, an aficionado of pickles knows what to favor and cultivate in terms of variety, trellising, harvest maturity, and storage to ensure maximum pickling pleasure. Can we not assume that the antithesis would fare worse? And herein lies the rub: pleasure. The artisan is a professional who seeks above all to be pleased by his work.

Next Week: What makes food artisanal?

Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho & Veggie Burgers

The Food Nanny

August17/18 2010

Meal 1: Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho, Portuguese Broa, Chic Peas with Feta

• Serve the soup chilled.
• Warm the broa in the oven.
• Serve the chic peas at room temp.

Meal 2: Veggie Burgers on Challah Rolls, Mixed Greens, Melon Salad

• Heat the burgers in the oven until hot, about 10 minutes at 325°. Toast the roll.

• Dress the salad and serve the melon chilled

Guerrilla Food

I’ll never forget the summer that Max & Me transitioned from its rented retail space to a new catering only location. The lease expired before the remodel was complete and we had several major jobs in the interim. Max set up his home as kitchen central with a reefer truck (bummer of a misnomer BTW) and a small event tent in the side yard as a satellite outpost. I was stationed to the outpost with my favorite collaborateur – a wildcard artist with a Dutch palindrome for a name. We were charged with making a bouillabaisse. The first step was to manually dismember live lobsters, poach their favored appendages, and toss their still twitching cephalothoraxes into smoking hot olive oil to roast for rendering into an über-savory stock. The spattery, smoky, marine life/burning hair like aroma coupled with the dynamism of watching these animals die while their protinaceous exoskeleton denatured from mottled blue-green to cliché red is my fondest memory of geurilla cooking. You see – what we were doing was patently non-compliant, and like roasting a whole lamb, so wholly visceral and engaging as to be native to us, instinctual. Cuisine au natural. It’s hard to believe, over 10 years later, that the place or the man ever recovered.

The guerrilla kitchen as we came to call it was transitional and soon the new and present home of Max Hansen Catering was opened. Life returned from organized chaos to just abnormal. Those eventful weeks were during July and August of 1998 and they harken of the even more outdated summer kitchen’s of yore. Have you ever considered the divine irony in canning season? The year’s greatest glut arrives with the year’s most intense heat and somehow this is the condition that is supposed to inspire us to say “ Yes! Let’s fire up the whole stove so we can simmer, and boil, and steam great vats of produce and sterile jars!” Suddenly, the idea of having a kitchen located outside, vented by the breeze, sanitized by the sun, and equipped with the modern advances of running water and portable fuel, appears as a vision of loveliness to those inclined towards a kitchencentric life. It is in this vein that we are opening up the CSK and its many resources, including a soon to be constructed patio, to the public. We have giant grills and giant pots. We own a beast of a pressure canner and a commercial range plus a couple of portable propane side burners. We have a giant colander, bus tubs, three chest freezers, a pasta maker….basically, a lot of stuff that makes summer processing easier, plus know how to offer the neophyte. 

Please Join Us! On August 21, bring your own produce and containers to our home and join us in making the most of our resources to make the most of the season.  All people Welcome, the more the merrier, though we will be limiting numbers due to space. For More Details click the Kitchencentric Life Tab at the top and to reserve a spot email: foodnanny(at)gmail(dot)com

Heirloom Tomato Pizzas & Curried Eggplant

The Food Nanny

August10/11 2010

Meal 1: Heirloom Tomato, Chevre, & Rustic Pesto Deep Dish Pizza with Blue Moon Mixed Greens

• Warm the pizza gently in the oven at about 300° until warmed.

• Serve the salad dressed.

Meal 2: Curried Eggplant with Biryani and Grilled Summer Squash Salad.

• Warning: this food contains whole spices such as star anise. Look out for and avoid them! (The coriander and cumin are OK)

• Heat the curry on the stovetop.

• Warm the biryani in a sauté pan with a little water to steam it through – or in a microwave. Room temp is fine too.

• Enjoy this salad at room temp or heated in the same manner as the biryani.

Mystery

Please pardon the following brashness. I can’t claim to have known Daniel H. Schreiber very well; but, I cannot here again write without full pretense if I do not now take a moment to acknowledge and grieve his passing.

Some say once you're gone you're gone forever, and some say you're gonna come back.

Some say you rest in the arms of the Savior if in sinful ways you lack.

Some say that they're comin' back in a garden, bunch of carrots and little sweet peas.

I think I'll just let the mystery be.

-Iris DeMent “Let the Mystery Be”

Oh Daniel,

Your death is a mystery to me.
You knew so many of us. Yet you left us completely stunned. What had we missed?
What was paining you?

You looked worn, harried the last day I saw you. I assumed that it was the normal toll of business.
At our parting moment though, your eyes each looked into a different part of space.
Please pardon me for my shallowness, my self involvement.
I last saw you on Saturday the 24th. Your birthday I later learned.

I imagine the impossibility of knowing the depths of a person’s innermost self and then I consider knowing yours.
So, where does the blame fit?
Perhaps right next to the reason.

I looked around at your memorial.
We are the people who should apparently all know and work with each other aren’t we?
Did you perhaps bring us together for a reason better than sadness?

What I can do?
Be braver, for life is short, so make things happen, like amends, even when it’s tough.
Be active with others. Work hard, but also work with friends.
Be nicer. You were a helluva guy. 

Your death will always remain a mystery to me.
-Yours

P.S.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlaoR5m4L80&NR=1

Summer Squash Latkes & Big Fat Burritos

The Food Nanny

August3/4 2010

Meal 1: Summer Squash Latkes, Cucumber-Yogurt Salad, Persian Rice

• Mix the latke batter and season it with salt. This was omitted to avoid wateriness. Heat a generous amount of oil (not olive) in a sauté pan. When hot and nearly smoking add a dollop to the pan and flatten with the back of the spoon. Portion 3 latkes per share. After about 2 minutes flip the latkes and cook the other side. It should be golden brown. Serve hot.

• When the latkes are done add some olive oil to the pan and heat it to medium hot. Add the rice and quickly fry it to heat it up and make it unctuous.

• Serve the cucumber salad chilled.

Meal 2: Big Fat Burritos and Latin Cole Slaw

• Heat the burrito in the oven at 350° for about 10 or until just hot and toasty.

• Season the slaw with salt as this was omitted to avoid wateriness. Serve the slaw chilled.