Two Years Later and WIthout Photos

I just recently joined the Dunedin Harvest CoOp so I have had my hands on some fine ass produce.
This week I only bought onions, collards, and chinese eggplant.

This will be cleaned up later, but until then, here is a list of ingredients of this baked creature I made this afternoon.

-3 small chinese eggplant, medium diced
-4 large collard leaves, ribbed, and chinonade
-1 small onion, diced
-3 cloves garlic
-1.5 Tbl fresh rosemary
-1 can canellini beans
-1/2 box of "shells" pasta
-cottage cheese
-parmesan, grated
-panko
-1 egg
-1 jar putanesca sauce.

Mock Duck Foo Yung

This picture has distorted color, but the dish really isn't the most vibrant of dishes! I have never had or seen Egg Foo Yung before, so I wasn't really sure how the presentation was supposed to go. I found this recipe, and did what I could with what I had in my kitchen.

• 1/2 onion, julienne
• olive oil, for sauteing
• 10oz mock duck which I found at a local asian foods market--------->
• 3/4 c cooked corn kernels
• 3 eggs, beaten
• a couple Tbs soy sauce
  
• rice vermicelli, I cooked enough for two servings
• thinly sliced scallions, to garnish
  

1. Saute the onion in olive oil, until it begins the caramelize.
2. Add the mock duck pieces and corn and cook for about 3 more minutes.
3. Next, pour over the egg mixture and soy sauce and cook through.
4. I mixed the ingredients sort of into a scramble, but I think its supposed to be cooked more like an omelet.
5. serve the egg mixture over top of the rice noodles, and top with fresh scallions.

This was super decadent, I actually couldn't finish my whole bowl because it was so rich. It was still very delicious. If I make this again I will invite guests. There were probably at least 4-5 servings in the pan.

Sweet Fries with Chipotle Aioli

This snack was an homage to a restaurant I used to work at. One of our most popular tropas was sweet potato fries with a chipotle aioli, so straight forward, and the people were in love.

Sweet Fries: Its to your own discretion, whether or not you like to keep the skins on. I prefer it for the more earthy flavor and the vitamins lie just beneath the skin.
Cut the potatoes length-wise, and then to your preferred thickness, mine were a little less than 1/2" thick. Toss the potatoes in just enough olive oil to coat, and season with cracked pepper and coarse kosher salt. Line them on a foiled baking sheet in a single layer. Bake @ 450 for 15-20.
Depending on the thickness of your fries, you will need to adjust your cook time.

Chipotle Aioli:
This recipe yields about 1 quart (perhaps a little more, I didn't proper measure it). That's a LOT of aioli for one person, so you may want to cut the recipe in half or share some with your neighbors.
In a food processor:

• 2 garlic cloves, minced (in the processor)
• juice of 1 lemon, always roll your lemons first to get the maximum amount of juice
  
• 1 Tbl Dijon mustard
• 3 yolks, I used the yolks from my chicken, so they are probably a "medium" size
• 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
• 2/3 - 1 whole can (7.5 oz) of chipotle peppers in adobo, obviously the more you add, the spicier your aioli will be.
• S & P
• Puree the above ingredients well and emulsify by slowly drizzling in your oil, I used an olive oil/canola oil blend. For this recipe, EVOO would have offered too strong of a flavor. Olive pomace oil is a great choice for aiolis and dressings as well.
• I didn't measure my amount of oil because its slightly different every time. So you will add the oil until you see the mixture starting to slow in motion as it moves around the processing bowl. Its a good idea to stop and check the taste and consistency of your aioli to make sure it doesn't start to just taste like oil(another reason I prefer a lighter tasting oil)!
• Set in the fridge to chill, an hour - an hour and a half should be good.

This dip is good with crudites, good on sandwiches, really its just good on anything you want, it would probably be good as a hollandaise substitute on poached eggs.
As with most food, I would suggested not keeping this any longer than 7 days.

Almost Chicken Fried Tofu

Country Fried Tofu with Mustard Greens and a Raspberry Chipotle sauce
I tend to make dishes only once, which translates to never having made the dish prior. As soon as I started cooking this I knew there were going to be things I wanted to change for an unlikely "next time."

Raspberry Chipotle sauce.
First of all, I get that this sauce is SO played out, but I'd never made one myself. And despite the accusations and turned up nose I may give to a restaurant using such a sauce, I still think the combo of sweet and spicy is a match made in..

Into a small sauce pot over medium heat:

• 1/4 pint (6oz) of fresh raspberries
• 2.5 Tbl chipotles canned in adobo, chopped (More depending on how much heat you prefer)
  
• 1 Tbl additional adobo sauce
• 1 Tbl packed brown sugs (this should probably be increased slightly)
  
• 2-3 tsp Raw unfiltered organic Apple Cider Vinegar
• kosher salt + cracked black pepper, to taste

Let this simmer and reduce to your liking. I didn't put this through a chinois or any sort of sieve because I was lazy and I prefered the appearance of a rustic sauce. However, I would recommend doing so, as raspberry seeds are not very palatable.

For the Country Fried Tofu

• 1/2 block firm tofu drained, cut into 4 slices and set on towels during prep to absorb as much water as possible. I only used half, since I was eating alone and put the other half in a Tupperware with water and into the freezer. I would recommend, if you have the time, freeze your tofu and then thaw before cooking. This gives it a much more dynamic texture, as well as in general it will better absorb any marinade.
• 1 c Buttermilk, pour into a bowl, mix in about 1/4-1/2 c of your seasoned flour and whisk together.
  
• Seasoned flour. You can make it yourself with AP, Wheat flour or even cornmeal, seasoned with salt and pepper. I used this kind from a box called "Kentucky Kernel" which is pretty delicious.

1. Dredge the tofu in the seasoned flour
2. Then transfer the tofu into your buttermilk batter
3. last step is back into your dry seasoned flour.

Don't get me wrong, this is crazy messy. If you plan to become a fry queen, I would invest in some restaurant purpose rubber gloves. Do not start battering your tofu until your oil is hot. And do not put your tofu into the oil until it is hot! I put enough oil in the pan to rise to the center of the slice of tofu, so that it will cook evenly when it is flipped. I don't have a temperature the oil is supposed to be at, I can just kinda tell its ready.
So as each slice is battered, lay it gently into the hot oil, do this in a direction away from yourself so if it splashes, yo ass won't get burned! Fry until GBD, then flip.

Finally drain on paper towels to absorb excess oil, pretty huh?:

Mustard Greens

Pretty straight forward. I got my pan hot, sauteed some garlic in a bit of oil then tossed in the greens and wilted them. I think this dish would be much better with a collard or turnip green. I love mustard greens, but the flavor was all wrong for this dish in the end.



TA DA!

Breakfast of Champions

"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
-Lewis Carroll

I have included two breakfasts. The first photo has many exciting components where as the second is all about the cheese eggs.

Full Breakfast:

• Farm Fresh Eggs scrambled with Penzey's Northwoods seasoning. This seasoning falls in second place to basil pesto as my top seasoning to scramble into eggs. Third place will follow in cheese eggs.
• Herbed red potatoes and yellow bell peppers. Instead of oven roasting I opted to sautee the reds, thinly sliced in garlic oil (this is made by simply reserving the oil from confit garlic) with julienne bell peppers and finished with fresh Italian flat leaf parsley and rosemary from the garden.
  
• Sauteed turnip greens. I love greens! Any and all greens, and in particular for breakfast. Sauteed with shallot and red pepper flakes for a little kick. I also added a couple Tablespoons of organic apple cider vinegar. This website gives a pretty good job of explaining the benefits of Organic apple cider vinegar.
• Veggie sausage patty. Although this is a MorningStar brand, I prefer Gimme Lean brand sausage because it is more loose like true raw sausage. However, I can no longer find it at my local grocer. Gimme Lean brand is also terrific in making vegan biscuits and gravy.
• Segmented grapefruit. After segmenting fruit, I always squeeze the leftover part of the fruit for any juice as a sweet treat, it is usually no more than a few tablespoons. Tutorial on "segmenting" citrus fruit.
• Texas Pete Hot Sauce.

"A t-bone steak, Cheese Eggs and Welch's grape"-Biggie
A few ways to make to make cheese eggs:

• First of all, this is a seriously decadent way to prepare scrambled eggs, so I always add a couple of tablespoons of milk or heavy cream (HC obviously being the most fatty and delicious way).
• When I cook, I hardly measure my amount of seasoning, I just go on a feeling and by tasting constantly. For cheese eggs, because of the salt in the cheese, you will need to use considerably less in seasoning the eggs themselves.
• Three ways to add your cheese:

1. Whisk cheese into eggs before entering the pan.
   
2. Melt the cheese in the pan (in your oil or fat of choice: butter, bacon grease, et cetera), before adding egg mixture.
3. Wait until eggs are about finished, turn off heat and fold in the cheese. This is the method I prefer, the reason for this is that I am neurotic about eating raw egg whites, or rather, NOT eating them. By this method I can be sure that my eggs are cooked to my liking. By way of the first two options, I feel that I can't distinguish between the melted cheese and the raw egg and this makes me uncomfortable. As far as flavor is concerned, I think that option number 2 is actually the best choice. Especially if you like your eggs a little loose, this would be a good choice for you.

• Herbs. Fresh parsley brings a different dynamic to eggs that until you have experienced you are seriously missing out! Fines herbs, classically: chervil, chives, parsley and tarragon, are also delicious. These herbs, because of their delicate nature should always be added last, before serving.
• Lastly, do not cook your eggs over high heat, this will make the protein tough. Go easy on em.
  

N'ayant pas été mangé avec Oeufs frais de la ferme

Do your leftovers right.

1/2 a cup of yesterday's chili, heated over medium/medium low heat.
1 Farm fresh egg. This should have been a sunny side up egg, but I was in a funny mood, translating to an over-medium fried egg. Also, the egg is technically backyard fresh, since it comes from Alice who lives in my backyard. She's pretty consistent with about one egg a day, which is much easier to consume than the three a day we were getting before her sisters (Ethel and Lucy) were attacked my raccoons.
1 slice of toasted sprouted grain bread.
I should also note that the heat index on the leftovers was nowhere near expected. Honestly, either my tolerance grew over night, or the heat actual became much more subtle. I usually prefer stews the second day, and this fellow certainly falls into the category.

A couple benefits of keeping urban chickens.

• Obviously, the eggs. We feed our chickens things like flax seed in addition to her daily meal in order to make the eggs more nutritious to the consumer.
• Compost is free. We kept the compost in her coup, which she began to eat. So basically she is our food scraps disposal. We throw in what would normally go into the compost (raw food scraps) in addition to stale bread, which she really likes. Alice also gets egg shells, which provide her with a good source of calcium. I've been told that if the eggs aren't crushed up to smaller distinguishable (from an egg) shapes that its possible the chickens may become cannibalistic. You know, start eating her own eggs. I don't have any research on that, but as descendants of dinosaurs, I'm not surprised. Also, I have read that if the hen whose egg is being consumed by others is ill, its possible for her to pass on her illness to the other girls, so be aware of their health
  
• Taste. Fresh foods taste better than ones from over produced factory farms. Bottom line.
• Friends. Despite accusations of their idiocity, I find that chickens can be quite clever. As well they all have very distinct personalities. In general I find them neurotic, which actually is quite interesting and entertaining.
• Do gooder type o shit. Know that the chicken is almost always gonna be living a much better and happier life in your backyard than in the inhumane and horrific state that they face living in factory farms. Unless you are some kind of jerk and create that situation for the young lady.
• Updated 8/21: For a more detailed look, I found that a good friend has done a write up as well on chickens.. Endeavors in Domestic Art : A Good Reason to Buy Local Eggs.
  

Red Bean Chili Stew

I had some leftover corn from a barbeque yesterday, so I just looked through the pantry to make something quick. This took about 20 minutes to make. I used some goat cheese I had in the fridge, but this would go nicely with a little queso fresco or cotija. Also, if I ever make this again, I would definitely serve it with a couple lime wedges and a bit of fresh cilantro on top.
The goat cheese I used, I believe is from Spinning Spider Creamery in Asheville, NC. (I'm unsure because it was picked up at a farmers market by someone other than myself)

• 1 corn cob's worth o corn
• 40.5 oz red kidney beans
• 14.5 oz fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 10 oz can diced tomatoes with lime & cilantro
• 1/2 a red onion, small dice
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1 jalapeno, brunoise
• pinch of thyme, allspice, ground ginger
  
• chili powder, to taste
  
• cumin, to taste
  
• cilantro, to taste
  
• goat cheese
  
• kosher salt and fresh pepper

Sweat the garlic and onions with a little salt and then add the spices. Continue to sautee for about another 2 minutes. Next you add the japs, and allow to sautee lightly, then add the tomatoes, beans and corn. At this point I added the cilantro and additional chili powder and cumin to taste, and of course.. s&p. I let this simmer for only a few minutes because I was really hungry. Top with crumbled goat of other cheese. It was considerably spicy already, so the leftovers for tomorrow's brunch should really get the fire alarm goin after it has sat through the night!
As far as leftovers are concerned, the stew will thicken, so it could be warmed and spooned over some crusty bread, which you could first spread with a layer or goat cheese. I also think it would go great in a sort of chilaquilas with a sunny side up egg on top.