Culinary Therapy

Sometimes, you just have one of those days. It’s a nasty, rainy Monday, everything is taking twice as long as it reasonably should, nothing is working on the first try, and to boot, they closed three blocks of the road you live on for maintenance, so traffic is horrific. Sometimes you come home from the longest day you’ve had in months just to get dumped by the significant other that you live with. Sometimes it’s the bombshell that you’ll have to move across the country again.

It’s the bad days, the stressful days, which make me love cooking. Food is in my control. I can make it pretty, I can make it delicious, and I make it just for me. Even if I am cooking for other people, it’s really about me and making me feel better. Sometimes I’ll storm in the door and bee-line for the kitchen, throwing food into a skillet and just daring it to turn out poorly so I have a reason to scream.

This is what we call Culinary Therapy. It can be me cooking for myself, someone cooking for me, or me cooking for someone else, but the point is cooking for comfort. When I try my hand at Culinary Therapy, fancier is better. I came up with this recipe after a particularly long day at work, and it has become one of my favorite cook-to-impress dishes. The sweet and savory flavor combinations are absolutely perfect and compliment the scallops so well.

Pan seared scallops with berry-gorgonzola glaze and magic purple onions

9-10 large sea scallops
2 cups baby spinach, washed
3-4 tbs of olive oil
Glaze:
¼ cup fresh blackberries, washed and quartered
¼ cup fresh strawberries, washed and quartered
1-2 stalks fresh arugula, chopped
¼ cup orange juice
1 cinnamon stick
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
½ cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

Start with the onions (see the recipe in yesterday’s blog.)

While the onions are cooking, combine berries, arugula, orange juice, cinnamon and red pepper in shallow skillet. Simmer over medium heat until orange juice has created thick syrup, about 15-20 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in cheese while still hot.

Heat 1 tbs of olive oil in medium skillet until VERY hot. Salt and pepper scallops, then place in skillet. Cook around 2-3 minutes per side.

Toss spinach in 2-3 tbs of olive oil. Arrange on plate. Layer scallops, berry-gorgonzola glaze, and onions. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Shortcuts

I have a confession. 

I am not the type of cook that makes her own pasta. Even if I had a cuisinart and the right attachment, I still think I would go for the boxed stuff. I use pre-mashed ginger and chili paste. I love the already washed, ready to eat spinach you can buy at the Kroger. I am a cut-corners cook, and frankly I don't see anything wrong with that. Why spend three hours slaving over homemade noodles when the 15 minute option is just as good? As long as it tastes good and is good for you, meaning no artificial god-knows-what holding all the little molecules in the form of food, I feel like practicality beats perfection. My new favorite way to cut corners with all manner of meat can be summed up in one delectable word: 

Preserves. 

Preserves and jams are absolutely the most fantastic glazing shortcut for fish, pork, poultry, and even shellfish. I don't usually leave them alone, of course - that would be too easy - but as a base, they make fabulous sauces. Here's the basic formula to feed four: 

4 pieces of whatever white or light meat you choose

1/2 cup preserves

1/4 cup vinegar

1/2 tsp cayenne

salt and pepper

Apricot, fig, and blackberry preserves are the ones that I use most often, primarily because they don't have the peanut butter and jelly or breakfast biscuit associations as much as grape and strawberry. Currant, mint, and orange marmalade work a little better with heartier meats such as veal, lamb, or tuna.  I found this one Dalmatia Fig and Apricot spread in the deli section of the grocery store the other day that is my new favorite base for all things pork. DELICIOUS. 

As for vinegars, I usually use apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar. Both have a little bit of natural sweetness that complements the fruit flavors, though white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, and even rice wine vinegar have all worked well. The cayenne is to cut the sweetness more than to add spice, and it really does round out the flavor so well. 

The key to making this glaze nicely is the oven. You can either broil (with fish) or bake (with pork or poultry), but the heat is what melts the preserves into a gloriously tasty sauce. So today, on this note, I am going to post my two most highly praised recipes that go along on this theme: pork chops with magic purple onions and an apricot-fig glaze and tilapia with a black currant glaze. 

Pork chops 

4 boneless pork chops

salt and pepper

Onions: 

3/4 cup good tawny port

1 small red onion, sliced very thin

1 tsp sea salt

Glaze: 

1/2 cup dalmatia fig and apricot spread (if you can't find it, apricot preserves will do just fine)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp ground mustard

1 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp cayenne

Preheat oven to 350

In a small saucepan, combine onions, salt and port. Simmer over medium heat for 15-20 minutes until onions are completely glazed by port. 

In a small bowl, combine all glaze ingredients. Mix well, and set aside. 

Place pork chops in a baking dish. Salt and pepper each side liberally. Coat with the glaze mixture, then bake for 20 minutes until internal temperature is about 150. Top with onions. Serve hot. 

Tilapia with a Black Currant glaze

2 Tilapia filets

Glaze: 

1/4 cup black currant or blackberry preserves. This is also good with apricot. 

3 T apple cider vinegar

1/4 tsp cayenne

1 tsp ginger paste

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat broiler

In a small bowl, combine all glaze ingredients. Set aside. 

Salt and pepper tilapia in baking dish. Spoon half of the preserve mixture over the fish. Broil for 4 minutes. Flip and spoon over the other half of the mixture. Broil for another 3-4 minutes. Serve hot.

 

Both of these recipes are extremely easy and very popular. Make them for dates, for friends, or just for yourself. 

Enjoy! 

Weekends save my life

Oh, how I adore Fridays. Particularly breezy, warm, early Spring Fridays that just make you want to find a park and nap in the sunshine on a patch of soft, green grass. The biggest problem, unfortunately, with Fridays is that you still have to work, as I would kill to be outside right now enjoying that bit of sunshine.

Humph.

C'est la vie. That's what the weekend is for anyway. Oooooh. I think I'll have to fit a drive in this weekend. For sure. (Ahem, Sze....)

In honor of the grand tradition of pizza and beer Fridays, I decided that today's recipe will be for my homemade pizza. Conveniently, the sauce for the pizza is the marinara that I posted yesterday, so you can make one big batch of sauce and use it for a bunch of different dishes.

Perfect Homemade Pizza

2 cups marinara sauce (Note: if you like your pizza sauce smoother, use an immersion blender)
LOTS AND LOTS of shredded mozzarella cheese

Crust:
3 cups flour
1 cup warm water (suggested around 110 degrees)
1 pkg active dry yeast
2 tbs veg oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

Toppings (optional):
roasted garlic, fresh basil, pepperoni, capricola, prosciutto, tomato, goat cheese, provolone, sausage, bell pepper, mushrooms (gross), you name it.

In a small bowl, combine warm water, yeast and sugar. In another bowl, mix salt, vegetable oil, and flour. Knead in yeast water until a non-sticky dough forms. If you need to add more flour, feel free. You want it to hold together, but you don't want it to stick to every surface in your kitchen. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let the dough rise for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375

Once the dough has reason, knead out and spead on a pizza stone or tray. Spread the sauce over the dough, then cover with cheese and toppings. Bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Molto Bene!

Non si vive di solo pane.

I love Italy. Several years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to that beautiful country as part of a Renaissance Art course I took in college. The colors of the frescos, sculptures, paintings, and buildings; the lines of the endless plains, architectural brilliance, and meandering rivers; the sounds of Rossini and Dante and rapid fire Italian commerce have all ingrained themselves in my mind forever. I saw the David, the Pieta, the Birth of Venus, the Vatican, and Bernini's astonishing Apollo and Daphne housed at the Villa Borghese.

I saw a Ferrari and Maserati car show.

What I remember most vividly, though, are three things: standing in St. Peter's Basilica on the stone where Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor, stumbling across the violin shop in Orvieto, and, of course, the food.

Central Italian food, particularly in Toscana and Umbria, is not the heavy, garlicy ordeal that we associate with Maggiano’s and the Olive Garden. Both La Cucina Toscana and La Cucina Umbra are some of the most traditional and unchanged cooking styles in all of Italy. They rely heavily on good sea salt, a little black pepper, and lots and lots of olive oil. Umbria is where you get your really good Salamis and Prosciutto de Salato, a saltier version of its cousin, Prosciutto de Parma, which you can find in the US. Because Umbria is farther inland, you'll find more beef and poultry in its cuisine. Forests play a big part in the food, with mushrooms and beans featuring largely in a lot of authentic recipes. Bad for me, as I dislike mushrooms, but good for those of you who do eat them.

Toscana is on the Mediterranean coast, so you can find some more seafood on their menus. As the home of lasagna, pecorino cheese, and chianti classico (my FAVORITE wine), the food focuses more on seeking out the best meats, cheeses, vegetables and fruits and then essentially leaving those flavors alone. Even their bread is unsalted.

The three biggest identifying features of both cooking styles, though, are simple seasoning, grilled meats, and the freshest, juiciest, most mouthwatering vegetables you will ever eat.

And don't even get me started on the wine.

While I was in Firenze (Florence), I had the opportunity to learn to make marinara sauce. Now, marinara sauce is not an authentically Tuscan dish. It is more commonly found in southern Italy, where the climate is warm enough for the tomatoes, basil and garlic to thrive. Whatever the circumstances, it has spoiled me on marinara sauces for the rest of time.

The guy my roommate is dating loves Italian food almost as much as I do, it seems, so Rachael wanted to make something good for him when he comes to visit. When she asked me for advice, I offered up my famous marinara, which we're going to make tonight, since it has to simmer for a very long time. Below, I say at least two hours, but it really behaves best at about three or four. I don't crush my own roma tomatoes; I am just not that motivated. Besides, the crushed tomatoes you buy at the grocery store will work just fine. Just make sure you buy low sodium, and organic if you can find it.

Famous Tuscan Marinara

2-3 tbs olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, diced
2 large cans crushed or diced tomatoes
1 14 ounce can tomato sauce
2-3 ounces tomato paste
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup beef broth
1 bunch fresh basil, chopped very fine
1 bunch fresh oregano, chopped very fine
1-2 T red pepper flakes
1 T sugar
1 T lemon juice
salt and pepper (LOTS)

In a large saucepan or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium flame. Saute garlic and onion until translucent. Add tomatoes, wine, broth, sugar, juice and herbs. Salt and pepper very liberally. Reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally. If sauce gets too thick, add broth. This makes a lot of sauce, so you can freeze it for up to a month.

Buon Appetito!

Happy Birthday

You've already had two recipes today. You don't get any more. So there. 

However, I just wanted to hop on and wish my friend Juli a happy 25th birthday in about two hours. She's a great gal (who I just took out for burgers and beer, haha) and I wish her all the best. Also, as the founding member of Tuesday Night Dinner (you know, with yours truly), she has earned a special place in the culinary pantheon. 

She makes great desserts. Maybe next week I'll post one of her recipes. 

Goodnight, everyone. 

Food and Family

I had planned to post this yesterday, but some last minute touches on a friend's birthday gift kept me up just a little later than I had intended, and sleep trumps blogging, I am afraid to say.

Tuesdays are my favorite night of the week. I know that seems weird because, let's face it, Tuesdays, as rule, are pretty outrageously lame. However, Tuesdays for my "family" and I take on a whole new meaning.

Tuesday Night Dinner is family dinner night for a large and continuously rotating group of my friends. What started as a weekly date night with one friend as a way to keep from eating out all the time has exploded into a fabulous way to relax, mingle, have fun, and just enjoy each other's company.

The premise is simple: One person hosts the dinner at their house or apartment. They are responsible for making an entree for the group. While there are about 18 of us in the Facebook group that we use to organize, usually between 5 and 8 show up at any given time. Each person who comes to dinner brings something to share: bread, salad, wine, your sunny disposition, or, if you're Sze, one of a growing repertoire of fantastic soups. We will sit around, eat, drink, talk, and laugh our heads of for usually around 3 hours. The next week, another person hosts, and we repeat the process. These people are my newest family, and the reason I love Tuesdays so much.

Because I feel like it, today you get two recipes: one famous Sze soup, and one of mine that I make for TND as often as I can.

Sze's soup is from the Wall Street Journal's weekend edition, which, in my opinion, makes it all the more fantastic. Really, who gets recipes from the Wall Street Journal?

Wall Street Stew

6 strips bacon, diced
3 pounds beef chuck, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes
Salt
Pepper
2 yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
8 peeled, whole garlic cloves (DO NOT DICE!)
1/4 cup tomato paste (1/3 can)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 12-oz cans/bottles of dark beer
2 cups beef broth
2 medium carrots, end trimmed and peeled
2 celery stalks
6 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves

Prep - cut beef into 2-inch cubes, peel and trim carrots and celery. Season beef with salt and pepper. Heat soup pot over medium heat for 2 mins. Add bacon and brown.
Set aside.

Up heat to high, add beef. Brown meat on all sides, then set aside.

Add onions, cook until limp and browned. Reduce heat to medium, add garlic, cook until fragrant. Stir in tomato paste, cook 2 minutes. Add meat and flour, cook 2 minutes while stirring constantly. Stir in vinegar, cook 1 minute. Add brown sugar, beef broth, and all but 1/4 cup of the beer. Tie the carrots, celery, parsley, thyme, and bay leaves into a bundle with some twine. Add to pot.

Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 90 minutes. Discard carrot-celery bundle, add the rest of the beer, season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with bacon.

Now, as for me, we get roasted pork loin with an orange-wasabi glaze and ginger smashed potatoes. I have a new found affinity for all things that come in squeezy tubes, including a pre-mashed ginger paste that you can find in the produce section of most grocery stores.

Roasted Pork Loin with an Orange-Wasabi Glaze and Ginger Smashed Potatoes

1 2lb pork loin
salt and pepper
1 tsp ground thyme

Glaze:
1 cup orange juice
2 T brown sugar
2 tsp wasabi paste (you can find this near the sushi-deli counters in most grocery stores)
1 T ginger paste
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
2 T unsalted butter, cubed.

Potatoes:

1 small bag Petite Yukon Gold Potatoes
Butter and Cream to taste (around 2 T butter, 1/2 cup cream for me)
Salt and Pepper
1 T ginger paste.

Preheat the oven to 375. Rub pork with salt, pepper, and thyme. Bake for 30-45 minutes until internal temperature reads 150. This means you need to invest in a meat thermometer.

While that is happily baking, bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Quarter the potatoes. I am lazy and don't peel them. You can if you want to. Boil 10-15 minutes until soft.

In a small saucepan, reduce orange juice to about 1/3 cup. Lower heat to medium, then whisk in next five ingredients in glaze and cook until sauce turns a nice amber color. Stir in cubed butter and remove from heat.

Remove the potatoes from heat and drain. Add butter and cream and mash with a potato masher until desired consistency is reached. Salt and pepper to taste, then stir in ginger.

Slice pork. Serve over the potatoes and drizzle with glaze.

Enjoy!

Minor Details

Turns out, I lied. 

After work tonight, I started on my way home to make my shrimp quesadillas and realized that I was out of cilantro. "Oh no, self!" I thought. "Cilantro is vital to joyously good shrimp quesadillas! Besides, you have Tuesday Night Dinner tomorrow (more on that in tomorrow's post) and nothing to bring." So, after this little conversation with myself, I ventured to the grocery story to pick up a few necessities. 

45 MINUTES LATER.... it is now 7:00, I have friends coming over, two of whom haven't seen my home, the apartment is a disaster area, and I am just now getting back with an armload of groceries. Cilantro. Pffft. 

I do a mad dash white hurricane through the apartment as my cell is ringing off the hook, my roommate is coming home, and my dishes are most certainly NOT being done. (My apartment lacks a dishwasher. It is a tragedy.) 

45 MINUTES LATER (again).... I am informed that everyone other than my now starving self has eaten. The cheese I had on the brain earlier is long gone and all I can think of is this: 

AVOCADO. You know how I said I love cheese over all other foods in life? I think avocado, tomato, and lime give cheese a challenge to that lofty throne. I remembered a recipe that had been mentioned by my best friend on Earth just a few days ago, and decided to go for it. 

As a disclaimer (I'm a college grad. I know the consequences of not attributing my sources), this recipe is not mine. It's equal parts Carrie, my best friend, and Ina Garten, the Food Network chef. It is, however, fast, delicious, and completely easy, not to mention beautiful. I think I'll take it instead of garlic bread for TND tomorrow.

It is after midnight. Tomorrow is officially today. 

Avocado, Shrimp and Grapefruit Salad with a Mustard-Lemon Vinaigrette

Serves One

2 handfuls 50-61 count shrimp, peeled and tailed

2 small heads Belgian Endive

1/2 ruby red grapefruit, diced

1 avocado, diced

Juice of 1 lemon

1 T prepared yellow mustard

1 tsp honey 

1 T olive oil

Salt and pepper

Slice Endive very thin. Place in bottom of serving bowl. Layer grapefruit pieces and avocado. 

Salt and pepper shrimp, then saute on medium-high heat until pink, about 3 minutes. Layer over salad. 

In a small bowl, whisk together mustard, honey, and lemon. Salt and pepper to taste, then whisk in olive oil in a slow stream. Pour over salad. 

Enjoy! 

Quartz Crystals and Quesadillas

Today at lunch, I was an interloper.

I went to this tiny coffee shop near my apartment on my lunch break to sample some of their famous (and astonishingly good) sandwiches. This is one of those oh-so-Richmond establishments where everyone is a regular, the staff is spacy but effective, and the soundtrack is comprised of equal parts local indie and Radiohead. When I walked in the door, two guys (we'll call them Ian and Dan, because that's what they looked like), around my age, were leading a conversation with everyone (no exaggeration, every person in the shop was participating) about geometric formations found in pre-World War I quartz crystals.

Ian: So there's this theory that, since at that time, I mean this was like 1910, so at that time there was really nothing that could make these shapes. We can't really even make these shapes now. And yeah, this theory is on the web that these aliens were flying through space and hit a meteorite, which sent it on a tragectory toward Earth. So apparently, and this theory is not mine, but apparently they sacrificed themselves for the greater good of our pretty blue planet and bumped the meteor again.

Dan: So how does this explain the geometrically strange quartz crystals?

Ian: Oh, I left that part out. They're the navigation system for the alien ship.

*loaded pause*

Dan: Man, we're lucky that wasn't me. I mean, if I was out playing intergalactic bumper cars with a meteor in my space ship, I think it'd be a little more like the Kroger parking lot. "Whoops, hope no one saw that..."
Ladies and gentlemen, these are my neighbors.

For some reason, my experience in the coffee shop has me thinking about cheese. Their sandwich menu had a pretty impressive sampling -mozzarella, havarti, gorgonzola, and brie- and frankly, cheese is my weakness. Some people have a sweet tooth. Some people have an irresistable affinity for salty snacks. I have a friend who has never met a potato she didn't like. For me, though, it is cheese. Since I have cheese on the brain, I think I'll make quesadillas for dinner. As quesadillas are essentially just grilled cheese sandwiches on tortillas instead of bread, you can use just about any cheese under the sun. Most people use cheddar or monteray jack. I use farmer's cheese, this gloriously mild, smooth, and fantastically melty cheese you can find in wheels in just about any self-respecting grocery store.

Shrimp quesadillas

1 lb 31-40 count shrimp, peeled and tailed
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tsp chili paste
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 wheel farmer's cheese, grated
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
4 burrito-size tortillas

Optional: onions, avocado, tomato, bell pepper, pico de gallo, lettuce, you name it

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside for 20-30 minutes. Remove shrimp from marinade and saute over medium-high heat until just pink. Set aside.

Cover 1/2 of each tortilla with 1/2 of the cheese. Load with shrimp and any fillings you desire. Cover with the remaining cheese and cilantro, then fold burrito like an omelet. Fry over high heat until cheese is melted and tortilla is golden brown.

Serve hot with sour cream or guacamole.

Enjoy!

Welcome!

Welcome to The Funky Gourmet! As this is my first adventure in blogging, I'm going to ask for a little patience while I get the hang of posting.

Basically, my mission here is two-fold: to write, which I love to do and don't do nearly often enough; and to share some of my recipes, tricks, and general love of food and cooking with the world. I love food. Being from a very Southern family, food to me is an expression of love. If you walk in the door of my house, my mother's house, or any house south of the Mason-Dixon line, the first words you'll hear most likely are, "Are ya hungry?" This, of course, is not specific to the South - my friend's family in St. Joseph, MI, is feeding me Easter supper tonight because they can't bear for me to not be well fed on a holiday - and that idea of food as love is what drives me to create recipes that are nourishing, satisfying, and completely delicious. It also drives me to share that love with you!

For now, the format will be this: A little exposition, maybe some musings on food, my day, life, or something totally unrelated, and then, a recipe. This could change, of course. Flexibility is key in all things.

Today's recipe is for the french toast I burned my hand making this morning. You probably won't see a whole lot of breakfast or brunch recipes here; when it comes to mornings, I am very much a creature of habit. However, today I broke the mold, and it turned out very well, if I may say so myself.

French Toast with Apricot Sauce and Marscapone Cheese

2 pieces Honey Wheat bread

2 Eggs

3 T milk

1/2 tsp mace

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp honey

1 T butter

1 cinnamon stick

Sauce:

1/3 cup sugar free apricot preserves

1/2 tsp brown sugar

2 T apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp mace

1/4 cup marscapone cheese

2-3 T chopped mint (optional)

In a shallow bowl, mix eggs, milk, honey, and spices until fully incorporated. Soak bread until fully saturated with egg mixture.

In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients for sauce over medium-low heat. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Melt butter in medium skillet. Add cinnamon stick; saute over medium flame until the stick opens and crackles. Remove stick. Add soaked bread. Cook 3-5 minutes per side until bread is cooked through.

Move bread to plate. Top with marscapone, then apricot sauce, then mint, if desired. Serve warm.

Enjoy!