Great Books for Great Cooks # 2

Alice Waters & Chez Panisse

by Thomas McNamee

A history of Chez Panisse, culinary mecca for many slow foods, seasonal and California cuisine afficionados, is chronicled in this book by Thomas McNamee. McNamee was given unprecedented access to the cast and crew of this famous bistro in Berkeley, California.

Alice Waters, the founder, part owner and sometime chef of Chez Panisse is the central character of the story, but the many other characters (and they are characters) who have come through her kitchen and dining room as well as her personal life are introduced.

Alice Waters introduced sustainable gardens in schools and museums; she even tried to convince the White House to create one. She was able to convince school districts to begin cooking according to the seasons, using organic foods cooked from scratch rather than the commonly used procedure of processed foods. Her efforts encouraged small local entreprenurial farmers and ranchers to begin producing foods organically for her restaurant's needs--fruit and veggies, seafood, beef, cheese, etc. The local availability of these foods created a demand which influenced communities far and wide to begin supporting farmer's markets which have proliferated across America.

Today Alice's ideas have spread across the country, even influencing my own school which has created a vital garden right across the street providing vegetables for our cafeteria salad bar in the fall and spring each year. Our school also offers fresh fruit to students daily, much of which is grown right here in Washington state.

Alice Waters and Chez Panisse is also terrific look inside the world of this famous restaurant, the people who have made it famous and the shaky financial history that has come close so many times to closing the doors of this treasure only to have been saved by one benefactor after another.

One of my dreams is to one day walk through the doors of Chez Panisse and spend an evening at a table enjoying not only a great meal, but to bask in the glow of history. Alice Water's influence has changed the way millions cook and the way they think about the food they are cooking--where it came from, who grew it, and how best to prepare it. Thank you, Alice!

Basta Pasta

Homemade pasta! Sounds great, huh? Too much trouble though, huh? Well, now, think about it for a minute.

Pasta isn't that hard to make. There are plenty of easy to use devices on the market to help you out and the fresh pasta that results can not be compared to any of that dried stuff on your grocery shelf.

Wanna make a flavored pasta? Tomato, spinach, squid ink, lemon-pepper? Easy, too! You just need to have a few ingredients on hand.

The real problem is which pasta to make. You should know there are literally hundreds of different kinds of pasta, each with its own purpose, tradition, place of birth in Italy. From angel hair pasta's fine strings to the wide lasagne pasta, to shells of all sizes, tubes, wagon wheels and bow ties, rice-like orzo to stuffable manicotti. The types, sizes, shapes and flavors are almost limitless.

So, what tools do you need? Not much really. Or, you can buy an extruding type machine with dies. They come in all price ranges. I bought my first one from Ron Popeil. Yeah, the pocket fisherman and ginzu knives guy. He actually makes a pretty good machine. I bought mine used on e-bay real cheap and it came with 30 dies, each making a different shape of pasta.

You can also buy very expensive extruders with better dies and more horsepower.

A pasta roller of some type is pretty imperative as the alternative is a lot of pretty hard work--rolling and rolling. The pasta roller machines roll the pasta dough into sheets, thinner and thinner until it is ready to be cut into fettachini or spaghetti, etc. These type machines are limited as to the types of pasta they'll make but they have a reputation for longevity and they do what they do very well. Imperia and Atlas are the most popular brands and they can come with an electric motor. These machines can run $75 and up.

The Kitchen-Aid mixer has a pasta roller option attachement that runs about $100. It will flatten dough, make angel hair, lasagne, or spaghetti.

All of these machines have limitations all have their pluses. Basically if you can get your dough rolled out flat and thin you can cut it or shape it into all sorts of pasta types yourself.

Or, you can make it from scratch on a counter top as in the old style or in a bowl or a food processor. There will be those that turn there noses up at one or more of these options, but in the end you will still have made fresh pasta at a fraction of the cost of the store brands.

Here is the recipe for a basic handmade pasta dough. If you bought and extruder, follow the recipe in their book.

Making the Dough by Hand

Ingredients:

3 1/2 to 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
4 extra large eggs
1 extra large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Pile the flour in a mound on the countertop.
Make a deep well in the center of the flour.
Break the eggs into the well.
Add the salt and oil.

With the fork, gently start pushing flour into the eggs and oil and mixing them together so that the eggs and flour blend.
Mix together until the dough forms a firm, solid ball.
The dough should be in a solid, firm ball that is not sticky. Add more flour if it is too wet. Don't over knead. Wrap the ball in cellophane and set aside for 30 minutes.

Now you need that pasta maker. Roll the dough out according to the thickness needed for the type pasta you are making. Some need to be thinner, other thicker. Ravioli, for an example, needs to be thinner. Tagliatelle and Fettucine need to be thicker. The owner's manual will guide you through this part.

There are other tools you can add to your pasta arsenal. I like my ravioli cutter. Use it to crimp the edges of a sheet of flat pasta dough with the filling laid out and the econd sheet laid over the first. The cutter crimps the edge sealing the filing inside the individual ravioli.

I use a drying rack to hang the still moist pasta after extruding it. It hangs over the rack until dry when it can then be packaged for long term storage. But you can also freeze your pasta for a time if you don't plan to use it all right away.

Finding good recipes for different flavors of pasta is as easy as an Internet search and there are plenty of options out there. It comes down to finding the recipe that sounds good to you. White sauce, tomato based sauces, aioli sauce--what's your pleasure?

To wrap up this blog episode, here is my recipe for Tre-Tinta Pasta Puttanesca.

Mangia!

Tre-Tinta Pasta Puttanesca

Pastas:

Egg noodle fettucine
Tomato fettucine
Spinach fettucine
Three colors honoring the colors of the Italian flag.

Alternative: Use only one color of pasta and purchase a high quality pasta pre-made.

Sauce ingredients:

Italian plum tomatoes either fresh or canned
Olive oil
Garlic
Onion
Red pepper flakes
Marinated Artichoke Hearts
Kalamata Olives pitted
Capers
Lemon zest
Fresh Basil
Fresh Rosemary
Sea salt and Fresh ground pepper to taste
Sweet and hot sausage links
Roasted Marinated Chicken Breast


Quick Tomato Sauce: 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 pound sweet and or spicy Italian sausages sliced on the bias ½ inch thick
And or chunks of roasted chicken breast pulled from the bone
1/4 medium onion, diced (about 3 tablespoons) 3 cloves garlic, chopped 3 1/2 cups whole, peeled, canned tomatoes in puree, (one 28-ounce can), roughly chopped Sprig fresh thyme Sprig fresh basil 2 teaspoons kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook the sausage until beginning to brown, about 3 minutes. Add the onion, garlic and red pepper flakes stirring, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes more. Add the tomatoes and the herb sprigs, olives, capers, lemon zest, artichoke hearts and chicken and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

Cook pasta in large pot of well salted water until just al dente. Drain but do not rinse cooked pasta. Arrange pastas on large platter according to color of Italian flag. Ladle finished sauce over the top of the pasta. Serve.

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Turkey Leftovers?

Now that the Thanksgiving holiday is past and that turkey carcass is looking more and more boney, maybe it is time to think about what can be done with it. Sure a quick trip to the garbage can would solve the entire problem, but what a waste of a lot of flavorful potential stock chalk full of vitimins and minerals and, if grandma was correct, healing power for the common cold.

Toss the bones from that turkey carcass into a stock pot and cover it with fresh cold water. Set it to simmer on the stove. Toss in a few pepper corns and a bay leaf. Quick chop an onion and toss it in. Then rough chop some celery (here is a place to make use of the celery leaves usually thrown away unless you are making Bloody Marys) and carrot and toss it in along with a garlic clove or two. Simmer this stock for a couple of hours covered keeping an eye on the liquid level.

Pour off the liquid through a colander and some cheese cloth reserving the liquid. No need to worry about clarifying this stock. The rustic form is fine for our intent here.

Toss the veggies out. Pick over the bones pulling off any meat left behind. Toss it into the reserved stock. Toss the bones out with the veggies.

Next, chill the stock overnight. The next day skim the fat hardened on the top of the stock which will have turned into a gelee due to the protein present in the stock (its like gelatin).

Reheat the stock and reduce it slowly until it has become the strength you like. The more it is reduced the stronger the turkey flavor. You should be able to get a good 6-8 cups of delicious stock from a 15-20 pound bird.

Add in whatever you like. This depends entirely on what direction you want to go with the stock. Add some soba noodles, tofu, ginger and go Asian. Spice it up with jalapeno and cilantro and a little lime to go south of the border.

If you have any more turkey meat left over, chopp it or pull it from the bones and toss it in. Add in any carrots, celery, onion, pasta, beans, rice, peas, whatever you like. Don't add in too much or it can overwhelm the amount of broth so your soup will turn into a stew (unless of course that is your intent).

Simmer your concoction until the veggies are cooked through. Serve immediately in soup bowls with your choice of garnish--rosemary, sage, a little sour cream, whatever.

Away at work all day? Cook the whole thing in a crock pot on low and oh, the smell that will welcome you on a cold winter's night!

Bon appetit!

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Great Books for Great Cooks!

If you are looking for a great holiday gift this season look no further than this terrific read from the noted author on cooking-- Michael Ruhlman. The author of other great reads for lovers of the culinary arts such as The Making of a Chef and The Elements of Cooking, Ruhlman has found Foie gras again with his newest book.

The Soul of a Chef: The Persuit of Pefection is a must read for anyone interested in the evolutionary process a chef can go through on his or her journey towards perfection. Not that all chefs aspire to such lofty goals, but the three chefs Michael Ruhlman spends time with in his research for this book are all determinedly looking for it.

This book is divided (for lack of a better word) into three sections though in the final analysis Ruhlman masterfully blends them together. He begins with a torturous journey for a half dozen aspiring Master Chefs through the arduous test to become a Certified Master Chef, a title bestowed to few and then only after an unbelieveable 10 day trial by fire at the Culinary Institute of America. Only one of the chefs manages to pass this ultimate test of skill in our story. Reading this part of the book you feel all the emotions the candidates feel as they slowly drop out of the grinding test or are eliminated from it. Alternately euphoric then to the depths of despair, it really gets under your skin as you read their individual stories.

Next up, Ruhlman takes us to Michael Symon's restaurant Lola in Cleveland. Symons, who is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America has also become big on the Food Network scene of late. The pace inside his kitchen at Lola is described in frenetic detail as he and his amazing staff, working in hellish temperatures and at a pace that would make most people collapse midway through the service, yet they manage to produce amazing cuisine and love doing it. What drives a person to work under such conditions day in and day out, year after year?

Finally, to a more calm place--Yountville, California and Thomas Keller's The French Laundry considered by many to be the finest restaurant in the United States. Thomas Keller has a more Zen-like approach to cooking--calmly producing his cuisine with care and respect for what the food is and where it came from. He is constantly striving for perfection though many of his diners would argue he long ago achieved it. Ruhlman spends time watching, helping and eating in this fabulous restaurant and we are the lucky recipients of his experiences there.

Each of these scenarios is explored with such care and depth that I wanted the reading experience to go on forever. My next travel adventures anywhere near Cleveland or Yountville will definately include stops at Lola and The French Laundry if only to experience even a little of whatever part of perfection is on the menu.

I'm Back!

Feeling much better and having had a very restful Thanksgiving holiday, I returned to school today and my teaching duties.

Our holiday was low key yet had all the trimmings of a great Thanksgiving meal.

I tried a brinning solution for our turkey using what sounded like a great recipe from the Neeleys from the Food Network. I'd seen the Neeleys themselves demostrating this recipe on two separate shows the week before Thanksgiving. Looked pretty good so I decided to give it a try.

I have considered brinning a turkey for several years now but put it of since my turkeys always come out very moist, which is the point of brinning in the first place. This recipe looked so good and easy I decided this would be the year to give it a try.

Recipe:

1 gallon of fresh cook water
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of bourbon
1 Tablespoon of pepper corns

Mix all ingredients well inside a bag large enough to fit the turkey and liquid. Carefully lower the turkey into the bag. Close up the bag and lower it into an ice chest. Cover bag with ice and set out in the garage or other cool room. Or, place it in your refrigerator if you have the space.

Brine the turkey for up to 24 hours ahead or at least 12 hours turning the turkey over at least once during the process. Keep an eye on the ice adding more ice as needed to keep the turkey ice cold.

Remove the turkey from the brine when ready to roast it. Pat the turkey dry and prepare it for roasting as you usually do.
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I tried this brinning solution and let it brine for about 24 hours. When all was said and done I really couldn't tell any difference in the taste. Of course, I suppose it is possible that this turkey could have been very dry had I not brinned it. But as you can see, it looked great and it tasted as good as any turkey I've ever prepared.



So will I bother to brine next year? Well, it wasn't a lot of extra work, but any extra unnecessary work at holiday time is just a waste of time. So probably not!

The rest of our 2008 Thanksgiving dinner menu:

• Roast Turkey
• Turkey gravy
• Cornbread and Sausage Dressing
• Roasted Brussles Sprouts
• Orange Cranberry Chutney
• Cranberry Fluff Salad
• Pumpkin Cheesecake w/ Pecan Crust

We had friends over for the dinner as well and Peggy, Lara and Fred all contributed to the meal as well. We spent a wonderful afternoon with Gram and the Wepprechts. Along about time for dessert our friend Scott Opsahl came by for a short visit. By about 9:00 pm everyone had gone and the dinner was all but clean up. I finished carving the other half of the turkey and we found a home for all the left overs in the fridge. ________________________________________

Feeling a Little Under the Weather!

I don't know what it is, but you certainly don't want it! I cough half the night, run a fever, have laryngitis, a stuffy nose. In short, I feel ucky!

Just when parent conferences are about to start. It couldn't be a worse time. I do have from now until next Monday to get my voice back. Otherwise, I don't know what I'll do.

So stay clear of me if you know what's good for you! I'm quarantined!

I'm taking the next couple of days off work and lying low in hopes that it will clear up by next Monday.

Mommy! A binky, hot cocoa and Andy Griffith re-runs please! Excuse me, while I go to bed!

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Barack Obama Wins! America Rejoins Humanity!

It sounds really, really good! President Barack Obama. After two long years of campaigning and eight years of feeling ashamed to have to admit that our president is George Bush, last night at about 10 pm Pacific time, Barack Obama took to a stage in Grant's Park in Chicago, making history and accepting the results of election 2008 with an inspiring speech.

Tears of pride and joy streamed down the faces of millions of Americans, many, of course, the faces of African Americans who have waited for over 200 years for this moment of ultimate acceptance. But all Americans could feel proud of this moment. Here is a leader all can look to as a man of honor, integrity, passion, commitment and intelligence.

His victory speech was eloquent, beautiful, articulate, hopeful and it mesmerized the over 100,000 folks standing in Grant's Park and the millions watching around the world.

Mom and I sat in a living room across town at an election party which was loud and talkative. But when Barack took the stage the mood turned serious--all eyes glistened, all ears taking in his every historic word.

A real sense of pride in our country and a feeling that we had truly rejoined the human race after 8 years of living in the dark ages filled the room.

This morning newspaper headlines across America announced the dramatic news! I looked all over trying to find a copy of the video of the speech and found this link. Enjoy!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1155201977/bctid1901061128