Lastoberfest

Yesterday marked the end of my stretch of Mr. Mom time and, sadly, I had to return to work. All three days were rainy but the last two days I managed to get out of the house to take the guys for a quick walk. Yesterday Martin was an angel who didn't cry at all except for when I took him into La Pain Quotidien.

Apparently he shares his father's level of enthusiasm for this particular chain.


After a quick walk I was able to shuffle them into the car and off to pick up another odd mid-week farm share pick up.

This week we got Siberian kale, Delicata squash, leeks, Bright Lights Swiss Chard, potatoes, pumpkin, parsley, eggplant, Jona Gold apples, Empire apples, and Seckle Pears.


After Jen got home from work we enjoyed the last in this year's Oktoberfest beer selection: this Dogtobergest from Flying Dog Brewery. We've only had a few Oktoberfest beers this year but each of them has been excellent. It's not always my favorite style but I think the Oktoberfest beers we've had this year may be turning me around on this subject. Like anything else I guess there are so many poor versions of this beer on the market that they obscure what is, on the surface, a very enjoyable type of beer.


To go along with the Oktoberfest theme I made this roasted pumpkin with sausage, sage, onion, garlic, and tossed in some fresh potato and cheese pierogies. Unfortunately I did not have time to try my new brilliant idea for an Oktoberfest-themed stuffed pumpkin. Unfortunately that will have to wait until next year. Cliffhanger!

Is it still a cliffhanger if no one actually cares?


Tonight Jen made a wonderful salad with apple, pear, feta, red onion, and walnuts. She also made a vinaigrette in a gigantic Ball jar which is one of her favorite things to do. I'm not sure exactly what was in the dressing but the whole thing was delicious.


For dinner we let Mario Batali cook for us. Well, we let his chefs at Tarry Lodge cook for us and had this prosciutto pizza with arugula and tagliatelle with bolognese sauce. It was so good and easy it makes me wonder why we don't have a celebrity chef's minions cook for us every night.


I hadn't intended on writing a blog entry tonight. When I don't plan on blogging I usually pick myself up a nice, large beer that I have had before. Tonight's selection was this Anchor Steam Beer which I blogged about over a year ago during my Classic Beer Weekend. It's just as good as I remember it and I will be visiting the brewery on a work-related trip next week so I am greatly looking forward to having it fresh out of the tap with whatever other beers they have to offer.

If only the Wombats were joining me.


After dinner things somehow degenerated into an impromptu photoshoot. We took pictures of the guys in some of the outfits they've gotten as gifts as well as on top of many of the blankets and quilts that have been crafted for them.


Unfortunately we have pushed laundry off far too long and we were scraping the bottom of the barrel with finding pajamas to dress them in. These were the last two sleep outfits they had left in their drawers. After all it must have been upwards of four days since I've washed every article of clothing that they own. I don't know what I was thinking by pushing things that far.

Enough talk. Time to do laundry.

Thomas Keller's Roast Chicken (By a Far Inferior Cook)

I've roasted a lot of chickens in my personal and professional life. Well, mostly in my professional life. Mostly because one of my first jobs in the culinary world was as a chicken roaster. That's right, I spent most of my 12-to-17 hour shifts cutting, seasoning, panning up, and roasting chickens for a restaurant that served predominantly roasted chicken.

Spending years with the smell of chicken grease on my hands, clothes, and hair got me to a point where I didn't like chicken any more. In fact I went at least ten years without voluntarily having chicken after that job. I just never had any sort of craving for roast chicken.

After meeting Jen and hearing her talk, for years, about how much she loved a simple roast chicken I finally gave in and decided to give the dish another go. Since then I have found it to be quite enjoyable to have a nice roast chicken from time to time.

So, tonight, I set to work to make roast chicken for dinner!



Then I saw the state of the kitchen. Jen had made a cake last night. Tornadoes are generally easier on kitchens than Jen is when she is baking. This is a mixed bag because on the one hand I have to clean up a huge mess but on the other hand there are usually delicious baked treats for me to eat.

The interesting thing is her statement this morning: "I thought I did a good job cleaning last night after I was done baking. Apparently I was wrong."

The morning sun casts its light on the truth.



I decided, after watching a recent episode of No Reservations to break with my traditional way of roasting a chicken and go with Thomas Keller's method. I figured that it just might be possible that Thomas Keller could possess a better technique than even I had for roasting chicken.

I know, this was a long shot, but life is about taking risks.



It seemed to work pretty well. The main differences from my normal technique were really that this technique requires no oil, removing the wishbone, and involves a figure eight truss around the legs. Since my trussing skills are around the level of your average third grader this didn't go particularly well but once you remove the twine no one is the wiser.



What did I pair with this dinner? Why this pale ale from Lake of Bays Brewing in Baysville, Ontario. There is a lot on the bottle boasting about how it is a northern beer. I assumed the bay it was referring to was the Hudson Bay but it's actually less than three hours north of Toronto and an impossible distance south of the Hudson Bay. According to Google Maps there is no actual way to get to the Hudson Bay from where Baysville, Ontario is. I know that this is unlikely to be true but let's just say it's not an afternoon trip.



To accompany the chicken I also made this couscous with dried fig, carrot, green onion, almond, olive oil, butter, salt, and pepper.



It was interesting to try an alien technique for roast chicken. I think next time I'm going to give Heston Blumenthal's roast chicken a go.

All I need is a chicken and six days of prep time and I'm trying this technique out!

Like Dinner But Outside

Jamie Oliver likes to talk a lot about "being brave" when you're cooking. This usually involves chopping up some red chilies. I've never really considered this bravery but perhaps I am just without fear.

Tonight we had to be brave as well and, against the weather forecast's prediction of rain, have an outdoor barbecue. It really wasn't a big deal to me since it has rained every single time I've grilled this summer. I was just afraid that our guests wouldn't be as willing to sit out in the rain to eat their food.

Okay, I guess that's not that brave either. Maybe I should go get some red chilies.



As I grilled, I enjoyed a beer from this growler of Penny Weiz from Olde Burnside Brewing Company.

Jen also made some ginger syrup this morning to make dark and stormies to accompany the weather prediction but we ended up not using it. Apparently we're going to have to make a large amount of ginger beer in the coming weeks to use it up.



We started off with cantaloupe and prosciutto, lemon olives, nuts, and the pickles Jen had made on Monday.



It was a melon heavy evening as I also made this watermelon salad with feta, mint, rice wine vinegar, olive oil, and black pepper.



The pickles were fantastic. We went through an entire jar in about twenty minutes.

I also slow cooked some St. Louis pork ribs for four hours in the oven at 250 degrees. This is the second time I've done slow cooked ribs this month but today I had a little time so I doubled the oven cooking. This made for some really tender ribs but I've got to recommend not slow cooking in an oven in August. It's an unhappy maker.

Also on the menu: grilled corn with cotija, lime, and cilantro and grilled chicken wings.

In other news: I discovered some sweet potatoes are liars.

Let me explain.

There are sweet potatoes that look just like regular sweet potatoes but when you peel them you discover their flesh is white and not a beautiful orange color. Now, I happen to like white sweet potatoes. I find them to be sweet and delicious, however, for this sweet potato salad I had hoped to get a beautiful color contrast between the orange of the potato, green of the vegetables, and purple of the onions. Instead I got white sweet potatoes which kind of turn into a grayish-green mess. Albeit a delicious grayish-green mess.

Jen is also a liar because she told me she would take a picture of this sweet potato mess but she did not. It's probably better that way.



A dinner guest also brought this King Goblin from Wychwood Brewery. That's two beers. Two beers in one night!

We finished off the evening with some berries, whipped cream, and angel food cake. The crowning achievement of this meal was that we ate it all outside! This is a rarity to apartment dwellers such as ourselves. It's rare that we get to treat ourselves with mosquito bites, lugging tables and chairs in and out of doors, and generally being very negligent in our photo-taking.

What kind of dinner doesn't get photographed anyway?

Like Yuppies For the 2010s

I'm not sure what kind of terrible people we are but there should be a word for it. In the 1980s they were called yuppies. I don't think there is really a 2010s equivalent word but there should be. Do you know what I'm talking about? No? Well, the next sentence should put a fine point on what we have become. And it goes a little something like this:

I used the fruits and vegetables from our CSA to make this recipe from Mark Bittman that I saw in the New York Times.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. I don't know if it's better or worse that I feel a tremendous amount of shame in the fact that I am now that person. However, I do genuinely enjoy the philosophy of Mark Bittman. It's just unfortunate that as much as I am happy about the things in the statement that I have just made my instinct would be to hate anyone who said the same thing until they gave me a reason to feel otherwise.

Okay, I modified the recipe slightly but it would have been harder to make my previous point if I'd added that fact. Oh, and I didn't measure anything because measuring is for suckers.



Still, the soup was interesting. I cooked some of the farm onions in a little butter until they softened then added the chopped tomatoes and peaches (also from the farm). After they'd cooked for a while I seasoned with salt and pepper, a splash of hot sauce, and a dash of cream before pureeing and serving chilled with some strands of tarragon.



Since I am not a huge fan of green peppers I used them all up with some garlic, onion, olive oil, and a whole lot of sweet Italian sausage. Sausage can do wonders for my lack of interest in peppers. I also poured a little bit of Copper Bell Light beer into the pan. It was the only beer I felt that I could sacrifice with a clear conscience.



I served up the sausage and peppers in a whole wheat roll because I'm really looking to start eating healthy.

And because the store was out of white rolls.



I also made this potato salad. I boiled up some chopped Red Bliss potatoes then tossed them while warm with some Dijon mustard, fresh dill (from the farm), shallot, olive oil, cider vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Tonight's beer decision was tough. While I know the theory behind which beers would pair best with tonight's sausage I usually choose my pairing based on only one criteria: what beer do I want right now? If you want to read a blog by someone who has a much more refined sense of proper beer pairings and actually seems to give more than five seconds' consideration you should read The Beer Cook.



For beer I chose this Belgian Pale Ale from Harpoon Brewery. I was suspicious that this beer would be more like an IPA than a Belgian ale and my suspicions turned out to be right. In fact, I think this could have pretty safely been called Harpoon IPA. It didn't really highlight the "Belgian ingredients" it touted on its label as much as I would have liked. However, since I love Belgian ales and mildly dislike IPAs it is not surprising that this was not my favorite all time beer.

I have to say, the choice to make a chilled tomato soup instead of salad was interesting and tasty, but I'm not sure chilled soup is the appropriate precursor to a sausage and pepper sandwich. Both are delicious but should probably be reserved for enjoyment separately.

That being said the beer could have been more harmonizing as well. All in all this kept with my normal pairing philosophy pretty well: things I like with other things I like.

Now, I just need to find some cotton candy, lemon rind, and white chocolate and dessert will be on its way.

Cinco de NAFTA

Americans are great at having holidays where they celebrate other nationalities. This is generally done by making foods that natives of that particular country have probably never heard of and by consuming mass quantities of that country's one large beer import. In some cases this may involve a spirit or cocktail. Also it is not uncommon to see Americans dressing up like members of that particular nationality.

It's very hard to tell the difference between when Americans celebrate a nationality and when they're just mocking it.

After my insult to all that is Polish with last night's sauerkraut soup, I decided to take on Mexico tonight! After all it is Cinco de Mayo!

Since Mexicans everywhere are probably feeling full of embarrassment from all the Tostitos and Coronas being consumed today I decided to go in a slightly different direction.



I had this veal shoulder from Provitello Farms in upstate New York so I opted to turn that into something vaguely Mexican. I rubbed it with olive oil, smoked paprika, chili powder, cinnamon, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper. In a pan I cooked some crushed garlic, spring onions, carrots, and celery. After the vegetables had softened slightly I browned the veal, covered with half chicken stock and half milk, and braised it in the oven for a little over two hours.



I'd never braised meat in milk before tonight. I think that's a very French thing to do (I'm not actually sure). It turns out that it is quite tasty. Imagine that. The French figured something out about cooking!



For side dishes I fire roasted some poblano chilies, and roasted some sweet potato with chili and cumin. I also made a quick salad out of avocado, lime, red onion, grape tomato, cilantro, salt, and pepper. Just for good measure I also made some lime and cilantro rice. That last part is what I like to call a little Tyler-Florence-Mex but it went nicely with everything else prepared.



I was in no mood for Corona or Dos Equis or even Negra Modelo. Besides, we'd just returned from Canada with a huge amount of beer so I opted to try yet another beer. To pair with this meal I cracked open a Rickards Dark.

As I savored the beer I smiled in smug self-satisfaction at the fact that I'd made a Cinco de Mayo meal without the use of sour cream, salsa, gaucamole, tortillas, or any sort of Mexican beer. Strangely, this was probably a more

However, this meal did not only represent Mexico, it represented all of North America. We had veal from upstate New York, vaguely Mexican preparation, and beer from Canada. I can't think of anything better than celebrating the unity of North America in such a fashion. The only thing that could make next year's Cinco de Mayo more festive would be if we defeated the French Army.

That would be the greatest Cinco de Mayo of all.

Quattro Carciofi

If you don't want to miss a single moment of me ruining artichokes, you should follow us on Facebook! The 1 millionth follower gets a free Jen & Nate Buy the Farm . . . Share baseball cap (valued at $9.99). Don't miss this amazing opportunity!

Each spring I like to attempt, again, to do something with artichokes. I purchased a couple of artichokes for Easter then forgot I had them until I discovered them in the crisper last night. They were a little past their prime so I was forced to do something with them this evening.

The first time I ever really learned about how to prepare an artichoke was from Jacques Pepin. He had a show on PBS when I was in culinary school and my mother used to watch it all the time.



I don't think this is the actual video I saw as it is undated but it was something very similar to this. Artichokes always worried me so this video gave me the kick in the pants to try preparing them. I never really got the hang of it and every time I make artichokes I always imagine Jacques Pepin's ghost hovering over me and shaking his head in disappointment.

This is very unusual especially considering the fact that Jacques Pepin is still alive.



I took out all the items in my fridge that I was tired of looking at and decided, after steaming the cleaned artichokes, that I would prepare each halved artichoke in a different way. This would maximize the amount of ingredients I was able to clear out of the fridge, freezer, and pantry.

The first artichoke I made with some leftover tasso, cornbread, and cotija cheese with a little melted butter and smoked paprika. This was Jen's favorite as it incorporated cornbread in a stuffing form which is one of her greatest culinary pleasures.

For the second artichoke I used the remaining pesto from last night, some roast chicken from Sunday's dinner, sliced grape tomato, toasted and crumbled rosemary bread, and shaved Robusto cheese.

The third artichoke was filled with rice, kidney beans, cilantro, smoked paprika, cumin, feta, and a little lime juice.

I served the last artichoke simply with a poached egg, a drizzle of lemon juice, some cracked black pepper, and truffle salt. I gave this one to Jen first to get it out of the way since she has a strong dislike for eggs, particularly of the poached variety.



To wash down this odd collections of poorly-prepared artichokes I selected the blonde beer from Boréale that's we'd picked up on our weekend jaunt to Montreal. I don't know what the prescribed beer pairing for artichokes generally is but since there was no real theme tying these artichokes together it worked out just fine.

What thing will we clear out of our fridge next? What Canadian beer will we pair with it? Tune in tomorrow, or maybe the next day, or maybe next week, to find out!