Insalata Di Caprese, and Then Some!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

I was thinking to post about my chocolate mousse for the dubious occasion of Valentine’s Day, until I realized that 1. the mousse post would be late anyway, as it would be ready to photograph too late for anyone who’d want to make it for this specific Valentine’s day (I am not one of those food bloggers who makes food just to take pictures of it!), and that 2. the mousse is a fantastic recipe to post anytime, and not just when the entire internet is drowned in chocolate recipes for Valentine’s day.

So therefore, you get chocolate mousse with bourbon later, and today there is a post about another one of my favorite-ever things to eat: Insalata Di Caprese.

Insalata Di Caprese, at its most basic, is a ripe tomato, a good ball of mozzarella sliced thickly, and basil leaves, all dressed in a simple extra-virgin olive oil.  The marriage of textures and flavors is perfect, and the way tomato and fresh greens infuse into the trembling softness of mozzarella is… well, there is a reason why the salad is famous the world over.  It is not actually known if the recipe originated on Capri, but when something tastes so amazing, do we really care?  I certainly do not!  Nor am I one of those snooty purists who say that adding anything at all other than the above ruins the salad.  I never believed that some fresh garlic, black pepper, bacon or parsley did it any harm, and I love it with the peppery bitterness of arugula in particular.  Since arugula, tomatoes, mozzarella and good bacon are all fridge staples in our home, this makes arranging the lunch that much simpler – and yes, we do eat endless variations of it on a fairly regular basis.

The testament to how great this is, is that for all we eat it often, it is still enough of a favorite that I turned to it without a second thought when it came to figuring out what to do for a light and festive Valentine’s Day lunch for T and I.  And, going by the adage that bacon makes everything better, I decided to add some crisped slices of really good smoked local bacon – and the celestial pigs sang hallelujah, for we ate it and it was very, very good!  The smokey and not-too-salty crunch of the pork set off the tart sweetness of the tomatoes and the milky mozzarella di bufala campagna, and made for a salad that was both, fresh, savory and satifying – a perfect lunch to precede the likely indulgence of the evening meal.

Oh what, you need a recipe for this?!  Fine, then!  This will serve two.

• A few handfuls of arugula with a few optional basil leaves mixed in.
• A ball of good-quality mozzarella (buffalo mozzarella being the luxury for today), sliced gently.
• 10 thin slices off a piece of dry, warm-smoked bacon (or any bacon of your choice), fried slowly on low heat to render the fat until they are crisp.  I found that scooping the fat out of the pan as it renders, makes these crisp a lot faster and better.
• 1-2 ripe tomatoes, sliced.
• A drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of flaked salt, and some dried lavender or black pepper to taste.

Toss the greens into wide salad bowls, arrange the sliced mozzarella on the greens, and the tomato on the mozzarella.  Sprinkle with salt and spices and drizzle with olive oil.  Top with crisped bacon.  Serve.  If the boyfriend hadn’t had to work in the afternoon, a bit of sparkling wine would have gone amazing with this!

Comfort Food For A Rainy Day – Simple Potato Salad

Some days simply call for comfort food.

Potato salad with bacon, marinated red onion and olive oil

This morning dawned already damp and proceeded to rain, and rained all through lunch, at which point the weather improved all the way up to damp and grey sans the pouring rain.  To add insult to injury, it is Monday and one of my best friends has just gone back to England after a weekend visit here.  Gloomy.  The fridge is having post-party blues:  it is filled with fancy sauce, plastic boxes of leftover cake, a piece of brie and half a bunch of good grapes – i.e., nothing to eat.  Even gloomier.

Luckily, I found half a bag of baby new potatoes left over from making soup for the party Saturday, and a more thorough search of the fridge has turned up a pack of bacon and a red onion.  Bingo!  It’s all I really need for a very good, very very comforting and easy to make (this isn’t the sort of day when I want to do a kitchen marathon or any other Olympics, either) potato salad.

For the adherents of the mayonnaise-smothered gloopy cold stuff that passes for potato salads in many supermarkets and among many caterers, I am sorry but I am of a different persuasion (as if the photo hasn’t told you that).  I believe in the tangy and slightly al dente potato salad with a bite and a lot of flavor, and it has got to be warm.  Or even hot if I hurry up with eating it or bother to preheat the plate.

Ok, so all you really need  to feed one hungry person on a gloomy day is:

• Enough potatoes for said person to not be hungry (hey, that really varies from person to person!)
• 1/2 pack (about 75g) bacon rashers or half a box of lardons (cubed bacon).  I prefer rashers for this because cut up into short strips crosswise, they fry to a lovely crispness
• 1/2 medium-sized red onion
• A splash of white or red-wine or balsamic vinegar (I used balsamic, it’s what I had on hand)
• Sea salt
• Chili flakes and black pepper to taste
• Olive oil (2-3 tablespoons won’t hurt in my opinion)

What do you do?

• Wash your potatoes (I don’t bother peeling), cut up if they are large or just use whole if they are little, and stick them into a pot of cold, salted water to boil.
• While the potatoes boil, preheat a non-stick frying pan with a teaspoon or two of oil to medium-high heat (I use setting 6 out of 9), and toss the cut-up rashers or bacon cubes into it.  Allow to fry slowly, so that the fat melts (I drain that off and keep in a ceramic jar in the fridge for future use when roasting vegetables).
• While the bacon is frying and potatoes are boiling (you can cover them with a lid and reduce heat somewhat once they come to a boil), peel and cut your onion.  Stash half in the fridge in a plastic bag and slice the other one thinly into half-moons or quarter-moons (as you like).
• Put the onion in a bowl, splash with vinegar (enough to wet all of it), and sprinkle with salt.  Now test your potatoes – they should be getting close to ready.  I take them off heat as soon as they are no longer crunchy and pierce easily with a fork.
• Drain your potatoes and put them into the bowl with onions, season with chili flakes, and use a fork to fork them into smaller, bite-sized pieces.  Let stand until bacon is ready.  Note: if bacon is ready before the potatoes, take it off the heat but don’t add to the bowl until potatoes are ready.
• Mix the potatoes and onions again.  Splash the salad with olive oil and then mix in the bacon (this allows it to stay crispier), taste and season with salt and pepper as much as you like.  Pour salad onto a plate or eat right out of the bowl if you like.

I plated mine.  And photographed it and ate it – and now the sky is clearing up and the day does not look nearly so gloomy anymore.  In fact, it looks much, much better!

Sometimes, Oranger Is Better (Winter Squash Soup)

August weather has turned unexpectedly rainy today, starting with a rain and then a thunderstorm, and following with a cold wind which dried up the puddles but did nothing for the chill that set in earlier.  And so, when I have wandered into my kitchen in search of the meaning of life, or, failing that, of weather-appropriate food, it came to be that I emerged from the fridge holding a rather large chunk of Long Island Cheese squash (similar to pumpkin) puchased as an impulse buy a week or so ago because I simply could not resist its luridly-orange color, and a leftover piece of Butternut squash which had been aging in the back of my fridge for far longer than that.  (Not that the latter suffered any from it – wrapped in cling film, it keeps nearly forever – or well, for weeks at least! – in the fridge.)

Gorgeous, isn't it?

With such happy-colored start, it is difficult not to make something perky and summery and beautiful.  I’d first considered a salad with roast slices of squash, but in the end, I succumbed to the desire for comfort food, and thus, in this case, soup.

Pumpkin or winter squash (not to be confused with zucchini or yellow squash – aka summer squash) soup is a very, very easy to make dish, and the full-flavored and warmingly-spicy result is oh so rewarding.  The natural sweetness of the squash can take quite a bit of heat added to it (if you like that), or stands quite well on its own seasoned with just the cumin and a bit of salt for a very rich-flavored, satisfying meal.

What you need:

• A blender OR a potato masher (in a pinch, a fork and some attitude will do)
• A large soup pot

• A chunk of squash (like the one pictured) or a medium-sized butternut squash.
• 1 onion
• 4-8 cloves of garlic (depending on size of cloves and how well you like garlic)
• 1 red chili, seeded and chopped or a flat teaspoon of red chili flakes (I’d not go for more, but you can use less if you are sensitive to hot spices)
• 2 teaspoons salt (or more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
• Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
• ~500ml boiling water (+ more to desired consistency)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, AND
• 2 more tablespoons vegetable oil or bacon fat

To serve:

• 1 pack cubed bacon or pancetta, fried, drained and kept warm
• 10-17% fat yogurt or creme fraiche
• Freshly shaved parmesan or other hard cheese
• A pinch of dried oregano, or if you have some on hand, a handful of chopped green herbs of your choice
• Slices of hearty rye or wheat bread

Orange!

What to do:

• Preheat oven to 200°C (if fan oven, use 180°C) and line a baking tin or dish with a bit of foil
• Scrape seeds out of your squash, then peel it (careful, it is far harder than potato), and chop into manageable chunks.
• Put chopped squash into a bowl, add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, season with black pepper and mix to coat.
• Pour onto the baking dish and roast for ~45 minutes or a bit longer, until squash is fork-tender.
• In meantime, cut the root tips off garlic cloves and smash them gently, but do not peel.  Wrap the cloves in a piece of aluminium foil to make a small packet, and add that to the oven, near the squash.
• Peel and chop onion, and heat up a nonstick frying pan on medium-high heat with the other 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or bacon fat in it.
• Fry onion until it turns translucent and add chili or chili flakes, then take off heat.
• When squash is about ready, remove garlic foil-packet from oven carefully, unwrap it, and squeeze garlic cloves out of their papery shells.
• Once the squash is fork-tender,  place squash, roast garlic cloves and onion-chili mix and oil from it in a blender with a bit of water and puree until smooth.  Alternatively, omit water and put it all in a potato masher and mash into the pot.  Or, place it all in the pot, omit the water, and mash violently with a fork until it is mashed. (Latter approach results in an obviously less smooth but still very delicioius soup).
• If using blender, transfer puree to the pot and rinse blender goblet with a bit more water, adding that to the pot.  If using one of the other two methods, dilute the puree in the pot with boiling water to desired consistency.  Turn heat up to medium.
• Season with salt to taste, adding little by little and mixing well with each addition.
• Add cumin and further season with pepper as desired.
• Slowly warm the soup up until nearly boiling, then turn heat down and allow the soup to barely simmer for about 10 minutes – this will allow it time to thicken itself naturally.
• Place a heaping tablespoon of yogurt or creme fraiche in the bottom of each bowl and ladle the soup over it.
• Sprinkle soup with bacon bits, parmesan shavings and herbs and serve with bread.

(Very orange) squah soup with cumin.

I find that for a dark, gloomy day, few things are as hearteningly bright and happy as this.  And yes, it tastes even better and warmer than it looks.  Honest!

Black And White Bean Chili Con Carne With Three Kinds of Chili Pepper

- reheated in oven with cheese browned under broiler

I have always believed (and still do) that no food is as satisfying in really, really cold weather, as a stew.  And when the Swedish February forcefully reminded us that it is still well and truly winter with temperatures plunging below -10°C and half a metre of (newly fallen) snow on the ground, it seemed like the perfect excuse (should I have needed one) to make chili – and this one, stripped down to basics and allowed to cook slowly on even, low heat, is infinitely warming and satisfying when outside the windows, snow keeps falling in large, pretty clumps… horizontally.  Or as close to horizontal as nevermind.

First of all, to me, chili con carne, is essentially – or at least according to the Texans who claim the dish as their own – with some argument from other American locales in which I will not take sides – a stew of beef, onions and chili peppers, and whatever else the chef in question wants it to be.  Hence the prevalence of chili preparations with or without beans, with or without tomato, etc.  I take that as freedom to interpret the chili as a stew within the guideline stated above, with or without whatever else seems to go with it on hand.  Though, since I like beans, those usually do make an appearance.

Secondly, of beans.  I should, and will, write a longer entry about legumes and the virtues as well as cooking thereof, but in short – I love eating beans, I do not love flatulence.  Neither does anyone I am acquainted with.  Thankfully, that is a problem easily avoided – I do not use canned beans if I can help it.  Beans that are canned, while generally fine to eat, are not soaked long enough, and not cooked in enough water, and so retain their natural oligosaccharides (the stuff which causes gastric upset due to being indigestible by us – but happily digestible by our intestinal flora).  Oligosaccharides are soluble in water, and so dry beans (which are also cheaper to buy) can be prepared at home with fairly minimal effort to avoid this problem.  The key is – soak the beans for at least 12 hours in cold water in the fridge, then rinse, bring to boil, drain (can be repeated once more if you are bored), add boiling water from kettle and cook (unsalted) till tender (after the long soaking, usually far less than an hour, unlike whatever the packages say).

Thirdly, I do not use thickeners in my stews and soups.  It is a matter of both principle and taste – I don’t like adding unnecessary white flour (high-GI carbohydrate) to my food, and I feel that when cooked at home and with proper ingredients, no stew will require further thickener than will naturally be present from its own ingredients.  I am in no hurry to join in the ranks of the diabetes II sufferers, nor would I encourage anyone else in that direction.

With the above in mind, chili with beans is actually a wonderfully healthy dish, and while not devoid of carbohydrates (present in beans and onions, and tomatoes if you use those), it is very rich in dietary fibre (from beans), protein and a variety of other nutrients (the exact composition of which depends on what you put in it, obviously).

The above chili is without tomatoes, mostly because I have wanted to see the pretty black and white-turned-pink beans in all their glory.  That, and though I often cook chili with tomatoes, I wanted to see just how much flavor I could coax out of the meat and chili peppers on their own, without the overpowering cannon of tomato, and the boxed complexity of prepared chili powder.  The result, especially after a day in the fridge, was overwhelmingly wonderful, and proclaimed by T to have been the best chili he’s ever had (hard compliment to top, but I will try to in the future!).  I wouldn’t argue with him, of course – heated in little clay casseroles in the oven and then topped with cheese and browned under the broiler/grill element it did indeed taste fantastic.  And, while somewhat time-consuming, it was not even that difficult to make – and most of the time very little effort is required other than the occasional check on the liquid level.

What you need:

• Large (preferably cast-iron) shallow stovetop-safe casserole with a lid.
• 500g-1kg stew meat sliced into 5mm thick pieces across the grain (I bought a box of good-looking cut-up stew beef and cut it up further)
• 100-250g streaky bacon (or any other bacon), cubed or, if rashers, then sliced thinly.  I use salt pork belly and cube it.
• 1-2 large cayenne chili peppers (commonly sold as just red chili)
• 4-5 green jalapeño peppers
• 1 teaspoon bird’s eye or any red chili flakes (less if you are afraid of scovilles!)
• 4-6 large garlic cloves (peeled)
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 2-3 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander seed
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
• 1 cup each black and white beans (rinsed, soaked overnight, cooked as per above instruction, and drained)
• 2 large or 3 smaller yellow onions (peeled and chopped into 1x1cm pieces)
• 2 tablespoons of bacon grease or butter
• Canola (Rapeseed) oil as needed (this will depend on the fattiness of your beef, but don’t skimp on it)
• 500ml chicken or beef stock + boiling water as needed
• 2 large bay leaves
• 1/2 glass dry white wine
• Shredded cheese of your choice, sour cream or turkish yogurt (10% fat), and chopped coriander leaves (to serve)

How to do it:

• Preheat bacon grease or butter with a bit of rapeseed oil in your casserole dish on medium heat.
• Add chopped onions and cook on medium heat until beginning to turn golden and edges caramelise.
• While onions cook, seed the cayennes and cut tails off jalapenos (I don’t bother seeding those), and toss them, the garlic cloves, and a bit of salt into a food processor.  Process for a few seconds until all cut into bits/shreds.  Set aside.
• Add half the chili flakes to the pan, mix and move the onions to the side.  Increase heat to medium-high.
• Add chopped bacon and fry until done but not crispy.  Move aside to sit with the onions.
• Add the meat in batches, browning and moving to the side to avoid it getting wet.  If some liquid appears, stop adding beef and cook until evaporated, add more oil and continue until all meat is browned.
• Reduce heat to medium.  Mix the meat into the onions and move aside to make a little space in bottom of casserole.  Add oil if necessary, and scrape the chili-garlic mixture out into the pan.  Fry gently until soft and aromatic, then add 1 cup of stock and scrape the bottom to deglaze.
• Add beans, bay leaves, remaining chili flakes, coriander, oregano and cumin (if using), and enough stock to almost cover the beans and meat.  Reduce heat to low simmer and cover.
• Cook on very low heat for 1 hour, checking every 30 minutes and adding stock or boiling water if necessary to keep the liquid level up.  After 1 hour, taste meat for tenderness.  If not yet fork-tender, add liquid as needed and cook in 30 minute increments until it is (the time between 1-2.5 hours will depend on the kind of meat you used).
• Once meat is tender, crack the lid of the casserole partially open and allow chili to reduce to desired consistency.  I add the wine at some point during this time.
• Serve topped with a little bit of Turkish yogurt, shredded cheese and coriander leaves.

Om nom nom nom nom!

This can obviously be combined with chili seasoning, smoked spanish paprika, chopped celery, a box of sieved tomatoes, and any of your other favourite chili ingredients. Having tried the above with those, any one or combination of them hurts it not at all!  And, like with any stew, it is even (and much) better the next day, and the day after (if you are like me and make a huge vat of it so that there is any left over)!

An Ode To Bacon

Oh bacon, thee maketh my heart gladder.
Thee maketh my stews heartier and my soups flavourful,
and you impart thy divine fragrance to the chicken or the beef
– or the greens of the field among which I place thee.
Truly, for all the savoury dishes, thy glory shall be great!

So yes.  I love bacon.  In fact, I don’t think I know anyone (save some vegans and perhaps vegetarians – don’t know many of either kind closely for the obvious reason of them not liking me much) who does not like bacon.  And when pressed, I suspect that even those die-hard ethical eaters love the flavour of bacon, if perhaps not the idea.

Actually, where it comes to my favourite animal-based things to eat and use in savoury food to improve its flavour as an ingredient (other than meat, obviously, which is in its own category), I suspect bacon has only cheese to compete with – and in many cases it wins.  (But honestly, when it comes to cheese and bacon, why pick just one?!)

The photo above is from a few days ago, when I have discovered that apparently, happy, well-fed chickens raised to Swedish farm standards, grow into (utterly delicious) humongous monsters.  For reference, that’s a large restaurant-sized plate.  And that’s a cooked chicken breast on it.  And yes, they were 250g each raw (without water added).  So once I brought them home, I was left face-to-chicken-breast with them and the contemplation of what to do.  Mind you, that was before my luggage (and the spices therein) had arrived in Sweden, and so all I had at my disposal were fresh veggies, garlic, salt, oil and a bit of black pepper.  But – eureka! – I also had bacon and cheese.

The salad alongside them was planned in advance (and a separate recipe), but for the bacon-wrapped cheese-stuffed chicken, you really do not need that much:

• 2 chicken breasts (to serve 2, obviously)
• 1 large garlic clove (or 2 smaller ones – can’t skimp on the garlic!)
• 1-2 tablespoons butter (I use lightly salted butter here and do not salt the inside of the chicken pocket)
• 2 slices of cheese (I used a good cheddar in this instance, but any you like will do)
• 5 bacon slices (streaky, with a bit of stretch to it – make sure it’s defrosted completely if using after freezing)
• salt and black pepper to taste (I like lots of the latter, and again this is up to you.  Can also use chili flakes.)
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (optional)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 220°C
• Pat dry the chicken breasts and lay on cutting board.  Cut a pocket into the thicker side of each one, carefully
• Slice garlic clove(s) thinly and insert half the slices into each chicken breast
• Place half the butter into each pocket over the garlic
• Place a slice of cheese into each pocket as well
• Season the outside of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper
• You can secure the edges of the pocket with a toothpick, or -
• -  in lieu of one, you can tie them with bacon:

• Lightly oil the baking dish you plan to use with the vegetable oil (optional – only to make clean up easier)
• Lay 2 strips of bacon in an X shape on a cutting board, and position breast top side down on them
• Pull the edges together and tie them in a knot on the underside of the chicken breast – one after another
• Place breasts into the baking dish knot-side down.  You can cover the dish with aluminium foil for the first half of the cooking time, removing it after 30 minutes
• Cut the last bacon strip into 2 and lay the halves over the chicken breasts
• Place dish in oven and turn oven down to 180°C
• Cook for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes.  You can switch the grill element (broiler) on for a little while at the end to brown the bacon if necessary.
• Take out and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
• Cheese may leak out of the chicken some – I just spoon it and some of the butter over the chicken when it’s plated.

Serve with your side or salad of choice and rejoyce, for the Holy Bacon is great and wonderful and bringeth much joy to the chicken, and makes it juicy and flavourful and not at all dried out or stringy!

Amen.

Mmmm!Eat! (Confessions of a happy carnivore.)

I make no secret of being a carnivore.

I am, and have been for as long as I can recall, carnivorous – happily, and without qualms or ethical dilemmas.  I believe that humans are omnivores who are meant to have a good amount of meat in their diet.  If pressed about it, I’d rather give up chocolate than meat.  I also know that at least for my own self with my low blood pressure, tendency towards iron deficiency, and sugar sensitivity, meat is one of the optimal things to eat (alongside a large pile of good greens and vegetables of course).  Meat has iron, it has good quality protein, and it is satiating and above all, to me – meat is absolutely and undeniably wonderful to eat.

Some people have taken upon themselves to explain to me at some length that meat is parts of dead animals, and as such a horrible thing.  I disagree.  Animals eat other animals.  I am an animal.  I have the right to eat animals, so long as I do so with a reasonably good approach in terms of farming and environment (I do prefer ekologisk/free range meat and the like and buy it when possible).  I give respect to the farmers, and more importantly, to the animals that die so that I may eat them and feel healthy and well.

I eat meat a couple of times a week.  Note, that does not mean I eat meat as such daily, several times a day.  No, my love of meat is such that I prefer to buy a really good piece of meat every other day and enjoy it, rather than compromise quality for the (rather questionable, in case of food, as it is in case of many other things) sake of quantity.  (Besides, there have got to be days to eat things that swim in the sea, or birds too!)  In case of meat (and seafood and birds, actually), quantity over quality also means compromising on how well raised and treated the animals were, so there’s a double bonus.

I love meat in all of its culinary permutations, with the possible exception of boiled-till-it’s-overcooked one, which I reject as a culinary approach, and recognize only as a way to ruin perfectly good meat.   Which, incidentally, brings me to the medium-rare slab of cow pictured above.  The picture was taken after more than two-thirds of said tenderloin joint were already consumed, as my guests and I were too busy masticating the food to photograph it before that, but should you wish to replicate it for your own munching pleasure, here’s the (very simple!) recipe.

Ingredients:

• Beef tenderloin joint (in this case, about 1.2kg)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Streaky bacon (or whatever bacon your heart desires, so long as it has enough fat to baste the meat – salt-cured pork fat sliced thinly will do just as well!)
• Small amount of oil (your pick, I use rapeseed or peanut because they are rich in monounsaturated fatty acids)
• Aluminium foil
• A heavy cast iron or cast aluminium oven-safe pan large enough to fit the meat with a good margin

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to about 170°C
• Rub about a tablespoon of oil all over the joint
• Season with salt and pepper to taste
• Preheat your pan on stovetop with a small amount of oil in it to a medium-high heat
• Sear your joint in the oil on all sides and turn the heat off
• Drape your bacon or pork fat over the meat in whatever pattern (or lack of) you like
• Place pan into the oven for 30 minutes for rare or more as you like – use a meat thermometer if unsure (you can also turn grill on for the last 10 minutes of cooking to crisp up the bacon if it is being slow)
• Take out and tent in aluminium foil.  Let rest 10-15 minutes for juice to redistribute.
• Carve.  Gorge yourself.

You can also remove the meat from pan and tent it on a board, while deglazing the pan with some red wine, or go further and cook some chopped garlic, thyme and/or shallots in the pan juices and then deglaze with the wine to make sauce. To be honest, we were too intent on the bloody piece of meat on our stovetop that we hadn’t bothered with sauce, and just ate it with butter and lemon wedges.

Mmmmm! Eat!