Risotto

Risotto

Although risotto is sort of a pain in the ass to make, the result is well worth it. There is something elegant about meticulously beating flavor into grains of rice. And, once the basic technique is learned, there are endless possibilities. Seafood, mushrooms, and vegetables all work well in risotto when they are in season - even just a plain risotto can be completely satisfying. Use a good wooden spoon.

Plain Risotto

2 C Arborio rice

2 C onion

2 T chopped garlic

1 Qt. chicken stock

1 Qt. cold water

1/2 C dry white wine like a pinot gringo

1 C freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, more to taste.

2 T unsalted butter

Olive oil

Kosher Salt

Ground black pepper

1.    Heat stock and water to a low simmer in a large saucepan and keep near risotto pot.

2.    Coat bottom of a large heavy bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven with olive oil and heat over medium high heat until shimmering.

3.    Add onions and cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes.

4.    Add rice and stir often until rice is fragrant and toasty, about 3 minutes.

5.    Deglaze pan with wine and scrape bottom of pan with a wooden spoon.

6.    When wine is evaporated, add hot stock, one ladle at a time, stirring often. When stock evaporates, add a little more and stir.

7.    Rice is done when soft, but still a little firm in the middle. About 25-30 minutes. (Al dente)

8.    When done to desired firmness, add cheese and butter and stir aggressively until incorporated until the texture is creamy. Risotto should be a little wet but not soupy.

9.    Taste, and add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately with more grated cheese.

Variations:

Wild Mushroom Risotto

This risotto is great in the fall and winter. We like it with a well-marbled rib eye, grilled over live coals and a good Italian red. Cabernet works, too.

The key to a deeply earthy flavor is adding the stock from the dried mushrooms right after the wine. It allows the mushroom flavors to infuse deep within the rice grain. To reconstitute mushrooms, add 2 cups of dried mushrooms to 4 cups of boiling water, boil for 3 minutes then remove from heat and let steep for 30 min. Remove tough pieces and stems, strain the liquid and reserve.

2 Cups Arborio rice

2 Cups onion

2 T chopped garlic

2 Cups dried mushrooms, reconstituted and finely chopped

2 Cups reserved mushroom stock (add the rest to the other stock mixture)

2 Cups fresh wild mushrooms, finely chopped

2 Qt. chicken stocks

1 Qt. cold water

1/2 C white wine

1 C freshly grated locatelli or parmigiano-reggiano cheese

2 T butter

Olive oil

Kosher Salt

Ground black pepper

1.    Heat stock and water to a low simmer in a large saucepan and keep near risotto pot.

2.    Coat bottom of a large heavy bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven with olive oil and heat over medium high heat until shimmering.

3.    Add onions and cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes.

4.    Add rice and stir often until rice is fragrant and toasty, about 3 minutes.

5.    Deglaze pan with wine and scrape bottom of pan with a wooden spoon.

6.    When wine is evaporated, add chopped mushrooms and stir for 2 minutes.

7.    Add 2 ladles of mushroom “stock” and stir until evaporated.

8.    Add remainder of mushroom water to heated stock mixture.

9.    Add hot stock, one ladle at a time, stirring often. When stock evaporates, add a little more. Rice is done when soft, but still a little firm in the middle. (Al dente) About 25-30 minutes.

10. When cooked to desired firmness, add cheese and butter and stir aggressively until incorporated and the texture is creamy. Risotto should be a little wet but not soupy. Taste, and add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately with more grated cheese.

Mexicali Blues

Back in the day, I worked for a start-up restaurant company in Philadelphia called Cool Peppers. I helped build and open four stores in three years before we ran out of money and had to shutter them all.  A shame, too because we were way ahead of our time, pioneering a type of restaurant (fresh Mexican grill) that had not seen the light of day in the East. (When we started, Chipotle only had two restaurants open, now they have well over 1000) Fresh Mexican was a tough sell in 1995, especially in a cheese steak and hot pretzel town, but we gave it one helluva run. 

While I was there, I apprenticed under Chef Corbin Evans, who created the original menu and concept with his dad, Ken. Chef Corbin taught me how to cook in a professional kitchen and he taught me the chemistry of cooking. He also, although I’m sure he has no idea, instilled a passion for food in me that remains to this day and has in fact grown much stronger since we closed the last Cool Peppers. He taught me to never compromise on freshness and quality and to never, ever serve food that was not up to the high standards we created. The following recipes are based on ones he created for the original Cool Peppers menu. I still long for our Mucho Grande burrito, freshly made tortillas, garlicky tomato rice, black beans and guacamole. Thankfully the recipes remain. I lost touch with Chef Corbin soon after the Cool Peppers experience. Recently I heard he was teaching at a cooking school in New York. One of these days I am going to look him up, just to say thanks.

Tortilla Soup

We didn’t make this too often at the restaurant, maybe every other week depending on demand, and the recipe has evolved some, (The roasted corn was something I added later) but it was one of my favorite things to make (and eat). The key to the dish is preparing stock from scratch (recipe follows) and serving it with lots of fresh squeezed limes. 

4 cups onion, small dice

2 cups bell pepper, small dice

2 cups carrots, small dice

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 TBL tomato paste

2 cans of green chiles

2 quarts chicken stock (See below)

Shredded chicken from stock

4 ears roasted corn (See below)

2 avocados, cubed

2 oz. shredded tortillas, cut into small cubes

6 fresh corn tortillas cut into thin strips and fried until crisp.

Shredded Monterey Jack or Chihuahua cheese

Fresh lime wedges

Olive oil

S&P to taste

1. Coat the bottom of a large Dutch oven with olive oil and heat under medium high heat until shimmering

2. Add onion, carrots and bell pepper and sweat vegetables until softened, about 5 minutes.

3. Add garlic for and sauté 2 min until fragrant.

4. Add tomato paste and stir to incorporate vegetables. Heat until moisture evaporates, stirring often.

5. Deglaze with one cup of the stock and stir, scraping up the fond. (Browned bits on bottom of pan)

6. Add the rest of the stock, simmer and skim for about an hour and a half, skimming any foam that rises to the surface.

7. Add cubed tortillas and simmer 15 min.

8. Add chicken and corn and simmer another 15 min.

9. Taste and adjust seasonings, remove from heat.

10. When ready to serve, ladle hot soup into bowls, top with cheese, 2 oz. shredded chicken, avocado and lime wedges.

Chicken Stock

One whole chicken plus four chicken thighs

2 Bell peppers, med dice

2 One large Vidalia onion, med dice

Three carrots, scraped clean and cut into 1/2 in. "coins"

3 cloves garlic, crushed

½ C White Wine

In a 3 qt. Dutch oven, coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil and heat until shimmering.

1.    Brown chicken thighs in olive oil, remove and reserve

2.    Add vegetables and sauté for 3 minutes

3.    Deglaze pot with white wine and stir

4.    Add whole chicken and thighs and cover with water.

5.    Bring to a boil and skim any scum that rises.

6.    Add bay leaf, black pepper, Italian parsley, and Salt, simmer for 1:15.

7.    Remove chicken from pot, let cool, and remove meat from bones

8.    Add bones back to stock and simmer one more hour to hour and a half, pick through and shred chicken and reserve

9.    Strain stock, discarding solids, strain again in fine mesh strainer and reserve.

Makes about 2 Qts.

Cool Peppers “Firegrilled” Salsa

My life changed the moment I first tasted this grilled tomato salsa. It was by far our most popular and I made it almost every day for three years – well over 500 batches. Grilling the tomatoes adds an indescribable smoky flavor, the charred onions provide a soft, sweet crunch and the lime and serranos add bright citrusy heat. It’s a simple and versatile salsa that works with tortilla chips, on tacos and in the above tortilla soup. But it also works brilliantly with grilled flank steak, chicken or a nice cut of tuna or swordfish.

5 lbs ripe roma tomatoes

2 medium size onions (Vidalia work well)

2 serrano chiles

Juice from one lime

Kosher salt

1. Grill tomatoes, onions and chiles on a hot grill until blackened all over and soft, gently turning on the grill

2. Place tomatoes in a large bowl, reserve tomato juices that collect around the tomatoes and let cool

3. Meanwhile roughly chop the onions and mince the chiles

4. Pulse tomatoes in a blender and pulse a few times until chunky yet smooth. Do not puree.

5. Add onions and chiles and mix well. If the mixture is too thick, add a little of the tomato water.

6. Add about 1 T of salt, lime juice, mix well and let stand at room temperature.

7. Taste and add lime and salt to taste (The key here is balancing all the flavors)

8. You may freeze unused portion for up to 3 months, but it’s best to eat this salsa when it’s fresh.

Grill Roasted Corn

Corn is delicious on the grill right off the cob with a little chile-lime butter, but it really makes the tortilla soup (or any other recipe that calls for canned corn) come alive.

4 ears corn, half shucked (Remove the husk from half the corn, exposing kernels, and just the outer leaves of the other half

1. Grill kernel side down until blackened, about 4-5 minutes.

2. Turn on to husk side and grill for another 4 minutes, watching for husk “flare-ups.”

3. Cut corn off the husks, break up kernels and reserve.

4. Scrape the “milk” from the cob with the back of a large chef’s knife and add to kernels.

Chile-lime butter

1 stick unsalted butter softened

1TBL chili powder

1 tsp. cayenne pepper or a few shakes of Tabasco sauce

3 T lime juice (about half a lime)

1 tsp. kosher salt

1. Cream butter with remainder of ingredients, roll into a round “log” in a piece of saran wrap

2. Put into fridge until well chilled.

Use as you would use regular butter. Especially good on corn or a juicy ribeye.

Sunday Gravy

Mary’s Sunday Gravy

Sundays at our house are sacred. But not for any any customary religious reason. It's still an official day of rest, mind you - we just like to cook on Sundays, and we take that very seriously. I guess you could say that we are kitchen baptists, absolving ourselves with acts of culinary contrition. Our communion taken in the form of roasted peppers, bruscetta, Sunday gravy, homemade noodles and of course, wine. One more than a few Sundays during the year, the featured dish is a thick ragu known in Italian American circles as "Sunday Gravy."


When I was about six, I can recall coming in from the yard after playing with my uncles and being frozen in my tracks as I entered my grandmother's kitchen and encountered the heady garlic and tomato perfume. Sitting at the table, I was transfixed by the texture of the pork and the deep flavors of the sauce mixed with the pasta. This recipe is based on that sauce. My grandmother Mary used to make it with tomatoes and onions from her garden in Orchard Park, NY. Thick and meaty, the tender ribs come apart easily with a fork and are a nice foil for the peppery hot sausage. This works with almost any kind of pasta, but pappardelle or rigatoni seem to work best.

3 lbs. Boneless country spareribs, trimmed and cut into thirds

4 Hot Italian Sausages

2 large onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

3 28 oz. cans whole peeled tomatoes

Big glass of Italian red table wine

Basil, or other fresh herbs, chopped

Red pepper flakes

S&P to taste

Olive oil

1. Coat the bottom of a large Dutch oven with olive oil and heat over medium-high heat until shimmering

2. Brown ribs, then sausage. Remove with tongs, cut on the bias into bite sized pieces and reserve.

3. In the same pot, add onions and sweat for 3 minutes. Add smashed garlic and stir well for 2 min. until moisture begins to evaporate from the onions.

4. Deglaze pan with glass of wine, scraping up fond on bottom. Cook for 3 minutes.

5. Crush tomatoes with your hands in a large bowl, removing any basil, skin, or core pieces.

6. Add tomatoes to the pot and gently bring to a boil, stirring often.

7. Add spareribs back to sauce and stir to incorporate. Add herbs and simmer gently for 2 hours or until ribs begin to fall apart easily. Skim along the way for any fat or impurities that rise to the surface.

8. Taste and adjust seasonings.

8. Add sausage and cook for 30 minutes.

Toss, garnish with fresh herbs and serve with long pastas like pappardelle, grated cheese and thick hunks of good bread. Serve with antipasti, roasted peppers or bruscetta (Below)

Roasted Peppers

3 large red bell peppers, cored and cut into 3 lg. “filets”

2 T Basil, chiffonade (small ribbons)

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 T toasted pine nuts

Olive oil

Pinch of kosher salt

Ground black pepper

1. Grill peppers, skin side down until blackened all over. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 15 minutes, reserving pepper juices in the bowl.

2. Under cold running water, rub blackened skin off peppers and dry on paper towels.

3. Cut peppers into thin ribbons (1/4 in.) and place into a bowl with the garlic, basil, pine nuts reserve juices and olive oil and mix well with a fork.

4. Add salt and a few grinds of black pepper, toss, let stand for 15 min at room temp.

5. Toss and serve, adding salt and pepper as necessary with rounds of good Italian bread. Makes an excellent part of any antipasti.

Bruscetta

6 plum or other ripe red tomatoes

3 heaping tablespoons of finely chopped onions

1 small clove garlic, minced

2 T fresh basil, cut into thin ribbons. (chiffonade)

Olive oil

Splash of red wine vinegar

Large pinch of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

12 rounds sliced Italian bread

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and let stand for 30 min.

2. Taste and season bruscetta. Stir well.

3. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Arrange rounds on oven rack and bake until toasted. About 5 min.

4. Arrange rounds on plate and, using a slotted spoon, top with tomato mixture. And serve immediately.

Family Style

Three Generations: 

Jonathan Luther, Tiffany Bowers (Luther), Sharon Luther and Mary Dickman. 

Juno Beach, Florida. 12.27.2010

Sarma, Family Style.

Some of my earliest memories are from inside of a kitchen in Depew, New York, looking up at a sea of thick-legged Balkan women cooking up a storm. At the eye of the hurricane was my great grandmother Milka (Millie, we called her) meticulously cutting dough into thin ribbons for her chicken noodle soup and calling out instructions to her daughters (Kay, Louise and Dorothy) and my great grandmother Mary for the final hectic push to turn out yet another massive Serbian Christmas dinner. Each serving plate is laid out on my aunt Dorothy’s large kitchen table, which serves as a staging area for soup - traditionally the first course - then a barrage of dishes. Too many, really. There was spit roasted pig, tended to by my Uncle Joe Dragich and the men of the family, who guarded the swine, drank beer and told stories in the garage. Plates of roasted root vegetables, simmered greens and buttery mashed potatoes would flood the table. And at the center, always Sarma – little rolls of sweet simmered cabbage, ground beef and rice. It is humble peasant cooking in one big pot - simple, deeply flavorful and traditional. A common but uniquely Serbian dish that not only presages modern comfort food, it defines it.

Simple yes, but not easy. Making Sarma involves several very particular stages. A lengthy process that typically allows for the women to gossip in the kitchen for a few hours while the men get loaded in the garage. This works out beautifully for all involved - especially for a little kid like me who could usually bounce from the kitchen to the garage unfettered, pilfering morsels from the table and nasty swigs of warm Genesee beer from Uncle William’s bottle to wash it down.

Making Sarma is something that is handed down from generation to generation. There is no known recipe. Because it does not exist, the only way to learn to make it is to make it with someone who knows. And so, after some years, when I developed a passion for food and cooking, I began to pay more attention to these traditional dishes and decided to document these recipes (There are many more to come, I hope) for the ages. Thankfully, my sister Tiffany and I got the chance this past Christmas to learn how to make Sarma and mashed potatoes first hand from my grandmother Mary Dickman and my mom, Sharon Luther. 

Mary is an amazing woman in her own right and at ninety-two is still sharp. She and her sister Dorothy are the only ones left of their generation and each look out for one another, even though they are a thousand miles apart. Dorothy still lives in Buffalo, where my family settled in the early 1900’s, and Mary lives in South Florida. It was a great afternoon. Just elbow deep in cabbage and raw meat. We even called Dorothy for a quick consult. Every family should spend some time together like this now and then.

 And although the memories of my Aunt Dorothy’s kitchen have some faded edges to them, this time with my family was vivid and beautiful. It was a tacit passing of the flame. For many reasons, I have learned to appreciate these moments tremendously.  Make no mistake, in the end it’s your family who will show up.

After a long and wonderful life, my great grandma Millie passed away peacefully in her sleep in 1992 at the age of 98.  It was my 25th birthday. And although sad, I felt fortunate to have so much time with her on this planet. She and I shared a special bond, and I really felt her presence in the room, sitting quietly in her little corner chair in the kitchen, watching us cook. And I know she was happy.  I just know it. It was her kind of scene.

SARMA

2 heads fresh green cabbage, cored

1 1/2 LBS. ground beef

1 1/2 LBS. ground pork

1 ½ cups long grain rice

1 onion, small dice

2 ribs celery, small dice

2 28 oz cans of sauerkraut, drained and rinsed

2 cans of diced tomatoes

6 pork chops

1 can tomato juice, another ½ can cold water or chicken stock.

Olive Oil

1 TBL. Butter

Recipe:

1. Mix beef and pork, season with salt and pepper

2. In a skillet, over medium high heat, sauté the onion, celery in butter and rendered bacon fat.

3. Add rice and sauté about 3 minutes until rice is fragrant. Add to beef mixture, mix well and reserve.

4. Core cabbage, removing any damaged outer leaves. 


5. In a large pot, cover the cored cabbage with cold salted water and bring to a gentle boil.

6. As cabbage boils, remove outer leaves gently, keeping leaves as intact as possible, shaving off the large outer pieces of the ribs. Reserve any small or torn pieces.

7. Spoon about 1 T beef mixture into each cabbage leaf and roll, carefully tucking edges in and place on a baking sheet. (Should yield about 30 rolls)

8. Line the bottom of a large Dutch oven with small and torn cabbage pieces. Add bottom layer of cabbage rolls, top with sauerkraut and tomatoes; layer another layer of cabbage rolls, top with remaining sauerkraut and tomatoes.

9. Place pork chops on top of sauerkraut; pour tomato juice and water over cabbage mix until just covered. Shake the pan a little to settle the liquid

10. Partially cover and gently bring to a boil over medium high heat, then turn heat to medium and simmer for ninety minutes or until rice is cooked. (To be sure, liberate one of the rolls and test for doneness and seasoning) Adjust accordingly. When done, remove from heat and let cool for 15 min.

11. Serve cabbage rolls with lots of the loose cabbage and tomato gravy over creamy mashed potatoes.

Juno Beach, FL. 12/26/2010

raw