Bambi in a Pot

I am slightly enamored of venison. I eat it almost any chance I get, which mostly means I order it on the very rare occasions when (a) I’ve chosen to eat out and (b) venison is on the menu. For some reason, in this city of gastronomic wonders, deer meat is just not something you see at the butcher counters of even very upscale markets, and only infrequently on restaurant menus. And I have to say, I don’t understand this. I know that there is a pretty serious problem with overpopulation of deer (and geese) in the mid-Atlantic region, and yet markets and menus are not flooded with venison and goose. Wouldn’t that be a perfect solution to all kinds of problems, not the least of which is an overdependence on factory farms for meat? Gah. 

Anyway, it turns out that the Quattro’s stand at the Union Square Greenmarket DOES have venison, at least sometimes, so I bought a couple of pounds of stew meat, and stashed it in my freezer until I figured out what to make. I had never cooked venison before, and it took some time to find a recipe I thought I could trust. And then the week I wanted to make the stew happened to coincide with the beginning of a cold/flu/plague that took me out for almost 2 weeks. I was not yet (completely) down for the count when I made this, but I still purposely chose a pretty simple recipe, with only a few ingredients, both for a basic flavor and ease of preparation. So it’s kind of key to make sure the meat and greens you use are top quality here, because there isn’t much going on that will cover up anything less than the best.

You’ll want a couple pounds of stew meat (something a little fattier than what I had would probably not be a bad thing), and a couple pounds of greens, like dandelions, escarole, or chicory. Also a pound of fennel, some cayenne, and salt. For the most part, that is the ingredient list. 

Wash the greens, chop them up, and mix them together. Put about a third of them in the bottom of a big soup pot, topped with a third of the chopped fennel, a sprinkle of cayenne, and some salt. Add half the meat (salted).

Repeat the layers, ending with the last third of the greens and fennel, and then pour in water–just enough to get to the top of the greens.

Bring to a boil very slowly, then turn down to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes without stirring. THEN give it a stir, and again every half hour until the meat is tender (about 2 hours total). Taste for salt and spice, and add in about 2/3 a cup of grated Pecorino Romano. Serve with bread and more grated cheese.

This was a much more watery stew than I was expecting–more like a soup, really–but here’s the secret I discovered over the rest of the week, as my cold-addled tastebuds decided everything on a takeout menu tasted weird and could only tolerate the simplest of flavors: this stew is even better, I think, if you add in a little rice or barley as it’s reheating. Just toss in a handful or so of dry grains for each bowl you’re heating up, and cook until the grain is tender. It’ll soak up some of the extra liquid, and adds a little more substance if you don’t happen to have a good loaf of crusty bread lying around. 

Empanadas In My Freezer

Remember this?

Several months ago, I bought some lard to make bizcochitos for my New Mexican Cook Club. Looking back, it seems that I either didn’t take any pictures of that, or else they disappeared in one of my recent camera snafus. So you probably DON’T remember the lard unless you were at the dinner. Huh.

So let’s start over. I have this lard in my freezer. I used about half of it making these awesome cookies from a David Tanis recipe, but the remaining cup has been stashed away, waiting for me to come up with another use for it. 

Friends, let me tell you about empanadas. They are a Latin American stuffed pastry (the name basically means “things wrapped in bread”), usually shaped like a crescent moon, that you can fill with whatever you want. And they are much easier to make at home than I would have guessed. I found a recipe for the dough on the New York Times website, and just looked in my fridge for what to put inside.

To start, melt the lard for the dough. (You can also use vegetable shortening, but if you have lard in your freezer, why would you use anything else?) Add a little salt and some hot water. Then put some flour in a food processor (use the dough blade if you’ve got it), and pour the lard/water mixture through the tube while the machine is running. Dump the dough out onto a work surface, and knead it just until it comes together. Wrap it up, let it cool down, and stick it in the fridge for a half an hour or so. 

While it’s cooling, you can decide what you want to put inside. I had some garlic scapes,

a batch of pinto beans that either needed to be frozen or used, 

and a couple of heads of escarole.

I sauteed the garlic scapes in a little olive oil, added the pinto beans to heat them through, and then added the escarole, some salt, a little water, and a splash of vermouth. In retrospect, I should have chopped up the escarole more than I did. But in any case, once the escarole was fully wilted and the stew-like mixture had cooked down, I rolled out the dough as thin as possible and cut it into 6″ circles. A big spoonful of dough went in the middle of each one, and then I brushed the open area with an egg. 

(Note that you can fill these more than I did. I have a bad habit of overfilling things like omelets, tacos, crepes, burritos–anything that gets wrapped up–with tragic results, but it turns out that these puff up a little when they’re baked, which creates more room inside.)

Fold over, and crimp the edges firmly with the tines of a fork. Now, you can fry empanadas, but frying is often more trouble than I feel like going to, so these ones got baked, at 400F, for 15 minutes, turning over after the first 10.

So now, instead of a tub of lard in my freezer, I’ve got a Ziploc bag of empanadas. And instead of coming home from a family vacation to find a bag of rotting escarole and some rancid pinto beans, I came home to a delicious pre-made dinner. Or lunch. Or snack. 

Empanadas with Beans & Greens

makes about a dozen 6″ pastries

1 recipe empanada dough (e.g. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/dining/151erex.html)

3-4 garlic scapes, chopped (or 1-2 garlic cloves)

2 c cooked beans (pinto, black, navy–whatever you like)

1 large bunch/head of greens (escarole, spinach, chard, etc.), chopped

2 Tbsp vermouth (optional)

olive oil

salt & pepper

1 egg (for egg wash)

Make the empanada dough (or purchase pre-made dough) and let it chill while you’re preparing the filling.

Heat a pot with the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and when it’s starting to get fragrant, add the beans, with a little of their cooking liquid if you have it, or some water if you don’t. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they’re heated through. Add the chopped greens, a little more water, and the vermouth. Season with salt, and stir. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are wilted. Uncover and keep cooking until any excess liquid has mostly boiled off.

Preheat the oven to 400F. 

Mix the egg with a tablespoon of water. Roll out the dough as thin as you can make it, and cut it into 6″ circles. Put a big spoonful of the filling onto each circle, and brush the egg wash onto the rest of the circle. Fold each one over and crimp very firmly with the tines of a fork. Place the empanadas onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Turn them over and bake another 5. Remove from the oven and place on a baking rack until they’re cool enough to eat, or to freeze. 

To reheat, wrap in foil and heat for 10 minutes in a 400F oven.

Catching Up and Falling Behind

I have not been very good about taking pictures of anything lately. I think it’s becoming clear that food photography is not something at which I excel, nor is it something about which I get especially excited. Then there’s the fact that sometimes I just forget to pull out my camera.

But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been cooking this week. Last night, M. and I went over to R.’s apartment, and I brought Mowgli, too, and we made a lovely dinner with some greenmarket and Whole Foods supplements.

First there was this salad, though we subbed in escarole for arugula. Important to note is that, prior to making this salad, I had never prepared fennel before. And it turns out that I do not really know how to cut it properly. But I’ll be prepared for next time.

Then we did a pasta dish with summer squash, chicken, goat cheese, and fresh herbs that was partly inspired by a Tyler Florence recipe. Yeah, no pictures of that, either. I promise, though, it was delicious.

At the end of the evening, I lucked out and M. sent me home not only with some leftover pasta, but also a huge bunch of extra basil. So tonight I made some pesto (the official Cuisinart recipe), and tossed it together with some quinoa, lettuce, ricotta salata, and sauteed escarole and radicchio, and was pleasantly surprised at how cohesive that mix was.

Also, on Tastespotting today I saw a recipe for Ice Cold Cucumber Juice. I made a few tweaks, and drank the whole batch myself.

It doesn’t really look like anything special, but I promise, when it’s 85F and 85% humidity, this is what you want to drink.

Penne with Chicken, Summer Squash, and Goat Cheese
(note: amounts are completely from memory and therefore probably wrong)

1 lb. summer squash, cut into large bites
1 1/2 lbs. chicken breasts
3/4 lb. penne
1 oz. goat cheese
juice of half a lemon
handful of basil leaves, roughly chopped
half a handful of mint leaves, roughly chopped
butter
olive oil
salt and pepper

Cook pasta according to package instructions.

Pound out the chicken a bit and season with salt and pepper. Cook in olive oil in a large skillet, then remove to a plate and set aside. Add a tablespoon or so of butter and the squash, and some salt and pepper, and cook over medium-low heat until cooked to your liking, 5-10 minutes probably. Turn off the heat and add the goat cheese to the pan to soften into a thick sauce, almost.

Cut up the chicken into bite-sized pieces, then toss that with the pasta, the squash & goat cheese, the lemon juice, and the fresh herbs. Season with salt & pepper and serve.

Cuisinart Pesto

2 c. basil leaves, pretty tightly packed
3 oz. parmesan (chunks, not shredded)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 c. pine nuts
1/2 tsp. salt (this is my only variation, honestly–their recipe is shockingly salty even to my palate)
1/2 c. olive oil

Put all the ingredients except the oil in the cuisinart. Pulse several times, and then drizzle in the oil with the machine running. Try not to just eat it all with a spoon.

Cucumber Smoothie

1 large cucumber, or alternately 1 medium slicing cucumber and 1 small heirloom, peeled and chopped roughly
juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp mint leaves, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp honey
1 c. ice water (meaning put ice cubes in the measuring cup and then fill to the 1-cup line with water)

Put all ingredients in the blender. Serve over ice.

I think we’re going to need a bigger fridge

Or else I’m going to have to start sharing, which is not something I do as well as the dog does. It is now Saturday of week #3, and I still have a full head of red leaf lettuce in the fridge, a bunch of oregano, half a bunch of chives, half a head of escarole, and (oops) some butter lettuce from week #2. And what space isn’t full of plastic-bagged greenery is full of leftovers in tupperware.

As much as I’d like to blame my fridge runneth-ing over on several recent birthdays that resulted in eating out more than I usually do, it ought to be clear (to me) already that 1 share is more than 1 person can eat. Even someone who is very happy eating mostly vegetables all the time.

In any case, here’s where the rest of this week’s bounty went:

2 summer squashes (that doesn’t sound right. is squash both singular and plural?)

became Chilled Zucchini-Yogurt Soup with Fresh Mint
adapted from the New York Times and with mint from my window box!

half of the head of escarole became Escarole Salad with Avocado and Parmesan
courtesy of Orangette (who should really come back from hiatus one of these days)

Mowgs and I packed up some of the soup and the salad and headed to Carl Schurz Park for a picnic in the shade

Then home again, and I decided to wing it with pickling the 1/2 head napa cabbage (first half became a salad with quinoa and a yogurt dressing that was just ok, so I won’t go into detail.) The inspiration for this was the little dish of pickled veggies you get before your meal at certain Chinese restaurants.

Pickled Cabbage and Carrots a la Chinoise

1 lb. napa cabbage, sliced into 1″ strips
2 carrots, peeled into ribbons
3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1/2 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. minced ginger

toss all ingredients together. cover and refrigerate. see how it turns out. (jury is still deliberating)

Then tomorrow, I think I’m going to make a pain de campagne with oregano. The sage (week #1) muffins I made (2 varieties) turned out so well that I really want to try baking with other kinds of herbs.

Meanwhile, here’s what is scheduled to arrive on Monday evening:
Sugar Snap Peas (we’ve been warned that the weather might preclude this)
Garlic Scapes-4
Red Leaf Lettuce-1 head (ack! haven’t eaten this week’s yet!)
Green Leaf Lettuce-1 head
Escarole-1 head
Silverado Swiss Chard-1 bunch
Summer Squash-2 pounds
Parsley-1 bunch

Who wants to come over for dinner?