Archive for the 'cooking' Category

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Pasta just like nonna used to make. Only I called her grandma.

Published on in cooking. 2 Comments

Today, after submitting a couple of business school applications, I decided that it was time to make some Scarpetta pasta, after having been inspired by this article. What better than an idle Sunday night to test my skillz after BG was up in Boston for the weekend? I was at Zabar’s yesterday and bought some great bucatini pasta, which is my favorite kind of pasta (sponsors? want to send me some product? I’ll test it…). I got some Benedetto Cavalieri, which word on the street told me was great dried pasta. During the day, I made a new best friend, who decided to come to my back door and hang out for a while. I’m talkin like a good ten minutes. Just in case you all wanted to see him, here he is:

After my li’l buddy left, it was time to start making some Scarpetta pasta. The recipe was pretty straightforward– it really just involved simmering down some tomatoes, making a basil and garlic-infused oil, and then adding a heap of butter to the finished product, with some fresh basil and parmesan cheese. Pretty straightforward stuff, indeed.

First, I got the ingredients together on the old butcher block. I always put things together in a photogenic manner on the butcher block prior to cooking them. You know, just in case a camera shows up to the party.

Now, the recipe calls for fresh tomatoes, but I didn’t have any on hand, but I did have a can of San Marzano tomatoes in the cupboard, so I went with that. As directed, I separated the seeds from the flesh of the tomatoes, and added it to a pot of hot oil. Then, using my trusty OXO futuristic potato masher, I crushed those bad boys down.

While this was going down in a pot, I flavored the olive oil with basil and garlic and a pinch of chili flakes. I was really following this recipe to the T, as you can see. (Nice rhyme. High five, me!)

I strained that into to the sauce, and that was that! I cooked up the super duper fancy bucatini until it was al dente. Then, as directed, I heated up some sauce in a pan until it was reduced, and added the pasta with a little bit of water. And then, the final nail on this coffin of olive-oily goodness– fresh basil, parmesan cheese, and a hunk of butter! Oh yeah! This brought the dish to a whole new level. Standing in front of stove, I could smell the buttery goodness emanating from the pan. It was like tomato sauce crack. I couldn’t get enough of the smell. While I was making the portions for burgergal and myself, I wanted to eat the whole pan like a baby who just learned to quasi-eat solid foods, and instead mashes it all in its face. But, I didn’t. Still figuring out why.

Here’s a little close-up. Yes, that hunk of yellow underneath the cheese is butter. Oh-yee.

Now, I think this really gives the picture featured on Serious Eats a run for its money! It was deeeeee-licious. Look out, Scott Conant.

Just for comparison, take a look at the pic featured on Serious Eats. I think mine looks better.

Image belongs to Serious Eats

Ode to a fall treat: the potato.

Published on in cooking. Closed

I enjoy most carbs. I think we are genetically hard-wired to. I love pasta, rice, couscous, quinoa, you name it, I love it. But today, I want to spend a little time appreciating the potato.

This tuber is of significant importance– the great potato famine, Van Gogh’s “the potato eaters”, the Humboldt County Fair Potato Decorating contest. Its myriad uses and willingness to absorb fats make it a truly versatile vegetable.

Now that it’s fall, the potatoes are out en masse. Fingerlings, sweet potatoes, purples, butterballs, and the rest of the lot. On a recent trip to the farmer’s market, I picked up a nice little blend for some roasting. With just a touch of sage, the old-man fingers of the earth became stars shining on a plate. Think this is overdramatic? Maybe. But damn, they were good. Just cut them in half, toss them in some olive oil with salt and pepper, and throw them a hot oven. You’ll know when they’re done.

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Don’t worry, those puppies didn’t stay alone on that plate for long. They were accompanied by a tremendous burger.

I am also a fan of the “cook then fry” technique, which helps get that fried potato feeling without the guilt of eating a deep-fried item (or the expense and hassle of buying cooking oil by the quart). What I like to do is boil up some fingerlings until they are about 82.4 percent cooked (isn’t that a great description? I love it when chefs use terms like that, as though there is a gauge on food items). Then let them cool off a little bit, cut them in half, and place them cut-side-down in a non-stick pan with a little oil. Throw on whatever herbs you like, and cook until they are golden brown and crispy (5-7 mins). In the below picture, I seared the potatoes in a mixture of olive oil and bacon fat. I guess there is some guilt eating these guys, too. But damnit, they taste good!

Potatoes 1

Potatoes 2

That’s it. Now get out to the farmer’s market and buy some potatoes!

Tags: cooking.

Blogging for (Camping) Burgers. A guest post.

Published on in burgers for guests and cooking. 2 Comments

I just got back from an off-site meeting that had the word “innovate” peppered in like a steak au poivre, so it’s time for a blogging for burgers first– a guest post! That’s right, you all don’t have to listen to me rant and rave (for once). The below post was inspired by a recent trip to upstate NY and features a solid camping burger for all y’all who like to sleep in tents. BB prefers 1000-count sheets. And now, without further ado, I present to you, campingwithburgers:

Hello Blogging for Burgers fans! Your regular host has graciously invited me to share my latest burger experience. While I can’t claim to be the mega fan that he and Burgergal are, I do enjoy a tasty burger (preferably with cheese and relish), especially if cooked over a grill and eaten alongside a beer and a campfire.

Despite a greater chance of rain and cooler temperatures, October is my favorite time to go camping. Needless to say upstate NY is beautiful this time of year so it’s a great time to be outdoors in general and after spending a few hours hiking, my friends and I were hungry for burgers.

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I have to be honest here; generally we do buy prepackaged patties for camping but I think that is going to have to change. (If you do go that route, Bubba Burgers or Great American are the general standby’s.) Here is the recipe that changed our camping burger ways:

Pre mix as much as much as possible! I made sure to pack a baggie of 1 ½ cups bread crumbs, 3 tsp minced garlic, 3 tsp salt, 2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp basil, 1 tsp rosemary. In a separate baggie was half a chopped red onion.

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Using whatever materials are available, mix 2 eggs and 5 tsp of olive oil was beaten in a plastic cup.

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For 6 people I used a little less than 2 lbs of beef, flattening on a plate and creating a volcano hole in the center (yes I played with my mashed potatoes as a kid). A little at a time, I filled the hole with the egg/olive oil mixture and folded into the beef. I repeated about 4x and there was about a quarter of mix left at the end.

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Next came the onions, by spreading evenly over the flattened beef, kneading, and repeating, a relatively even spread of onion was achieved.

Finally, using the same method, an even spread of breadcrumb/spice mix was distributed, kneaded, repeated.

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Finally the meat was separated, rolled into balls, and flattened into patties.

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At this point I turn over the work to my hubby who likes bbq sauce/mayo as a burger topping and is our group’s general camping grill master. He cooked over charcoal until browned on both sides (we like medium rare burgers and these were still pink in the middle).

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In terms of grilling, we prefer a charcoal grill over propane. Never pour lighter fluid on charcoal to get it going or your burgers will be gross. In fact anything you cook on that charcoal will taste like lighter fluid. If you use any form of match light charcoal, make sure you let the lighter fluid burn off entirely before putting the burgers on the grill or else same problem. The charcoal should be gray but still hot, not black or flaming.

Finally, the hungry hikers’ burgers were ready and eaten with relish. Ok, I was the only one with literal relish on my burger, the rest of the group just found the burgers savory and delicious, particularly the flavor added by the onion.

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[Editor’s note– look at that cheese! That’s perfection on a bun, ladies and gentlemen. Special thanks to LM for rockin’ the post out today. Let me know next time you’re going camping, I’ll be sure to take the ‘chopper in for a special landing for lunch, then take off before the wildlife comes out.]

Tags: burgersforcooking, cooking.

It's time to go to burger school.

Published on in cooking and Greenmarkets. Closed

Self-taught burger school that is. I consider it to be like my GED. I have no formal training in the art of hamburger making, but I read about them a lot and I enjoy eating them even more.

I was inspired by this post on AHT, which, by the way, is the first post to show up on Google if you google “Minetta Tavern Burger.” Those guys are good. Damned good. I want their SEO agency to work for b4b.

So I decided that I was going to do my own photojournal of me making a burger. Sounds simple enough, but it’s actually kind of a PITA. Making sure the lighting is right, getting the camera all set up, prepping, cooking, focusing, pushing the button, making sure my hair looks good even though my head is nowhere near any of the shots, the list goes on forever.

So, without further adieu, I present the bloggingforburgers photojournal, dated September 27th, 2009. I know, the post is being written on September 29th. Sue me.

The Day prior: Union Squre

Burgergal and I had to hit up the Union Square Farmer’s market to gather the essential supplies. And take some pretty pictures.

Oooh, pretty.

Also pretty

: You guessed it– pretty!

: Pretty and cool. They look like little watermelons but taste nothing like a big watermelon. They are little cucumbers. And magic.

Come to think of it, I didn’t take any pictures of the supplies that I needed for the burgers. This is probably mostly because I didn’t need them from the farmer’s market. I just wanted to show off how sensitive and artsy I am through the camera lens. I know what you’re thinking.

Yes, I am perfect.

Oh, but guess who I finally got to see again!! Yeah, my boys from the Ronnybrook Farm. Whatup!

: RONNYBROOK IN DA HOUSE!

Walked over to Ottomanelli to get some fresh ground chuck. I know that bloggers in the ole blogosphere have mixed thoughts about Ottomanelli, but I am a fan. They always do right by me when I head over there. I got about a pound, so that BG and I could rock a couple of half-pound burgers, just like Minetta does. Yes, I do have a weird obsession and want to do everything just like Minetta Tavern.

BG walked over and picked up a bag of brioche buns for the beefy perfection that I was going to be cooking up on the griddle.

I made two patties, loosely packed, and generously seasoned them with salt and pepper.

Then i threw them on the griddle, which I think is the best place for burgers to be cooked– otherwise, you don’t get an of that crispy exterior and you don’t get any of that sizzlin’ action. Speaking of…

Minetta uses clarified butter- I used just the regular kind. It worked pretty well. I overcooked the burgers a touch, but they were still solid.

Don’t they look fake?

By the way, got wind of a potential trip to Minetta in my future (two weeks, actually). You KNOW what I’m getting.

Tags: burgersforcooking, cooking, Greenmarkets, ronnybrook farm.

Bo Bo Chicken: RIP, Herbert

Published on in cooking and Greenmarkets. 2 Comments

The day came, when my spoils from the recent New Amsterdam Market would be fully realized. Tonight, it was time for the Bo Bo young chicken to meet its fate. Well, I guess it had already met its fate, but it was time to meet a new, tastier fate. The silky chicken is still in the freezer, waiting to say hello to the oven. Question, though– how am I going to know if the silky chicken is cooked? I mean, the meat is black, so what color are the juices?

Anyway, it was time for some roast chicken. I pulled it out of the chicken, knowing that some preparations would need to be made. The “buddhist style” chicken come complete with head and feet, as I had already mentioned in a previous post. Since I don’t have a cleaver, I knew that this could be tough to negotiate.

So I pulled him out of his little plastic cocoon, and he looked me in the eye:

Herbert

I named him Herbert. Herbert also left his shoes on when he came from the fridge, so from behind he looked like this:

Then I attacked him with a knife. It was easier than I expected, but I wrangled his feet off and hacked off his head like a cold-hearted criminal. It actually wasn’t that bad. But bone sure is tough to cut through. As a reward for his patience, I rubbed him down with some frozen pesto that I had made a few months back. I threw some basil leaves and a few cloves of fresh garlic in his “cavity” (which, as I found out later, had the kidneys wedged in there, which I think actually gave the meat some mineral-y flavor). I sprinkled some kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper on him, gave him a little glug of olive oil, and popped him into a pre-heated 425 degree oven.

About 30 minutes into the process, he was getting a deep amber tan. He looked like one of those lovely ladies from the jersey shore.

His little hotbox was browning him nicely. I was really happy with how the skin was getting nice and crispy, and the fat running out of him was pure and clear. I felt good about this little chicken, even if he had listened to belle and sebastian during his final hours. About a half-hour later, he was ready to get out of the tanning bed and into my belly.

BEEEEA-UTIFUL. Let’s have a moment of silence for Herbert. He was a simple chicken, and he led a simple life. He got a simple roasting. And he was simply delicious.

BG made a little Isreaeli couscous with eggplant and basil to accompany Herbert – they make a lovely pair, don’t you think?

Herbert the Chicken

Courtesy of Bo Bo Chicken

Chez Bugerboy

8.63 out of 7 cows.

Tags: bo bo chicken, cooking, new amsterdam market.

There's more to life than burgers… sorta.

Published on in Burgeruminations, cooking and Greenmarkets. Closed

I’ve been fielding some complaints about the fact that I have expanded my purview to include food items beyond hamburgers. There are a few reasons for this disgression on my part:

1) Hamburgers are a great, but not so great during the summer months, when the burgerboy has to hang out in swimming trunks on occasion. No one wants to see my hamburger buns spilling over the top of my speedo.

2) My food passion has shifted slightly from hamburgers to local sustainable food over the years. I’ve been hitting the farmers market like a fiend for about 2 years now, and I’ve been englightened to the ways of the local farm.

3) My time at the French Culinary Institute taught me a lot of things about the restaurant and food business, sowhy limit myself to burgers?

4) My paranoia tells me that my cholesterol is through the roof.

5) Pizza and hot dogs are also really good. And mac and cheese. And heirloom tomatoes. And ramps. And garlic scapes. And shishito peppers. And the list goes on…

But, do not give up hope. I’ve still got burgers on my mind.