pasteis de bacalhau - or how I got over my fear of using salt cod

So you think to yourself, "Self, salt preserved foods and you could go very, very wrong." Then you never get around to making your favorite appetizer from the churrascaria across from your office. Then you has major sads. 

srs sads

Anyway, you happen upon a box of salt cod while you're being productive and pre-ordering food for the week from Fresh Direct. I also like to call it over-ordering food from Fresh Direct because I always manage to stuff my fridge full of things that all need to be cooked around the same time so I end up with two dishes per day (one for now and one for the next day). Don't do it. 

You say to yourself, "Self, this is the time, we will make these codfish cakes." Then you leave the parsley in the fridge until it's slightly dry, but luckily you just set out the fish to soak the day before so you're all good. 

You gently simmer the fish in water until it flakes.  You put the potatoes in the same pot and wonder if potatoes always take so long to cook. You sauté onion and garlic in a pan with butter. Then you dump the whole lot into the largest sized glass bowl of the umpteen piece set you got from WIlliams-Sonoma and finally found a use for.  You skip the whole cloth-squeezy thing because it appears to be mostly boneless. You take a hand blender to it all because, yay, power tools! vroomvroom

You taste the cod and realize you probably soaked it too long (even though that's what the directions said) so you add some salt to it.

You put two eggs in and think, "Hey, I put more potatoes, I'd better add more eggs." Then you realize the third egg turned your perfect mixture into a soupy mush so you stick the bowl in the freezer after taking out half the things on the top shelf. You wait.

You use two teaspoons to attempt to form the oval-y pasteis shape. Sometimes it sticks to the spoons so you get little crunchies that you'll enjoy later.

You realize this make a whole lot of fish cakes.

You finish and you eat.

recipe

• box o salted cod (I used the one that needed to be refrigerated, Trawler brand)
• 3-4 Yukon gold potatoes
• one small onion chopped
• 5+ garlic cloves 
• butter
• handful or more parsley chopped
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 eggs

Soak the cod according to instructions till it's just salty enough for flavor not to suck the moisture out of your body like that W&P bottle in Tank Girl. Place the cod in a 3-4 qt pot and cover with water. Heat until just at a simmer then remove from the water and set aside. 

Cook the potatoes whichever way you like and mash them. Add butter if you're feeling frisky. 

Sauté the onion in butter until almost translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two more.

Pull off any skin left on your cod and discard. Check for bones. Break up your cod into little flaky strings. You can do this by hand, by hand & cloth, or by a food processor/hand blender. Check again to see that there are no bones. 

Once everything's about room temperature mix it all together in a big bowl. Add salt (if necessary) and pepper to taste.

Using 2 teaspoons of about the same size shape the mixture into a pasteis and drop into a hot pan of oil. Cook until golden brown. 

pork cheeks braised in a coconut-tomato-wine sauce with pasta

So I was walking up from a paper supply store and decided to stop by Eataly. At the meat counter they had pork cheeks in the spot I was hoping to find boar sausage, but whatever. Pork cheeks! I didn't know what I wanted to do with them, but I knew that I wanted them. The butcher behind the counter asked me what you do with pork cheeks and I said well... braise mostly.  

So that's what I did.  1.5 pounds of pork cheeks got braised in my le creuset purple dutch oven of awesomness then got smothered with wine, tomato paste, tomato concentrate, coconut milk, berbere spices, salt, pepper and a small can of anchovies. 

This was placed into a 300ish oven for 3ish hours. Then I decided I didn't want to eat them that day because we'd had italian sausage earlier while the cheeks were cooking. So into the fridge they went.  The next day, I got Mike to heat them up (funny how guys can make a big deal out of heating up the food you did all of the prep work for because they might break/drop/set-fire-to something) and cook the fresh pasta from the noodle case at Eataly. 

He was... hesitant... but not everyone can be excited about pork cheeks without trying them! Once he got over that he liked them enough to clean his bowl (win!). 

I had them later that night with some more pasta and a sprinkle or two of Parmesan cheese. The cheeks are so easy and really flavorful. Plus, the meat just falls apart after all that cooking.

recipe

• 1.5-2 lbs pork cheeks
• 1 tube of tomato paste
• 1 small bottle of tomato concentrate
• 1 can of coconut milk (the creamier the better)
• 1/2 a bottle of red wine
• one small can of anchovies
• Berbere spice mix (I get mine from spices and tease)
• few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

thanksgiving small plates - un-pumpkin pie & maple vanilla whipped cream

So I dislike pumpkin pie as much as I dislike turkey. Luckily I normally don't have to make them ever. I saw a recipe in the NYTimes about a pumpkin pie that used butternut squash, cream and brandy to make a mousse-like filling and figured I'd give it a try. They recommend roasting the butternut squash in butter to give it a nice caramelized flavor. This is where I got the idea of blending my sweet potato pie as well since they suggested pureeing the squash in a food processor I don't have. I put a lot more spices in this one (too much, in my opinion), but the whipped cream kind of tempers the flavor of the pumpkin pie seasoning.  I also used rum since that was all I had. I'd probably always use something other than pumpkin if I had to make pie with it, but I still prefer sweet potato.  The frozen pie crust is also different on this one. 

thanksgiving small plates - sage sausage stuffing & cranberry sauce

I miss Penzey's cause they had the best poultry seasoning for stuffing, ever. It was moist and chock full of sage. The poultry seasoning I used from Spices and Tease on the fried chicken wasn't going to cut my stuffing requirements. So at around 9 in the morning I schlumped to Food Emporium and picked up some Bell's. Yes, Bell's, the seasoning ground so fine the minute you open the box it crawls up into your nose and goes angry wolverine on your nostrils. 

So I was going to be lazy and use someone's cornbread mix but no store had any besides jiffy and some random whole wheat version. They also were out of yellow cornmeal so I used what I had left and supplemented with some corn flour (gluten free, woo).   it came out pretty cake like and I added extra sugar just in case I didn't get a chance to make the cranberry sauce on my microstove. All the other stuffing bits are pretty standard and the cranberry sauce was ocean spray cranberries, sugar and water:

recipe

sage stuffing

• cornbread 
• 2 packs frozen sage sausage like Park's (not Jimmy Dean, plz), or one box of fresh 
• onions
• celery
• bell pepper
• poultry seasoning
• extra sage (if needed)
• homemade or low sodium chicken stock
• butter
• dash of cayenne 
• dried cranberries
• salt & pepper to taste
• more butter

Cook the cornbread or take it out of the package you bought to save an hour. In a large saucepan or dutch oven cook the sage sausage in slices/ pieces till brown and crisp. Set aside.

Put chopped onion in the pan with the sausage oil, or pour the oil out and put a pat of butter into the pan. Let the onions deglaze the pan and cook until translucent. Add the celery and bell pepper and cook till tender-crisp. Set aside till cooled enough to handle. 

In a large bowl break apart the cornbread and the sausage. Add the sauteed veggies and seasonings. If you're not like me, you'll remember to add the cranberries now. Mix everything together. I like to use my hands to make sure the pieces are small enough.  Pour enough chicken broth onto the mixture to make it slightly moist. Pack into a rectangular baking pan. If you are like me, you'll remember to put the dried cranberries in right now and have to mix the thing all over again. Pour more broth on top of the mix until you can kinda see it on the sides of the pan. Dot the top of the stuffing with pats of butter and bake until the broth is all absorbed and the top is browned and bubbly. 

thanksgiving small plates - fried chicken & collared greens

So Thanksgiving came and went. Since I was too tired to take any pictures (or eat much of the food I cooked) yesterday I will be posting small plates of all the food I made as I get to trying them today.

First up is fried chicken and collared greens. My mom's from South Carolina, originally, and so I already had collared greens on the menu. (Fresh Direct likes to put them on sale during the holidays so I buy 8 bunches of the organic kind and call it a day).

I hate cleaning collared greens, by the way. Really puts a damper on my day having to painstakingly examine every leaf after salting then soaking since I'm a bug-o-phobe. Anyway... Wednesday evening I started the ham hocks in a big pot of water and boiled them till they fell off the bone. Then I added the greens in a lazy chiffonade (because everything I do is lazy :P) and let them cook till they were done. 

Last year I did the greens Ethiopian style with this awesome butter that I didn't have time to make. I like both ways, actually. 

The fried chicken was a last minute request by my mom last weekend so I added it to the menu (we had ham as the main protein). I also tried a new seasoning from Spices and Tease (special poultry) that I'm very on the fence about. I'd brought it for my stuffing, but then realized it wasn't going to work even if I added the metric ton of sage I got from them so I used it on the fried chicken. 

The thighs were fried in lard (from the same place I got the ham) mixed with peanut oil. This yielded super crispy skin that lasted overnight. 

recipes

collared greens and ham hocks

• 7-8 small bunches of collared greens (less if your bunches are larger, mine were about the size of a bunch of spinach)
• 2-3 ham hocks (really depends if you're just using them for the flavor or you actually want to eat some. You can also use salt pork, bacon, ham, smoked turkey necks, seasoned butter with garlic and onion, or whatever you want to give them flavor.)
• red pepper flakes
• sugar (optional) [my mom says you're supposed to add sugar in the winter since winter greens are bitter. I don't like sugar in my greens, ever)
• apple cider vinegar (to taste, or not at all)
•  black pepper & salt to taste ( be careful with the salt if using any of the smoked meats)

Fill a large pot with water and add the ham hocks to it. If using other types of meats you want to brown/cook them first to intensify the flavor before adding water. Cook until water is reduced to 1/4th of its volume. 

While the water is boiling, clean and chop your collared greens. You should aim to start this about an hour or so before the stock is done. 

Add greens to the stock and cover with a lid. If all the greens can't fit in the pot at once just add them and wait a few minutes till they wilt then continue.

Cook until they're done. Basically, I like my greens to be soft so I cook them longer.  If you like them crisper then cook them until they're deep green, but before they turn the darker, less saturated green in my picture. 

Serve with hot sauce and vinegar or lemon slices. 

last minute fried chicken

• 12 pieces of chicken 
• Seasoning like adobo, berbere, lemon pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, etc
• black pepper
• salt
• flour
• lard, peanut oil, or any type of oil except coconut (it foams when you place floured items in it and will bubble all over you stove.  >.<)

ash chicken in a bowl in cold water and a little vinegar. After rinsing for the last time dump all your seasonings into the bowl and work into the chicken meat. Place the chicken and any liquid left in the bottom of the bowl in a ziplock bag and place in the fridge till ready to cook.

Heat the oil of your choice in a heavy, deep pan. I use a Staub cocotte to fry my chicken in because it's got the great heat qualities of cast iron and it's tall enough that the oil won't splash all over the place. 

Place about 4-6 pieces of chicken in at a time depending on their size. Cook until very crispy and golden brown. 

Sometimes I brine my chicken, sometimes I use buttermilk, most times I just season and fry cause it's quicker and takes less forethought.