Aroma Cucina

Austin is Awesome...It's a Fellini kind of town

Austin is crazy good for IACP people to gather. Austin-ites love their town and their food. And it’s no wonder.  It’s an easy going, BBQ scented kinda place. The higher the heels, the shorter the skirt. That appears to be the mantra for anyone under 20. And I believe the entire town is under 20. The Hilton Hotel lobby was mobbed at 2:30 in the morning..who mobs a Hilton? Apparently everywhere Austin-ites gather, it’s a party.

Going to an IACP Conference is a amazing, hard-to-describe experience. It’s a huge shot of adrenalin, it’s addicitive.  Culinary heroes like Martin Yan are walking around, Shirley Corriher is chatting with Dorie Greenspan, and Jacques Pepin boldly sips a Starbuck’s latte. 

I used to spend a lot of time in Hong Kong and the hinterlands of China, and no matter how bad the day was, there was always “Yan Can Cook” to watch on TV. I depended on him to entertain me. Even though Galloping Gourmet was the first cooking TV show I watched;  Yan Can Cook literally saved me from certain death by boredom. Being in a hotel room, alone, night after night, with most choices in Chinese, and not really wanting to hang at the bar...you get the picture. Yan and I bonded. And there he was, at the IACP Gala, receiving the award for Lifetime Achievement, and assuring us that he was only half way through his life, so he would be back for a second Lifetime Achievement. I shook his hand, I told him he saved me; he clearly thought I was nuts. I don’t care, he is without a doubt one of my heroes. All I could think of was telling one of my Hong Kong buddies, Sirius Au, that I shook Martin Yan’s hand.

Ellie Krieger is tall, slim, beautiful, and talented. I should hate her, but you can’t, she just shared her human-ness with 100 people. She gave a talk about cooking on camera and shared some of her most awkward moments with us. Note: Don’t go on a cooking show with Al Roker.
 
The legendary Jacques Pepin in his cooking demo with Amanda Hesser does a dead on Julia Child imitation...his French accent drops away as he squawks, “I have Crisco!” in Julia’s voice, while he licks his fingers doing a cooking demo. It’s an intimate moment.

"It's Better to be Bitter" session, hosted by Kathy Casey  was one on of my favorites. How can you not love a session host who cries out, "Who wrecked their bourbon? Who needs more bourbon?"  We are absolutely making bitters this summer; thanks to Kathy's inspiration.


Star power is one thing, but community power is lasting power. The IACP community is incredibly strong and supportive. I am truly humbled to be  part of a community that shares so generously.  Simply Recipe's Elise Bauer, along with Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen are two reasons why the food blogging community is so vibrant and vital.

I am lucky beyond belief to be in the company of these people. I am lucky beyond belief that IACP is coming to NYC next year. We are going to have one helluva party!

Kitchen Confidence at an all time high!

The results of our Kitchen Confidence survey are in! There are some surprising food and cooking trends: 23% of you use your microwave as a butter melting device, and no one buys bottled salad dressing. Oh, really now.... ?

Here are the delicious details:

1) Kitchen Confidence: Most of us are decent cooks, with an almost even split between novices and Supremely Good Chefs.  Which means that a whopping 82% of us know when to whisk and when to fold.

2) Making dinner for friends: The responses fell into three broad categories: Show-Off, Adventurer, and the Spontaneous Forager.  Obviously the Show-Offs are our Top Chefs,  the Adventurer hits the web and cookbooks for inspiration and isn’t afraid of trying out new recipes on friends, the Spontaneous Forager waits until the last moment and is confident they can pull a rabbit out of the hat.

3) How would we cook a rib eye steak? 98% of us are going to grill or sear that steak. Happily the 5% of us that would give the steak away, can give it to the 5% that are going to make steak tartare.


4) Overwhelmingly we all want more cabinet space (74%) instead of a microwave.

5) What do we do with a microwave? I put this question in because I don’t own or use a microwave and I was curious what people do with this hunk of equipment. It takes up a lot of space, so it better be seriously useful. My favorite response was “Clock” because you know we all use for it that but only one of us ‘fessed up.

 
6) If cooking skills and cost were no object what would you make? Seafood was the number one choice with oysters getting top honors, followed by lobster.
Foie gras gets honorable mention as the next runner up.
Then it broke down into roasts, steaks, and multi-ethnic delicacies like Creole Seitan stew, Mexican, porchetta, mole poblano, xiao long bao.
That all sounds delicious to me!
For a vegetable, asparagus wins. Whoever is making the asparagus souffle, can you share that recipe?

7) Comfort Food: Is there a scientist in the house because I think we’ve discovered something: we are comforted by carbs. When we need a cuddle we turn to pasta, potatoes and rice.
 A distant runner up was soup, lots of tomato soup and a few lentil soups and a few any kind of soup at all.
    I need to know, what is Nailey’s canned chili?? There is more than one of you that confesses to loving Nailey’s chili.
And I’m not going to out the person who has an herb butter dependancy.

8) Mystery Basket Menu: We’re all having some kind of lemon chicken, garlic mashed potatoes and a custard for dessert (Or a pudding as our British friends call the sweet at the end of a meal, and based on the responses we’ve got a  few British friends!)  As one commenter noted, we’ve got a color issue with this menu, tasty but blonde.

9) Ready Made, Either Way or Store Bought? Come on...nobody buys salad dressing/cream?? There are whole aisles dedicated to the stuff, so somebody is buying it.

10) One thing you screw up: We were all over the board here except for timing of dishes.  All I can say is practice helps and so does an extra glass of wine or two. For the guests, not for the cook.


Thank you everyone for helping out with our survey!  I had fun and I learned a few things, although I’m still trying to figure out what goes on with all that melted butter.

We start shooting video next week, so I’m trying to get my Julia Child groove on...wish us luck!

Artichoke Festival: Artichoke Pie & Spiced Parmigiana Crisps

Artichoke Pie? Why not! A savory crust tops a pie full of sauteed artichokes, pancetta, garlic, and onions. See, it’s sounding pretty good, isn’t it?

You’ll need to make a pie crust, use your usual recipe or make a classic pate brisee type dough. True confession time: I cheat. I can buy very good quality, no funky ingredient pate brise in sheets. You could also make this with filo dough and it would be amazing!

For the filling, choose small to medium sized artichokes. Clean the artichoke, remove the hairy choke and cut into bite sized pieces. Blanch the artichokes in salted, acidulated water for 1-2 minutes. Drain and reserve.

Finely chop some pancetta, guanciale or bacon. Thinly slice some white onions, and it couldn’t hurt to throw in some tender spring onions as well. Finely chop a little bit of garlic.   Saute the onions until soft, then add the artichokes and saute them for a few minutes and add the garlic and cook for only a minute.

In a bowl, add the artichoke mixture, a good handful of grated parmigiana cheese and 2 small eggs. If you’ve drained off the pork fat, which I’d recommend, then add a good glug of olive oil to the mix.

We used individual crockery tart dishes, but you could also use one regular pie pan and serve this in slices. Line your pie or tart dish with the pie crust, fill with the artichoke filling and bake until bubbly and brown. 

I added a chili spiced parmigiana crisp to the finished dish, just because it was a good excuse to make some. 

To make the spiced parmigiana crisps:
Heat the oven to  375F/190.
Line a sheet pan with a silicon mat or parchment paper. In a small bowl combine grated parmigiana cheese (real parmigiana, the stuff in a can won’t work, it doesn’t melt properly), hot chili powder, smoked paprika and a few twists of fresh ground pepper.  Spoon a tablespoon of the cheese mixture onto the sheet pan and gently flatten the mound into a circle.
Place the pan in the oven and keep an eye on it because they’ll go from gorgeous brown to scorched in a nanosecond! 

Take the crisps out of the oven when they are bubbling and just turning brown. Let them cool for a few minutes before trying to move them off the sheet pan.

Very nice served al fresco with a green salad and a chilled rose.
Buon appetito!

Artichoke Festival Grand Finale: Sausage Stuffed Artichokes

Artichoke Festival: Artichoke Risotto

Velvety smooth artichoke puree enhances this creamy risotto; with a little crunch of frizzled artichoke on top to keep things interesting. This is dangerously, seductively good.

Choose tender, medium sized artichokes. Clean the artichoke and remove the inner hairy choke. Reserve one cleaned artichoke for the frizzled artichoke garnish. Keep it the bowl of acidulated water.

Simmer the remaining artichokes in salted, acidulated water until tender. These took about 10 minutes.

While the artichokes are simmering, get the risotto going. Just like you would for any risotto, gently saute the soffrito, toast the rice, use a chicken or vegetable stock, be generous with adding some white wine near the end of the cooking. Full risotto video & instructions here.

Drain the artichokes and put them in the blender. Add a good chunk of butter, some grated parmigiana cheese, a generous squirt of fresh lemon juice, and puree until it is very, very smooth. This is where having a Vita Mix blender comes in handy;  it’s a blender on steroids.  Taste the puree and adjust for lemon and salt. If you’ve tasted it four times and you’re dipping back in the for the fifth taste..it’s ready and you’re just making up excuses to keep tasting it.


For the frizzled artichoke garnish:
Paper thinly slice the one artichoke you had set aside. Dust the slices with a 50/50 flour/cornstarch mixture. 
Heat a small pot of oil to about 350F/180C.
Work in small batches, so you don’t drastically lower the oil temperature, fry the artichoke slices.
I usually double fry them for extra crispiness.  If you are going to double fry, then fry the slices for about 60 seconds or until you see some browning and crisping.
Remove and drain on a paper towel.
When you are finished frying the whole batch, make the heat in the oil a little bit hotter, now quickly fry the slices for a second time. Drain and keep warm.

For finishing the risotto, simply blend in the artichoke puree. It already has all the butter and cheese you would normally use to finish your risotto, so there’s no need to add more. Top with the frizzled artichoke slices and mangia!

This was so good, we nearly licked our plates clean!

Buon’appetito!

Next Up: Artichoke Pie
 

Artichoke Festival Continues: Fried Baby Artichokes

Baby artichokes aren’t snuffed out before they’ve had a chance at a full life, they’re just the little guys, lower down on the stalk.  These babies come into their full flavor potential when they are deep fried, with a tender, light coating, a crunch of salt and a zing of lemon.

When you buy baby artichokes, try to find them closed very tight and firm, otherwise you’ll be throwing away a lot of the leaves.  Don’t clean the inner choke, just take off the tough outer leaves and trim the bottoms, and leave the choke whole.

For the batter:
1 egg white, whipped to stiff peaks with a tiny pinch of salt
Flour
Cold Water

For finishing and serving the artichokes:
Salt
Pepper
Lemon
Finely chopped mint

Blanch the artichokes by bringing a small pot of lightly acidulated water to a boil. Add the cleaned chokes and let them cook for 2-3 minutes. Drain and immediately run the artichokes under cold water, or place in a bowl of ice water.

Drain and dry the artichokes. A salad spinner works well for getting off the excess water.

Heat the oil to 350F/180C.  Choose a deep pan. Fill the pan with olive oil or other vegetable oil to a depth that it will cover the artichokes. You don’t need to fill the whole pan with oil.  Using a deep pan means more of the splatter will stay inside the pan instead of on your stove top.  You’ll need a long pair of tongs or a mesh frying strainer. The longer the handle the less you’ll have to put your hand inside a steaming hot pot of boiling oil.

In a bowl, add a few tablespoons of flour (a 50/50 flour to cornflour mix works really well), then slowly whisk in cold water until you have the consistency of thick sour cream.  Now gently whisk in the beaten egg white.  Mix in the clean chokes and thoroughly coat them with batter.

Working in small batches, fry the artichokes until they are golden, irresistible brown. While they are frying, gently turn them in the oil for even browning.

Remove and place the cooked artichokes on paper towels to absorb any excess oil. Keep them warm as you fry the other artichokes.

To serve: Dust with sea salt and finely chopped mint, with lemon wedges on the side.
Warning: Everyone dives into these, and the interior choke is molten, steaming hot...so be a little prudent on the first bite!

Buon’ appetito!

Next Up:  Grilled Lamb with Artichokes & Potatoes

Tripbase 2011 Travel Best Italian Cuisine Blogs

www.Tripbase.com

We are pleased to announce that Aroma Cucina has won a 2011 Best Italian Cuisine Blog award from the fine people at Tripbase.

Ten blogs were selected this year, and we are proud to say that we are in some fine company.  Some of these blogs I’ve enjoyed for years: Memorie di Angelina, Italian Food Forever, Lucullian Delights.
Othes I can’t wait to start following: Love Sicily, Love & Olive Oil (how could I have missed this one??), Aglio, Olio & Peperoncino (one of Jeff’s favorite pastas), Avvinare, Stile Mediterraneo and On the Wine Trail.

If you need an Ital-fix, looks like you will have plenty to choose from. Complementi & Auguri to my fellow bloggers! 
And now for a few housekeeping notes: We just came back from a most Italian style weekend in Florida. It was a noisy, happy family gathering where we got to meet our grand nephew for the first time.  We shared good food, laughs and lots of love. It doesn’t get any better than this!

We are packing up for the spring migration back to Italy next week, so if you don’t hear from us it’s because we’re doing last minute chores and day dreaming about what we will be planting in the orto. In the next week we’ll  be eating lots of Chinese, Viet Namese, Thai, Indian, and Mexican food because you just can’t get good Mexican in Montone.

But, we’ll save room for the artichokes that should just be coming into the market in Umbertide...oh, and maybe we’ll catch the tail end of blood orange season...and oh... can you tell we're just a little bit excited?!

When To Be or Not to Be a Locavore

I will never be a committed locavore. I won’t give up:
mangoes
coffee
olive oil
tangerines
shrimp
wine

I could go on and on,  but you get the point. Doesn’t it make more sense to be an efficient-vore?  Certain things grow better in certain places. What am I going to do for high altitude coffee beans? Grow them on top of my kitchen cabinets because that’s the highest point around?

Things taste better when they grow in their proper environment. This is called terroir, and wine people will debate endlessly about whether or not you can taste the shale that covers the root of a particular grapevine. French and Italians will come to fisticuffs over whose truffles taste better. I KNOW our orto produces the best tomatoes in the whole world. And that’s because tomatoes taste best in season, sun ripened, plucked and eaten still warm. 

We need to know when to ship and when to stay  local. No one hands out medals for trying to force grow lettuce in a freezing cold upstate NY greenhouse in winter. It’s simply not efficient.

Shipping has become incredibly efficient. The reason civilization spread was an indirect result of wanting what someone else had. People wanted salt, and eventually they built a city near the salt collecting area and called it Rome. Spices traveled and so did culture. We traded...I make this, you grow that, we trade.

Sarah Murray’s book, The Moveable Feast is an absolute eyeopener as she explains the pure efficiency of shipping food. It’s full of stories about things that we now take for granted and weird moments in history. Like the Clipper ship races, where the ships would leave India and race to England, arriving within moments of each other. Or the fact that UPS truck routes are  set up so they have no left turns to save on fuel.

Read the book. Make informed decisions. I’m all for eating local, when it makes sense. But, when those mangoes are flooding Chinatown, and they taste this good, you know I’m going to be eating them!

Kitchen Wizard's Secret Weapon for Divine Dinners

What is the emergency, go-to, secret weapon that I try to keep in my fridge at all times? And it’s not ketchup, although mustard takes second place. First place goes to:....Veal Stock!

If Merlin the Magician waved his wand in your kitchen, he would give you this Secret Weapon.  It’s the painter’s white canvas, it’s the keyboard to your computer, it’s  butter on your toast, the magic in your saute pan.

Michael Ruhlman compares it to turbo charging your Mitsubishi... your kitchen is now faster and more fuel efficient.

It’s a flavor bump, adding depth and intensity to a sauce. It’s the umami bridge that literally blends the components of your dish together.

There is a toll to be paid in order to enjoy all this fast freedom: you need to make some veal stock.
I hear you.. where can I find veal bones? At your butcher, you should be patronizing a butcher anyway.

They’re expensive compared to chicken bones. Correct! But, you’ll get extensive use from the bones, it’s worth the $$.
It takes hours to make it. Correct again, but it’s not like your standing next to the oven, frozen in time, while the bones are roasting. Stop whining.

The How-To of Making Reduced Veal Stock Kitchen Magic:
4-5 lb veal bones
1 large carrot
1 large onion
3-4 ribs of celery
Peppercorns,  salt, vegetable oil, herbs(rosemary, thyme, sage)
1/2 can canned tomatoes
4-5 good sized glugs of white wine, enough to cover the bottom of the roasting pan

In a large roasting pan, lay out the bones and lightly salt and pepper them. Roast the bones for about 1 hour at 350F/180C. Remove from the oven when they are toasty brown and the smell is intoxicating.

Meanwhile, roughly chop the peeled carrot, celery and onion. Add a little vegetable oil to the bottom of a large stock pot and add the chopped vegetables, another sprinkle of salt, a small palmful of peppercorns, and a bit of rosemary and thyme.
Saute until the vegetables are a  little burned, this caramelization adds color and flavor to the broth.
Add the roasted meat bones to the stock pot.
Using white wine, deglaze the veal bone roasting  pan, dissolving all the tasty browny bits and add the wine and meat juices to the stock pot.
Add enough cold water to the stock pot that you cover the bones.
Lightly simmer for about 2 hours. That means little bubbles gently swimming to the top of the pot. Skim off any of that icky foam.
After two hours,  first remove and discard the bones. Then strain the stock through a fine mesh colander and pour the strained stock back into the pot. (It’s much easier to strain the stock if you pull the big bones out first, less mess and less weight to deal with.  Reserve the bones for a worthy dog.)

Add 1/2 cup canned tomatoes, turn up the heat to a slow boil,  and start reducing the stock.
 After boiling for about an hour, strain the liquid once more and move to a smaller pot. Continue reducing until the stock liquid  become thick enough to coat a wooden spoon, and the boiling bubbles look like syrup.
Reducing time will depend on how much water was in the stock pot to begin with and the temperature you are using to reduce the stock, but plan on a few hours.
Be careful, because at this syrupy stage, you could burn your precious elixir and that would be a real drag.
When you have the stock reduced to about 1 1/2 cups of liquid, carefully pour it into a very clean jar.
Let it cool, then refrigerate the stock. The fat will come to the top and you can remove it later.  What’s left, is Veal Kitchen Magic.  It will keep in your fridge for 3-4 weeks; just be sure to use a clean spoon every time so no other food particles can contaminate it and encourage mold.


What to do with Veal Kitchen Magic:
Saute a a piece of pork, a piece of codfish (yes, it works very well with a meaty fish), chicken breasts, turkey bits. Whatever protein strikes your fancy. Remove the protein from the sauce pan, keeping the meat or fish on a warm plate, add flavoring like chopped mushrooms, a splash of wine and a teaspoon or so of Veal Kitchen Magic to the saute pan. Swirl these ingredients around in a pan, voila!,  you have your sauce a la minute.

Pork chops with green peppercorns: Once the pork chops are cooked, add green peppercorns, mustard, your veal kitchen magic and a shot of whiskey to the pan. Cook for 45 seconds, remove and pour over the pork chops.

Lemon Chicken breasts: Remove the cooked chicken breasts from the pan, add veal kitchen magic, a glug or two of white wine, deglaze the pan, finish with the juice of a fresh squeezed lemon. Add capers if you are feeling happy.

Codfish Delight: Remove the codfish from the pan. Add chopped mushrooms, veal magic, lots of fresh pepper, a little white wine. Cook until the mushrooms are soft, finish with a squirt of lemon juice.

It all builds off the basic saute and stock. It’s like a painter’s white canvas,  it’s like playing jazz in your kitchen. It’s your secret weapon.
This blog post was inspired by a class I gave on Saturday. I hope you guys had as much fun as I did!

Dinner in the Time of Twitter: Ravioli with Butter & Sage

“I don’t have time to cook.” How many times have you heard this or said it yourself? It really isn’t about time, is it? It’s about priorities. I get it. Twitter is an addictive time suck, but you have to fight the cravings if you want to eat ravioli.

How long does it take to make ravioli with butter & sage?  5 minutes for the  water to boil, 3 minutes to make the sauce and cook the ravioli.

How long does it take to make spaghetti carbonara? 5 minutes for the water to boil, 8 minutes to cook the pasta, 1 minute to finish and serve.

 

That’s not really fair, because I’m not factoring in shopping time. But either you batch shop about once a week, or you stop on your way home. Sometimes the shopping can be an adventure unto itself. We called it foraging when we were in Puglia. We never knew what we would come home with.

And I didn’t factor in the learning curve. Practice and things get better and quicker. There’s no way to avoid the curve. Embrace it.

So, make some dinner tonight. OK?

Ravioli with Butter & Sage
6 fresh ravioli per person, cheese or butternut squash are good choices
3-4 T butter
5 or 6 fresh sage leaves
Grated parmigiano cheese

Put the water on to boil, salt it just as it comes to a boil. 

Make a salad, take off your work clothes, play with the cat, check Twitter if you must.

When the water comes to a boil, add the ravioli and cook for about 1 minute.

In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Using scissors, snip the sage leaves into little strips.

Add the sage to the butter.

Drain the ravioli and toss in the sauce pan with the butter and sage. Saute for 30 seconds, flip the raviolis, saute for another 30 seconds.

Arrange the raviolis on a plate, spoon the extra butter over the top. Serve with grated cheese. Enjoy, relax, and savor the moment.  You can Tweet me later @judithklinger.

This video and recipe are from our Cook Vook,  "Cooking Simply: The Italian Way!"

Season of the Root: Parsnip

Let’s face it, if you live in North America, we’re still in Root Season: potatoes, turnips, parsnips, carrots, celery root. Perhaps the spring smelling breezes are making you long for fresh ramps and fiddle head ferns, but the reality is, it’s March, and we’re still eating roots. Don’t get me wrong, I love my tubers, but I’m restless by nature, so I get a little fidgety this time of year. 

One of my favorite tuber pick-me-ups is the parsnip. It just never gets the love that other tubers get.
It resembles a large, white carrot but has a unique sweet flavor. Parsnips needs to be peeled as they have a tough, fibrous core.

Paper thin strips, fried and finished with a sprinkle of smoked pimento and hot chili powder are intensely addictive, with a smoky, sweet intensity. Use a vegetable peeler to make the thin strips, discard the tough core.

Or added to a roast chicken dish along with carrots, celery and potatoes, it adds a sweet counterpoint to the chicken.

Last night it was mashed potatoes with parsnip. To my taste, parsnips are too fibrous for 100% mashed parsnips, but as 50% of a mashed potato dish, they add a real flavor boost.

And while we are on the subject of stuff that never gets the love, a potato ricer is where it’s at for mashed potatoes. A ricer is a canister with little holes and a handle, and you squish the cooked potatoes through the hole. I don’t know the chemistry behind this, but it yields a much fluffier, lighter mashed potato, with less milk or butter needed simply because of the texture. You know I don’t love one-use tools, but I bet you’ll find other uses for your ricer...like spaeztle.