June 4, 2011
Get some food people together and you can come up with some pretty tasty ideas.
At dinner recently, my friend Bethia pointed out how flowery Kate‘s sage plant was and plucked a few of the purple blossoms for us to pop in our mouths. Our eyes widened and we were immediately smitten with the surprisingly honeysuckle-y sage-iness of the teensy lavender-colored blooms. Enterprising Kate made up a quick batch of sage flower syrup and kindly gifted me a batch. I love that girl.
I used some this afternoon in some red wine sangria.
My sage plant in the background with the last of the flowers on it. Note the syrup and the triple sec in the bottom of the pitcher. Make sure to give it a good stir.
Sage Flower Sangria, serves me and Hades…
1 bottle of red wine (inexpensive Rioja, Beaujolais and Lambrusco are all good kinds)
Small handful of strawberries, halved (Worthington farmer’s market has them in now)
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Posted in Alcohol, Drinks Cabinet, Music, Recipes, Spanish, Wine, World Cuisine |
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January 19, 2011
Sometimes, the heavens align to make my cooking for the week a little easier. Enter the brisket. Such a great cut and so flexible.
Sidenote: I’m in serious trouble if Zeus is reading this post, because in the country I was raised, brisket can be prepared one way only. Small exceptions are made one day out of the year – March 17th – when it is acceptable to consume corned beef.
A brisket is a great, inexpensive cut of meat that’s superbly tender if it’s been given some low and slow cooking (just like bbq, y’all). And if you cook a really big piece of meat one day, you are left with the lovely proposition of leftovers.
Tonight, this simply-braised brisket was served in generous slabs lacquered with the cooking liquids. Partnering it was a silken parsnip and potato puree and the world’s greatest (hyperbole, perhaps) spiced purple cabbage. A bit like a dinner in Alsace.
The excess brisket will be the base of two more days of worldly deliciousness. Look later this week for recipes in which the leftovers will be dressed up in tight Mexican Mariachi pants and a big hat and then subsequently looking demure in a separate Philippine dish. Globetrotting indeed.
Simple Long-Braised Brisket
1 – 3 pound brisket
1/2 onion, chopped
2 carrots, scrubbed and cut in thirds
6 cloves garlic (I used some garlic confit that was in the fridge – you don’t have to, of course)
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Posted in Beef, Cabbage, Leftovers, Music, Parsnips, Potatoes, Recipes, Seasonal, Spices, Stock, Wine, Winter |
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January 11, 2011
You can’t find a fresh, ripe, beautiful red tomato here in Ohio in January. You just can’t. So how could you possibly make a bolognese in the depths of winter? Make a white bolognese. Skip the tomatoes altogether and make a very Italian specialty. In doing so, you will make my single most favorite thing to cook.
It is my most favorite of all favorites. Really, truly. The kind that my small family of three will piggishly devour an entire pound of pasta, with Cherub (remember, she’s three) helping herself to thirds. It is, in a word, delicious. Amazingly delicious. Well, that’s two. But I mean it: if you have yet to make a recipe from this blog, you should make this one.
White Bolognese, adapted from The Silver Spoon
1 T olive oil
2 strips of bacon
1/2 finely chopped yellow onion
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Posted in Bacon, Basics, Beef, Buffalo, Cooking Tips, Family, Kid Friendly Fare, Music, Noodles, Olive Oil, Pasta, Pork, Recipes, Seasonal, Stock, Wine, Winter |
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December 6, 2010
Since I’ll be headed to warmer climes tomorrow to visit Demeter and Zeus in Texas, the next few posts will have a different feel. Texas is famed, after all, for being “A whole ‘nother country”. Posts will more than likely contain things such as enchiladas, nachos, margaritas, brisket and Shiner. The stuff that still kind of runs through my veins as a Texas girl. Good times, dear readers, real good times.
In anticipation of that, I made some fish for dinner tonight. Zeus already snickered when I told him that I had vegetarian Indian food on Sunday. “Ha! We don’t eat a lotta veggies down here. We eat meat!” I know Daddy.
Tonight’s cod was simply prepared and served alongside a seasonal, warm cabbage salad with mushrooms, shallots, and some crispy prosciutto which becomes delicate and almost glass-like when fried. To boost the vegetable portion of the dinner, I roasted thin disks of potato and turnip. Drizzled over all of this was a mustard and ume plum vinaigrette.
Simple Cod with Warm Cabbage Salad, Ume Plum Vinaigrette
3/4 pound cod
2 to 3 thin slices prosciutto, chopped
3 ounces mushrooms, minced
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Posted in Cabbage, Cod, Cooking Tips, Fish, Music, Potatoes, Recipes, Salad, Seasonal, Turnips, Wine |
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December 3, 2010
When I worked in South Orange, New Jersey, there was a little tiny delicatessen (the Town Hall Deli) that claimed to have invented the sloppy joe. This is not a manwich (i.e., can o’ sauce over ground round). This is a serious sandwich with usually a couple of types of meat (the original had slices of tongue), cheese, coleslaw and housemade russian, all on rye. Good stuff. Those sandwiches could feed a small classroom of fourth graders. They were huge.
Tonight I continued with a Hanukkah theme. I made the PK version, and wisely made them smaller. A single slice of toasted rye was slathered with homemade Russian dressing, topped with slices of caraway gouda from Oakvale Farmstead, and piled with celeriac remoulade and pan-seared salmon.
South Orange Salmon Sloppy Joe
For the remoulade and dressing
2 egg yolks
1 peeled garlic clove, minced
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Posted in Cooking Tips, Fish, Hanukkah, Holidays, Local Foods, Oakvale Farmstead, Ohio, Olive Oil, Recipes, Salmon, Sandwiches, Wine |
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November 16, 2010
You may have noticed that I like to enjoy a nice wine with dinner all the time now and then. So of course I wanted to give extra thought to the wine pairing for my favorite food holiday: Thanksgiving. I visited with my friends Josh Shapiro and Miss McCoy at Vino 100 Short North to figure out what would taste great with my dinner, and heck, your dinner, too. Persephone’s always happy to help! Here are our picks.
Feeling Bold and Modern?
Josh recommends that you pair your bird with a rosé from Provence. While rosé used to have a terrible reputation in the 80′s as overly sweet and well, kinda gross, now rosés are being rediscovered by the cool kids. Not just for summer drinking anymore, Provence rosés add a smidge of elegance to a holiday meal. A couple of good ones are Commanderie Bargemone ($17) which is delicate and has a dry finish, and Domaine de Terrebrune Bandol ($30), which was awarded 90 points by Wine Spectator. The nice thing about these is that they appeal to both red and white wine crowds. Success!
The Right Red
Beaujolais, also being touted as Gamay, referring to the grape, pairs well with a rich holiday meal. The acidity in Beaujolais partners skillfully with the turkey and rich gravy. These are not the unserious Beaujolais Nouveaus you’ve read stories about. These are beautiful, balanced wines that have black fruit and cherry flavors. The 2008 Pierre Chermette ($19) is lushly fruity and velvety with a peppery finish. For a Cru Beaujolais, Josh recommends the Domain Chignard Les Moriers 2008 ($25). This is what’s being served at his house. No word yet if he is accepting reservations.
Whites that Work
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Posted in Alcohol, Drinks Cabinet, Fall, Thanksgiving, Turkey, Wine |
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November 15, 2010
Awww. I live in the midwest! I feel happy about that! Most people confuse Ohio with Iowa. But whatever, even Ruhlman (who is from Cleveland) visited here last weekend and was, I think it’s safe to say, gobsmacked by how great it is in little ol’ Columbus. (It’s in Ohio, not Iowa, people.)
So. Dinner tonight was Shrimp and Grits. I wanted to make this because I got my hands on a super secret new product that Snowville Creamery is developing. And they gave it to li’l ol’ Persephone to try out. Snowville developed a uniquely wonderful dairy product by concentrating very low-fat milk 2 1/2 times with a nano filtration system. Science! It makes the milk kind of like evaporated milk, only without heating. It’s so deliciously sweet and thick and almost like cream, but with the fat of 2% milk. You want it, right? You’re thinking, “what might I do with that?” Well, Persephone thought grits. She also thought about rice pudding, but that’s another post. Being from Texas, and having spent a fair bit of time in Georgia as well, cheese grits are something that frequently comes to mind. Can’t help it.
So without further ado and back story:
Ooh Lah, Lah Shrimp & Grits, serves four, plus a small Cherub with some leftover grits for breakfast (yay me!)
1 cup stone ground grits (I used local grits from Stutzman Farm)
3 cups Snowville Creamery Ooh, Lah Lah (or 3 cups whole or low-fat milk; please just not skim. Please.)
3 cups of water (or stock)
1/2 cup smoked (really!)
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Posted in Bacon, Cheese, Columbus, Fall, Family, Grits, Kid Friendly Fare, Leeks, Local Foods, Music, Ohio, Recipes, Shrimp, Snowville Creamery, Uncategorized, Wine |
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