Deus ex Culina

2003-04-14T12:43:00.000-04:00

Artery Clogging Meat Casserole With Walnut Pesto Sauce

Frank Giobbi wrote a book some years ago called, "Italian Family Cooking." James beard recommended it, and I've found it to be a great book on the essentials of good Italian cooking. Well, I came across a recipe in there for a Walnut Pesto sauce. He put it over a spinach tortelloni, but I wanted to do something else with the sauce. The sauce recipe that follows is his verbatim, and the copyright on it still belongs to him. In using this recipe, I did the same thing but made it in double portion with a food processor, substituting fresh marjoram for the dried (in 3x the volume). So here it is, in italics...

Walnut Pesto
ingredients:
1/2 walnuts
1/4 cup pignoli nuts
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons olive oil
dash of nutmeg
1/2 heavy cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper

in a wooden bowl mash walnuts and pignoli together until they are a grainy texture, or work them in a blender at low speed. Add all remaining ingredients except cream. (although this recipe doesn't call for it, 1/4 cup of ricotta cheese can be added if filling is too heavy.) Just before draining tortelloni, add cream to pesto. Season with salt and pepper to paste.

So here are the ingredients for the casserole I made:

Walnut Pesto (2x above, no ricotta in pesto)
1 pound whole wheat penne
two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 shallot lobes, sliced
8 ounces ground beef
about a pound of ground pork
2/3 lbs of ground veal
one tablespoon fresh choppen marjoram
one tablespoon fresh chopped oregano
6 sticks of fresh thyme, leaves only, twigs discarded
1/2 lbs ricotta cheese
Italian red pepper flakes
grated mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Set oven to 400F. meanwhile, get a large stock pot, fill with water, and heat it to boiling. Salt water generously, and add some olive oil. You know the drill, when water boils, throw in pasta. Drain when pasta is al dente. In the meantime, on to the meat.

So I didn't really have any grated pork and veal in the house. What I did have was two pork chopps and 4 veal scallopine, which I chopped up and put in the food processor along with the beef. The result was a sort of pasty texture, like a mousse. Not exactly what I was going for, so if I were you, I'd just buy the ground porducts as recommended above. Take a saute pan and heat it up, placing the olive oil in when hot. Saute the shallots. Place meat in pan. Brown meat, continually stirring. Meanwhile, add all the herbs, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Just keep flipping. When meat appears to be done, add ricotta cheese. Again, stir and flip it in. It will melt and get a little watery, and that's ok.

Meanwhile, pasta should be done. Strain it, and in a large bown, add pesto sauce. Mix well. Get a casserole dish (I needed 2). Start by making a layer of pasta on the bottom, followed by a layer of meat, and continue until casserole is full or you run out. Top with grated mozzarella cheese. Oven should be preheated by now, so set in there for 20 minutes or so or until cheese is meltes and is starting to brown. Remove from oven and serve with garlic bread. Garnish with parsley bits and Italian red pepper flakes. Buon appetito!

I should warn you that this dish is EXTREMELY heavy and will serve LOTS of people. I liked it overall, though I think I undersalted it a bit, so I've been adding salt to the leftovers I've been eating. Be sure to go to the gym after eating this.

2003-04-09T10:30:00.000-04:00

Response

The response to Deus ex Culina has been overwhelming. I have three people who are already anxious to join as posters, and a few others who I think are waiting in the wings. And Calzone hasn't even posted yet! He's been sick due to food poisining (think about the irony)...

Unfortunately, I have to get a bunch of things set up first, including a server for people to upload images to. And Calzone needs to update the template a bit before we can open things up to new people. But I eargerly await your arrivals. Especially since on a blog such as this it's difficult for two people to post new things every day.

Ok, so on to a recipe!

Duck Confit Spring Rolls with Cherry Hoisin Sauce

So I had these two duck legs and thighs and wasn't sure what to do with them exactly. After searching around online a bit, I decided that a confit would be best, as it would delay my need to make a decision about what to do. I used Emeril's duck confit recipe on the Food Network website, as it seemed to be about the same as all the other duck confit recipes I'd seen. I just cut the ingredients in half for two instead of 4 legs and thighs.

I cooked them for fourteen hours in the oven, starting in the morning just before work and taking them out at about 10 at night. The meat fell right off the bone, and it tasted delicious. But I put everything but a nibble in a container and strained the fat and put that back over the duck, and put the container back in the refrigerator. Then, to decide what to make.

Again, after searching online for a bit I came across Tyler Florence's recipe for spring rolls with duck confit, but it just looked all wrong to me. To begin with, I wanted to use rice flour spring roll wrappers, not crepes. And using chile paste I thought would overpower the duck. So I set out on my own, and here's what I did.

Ingredients:
duck confit, two legs and thighs
two carrotts, julienned (I just kept peeling it and chopped up the shavings)
one bunch cilantro, chopped, stems discarded
one pound fava beans
about 15 frozen, pitted cherries
about 3 inches of ginger, grated
sake mirin
4 or 5 scallions, chopped
leaves from 4 or 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 1/2 tablespoons of sesame oil
bean sprouts
6 cloves of garlic confit (use roasted garlic if you must)
dried vietnamese spring roll skins
1 8.5 oz jar of Lee Kum Kee Hoisin Sauce (can you even make your own, or is that like making your own ketsup? I couldn't find any recipes online)

Remove fava beans from the outer husk, and boil them in salted water for about 5 minutes, until the outer skin on the bean begins to come off. strain, and remove outer skins on beans, allowing the two bean halves to come apart. Place in a bowl. Also place in that bowl all of the other vegetables (chopped) except for the sprouts. Add sesame oil and toss. Veggies should look glistening.

Then, place the cherries in a small pot or saucepan. Pour in sake mirin to cover. Let it boil until alcohol smell dissapates (a few minutes). Transfer to food processor, and add hoisin sauce. Blend. Return to saucepan and let simmer for a few minutes, so flavors combine. Set aside.

Now it took me a while to figure out what to do with the dried wrappers, but it turns out you soak them in water. Don't soak the whole package like I did. Just pull out ten or so and start there. They soften up quickly. pull out one, or two if they rip (they're pretty flimsy). Place on a flat surface. Begin by placing an appropriate amount of duck in a straight line about two thirds of the way down the wrapper. Then, place sprouts and veggies, and top with some cherry hoisin sauce. take bottom third of wrapper, and fold over stuffing. Take sides, and fold in as well, and then roll the bottom all the way up until it's completely rolled. Repeat until you're done. It's not easy. And I had extra veggies left over, just so you know.

Two rolls fills me up for a meal, they're quite hearty. Use the extra sauce to top off the rolls with. And they're best eaten with a knife and fork, as those rice skins are left soft. Below is a picture, replete with a piece of parsley for decoration. Enjoy!

2003-04-06T13:31:00.000-04:00

Alchemist's Chili
(turning base ingredients into gold...)

The following chili recipe was originally unveiled to the public for the 2002 Superbowl, in which the New England Patriots won. It won rave reviews from all corners, and my friend Adam asked me for the recipe. This year, I made the same recipe but added in more hots, which made it unbearable. So in the future, I'll stick with the original. What follows is the original recipe.

Ingredients:

Two pounds of beef roast
One pound of pork tenderloin or chops
Three large onions, chopped up
Garlic to taste, probably one head, peeled and chopped
2 Bass Beer
Chicken Broth (if needed)
One can crushed tomatos
One can Pinto Beans
One can black beans
One jar of Pickled Jalapenos
Sour Cream
Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Spices:
Adolph's Meat Tenderizer (unsalted preferred)
Ground Sage
Medium Dried Chipotle Powder
Frontier Chili Powder
Ground Tumeric
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
A bay leaf, maybe two
Paprika
Ground Cumin
Sage
Cayenne Pepper

To Begin:

Take your beef and pork, and cut into approx. 1 inch cube pieces. Trim off all large pieces of fat and gristle and set aside. Begin adding spices to a large bowl. Start with the salt. If you are using the meat tenderizer with salt, just use that instead. Otherwise add meat tenderizer to the salt. Put enough in the bowl such that you think there's enough to coat every piece of meat. Then, put in your paprika, cumin, sage, tumeric, chipotle powder, onion and garlic powder, and fresh ground pepper. Mix the spices in such a way that they taste god to you. Cumin is very important, as is the paprika. I like to start there, balancing those out with the salt, making the remainder to taste. Add enough such that the spice blend basically looks reddish in color, overpowering the salt. What you have there is a basic chili powder. Add commercial chili powder to taste or add volume, I like Frontier brand. Then, add your cayenne. Remember, cayenne is the hottest spice, and it will become hotter when heated, so be careful there. Finally, grind in some pepper to taste and add your meat. Toss it around so everything is coated. You should have a bit more spice mix that can't quite cover the meat. This is good. Let sit for at least 45 minutes, or until the meat juices soak through the spice rub, making it glisten.

Heat your chili pot, add a touch of oil to the bottom. Take your fat scraps and throw them in your chili pot. Render the fat out of them, and when they're all browned and shriveled, remove them from the pot and discard.

Open your Bass beer. Drink. Open your second Bass beer. You will notice that the cooked fat scraps left behind a brown crust on the bottom of your chili pot. Pour a touch of beer in and deglaze the bottom of the pan with the beer. When the bottom of the pan looks clean and there is a little bit of beer swishing around in the pan, start adding the meat, a few cubes at a time, to brown them in the bottom of the pan. As they get browned, continue adding beer a little at a time to deglaze anything that sticks to the bottom of the pan. You will have spice mixture left over. Set aside for the end of the recipe.

Add 2/3 of the onions to the pan. Add all the garlic. The onions will slowly wilt in the heat. Once wilted, add the crushed tomatos and a bay leaf or two if you desire. Let simmer for a while, like maybe an hour. As the mixture thickens, add chicken broth or beer as needed, to maintain desired consistency. After about two hours, add the cans of beans, drained. Let this simmer until the beans appear to be about to burst. You may even see some bursting. Then, drain all the vinegar out of the jar of jalapenos, and add jalapenos to the pot. When jalapenos are tender, add the last of the spice mix. Let simmer for a few more minutes and serve.

Make sure to add fresh cut onions to each bowl of chili as it's served, and sprinkle with sour cream and cheddar cheese to taste.

2003-04-06T09:49:00.000-04:00

Deus ex Culina

Deus ex Culina, meaning "God from the Kitchen" is a blog devoted to a love of food. In particular, it is devoted to the art of cooking, as opposed to simply enjoying food prepared by others. The goal for this blog is to publish for the world the culinary triumphs, and failures, of our work in the kitchen. It is to entertain but also to enlighten our readers, and help share knowledge in a way that only the web can make happen.

The originators of this blog are Rob Sama and Chris Kausel, also known as "Calzone." They are two close friends from high school, who now both enjoy the joys of cooking. Though they now live on opposite coasts, Rob in Boston and Calzone in San Francisco, they chat daily about food, including discoveries, techniques and recipes. They started this blog to bring those discussions to the public, and for the select few, invite others to join in the discussion.

While anyone can post questions or comments in the comments or, "Pig Out" section of the blog, only select individuals may post to the blog. If you wish to be so invited, please write to us and let us know why you think you'd make a good contributor. In the meantime, enjoy the culinary musings of Rob Sama and Chris Kausel. Buon Appetito!