Y’all Share! – Page 20

Leekage

Well, my scouts up No’th says next week is the last for this season’s crop: Sad? Not really; more of a great memory, a look forward to next year, and a whole new season to enjoy!

I love fall and winter, and as y’all live where you do, y’all must as well, right? As far as food goes, these seasons are comfort food turf and that’s never a bad thing; any chance to enjoy the heartier fare is a good thing.

Christie wrote of next week, “Leeks will be in the bucket, so a post would be great. Sizes range from smallish on up to good-sized—although no really huge giants like you sometimes see in the supermarkets.”

Actually, this is good news; size matters with veggies to a degree, but probably in reverse order to umm, certain other topics… In other words, huge doesn’t mean quality when it comes to veggies. There’s a very good reason that ‘baby’ this and that are coveted more than their older siblings; they taste better, are generally more tender, and are much more fun to behold on a plate.

So what the heck is a leek anyway? Are they good, do we like them? They are, we do, and they’re of the same family as onions and garlic and that is why we do! Like their cousins, they are wonderful in many things, even standing as the center point of a dish or two. If you’re a foodie, you may have heard the term Ramp thrown around in the last few years; the ramp is simply a wild leek, FYI. Leeks are relatively rich in iron, vitamin c, manganese, folate and vitamin B6, all of which are good for ya, so dig in with confidence. Leeks are more common in stores than they used to be, although you’re still more likely to find green onions. A leek is, for my palate, a richer, deeper flavor profile than an onion, and for that reason, I like them a lot; it’s kind of like choosing shallot over onion, I guess…

When you prep a leek for cooking, keep in mind that the dark green upper leaves are generally tough and not something you want to nosh on, although you can clean ‘em up and use them for flavoring vegetable stock, which you really aughta do! The bulb and the white/light green lower leaves are what we want to go to town on. So, when you’re ready to cook, pull ‘em out, inspect ‘em and wash off any dirt or critters. Cut the dark greens off and set them aside for later. Cut the little root fringes off the bulbs and chuck those. Now do a pro prep move, and fill a bowl with cold water, toss in your leeks and gently wash ‘em until no dirt shows up in your water bowl, (It might take a couple of water changes to do). You’re now basically ready to use these guys.

So, what to make with leeks? Well, the sky really is the limit, so why not head to the internet for some inspiration? Seriously, you ask, a leek recipe website?! Yup, in fact leeks are, as far as I can tell, all they do; their recipes are great and broad in scope, so head on over there and start cooking!

No, wait, don’t go: We have more to do here first… My personal favorite thing for leeks is stock and base for soup or stew: While leeks.org has a lot of stuff, I didn’t see anything on this stuff, so here goes.

One very important key to a good soup, stew, or stock is the presence of a vegetable element; it provides flavors you just can’t get without ‘em. And the key to that element is mirepoix; mirepoix, (mere pwah), is a schmancy French word for a very simple and important thing, namely onion, carrot and celery mixed together. This simple mix of 50% onion, 25% each carrot and celery, adds a depth and breadth to soup, stew, sauce, reduction, glaze, roux, and on and on; it’s that important. When you make mirepoix, prep your veggies based on what you’re going to use the mix for: If you’re making soup, a fine dice is good; if you’re gonna make a big batch of stock, you can cut big old couple-of-inch pieces and be just fine with that; get the picture? We want these wonderful veggies to deliver flavor evenly and completely. So, let’s do one for a nice fall soup.

1 cup 50%-50% mix of leek and sweet onion, ¼” diced
½ cup carrot, ¼” diced
½ cup celery, ¼” diced
Pinch of salt

Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil in a sauté pan on low; add veggies and salt and sweat them.

Terminology Aside: “What is sweating, and why would I do it?” Well first off, it’s not hanging out to long in Texas heat… Sweating is the process of cooking veggies in a little fat, (Oil or butter or both), over relatively low heat. With sweating, we don’t want the veggies to brown or caramelize at all, as we would when sauteing; that can make for unpleasant burned or bitter note in a soup or stew. We just want our stuff to get translucent, (Especially the onions and leeks), give up some moisture, and start to concentrate and combine their flavor notes: The lower temperature is the key of course. Sweating is another one of those little tricks that separates the kids from the big pool. Aromatics, (Onion, garlic, leek, shallot, celery), are all kinda crunchy in texture: Sweating draws moisture and flavor and softens them up nicely; it is a big head start in making a soup that tastes fantastic right from the get go.

Heat 10 cups of water to a simmer, and toss in your mirepoix. Add salt and pepper to taste. Now add what floats your boat for a nice veggie soup; consider;

A couple nice tomatoes, diced
Cilantro
Potatoes, (Cooked to roughly ½ done, then diced and added)
Beans
Mushrooms
Parsley
Thyme
Bay Leaf
Dash of cayenne?
Smoked Paprika?
Smoked Salt?
Smoked or dried Chiles?

Simmer all for a good couple of hours, and enjoy! You can, as an alternative to sweating, roast your mirepoix in the oven for an earthier taste.

Use leeks in conjunction with our replacing onion and shallot for a really nice, subtle but potent flavor note; you’ll be very glad you did!

Notes on storage; leeks can be kinda potent, like their cousins. Store them whole in a paper bag in the veggie drawer of your fridge. Long term, the bottom line is these guys don’t store all that well: You can dry them, and if you freeze them, they must be as air tight as possible and used within a couple months, (After that they kinda get freezer burned and mushy). Of course if you make stock or soup/stew base, you can sure freeze that just fine.

Enjoy!

¡Posole!

For some reason, I woke in the mood for Posole, so I turned to my friends Del and Isabel, who know this stuff like nobody else I know – It is TO DIE FOR when done right, and this one’s right. I have tweaked the recipe very, very slightly, (just for a couple of process points, really), so you’re getting’ the real thing here, Del approved!

Del’s Posole Auténtico

Combine in a nice big pot and soak overnight;
2 cups posole, (dried hominy)
6 cups of water

If you can’t get dried hominy, substitute 4 cups of canned

Take 1 pound of pork shoulder and cut it into ½” cubes.
Place pork in a hot pan with enough olive oil to coat the bottom and brown the meat thoroughly. Remove the pork to a bowl.

reduce heat to medium-low and add to the pan;
1 small onion, fine diced.

Sweat the onions for about 5 minutes until they just start to get translucent.

What The… Moment: Sweating versus Sautéing.
What is sweating and why would we do that? And for that matter, why wouldn’t we just sauté?

Sweating is taking your food and cooking it briefly, covered over relatively low heat, as opposed to sautéing, which is cooking briefly, uncovered, over somewhat higher heat.

Sweating retains moisture from, in this case, the onions, because the covered pan traps the steam generated by cooking and drops it back onto the food, thereby concentrating flavors that would be lost by sautéing. When we sweat, we don’t want browning, we just want to get things loosened up and ready to do serious work down the line!

Add to the onions,
3 to 5 cloves of garlic, minced
Cover again and let cook for a few minutes more, just to incorporate everything.

Combine hominy and water with your pork and veggies in your big pot.

Add,
1 to 2 tablespoons of good quality chili powder, (Del recommends Pendery’s Original or Top Hat).

Start with roughly ½ tablespoon, stir it into the mix and taste to see where you’re at; add more as you see fit.

Add,
1 teaspoon Mexican Oregano
Salt to taste, (Go easy here; a little goes a long way here – Use salt in this recipe just to brighten the flavors and the blend, not to make it salty!)

If you used dry posole, simmer on low heat for a couple of hours, until the kernels have popped open: With canned posole, 20-30 minutes should do the trick, assuming you really did brown your pork well!

Serve hot with a nice fresh salsa or pico de gallo.

Del says: “In some parts of Mexico it would be tradition to serve this with garnishes including chopped cilantro, limes, thinly sliced radishes, even shredded cabbage. I don’t do any of that because I like it like it is.
If you can stand it, cooking one day and heating it back up and serving it the next is even better than right away but, at my house I’m lucky to get one bowl of leftover. I can’t swear to the authenticity of this because every abuelita has her own version and they’re all different: All I can say is that my very traditional Mexican mother-in-law approves of mine.”

I have wolfed down this wonderful stuff for years and I agree completely with the chef!

Options:
Some folks like to add tomato paste to the pork while browning, while others add canned tomatoes or sauce to the mix while simmering, but this is not in keeping with Del’s recipe; if you feel you need to, then do, but try it his way first!

Fresh or preserved chiles can be added to the mix; if fresh, chop into roughly ¼” dice and sweat with your onions and garlic, but watch the heat! If you use preserved, then reconstitute if dried or thaw if frozen and add to the mix while simmering – skin, seed and strip the membranes. Once again, Del chooses to have the chile and tomato influence introduced by a nice fresh salsa, and I agree!

Great Dinner, Gang!

This just in from Christie!

Hi Eben! Great post on cookware, etc. Your knowledge is amazing, but we knew that 🙂

Last evening, while dodging raindrops, we had our CSA get-together featuring yummy CSA veggies. Food ranged from Lissa’s pesto cheesecake through my tabbouleh and focaccia pizza, with stops along the way for lots of other goodies (including a version of your cuke, onion, and pepper salad) and ending with apple pudding! We had great fun and are looking forward to having you and Monica join us next year.

We were asked for some recipes, so here’s my tabbouleh. When I make tabbouleh I don’t measure, so I am trying to approximate the taste. I am generally heavy on lemon, but tried to use a light hand on last night’s fare.

Christie’s Tabbouleh Salad

This is, essentially, a parsley salad. So you can’t go overboard on the parsley. I generally use flat/Italian parsley (Us Greeks DON”T credit it to the Italians), augmented with curly parsley to give a bit more “fluff” and texture.

2/3 c Bulgar–found at co-ops–in supermarkets around here Red Mill brand is good
2 c chopped parsley, minimum
1/2-1 c chopped tomatoes
3/4 c olive oil
1/2 c fresh squeezed lemon juice, (more to taste)
1 c or so chopped green onions (both white and green parts)
chopped mint to taste
salt and pepper to taste, (Careful here; taste first!)

Soak Bulgar for an hour or two. Cover with water and add more if needed. Bulgar is already cooked, so all it needs is soaking. Check to see that it is soft all the way through and then drain off any excess water. Mix with other ingredients and adjust to your taste. I usually add some chopped mint–apple and spearmint are good. Don’t overdo it. Add just enough for the exploring palate to detect, but not enough so you say, “Wow, lotsa mint!” Sometimes I have been known to add crumbled feta cheese. Like many salads with an acid and oil dressing, this gets better after sitting for a day.

Notes: Do not used bottled lemon juice. Even the better stuff not- from-concentrate just isn’t the same. You need to squeeze those lemons to get juice with the right taste.
Bulgar is not the same as cracked wheat, so if you shop at a co-op where they may carry both, be sure to get the stuff labeled Bulgar, (Or whatever the spelling). Cracked wheat is crushed wheat grains and it is not parboiled.

Since this is a parsley salad, it should basically look green–not red (too many tomatoes), or beige (too much Bulgar). That said, this salad can be made in just about any proportions that suit your taste buds. In addition, you can also make it with a base of orzo or couscous (both pastas) instead of the Bulgar. That will give you a different texture, of course.

Bulgar is very versatile. You can use it in lots of things, and all you have to do is let it soak while you are doing other stuff. It is a very healthy alternative to rice. Just soak, heat in the micro, and use wherever you would use rice. It has a slightly nutty taste compared to rice.

Eben’s P.S. – Flattery will get y’all everywhere! 😉
And FYI, I never measure either, (It’s true, ask M!), so all my recipes are converted for sharing – If that’s how you cook too, do what Christie did and approximate to the reasonable side for spice and whatnot. This one sounds great for summer, I’m doin’ some up!