Small town favorites

So it is inevitable that some of my personal life is going to sneak its way into my blog. Today my lucky readers get to learn a little bit about where I grew up. Fremont Nebraska is your typical midwest small town. 30,000 people or so, one high school, a couple bowling alleys, movie theater, a few hole in the wall bars and of coarse TONS of chain restaurants. We've got your average Applebee's, Village Inn, McDonalds, Sonic, and a few mom and pop type cafes. All with the same menu. Burgers, chicken fried anything and club salads. So it should be no surprise that my favorite place to eat in Fremont isn't a restaurant. When I'm looking for some great authentic food I don't go any further than my best friends house. The beautiful Chantalome sisters are my oldest and closest friends. There house is my second home. A place where I feel truly comfortable at all times. Probably because their family is so hospitable. No matter if I'm there for five minutes or five days I'm always offered something to eat and drink. And its hard to turn down the food. I'm sure your wondering by now where a last name like Chantalome comes from. They are Laos. For those who don't know, Laos is a small country sandwiched between Thailand and Vietnam. The style of food is similar to both countries. My favorite dish is called Pahn Ba. It's most commonly served with catfish but can be substituted with other mild white fish like tilapia. The fish is par cooked by boiling and finished in a lime civeche. It is then diced up and mixed with bean sprouts and lots and lots of fresh herbs. (all grown in their backyard). I could eat this fish right out of the bowl but that wouldn't do the dish justice. It is then paired with rice noodles, more fresh herbs (cilantro, mint, basil, ect...) rolled into lettuce leaves and dipped into my favorite component, a coconut red curry dipping sauce with crushed peanuts. This dish hits all the taste buds. Sour (lime), Spicy (curry), Sweet (coconut), Salty (peanuts) and Savory (fish). It is impossible to eat just one roll. And what makes this dish even more amazing is that it is served family style. And what could be better than a table full of outstanding food surrounded by your closest friends? I can't think of anything that makes for a better meal.

momma's garden

This post will be shot but sweet. I've mentioned in several of my posts the fresh foods that I get out of my momma's garden. And I finally got out there for myself with some friends and a camera. It's a community garden which means the city owns it and several locals rent plots to grow produce and flowers that they don't have room for at home. Some of the photos are from my mom's plot and some are from neighbors gardens. This was our first year planting and we've learned alot. Next year we are hoping for bigger and better crops. And of coarse we will try out new plants too. It's nice to have so many gardens in one area so you can learn from your nieghbors failures and sucesses. So many differnt ideas and inspirations. Several of the 'farmers' share their crops as well. It's such a fun, friendly place to spend an afternoon. Many larger cities have these community gardens as well. So no matter where you are in the world you have no excuse to not get out there and start growing for yourself!

Green Gateau

So I've been hearing about this restaurant ever since I moved to Lincoln. Most people calling it 'my favorite restaurant' or 'the type of place I like to go for birthdays or a special occasions'. So I of coarse insisted that someone one take me there. My great friend Amanda was more than happy to accompany me to her favorite eatery and we both agreed we couldn't make the trip with out of favorite photographer, Theary. So the three of us set off on a Monday night for an amazing dinner at The Green Gateau. The restaurant describes its food as American Contemporary but they definitively have a French influence. The building itself is beautiful. Even if the food wasn't amazing I would still go back for the atmosphere. The outside was a distressed brick with climbing green vines and wrought iron gates. Once inside I felt like I stepped back into small town England. Wood floors, large wine cellars, ornate coffee machine, stained glass, low light and wood carvings in the ceiling and railings. The best thing about their menu was the dinner meal deal. A soup, salad, entree and dessert for $25. Even though we were all sure it would be more food than we could consume we couldn't pass the opportunity to try as many dishes as possible. I was really hoping that french onion soup would be on Monday's menu, sadly it wasn't. (the french onion soup is one of the selling points people used to convince me of how great this place was) Instead we were treated to a roasted red pepper with smoked Gouda, a Jamaican black bean and a classic lobster bisque. I ordered the bisque even though it is one of my least favorite soups. I was curious if it was prepared correctly and how much lobster it would actually have. I've seen this particular soup made incorrectly in so many different establishments I've made it a general rule to just not order it. Before you ask I will tell you this soup is made incorrectly so often because it is an expensive soup to make. More often than not it's just to easy to use a base, imitation meat or some other kind of filler or means of stretching the soup. I'm glad I went against my rule because this bisque was wonderfully prepared. If The Green Gateau is using a 'cheat method' with this bisque I wasn't able to detect it. HOWEVER, I'm still just not a fan of lobster bisque. Lucky for me Theary was so we switched soups. Which left me with the roasted red pepper and smoked gouda. Great flavor, beautiful color and very rich. It was a rather inspiring soup, I found myself thinking about all the different dishes I could make with that particular flavor profile. I was glad I had the small cup and not a large bowl because it would have been to much for one sitting. The third soup was my favorite. I would have traded for it if I could convince my vegetarian friend to give up her only option. The Jamaican black bean was full bodied, satisfying and had just the right kick of spice. Our Salads arrived next and wow, what a presentation. I sometimes forget the simple things that I was trained in culinary school are not common knowledge. I had to giggle to myself as everyone at my table (and the table behind us) marveled as to what 'the cool curved thing' was that the salad was plated on. A Parmesan crisp. Delicious and very delicate. It takes skill not only from the kitchen but from the wait staff to pull of a plated salad like that. On to our main coarse. Theary was hungry for seafood, first the lobster bisque and then the crab cakes, a dish she had never tried before. Feeling a bit risky from my rule breaking bisque I ordered a pork dish (something else I rarely do). Brandied peppercorn pork to be exact. My dinner came with a heaping mound of smashed potatoes and a small side of julienne zucchini and yellow squash. My only complaint was that the side of vegetables was so small compared to the serving of pork and potatoes. My pork medallions were pounded thin and breaded which made them perfectly suited to soak up the rich brandied peppercorn sauce. Overall a rich, hearty dish sure to satisfy the hungriest of bellies. The crab cake plate came off the lunch menu and looked like the perfect lunch time treat. At first sight the dish didn't appear to be much, pretty yes, but nothing spectacular. Until you took a closer look. On top of the cakes was a dabble of tomato in a fine brunoise (1/16 of an inch). Impressive. The sauce was a little heavy on the horseradish, to tangy for Theary. I found it to be a nice complement in a small dose. How do I know? Once again Theary and I switched dishes. It just goes to show, you should always stick with your first instincts. Neither dish was a disappointment by any stretch of the imagination, just a matter of following your personal preference. And Amanda did just that. She ordered the manicotti, a dish she's had and enjoyed several times. And the tastes she let Theary and I have didn't disappoint either. At this point in the night we felt as if we had ate all we possibly could.....then the dessert cart came by. As a part of our four course meal, we were entitled to a sweet treat at the end. Always watching our lady like figures, the three of us decided on sharing two desserts instead of one each. I couldn't pass up the traditional creme brulee. I was offered my choice of brown or white sugar and the dish was bruleed (sugar burned) table side. For those of you who have never had creme brulee before it is a custard dish that is capped with sugar and then the sugar is caramelized on top. When it cools you 'wack' it with the back of your spoon and the caramelized sugar cracks into a beautiful broken mirror effect. Our other dessert of choice was nicknamed 'death by chocolate'. The menu called it chocolate oblivion. Incredibly rich, it had the taste and texture of the inside of a truffle. YUM! It was a smart choice to split this one between the three of us. Well technically four. Up until this point I haven't mentioned the little gentlemen that was dinning with us. Theary's son Jackson. Who after taking one bite of Amanda's chocolate oblivion looked her strait in the eye and asked "you, me, dinner, ten thousand flying monkeys?" Little Jackson was in L.O.V.E. And I must say so am I. With The Green Gateau.
If you feel like trying it for yourself they can be found at 330 S. 10th street, Lincoln Ne. To make reservations please call 402-477-0330.

Pickle you green beans!

My first experiment in pickling. And its killing me! As I mentioned in my previous preserving blog, a pickle in made with brine. Brine needs time to work. Two to three weeks to be exact. So although these green beans look super tasty, its going to take several more days before they actually are tasty. Why green beans you ask? Because they were growing in my momma's garden. We have always had a small variety of food bearing plants around the house (tomatoes, peppers, herbs) but this year my mom took the next step and got a community garden plot. Loads more room for vegetables. Everything that was planted is growing strong, however, the green beans were the only plants ready for harvest when I visited over the weekend. I'm looking forward to many more harvests of green beans so I can play with the flavor of my pickling solutions. I know what your thinking, a pickle is a pickle right? Well think about that again. There are sweet pickles, bread and butter, dill, ect... The same principle apples to anything you pickle. For these green beans I used garlic, dill and chili peppers. The recipe is below.

2lbs fresh green beans, washed and trimmed to fit your jars
2 cups distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
1/4 - 1/2 cup salt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 spring fresh dill
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Mix the vinegar, water, salt and garlic is a sauce pan, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and remove garlic. Place beans, dill and crushed red pepper flakes in clean, sterile jars. Pour brine over beans leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles and fit two piece cap. Seal jars in a simmering hot water bath (jars should be covered with 1 inch of water) for ten to fifteen minutes. Remove and cool. Check jar lid for proper seal. If sealed, set for two to three weeks before eating.

Peaches for you, Peaches for me.

For anyone who is also friends with me on facebook you saw how excited I was to find a mysterious new fruit in my local grocery store. It was labeled as a 'UFO/ Buzz Lightyear Flying Saucer' peach, marketed and grown by Disney. I googled it when I got home and found it to be one of over 200 species of peaches grown around the world. This particular peach, better known as a donut peach, is native to Asia. Generations ago it was a favorite among Chinese emporers because you could easily hold it in one hand and it did not drip juices into their beards. The varieties that you find here in the United States have been scientifically modified to be slightly sweeter than the original variety and have a firmer flesh to make shipping and handling easier. I sampled a few of these peaches fresh before turning them into butter and I must say the Chinese deities had it right. Not only did this peach not drip juice everywhere, the skin was very thin and had little fuzz making it very easy to eat and enjoy.
On this most recent photo shoot with Miss Theary, we multi-tasked and made several different dishes. I knew the peaches were something I wanted to work with but we weren't positive what else we were going to use. So, we stopped by a road side produce stand in my neighborhood to get some ideas. Turns out the only thing they had that we were interested in was more peaches. This time from Georgia, just like Theary.
While reading one of my many books on preserving food I came across some interesting information about fruit butters. The most popular and common would be apple butter. What I found most interesting is that there is not actually any butter in these products. In fact nothing even slightly similar to butter. They consist solely of fruit and sugar. For soft fruits like peaches they are first blanched and shocked (submerged in boiling water, then ice water) and then pealed and chopped. For hard fruits like apples they are pealed first, then chopped and cooked. Once the fruit is ready it is placed over heat and cooked until it is completely tender (easily cuts with a plastic utensil) and then removed from heat and pulverized. The trick here is to completely 'mush up' the fruit with out liquidizing it. I use and immersion blender, a regular stand blender would work also. Once you have the right consistency it goes back on the stove and the sugar is added. Heat until the boiling point is reached and then reduce to a simmer for 20 mins. Place the hot butter into hot jars, seal with a two part lid and boil completely submerged in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

6lbs Peaches
4 cups sugar

This dish is obviously great as a breakfast or snack item but I found a way to mix it into a savory dish. This weekend was my belated birthday party and I celebrated in my favorite fashion by having friends over for food, drinks and games. I was determined to redeem myself from the mediocer chicken wings I served last time I had a get together. I stuck with the party/finger food genre but this time went with meatballs. And they were a hit! They were spicy, sweet and smelled wonderful!

2lbs lean ground turkey
2tablespoons curry powder
1tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1tablespoon fresh chives (minced)
2 teaspoons fresh minced garlic
2 eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 jar home made peach butter* (or store bought)

mix first eight ingredients together and form into meatballs. brown on all sides in a frying pan with a small amount of oil. Transfer into a glass baking dish and cover with peach butter and diced up bell peppers. Bake until cooked through (20-30 minutes). Enjoy!

p.s. this recipe also makes awesome burgers, mix first eight ingredients and form patties, cook to order and add sauce to top before serving. Pick a nice hearty flour dusted roll for a perfect burger.

Strawberry Balsamic Jam

Today is August 2nd and according to the rules I should be starting a new 'thing'. However, I've never been a big fan of the rules and so I have decided to stick with preservation for another month. I just don't feel like I've covered all the bases. I've spent most my time in July focusing on jams, jellies and other fruit preserves. True, I had a little tastes of picking with my green beans but I feel like I have more area to cover. So August will be my first continuation. My plans include more pickling (I have about six pounds of cucumbers in my crisper right now) and a request for pickled watermelon that I'm not sure I can turn down. I'm also planning to work with the tomatoes growing on my patio to make salsas and sauces. I might work in a few more fruits as well. Time will tell...

In the mean time I will tell you about the strawberry Balsamic Jam pictured above. Unfortunately I can't describe the taste for you because I gave all my jam away! Of coarse Theary got a large jar as partial payment for her beautiful pictures and I gave the other jar to an old coworker and friend of mine who I meet for lunch last week. I always appreciate anyone who reads my blogs and was more than happy to share a treat. I think that is what I like best about these jams and jellies, they are so easy to share! And even to ship. So if you are a reader and are in another state (or country for my military friends) and want to try some pickles or jam send me a message and I will send you some food :) Anyways, back to the jam. The strawberries you want to use for this are the small slightly tart berries you find at the beginning of the season. They have more of a flavor punch than the larger juicy varieties you find in mid to late July. Of coarse if your trying to make this jam now, its ok, you can use the large strawberries just be sure to try it again next year with the small berries you find in late June.
This recipe came strait out of a book I got with my brand new library card. I chose it because the tang from the balsamic makes it a nice treat for breakfast but also allows this jam to be used in a more savory fashion as well. Perhaps as a base for a glaze for lamb or as a spread in a bread and cheese coarse. To make this jam you need 4 parts berries (cleaned and chopped) and 3 parts sugar. For those of you who are super kitchen illiterate, parts means equal portions. For example 4 cups berries to 3 cups sugar. And one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to each cup of sugar. Heat the berries until they boil (their natural juices will be released) then add the sugar, dissolve and reduce to a low simmer. Once the combination has thickened enough to coat a spoon add your vinegar and cook another 30 mins. Poor hot jam into hot jars and seal in boiling water for 15 minutes. Make sure the seal is set and enjoy when you please. If your jars don't seal properly you can always keep your jam in the refrigerator, just the same as you would an already open jar of jelly.

thank you to everyone for reading. Keep watching for at least one more jelly (I'm thinking apple, carrot ginger?) and lots of pickles, sauces and salsas!

keeping it fresh

Where to begin this month?? How about with a thank you! Not only to everyone who takes the time to read this blog but especially to those who donated to this months theme. Or what I should say, is thank you to everyone for all the wonderful birthday gifts, cards and cash! Although the art of preserving foods in meant to help save money it was a bit of an investment to acquire the equipment necessary to get myself started. I also decided to take no chances with this theme. The severity of the consequences of improper preservation is not something I want to play with. When shopping for ways to burn my birthday cash I started with the experts, Ball. Who's Ball you ask? Ball is probably the oldest (or at least most well known) maker of preserving and canning supplies. Not only did I buy their jars but I bought their beginners guide to canning and preserving. A hundred-something page paperback booklet with everything you need to know. And trust when I say I read it multiple times! When I said I don't intend to play with the consequences of a botched jar of jam I was serious. Mrs. Theary can tell you I constantly had my nose in my books as we worked. I have so much new information I can't help but share it with everyone. I hope I'm not disappointing anyone by making this a strictly informative blog, no recipes. (recipes will follow soon!).
The first thing I feel compelled to explain is the different types of preserving. There is canning and jarring, pickling, oil, freezing and dehydrating.

Canning and jarring is what you will mostly see in my posts this month. There are three ways to can food. You can use a water bath to seal the jars, a steam kettle or for certain fruits you can use a wax (pectin) to seal your product. The ingredent you choose will determine your method. The whole point of preserving is to keep produce safe to eat through out the year. To keep it safe you have to kill all the baterica and alter the environment to prevent new bacteria from growing. A water bath will kill the necessary bacteria in low PH foods, however boiling water would not get hot enough to kill certain elements found in high PH foods. You need pressurized steam for that. You can not do this with the basic set of pots and pans you have in your kitchen, specific equipment must be purchased. This is why I am living in my books this month, I want to make absolutely certain I keep my food safe. And since I am only a chef and not a food scientist I am not able to determine on my own, the exact PH levels of foods.

Pickling is a method of preserving that uses a brine usually made of salt and some form of vinegar. Obviously pickles are your best example of this method but it is easily applied to vegetables and some meats.

Oil is mainly used for preserving meats and fish. It is considered a short term method only lasting a few weeks at best. Oil is a oxygen free environment. So by completely submerging a product in oil you keep it from oxygen which is one of the main ingredients needed for bacteria growth.

I won't waste anyone time talking about freezing and dehydrating. They are so common they explain themselves.

Hopefully I haven't lost everyone by this point because I am about to answer some of mans oldest questions. Jam or Jelly? isn't that the same thing???
No!
A jam is made from crushed or partially crushed fruits. It will be slightly thicker than your other options and have bits and pieces of the fruit in it.
A Jelly is made from fruit juices. Smooth, sticky and free of 'chunks'.
A Butter (like apple butter) is made from the pulp of the fruit. Fruit pulp isn't the yucky stuff everyone wants left out of their orange juice. It is what is left over from cooked, processed fruits. (if you are still confused, stay tuned. I made a peach butter that I will blog about soon)
A preserve is whole or sliced fruit (and veggies) meant to be kept in it original form.

Well there you go. That is all the unnecessary information I'm going to bombard you with today. If you are disappointed with the lack of recipes today, let me know. I will get you a jar of jam to make up for it!

sneak peak