Cooking...

I’ve been getting back into cooking now that I feel like I have more time and mental bandwidth. I used to experiment a lot more and try new recipes and ingredients, but when my work life got to a certain level of intensity I fell back to more of a rotation of greatest hits and familiar things. Without a work life anymore, I find that it’s easier to take my time and look at a bunch of the cook books I’ve accumulated or search the interwebs for something interesting to cook.

It is also farm share season and the constant influx of a box of vegetables from Appleton Farm helps to drive cooking activities and planning for the week. Making dishes or food products that can be frozen or preserved is a part of this too, we can’t eat all those vegetables in one week, but over the rest of the year we do. Pickles and sauerkraut are also great things to make and enjoy later. I also have a fish share from Cape Ann Fresh Catch and this means that I'll be cooking at least one fish dish every week.

I also like classic dishes done in a classic way, they became classics for a reason, they became cliches due to overuse and losing focus on what was great about them. For example I made a classic Caesar Salad a little while ago from scratch, it was amazing especially with ultra fresh romaine lettuce from the farm. It was nothing like the watery bland stuff that you get in most restaurants nowadays… The umami from the anchovies and egg yolks against the bite of the garlic and the acid from the lemon is just amazing.

Cooking, when you can do it in a relaxed way, is extremely satisfying, the process is engaging, the result happens in a finite time, and it is something you can share and so it is also gratifying beyond just consuming the food. When I was much younger I cooked in restaurants as a short order cook, turning and burning as it were, and I learned how to relate to food, how to prep, how to be confident about the process, and how to multi-task to get things out at the same time. I remember closing the restaurant and feeling completely drained and yet calm after an especially intense shift. It also formed bonds with the rest of the team in the kitchen even if you were very different people, the intensity that you shared drove you together for that time and when you were flowing together and it worked it was a great experience.

Baked Mac and Cheese

Ingredients

 

1 box of elbow macaroni

4 tablespoons of flour

2 cups of milk

½ lb gouda shredded

½ lb gruyere shredded

½ lb extra sharp cheddar shredded

1 egg

1 stick of unsalted butter

1 tablespoon granulated garlic

1 tablespoon granulated onion

1 teaspoon ground mustard

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Salt

Pepper

1 cup panko crumbs

 

Steps

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

 

  1. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil, add some salt and olive oil, box of elbow macaroni, cook stirring every so often for 8 minutes, drain it and set aside

  2. In a large nonstick heavy saucepan over medium high heat melt half the butter until it bubbles, add the flour, stir the roux constantly, cooking until it turns a light brown color

  3. Add the milk to the roux stirring, bring to a simmer, reduce heat slightly, add granulated garlic, granulated onion, mustard and nutmeg, stir until it thickens

  4. Add in the shredded cheese folding in so that it melts, stir in the egg, add some salt and pepper, remove from heat

  5. Melt the rest of the butter and toss the panko crumbs with it, add some more salt and pepper

  6. Add the macaroni to an ungreased 8”x8” glass baking dish, fold in the cheese mixture, top evenly with the panko mixture

  7. Place in the oven for 30 minutes, remove and let stand for 15 minutes, serve


 

Pork Shoulder Chili

Ingredients

2 lbs Pork Shoulder cut into ~1 inch chunks

6 cups roasted tomato, onion, and garlic puree

2 jars of roasted red peppers ( 4-5 peppers ) chopped

1 large onion chopped

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

Kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper

2-3 heaping tablespoons chili powder

1-2 heaping tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon celery seed

2 oz of baker’s chocolate

1-2 teaspoon aleppo pepper

2 heaping tablespoons of dried sweet basil

1 teaspoon ground coriander

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 cans of small red beans, rinsed

 

Ingredients for hot sauce

6 jalapeno peppers

3 poblano peppers (fresh)

2 heads of garlic

3 tablespoons of tomato paste

2 tablespoons of cider vinegar

Kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees fahrenheit.

Instructions

  1. Season Pork Shoulder with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper and then dredge in the flour.

  2. Melt the butter on medium high heat in a large dutch oven and brown the pork on all sides until nicely brown, 6-8 minutes.

  3. Add the onions and roasted red peppers and saute, scraping the bottom and sides for 5 minutes.

  4. Add the tomato puree, chili powder, cumin, celery seed, aleppo pepper, ground coriander, basil, cider vinegar and baker’s chocolate

  5. Turn up the heat to high and bring to a simmer stirring.

  6. Once it reaches a simmer, remove from heat, cover and put in the 300 degree oven for one hour

  7. After one hour add beans, stir and return for another hour.

  8. Check that Pork is falling apart tender and then serve with Hot Sauce

Hot Sauce Instructions

  1. Stem, halve, remove seeds and ribs from the peppers.

  2. Arrange skin side up on a baking sheet

  3. Cut the bottom off of each head of garlic and place skin side up on baking sheet

  4. Drizzle peppers and garlic with olive oil

  5. Roast at 300 degrees for one hour

  6. Put peppers in food processor

  7. Squeeze out roasted garlic into food processor

  8. Add tomato paste, cider and salt and any olive oil from baking sheet ( if none add two tablespoons of olive oil)

  9. Puree for two minutes

  10. Serve with Pork Shoulder Chili

Roasted Tomato Puree with Garlic and Onion

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Core 8-10 medium-large tomatoes and place skin side up on a baking sheet

Peel and halve two medium/large onions on sheet

Cut the bottom off of two or three heads of garlic and place on sheet

Drizzle all with olive oil

Cook for 50-60 minutes at 400 degrees

Let all cool for 15-20 minutes

Place tomatoes, and onions in food processor, pull the skins off of the tomatoes and discard

Squeeze the roasted garlic into the food processor

Puree for two minutes

Use immediately in a sauce or freeze for later use

Townsman

Townsman is a restaurant in Boston right on the edge of Chinatown. It is run by Matt Jennings previously of La Laiterie and Farmstead in Providence, RI. My wife and I have been fans of Matt's for a long time, we would make regular trips to Providence to visit his restaurant and cheese shop. When we heard that he was opening a new restaurant in Boston, we were very excited. A few weeks ago we had lunch there. It is a much more high-end environment than the previous restaurants, but the food is still extremely well though out, combining flavors in perfect ways, using ingredients to their best. The service was friendly and excellent. We'll be back for dinner.