Hungry for More

Recipe: Easiest roasted peppers, and eggplant crostini

Dan Miller, the Italian-inspired home cook who gave us the crostini with salami and fig in today's story, also offered his roasted pepper procedure, well worth sharing. We couldn't fit it in the paper - even though Miller's picture with the peppers made it to the top of the front page - but Hungry For More has got you covered.

Miller also passed along his roasted eggplant crostini recipe, below. Both can be made two or three days ahead of serving.

Easiest/Most Delicious Roasted Peppers

Get fresh red, orange or yellow bell peppers. Cut a small circle around the stem of the pepper and remove it. Tap/scrape out any remaining seeds or pith. Place hollowed pepper directly on the grate above the gas flame on your stove. Turn the burner up to high and roast. Using tongs or your bravery, turn the pepper frequently to ensure that it completely blackens.

Once the whole pepper is charred, remove from heat and run under cold water to remove the blackened skin. Dry with a towel and set aside. These peppers can now be cut into strips and drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with balsamic, rolled around goat cheese/feta/ricotta, paired with meats (prosciutto, speck, etc..) or anything that your mind concocts.

Roasted Eggplant and Garlic Crostini

1 medium or 2 small eggplants
1 whole garlic bulb
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmiggiano Reggiano
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tablespoon red pepper flakes (optional)
Small lemon wedge
10 or more thin slices Italian bread or baguette, toasted or browned under the broiler

Toast bread slices in a toaster oven or place slices on an oiled/seasoned (with salt and pepper) baking sheet. Drizzle topside with additional oil and sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Place under the broiler until golden brown.

Preheat oven to 450. Cut top off of garlic bulb, drizzle with oil, wrap in foil and set in a shallow roasting pan. Place whole eggplant in the pan and drizzle with oil. Place in the oven and roast for about 45 minutes.

About 20 minutes through roasting, turn the eggplant over. Cook until the eggplant's skin has begun to dry and is easily pierced with a knife. Remove from oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.

Cut open the eggplant and scoop the pulp into a glass bowl. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into the bowl with the eggplant. Add the cheese, olive oil, pepper flakes, parsley and the juice from the lemon wedge. Mash all of the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper.

This mixture can be served immediately atop the bread slices with a drizzle of olive oil, or can be kept in the refrigerator for a few days in anticipation of company.

Recipe: Easiest cheesy bites

Here's one of the simplest, most satisfying quick appetizers you can make from common pantry ingredients: cheesy bites.

Barbara Jezioro shared her infinitely customizable recipe when we talked for an article in today's News. The printed paper didn't have room for it, but I'd like to share it here.

If you want to start cooking, this is a recipe that delivers maximum satisfaction for minimum effort. All you need is a toaster oven.

Easiest Cheesy Bites

 4 to 6 slices white bread (or Italian, English muffin, rye, baguette)

1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar (or good Swiss, or Stilton)

2 to 3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 to 2 teaspoons minced chives or other flavoring (Port or white wine, onion,
curry powder)

Prepare bread, removing crusts and cutting into shapes as desired. (Punch out circles with glasses, shapes with cookie cutters, or just trim crusts and cut into triangles.)

Mix cheese with just enough mayonnaise to hold together. Mix in flavoring, until even distributed.

Apply to bread. Bake at 375 or under broiler until golden. Serve warm.

Nickel City Chef challengers wanted

Nickel City Chef, Buffalo's own competitive cooking series, is looking for challengers to take on champions in its 2010 season.

Organizer Christa Glennie Seychew is looking for eight contestants and an alternate. To qualify, you have to be a sous chef or executive chef at a locally owned place. The application is available at the Nickel City Chef site, which has been updated with videos from the first season of competition.

The applications are due before Dec. 23.

Nickel City Chef sold out all four 2009 events, raising the profiles of challengers and the "home team" chefs alike. Crowds of paying customers got to nibble catered appetizers and drink while two chefs did their best to exploit a locally raised mystery ingredient in 60 minutes.

A world of make-ahead dishes from Mark Bittman

New York Times food writer Mark Bittman has published a list of 101 dishes you can make ahead for Thanksgiving, including a bushel of unusual ideas. Polenta cranberry cakes? Apricot tomato chutney? Sweet potato spears roasted with prosciutto?

That sounds crazy. Crazy good.

If you're a traditionalist at Thanksgiving, yikes. Not for you. But if you've been searching for one or two new dishes to shake up the traditional holiday lineup, take a gander.

The article delivers much more than the usual level of interesting Bittman shortcuts (he's called The Minimalist for a reason). In fact, this one is right into print-and-save territory, if you don't already get the Times delivered at home.

Recipe: Make ahead dishes for Thanksgiving

Cornbread Andouille Stuffing, anyone? Here's some more fantastic dishes you can make a day or two ahead, and simply reheat on Thanksgiving.

Cornbread Andouille Stuffing  (From Cooks Illustrated)

12 cups cornbread broken into 1-inch pieces (include crumbs), spread in even layer on 2 baking sheets, and dried in 250-degree oven 50 to 60 minutes
3 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups half-and-half 
2 large eggs , beaten lightly
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), plus extra for baking dish
2 red bell peppers , cut into 1/4-inch pieces
3 medium onions , chopped fine (about 3 cups)
3 rib celery , chopped fine (about 1 1/2 cups)
4 - 5 chipotle chiles en adobo , chopped (about 4 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme leaves 
2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves , minced
3 cloves garlic , minced
1 1/2 pounds andouille sausage , cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon kosher salt 
2 teaspoons ground black pepper 

Instructions
1. Place cornbread in large bowl. Whisk together stock, half-and-half, and eggs in medium bowl; pour over cornbread and toss very gently to coat so that cornbread does not break into smaller pieces. Set aside.

2. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in heated skillet; when foam subsides, add red bell peppers to skillet along with a third of the onion and celery. Sauté until softened, about 5 minutes, and transfer to medium bowl. Return skillet to heat and add remaining 4 tablespoons butter; when foam subsides, add remaining onion and celery and sauté, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in chipotle chiles en adobo, along with thyme, sage, and garlic. Add this mixture, along with sautéed onions and celery and andouille sausage, into cornbread and mix gently so that cornbread does not break into smaller pieces. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate to blend flavors, at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours.

3. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Butter 10 by 15-inch baking dish (or two 9-inch square or 11- by 7-inch baking dishes). Transfer stuffing to baking dish; pour any liquid accumulated in bottom of bowl over stuffing and, if necessary, gently press stuffing with rubber spatula to fit into baking dish. Bake until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.

Pumpkin Flan with Spiced Pumpkin Seeds (From Gourmet magazine)

For caramel and flan:
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
5 whole large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk

1 (15-ounce) can solid-pack pumpkin (1 3/4 cups; not pie filling)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

For spiced pumpkin seeds:
1 cup green (hulled) pumpkin seeds (1/4 pound; not toasted)
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Special equipment: a 2-quart soufflé dish or round ceramic casserole dish
 
Make caramel:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Heat soufflé dish in oven while making caramel.

Cook 1 cup sugar in a dry 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork, until sugar melts into a deep golden caramel. Wearing oven mitts, remove hot dish from oven and immediately pour caramel into dish, tilting it to cover bottom and side. (Leave oven on.) Keep tilting as caramel cools and thickens enough to coat, then let harden.

Make flan:

Bring cream and milk to a bare simmer in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, then remove from heat. Whisk together whole eggs, yolk, and remaining cup sugar in a large bowl until combined well, then whisk in pumpkin, vanilla, spices, and salt until combined well. Add hot cream mixture in a slow stream, whisking.

Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, scraping with a rubber spatula to force through, and stir to combine well. Pour custard over caramel in dish, then bake in a water bath until flan is golden brown on top and a knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 1/4 hours. Remove dish from water bath and transfer to a rack to cool. Chill flan, covered, until cold, at least 6 hours.

Make spiced pumpkin seeds while flan chills:

Toast pumpkin seeds in oil in a 10- to 12-inch heavy skillet (preferably cast-iron) over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until puffed and golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Toss with salt and cayenne until coated.

To serve:

Run a thin knife between flan and side of dish to loosen. Shake dish gently from side to side and, when flan moves freely in dish, invert a large platter with a lip over dish. Holding dish and platter securely together, quickly invert and turn out flan onto platter. (Caramel will pour out over and around flan.) Sprinkle flan with spiced pumpkin seeds just before serving.

***

Here's a link to a Leek Bread Pudding by Thomas Keller, one of America's finest chefs.

Extreme gingerbread house season ahead

Gilda's Club, the cancer support group, has extended its deadline for competitors in its gingerbread house contest. Teams who would like to make a gingerbread house can still register through Friday, Nov. 20. Call Gilda's Club WNY at 332-5900 ext. 20, or get the details at the Gilda's Club site.

More than 20 amateur, professional and student teams will compete for prizes before the houses go on display, and then the auction block the weekend of Dec. 5 at Gilda's Clubhouse. It's all to raise money for the group's efforts in supporting people with cancer and their families.

(That's last year's winning entry above, from the Dessert Deli.)

 

On the town: November WNY food events

Drink like a fish? This Saturday, Nov. 21, well wishers will gather at the Pearl Street Grill and Brewery for Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper's 20th anniversary party.

The group, which works on issues related to rivers and other waterways, says Rep. Brian Higgins and community organizer Ken Sherman will co-host the event. Both men were founding board members, it says.

Hors d'oeuvres, drinks and a silent auction are on tap. Music will be from Neville Francis and the Riddim Posse. The hours are 6 to 8 p.m. at the restaurant, 76 Pearl St.

Tickets are $45 at the door, or $30 if you're under 30. Bring your ID's, twenty-somethings, because you just might get carded.

***

Want to get your hands on some dough?

Zetti's, the New York City style pizza mini-chain, is throwing a pizza-tossing tournament to mark the opening of a new store next week.

Children aged 7 to 12 are invited to compete in the junior division. Those 13 and up compete in another category. Prizes will be awarded, the restaurant says. Contestants must pre-register, at any of the three locations; the new place, 7566 Transit Road, Williamsville; 3500 Main St., and 4621 Maple Road in Amherst.

The event is on Tuesday, Nov. 24, from 5 to 7 p.m., but the pizza-tossing contest will begin at 6 p.m. for the junior division, and 6:30 p.m. for everybody else.

A $1 entry fee will be donated to the Food Bank of Western New York.

Feeling gorgeous: The ultimate buffet strategy guide

When you're stuck in a car with people who can't agree where to eat, buffets sometimes seem like a good idea. Or, let's say you're recently unemployed and would like to download enough calories to last you through the weekend.

That's when the buffet places start looking good.

But if you're going to take the plunge, you might want to bone up first on your buffet strategy and etiquette. Eating the Road, a driving-and-dining blog, has produced an "All-Inclusive All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Guide" to help you hone your game.

There's pregaming strategies, like stretching your stomach out the night before with a big meal of vegetables and bread. There's seating strategies and plating techniques to allow you to limit the steps you must take during the meal.

To make the experience complete, there's transportation strategies: Get a designated driver. Seriously. "You will not want to be thinking and making life decisions like whether or not to go through a yellow light."

The guide even comes with a disclaimer, probably a good idea:

Any action by the reader to follow suggestions is his or her own decision and any harm caused by said actions are the responsibility of the reader. Whether it be self-inflicted as in type 2 diabetes, heart disease or osteoporosis or by angry restaurant owners throwing you and your college buddies to the curb for eating all of their prime rib.

Recipe: Pork buns from "Momofuku"

In his cookbook-memoir "Momofuku," David Chang muses on what it means to be "famous" for a dish. He's talking about Momofuku pork buns, one of the simplest recipes in the book. Instead of making the soft bread part of the recipe yourself, pick up the white puffy pigholders at an Asian market - I got mine at Ni Hoowa Supermarket (3175 Sheridan Dr., Amherst) in the frozen section.

It’s weird to be “famous” for something. Can you imagine being Neil Diamond and having to sing “Cracklin’ Rosie” every time you get onstage for the rest of your life? Neither can I. But if Momofuku is “famous” for something, it’s these steamed pork buns. Are they good? They are. Are they something that sprang from our collective imagination like Athena out of Zeus’s forehead? Hell no. They’re just our take on a pretty common Asian food formula: steamed bread + tasty meat = good eating.

And they were an eleventh-hour addition to the menu. Almost a mistake. No one thought they were a good idea or that anyone would want to eat pork belly sandwiches.

I got into the whole steamed bread thing when I stayed in Beijing. I ate char siu bao—steamed buns stuffed with dark, sweet roast pork—morning, noon, and night from vendors on the street who did nothing but satisfy that city’s voracious appetite for steamed buns. When I lived in Tokyo, I’d pick up a niku-man—the Japanese version, with a milder-flavored filling—every time I passed the local convenience store. They’re like the 7-Eleven hot dogs of Tokyo, with an appeal not unlike that of the soft meatiness of White Castle hamburgers.

- from "Momofuku," by David Chang and Peter Meehan (Clarkson Potter, $24)

The recipes are after the jump.

Continue reading "Recipe: Pork buns from "Momofuku"" »

The high cost of cheap hamburger

Cheap hamburger patties can kill you.

Most won't. But if you want a burger and have the money to buy something better, perhaps you should spend it. Because evidence has been mounting for years that factory-processed burgers can be a ticket to a fell lottery. The losers - tens of thousands every year - face sickness, or even death.

The deadly E. coli strain that killed two and led investigators to a Chautauqua County meat plant this week has only dramatized what food activists like Michael Pollan have been saying for years: Cheap food carries costs that American eaters blissfully ignore. And the government agencies charged with keeping consumers safe are no match for the political muscle of the meat business.

A recent New York Times story concluded that "eating ground beef is still a gamble. Neither the system meant to make the meat safe, nor the meat itself, is what consumers have been led to believe."

Now, food contamination can come from other sources. Outbreaks have been traced to spinach, and scallions. But by far, the biggest culprit, making the most people sick or worse, is factory ground beef, the Times reported. You could argue that the overall numbers are not huge, I suppose, but tell that to the parents of a kid in the hospital with food poisoning.

There's good news for burger lovers, though. Avoiding the dark lottery is simple. Unlike factory patties, beef freshly ground by local butchers or supermarkets has not been routinely linked to E. coli contamination. It's made from better meat, handled in smaller amounts, and sold more quickly.

Nothing is guaranteed not to make you sick, but fresh ground beef is relatively safe. You can also make it yourself with a meat grinder, or pulse cubes of trimmed chuck in a food processor a few times.

If you're interested in ordering non-factory meat from local meat producers, check out our list.