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Recipes for this week’s Green City Market cooking demonstration

Saturday, June 23rd, 2012

Bread Soup with Chicken and Herbs

Makes about four to five quarts, so use a heavy dutch oven with lid of at least 6 quart capacity

  • 2 Tablespoons lard
  • 1 whole chicken, cut up by joints
  • 2 medium yellow onions, sliced
  • 3-4 carrots, sliced
  • 2 quarts water, or enough to cover chickens
  • A few sprigs fresh thyme
  • A few bay leaves
  • About a quarter baguette (stale is ideal), more or less depending how thick you like your soup
  • Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
  • Fresh herbs or green onion, for garnishing

Melt lard over medium-high until hot but not smoking. Season chicken on all sides with salt and pepper and brown on all sides. Remove chicken and reserve. Add the onions and sauté until lightly caramelized. Return the chicken to the pot with the onions, add the carrots, and 2-3 quarts water, enough to cover by an inch or so. Add the thyme and bay and cover the pot, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook until chicken is cooked through and tender but not falling off the bones. Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Tear the baguette into pieces of uneven size and add to the pot, stirring to incorporate the bread and break it up. Keep adding bread and cooking until the soup is the consistency you like, but give each addition of bread a minute or so to incorporate before adding more. Add salt and cracked pepper to taste – a good guideline for salt is 1 teaspoon per quart for a light seasoning and 2 teaspoons per quart if you like it very savory. Serve at once with lots of green onion or whatever fresh herbs you like for garnish.

Corn Pone

  • 2 cups stone-ground cornmeal
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup lard, divided into small bits
  • 2 cups boiling water or stock
  • Additional lard, for frying

 

Put the cornmeal, salt, and lard in a mixing bowl. Slowly add enough boiling water, stirring constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Shape into ovals about the size of a pullet egg and drop into hot lard, frying on all sides until set.

Turnip Greens with Potlikker

  • Greens from 3-4 bunches turnip greens, stemmed and washed well but not dried
  • 3-4 chunks pork side meat, bacon, or smoked ham
  • 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 1 cup water or stock

 

In a large stock pot, place the greens, still dripping wet from washing, into the pot with the other ingredients and slowly wilt over low heat, turning the greens over and punching down regularly. Once thoroughly wilted, simmer in the cooking liquid until the greens are tender. Depending on whether or what kind of seasoning meat you used, you may want to season to taste with salt. Serve hot with fresh corn pone.

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Cooking at Home: Shrimp & Grits with Tasso Gravy, by request

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

 

Last week I received an email from a reader who wanted to know how to make the tasso gravy we use in our shrimp and grits, as he has a nice chunk of tasso in his refrigerator and thought of our tasso gravy as a great thing to do with it. It’s really easy. This recipe has appeared in print a few times, but here it is for the record on the Big Jones Blog.

I’ve always felt tasso is best as a seasoning, however delicious it is sliced and served as a ham in itself. Some tassos come literally encased in a thick spice paste, others have hardly any spice coating at all, deferring instead to the high-octane power of cayenne and garlic to give it some kick. So, the results of this recipe will vary depending on the maker of your tasso. Our home made tasso falls in between on the spice front, with a fairly thick coating of about 1/8″. Some folks wash off the spice coating before using, I think that is a sacrilege, but if you have a very heavily coated tasso, you may opt to set some of the spice aside to add back in later if you want more kick.

A final quick note: Your tasso gravy will be delicious, but it won’t taste just like ours without our Worcestershire sauce. If you’re feeling daring (it’s actually easy but just takes some time) the recipe for that appears in an earlier blog post on cassoulet.

Makes about a quart

  • 1 stick unsalted butter, or 1/2 cup
  • 1/2 cup tasso, diced small, about 1/8″
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
  • 1/4 cup  celery, finely diced
  • 1/4 cup green bell pepper, finely diced
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped shiitake mushrooms
  • 4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
  • 3 cups good strong chicken stock
  • 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 teaspoons salt, or more to taste
  • 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Melt the butter over medium low heat and add the diced tasso. Fry the tasso in the butter over medium heat until lightly browned and aromatic, about 4-6 minutes. Remove the tasso with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until the flour is lightly browned and relaxed. Being careful of splatter, add the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic to the roux and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for several minutes until the vegetables are well sweated and the roux is once again relaxed. Add the mushrooms and saute to sweat. Stirring constantly, ad the chicken stock a little at a time and gradually increase heat to high. Bring to a boil while stirring regularly. Add the tasso back in, plus the remaining ingredients. Reduce to a simmer. Correct seasoning.

At this point, you can cook up to four pounds of shrimp in the gravy, so this is a shrimp party. We just poach the shrimp in the gravy until they’re done, so if you want to refrigerate or freeze your gravy in 1/2 pint containers, you can reheat it in smaller batches to a boil and cook a serving or two of shrimp in it as needed. It’s really easy.

This gravy’s also good with biscuits and ham, on mashed potatoes, or anywhere else you’d need gravy.

In case you’re curious about our cheese grits recipe, this one serves eight:

  • 2 quarts skim milk
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 small hot red chile, seeded and minced
  • 2 cups coarse ground hominy grits
  • 4 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
  • 2 ounces butter

In a 4-quart saucepan, heat milk over medium-high heat just to a boil, stirring often. Add salt and chili pepper, then add the grits in a steady stream, stirring constantly. Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens. Continue to stir often as grits cook, 20-40 minutes depending on the thickness of the grind. The grits are done when the largest pieces are al dente but with a creamy center, not hard and starchy. Stir in the cheese and then the butter. Adjust seasoning if necessary and serve at once.

 

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Recipes for Saturday’s Green City Market Cooking Demonstration

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Even with all of the spectacular meat vendors at the Green City Market, I have to say what the market never fails to do is bring out the vegetable lover in me. I’ll leave the market with a dizzying variety of fruits and vegetables and ambitious plans to utilize them. This Saturday, we’ll once again focus on the fruit and vegetable bounty of the market, and create a one-hour lunch menu that I hope could make anyone a vegetarian for a day, and happy about it.

Given the pork-heavy and bounteous seafood offerings on Big Jones’ regular menu, people often comment when I go the vegetarian route for an event. The comments are generally positive, but either way my response is always the same – If you love cooking vegetables, and I do – cooking vegetarian is easy, but more importantly, it’s a discipline that I like to impose on myself from time to time because it forces me to make interesting food without meat. It also ensures vegetarians have a place at my table, and as I work with the Green City Market to build a sustainable food community, I welcome all.

Thanks to the Green City Market for the opportunity to present. It’s an honor and privilege to be able to participate and contribute to the success of the Green City Market in this way. We’ll be cooking:

Fried Green Tomatoes with Vinegar Slaw

Blueberry Johnny Cakes with Cheese Curds

Puree of Yellow Summer Squash Soup

Fried Green Tomatoes

  • 4 Large Green Tomatoes, sliced 3/8″ inch thick and cored
  • 1 quart whole milk
  • 2 cups fine grind white cornmeal
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • Cooking oil or lard, for frying

Slice the green tomatoes and place in a two-quart container. Cover with the milk and refrigerate for two hours. Mix the cornmeal, salt, and pepper and taste for seasoning. In a cast iron pan with at least 3″ sides, heat 1″ of cooking oil to 350 degrees with a clip-on thermometer. Piece by piece, press the tomato slices in the dredge, careful to make sure the slices are well coated before gently laying into the hot oil. Fry 2-3 minutes on the first side and 1-2 minutes on the second side. You’re looking for the color to just begin to turn golden; if it’s too dark the tomatoes will be mushy. Green tomatoes have a natural affinity for vinegar, so vinegary sauces and relishes are the way to go.

Vinegar Slaw

  • 2 cups very finely sliced cabbage
  • 2 cups very finely shredded kohlrabi
  • 1 bunch green onion tops, very thinly sliced
  • 3-4 medium carrots, shredded
  • 1/4 cup strong vinegar, such as cider or sherry
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 few red pepper flakes, or minced hot pepper

Toss all ingredients to combine, and refrigerate about one hour before serving.

Blueberry Cheese Curd Johnny Cakes

  • 2 cups white cornmeal
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 4 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/4 cup melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1/2 cup cheese curds, chopped to the same size as the blueberries

Sift together the dry ingredients, then add the milk, eggs, butter, salt, and pepper. Very gently stir in the blueberries and cheese curds. Bake on fairly low heat in a buttered iron skillet or on a griddle by dropping tablespoonfuls. Cook to brown the first side, about three minutes, turn and cook until done on the second, about two minutes more. Keep on a plate in a low oven, covered with a clean cloth, to keep warm until serving.

Puree of Yellow Summer Squash Soup

  • 1 stick butter
  • 2 pounds yellow crookneck or patty pan squash
  • 1 bunch yellow knob onions, peeled and chopped. Save the green tops for slaw or garnishes
  • 1 quart whole milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 bunch squash blossoms, about 10-12 flowers
  • 3 Tablespoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • nutmeg

Melt the butter over medium heat until melted and foaming. Add the onions and squash and saute to sweat. Reduce heat and simmer until tender and falling apart, about twenty minutes. Add the milk and cream and gradually bring to a boil. At the boil, add the squash blossoms and remove from heat. Stir in the salt and cayenne. Puree in a blender in batches until smooth, and pass through a fine mesh strainer. Grate nutmeg over each bowl to taste.

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Recipes for Thursday’s Demo at Taste of Chicago

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Creole Shrimp, Oyster, & Green Tomato Gumbo with Stovetop Cornbread

This Thursday, June 30 at 12:30 p.m. I will demonstrate how to make shrimp & green tomato gumbo and stovetop cornbread at the Dominick’s Cooking Corner at Taste of Chicago. Please join me for a fun and informative demonstration on a couple of Southern classics.

O.K., I’m taking a little liberty here. Creole gumbo is often defined, in addition to the lighter (or even sometimes absent) roux than the Cajun version, by the addition of tomatoes. By tomatoes, we mean red, ripe, luscious, succulent Creole Tomatoes. In Cajun country, you don’t really see tomatoes in gumbo all that much, though you should never say never. Tomato season is sadly short this far north, and the local tomatoes aren’t so ripe just yet. Hence, We’re taking the liberty to make a Creole gumbo with green tomatoes rather than ripe ones.

Creole Gumbos are also often defined by an abundance of seafood, and with seafood most often goes okra. I’m including okra in this recipe, but feel free to leave it out as the local season is not yet underway. Alternatively, you can add pickled okra which adds a fantastic bright acidity that sets off rich seafood and fruity green tomatoes beautifully. So, here we go:

Creole Shrimp, Oyster, & Green Tomato Gumbo

Makes about six quarts, so use a two-gallon heavy-bottomed stock pot

  • 1 pound shell-on head-on shrimp, peeled and deveined, with shells reserved
  • 2 quarts water
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup bacon, ham, or duck fat
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 pound smoked ham, cut in 1/2″ chunks
  • 1-1/2 pounds yellow onion, diced 1/2″
  • 1/2 pound green bell pepper, diced 1/2″
  • 1/2 pound celery, diced 1/2″
  • 2 ounces fresh garlic, mashed
  • 1 pint shucked oysters, with liquor
  • 1/2 pound okra, thinly sliced
  • 1 pound green tomatoes, diced 1/2″
  • 1/4 cup Creole seafood seasoning (recipe follows)
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 cup Louisiana-style hot sauce
  • 3 Tablespoons kosher salt, or more to taste

Once you have peeled and deveined your shrimp, refrigerate the meat and place the shells in a medium saucepan with two quarts water, plus some aromatics – onion, garlic, bay leaves, celery leaves, and bring to a boil uncovered. Simmer for an hour or so to infuse the broth. Drain and discard the shells and aromatics, reserving the two quarts of shrimp broth.

In a heavy-bottomed stock pot, heat the vegetable oil and bacon fat over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the ham and fry gently to brown well. Remove ham and reserve. Immediately add flour to the hot fat and stir with a wooden spoon. Once flour starts to brown, gradually turn heat down to medium-low but continue browning the flour until it is very brown but not really dark – you’re looking for somewhere between peanut butter and milk chocolate for a Creole gumbo. Darker if you like smoky, less so if not. Stir constantly to avoid burning. If you burn the roux you’ll know by the awful smell and you’ll have to start over. Once you have the color you want, add the vegetables directly to the hot roux – be careful of the hot splatter! Stir in the onions, peppers, and celery, and cook until vegetables are well-sweated and roux is smooth, about 6-8 minutes or longer depending on how much heat you’re using. Add the stock, garlic, reserved ham, oyster liquor (save the oyster meats for the end,) tomatoes, okra, bay leaves, and Creole seasoning. Set heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat to a simmer and simmer until tomatoes and okra are sweated and tender, about 20-30 minutes. Add Worcestershire, hot sauce, and salt and check seasoning. Return to a boil, add shrimp meats, and cook until done but still tender. Add oyster meats, return to a boil, and serve at once with Creole boiled rice.

Creole Seafood Seasoning

  • 1/4 cup kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup celery salt
  • 1/2 cup Spanish paprika
  • 2 Tablespoons cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 cup granulated garlic
  • 1/4 cup granulated onion
  • 2 Tablespoons thyme
  • 2 Tablespoons basil
  • 2 Tablespoons oregano

Combine thoroughly and store in an airtight container.

Creole Boiled Rice

  • One gallon water
  • 3 Tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 pound Southern rice
  • 1 stick unsalted butter

Bring the water to a boil in a 6 quart pot, add the salt, cayenne, and then the rice. Maintain at a low boil, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender, 15-30 minutes depending on the rice. Strain through a colander like pasta, turn into a bowl, and top with butter. Serve at once.

Stovetop Cornbread

For a 7-8″ skillet

  • 3 cups finely ground white corn meal
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
  • 4 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 cups buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup clarified butter, fresh lard, or bacon fat

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly. Beat eggs, then stir in buttermilk and cornmeal mixture.

Place butter in a cast iron skillet and heat on medium until oil is hot and just beginning to smoke. Pour about half the hot butter into the batter and stir. Leave the other half of batter in skillet. Pour batter into skillet. Cover and turn flame to low. Lower heat is better. Cook for about 30 minutes, until a pick inserted comes out clean. The edges of the bottom should be very crispy, the center should be very creamy, almost custard-like. Remove from heat and cool, uncovered, about 10-15 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving hot from the pan.

 

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Cooking At Home: Strawberry Shortcake

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

From the North, South, East, or West, there has to be one sweet that means the beginning of summer for every child who’s in school and whose family eats at least somewhat seasonally. That’s strawberry shortcake. School’s either just let out or soon will be for the summer; it’s time for picnics, potlucks, trips to the beach, and summer vacations.

Besides the undeniable fact that strawberries are all kinds of delicious, I think this simple, no-fuss dessert maintains such a strong emotional fix on many folks because it really is just that – the first luscious, scrumptious bit of summer, and almost everywhere in the U.S., that first bite comes right around the time school lets out for summer. Ah, freedom. Strawberry shortcake.

This is such an easy one to make at home. This is a slightly fussier version than you might like to attempt yourself, but I’ll guide you through the options and make clear the basics. Well, actually the basics are this: strawberries and shortcake. The strawberries you must procure unless you grow them yourself, and the shortcake you absolutely should make yourself, it’s as quick and easy as biscuits.

Please please please, whatever you do, don’t try this with supermarket strawberries. At the restaurant we use mostly Seedling Orchard or Paul Friday’s Berries, or else it’s Mick Klug’s or Ellis Orchard. Go to your favorite U-pick or farmer’s market and get nice red juicy strawberries. Smaller is usually better. A good market vendor will let you sample. For shortcake, I’m not necessarily looking for the sweetest berries. Tart is O.K. I want aroma and a decent amount of acid, but I also want red juice when I pinch the berry. A more acidic berry can take more sugar without becoming saccharin and make a nice full-bodied syrup after maceration.

For the shortcake, I absolutely recommend pastry flour, which may be a little hard to come by at your local grocery store. I’m a big fan of Anson Mill’s Fine Cloth Bolted Pastry Flour, which doesn’t come cheap but is supreme and absolutely worth the money if you want top-notch short cake. There’s a couple of other tricks that work in a pinch: 1) mix equal parts all-purpose flour and cake flour. This yields little flavor if you’re using supermarket brands but it works. 2) use one tablespoon of cornstarch as part of each cup of all purpose flour. This is least preferable. It really is worth a trip to Whole Foods, where you can buy either Arrowhead Mills or Bob’s Red Mill pastry flour, both of which are excellent.

I recommend whipped creme fraiche in place of standard whipped cream, but go with your own preference. Creme fraiche is easy to make, and the pointers are listed after the main recipes. Creme fraiche will whip just like whipping cream.

On to the recipe. Simple stuff here!

For about twelve portions

Macerate the strawberries:

  • 3 quarts of strawberries, tops removed and cut into bite-size pieces
  • 3 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
  • 3 Tablespoons Mathilde X/O or substitute Grand Marnier (optional)

Wash the strawberries under cold running water, being gentle but also careful to remove all dirt, sand, and grit. Place on a clean towel on a sheet tray and return to the refrigerator for an hour or two until thoroughly dried. Slice and place in a glass or stainless mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and toss gently. Don’t worry yet about the sugar dissolving. Cover the bowl tightly and return to the refrigerator. This is best done 2-3 hours before you want to serve. That’s another great thing about strawberry shortcake – it’s a great prepare-ahead dessert. The strawberries will keep for about a week but are best the same day.

For the Shortcake:

  • 4 cups pastry flour
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, very thinly sliced, well chilled
  • 2 cups light cream or half and half, plus a little more if needed
  • one egg and turbinado sugar for dusting, optional

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Chill all ingredients thoroughly. Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Working quickly, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles a lumpy meal. Add most, but not all, of the cream. Working quickly so as not to warm up the mixture with your hands, gently work in the liquid while working to press the mixture into one mass. Add remaining cream a bit at a time, working each bit in, until the dough comes together as a single stiff mass. Quickly turn onto a well floured board and fold it in on itself three times. Don’t overwork the dough or you’ll have bread instead of cake! Roll the dough out to about 1″ thick and cut with a biscuit cutter of your choice. Place on a buttered cookie sheet. Beat the egg with a few teaspoons of water, then brush the shortbreads with the egg mixture. Dust liberally with turbinado sugar. Bake at 325 until set in the center and golden brown, about twenty minutes. Best served hot with cold strawberries and whipped cream.

The Creme Fraiche

  • 1 quart very fresh, pasteurized heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup cultured buttermilk

In a clean sterilized jar, mix the buttermilk and cream, cover with cheesecloth, and set in a warm location for twelve hours. It should sour and thicken in that amount of time. you may leave another few hours if not fully thickened. I have never had a batch fail, but if it’s not thickened and soured after sixteen hours, I’d advise you to start over with fresh buttermilk. Chill at once. This will whip just like whipped cream, you can churn it into slamming butter, or use anywhere you’d otherwise use sour cream.

And just for fun, if you’d like to make the violet pearls shown in the picture, here’s that formula. Of course, this is completely optional.

First things first, you’ll need to make a sodium alginate base:

  • 300 grams water
  • 6 grams sodium alginate

Place the water in a blender on low speed. Add the alginate slowly through the feeding hole on the lid. Increase speed to medium and continue to blend on medium speed for three minutes. Scrape from the blender bowl and place in a container, cover and set aside several hours to allow all the air bubbles to escape.

Next, you’ll need to make a violet syrup:

  • 1oo violet flowers
  • 300 grams simple syrup (150 grams each sugar and boiling water, stir to dissolve)

Place the violets in a blender and pulse to pulverize, lubricating by adding a little simple syrup at a time. Once violets are liquified, add remaining syrup and blend on high for two minutes. Strain through a double layer of dampened cheesecloth. Store in the refrigerator until needed.

Finally, you’re ready to make the pearls.

  • 1000 grams filtered water
  • 7 grams calcium lactate
  • 100 grams alginate base
  • 150 grams violet syrup

Dissolve the calcium lactate in the water. This will take a few minutes of stirring occasionally. Stir the violet syrup into the alginate base and place the mixture into a squeeze bottle with a fairly small dropper tip. Drop droplets of the mixture into the calcium lactate solution and wait 45 seconds for the spheres to set. Use a slotted spoon or small strainer to harvest the pearls, rinse gently under cold running water, and serve at once.

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