The Gouda Life

I’ve been so completely all over the place lately that I forgot completely we were having some friends over for dinner last night. 

Not daring to ever serve guests take-out at my house (the reason for that is much less pretentious than it sounds, I just REALLY like takeout and want it all to myself) I opted for one of those marvelously simple one-pot-dinners. They save me from a life of Kraft Dinner on a pretty regular basis these days. A little protein, some starch, and veggies all thrown in a roasting pan with spices and out pops a fragrant and satisfying dinner good enough to serve dinner guests. Doesn’t that just sound like the bees knees? It really is. Let me show you! 

 

Since there are so few ingredients in this dish, try to buy the best quality you can afford. The chorizo should be fresh, the produce and chicken organic, and your wine glass full. Wait. What? There isn’t any wine in this dish, you say? That’s no reason no to have a full glass anyways. You’ve had a long day, I’m sure. 



One-Pot Spanish Chicken and Chorizo with Potatoes and Cauliflower
adapted from Life is Great

I found the hunks of chorizo to be quiet tough to chew on so I’m going to recommend you cut them up a bit smaller so your guests don’t hurt their mouths. No one likes to be beat up by their dinner. 

We served a simple salad of Arugula, Roasted Golden Beets, Toasted Pecans and Piave Vecchio cheese and some crusty bread to sop up the beautiful bright orange sauce on the side. 

8 large bone-in chicken thighs, skin on
1 large piece Chorizo (8-10”), cut into bite sized pieces
1 bag baby potatoes (about 2 1/2 cups)
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into 2” florets
2 tsp dried oregano
zest or 2 oranges
4 whole cloves of garlic, peeled
1 small red onion, rough chopped
Olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400.

Dry the chicken with a clean towel (or paper towel) and salt on both sides. 

Pour the potatoes into a large roasting or jellyroll pan. Toss in the onions. Nestle the chicken thighs on top and tuck the cauliflower and chorizo around them evenly. Throw in the garlic cloves and sprinkle the oregano and orange zest evenly over everything. Give the whole pan a good drizzle of olive oil. 



Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the chicken is cooked to 170. Spoon onto plates and serve. 

Wasn’t that the easiest? Why don’t you have another glass of wine to celebrate? 

Let’s talk about something ridiculous, shall we? I have 30+ cookbooks [a seemingly small collection to some]. Some I’ve spent $10 on and some I’ve spent $100 on. I look at them often, flip through them regularly, gaze at them lovingly while they lay, unfulfilled, on the shelf. But I rarely cook from them. I haven’t given them the life they deserve, and I think it’s about time I self-intervened and changed my ways so they can live out their lives (or more likely, mine) the way they were intended.

I’m sure at least one or two of you are guilty of this. Buying books, bringing it home just dying to open it, flipping through it 40 times in a week, and then retiring it to a shelf, to be seen once a year when you’re looking for some inspiration. Please! Tell me I’m not the only one!



I decided a few weeks back I was going to go through my cookbooks, starting with two in particular, and fold off some pages that I wanted to try. The two books, which I would highly highly recommend, are Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rogers and Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller. Both are beautifully written books, with inspiring photos and recipes that are easily attainable by the home cook. Of course, there are some recipes that are quite daunting. Some with ingredients I haven’t heard of, or ones that are extremely specific and that the recipe relies on for success, but a good many of them are not. Some require a little forward thinking in order to prepare all aspects (like a jar of preserved lemons or pickled watermelon rinds) but are fairly simple and straightforward other than that. I am really anxious to try some of the creative dishes in both books, Chicken Braised with Figs, Honey and Vinegar [Zuni] and Salt Crusted Striped Bass [ad hoc], to name a couple.

When Sunday came, I wanted to do something that challenged me a little. I really want to try and get better at the things that make me uncomfortable in the kitchen. Beef makes me a little weary. I don’t know why, but I am intimidated by it. Steaks, tenderloin, roasts… they make me sweat. I think it’s because I know how well my boyfriend, his dad, my dad, my mom…everyone makes them. I love (would-likely-ask-for-on-death-row kinda love) beef. It’s a treat for me since I rarely make it. I’d like to enjoy it more often, and I’d like to feel comfortable making it. So I gathered my courage, channelled Chef Keller, and bought a really nice hunk of meat from the best butcher shop in the west end of town, Pete & Gus. Which also happens to be the first place I was employed.

And how could I not notice a recipe titled “Blowtorch Prime Rib”? Blowtorch? Prime rib? Sold.



Because I’ve had a less than perfect past with barbeques and fire (I’m lucky to still have my eyebrows/eyelashes. Real lucky), I asked Mr Goudalife if he could be my knight in shining armour and blowtorch my roast for me. Naturally, he agreed. Just to explain, the purpose of the blowtorch is to start the fat rendering process so you can cook the meat at a low temperature and still achieve a layer of crispy, brown fat on the outside.



It was the most successful piece of meat I’ve cooked. Crispy on the outside but perfectly medium rare (maybe a little closer to rare, which is how I like it), moist and flavourful inside. And with only salt and pepper to season it, the flavour of the beef really shined through. We served it with horseradish cream sauce [Ad Hoc]creamy buttermilk mashed potatoes [Zuni Cafe Cookbook] and some low fat yogurt creamed spinach that I’ll share with you just as soon as I play with it a bit more.

I’ve typed this out exactly the way it was written in the book. If you do want to try it out, I suggest you follow it to the letter before making any changes. It’s perfect how it is. You got that? Good. Let’s set some beef on fire.

Note: Please please please be careful when making this. Blowtorches are not a laughing matter and can be extremely dangerous. Read instructions, and be smart. And be ready for some of the fat to flame up a bit.

Blowtorch Prime Rib
recipe from Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller

One 2-bone center-cut rib roast (about 4½ pounds), trimmed of excess fat
Kosher salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
Gray salt or coarse sea salt
Horseradish Cream (recipe follows)

Position an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 275°F.
Put the roast on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Hold a blowtorch about 1 inch from the roast and turn to lightly brown the fat on all sides; the idea is to start the fat rendering and to torch the meat just until the surface begins to turn gray. Season the roast generously with salt and pepper.





Transfer to the oven, with the meat toward the back of the oven, and cook until the roast registers 128°F in the center. The total cooking time will be about 2 hours, but begin to check the temperature after 1½ hours. Remove from the oven and let rest in a warm spot for at least 30 minutes for medium-rare.



To carve, cut the meat away from the bones. Separate the bones and put them on a serving platter. Cut the roast in half through the center, turn each piece cut side down, and slice straight down into slices that are about ½ inch thick. Arrange the meat on the platter and sprinkle with gray salt and pepper.



Serve with the horseradish cream on the side.

Horseradish Cream Recipe
From Ad Hoc at Home
makes about 1 cup

½ cup very cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
About ¼ cup drained prepared horseradish
½ teaspoon fleur de sel, or to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

Put the heavy cream and vinegar in a medium bowl and whisk until the cream holds a soft shape. Whisk in the horseradish, salt, and pepper.
Refrigerate in a covered container for up to 1 week.



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Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

1 1/4 lbs peeled potatoes, cut into 1 1/2” chunks
salt
2 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. heavy cream
2 tbsp. buttermilk
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted Instructions

Place the potato chunks in a medium saucepan and add cold water, covering the potatoes by an inch or so. Add the salt and stir. Bring to a boil and cook uncovered until the potatoes are very tender, 8 to 15 minutes.

Drain the potatoes and mash them. Add the milk and whip. Add the cream, whip, add the buttermilk and whip and finally add the melted butter and whip until light and fluffy. Adjust the seasoning adding salt as necessary.

It’s been a while since I’ve eaten meat more than twice in a week and let me tell you - I like meat. So much so that I usually eat so much of it that I end up with a semi-serious case of the meat sweats. [Oh hey, want to date? I’m totally ladylike.]

I picked up a new cast-iron skillet this afternoon and really couldn’t wait to huck a slab of meat on there and watch it slowly sear to a crispy golden brown. [I was thisclose to searing off a shoe]

I grabbed a recipe from Jaden Hair via http://www.steamykitchen.com that basically consists of HEAVILY [seriously, guys, I mean dehydrated, gulp of ocean water heavily] salt your beef an hour or so prior to cooking it. The salt gets rinsed off but what happens in non scientific terms - by giving it a long time to sit with the salt on [as opposed to salting right before you’re ready to grill/sear], some of it absorbs into the meat and breaks down proteins that make it more tender and flavourful. [scientific explanation: http://steamykitchen.com/163-how-to-turn-cheap-choice-steaks-into-gucci-prime-steaks.html]. It was delicious. And it turned a regular steak into something more suited to a Parisian bistro [or so I would imagine it to be in my ulterior life].

I served it [to myself] with a potato/kale puree and some buttery sauteed rapini. Both great pairings with the steak and a little different from the baked potato I’d usually have to accompany my steak.

Everything in this is pretty darn easy. And comes together pretty quickly if you don’t include the hour that the steak needs to sit.

I’ll leave it up to you to go and see the salt to steak ratio on the Steamy Kitchen website since it has a really great explanation and is really worth reading.

Let’s do it, do it!

NY Strip loin with Potato/Kale Puree and Rapini

Ingredients:
Steak [amount/cut of your choice - I used a 1.5” thick strip loin]
Kosher or Sea salt ONLY
Few sprigs fresh rosemary
4 cloves of garlic, crushed.
1 tbsp olive oil (optional)
1 tbsp unsalted butter (optional)

Consult the above website for how much salt and for how long to rest your steak for. Once salted, add rosemary and crush garlic on top of the steak and smoosh in a bit.

Once steak has been sitting for the suggested amount of time, rinse well with water and dry well with paper towels. Season with fresh cracked pepper. Don’t add any more salt to the steak before cooking. It’s unnecessary.

Preheat oven to 400. Heat a good cast iron skillet over high heat [I usually put my stove top to 7 or 8]. You can leave it dry if you’d like but I tend to add 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter as I like the flavour [me? like the flavour of butter? blasphemy!]. Add the steak to the cast iron and sear well on both sides. Probably 4-5 minutes per side depending on thickness. Put skillet in the oven to finish cooking the steak to desired doneness.

Potato & Kale Puree
2-3 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1”-2” pieces
Two big handfuls of kale, washed well and rough chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2C Milk
1 Tbsp Butter

Add potatoes and crushed garlic to boiling water and cook until ALMOST fork tender. Add the kale to the pot and boil for about 5 minutes. Strain everything. Add back to pot. Using a hand mixer - beat the potatoes and kale until everything in combined. Don’t over mix or the taters will get gluey. Add milk a bit at a time and mix until you get the texture you like. I like mine a little thicker. Add butter to finish it. Taste and season accordingly.

Sauteed Rapini
1 bunch rapini, washed well
1-2tbsp olive oil
Ses/Kosher salt

Trim rapini to about the length of your longest finger. In a large sauteed pan, add olive oil until heated through. Add rapini. Sautee until bright green and tender. About 5 minutes. Add salt to your desired taste.

Now this is the most important part. Pile your fork with as much of everything as you can. And get it in your face. FAST. It tastes best this way.

xo.