Kitchen-ing

In my now month-plus I have been at home from Europe,  I have been experimenting with different recipes. I think while I was there I gained so much more knowledge about food and cooking. I learned that recipes can be altered, and often should to fit your everyday needs. I discovered that sometimes the most simple few ingredients can make the best meals. But most importantly, I think I gained confidence in myself, and in my cooking. I know that I do not want to be a chef. The hours are long, and its a brutal life. I look at most chefs in awe, how can they accomplish such food-feats five, six, seven nights a week is something that I never could do. However, I also know that I love to cook, it is a stress relief, it is comforting, it allows me to spend time with the ones I love.

So my time in my slightly-dysfunctional family kitchen, is time well spent. Though lacking in space, it does not lack in kitchen-utensils, as Dad is some sort of kitchen tool junkie. Food processors, knives of any kind, and enough tongs for each day of the week, I am never short handed. I spend spare time rummaging through dusty recipe books on the shelves and scouring sleek blogs on the computer. I believe I have enough recipes saved that I could cook three times a day and still not get through them all in a year. But the fun is comparing, seeking the similarities and adding my own spin on them to make them different.

Most recently, I took a simple staple-the Meatloaf-and transformed it to its more sophisticated, rich cousin. Meet the DuckLoaf.

 Ok, so its hard to make any sort of Meatloaf look great in a picture. But let me tell you, this was good, great even. I will admit, it is slightly easier to make duckloaf when duck is the family business, but, as I said before, I had been altering recipes to do my own thing.

I started with Saveur's Meat Loaf recipe and expanded from there, enjoying the use of a newly found again food processor. To try your own Duck Loaf, here's what you need:

1 lb Lean (or the fattiest you can find) Ground Chuck
Approx 1 lb duck breast (I used two skinless breast and one with the skin on)
1 and a half large red onions
5 (or so) garlic cloves
Olive Oil
1 Egg
1 Cup Bread Crumbs ( I started with a purposely stale loaf of Della Fattoria's fabulous bread, cut into pieces, toasted, then processed in the food processor to make  crumbs)
1 8-oz can of tomato sauce (perferably your own, or organic)
1 T each salt and pepper (more or less each, depending on your tastes)
Ketchup and BBQ sauce for the top

For the recipe:

1-Take the meat out of the fridge and let it warm up to about room temperature, so much easier to cook with
2-When the meat is warmed, heat the oven to 350 degrees
3-In a food processor, pulse the duck meat until it is coarse. It does not have to be as ground as the chuck, but should be in fairly small sizes. Put the duck meat and the ground chuck in a bowl.
4-Peel both the onion and the garlic, then using the food processor again, pulse into small pieces (smaller then diced, is what I did, but a "diced" size would be okay too)
5-Heat some olive oil in a pan, and add the onion and garlic, sauteing for about ten minutes or until the onions are translucent. Once it has cooled off to the point you could touch it, add to the meat in the bowl
6-Add the egg, bread crumbs, and can of tomato sauce to the bowl and mix it all well, and I think that works best with just your hands (why the onions/garlic should be cooled off enough)
7-Place the mixture into a loaf pan, with the top shaped in a crown
8-Spread enough Ketchup and BBQ sauce on the top. I used Bone Suckin' Sauce, a North Carolina-style BBQ Sauce

9-Cook the Duck Loaf for about 45 minutes, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees

10-Serve, and enjoy!!

I served it with a mashed potato. I cooked the potatoes in boiling water, then mashed with butter, sour cream, and heavy cream. I put them in another loaf pan (it was what I had handy), sprinkled the leftover bread crumbs I had made over the top, and placed them in the oven alongside the "loaf" for about 30 minutes.


It was a super yummy and successful meal. The best part almost came two days later, when we made a ragu with the leftover meatloaf. I am ever so encouraged to keep on cooking in the kitchen, exploring new foods to try and new techniques to tackle. And sometimes, maybe a variation on a old staple,  just might become your new favorite dish.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving.  A time of good friends, good family times, and hopefully some good eats. My Thanksgiving was absolutely lovely this year and very luckily was spread over a few weeks. Yes I said it, a few weeks.

It started out a couple of weekends ago at Slow Food’s 4^th annual “Renewing America’s Food Traditions” dinner. The event every year is put on to raise awareness and raise money for the 4H Heritage Breed project. For seven years, 4H kids have raised heritage breed turkeys to sell at Thanksgiving time. It helps not only bring our community closer by bringing the consumer back together again with the producer, but helps preserve heritage breeds from disappearing from our tables.

This year, Slow Food Russian River teamed up with bio-dynamic and very sustainable winery Quivira, to put on a wonderful event. Quivira is nestled quaintly in the Dry Creek Valley, among Sonoma County’s most beautiful vineyards and hills. The dinner was skillfully put together by Chris Cosintino and the rest of his crew at Incanto in San Francisco and included some turkey that had been raised by the kids.

Chris, browning the Confit Turkey wings

Chris and one of Quivera's freshly picked onions

Loading up the cooker with the turkey and lamb

Chris and Tony in the kitchen

Fabulous Salumi Spread pre-dinner. Courtesy of Fatted Calf and Perbacco

Live music

Quivira's Gardens

Heritage Turkey Dinner for 100

Turkey Breast, Turkey Thigh, Confit Wings along with Quivira''s Carrots and Parsnips

Towards the end of the meal, Sonoma County native, Rex Williams, auctioned off nine of the beautiful turkeys that the kids had raised.

Auctioning so fast you can't even see him!

The event raised a lot of money for Slow Food Russian River and most importantly the 4H kids and their projects. Last week, the fun continued with the “transforming” of the turkeys and of course, the distribution for Thanksgiving. Dad’s office was distribution center and we spent two days distributing and delivering 225 Heritage Turkeys, with the 4H kid’s help again. These kids work hard and take pride in what they do, staying involved in the whole process.  For more information about heritage breeds in general, check out the America Breeds Livestock Conservancy.

Tradition seemed to be in the forefront of my own Thanksgiving, celebrating at our dear family friends house. Our job? Bring a pumpkin pie. I was very lucky this year in my harvest 

Planted seeds, Go to Europe for three months, come home to this!!

I planted pie pumpkins specifically, in anticipation that I would hopefully be making a pie. So Thursday morning, I roasted, pureed, and made a pie out of that pumpkin.

Roasting

SO proud of my homemade crust!

I tried the dough press for the middle decor, but took it off mid-cook because it lost this shape. But it looks good for this photo!

I think it turned out ok, especially since I brought home an empty pie pan! You can find the recipe here. The rest of our meal was very traditional, very beautiful, and most importantly, very good.

The boys

One of TWO turkeys for the 24 of us!

Maggie's fantastic butternut, pomegrante salad

The Spread

The plate of plates!

I have to give my thanks to my friends and family. I have been very lucky and very fortunate to have amazing experiences this year and none of it could have been done with out them.

Salone Del Gusto

Salone Del Gusto is the partner-in-crime to the previously mentioned, Terra Madre. It is an unbelivable event of food, wine, and beer. Vendors from all over the world bring their goods to showcase, share, and enjoy. If you play your cards right,  as in you carefully make your way through US Customs, you can even bring some of the fabulous food home. The Salone is special becuase you get to talk to the farmers themselves. And if you can't speak to them directly by some sort of language gap, you get to speak through the food, "Mmmmm" + a Great Big Smile is nearly the same all around the world-that food is GOOD.

The majority of the Salone Del Gusto are people from Italy who take the short trip to Torino. They bring with them Salumi, Buffalo Cheese, Crazy Turnips, Olives of all Kinds, and just about every kind of Italian food, wine and beer you can think of.

Not Just Your Mozzerella- All Different Kinds of Buffalo Cheese

Turnips-As Big As My Hand and DELICIOUS with Some Olive Oil Drizzled on Top!

Slicing Up the Salumi

Cheese, Cheese and More Cheese

Salumi with a Special Garlic-Aglio di Vassalico- from Imperia in Northern Italy

Salumi and Porcetta

Olives! My Favorite

The rest of the area is dedicated to other nations around the world. Just as in Terra Madre, native and indigenous people from all over the world bring their goods and hope to share their experiences with you.

Oysters and Game Poultry from the UK

Talo Tortillas from Mungia, Basque Country, Spain

Austrian Pigs- "Vooly" aka Woolly Pigs

A Woman From Pokot, Kenya Selling Jewelery and...

Ash Yogurt. Made from Goat or Cow's Milk it ferments in a Gourd for a Few Days. The Cow is for Men and the Goat's kind is for Women and Children as it is more Nutritious. The Ash is added after all the fermentation

Several Goods from Afghanistan, I tasted "Uvetta abjosh di Herat" or Raisin of the Herat

As mentioned, the event is about bringing and sharing knowledge to everyone. While this was important for all of the food exhibitors there, it was especially important for the Presidia Projects. The Presidia Projects are the ones that specifically target foods that are nearly extinct.  The Project funds and helps small Artisan producers get their food back to market. I tried some, but could not make it to all the booths that were there. Some interesting booths- the Talo and Yogurt listed above, Stracchino Cheese from Northern Italian that dates back to the 10th Century, Pit Cabbage from the mountainous Eastern Austria, Frentano Sausage from Central Italy, Slatko Plums from Goražde, Bosnia, and Pahmir Mulberries from Tajikistan. I could tell you special things about all of these wonderful products if I had the space to do so. This project though, keeps the biodiversity of our food system functioning, and is so very important for the generations to come. Loosing these breeds and these traditions is not worth the chance.

We didn't get to bring much home, except for this fabulous creature Dad squeezed into his luggage and home. He bought it from a nice Italian lady who answered our questions about what the heck it was.

Turns out, it is called a Zampone, or a stuffed pigs trotter. If you find one of these around here, you can find a recipe here. But we were told it is normally served around Christmas and New Years in Italy. Our taxi driver that night was also giving a ride home to his Mother. We should her this Zampone and she was more than thrilled about it, apparently it is quite the delicacy. So, who's coming to Christmas dinner? :)

Terra Madre

I apoligize for not writing this post sooner. But, with traveling one last week, and a very hectic first week home, I didn't want to write the post and not give it the true attention it deserves.

Very rarely are people able to attend an event that give them chills down to the bones-chills that are awe-inspiring, that make you want to achieve more, that make the world seem okay again. I have been more than fortunate to have this experience twice-in 2008 and again just two short weeks ago. Terra Madre, and its sister event, Salone del Gusto, in Torino, Italy are two of those events that make you want to act and really get out there. Terra Madre is an all-out food event. Slow Food international brings together 5,00 farmers from all over the world (over 150 countries) to talk, to converge, to exchange ideas, and most importantly, help bring a solution to the broken food system we have in place.

Opening Ceremony-Africa

Opening Ceremony-Americas

Quite a Crowd!

Opening Ceremony-Europe

Founder, Carlo Petrini, Speaking at the Opening

There are people in their traditional dress, with their traditional foods, and their traditional ideas that WORK, so long as agro-business farms and devastating environmental changes don't barge in and render their practices broken as well. Delegates from countries from Africa, South America, and far-out reaches of Asia and Europe seek help and guidance from the new systems in place. Whereas people from the overdeveloped 'West' seek to bring their land and concurrently their food back to the people and the land.

The conference takes over the speed skating rink from the 2006 Olympics for seminars, lectures, and an overall communication space for all the people involved. Attending some of the seminars, I filled my small notebook with ideas, inspirations, devastating statistics and their hopeful solutions. Some thoughts I wrote down:

• Good, Clean, and Fair Food should be a universal right of EVERYONE, not just the elite
• Get Your Hands Dirty and Your Hearts INVOLVED in Your Food
• If You Eat, YOU Are An INVESTOR. You Are Investing in YOUR Body and YOUR Earth, So Invest Carefully
• See Each NEW Person as a New Link, a New Connection to Saving Our Food
• Fight For the Future as YOUR Asset
• Terra Madre is the "Woodstock" of THIS Generation-Use It to CATAPULT Change in the World
• See Food as the "Rocket Fuel" to Pleasure
• Food is the STRONGEST Element of Them All-It is a Backbone to Nature, the Spirituality of Everyone, and the Happiness in the World

And people from all over offered their projects-from a Wisdom Wall in the UK which promotes a conversation with the past generations of food providers, to  Greening the packaging of food as well as making it healthier at amusement parks in the Netherlands. Then there are the basic projects-get food to people who are starving. Which is creating gardens, building schools, and teaching basic food production skills so that everyone can have a dinner.

The YOUTH Food Movement Meeting-Awesomeee

Carlo, speaking to the Youth

This 'Slow Food' movement is a movement that should be more popular. It is simple-eat well, you'll be well and the Earth will be well too. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Two Weeks

The thought of "Slow Food" encompasses more than just the notion of raising food organically. It also involves the preparation and the consumption of a meal, with good friends and family. On Tuesday, we had dinner at a friend's house, and the entire start to finish of the meal was about five hours, slow. It wasn't a ton of food by any means, but everyone was there just to enjoy-to enjoy food, to enjoy good company, have good conversation, you catch my drift.

We arrived at six to have some appetizers, and play a rousing game of Pétanque, a version of boules.

The court

In Pétanque, you roll out the first ball called the cochonnet, which means little pig, and you switch turns rolling your boule to get the closest. The person closest doesn't roll again until the opponent gets closer than your throw. The game goes till one person (team) reaches 13 and often involves some wine consumption, which can alter how long it takes for someone to actually win. We had to cut our game short when dinner was close to being ready, but I'm proud to say I am currently undefeated in Pétanque.

Dinner started with a foie gras dish, placed on a flat, hot pan for a few seconds on each side, served on a bed of lettuce with a vinaigrette over. A first course I could get used to.

The main was a delicious pork, with dijon-molasses sauce, accompanied with herb potatoes, and a refreshing zucchini salad-with pine nuts and a lemony dressing. Perhaps some good use to your abundance of zucchini crop that always seems to show up this time of year?

The dish in the front was a side dish that was brought by another guest. Craving some spiciness in the very good, but not spicy French diet, she grew her own poblano chilies in her garden, which inspired her lovely creation. The dish reminded us all of the food we all seem to crave the most when abroad-Mexican. Of the guests at the dinner party, six were from California and the other two (our lovely hosts) have lived all over the United States but now call France and the Caribbean home, and all of us seemed to miss the spice, the seasoning, the utter deliciousness of Mexican food. Apparently, there is a restaurant that actually serves decent Mexican food not too far, but I don't really want to chance it. I just know it will be one of my first meals when I'm home in November.

Lastly, was dessert, which was our responsibility to bring. We decided to make some sort of cheesecake type recipe, to try and best incorporate the wonderful strawberries that are just nearing the end of their season, yet by no means have they lost any flavor. Since there is no cream cheese in France, Caitlin found a wonderful recipe (well actually 2) to make the delectable delight, a cake called gâteau au fromage blanc, translated literally into white cheese cake. I assisted in the ingredient shopping and cleaning, but left the master chef job to Caitlin. It used fromage blanc as the main cheese filling, complete with egg yolks (3) and egg whites (4), sugar, a wee bit of flour, and the zest of a lemon. The crust was a petite buerre cookie and butter crust.

Looks like a cheese cake right? But it was better. More melt in your mouth as it was much softer and fluffier then a traditional American cheesecake. And the fresh strawberry coulie on top, magnificent. I think the strawberries were even better since I had to bike and get the last basket from the local produce stand. I found a recipe that is similar to what we had. The key however, other then don't get any egg yolk in the egg white, was to actually let the top of the cake get brown, but not burn, tricky but well worth it. A nice layer of crust to dive your fork into.

Browned Cheesy Heaven

At the conclusion of the night, I had realized that I had been in France officially for two weeks. The meal seemed all too perfect for my two week anniversary. A nice blend of French and American cuisines and cultures, starting with the pétanque, and continuing on through the foie gras, pork (BBQ'ed on a Weber!), poblano chiles, and fromage blanc. Just looking at that list, one can see the vast array of flavors on a plate, yet the fusion was perfect.