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the last couple of years have brought with them the cry to eat locally, eat fresh and pull back on processed foods. Jamie Oliver has pushed into the states with his food revolution by rallying the troops to eat fresh unprocessed foods that are lower in fat and easier on the body.
Foodstuffs in fine restaurants are often labeled ‘house-made’ and artisanal, noting the grower, rancher, farmer or chef. Food is becoming more ‘real’ to people and they desire to know the origins of food they are eating.
Farmers markets have popped up in every enclave and village with opportunities for locally grown produce, honeys and jams, sometimes even offering meat and fish or pasta.
So, eating fresh and directly from a farmer or local artisan who is hands on with your food crafting wonderful produce, meats, dairy and condiments is easier than ever.
perusing through cookbooks making a shopping list yesterday I decided that my next “cook the book” is going to be ‘wichcraft by tom colicchio. We cooked our way through Bobby Flay’s burger book and for the most part were thrilled with the process and the flavors. We made one of the sandwiches previously (roasted beef with daikon slaw and horseradish mayo) and I am not sure what took me so long to gravitate back to this book. It could be that the flavors are a little more complex and maybe I think we aren’t up to the challenge but then again…
Tonight we made a roasted pork loin sandwich accompanied by wilted arugula and get this, prunes! The pork was dusted and seared with caraway seeds and then roasted in the oven while I plumped up the prunes in hot water and then Z pasted them in the hot skillet with dijon and white wine while the meat rested. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the caraway seeds. As I sprinkled them they looked suspiciously like something you might sweep up off the floor but they really added another savory dimension and smelled amazing..
Sandwiches can be all of the perfect components of a great meal including flavor and texture and interest all wrapped up in a tidy to-go package. I am excited for the new things we will try!
*note to self-when roasting meat in a skillet-do not grab the handle with bare fingers-shouting !#@#! ensues.
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we ate at xoco which is Rick Bayless’ little sister restaurant to Frontera and Topolobampo in Chicago and were totally enamoured with the amazing Mexican streetfood. So, our offering for E are empanadas which are little baked (or fried) pastries filled with whatever you have on hand. It could be a bit of leftover braised meat or some vegetables and cotija but ours are filled with eggs and oven roasted poblano peppers. We took a hand from Goya and bought the pastry and ours are baked and not fried. Rick’s were a lot more tender and the poblano flavor was more pronounced so we will have to work on that.
Roasted Poblanos
Preheat oven to 500. Line a sheet tray with foil.
Lay poblanos on the tray and roast on both sides for 10 minutes each.
Toss in a heatproof bowl and completely cover with plastic wrap. After ten minutes you will be able to ease the skins off and use them in eggs, on turkey sandwiches or best, in empanadas.
You know you have the coolest husband ever when he buys in to your hobbies whole heartedly. Over the weekend Z actually took it upon himself to roast guajillo peppers until they were cracklingly dry and load them in to our spice (coffee) grinder. Voila. Homemade chile powder. It is totally mild but then he combined it with ancho and chile de arbol for heat, tossed it with lime juice and then dry roasted peanuts. While the peanuts roasted he popped some pepitas in a dry skilled and tossed the whole thing together with salt ground in our mortar. Perfect cocktail snack.
My Urban Pantry 