Graham's Gastronomy - Little Tower of Tasty

After a weekend in Vermont, hiking mountains and finding clues working our way through the Green Mountain Adventure Challenge (think “The Amazing Race” meets “Adventure Rooms” within the geographic area of two towns) we wound our way home through Brattleboro and I-91. We stopped along the way for Vermont delectables, getting apple cider donuts and a maple syrup, vinegar, ginger drink at a cider house just off the side of the road. The drink had a sweet, sour, and pungent flavor, along with a little “heat” from the grated ginger. Definitely something I would relate to a cleanse.

We also stopped at Putney Winery for a fruit wine tasting. For $2, we samples eight different fruit wines, ranging from apples to berries, sweet bubbly to stiff brandy. I swooned at the mixing possibilities of a blueberry cordial, but truth be told, my spirit station is full, though my girlfriend did pick up a bottle of the rhubarb wine. Both tart and sweet, the light red coloring bespoke a rose.

Once home, we wanted something simple, quick, yet still summer-centric. We settled on steak. I covered the large cut with a small bit of oil so the montreal steak seasoning would adhere. My grill has a searing side burner that glows bright red-orange when it is up to heat, and the steak was gently laid on the grate to char. At the same time, I had trimmed the kernels off a few ears of corn and added some Worcestershire sauce, mushroom ketchup, paprika, cumin, sriracha, chili powder, salt, pepper, and a smoky BBQ sauce along with chopped onion into a pan with some bacon grease for lubrication and that was sautéed at a high temp to caramelize some of the sugars on the other side burner.

The last topping was an apricot salsa. I found an apricot tree about a mile away and harvested some of the ripe fruit. I cut them in half then removed the pit, chopping the remaining flesh. I mixed in diced tomatoes, onions, and cilantro and sprinkled in salt, lemon pepper, and lemon juice instead of lime.

As I removed the steak to rest under foil, we sprinkled on shredded sharp cheddar cheese (we just came from Vermont, we had to) and let it melt. Once the agonizing five minutes had passed, we plated. The corn succotash was the base, followed by the seared rare steak, melted cheese, and topped with the salsa. All of this was enjoyed with the setting sun on my back porch. Can’t think of a better way to end the weekend.

Nsh Out - Eat like a Bombay Local

I’m a huge fan of Indian buffets. When it comes to ethnic cuisine, I always run into the problem of too many choices, too many things I want to eat, and not enough sampling platters to try them. Clearly, I don’t run into this issue at a buffet. Typically, Indian restaurants will run a weekday lunch buffet, but dinner is a normal menu. This runs true for India Kitchen in Manchester, with the exception of Wednesday and Sunday. Wednesday nights, they run a special Bombay Chat dinner buffet and at about $15 per person, its worth a trip.

The first thing of note about India Kitchen was the lack of Caucasians. Everyone working there was Indian and so was most of the clientele. Families filled the booths and the chatter around the restaurant was in Hindi, always a good sign. My dining partner and I hit the buffet. My first stop was the sauces and chutneys, arraying them before us on the table. They offered (from left to right) mango, mint, tomato, cucumber/yogurt, tamarind, and coconut. The mango was almost candy sweet, and the coconut had some cardamom which gave it a savory taste. Our favorites were the cucumber yogurt and the tomato, the former having a cooling effect (which was needed, the cuisine was certainly true to an Indian’s palate of heat) and the latter providing a richness and depth a flavor to some of the starches on the buffet.

As usual, I start with a little of everything, then go back to what I liked for round two. The small bowl to the left was filled with a lentil-based soup, enriched with carrot, bay leaf, and onion, it was a water based (rather than cream) soup but felt hearty and filling. The paneer (farmer’s cheese) was served in a tomato-cream sauce, not dissimilar from the tomato chutney. The cheese was firm and asked to be consumed with naan or topping rice.

 On a second table, they featured pati puri. Oval, hollow, rice puffs about the size of a small egg are dunked into a bowl of chutney, thinned to a soup consistency, then quickly tossed into your mouth. I had this popular street food when I was in New Delhi. India Kitchen had both a mint and a tamarind dipping soup. But the buffet wouldn’t be complete without chicken. Both kinds of chicken were cut into small, bone-in pieces. The first sat atop a bed of vegetable rice, fairly unadorned, but the second sat in a spicy, brownish red sauce that was perfumed with curry, cumin, paprika, and more masala mixed spices I couldn’t identify.

For dessert (included), we sampled the galub jaman (fried dough balls swimming in a honey syrup), this iteration being browned more than usual, giving more of a molasses flavor, and mango ice cream. The mango had been pureed and the ice cream felt more like a custard or thick yogurt, the mango flavor and color coming through.

Overall, a wonderful (and filling) dinner. It’s always a pleasure to try new places, especially when you have someone to appreciate it with you.

Graham's Gastronomy - Farmer’s Market Fridge Clearing

Summer is rolling into its final stages (and giving it’s all with this heat). With summer comes the farmer’s markets and farm stands. Cutting out the middle man is a great way to reduce pricing, and especially when supporting local business and getting fresh fruits and vegetables, I can’t resist. One of the things I love about farmer’s markets is the availability of uncommon varieties of foods, to include the inevitable oddities, like an ‘L’ shaped cucumber as big as my calf…for a dollar.

With a fridge full of farmer’s food, I stopped at my friend’s house after a day in the Simsbury office for another “personal chef” dinner with friends. It started with the aforementioned cucumber, which I cut in quarters and used my mandolin to slice into a large mixing bowl. I made the blade’s cut even thinner and shaved an onion into the bowl, then tossed in apple cider vinegar, salt, garlic power, pepper, parsley, sunflower oil, dry mustard, and champagne dill mustard. Tossed, and let those flavors mingle while I prepped the chicken.

They had a whole, cooked, rotisserie chicken sitting in the fridge just asking to be fancied up. I diced some small, sweet apples that I quite literally found under a tree near my gym, along with some sweet onions and added them to a wide pot with the chicken, which I shredded and pulled. Under medium heat, I created my own BBQ sauce with tomato paste, maple syrup, salt, pepper, paprika, apple cider vinegar, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, and dry mustard. All of this I let simmer while I prepped the last part of the meal.

Zucchini and yellow squash, staple summer vegetables, were sliced into strips and set to sauté in a skillet. When I grill zucchini and squash, I usually keep it simple with salt pepper, olive oil. The grill bestows a smoky char that I don’t want to mask with a heavy sauce or glaze. On the stove however, the vegetables need a little something. Some of the teriyaki/soy sauce from earlier perhaps? Well, I added these only after the vegetables had been set to sauté and the resulting smoke from adding them to an already hot pan set off the fire alarm. Oh well.

The meal was paired with a sweet, strawberry-based white wine, served over ice, sipped on the back patio. And once again, we laughed, caught up, and oddly enough, reminisced about 80’s and 90’s children’s cartoons (I can’t believe they hadn’t heard of Captain Planet!) Till next time I’m in Simsbury.

Graham's Gastronomy - The Heat is On

I’ve written posts about Fabulous Foodies, one of the culinary-inspired Meetup groups of which I am a part. Usually, our second Friday of the month, oddly-themed cooking extravaganzas are friendly, collaborative, and supportive in pursuit of delicious dishes. However, for this month, competitors gathered above glowing charcoal for the annual grill-off.

The rules were simple; contestants may only use a charcoal grill (which will be provided if necessary), you are given a window of time in which to grill, and a serving time. Each contestant was allowed a designated sous chef if they chose, and was only required to cook enough for three judges to sample, and cook we did.

There were five contestants, and about 15 additional spectators. The first round of plates was adorned with a flank steak roulade. The meat had marinaded and rolled into a spiral before hitting the grill. The steak was paired with potato wedges and charred garlic, both cooked on cast iron over coals.

Plate two was a rack of lamb, the ends of the bones of each “lollipop” had enough char to crack off. Cooked to medium to avoid chewiness, it was paired with a watermelon salad which the judges said “was a perfect balance to her lamb and therefore added to the experience raising the lamb from excellent to amazing.”

Plate three was a grilled portabella mushroom. Topping it was bacon, two different kinds of sausage, three kinds of cheese, red pepper, and green onion. The latter two did not have char from the grill, lending a brightness of both color and flavor to the otherwise heavy dish.

My offering came fourth. I marinaded steaks of ahi tuna in half soy sauce and half honey for 15 minutes. Removing the tuna, I reduced the marinade in a skillet over the coals to a thick caramel consistency and used a spatula to “paint” a streak of caramel on the plates. The sides of the tuna steak were rolled in sesame seeds and the fish was placed close to a mound of charcoal, searing it. Flipping once to preserve the grill marks, I sliced the fish to present both toasted sesame ends and seared middle. I also adorned the plates with dabs of sriracha aioli and wasabi aioli.

The last plate was a grilled dessert, inundated with bourbon (really good bourbon, I tasted some). Bourbon and brown sugar was used to macerate red and bosc pears, which were grilled. Bourbon and egg with a hint of vanilla was used to soak raisin brown bread in a French toast style, also grilled. A bourbon maple syrup was drizzled over these two and a dollop of double cream finished the dish. Decadent and alcoholic, this was the dish that wowed the judges the most and took home the trophy.

I must admit, if I’m going to lose, it makes me feel better that I lost to the best. I got to sample all of the offerings and everyone did an amazing job. Competition truly brings out the best, and in this case, the tastiest.

Graham's Gastronomy - Ride on Chef, Ride on...

Yesterday featured a beautiful summer afternoon. Sunny, a few clouds, warm but not hot. I had dinner plans with friends who live in Avon, and usually, I stop off there after a day in the Simsbury office. However, plans didn’t work out that way and I decided to bike the 12 miles instead of drive. Despite some concerns around Avon Mountain, I made it there in under an hour, ingredients in tow. After a quick shower, I hit the kitchen to make chicken fajitas.

Fajitas are my go-to when I eat out at a Tex-Mex restaurant. Not because they are authentic (One could argue that nothing on the menu at a Tex-Mex place could be considered “authentic”) or because they are particularly difficult or time consuming to make (these are usually my first three criteria when choosing a restaurant). I pick them because the fajitas because they are simple, clean, and can’t hide anything. No blankets of sauce or piles of sour cream, just build-your-own, meat, veggies, tortilla.

My fajitas started the day before. I coated the chicken breast with salt, lemon pepper, smoked paprika, and a mole made from roasted chilis. I let them marinade overnight before sautéing in pan. Once cooled, I pulled the meat apart and poured the remaining juices over it. The real cooking fiesta started after my ride though. I sliced yellow and red peppers with onion and tossed in a pinch of salt and sunflower oil, charring them all in a square, cast iron skillet. In a pot, I browned a clove of garlic and kernels of fresh corn, cut right from the cob. I added the juice from a can of black beans along with paprika, some “uh ohh” mix of seasonings my friends had (it smelled reminiscent of a Cajun blend. I often season food by smell), and a bit of cumin. Once warmed and browned, I added the black beans and put on the lid to let everything mingle.

Corn tortillas were warmed in the toaster oven while the cores of avocados were removed and the flesh put into a mixing bowl with some fresh off the vine tomatoes, lime juice, chopped cilantro, salt, and fresh ground pepper. I mashed these with a fork and the guacamole was ready to go.

We constructed our own plates and as the weather cooled, we ate outside. After a few rounds of refills, I headed back inside to make dessert. My friend had lemon curd she wanted to use, so I mixed about two tablespoons of it with about two cups of cool whip (it was a coconut-based whipped topping but you’d never know it). I also sprinkled in chia seeds for a mild crunch, and whipped it all together. I dolloped the mousse into small glasses and topped it with halved cherries and coconut flakes. The result was a multi-textured, sweet sour creamy yet light dessert that prepped me to ride up Avon Mountain, and into the sunset.