Mussels Steamed with White Wine, Shallots, Garlic, & Bacon

Speaking of those mussels, I can't say enough about this dish, and in my unbiased opinion they are way better than the Prince Edward mussels I had at Bouchon in Vegas (seriously). The hardest part is just scrubbing the mussels, but the way it tastes and fills the kitchen with awesomely delicious aroma makes it seem like someone slaved over the stove for hours. In my sous chef opinion, the good crusty bread is not optional because you need something to soak up that yummy wine/shallot/garlic/bacon juice so you can really taste it!

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 lb. mussels (scrubbed/cleaned).
- 1 cup of white wine (you might as well have a whole bottle, preferably either pinot grigio or chardonnay).
- 3 strips thick cut bacon, sliced into lardons (basically, cut them into batons).
- 1 small shallot, thinly sliced.
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced.
- 2-3 T of unsalted butter.
- salt/pepper to taste.

OPTIONAL:

- Good crusty bread (ciabatta or some sorta crusty french bread works well here).

STEPS:

1. Cook bacon on medium-ish heat in a saucepan/stockpot to render out the fat (you want the fat to cook everything else in), and they start browning a bit. And yes, you are cooking everything in bacon fat bc hey, it really does make everything taste better.

2. Add the shallots, garlic, and 2T butter and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add some dashes of salt and crack some pepper.

3. Dump 1/2 the bottle of wine into the pot and bring to a boil (again, this is my way of eyeballing "1 cup of wine"). Dump the other 1/2 into your glass and start drinking. Let 1/2 the liquid reduce.

4. Add the mussels, cover the pot, and let them cook until they open. This shouldn't take longer than 3 minutes. Discard any that don't open.

5. Whisk in remaining butter if you feel decadent (or like a fat ass). Serve immediately with toasted crusty bread.

6. Enjoy and wonder how you ever paid $10+ for this dish.

***I've been cooking a lot with Trader Joe's "Charles Shaw" Pinot Grigio (aka two buck chuck). Aside from being cheap as hell, I actually think it tastes pretty good for something so cheap (but it's not like I'm a white wine expert by any stretch). Still, you're probably not going to find a better value to cook/drink with in that range, so it's a good wine to have on hand.

Clams And Linguini With White Wine, Garlic, Meyer Lemon, Crushed Red Pepper, Parmesan

P knows I have a weakness for bivalves of all kinds, mmm. One of the first dishes he ever made for me was mussels in white wine. I haven't personally tried this one yet, but maybe he'll make it again some day. :) His recipe is below:

INGREDIENTS:...

- 1 lb. of clams
- 1 cup of wine (i used pinot grigio bc that's what i had, but i think something more full-bodied like chardonnay would work well)
- 1/4 cup of good olive oil (basically enough to coat the pan)
- 3-4 cloves of garlic (minced)
- pinch of crushed red pepper
- 3T unsalted butter
- 1 meyer lemon --juice & zest (you can substitute a reg lemon here)
- 3-4 T of kosher salt (more to taste)
- 3-4 grinds of black pepper (again, to taste)
- 1 lb. of angel hair or linguini pasta

OPTIONAL:
- 1/2 bunch of finely chopped flat leaf parsley (garnish)
- grated parmesan (for awesomeness)

STEPS:
1. In a decently large saucepan, heat up olive oil over high heat. once it's ready (don't let the oil get so hot that it starts smoking or else it'll burn the garlic), add garlic and cook for about 30 sec to a minute. move fast bc it'll cook quickly.

2. Add pinch of red pepper and cook for another 30 sec or so (to bring out flavor/infuse oil).

3. Move back about 2 feet from the stove and add 1 cup of white wine (it may splatter). if you're too lazy to measure and want to eyeball the wine, it's about 1/2 the bottle. Leave on high heat and let the liquid reduce by about 1/2.

*** you probably want to start preparing the pasta at this point****

4. Get a big ass pot, and bring 3-4 cups of water & 3 T of salt to a boil. Add pasta and cook til it's al dente (start checking after 3-4 min or so). it's ok if it's a little bit hard bc it'll keep cooking even after you take it off the stove. drain pasta (but leave it a little wet, don't toss it so much that it dries out). save 2 T of the pasta water (to add to the sauce).

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5. Add clams, cover, and let them cook until they open up (they should start opening up in about 3 min). remove open clams w/ a slotted spoon and set aside. discard any clams that didn't open (resist temptation to eat bc they're dead clams that will prob give you food poisoning).

6. Bring the wine/clam juice goodness to a boil and reduce by 1/2 again. it may look like there's barely enough liquid, but it's fine bc you want the sauce to coat the pasta, not drown it.

6. Once remaining liquid is reduced, add the 2 T of pasta water and stir in the butter until it's melted. salt/pepper liberally (taste as you go along). the sauce should be ready in about 3-4 min (it'll be done once it begins thickening).

7. Return clams to saucepan and toss them around to coat them w/ the sauce. squeeze 1/2 the lemon over the clams. add pasta and toss so that everything is mixed together.

8. Top w/ lemon zest, chopped parsley, another pinch of red pepper, and parmesan cheese. toss again. eat a bunch.

9. Get hungry in an hour. Eat again.

** Make sure you don't overcook the pasta. It's prob better to err on the side of pasta that's slightly undercooked since it'll continue cooking for a min or two after you drain it. Better to have slightly firm pasta then soggy pasta.

** Same with the clams. They'll cook really fast and you should remove them when they open up. otherwise, they'll tragically dry out/shrink and become tough.

Ghetto Blanching & the Easiest Asparagus Ever

First, let me say that this recipe is probably on my top 5 list of favorite dishes. Not only that, but it is prob the EASIEST dish I make (and indeed, I force my friends to try making it if they're in the kitchen w/ me). There may be more complex dishes, more flavorful dishes, but as you'll see below, this is the dish that I'm most proud of.

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I have an ongoing love/hate relationship w/ blanching. I mean, it's definitely one of the most important/useful techniques I've learned for preparing veggies. It's simple enough: bring a big ass pot of (heavily salted) water to a boil, plunge veggies in for a coupla min so that they essentially par-cook, and then plunge the veggies into an ice bath so that they stop cooking.

On one hand, I love this technique bc it preserves the veggies' inherent texture (crispiness, firmness, etc), brightens its colors, and infuses it w/ a nice amount of flavor. With blanching, soggy, overcooked veggies shouldn't be a big problem anymore, so why am I not all gung-ho about blanching?

Well, on the other hand, the 2 utensils critical to blanching (my big ass pot and big ass bowl that holds ice water), also coincidentally happen to be the 2 utensils that don't really fit in my dishwasher. Now, I love cooking. I love thinking about flavors, textures, and I get all excited when I think of something new to create. But, I hate washing dishes. I REALLY hate washing dishes.

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Well, a segue is needed here, along with some insight into my Apt dynamics. You see, I live w/ 2 roomies that are pretty cool. I've known them since law school and to this day, we remain homies/homiettes. They also allow me to indulge my random crazy/whacky cooking desires bc they generously split the grocery bills w/ me (thus allowing me to do things like buy 5 diff kinds of mustard. Elaine/Jason, if you're reading this, I'm kidding. Maybe). Ah, but like every relationship, there's an occasional thing or two that bugs.

My roomies, you see, are pretty good at eating. I suppose this is logical, since they've been doing it their whole lives. However, while their eating skills are quite developed (indeed, they can eat with the best of them), tragically, it appears that their dish-washing skills haven't quite progressed in the same manner. Normally, this isn't that big of a problem and we can all be :) thanks to that wondrous piece of modern technology, the dishwasher (and free water). But alas, though I am grateful that Mr. Dishwasher graciously washes the dishes as our 4th roomie, even he can't handle big ass pots/bowls.
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OK OK OK. So back to the story. I had to come up w/ some sorta solution since I wasn't going to give up the deliciousness that blanching creates, but I also didn't big ass pots/bowls to be the reason I wanted to kill my roomies. So, since blanching is essentially quickly par-cooking the veggie, I had to figure out a way to quickly heat up the veggie and then to quickly cool it so that it stops cooking.

That's when my inner nerd realized I already had the perfect tool for that: the Microwave! Yes, seriously, the Microwave. Allow me to explain.

Ah, the Beauty of Ghetto-Blanching: How It (I Think) Works:

While I generally shun the microwave bc I'm a giant food snob, I realized that it would allow me to essentially ghetto-blanch veggies. Basically (and this is based on my grade school-level science background so I may be spectacularly wrong here), microwaves heat up food by: (1) enveloping the food with microwaves (tada!); (2) which then causes the moisture molecules in the food to rapidly dance around; and (3) generates a bunch of friction and thus, heats up the food. Not only are microwaves able to "boil" food faster than damn near anything else, more importantly, it also cools down much faster bc the heat is dependent on a constant stream of microwaves. Thus, once the microwave turns off, the molecules stop moving, and the food cools down (comparatively) rapidly.

Or, here's the easiest way to understand this principle: Imagine you're at a club w/ lusty ppl. The DJ announces that it's 12:55 am, and finally plays that record he's been saving the whole night, the one that he KNOWS will get the club crazyyyyy. So, he plays the record, everyone hops up and down like a maniac and screams "OH SHIT I LOVE THIS SONG," and dance furiously. Buttt, 1:00 am soon hits (along w/ last call), and just like that, all the energy and excitement in the club instantly dissipates. The lights will prob come on, and no one wants other ppl to see them in normal lighting, thus ensuring that ppl will stop dancing and scurry the hell out of there.

Yup, ghetto blanching is the same concept. Got it right? ;)

The key to this dish is to use a microwave-proof tupperware container that's long enough to hold the asparagus. And, well, that's pretty much it. :) This is beautiful bc the asparagus comes out crisp/tender everytime, and it's so versatile that you can even prepare it at home, take it to work, and then pop it in the microwave. Finally, once you understand the concepts behind this technique, it is extremely versatile, and you can do things like par-cook potatoes so that it's easier to make crispy home fries, or even adding fish/veggies/sauce together to cook it en papillote-ish.

Ghetto Blanching & the Easiest Asparagus Ever

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 bunch of asparagus
- Zest of half a lemon (a Meyer lemon works beautifully here, otherwise, a regular lemon works too)
- Splash or two of good olive oil
- Salt/pepper, to taste
- Grated Parmesan, to taste

STEPS:

1. Trim the asparagus by snapping off (or cutting) the woodsy stalks at the bottom.
2. Splash olive oil on asparagus (should be just enough to lightly coat). Add zest, salt, and pepper.
3. Now here's the critical part. Cover your tupperware container but leave a little space so that steam from can escape. 
4. Pop the tupperware into the microwave and cook on High for 2:30 min to 3:00 min. You'll have to experiment on the exact length of the cooking time (depending on how strong your microwave is), but it's best to err on cooking it for a shorter period of time. If it's not quite done, you can always pop it back in for another 10-15 sec. Also, remember that the asparagus will continue to briefly cook when you remove it from the microwave, so resist the urge to continually nuke because you want to "make sure" it's done. No need.
5. If done properly, the asparagus should look bright green, the outside will have a nice, crisp snap, and the inside will be a little tender. Squeeze on some lemon juice, grate some Parmesan, and enjoy.

Creamed Spinach - Milk, Butter, Onions, Garlic, Nutmeg, & Bacon.

When dining out, the only time I ever eat creamed spinach is when it's served alongside steaks or prime rib. Otherwise, it's kind of a "blah" dish to me bc I'm not the biggest fan of liquefied vegetables drowning in heavy cream. I like spinach. I like milk and cream. I just don't like the idea of blending them together til neither is really recognizable.

But since I had the bright idea to buy a giant ass 3 lb bag of spinach from Costco (dude, it was like $3), I had to think of SOME way to use up a bunch of it.

So eff it, why not try my making my own creamed spinach? I thought about it, and my main 2 probs w/ regular creamed spinach is that (1) it is (I think) way too heavy; and (2) the weird-ass baby food consistency it has.

Therefore, those are the first 2 things I tweaked in my version. Instead of drowning the spinach in heavy cream (or even whole milk), I use skim milk instead (granted, I also add some butter, butter, and bacon, but hell, I still want it to taste good). Also, to add texture to the spinach, I finely chopped the spinach and added some sauteed onions and bacon lardons. This way, it's still "creamy," but it also has a satisfying bite to it.

"Creamed Spinach w/ Milk, Butter, Onions, Garlic, Nutmeg, & Bacon."

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 1b of spinach (fresh or frozen works here. see step 1 below)

- 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 2 slices of hickory smoked bacon or turkey bacon, cut into lardons (matchsticks)

- 2 T of unsalted butter

- 2 T of flour

- 1 C of skim milk

- Salt/Pepper, to taste

- Parmesan, to taste

STEPS:

1. In a med-hot skillet, cook the bacon until it turns nicely brown (prob 5-7 min). Remove the bacon and set aside, but leave the awesome bacon fat behind.
2. Add onions and garlic (along w/ some salt/pepper) to bacon fat and saute over med heat until onion turns translucent and garlic is a little golden.
3. Now for the spinach. If using fresh spinach, you need to blanch it first. Get a big ass pot, throw in a big handful of salt, and bring it to a boil. In the meantime, get a bowl big enough to hold all the spinach, add fill it w/ ice and water (this will make an ice bath). Once the water boils, add spinach and cook until it turns bright green (prob 3-5 min). Immediately drain your spinach and plunge it into the ice water to "shock" the spinach and stop it from cooking. Now, squeeze the spinach so that most of the water drains out (you don't want wet spinach bc it'll make the dish watery/gross).
4. If using frozen spinach, thaw the spinach, and squeeze it so that most of the water drains out (yes, this is a lot easier than using fresh spinach).
5. At this point, you have all the basic elements for creamed spinach and you just need a sauce to bind it all together. For creamed spinach, we're going to make a bechamel/roux--essentially a thickening base of butter, flour, and milk. First, melt 2 T of butter in a saucepan over low heat (you just want the butter to melt, not to burn). Once the butter is completely melted, whisk a T of flour into the butter until it's fully absorbed/not clumpy. Add another T of flour and whisk again. At this point, you should have a semi-creamy sauce. Let the sauce turn a bit golden, then add 1 C of milk and whisk on med heat. After a couple of min, it should look like a creamed spinach sauce (minus the spinach of course).
6. Salt and pepper the bechamel/roux. Although some ppl salt/pepper at the end, I find that adding it here helps evenly distribute the salt/pepper throughout the dish (otherwise, you'd have to salt/pepper at the end, fold, and repeat constantly). Combine the remaining ingredients into the sauce (spinach, onions, bacon, etc). Grate Parmesan on top. Eat.

Pan Seared Ribeye Steaks (ver. 2.0)

Steaks hold a special place in my heart. Not only are they delicious, they're the reason why I became interested in cooking in the first place.

You see, whenever I eat out, I'm always tempted to get the steak. It's not that I'm ever really disappointed; nah, most of the time they're pretty good. Rather, whenever I choose a steak, not only is it prob the most expensive thing on the menu, it also prevents me from trying other dishes (such as pork belly, and duck, and fishies).

So, one day I figured, hey, how hard can making a steak be? You just season some meat and then grill it or some shit right?

Well, in essence, yea, but it's a bit more complicated then that. Although I make some pretty random and crazy shit, in reality, I'm just learning different cooking and flavoring techniques. While it's fun experimenting, it's also nice to go back and make a "classic" dish bc I can see how much I've improved.

Take steaks for example. Although mine are pretty tasty (at least I'd like to think so), I'm able to execute my idealized version of a perfectly cooked, medium rare-ish steak consistently now bc I have a much understanding of salt and controlling temperature now.

While I used to make steaks w/ the cast-iron broiler method (yanno, heat up your oven to a bajillion degrees, throw your cast-iron pan in there to get it crazy hot, and then sear meat), I now use the cast-iron STOVETOP method (hence, version 2.0). What's the big difference you ask?

Well, although it's kinda cool to have a crazy hot pan come out of your broiler (and although it does a relatively nice job of searing the meat), it also bugs me for 2 reasons. One, it seems hugely inefficient. I have to leave my oven on crazy high temperatures for like, 45 min in order to get the pan as hot as I want it. This does things like, occasionally setting off fire alarms (which is no good). Two, although it's kinda cool to be able to heat up your pan to crazy high temperatures, it also seemed like I didn't have much control over the heat sometimes and it'd either burn my steak or not sear it enough. So I figure there had to be a better way.

Now, this is where the stove-top method comes in. Since I start with good steaks (I think bone-in ribeyes are easily the best steaks in the world), I want to brown the surface of the meat--not burn it. So what I do is put a cast-iron pan on high-ish heat, right until it's almost (but not quite) to the point of smoking. Then I melt a pat or two of butter. Then I render the fat off the steak by placing it on its fatty side. THEN, I brown the meat on both sides to get a nice crust (about 3 min on each side), and then another minute to cook on each side to cook it through. So what happens is I have this awesomely succulent steak bc I've essentially browned/basted it in butter AND its own fat. No, it's not "healthy," but you're eating a steak g'dammit. If you want to be healthy, that's fine, but don't cheat yourself w/ a half-tasty steak.

Oh wait, 2 critical things. One, buy the best, steak w/ good marbling (fat) you can get. You can usually find prime angus ribeyes or new york strips for $7 a pound (sometimes even $5). Otherwise, Trader Joe's steaks are pretty good, and Costco has great deals on pretty good quality beef as well. Again, just make sure you pick a high-quality cut w/ decent fat on it (ribeyes or ny strips). Don't get filet mignons unless you like tender, bland, and overpriced steaks.

Finally, two, this would be a good time to invest in a cast-iron pot. You can get a good one for $20-$30 bucks and you'll end up using it for EVERYTHING bc it's so versatile and can distribute heat awesomely. I use it for everything from searing steaks, to roasting chickens, to deep-frying chicken, and even making breakfast hash.Seriously, aside from a good knife, it'll be the best investment you'll ever make.

RECIPE: RIBEYE STEAKS (ver. 2.0).

INGREDIENTS**

- Two 16-22 oz. bone-in ribeye steaks
- 3 T. kosher salt (or 2 T kosher salt and 1 T sea salt)
- 2 T black pepper
- 1 T cumin (this shit is magical)
- 1 T garlic powder(don't use fresh garlic bc it'll burn)
- 1 or 2 t cayenne pepper
- 1 t paprika (optional)
- 1 or 2 t brown sugar (it'll help create a very nice crust on the steak)
- 2 T of unsalted butter (about 1 or 2 pats). If you want to splurge, you can use Kerigold Unsalted Irish butter (so effing good).

OPTIONAL

- Lettuce or Arugala, or other leafy green for a simple side salad (so that you don't feel as bad for eating a giant steak)

STEPS

1. Make sure steaks are close to room temperature (leave them out for about half an hour). This is critical because if the steak is too cold, it won't sear properly. Similarly, if you're the type who washes meat before using it, that's fine, but make sure you DRY the steaks thoroughly with paper towels before seasoning cooking.

2. Combine all the dry ingredients together and rub both sides of the steak. Let steak rest for at least 30 min (you can also leave it in the fridge overnight for more flavor). It's critical that you let the steak rest at least 30 min or so after seasoning it bc the salt in the dry rub will draw moisture out from the steak. If you try to cook it right away, the steak will be too wet and it'll semi-boil the outside instead of searing. After about 30 min however, the moisture will slowly reconstitute itself in the steak so you should be good to go.

3. Go for a quick run around the block (prob 15 min or so). It's a good time to get some exercise and it'll lessen the guilt you feel when you enjoy your big ass steak later.

4. After returning from your run, place a cast-iron pan on high-ish heat until it's almost smoking (prob 4-5 min). Add butter and swirl around pan until coated. Now, place the steaks narrow fatty side down on the pan for about 2-3 min so that the steakfat melts into the pan.

5. Next, slide the steak onto the pan at a 45 degree angle so that it slowly slides into the pan. Why? If you just plop the steak onto the pan, the sheer weight/size of the steak will displace all the butter/fat underneath the steak, and you'll end up with a nice crust on the edges of the steak, but a bland middle. However, if you slowly slide the steak into the pan, the butter/fat underneath the steak has time to slowly form a pool again underneath the steak. It's the difference between a beautiful even crust and a steak w/ a partial crusty outside and mushy middle.

6. Cook steaks (undisturbed/unmoved) for about 3 min on each side. Don't move the steak bc you want it to have time to brown. At this point, your steak is prob close to rare.

7. Now, cook steaks for 1 min on each side. This will get it closer to rare-med rare. If you like your steak more on the rare-ish side, this should be fine. If you like it more med-rare, then go ahead and cook it for a min and a half (or even 2 min instead). Experiment w/ your stove to see how hot it gets.

8. Remove steaks and place on a plate and let it rest for about 7 min. You must let it rest so that the juices in the steak have time to reconstitute the steak and make it juicy. If you don't wait and cut into your steak right away, all the glorious beefy juices will spill out and the steak gods will punish you w/ a dry ass steak. Don't do it. Wait.

** I list a bunch of seasonings I like, but you'll also be able to make a very good steak w/ simply salt/pepper as long as you start off with a good steak.

Yay! A Food Blog! Finally! HAPPY!?!?!