Local Luxury Dinner Party: Primo

For a more traditional primo course, I decided to serve a pasta dish. The hubby loves ravioli and fall squash makes a perfect filling. I was excited to find red kuri squash at the market and planned to use that in my ravioli. Since I was challenging myself to a homemade meal, why not make the pasta dough from scratch? Sure, I’ve never done it before, but what could go wrong? Let’s just say, it was a nice luxury to have three other courses to count on just in case.

I did some cookbook browsing and blog searching and found the proportions needed to make pasta dough. I settled on 4 eggs and two cups of flour. I knew I wouldn’t have time to make the dough, roll it out, and fill it on the party night. That meant making the dough the night before and letting it rest in the refrigerator overnight until Thursday. I pulled out a large, shallow bowl for mixing (I was afraid the eggs would roll all over the counter). First went the flour, then the eggs into the well in the middle.

I probably could have read a few more recipes for the proper technique, but I just dug in and starting mixing. The dough was interesting…and sort of wet and not sticking together as I kneaded. Solution? Add more flour of course! Problem? All the all-purpose flour was used up. My idea? Use the whole wheat flour that‘s still in abundance in the pantry. The result? Interesting. I wrapped up my ugly ball of pasta dough and put it into the fridge to rest. I figured it could think about what it had done wrong and the next day it would be ready to play nicely.

On Thursday night during my pre-party preparations, I started by cooking the red kuri squash for the filling. I had peeled and cubed it the night before. Dealing with squash can be dangerous and you don’t want to lose a finger right before your guests arrive. A quick boil in salted water (about 12 minutes) results in squash ready for the immersion blender.

An apron is essential in keeping your party dress clean! After pureeing I mixed in a few generous spoonfuls of my homemade ricotta cheese and a dash of salt.

I set this aside and hoped for the best as I retrieved the pasta dough from the fridge. Since I don’t have a fancy non-stick pastry mat for the counter, I tore off some wax paper and tried to weight it down to stay in place. I floured the surface (I had picked up more AP flour on the way home) and pulled out my ridiculously heavy and generally unwieldy rolling pin. Immediately I could tell this was not going to go well. The wax paper was sliding all over the counter, the pasta was sticking to the rolling pin, and my hands were quickly becoming coated in dough. I called in the hubby to hold down the wax paper, but it was too late. It was already 6:35 at this point (guests coming at 7) and I needed ravioli! It was printed on the menu cards! So I rolled and stretched and pulled the pasta as thin as I could. I cut it into shapes closely resembling squares and placed a dollop of the squash and ricotta mixture in the middle. As I pressed a fork around the outside of each ‘free-form’ ravioli, I tried to talk the pasta into performing a miracle in the pot. I put it back into the fridge to rest until it was ready to cook. Here’s a look at the disastrous rolling adventure.

As we were wrapping up the antipasti course, I went back into the kitchen to bring a pot of water to a boil on the stove. While that was heating up, I added a generous amount of unsalted butter to a skillet and turned up the heat. Once it started to foam I watched for it to start browning and waited for the nutty aroma to fill the air. At this point, the water was boiling and I dropped my ugly duckling raviolis into the pot and waited with anticipation. After a few minutes they rose to the top, ready to be smothered in brown butter and served. I put two raviolis into each bowl and topped with the brown butter. As I took the dishes to serve, I told the guests that I would not be offended if they decided not to eat the ravioli. I just needed them to smile nicely so I could have a picture for the blog. The hubby will eat any ravioli, so he dug in. I had to go back to the kitchen for a steak knife.

Once you could get through to the inside, the filling was delicious! The ravioli were more like a pierogi or a dumpling. They were pretty dense. But often the cook is her own harshest critic. Maybe they were being nice, or maybe they liked the ravioli blobs, but I was the only one who didn’t clean my plate for this course.

The beauty of a multi-course meal is that there is plenty to eat if you don’t like one of the courses. With that in mind, the next post will feature the main course:

NY strip steak with lime basil butter
Broccoli Romanesco
Roasted Atlas Farms fingerling potatoes and hard neck garlic

Until then, don’t forget to wear an apron and don’t be afraid to try something new in the kitchen!

Local Luxury Dinner Party: Antipasti

The next installment in the Local Luxury Dinner Party series is the first course, antipasti! My trip to Atlas Farm’s booth at the Copley Farmers Market yielded some beautiful heirloom tomatoes. These were some of the last of the season and helped preserve the feeling of summer just a little longer. I’ve shopped at Atlas Farm regularly over the past two years, so this year I decided to buy a share. They offer a great share program – prepay at the beginning of market season and shop all season until you use up your share (for $90 you get a $100 credit for the season). This lets you buy what you want and you never have to worry about bringing cash to the market. Whether it’s a farmers market, local food shop, or grocery store you can save a lot of time and headache knowing you have a reliable place to find your ingredients. Now back to the antipasti…

Since I was planning a four course meal I knew that the first course couldn’t be heavy or I would be left with a lot of leftovers. My first thought was caprese salad, but when I looked at make-your-own mozzarella recipes I quickly changed my mind. I remembered that my friend Katie over at Once Upon a Small Boston Kitchen had recently made homemade ricotta with a recipe from Barbara Lynch. I pulled up the recipe and headed out for some local milk. With just three simple ingredients, this was about keeping an eye on the thermometer and getting the texture right. The end result was a creamy fresh tasting cheese that paired wonderfully with the tomatoes.

It wouldn’t be a meal in our house without bread! To make sure I had a reliable recipe, I surfed over to the King Arthur Flour website and did a search for Italian bread. I decided on the Italian Sesame bread. Planning your time wisely is important in being a successful party host. The bread, cheese, and basil infused olive oil were items that I could make a few days in advance of the party. I started the bread dough first and made the cheese while the bread was rising. I love this bread recipe – no fussy proofing needed. Just measure, dump, and turn on the KitchenAid mixer to do its magic. It does take a few hours start to finish for the dough to rise, so plan to start early enough in the day. The loaf gets braided like a challah and then generously covered in sesame seeds. After a quick bake the loaf was light, airy and a perfect addition to the meal.

I wanted to incorporate my homegrown basil into the tomato salad, but just sprinkling it on top seemed boring. After about 20 minutes of harvesting my basil I added it to a jar and started to heat up some extra virgin olive oil. I poured the warm oil over the basil and let it infuse overnight. I strained out the basil the next day leaving lightly flavored oil.

To make preparations easier on party night, I sliced the tomatoes the night before. I also cheated on the local/homemade theme by picking up some olives and marinated beans and artichokes from the antipasto bar at Whole Foods. I wanted to have some snacks on hand for the guests in case something went horribly wrong and I needed extra time to get the meal on the table (you’ve got to prepare for anything when entertaining!)

A few minutes before the guests were due to arrive, I set up my ingredients and laid out the salad plates. As you can see, multi-tasking is also an essential skill to have for entertaining. I’ve got a few different things going at the same time. I like to get the messy stuff out of the way before the party starts and be able to spend time with my guests. So if you come over for dinner at our house, don’t be offended if I refuse to let you help in the kitchen. I like guests to come enjoy – and for you and me not to work too hard while you’re here!

After the tomatoes and cheese were arranged on the plates and drizzled with the basil olive oil, I switched to my party apron (café style, instead of a full apron) and preset the salads while the hubby chatted with the guests in the living room. My mom gave me pearls and Mastering the Art of French Cooking for my birthday this year, so I feel it is appropriate to always wear the pearls when cooking and entertaining.  And yes, I did arrange the tomatoes like a traffic light (red, yellow, green). Presentation is an important part of the meal! After a few twists of the peppermill and sprinkles of kosher salt, and we were ready to start the eating.

The verdict? Delicious! Each tomato had a slightly different flavor. The cheese was fresh and creamy. The oil added a subtle basil flavor into each bite. I think we all wiped our plates clean with the bread, which the hubby expertly sliced.

As we finished up the first course, I headed back into the kitchen to finish the second course. Stay tuned for the next installment: fall squash ravioli with brown butter sauce. It was an adventure!

Local Luxury Dinner Party: Planning the Party

This luxury dinner party was made in advance of the results announcement from round 2 voting in Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog.  While I didn’t end up advancing, I had a great time in the first two rounds and the dinner party was a success!

The first step in hosting any kind of party is to pick a theme and plan a menu.  The theme for this party, as given in the challenge prompt was:

Celebrate!  You've made it this far, and the next challenge is to hold a party for your friends and family.  Whether you're an experienced host or an entertaining newbie, get creative and host a luxurious dinner party where your guests will discover new tastes and exotic flavors.  Share your hosting secrets with readers, like how to cook for a crowd, plan a menu, or involve guests in the prep.

But what does luxury really mean?  And how do new tastes and exotic flavors fit with the luxury theme?  Does luxury mean rich, over the top foods?  Does it mean sparing no expense and picking up the rarest ingredients?  For my party I decided that luxury translated to a four-course, leisurely weeknight meal with all homemade dishes.  And it also meant the luxury of being able to purchase almost all of the ingredients from local farmers markets and vendors.

Like many home cooks, I often get stuck cooking variations of the same dishes each week.  So the hubby and I did a little brainstorming about what we don’t usually cook at home.  We quickly realized that Italian was a cuisine that isn’t represented often in our menus.  Sure we cook pasta every so often, but never a four course Italian meal.

Now that we had luxury + Italian decided, the next step was menu planning.  When we have guests over for meals, I like to ask if anyone has food allergies or severe food dislikes (some people just hate cilantro!).  Since this was a set menu, I wanted to make sure that our guests would be able to eat a little of everything.  For this party the parameters were no walnuts, fish, or excessive cream.  I added these to the list of the hubby and my food quirks and started making lists and researching recipes.

Instead of taking a detailed list with me to the market, I took an outline of the courses.  This meant the menu would be full of local, seasonal delights!  I visited my regular stops at the Copley Square Farmers Market - Atlas Farms and Stillmans at the Turkey Farm – and came home with most of my ingredients.  A quick stop at Whole Foods yielded some local whole milk and a few other ingredients.  With these fresh ingredients I created my simple, yet ambitious menu.

Since the party was planned for a Thursday night at 7 (I get home at 6), advanced preparation was necessary.  I put my list making skills to work and created a game plan for the week.

I left just a few things for Thursday and gave the hubby a honey-do list.  Luxury means pulling out the fine china and crystal!  We’ve been married for five years and have not taken full advantage of the beautiful set of china that we own.  This was the perfect reason to take out the goods and create a beautifully set table.  I added my grandmother’s candlesticks and candles to finish the look.

Another entertaining tip – know your limits!  With that in mind, I’m going to split this party into a series of posts for each course.  I’ll share tips, recipes, and pictures for each.

Thanks to Eric and Jen, our gracious guests, for waiting patiently while I photographed the dishes between each course.  And thanks to Jen for picking out a delicious Italian wine pairing for the meal.

Next in the luxury dinner party series, the first course:

Antipasti
Atlas Farm heirloom tomato salad
Fresh ricotta cheese, basil infused olive oil
Fresh cracked pepper

Assorted olives, gigante beans, and artichokes

Italian Sesame Bread and Olive Oil

Daring Cooks Challenge: Stuffed Grape Leaves

This fall is flying by! I missed the official posting date on the 14th, but didn’t want to skip sharing my October Daring Cooks Challenge. Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves. Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.

Going into this challenge I had mixed feelings about stuffed grape leaves. Every time I have ordered them in a restaurant, there is something in the flavor that doesn’t quite appeal to me. I thought that maybe it was the seasoning in filling (often thyme) or maybe the lamb. But I was willing to give them a try in my kitchen to see if I could pinpoint the flavor that I don’t like.

I decided to use a recipe from my trusty Joy of Cooking cookbook. Since I wasn’t sure how I’d like the finished product I used ground lamb (the hubby’s choice). I soaked my grape leaves, prepared my filling and started rolling!

Stuffing and rolling went much quicker than I thought and I loaded up my pot with the little cigar shaped packets. On went the lid and after a little while they were ready!

Now, for the moment of truth. Did I like my grape leaves? Did I figure out what flavor I didn’t like? The answer is yes. What is it that bugs my taste buds? The grape leaves! I loved the filling – the ground lamb mixed with rice and seasonings. It was something about the flavor of the grape leaves that just doesn’t agree with me.

The hubby liked the grape leaves and I share them with my reliable taste tester Renee, who said she really enjoyed them.

What to post next? Let's start with pizza.

I have a lot of blogging to do. I’ve got my fabulous four course luxury dinner party (if I had made it to the next round of Project Food Blogger), luxury dinner party leftovers turned into a new meal, fall apple-eating adventures, stuffed grape leaves, unstuffed cabbage, and more!  While I write up some deliciously worded posts about those meals, here’s a quick and easy recipe that is going to become a standard in the Good Cook Doris kitchen.

The hubby and I were having our usual Sunday afternoon conversation at the grocery store. Me: Okay, so that’s all the food for the week, what do you want for tonight? Hubby: I don’t know….. But today, he answered: You know what we haven’t had lately? Pizza! My reply: Oooh…I have a good idea. How about breakfast pizza?

We decided to pick up goat cheese, turkey bacon, spinach, crimini mushrooms, and eggs for our toppings. I came home and did a quick search of my google reader to see if one of my fellow cooks had a good technique for eggs on pizza. A search of “breakfast pizza” brought up the perfect match from Alicia at The Clean Plate Club. Turns out she had almost exactly the same ingredients as what we picked up. Thanks Alicia for the tutorial!

This is a two-step pizza. You have to blind-bake the crust for a few minutes before topping. My order of attack was to start the bacon and spinach and mushrooms first, blind bake the crust while those are cooking, then top and bake. We used pizza dough from Whole Foods. You could also use a prebaked crust like a Boboli or naan too.

I am so excited about how this pizza turned out. The combination of flavors and textures was wonderful. Smooth goat cheese and crispy bacon. Umami mushrooms and tangy goat cheese. I can’t wait to eat the leftovers for breakfast!

Breakfast for Dinner Pizza
Makes 4 giant servings
1 ball of refrigerated prepared pizza dough
1 small log (3-4 oz.) Vermont Creamery Fresh Goat Cheese
4 slices turkey bacon
1.5 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup crimini mushrooms, diced
4 eggs
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Allow enough time for the pizza dough to come to room temperature
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
Sprinkle a pizza/baking stone with corn meal and set aside
In a medium skillet, cook turkey bacon over low heat, turning frequently until crispy
When bacon is done, cut into bite-sized pieces
Heat a second skillet to medium-low, add a drizzle of olive oil, and mushrooms and spinach, cooking until spinach is just wilted
While the bacon and vegetables are cooking, roll or stretch out pizza dough on the prepared pizza stone
Drizzle with olive oil
Bake at 425 for 5 minutes, being sure not to brown the crust
Remove from the oven
Top the crust in this order:
Crumble the goat cheese and spread evenly over crust
Sprinkle the bacon pieces evenly over crust
Make four mounds of the spinach mushroom mix, one in each quadrant of the pizza
Make an indent in the spinach mushroom mounds
Carefully crack one egg into each of the four indents

Gently place the pizza back into the 425 degree oven
Bake for 15 minutes, until eggs are set
If the crust is getting too dark, tent the pizza with foil
Cut into four pieces (one egg/person)
Season with salt and pepper (or hot sauce) to taste
Savor…and dream about the leftovers for lunch!

Summary:
Prep time: 5 minutes + oven preheating time
Cook time: 20-30 minutes total
Cutting board, knife, two skillets, spatulas, baking stone, pizza cutter, serving dishes and utensils

A Lovely Day for Local Food

Saturday was a beautiful day in Boston. There was a slight fall chill to the air, but the sun was shining and the sky was bright blue. The perfect weather for the Boston Local Food Festival (BLFF) at the Fort Point Channel. The festival spanned the area between the Congress Street and Northern Avenue bridges. The Harborwalk was a great space for the event - self contained yet spacious (at least before the crowds arrived!)

The festival celebrated all things related to local food. Farms, entrepreneurs, established businesses, restaurants, markets, services, local food resources and more. The festival was free and open to all, and I joined in the fun representing Local In Season. I met up with Jonathan Ross-Wiley (co-founder) and Lizzy Butler (fellow writer) to set up our booth and get ready to talk local food all day.

I've been having a blast getting involved in the local food scene over the last year. I was always interested in local foods and locally owned businesses, but have significantly changed the way we shop and eat. We shop at the farmer's markets first and use the grocery store as our second stop. It really kicked off after I started tweeting and launched my blog. I started following local food folks and one day got a tweet from @localinseason saying, "Hi there...We are wondering whether you would have interest in being a contributing writer for us."

I was so flattered and had just made a Thanksgiving feast with most of the ingredients from the farmer's market. My first 'published' article was an original recipe and celebrated a locally grown ingredients (red kuri pie). Since then I've been visiting markets, meeting farmers and vendors, and having a fantastic time! Thanks to Jon and Patrick for inviting me to be a part of the team!

Now back to the festival. There was delicious local food every where you looked. From the metch at Seta's Mediterranean Foods to salted caramel ice cream at Batch Ice Cream to fresh pasta from Nella's Pasta to Pumpkin Pie soda from Maine Root Sodas.  Here are a few culinary treats I sampled during the festival. There wasn't time (or stomach capacity) to try everything! But now I have a list of places to visit on my food adventures.

Besides the local food, the best part of the BLFF was getting to see all of these wonderful food people in one place. From fellow food bloggers to many of the local food producers and even some of my new classmates!  The crowd estimates for the day are anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000. We had a lot of those people stop by to learn about Local In Season, enter a fall recipe into our recipe contest, and sign up for the new monthly LIS newsletter.

Our booth was right next to the butchering demos - which were fascinating to watch. Although one woman was not so thrilled - and decided since I was the first person she saw that she would let me know that I should be disgusted with myself for allowing such behavior to take place at the festival (guess she thought it was the Local In Season festival?).  I had a good laugh and got a few pics of the Saveneur's team butchering the goat, which they auctioned off for charity.

It was a truly a lovely day for local food. As Mayor Menino said at the festival, this new local food wave in Boston is great to see and its great to see the little entrepreneurs and little food businesses out there.

Mayor Menino checking out the festival.

It was great to see many of my local food friends in person. If you are looking for other great reads, be sure to visit them!

Kimmy of Lighter and Local
Michelle of Fun Fearless in Beantown 
Megan of Delicious Dishings
Meghan of Travel, Wine and Dine
Robin of Doves and Figs
Amy of Poor Girl Gourmet
Brian of A Thought for Food
Katie of Once Upon a Small Boston Kitchen
Fiona of A Boston Food Diary
Kathy of Kathy can Cook

I look forward to events celebrating the local food scene in all its glory. So get out there and visit your farmers market, support locally-minded restaurants and businesses, and most importantly enjoy some delicious foods!

Cooking the Classics: Not Such a Simple Stew

This year the hubby and I took a vacation to celebrate two big milestones – our 30th birthdays and our 5th wedding anniversary. We decided to head across the Atlantic to Spain. Ever since my brother studied abroad in Spain in college, I have wanted to visit and experience it for myself. To get us ready for the trip, my brother cooked up a Spanish fiesta for an early birthday party.

Then, we got on the plane and headed east to our first stop, Madrid. This was the starting place for our fabulous trip to Spain! For 9 days we ate our way through Madrid, Toledo, and Seville. To make room for all the delicious comida we traversed the cities on foot, visiting museos, mercados, and more.

We didn’t just rely on our guidebooks or the internet in planning our food destinations. One of our friends, a native Madrileno, gave us a great list of restaurants to visit in Madrid. For Seville, I contacted (via twitter) a tapas restaurant that I had visited on a trip to San Diego last year. I had a really nice chat with the bartender while I was there, and knew that a place called Café Seville would point me in the right direction when we visited their namesake city. The suggestions did not disappoint! We found ourselves in places frequented by locals and dined on a variety of delicious foods.

Here are some of the culinary highlights of our trip:

Spain was an interesting destination for us to visit. We love to eat a lot of different foods, but we are not lovers of jamon, langostinos, morcillo, pulpo and other popular Spanish foods. As Jews, we have a different perspective on Spanish history. In religious school we learned about the Spanish Inquisition (and History of the World, Part 1 thanks to Mel Brooks). While the Jewish population in Spain is starting to increase, it seems like so much Jewish heritage was lost over centuries since 1492.

We learned a lot about Spanish history while researching our trip, and throughout our visit. The Iberian Peninsula was home to many cultures: the Visigoths, Moors, the Roman Empire, Arabs, Jews and Christians. Jews had a presence on the peninsula since the arrival of the Roman Empire. However after centuries of tolerating different religious groups, when Ferdinand and Isabella came into power they decided that it was their way or no way. It was fascinating to tour Jewish history sites and see how they addressed the Inquisition. There were no detailed descriptions, you got the sense that “ the Jews were asked to leave”. We toured many religious buildings had been converted to churches after the expulsion of the Jews. The buildings have now been restored to museums that describe the history of the Jewish people in Spain before 1492. Jews had lived on the Iberian Peninsula for a long time, and their influence did not disappear when they left the peninsula. Many Jews who left went Morocco, Turkey, and other parts of Northwestern Africa. Some did stay in Spain, becoming conversos. To make sure that no one could accuse them of false conversion, many of the traditional Jewish dishes were modified.

The cocido, or stew, is one example of this. Our madrileno friend told us it was unthinkable for us to visit Madrid and not try the cocido. In Madrid, the cocido is a slow cooked stew served in two or three parts. First, the slow cooked broth with fideo (vermicelli noodles). Next meat, with garbanzos, potatoes, and what I later discovered to be lard! Third, the server topped the dish off with garlicky cabbage. This, and most, versions of cocido include a combination of beef, pork, and blood sausage.

In researching the dish for this challenge, I discovered that the cocido had its roots with the Sephardic Jews of Spain. It was originally called adafina and was a traditional Sabbath stew. Jewish families would put the stew on a low flame on Friday, and then would be able to enjoy a hot meal on the Sabbath. In some of the material I read, often families would place their pots in a communal oven as not everyone had proper cooking facilities in their homes. When the Jews left Spain, they continued to make this dish in Morocco and their new lands. The name changed to dafina (meaning covered) or hamin. Others may know another variation of the dish as cholent.

For the conversos who stayed in Spain, it was important to demonstrate that they had given up their Jewish faith and adopted Christianity, even though many still practiced Judaism secretly. Modifying their traditional Sabbath stew was an outward symbol of this conversion. The stew came to include pork belly, bacon, sausage, and other non-kosher ingredients.

I was excited to find a recipe for a traditional Adafina on the official website for Toledo (Spain) Sefardi (Sephardic Jews). The site includes a section on the Gastronomia Sefardi and includes recipes for many traditional dishes. When we were in Toledo, we visited the temple, which has been converted back from a church to the Museo Sefardi. Thankfully, much of the building’s interior had been preserved and many artifacts had been returned to be displayed in the museum

The recipe and website are in Spanish, so I pulled out my trusty high school English to Spanish dictionary to look up any words I couldn’t remember. I’ll post my translation and adaptation of the recipe below. The original can be found at http://www.toledosefarad.org/GASTRONOMIA/recetas.php. I consulted a number of websites in researching cocido, adafina, and the history of Jews in Spain. I’ll include a link to these sites at the end of the post.

I love to use local, seasonal ingredients as much as possible in my cooking. This dish is no exception. My local ingredients include potatoes and onion from my local farmers market and meat from my local butcher shop. I talked to my butcher about the stew and he custom cut both lamb and beef shank for me. The rest of the ingredients are from the pantry.

This is a multi-day recipe. The first night is soaking the garbanzos and the second day is preparing the stew to simmer overnight. This was designed as a one-pot dish that can provide many meals throughout the Sabbath day. It includes vegetables, meat, and hard-cooked eggs which can be eaten at any time.

I started by layering the ingredients in my large Le Crueset red French oven. While the ingredients were coming to a boil, I prepared ‘el relleno’, almost like a meatloaf. I rolled it up in cheese cloth and tied it so there would be individual servings. Then, after 6-8 hours of cooking, I pulled it out of the oven for dinner. The eggs had hard cooked in their shells, taking on a tan hue from the onion skin and meat. The meats were fall apart tender and the shanks had imparted a deep, rich flavor to the broth.

As we enjoyed our adafina, we could imagine the Juderia Sefardi enjoying this dish centuries ago. Food is a wonderful way to connect with your heritage. A simple dish, such as a stew, can show the influence of one group on the cuisine of an entire nation.

Adafina
Adapted from the recipe found at http://www.toledosefarad.org/GASTRONOMIA/recetas.php:

Recetas de Ana Benarroch, del libro "La cocina judía. Leyes, costumbres... y algunas recetas sefardíes", Uriel Macías Kapón. Edita "Red de Juderías de España".

2.5 lbs chuck roast, tied with kitchen twine
3 lbs veal shank, cut into 4 pieces
1 piece of beef shank, approximately 1 pound, meat removed from the bone
½ kg garbanzos
20 medium potatoes, peeled (10 whole and 10 chopped)
10 eggs in their shells
1 whole yellow onion with its brown skin, plus skin from second onion
350 ml olive oil
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Salt, pepper
Cold water
Relleno (recipe below)

The day before, put the garbanzos in water to soak
In a stainless/non-reactive pot, add ingredients in this order (leaving a space in the middle): olive oil, drained garbanzos, meat tied with twine, veal shanks and beef bone, eggs in the center, and peeled potatoes whole and chopped
Do not mix
Season with salt and pepper and cover with cold water
Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, skimming the top
Cook until the foam has ‘retired’ or lessened
Add in the relleno
Cover with a lid and place in a 225 degree oven for 6-8 hours (or 170 degree oven overnight)

Relleno
.5 - .75 lbs beef from the beef shank
200 grams cooked rice
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Mince the beef, or chop in the food processor until minced finely
Mix together the beef, rice, eggs and nutmeg (using your hands)
This should be wrapped in a fine cloth (cheesecloth), tied with twine, and shaped like a sausage

Summary:
Inactive prep time: 8-12 hours of soaking
Active prep time: 20-30 minutes
Active cook time: 30-45 minutes
Inactive cook time: 6-12 hours
Cutting board and knives, vegetable peeler, mixing bowls, spoons, cheesecloth, twine, French oven/heavy stockpot, serving dishes and utensils

Thank you for your support in helping me advance to round two of Project Food Buzz! Project Food Blog is a contest hosted through Foodbuzz. Contestants participate in a series of challenges and a certain number advance through to the next rounds. You can see my official profile and entry by clicking here. Please take a minute to 'like', tweet, and vote! One readers' choice winner automatically advances. 




Book and Websites visited in preparing this post:
Larousse Gastronomique, 2001. Page 312, page 1130.
http://www.toledosefarad.org/
http://www.directoalpaladar.com/cultura-gastronomica/la-adafina-la-madre-de-todos-los-cocidos
http://www.vinosyrecetas.com/adafina-judia
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/culture/2/Food/Sephardic_Cuisine/Northern_Africa/Dafina_Moroccan_Cholent__.shtml
http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/RECIPES/RECIPES/meats/Adafina.html
http://emr.cs.iit.edu/~reingold/ruths-kitchen/recipes/meat/adafina.html
http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/recipes/Dafina.htm
http://mzowl.blogspot.com/2009/05/recipe-adafina.html
http://www.spain-recipes.com/cocido-recipe.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Marranos.html

Good Cook Doris' New Adventures

In December 2008, I decided to start writing down what I made for dinner as way to avoid eating the same thing every week. Then I thought, if I'm going to write it down, why don't I take a picture? And if I'm doing all that, why don't I blog about it?  I signed up, started cooking, photographing, and writing!  When I started, I didn't know where blogging would take me. Looking back over almost two years and 165 posts, I am amazed at where I am today. That simple idea to document dinner has developed into a passion to not only explore my creativity in the kitchen, but two take on two very exciting new adventures!

My childhood apron bears a striking resemblance to my current one!

Adventure #1: Turn my passion for all things food into full-time fun

How will I do it? To start, I’ve enrolled in part-time classes in the Masters of Liberal Arts in Gastronomy program at Boston University. I spent many hours last year computing accounting and finance problems in the part-time MBA program, when what I really wanted to be doing was cooking. When it came time to enroll in economics and IT strategy, I decided that if I spend my free time thinking, eating, and reading about food, why not take that passion and run with it! The Gastronomy program is not culinary school – it’s a program about the study of food – food business, marketing, culture, history, tourism, and more.

If you know me, and if you are a regular reader, you know that food is a big part of my life. It starts with my family – we discuss lunch over breakfast, dinner over lunch, and breakfast over dinner. Everyone has a specialty and the family table is a place for laughter and fun. I love to learn about the history of foods (sorry if I’ve bored you about the history of ketchup and bagels – both fabulous books). It makes me happy to share recipes, share food, and share meals with family and friends. I’m fascinated with how something as simple as the bluefin tuna has such wide-reaching impact on every part of the global economy. And isn’t it crazy to think that there are more than 10 different gadgets for mincing garlic? These are just some of the things that I think about.

Who knows where a degree in gastronomy will lead, but I’m excited to start the adventure! If you need to find me this semester, first check the library and then check the kitchen. Where ever you find me, I’ll be happy to share whatever I’m doing with you!

No question about my signature dish - brisket.
 Braised, smoked, on its own or on a biscuit.

Adventure #2: Win the title of Project Food Buzz Next Food Blog Star

That's me with my winner's sash and bouquet
(as I imagine it to be)

Project Food Blog is a contest hosted through Foodbuzz. Contestants participate in a series of challenges and a certain number advance through to the next rounds. You can see my official profile and entry at: http://www.foodbuzz.com/project_food_blog/challenges/1/view/245. Please take a minute to 'like', tweet, and vote! One readers' choice winner automatically advances. 

Why should I be crowned the Next Food Blog Star? If my passion for food didn’t come through in the description of my first adventure above, let me answer a few questions about me, my blog, and why I think I deserve your vote.


Question 1: Is your name really Doris?
No - every great cook in my family is Doris! My Aunt Shirley’s family had a tradition of saying “Good Cook Doris!” after great meals. It turns out that back in the ‘50’s, there was a bread commercial where a little girl makes a little boy a sandwich, and he says “You’re a good cook Doris!” My aunt brought the tradition over to our family and since I was a toddler, every family meal has ended with a rousing “Good Cook Doris!” Inspired by the good cooks in my family, I gladly carry on the moniker and hope my cooking lives up to the delicious family standard.

My brother hard at work in the kitchen.

Question 2: What’s your angle?
My tagline is: Creative Cook, Food Blogger, and Local Food enthusiast.

My approach to blogging is simple, I love to take inspiration from cookbooks, restaurants, and friends and family and get creative in the kitchen. I challenge myself to use local ingredients and try out new-to-me techniques, recipes, and ingredients. My blog is a place to record my successes, my not-so-successful dishes, and my travels. It’s also a place where I share the stories of who grows the ingredients I cook with, the local farmers market scene, and how it really is possible to eat local and seasonal year-round. Every so often you’ll see a guest post from a great cook who has influenced my cooking. You won’t find true restaurant reviews, but sometimes I have such a fabulous experience out that I want to document the experience for the blog. The bottom line is that food = fun and the blog is my way to share that fun with you!


Question 3: What is (are) the most rewarding thing(s) about blogging?
1. Sharing! I’ve been blogging almost two years and one of the benefits I didn’t expect was a wonderful network of new friends who share the same passion as me. It’s wonderful to be able to send a tweet to a fellow food lover and then end up seeing them for dinner every month! Nothing makes me happier than hearing that a post, a recipe, or a tweet of mine has inspired someone.

2. Community Involvement! Boston is a big city with a lot of people. I work in the city, but live in the suburbs. Indirectly, blogging has helped me to feel a sense of community. I visit the same farmers markets weekly and get to know the vendors. When I go out to eat, I support locally owned establishments and try to learn about their history. Every food experience, at home or travelling, is an opportunity to learn someone’s story, learn the local culture, support the local economy, and promote a sense of community.

Me with the Local in Season team.
Hosting a recipe contest at the Farmers Market.

3. Taste testing! I can’t just post recipes that I come up with on paper! The hubby (and my coworkers) have been eating pretty well since I’ve started blogging. Food isn’t any good if you can’t share! I’ve tried new ingredients almost every market visit since I started and the results have delicious (most of the time). I know there are new cuisines, techniques and ingredients out there waiting for me and I’m excited to keep learning and expanding my cooking knowledge.

Grandma's recipe for pecan pie and my own recipe for local red kuri squash pie.

I’d love your vote for me as the Next Food Blog star! I bring passion, a killer polka-dot apron, humor, creativity, and an adventurous spirit into the kitchen and onto my blog every day.

See my official profile and entry at: http://www.foodbuzz.com/project_food_blog/challenges/1/view/245. 

Happy cooking, eating and farmers market shopping!