Once the summer temperatures finally reach their peak, I know I can expect our local farmer’s market to be overflowing with beautiful vegetables, fruit, flowers, cheese . . . and people. The growing season is short in Wisconsin, and it seems like everyone counts the days until this point since the wave of produce and people tend to converge on the center of town on the same weekend. Get to the farmer’s market early or you’re going to have to make do with the scraps.
Our strategy at the market is pretty straightforward: get to our favorite stands first to nab the best selection of the two to three things we absolutely want to get, then spend the rest of our time strolling through the market to see what else looks good. In mid July, it’s the tomato lady first so I can get a good ten to 15 pounds of Romas for roasting. If the tomatoes look especially good and I’m feeling ambitious, I’ll take everything she has.
An offshoot of our weekly farmer’s market ritual, roasting tomatoes for sauce has become an event of its own. Most weekends I spend either Saturday or Sunday afternoon filling the house with the irresistible scent of tomatoes, garlic, onions and herbs, then freezing the results so that we can enjoy this little piece of summer all through the winter. It’s a simple recipe, but the preparation can be putzy, as my mother would say, if you’re using larger tomatoes. But once the tomatoes are in the oven, they just stay there for three hours, leaving me time to putter through the house doing other things.
I prefer Romas for this recipe because their meaty texture holds up well to the roasting process and they caramelize nicely. Honestly, though, I have used all different kinds of tomatoes from cherry to beefsteak and had nice results. If your tomatoes taste more acidic, you may want to add sugar to the mixture when you’re turning the roasted tomatoes into sauce. If you are using a thinner, less meaty tomato, either leave them whole (as with cherry tomatoes) or reduce the temperature (as with beefsteak or other tomatoes) to keep them from burning. And enjoy playing with different combinations of flavors, both when roasting and when creating the sauce. The roasted tomatoes make an excellent foundation for many different dishes.
Ingredients:
Olive oil
10-15 pounds fresh Roma tomatoes
1 large or 2 small onions, roughly chopped
8 cloves fresh garlic, smashed, peeled, and roughly chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, chives)
Salt & pepper to taste
Prepare 2-3 glass lasagna pans by drizzling 2-3 tsp of olive oil in each and tilting the pan to spread it. Preheat oven to 300° F.
Wash tomatoes and drain. If the tomatoes are 2” or less in length, leave them whole and spread them in a single layer in the pans. If they are larger, slice them in half, scoop out the seeds, and place them cut-side up in the pans. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the tomatoes.
Scatter the onions, garlic and herbs evenly over the tomatoes. Drizzle olive oil lightly over the top. If you are using whole tomatoes, you can toss the whole mixture with your fingers to mix well; for halved tomatoes, leave the “layered” mixture intact.
Roast tomatoes for three hours uncovered. Browning is good, even deep browning, but burning is not, so monitor the tomatoes’ progress and adjust the temperature downward if needed.
Remove the tomatoes from the oven and allow to cool on the stovetop.
Decision point 1: Freeze whole or puree first?
Freeze some of the tomatoes whole in a freezer bag if you like to toss a few of them into another dish (e.g., risotto) to add color and flavor.
Use a food processor to chop to desired consistency if you would like to use the tomatoes for sauce. Include the garlic and onions when you chop. Proceed to Decision Point 2 to create your sauce, or freeze into portion-sized containers for future use.
Decision point 2: What kind of sauce to make? Here are two options:
Rich tomato sauce: Pour chopped tomato mixture into a heavy saucepan and heat over a medium flame. Stir in vegetable broth, chicken stock or white wine to thin to desired sauce consistency (I use about ½ cup of liquid). Stir in 2-3 tsp balsamic vinegar, and add salt, pepper, and additional herbs to taste. Serve over pasta, use as a base for lasagna or pizza, or whatever suits your mood.
Tomato & Italian sausage sauce: Brown 1 lb. of Italian sausage in a pan. Add ½ cup diced onion and 1 diced bell pepper and sauté until onions are translucent. Pour tomato mixture over the top, adding 1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar and stirring well. If the mixture is too thick, add some liquid (white wine or broth) to thin to desired consistency. Serve over pasta.
Enjoy!
How do you use your roasted tomatoes? Let me know at pythiallc@yahoo.com.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Ultimate in Comfort Food: Guinness-Braised Brisket
The ultimate comfort food, in my definition, is slow-cooked, hearty, and involves garlic and/or onions in some way. This doesn’t particularly match well to summer, when we avoid heating the entire kitchen with the oven while the air conditioning chugs to keep the house cool. However, when the craving hits, it must be satiated.
Braising is one of my favorite cooking techniques for comfort food because it creates moist, flavorful meat that falls apart without need for a knife. Braising involves simmering the meat in liquid that is ultimately served with it. This differs from poaching, a technique that also cooks the meat in liquid but the liquid is eventually discarded. Braising is well-suited to tougher (and often less expensive) pieces of meat like brisket where extended simmering breaks down the connective tissue and allows the flavors to fully permeate the meat. Tender cuts of meat like tenderloin or chicken breasts do better with faster dry-cooking methods; braising only toughens the muscle because there is no connective tissue or fat to break down.
In preparation for friends coming to dinner, I decided to go with a no-miss favorite: Guinness-braised brisket. Most people think of brisket as a barbecue favorite, but I’ve never actually tried it that way. I came across this recipe in Bon Appetit magazine from October 2009 and have made minor modifications to it to suit my taste and portion sizes (the original recipe serves 12, mine serves 6). I’ve increased the proportion of herbs, garlic and Guinness to beef because I think it provides a more intense flavor and it makes a really good sauce at the end.
In total, this recipe takes three hours in the oven plus 15-30 minutes of prep time. Much of the oven time is hands-off, which allows plenty of opportunity for making side dishes, cleaning the house for guests, or lounging and drinking the rest of the Guinness.
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp Kosher salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp dry mustard powder
2 Tbsp chopped fresh sage
1 Tbsp dried thyme
3 lbs flat-cut brisket, trimmed but with some fat still remaining
3 cups vegetable broth or low-sodium chicken broth
1 12-oz. bottle of Guinness beer
4 bay leaves
2 tsp (packed) dark brown sugar
3 cups sliced onions
6 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 Tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp malt vinegar
My Le Creuset Dutch oven works well for this recipe, but any heavy, ovenproof pot with a lid will work. You can also use a heavy roasting pan and cover it with foil when needed.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350° Fahrenheit. Mix the first 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Rub all over brisket.
Heat 2 cups of the broth in a heavy, ovenproof pot until it comes to a boil. Stir in Guinness, bay leaves and brown sugar and return to a boil. Add the brisket fat-side down and scatter the onion slices and garlic on top. Put on the lid and braise in the oven for 1 hour. Turn the meat over so that the onions and garlic fall into the liquid and the meat is fat-side up. Cover and braise for 2 more hours. Check periodically to ensure there is enough liquid in the pot, adding more broth if necessary.
Turn off the oven. Place the meat on an ovenproof platter and cover with foil, returning it to the oven to keep warm. Remove the bay leaves from the remaining juices and pour the juices into a saucepot. Add mustard and malt vinegar and stir. Heat the mixture well, then puree using a stick blender. Remove the meat from the oven and slice across the grain. Serve slices with the sauce. The brisket goes very well with potatoes—mashed, steamed or baked.
Braising is one of my favorite cooking techniques for comfort food because it creates moist, flavorful meat that falls apart without need for a knife. Braising involves simmering the meat in liquid that is ultimately served with it. This differs from poaching, a technique that also cooks the meat in liquid but the liquid is eventually discarded. Braising is well-suited to tougher (and often less expensive) pieces of meat like brisket where extended simmering breaks down the connective tissue and allows the flavors to fully permeate the meat. Tender cuts of meat like tenderloin or chicken breasts do better with faster dry-cooking methods; braising only toughens the muscle because there is no connective tissue or fat to break down.
In preparation for friends coming to dinner, I decided to go with a no-miss favorite: Guinness-braised brisket. Most people think of brisket as a barbecue favorite, but I’ve never actually tried it that way. I came across this recipe in Bon Appetit magazine from October 2009 and have made minor modifications to it to suit my taste and portion sizes (the original recipe serves 12, mine serves 6). I’ve increased the proportion of herbs, garlic and Guinness to beef because I think it provides a more intense flavor and it makes a really good sauce at the end.
In total, this recipe takes three hours in the oven plus 15-30 minutes of prep time. Much of the oven time is hands-off, which allows plenty of opportunity for making side dishes, cleaning the house for guests, or lounging and drinking the rest of the Guinness.
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp Kosher salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp dry mustard powder
2 Tbsp chopped fresh sage
1 Tbsp dried thyme
3 lbs flat-cut brisket, trimmed but with some fat still remaining
3 cups vegetable broth or low-sodium chicken broth
1 12-oz. bottle of Guinness beer
4 bay leaves
2 tsp (packed) dark brown sugar
3 cups sliced onions
6 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 Tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp malt vinegar
My Le Creuset Dutch oven works well for this recipe, but any heavy, ovenproof pot with a lid will work. You can also use a heavy roasting pan and cover it with foil when needed.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350° Fahrenheit. Mix the first 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Rub all over brisket.
Heat 2 cups of the broth in a heavy, ovenproof pot until it comes to a boil. Stir in Guinness, bay leaves and brown sugar and return to a boil. Add the brisket fat-side down and scatter the onion slices and garlic on top. Put on the lid and braise in the oven for 1 hour. Turn the meat over so that the onions and garlic fall into the liquid and the meat is fat-side up. Cover and braise for 2 more hours. Check periodically to ensure there is enough liquid in the pot, adding more broth if necessary.
Turn off the oven. Place the meat on an ovenproof platter and cover with foil, returning it to the oven to keep warm. Remove the bay leaves from the remaining juices and pour the juices into a saucepot. Add mustard and malt vinegar and stir. Heat the mixture well, then puree using a stick blender. Remove the meat from the oven and slice across the grain. Serve slices with the sauce. The brisket goes very well with potatoes—mashed, steamed or baked.
Focaccia: Flying Solo
Baking bread in the kitchens of the Culinary Institute in New York was exhilarating. Under the guidance of a professional chef to help me overcome my fear of making yeast breads and to answer my seemingly constant stream of questions (Has it proofed long enough? Is this right?) my partner and I made beautiful, wonderful-tasting bread. My past experience, however, was lackluster at best. So when I decided to make my first solo attempt at recreating the experience from class, it wasn’t without anxiety.
I decided to bake focaccia because it had tasted delicious, I knew my family would enjoy it, and since I had already invested in six new cake pans specifically for it, it seemed like the prudent choice. My oregano and chives were also taking over my backyard, giving me a ready source for fresh herbs.
I took a good half hour to get all of the ingredients measured and ready for assembly. At the CIA and in many professional kitchens, the ingredients are measured by weight, not volume, for the greatest level of accuracy. That meant dirtying several bowls, but the care taken at the beginning of the process would produce a bread worthy of the additional dishwashing at the end.
Ingredients:
0.5 oz active dry yeast
8 oz. water
4 oz. milk
2 oz. eggs (equated to 1 large egg when I weighed mine)
1 oz. olive oil
29 oz. high gluten flour or bread flour
0.75 oz. honey
2 oz. herbs (finely diced rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, chives—whatever you like—and garlic, plus freshly ground black pepper)
0.4 oz. salt
Whisk the yeast and water together in a bowl until it looks like cloudy water, then pour it into the bowl of your standing mixer and add the other wet ingredients. Follow with the flour, honey, and herbs, with the salt on top so it doesn’t come into direct contact with the yeast until it is diluted by the entire mixture. If the salt comes into direct contact with the yeast/water mixture it can kill the yeast and then, ultimately, kill your bread.
Using the bread hook attachment on your mixer, start mixing the ingredients on low speed. After about two minutes, stop the mixer and feel the dough. Mine felt very tight and dry, like a rubber band stretched to its limit. This had also happened to me at the CIA kitchens. I added about ¼ cup of water and started the mixer again. It’s important to do this early in the process because the water will become harder to incorporate as the mixture develops further.
Begin mixing again, one notch higher on the mixer. Keep going for several minutes until the dough passes the “membrane test”: Take a small hunk of the dough—no more than 1” in diameter---and gently work it with your fingers into a disc. Gently stretch the center as you knead. The dough should be able to stretch to the point where it is thin enough that you can see light through it and, ideally, even read your recipe through it. When it reaches this point, stop the mixer.
Chef had forewarned us to use a powerful mixer when making bread, especially when making large quantities. The smaller CIA mixers, which were 5-qt. KitchenAid Professional mixers with 350 watts of power, regularly broke down due to the stress of working the dough. Whenever possible, Chef would use the 20-qt. Hobart mixer, an ancient brute of a machine that Chef said would easily break your wrist if you were inattentive enough to put your hand into the bowl before turning it off.
My KitchenAid standing mixer has been with me for about 20 years. It’s the basic model, with a 4-qt. bowl and a top that tips back. I love my mixer and was a little concerned about what the bread would do to it. It chugged away, clunking and groaning, until it produced a dough that successfully passed the membrane test. I was giddy. My mixer survived, but quickly showed its displeasure at having been put through the ordeal. The bowl, which twists into its base, had been so tightly screwed into position by the churning motion of the dough that I had to beat the handle of the bowl with my hand several times in order to remove it. Several minutes later when I started wiping it down, it was still quite warm to the touch from the exertion of manipulating the dough. Hopefully it will continue to perform for the occasional breadmaking effort, but if I begin doing this regularly, I may need to invest in a more substantial piece of equipment.
Put some olive oil into a large bowl—about a tablespoon should do—and roll your dough into a ball with your hands. Stretch the top of the ball into a smooth surface by turning the ball in onto itself on the bottom, much like rolling a pair of socks into a ball or turning a hat inside-out. Then place the ball into the bowl, smooth side up, and cover the top with plastic wrap. The bowl should be large enough to allow the dough to double in size without touching the plastic wrap.
Now the dough needs to proof or rise for 30-45 minutes. The CIA kitchen had impressive proofing ovens which kept the bread at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit and provided steam for a humid environment that the yeast just loves. I have no such ovens, so instead I used a trick that Chef suggested: heat a mug of water it in the microwave until it boils. Open the door, quickly place the bowl of dough inside, and close it to retain the moisture from the water. Voila—a nice, warm, humid place for the bread to proof.
Check the bread after about 30 minutes by poking it gently with a knuckle. If it bounces back, give it more time. If the indentation stays, it is done proofing, as the gluten has been stretched to its limits. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface (use bread dough for the surface---it won’t clump) and press the dough down with your hands to expel most of the air. Fold it over once and manipulate it into a fat log. Weigh the log, then cut it into six equal pieces by weight. Take each piece and roll it into a ball just as you did with the full ball of dough before the first proofing—roll it onto itself for a nice, smooth skin on the top. Set all six balls on the counter and drape with plastic wrap (or, if your kitchen is cold, place them onto parchment-lined sheet pans, drape with plastic and place them in a warm place) to proof for another 30 minutes or so until they pass the knuckle test again.
Pour 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil into the bottoms of six round cake pans. We used 8” at school, but I used 9” for this effort. When the dough is done proofing, place a ball top-side down into a pan, spin it to coat, then start poking with your fingertips to begin to flatten it. Flip it so the “pretty” side is up. Use your fingers to poke and spread the dough to fill the pan, leaving a dimpled surface. Allow the dough to rise one last time for about 15 minutes.
Place the pans in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven and bake until browned. Brush olive oil on top & sprinkle with Kosher salt. Cool for a few minutes, then turn out while still warm and allow to finish cooling on a rack. Slice into wedges and serve, or slice the entire loaf horizontally and use as a pizza crust.
Success! The scent of yeast, fresh herbs and garlic (these are a few of my favorite things) filled the kitchen. The focaccia had a slightly crispy crust surrounded a nicely chewy center. I am now emboldened to try another yeast bread. Stay tuned.
I decided to bake focaccia because it had tasted delicious, I knew my family would enjoy it, and since I had already invested in six new cake pans specifically for it, it seemed like the prudent choice. My oregano and chives were also taking over my backyard, giving me a ready source for fresh herbs.
I took a good half hour to get all of the ingredients measured and ready for assembly. At the CIA and in many professional kitchens, the ingredients are measured by weight, not volume, for the greatest level of accuracy. That meant dirtying several bowls, but the care taken at the beginning of the process would produce a bread worthy of the additional dishwashing at the end.
Ingredients:
0.5 oz active dry yeast
8 oz. water
4 oz. milk
2 oz. eggs (equated to 1 large egg when I weighed mine)
1 oz. olive oil
29 oz. high gluten flour or bread flour
0.75 oz. honey
2 oz. herbs (finely diced rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, chives—whatever you like—and garlic, plus freshly ground black pepper)
0.4 oz. salt
Whisk the yeast and water together in a bowl until it looks like cloudy water, then pour it into the bowl of your standing mixer and add the other wet ingredients. Follow with the flour, honey, and herbs, with the salt on top so it doesn’t come into direct contact with the yeast until it is diluted by the entire mixture. If the salt comes into direct contact with the yeast/water mixture it can kill the yeast and then, ultimately, kill your bread.
Using the bread hook attachment on your mixer, start mixing the ingredients on low speed. After about two minutes, stop the mixer and feel the dough. Mine felt very tight and dry, like a rubber band stretched to its limit. This had also happened to me at the CIA kitchens. I added about ¼ cup of water and started the mixer again. It’s important to do this early in the process because the water will become harder to incorporate as the mixture develops further.
Begin mixing again, one notch higher on the mixer. Keep going for several minutes until the dough passes the “membrane test”: Take a small hunk of the dough—no more than 1” in diameter---and gently work it with your fingers into a disc. Gently stretch the center as you knead. The dough should be able to stretch to the point where it is thin enough that you can see light through it and, ideally, even read your recipe through it. When it reaches this point, stop the mixer.
Chef had forewarned us to use a powerful mixer when making bread, especially when making large quantities. The smaller CIA mixers, which were 5-qt. KitchenAid Professional mixers with 350 watts of power, regularly broke down due to the stress of working the dough. Whenever possible, Chef would use the 20-qt. Hobart mixer, an ancient brute of a machine that Chef said would easily break your wrist if you were inattentive enough to put your hand into the bowl before turning it off.
My KitchenAid standing mixer has been with me for about 20 years. It’s the basic model, with a 4-qt. bowl and a top that tips back. I love my mixer and was a little concerned about what the bread would do to it. It chugged away, clunking and groaning, until it produced a dough that successfully passed the membrane test. I was giddy. My mixer survived, but quickly showed its displeasure at having been put through the ordeal. The bowl, which twists into its base, had been so tightly screwed into position by the churning motion of the dough that I had to beat the handle of the bowl with my hand several times in order to remove it. Several minutes later when I started wiping it down, it was still quite warm to the touch from the exertion of manipulating the dough. Hopefully it will continue to perform for the occasional breadmaking effort, but if I begin doing this regularly, I may need to invest in a more substantial piece of equipment.
Put some olive oil into a large bowl—about a tablespoon should do—and roll your dough into a ball with your hands. Stretch the top of the ball into a smooth surface by turning the ball in onto itself on the bottom, much like rolling a pair of socks into a ball or turning a hat inside-out. Then place the ball into the bowl, smooth side up, and cover the top with plastic wrap. The bowl should be large enough to allow the dough to double in size without touching the plastic wrap.
Now the dough needs to proof or rise for 30-45 minutes. The CIA kitchen had impressive proofing ovens which kept the bread at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit and provided steam for a humid environment that the yeast just loves. I have no such ovens, so instead I used a trick that Chef suggested: heat a mug of water it in the microwave until it boils. Open the door, quickly place the bowl of dough inside, and close it to retain the moisture from the water. Voila—a nice, warm, humid place for the bread to proof.
Check the bread after about 30 minutes by poking it gently with a knuckle. If it bounces back, give it more time. If the indentation stays, it is done proofing, as the gluten has been stretched to its limits. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface (use bread dough for the surface---it won’t clump) and press the dough down with your hands to expel most of the air. Fold it over once and manipulate it into a fat log. Weigh the log, then cut it into six equal pieces by weight. Take each piece and roll it into a ball just as you did with the full ball of dough before the first proofing—roll it onto itself for a nice, smooth skin on the top. Set all six balls on the counter and drape with plastic wrap (or, if your kitchen is cold, place them onto parchment-lined sheet pans, drape with plastic and place them in a warm place) to proof for another 30 minutes or so until they pass the knuckle test again.
Pour 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil into the bottoms of six round cake pans. We used 8” at school, but I used 9” for this effort. When the dough is done proofing, place a ball top-side down into a pan, spin it to coat, then start poking with your fingertips to begin to flatten it. Flip it so the “pretty” side is up. Use your fingers to poke and spread the dough to fill the pan, leaving a dimpled surface. Allow the dough to rise one last time for about 15 minutes.
Place the pans in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven and bake until browned. Brush olive oil on top & sprinkle with Kosher salt. Cool for a few minutes, then turn out while still warm and allow to finish cooling on a rack. Slice into wedges and serve, or slice the entire loaf horizontally and use as a pizza crust.
Success! The scent of yeast, fresh herbs and garlic (these are a few of my favorite things) filled the kitchen. The focaccia had a slightly crispy crust surrounded a nicely chewy center. I am now emboldened to try another yeast bread. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Moscato d'Asti--a versatile, flavorful wine for summer or anytime
One of the best pre/post dinner wines I’ve ever had is one I never would have expected to be so versatile. It is the one I pull out when I have a wine novice at my house who is fearful of the flavorful reds I usually serve but wants to try something. Yet even wine aficionados enjoy its friendly fruit and gentle bubbles. Moscato d’asti will always be a favorite of mine.
Moscato d’asti is a sparkling white wine made in small batches from Italian moscato grapes in the southeastern region of Piedmont. Not to be confused with asti spumante, which is a more traditional style of sparkling wine made in the same region, moscato d’asti is much less effervescent and is described instead as “frizzante” or fizzy. The nose makes me think of peaches, apricots, pears, and is ever so slightly floral. The tiny bubbles lighten the sweetness of the wine so that it is not at all syrupy but quite easy to drink, acting a bit like a palate cleanser with each sip.
I first tried a moscato d’asti at the annual Kohler Food & Wine Experience in a wine and cheese pairing event led by master sommelier Andrea Immer. At the time, my husband was immersing himself in learning about wine. I was not quite as in love with wine as he was at that point and was drawn to this particular event for the artisanal Wisconsin cheeses, which ranged from mild to quite funky. That was where I fell in love with strong and funky cheese . . . and moscato d’asti. While Immer identified some ideal pairings between the different wines and cheeses in front of us, she kept returning to the moscato as a good match for all of the cheeses. It wasn’t until later that I came to learn that it went well with desserts, particularly lighter cakes and pastries. In fact, moscato d’asti is often listed with the dessert menu, but I have found that it works well with light appetizers as well.
The alcohol content in a moscato d’asti is relatively low compared to other wines, making it a great wine to sip while cooking or entertaining. It also serves as a good starter wine before proceeding to bolder selections, as it will prepare your palate rather than overpowering it. Proceed with caution, though. We bought several bottles of the wine we tried in Kohler, the Michele Chiarlo Nivole Moscato d’Asti, and several weeks later served it with cheese, crackers and crudite while preparing Thanksgiving dinner for my extended family. Given the long preparation time for the meal and the fact that the wine was so easy (and delicious) to drink, those of us who were cooking dinner were feeling quite festive (and feeling no pain) by the time dinner was served.
Try a chilled moscato d’asti this summer as your starter wine for the evening, or enjoy it any time of year as a great cheese or dessert course accompaniment. I like mine with a strong bleu cheese, while my husband prefers his with a sharp cheddar. Either way, since it does not retain its fizz well once open, share it with friends and enjoy.
One bottle of Michele Chiarlo’s Nivole Moscato d’Asti was sacrificed in the writing of this article.
Copyright 2010 Pythia LLC. All rights reserved.
Moscato d’asti is a sparkling white wine made in small batches from Italian moscato grapes in the southeastern region of Piedmont. Not to be confused with asti spumante, which is a more traditional style of sparkling wine made in the same region, moscato d’asti is much less effervescent and is described instead as “frizzante” or fizzy. The nose makes me think of peaches, apricots, pears, and is ever so slightly floral. The tiny bubbles lighten the sweetness of the wine so that it is not at all syrupy but quite easy to drink, acting a bit like a palate cleanser with each sip.
I first tried a moscato d’asti at the annual Kohler Food & Wine Experience in a wine and cheese pairing event led by master sommelier Andrea Immer. At the time, my husband was immersing himself in learning about wine. I was not quite as in love with wine as he was at that point and was drawn to this particular event for the artisanal Wisconsin cheeses, which ranged from mild to quite funky. That was where I fell in love with strong and funky cheese . . . and moscato d’asti. While Immer identified some ideal pairings between the different wines and cheeses in front of us, she kept returning to the moscato as a good match for all of the cheeses. It wasn’t until later that I came to learn that it went well with desserts, particularly lighter cakes and pastries. In fact, moscato d’asti is often listed with the dessert menu, but I have found that it works well with light appetizers as well.
The alcohol content in a moscato d’asti is relatively low compared to other wines, making it a great wine to sip while cooking or entertaining. It also serves as a good starter wine before proceeding to bolder selections, as it will prepare your palate rather than overpowering it. Proceed with caution, though. We bought several bottles of the wine we tried in Kohler, the Michele Chiarlo Nivole Moscato d’Asti, and several weeks later served it with cheese, crackers and crudite while preparing Thanksgiving dinner for my extended family. Given the long preparation time for the meal and the fact that the wine was so easy (and delicious) to drink, those of us who were cooking dinner were feeling quite festive (and feeling no pain) by the time dinner was served.
Try a chilled moscato d’asti this summer as your starter wine for the evening, or enjoy it any time of year as a great cheese or dessert course accompaniment. I like mine with a strong bleu cheese, while my husband prefers his with a sharp cheddar. Either way, since it does not retain its fizz well once open, share it with friends and enjoy.
One bottle of Michele Chiarlo’s Nivole Moscato d’Asti was sacrificed in the writing of this article.
Copyright 2010 Pythia LLC. All rights reserved.
Improvised Italian Sausage & Potatoes
When I eat something wonderful in a restaurant but can’t pry the recipe out of the chef, I often jot down some notes about it so I have a shot at recreating it myself. Many of these notes do nothing but accumulate until I or, more often, my husband tosses them as part of a much larger pile of papers. This afternoon I perused some notes I’d made on my iPhone and came across the following list of ingredients from a tapas dish I’d once eaten:
chorizo, red potatoes, red wine, onions, tomatoes, parsley?
I had an image of the dish in my mind, but I couldn’t remember the details. Then I recalled that I had purchased mild Italian sausage at the grocery store yesterday and had red wine and onions. And beautiful red potatoes were in every grocery store now. This was a great opportunity for my own interpretation of the dish, since I couldn’t remember the original perfectly anyway.
I ran to the grocery store for red potatoes and found some baby reds that looked especially good, plus a bunch of fresh Italian parsley.
What I came up with was a sort of hash that resembled the dish we’d had in the tapas restaurant but with a distinctly Italian twist. The verdict: Thumbs up all the way around. So here it is:
Italian Sausage & Potato “Hash”
Serves 4 with leftovers
2T canola oil
1-1/3 lb. Italian sausage (without casings, or remove casings if you purchase sausage links)
1-1/2 lb. baby red potatoes
1 lg onion, diced
1 red and 1 orange bell pepper, diced
3 tomatoes, roughly seeded and chopped
3T red wine (I used a nice Chianti. Save the rest to drink with dinner.)
Salt & pepper (to taste)
2-3T chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp dried Italian herbs or 2T chopped fresh cilantro and basil
Heat large pan over medium heat. Add oil and tilt pan to coat. Add sausage and brown thoroughly.
While the sausage is browning, slice the potatoes in half and place into a microwave-safe dish with about 2T water. Cover and microwave for 5 minutes to steam the potatoes.
When the sausage is browned, add onions and peppers to the pan and sprinkle with salt. Sauté until onions start to become translucent. Remove from pan into a dish, retaining as much oil in the pan as possible, and keep the mixture warm.
Return the pan to the heat. Add potatoes and toss them in the oil. Allow the potatoes to brown, then add tomatoes and wine to the pan and scrape up the bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the sausage mixture back to the pan and mix well. Sprinkle the herbs into the mixture and stir well. Bring everything up to temperature and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with bread.
chorizo, red potatoes, red wine, onions, tomatoes, parsley?
I had an image of the dish in my mind, but I couldn’t remember the details. Then I recalled that I had purchased mild Italian sausage at the grocery store yesterday and had red wine and onions. And beautiful red potatoes were in every grocery store now. This was a great opportunity for my own interpretation of the dish, since I couldn’t remember the original perfectly anyway.
I ran to the grocery store for red potatoes and found some baby reds that looked especially good, plus a bunch of fresh Italian parsley.
What I came up with was a sort of hash that resembled the dish we’d had in the tapas restaurant but with a distinctly Italian twist. The verdict: Thumbs up all the way around. So here it is:
Italian Sausage & Potato “Hash”
Serves 4 with leftovers
2T canola oil
1-1/3 lb. Italian sausage (without casings, or remove casings if you purchase sausage links)
1-1/2 lb. baby red potatoes
1 lg onion, diced
1 red and 1 orange bell pepper, diced
3 tomatoes, roughly seeded and chopped
3T red wine (I used a nice Chianti. Save the rest to drink with dinner.)
Salt & pepper (to taste)
2-3T chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp dried Italian herbs or 2T chopped fresh cilantro and basil
Heat large pan over medium heat. Add oil and tilt pan to coat. Add sausage and brown thoroughly.
While the sausage is browning, slice the potatoes in half and place into a microwave-safe dish with about 2T water. Cover and microwave for 5 minutes to steam the potatoes.
When the sausage is browned, add onions and peppers to the pan and sprinkle with salt. Sauté until onions start to become translucent. Remove from pan into a dish, retaining as much oil in the pan as possible, and keep the mixture warm.
Return the pan to the heat. Add potatoes and toss them in the oil. Allow the potatoes to brown, then add tomatoes and wine to the pan and scrape up the bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the sausage mixture back to the pan and mix well. Sprinkle the herbs into the mixture and stir well. Bring everything up to temperature and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with bread.
A scone is a scone is a scone . . . not so much
I have loved scones for years, from the first “real” ones I tasted with clotted cream in England, to the pumpkin scones at Starbucks, to the power scones I sometimes buy when I’m in Milwaukee. I love them all, but each one is distinctly different from the other. Some are crumbly and dry, others are more like a triangular muffin or even have a sugar-cookie-like crust.
For the past few years I have made power scones for my family, trying to provide a healthful breakfast item and snack by loading it with whole wheat flour, flax seeds, and plenty of fruit. It’s my own recipe, one I created using a combination two sources: the list of ingredients from a favorite power scone we’ve had in the past (the bakery gave us the list of ingredients but not the recipe), and modeled after another recipe that had some similar ingredients. I went through numerous batches to tweak the recipe to incorporate fruit and lighten it from the hockey-puck texture of the original, and my family loves them.
Last week I had the luxury of attending Baking Boot Camp at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. One of our four days was focused on scones & muffins. I was excited to make more traditional scones and see how different it was from what I made. The CIA’s recipe incorporated eggs and cream, two ingredients completely missing from my recipe.
The CIA recipe and my power scone recipe are quite different from each other, and the contrast in ingredients is a wonderful illustration of the effects of gluten and fats on the texture and flavor of baked goods. Gluten is the substance in flour that reacts to moisture and activity to create strands like elastic bands that ultimately create the structure for your scone (or bread or cookie or cake). Different flours have different levels of gluten in them, ranging from cake flour at the low end, followed by pastry flour, all-purpose flour is somewhere in the middle of the range, and bread flour at the higher end of the range. In addition, the more the flour is “worked”—kneaded, stirred, etc.—the more gluten is activated, which will serve to tighten those elastic strands and provide more structure and, if overworked, stiffness. Whole wheat flour includes the bran from the wheat, which is sharp and actually cuts some of the gluten strands. This is one reason why items made with whole wheat flour are often more dense than their counterparts made with regular flour.
The traditional recipe from the CIA calls for pastry flour (less gluten in it than all-purpose flour), eggs and cream. Together they should provide a light, delicate texture to the final product. My power scones use whole wheat flour paired with bread flour, which has more gluten to help overcome the effects of the sharp bran and give the scones structure and lift. They also use yogurt instead of cream, and no eggs at all. I also add ground flax seed for additional nutrients. Both recipes use ample amounts of butter.
The results: The traditional recipe created a light, tender scone with a desirable amount of crumbling. The whole wheat flour and flax seeds in the power scones resulted in a darker-colored scone, but the bread flour did an effective job of lightening the end result and the berries added plenty of flavor.
As for my taste testers—three kids and four adults so far—they’ve had mixed opinions, but the power scone so far is in the lead five to one.
What’s your vote? Test the recipes yourself and let me know what you think!
Power Scones
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
½ cup oatmeal
6 tbsp sugar
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
10 tbsp cold, unsalted butter, shredded in a cold food processor
1 tsp lemon juice
1 to 1-1/2 cups berries or fruit (dried, fresh or frozen)
6 oz vanilla yogurt
1-2 tbsp skim milk
Turbinado sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Combine ingredients up to (but not including) butter and mix well. (These ingredients can be premixed and kept in the freezer.) Mix in shredded butter and fruit, integrating flour mixture into the butter with your hands. Do this quickly so that the butter does not melt. Gradually stir in the lemon juice.
Stir together the yogurt and milk and pour into the main mixture. Stir lightly until the dough comes together. Scoop dough onto lightly floured surface and knead twice. Divide the mixture into 2 balls, place onto parchment paper-lined sheet and press into a disk. Sprinkle tops with turbinado sugar. Slice into triangles using a pastry cutter or board scraper. Bake for 25-35 minutes until browned and set.
Recut along original lines. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, then cool on a rack.
Scones—CIA Recipe
17 oz pastry flour
2 oz sugar
.75 oz baking powder
.25 oz salt
7 oz butter, cold, cubed
12 oz diced apples
0.25 oz cinnamon
1.5 oz egg yolks
1.25 oz eggs
10.25 oz cream
Turbinado sugar (to taste)*
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the butter and apples and work the butter into the dry ingredients with your hands, piecing the butter out until you have chunks the size of large peas.
Combine the eggs, egg yolks and cream and add the mixture to the dry ingredients. Gently mix together (OK to use a standing mixer on low speed) until just combined into a dough.
Pat the dough into a square or rectangle approximately ¾” thick on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Cut the dough into triangles/wedges. Sprinkle sugar on top.
Bake at 375 degrees F until browned on the bottom and along the edges. Recut along original lines. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, then cool on a rack.
Copyright 2010 Pythia LLC. All rights reserved.
For the past few years I have made power scones for my family, trying to provide a healthful breakfast item and snack by loading it with whole wheat flour, flax seeds, and plenty of fruit. It’s my own recipe, one I created using a combination two sources: the list of ingredients from a favorite power scone we’ve had in the past (the bakery gave us the list of ingredients but not the recipe), and modeled after another recipe that had some similar ingredients. I went through numerous batches to tweak the recipe to incorporate fruit and lighten it from the hockey-puck texture of the original, and my family loves them.
Last week I had the luxury of attending Baking Boot Camp at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. One of our four days was focused on scones & muffins. I was excited to make more traditional scones and see how different it was from what I made. The CIA’s recipe incorporated eggs and cream, two ingredients completely missing from my recipe.
The CIA recipe and my power scone recipe are quite different from each other, and the contrast in ingredients is a wonderful illustration of the effects of gluten and fats on the texture and flavor of baked goods. Gluten is the substance in flour that reacts to moisture and activity to create strands like elastic bands that ultimately create the structure for your scone (or bread or cookie or cake). Different flours have different levels of gluten in them, ranging from cake flour at the low end, followed by pastry flour, all-purpose flour is somewhere in the middle of the range, and bread flour at the higher end of the range. In addition, the more the flour is “worked”—kneaded, stirred, etc.—the more gluten is activated, which will serve to tighten those elastic strands and provide more structure and, if overworked, stiffness. Whole wheat flour includes the bran from the wheat, which is sharp and actually cuts some of the gluten strands. This is one reason why items made with whole wheat flour are often more dense than their counterparts made with regular flour.
The traditional recipe from the CIA calls for pastry flour (less gluten in it than all-purpose flour), eggs and cream. Together they should provide a light, delicate texture to the final product. My power scones use whole wheat flour paired with bread flour, which has more gluten to help overcome the effects of the sharp bran and give the scones structure and lift. They also use yogurt instead of cream, and no eggs at all. I also add ground flax seed for additional nutrients. Both recipes use ample amounts of butter.
The results: The traditional recipe created a light, tender scone with a desirable amount of crumbling. The whole wheat flour and flax seeds in the power scones resulted in a darker-colored scone, but the bread flour did an effective job of lightening the end result and the berries added plenty of flavor.
As for my taste testers—three kids and four adults so far—they’ve had mixed opinions, but the power scone so far is in the lead five to one.
What’s your vote? Test the recipes yourself and let me know what you think!
Power Scones
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
½ cup oatmeal
6 tbsp sugar
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
10 tbsp cold, unsalted butter, shredded in a cold food processor
1 tsp lemon juice
1 to 1-1/2 cups berries or fruit (dried, fresh or frozen)
6 oz vanilla yogurt
1-2 tbsp skim milk
Turbinado sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Combine ingredients up to (but not including) butter and mix well. (These ingredients can be premixed and kept in the freezer.) Mix in shredded butter and fruit, integrating flour mixture into the butter with your hands. Do this quickly so that the butter does not melt. Gradually stir in the lemon juice.
Stir together the yogurt and milk and pour into the main mixture. Stir lightly until the dough comes together. Scoop dough onto lightly floured surface and knead twice. Divide the mixture into 2 balls, place onto parchment paper-lined sheet and press into a disk. Sprinkle tops with turbinado sugar. Slice into triangles using a pastry cutter or board scraper. Bake for 25-35 minutes until browned and set.
Recut along original lines. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, then cool on a rack.
Scones—CIA Recipe
17 oz pastry flour
2 oz sugar
.75 oz baking powder
.25 oz salt
7 oz butter, cold, cubed
12 oz diced apples
0.25 oz cinnamon
1.5 oz egg yolks
1.25 oz eggs
10.25 oz cream
Turbinado sugar (to taste)*
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the butter and apples and work the butter into the dry ingredients with your hands, piecing the butter out until you have chunks the size of large peas.
Combine the eggs, egg yolks and cream and add the mixture to the dry ingredients. Gently mix together (OK to use a standing mixer on low speed) until just combined into a dough.
Pat the dough into a square or rectangle approximately ¾” thick on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Cut the dough into triangles/wedges. Sprinkle sugar on top.
Bake at 375 degrees F until browned on the bottom and along the edges. Recut along original lines. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, then cool on a rack.
Copyright 2010 Pythia LLC. All rights reserved.
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