Potluck Potato Salad

I recently had an unexpected day by myself at home after returning from the American Cheese Society Conference in Raleigh, NC. What do I do when I I’ve got no plans and a sunny day alone ahead of me?

I cook!

I did a little recipe research and then hustled to the market for ingredients and further inspiration. Back in my kitchen in no time, it was like my own culinary amusement park. It wasn’t too long before a friend of mine dropped by to hang out and help me out, and by dinner time my house had inadvertently become the scene of a spontaneous and sizable dinner party. Hosting a bunch of dear friends after a day in the kitchen is just about the best day I can think of (second only to a similar day that includes my family).

I figure a lot of people are enjoying summer evening dinner parties right now with their friends and family, so today’s recipe is a twist on the potluck classic, potato salad. Rather than sopping with mayonnaise, this one is vinaigrette-based and features the red cabbage peperonata that you may recognize from one of my previous posts. The potato salad went great with an all-beef burger that we served at Bennett’s a few days later along with some other specials inspired by that dinner party.

Late Summer Potato Salad
(Yield about 12 servings)

5 pounds red potatoes cut into 1/2-inch pieces, skin on

1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/3 cup  olive oil
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
1 tablespoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pound peperonata
1-1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 2-1/2 ears)
1/2 cup shredded Flagship cheese
3 green onion tops sliced very thinly

Cook the potatoes in salted, boiling water about 10 minutes or until not quite tender. 

Drain the potatoes and set aside.

Whisk the vinegar, olive oil, mustard, salt, and pepper together until evenly mixed. In a large bowl, gently combine the cooked potatoes and dressing.  Refrigerate until cool.

Before serving, fold in the peperonata, corn, cheese and green onions until well mixed.

Enjoy! 

Farro Bacon Wild Rice Cake

Tossing onions in the Bennett's kitchen.

Most weeks, I share a recipe adapted from what we served the previous week at Bennett's. I love spending time in their kitchen, but I don't often get a chance to talk about how much I also enjoy working with the kitchen staff at the Pasta & Co.'s.

This recipe was served at Bennett's over the weekend, but the dish was all built around the awesome texture and flavor of this outside-the-box wild rice cake we developed for the deli case at Pasta & Co.

It's important to bake them just right, because the crisped outside and soft inside is a great contrast that makes it really versatile. They make a healthy snack on their own, or you can combine them with greens and protein for a well-rounded meal.



Farro Bacon Wild Rice Cake

Makes 7-8
3-1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 package Blue Bird Farms Potlatch Pilaf (1.18 lb. bag)
1 tsp. kosher salt (if necessary)

6 oz. uncured bacon
1/2 red onion

1 egg
1 Tbsp. Maximus/Minimus seasoning blend (available at Pasta & Co.)
1/2 tsp. thyme
1-1/2 tsp. sherry vinegar

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. kosher salt

4 oz Flagship cheese, very coarsely shredded or crumbled
1/3 cup chopped, fresh, flat leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Bring the stock to a boil in a large pot (if unsalted add the kosher salt). Stir in the farro mix, lower the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Most of the liquid should be absorbed and the grains should be al dente. Remove from heat and decant into a bowl. Chill.

While the farro is cooking, using a food processor, process the bacon to a fine dice and then transfer to a medium saucepan. Mince the onion in the food processor.
Over medium heat, cook the bacon, stirring occasionally to render the fat, about 10 minutes.  The bacon should be brown. Add the red onion and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the onion is soft. Remove from the heat and chill.

Combine the cooled farro and bacon mixture.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, Maximus/Minimus Seasoning Blend, thyme, vinegar, pepper, and salt. Add the farro mixture to the bowl and, with your hand, thoroughly mix the farro and egg mixtures. Gently fold in the cheese and parsley.

Using a ring mold (or your hands), form the mixture into uniform cakes approximately 1-inch tall and 3-inches across. Place on an oiled baking sheet.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until nicely browned. Let the cakes sit for a couple of minutes before removing from the pan.

At Bennett's, we served it with grilled King salmon, braised fennel and tomato broth.

Try out the recipe and please comment below on what you served with it!

Let me take a moment to say: I really, REALLY love fennel.
We braised them simply with some salt, lemon juice
and olive oil at 375 for about an hour and they were A-MAZ-ING.

Pepper Capponata Conchiglioni with Rockfish

Sometimes, once just isn’t enough. Your first visit to New York. A bite of steak. A glass of amazing wine. With things like these, one taste deserves another. Do you ever feel that way with ingredients that you’ve used? Those grapes from last week’s lamb special did that for me. There was something about their sweetness, their depth of flavor. I knew there was so much more I could do with them.

So, I set about to another recipe. This local pepper capponata with rockfish and pesto really turned out well. Try it at home and let me know what you think!

Pepper Capponata Conchiglioni with Rockfish
makes 4 servings

Capponata:
1 eggplant
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion
1/2 fennel bulb
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
pinch of crushed red pepper
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 cup roasted grapes

Dill Pesto:
1 tsp chopped garlic
1/2 cup Italian parsley, stemmed
1 Tbsp dill, stemmed
1 Tbsp preserved lemon
1 oz Beecher's Flagship cheese
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt
Dash of black pepper

1 1/4 cup conchiglioni pasta

2 lbs rockfish
2 Tbsp canola oil
Salt and pepper to taste

To make the capponata, pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Wash all the vegetables and cut into a medium dice, keeping all ingredients separated. Toss the eggplant in 2 teaspoons olive oil with light salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven until lightly brown and soft, about an hour.

Increase the oven temperature to 425 F. In a large roasting dish, toss the onions and fennel with 1 teaspoon olive oil, light salt and pepper. Sweat in the oven until translucent, about 15 minutes. Add the peppers and crushed red pepper. Roast until soft and lightly brown, but retain shape, about 15 minutes. Add the eggplant to  the dish and stir in tomato paste, red wine vinegar and roasted grapes. Finish by seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

For the dill pesto, simply combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and purée until smooth. Set aside.

Bring a pot of slightly salted water to boil and cook the pasta about 8 minutes. Drain noodlesand mix into the capponata. Do this near serving, so the noodles don't get soggy in the capponata.

Cut the rockfish into four equal pieces and sprinkle both sides of each piece with a little salt and pepper. Heat a little canola oil in a sautée pan and cook fish until done, about 4 minutes a side.

Plate with the capponata conchiglione pasta on one side of the plate and the pesto on the other, then lay the fish near the edge of the pasta so the fish has one end on the pesto sauce. Voilà!

Please, try this recipe out at home and let me know what you think in the comments!

Petite Filet with rhubarb, smoked grits and portabello-leek straw

All the wine went in the sheet pan.
No sips. I swear.

The sun is out again today! I have to admit that every sunny Spring day in Seattle I secretly believe that it will now be that way the rest of the year. Yes, my 52 years of personal weather data in the Northwest tells me otherwise…  But at least it brings Rhubarb.
At Sugar Mountain, we recently held a fundraising dinner to help out the Mercer Island Boys & Girls Club (you can see pictures on my facebook page). We put together a number of courses for the event, but the petite filet with roasted rhubarb was a particular hit.  So, we chose it to be this week's special at Bennett's and the featured recipe here on the blog.

This recipe has several parts, but don't get discouraged by the components. It turns out to be pretty simple.

The chopped rhubargb

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

3 stalks of rhubarb
1 cup plu 3 Tbsp sugar
1-750ml bottle redfruit-forward red wine
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 large head of celery
8 tsp canola oil
3 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 cups water

Cut & dressed celery

1 cup grits
6 oz smoked flagship, grated
1/2 tsp chile powder
1/4 Tbsp garlic powder
1/4 Tbsp celery salt
6-6oz petite filets
1 portabello cap - gills removed
1 leek (1 1/2 inches diameter)
1/2 cup flour

Directions:

Preheat to 375 degrees F. 

Glistening, roasted rhubarb

Cut the rhubarb into similar 3 1/2 inch pieces, reserving trim. Place the 3 1/2 inch pieces onto a sheet pan and sprinkle liberally with one cup of sugar. Pour the red wine into the sheet pan, being careful not to wash the sugar from the rhubarb. Roast the rhubarb for approximately 15 minutes, until barely softened. Remove the rhubarb to a separate bowl and leave the wine in the sheet pan. Place the rhubarb trim onto the same sheet pan, add the remaining sugar and return the pan to the oven for 10 minutes, until it's not quite a syrup. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan over medium heat, whisk in unsalted butter and reduce to a syrupy consistency while stirring.

Roasted celery

Increase the oven heat to 450 degrees F.

Clean and trim the celery into 3 1/2 inch pieces. Toss with 2 teaspoons canola oil, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and a couple grinds of black pepper. Place the celery on sheet pan and roast for approximately 15 minutes, until the celery has softened a little and has a small amount of brown. Reserve as a garnish.

Boil the water in a saucepan with a teaspoon of salt, and slowly stir in the grits. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook for four minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cheese and cook until the grits have reached your desired consistency (about 1 to 2 additional minutes).  A little “texture” is preferable.

Mix the remaining canola oil,the remaining salt, chile powder, garlic powder, celery salt and a pinch of black pepper, and rub the mixture into the petite filets. Sear filets in large a pan over high heat for about 1 1/2 minutes a side, until brown.  This step can be done as much as a day ahead.

Place the steaks on a grill over high heat, cover, and cook to temperature. Let the steaks rests for several minutes.

The Portabello-Leek Straw

Slice the bottom half off of the portabello cap to remove gills. Ideally using a mandolin, cut into very thin straws, about 2 1/2 inches in length. Clean the leek and cut into pieces identical to the mushroom straws. Toss each separately with just enough flour to make them dry to the touch. Fry briefly in canola oil at 385 degrees F in a pan or a fryer. Straws should be lightly brown and crispy. Salt to taste while still warm.

For plating, I recommend a rectangular dish. Scoop grits into the center. A Tablespoon of  the rhubarb reduction under the steak. Cut steak on a diagonal to create three triangular pieces to be arranged on the sauce. Lay a piece of roasted rhubarb against the other side of the grits and cross it with a piece of roasted celery. Top with a hefty portion of the portabello-leek straw.

Voila!

The staff at Bennett's really liked the way this one turned out too. You can see more pictures of the process on Bennett's facebook page. Love to hear what you think!

Asparagus soup with hazelnuts and Cholula

I told you to expect a soup recipe this week, and here it is!

Really, this recipe comes from the simplest kind of inspiration: a box full of vegetables.
Like a lot of people in Seattle, we get a regular delivery of organic vegetables and recently one of those boxes had, among other things, asparagus, potatoes, and fennel.  And it was cold out (surprise, surprise). So, I determined to make a soup. From that starting point came this recipe that enhances the asparagus with the sweet yet tannic flavor of hazelnuts and the signature kick of Cholula.

Makes about 6-8 servings.

What you'll need:

3 small russet potatoes, peeled & chopped

1 large leek, chopped
1.5 quarts chicken stock
Large bunch of asparagus
Medium bulb of fennel

Salt

Pepper

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 bunch spinach
2 ounces Flagship cheese, shredded
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
Cholula sauce
1/4 tsp ground fennel
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chile powder
1/2 tsp crumbled rosemary
1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast for approximately ten minutes until fragrant and slightly browned.

Once the potatoes are peeled and chopped, put them in a medium pot with the leek and chicken broth, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer.  Once your potatoes are soft (fork-test), put everything from the pot into a food processor, purée and reserve.

Bring the oven to 500 degrees F. Cut the asparagus and the fennel into 1-inch pieces and toss them with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread them evenly on a sheet pan. Roast them in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until brown on edges, but not soft. Remove from the oven, place in a food processor with the cleaned spinach, and pulse 4 to 8 times to achieve a rustic, rough-chopped look.

Ingredients can be held separately for several days. When ready to serve, combine the potato mixture and the asparagus mixture in a pot with rice vinegar, cheese and spices and heat through.

Garnish with one teaspoon of hazelnuts per serving and several drops of Cholula or your favorite bright red hot sauce.

It all comes out with a great trio of color - the mild green of the asparagus, the crispy brown of the hazelnuts, and the vibrant red of the Cholula.

Try this recipe out! Let me know what you think. As I said in post number one, I really would love to even workshop some recipes on this blog and would love your feedback.

Eat well,
Kurt Dammeier