Mole Negro

This was also invented by me based on some recipes online. This was my most successful mole negro to date, so I will blog it. As I see it, the ratios of this recipe depend a lot on what you're looking for in a mole. The important thing to take away is the method.

Ingredients

• 3-6 dried Mexican chiles of various sorts. We went with some smokier varieties.
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp raisins (ish)
• Pinch of clove
• 2 pinches of allspice
• 1/4tsp cinnamon
• 1tsp adobo
• 1/2 an onion, chopped
• 1/4c (or so) bittersweet chocolate
• 2 tbsp almond butter (or I guess peanut butter if you can't it? I don't know - might consider just using almonds)
• water

To a sauce pan, add the onion and saute with some neutral oil. When it gets translucent, add the chiles, garlic, clove, allspice, cinnamon, and adobo and toast for a while. Then add about 1c water (enough to cover) along with the raisins and bring to a boil for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and blend in a blender until pretty damn smooth - about a minute on high. Pour this back into the pan and add the chocolate, stirring until it's melted. Then add the almond butter and do the same. Taste it and adjust seasonings as necessary. Now return it to heat and bring it to a boil. The almond butter should cause it to thicken considerably. Thin to desired consistency and salt to taste.

Thoughts: This was our first really successful mole, and I think that the differences were boiling the mixture and blending it in an actual blender, not using a stick blender. Those things are fine, but they won't get the texture REALLY smooth like a stand blender will. I feel like when I made this, I may have added more than 1/4c chocolate. You can also add cocoa powder or more chips if you don't get enough chocolate flavor, but the chocolate shouldn't overpower everything. We served this on fish tacos. Then on shrimp tacos. Then on enchiladas. I don't think we've used it all yet, but it's good.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Gratin Aux Fruits De Mer Et Rutabagas

This was an invention, based partly on Julia's recipe from Mastering the Art and based partly on a Rutabaga Gratin recipe we found elsewhere on the internet.

Julia's recipe sounds odd to the modern American ear because she basically mixes canned salmon with bechamel and bakes it. I guess you'd have to have been there.

As Julia describes it, a gratin is more or less a quiche without the crust, but none of her gratin recipes call for egg, so I suspect that this is more her way of thinking about it than an actual rule. Typically, a gratin is a layered dish of bechamel, filling, and cheese, which is then baked. OKAY FINE SO IT'S A CASSEROLE. WHAT. WE'RE FROM THE MIDWEST.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs of rutabagas, peeled and sliced thin (we used a mandolin attachment to our Cuisinart)
• .25 lbs frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess moisture
• 8oz salmon (we used fresh, with directions to follow, but smoked would be better!)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• other vegetables you want to add, chopped - we added the chopped stalks of puntarella we obtained - the leaves of a variety of chicory - which added a subtle bitter flavor that worked well here.
• ~1c whole milk
• 3tbsp butter
• 3tbsp flour
• 1.5c gruyere cheese or similar
• thyme, oregano, other herbs you want, salt to taste

To start out with, the fish. If you're using fresh, place the fish in an oven-safe container of some sort that can be covered - we used a stainless steel pan that has a (partly) oven safe lid, but you can use foil if you don't have this. Sprinkle thyme, oregano, pepper, and any other herbs you want on the fish and pat down to make an herb crust. Place in a 250 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, until it's cooked through enough that you can flake the salmon into pieces.

When that's ready, preheat the oven to 350.

Make the bechamel by cooking the onions (and other vegetables, if using) in butter. Add any herbs you want. When they're softened, add flour and stir to cook for a minute. Then add the milk and bring to a boil. It should thicken considerably. You want a "medium consistency" so you may have to thin the bechamel at this point.

At the same time as you're doing that, set some water to boil. When it boils, add the rutabagas and let boil for 4ish minutes (3-5, depending on how thinly you sliced them). Drain.

In a 9x9 baking dish, add some of the bechamel/vegetable mixture and spread over the bottom. Add a layer of half the rutabagas, then a layer of half the salmon, more bechamel, half the cheese, ALL the spinach, the other half of the rutabagas, the other half of the salmon, the remainder of the sauce, and the remainder of the cheese (in that order, bottom to top). Pack down lightly as you go to make sure everything is settled.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 30-40 minutes, until bubbling on the sides and golden brown on top. We went 40 minutes then broiled the sucker to get browning, but it worked. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before you try to eat it.

Thoughts: This turned out well, particularly considering it was at least partly invented by us. I would say that a bit more salt would have been nice - the rutabagas really absorbed the salt we added. Also, smoked salmon would have worked slightly better, although this was good. This was sort of an unusual dish for us. I will say that it was better the second day, when everything had a bit more time to adequately congeal. Also, this allowed us to use a ton of the items from our farm share, so that's always a plus.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our best chocolate chip cookie recipe to date, I believe? I think that when we make Wookie Cookies next, it may behoove us to take some lessons from this recipe. Based on Alton Brown's recipe.

Ingredients

• 4oz unsalted butter
• 6oz unbleached AP flour
• .5 tsp salt (to taste - we used .75ish)
• .5 tsp baking soda
• 4oz dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• .75 tsp vanilla extract
• 6oz (1c) chocolate chips (we used bittersweet).

Melt the butter. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda in a bowl. In an electric mixer (with paddle attachment), add the butter and sugar and beat for about 2 minutes. Then add the egg and vanilla and continue to beat until you're satisfied, I guess. Add the flour mixture and mix until thoroughly combined. Then toss in the chips and beat until they're well-mixed-in.

Toss the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 375. When they come out, scoop on to parchment-lined cookie sheets (probably just one sheet if you make a single batch). Scoop into 1.5" balls or so and space them out as evenly as you can. Bake for 15 minutes, depending on your elevation. Take them out when they're JUST turning a pale golden. You don't want them to get crisp, after all.

Thoughts: We've made several versions of chocolate chip cookies before, but these came out very well. They were chewy and cakey and soft. AB uses bread flour, and we didn't have any when we made these, so maybe that's why they came out more cake-y. Next time we will try with bread flour, I think.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Frisée and Wild Mushroom Salad with Poached Eggs

Pretty self explanatory.

Ingredients

• 10-12oz creminis, sliced (or whatever mushrooms you can get your hands one)
• 2 small heads of frisée, torn into bite-sized bits
• Enough eggs for however many servings
• olive oil
• juice of half a lemon
• salt

Straightforward recipe: Saute the creminis in some olive oil. When they're cooked down, toss them with the frisee. Squeeze lemon juice over the whole thing. Poach eggs and top the salad with the poached eggs. Done.

Thoughts: Simple and delicious. I don't know how often we find ourselves in possession of frisée, but that's a farm share for you. In the future, I might consider adding thinly shaved parmesan or similar. Actually, we did this a few times when we had it. So there you go. Could possibly have used a bit more "dressing" - if I were to do it again, I'd make a light vinaigrette but with lemon juice instead of vinegar, and possibly mayo instead of mustard as an emulsifier.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Leek Confit

Another bit of an experiment. This one went pretty well. I would try this again, possibly. We had it with crackers and cheese, then later we tossed it in with some pasta. It's versatile. Bears further exploration?

Ingredients

• all the green parts from 3 leeks
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 2 tbsp water or so
• salt to taste

Melt the butter in a large saute pan. Toss in the leeks, water, and about 1/2 tsp salt. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring often, for, like, ever. I think we did it for 30 minutes, but maybe would have benefited from longer. When you're done, uncover and evaporate the excess water. Serve.

Thoughts: It's an interesting idea. I had previously read about broccoli confit, which also sounds like something worth trying. You could also possibly do this in a slow-cooker. Anyway, it gives us something to do with the green parts of the leeks when we want to make vichyssoise the proper way.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Lamb Meatball Curry

It was an experiment, anyway.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground lamb
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 egg
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• water
• about 1/4c (?) cream
• salt to taste

Mix the meat, garlic, pepper, garam masala, and egg into a meatball mixture, then form into 1.5" diameter meatballs. Pop them in a 375 degree oven on a cookie sheet covered in foil for about 20-30 minutes, or until they're about done. I think at the end we broiled 'em to get a little char.

Meanwhile, cook the onion in a pan with a little neutral oil. When that's done, toss in the remaining spices (cumin, ginger, turmeric) and cook for a little bit. Then add the tomatoes and the tomato paste. Cook until thickened.

When the meatballs are done, add them to the onion / tomato / spices mixture. Add just enough water so that nothing burns and cook for another 10-20 minutes. When you're getting to the end, let most of the water evaporate off and replace it with some heavy cream. Serve over rice.

Thoughts: The meatballs were really the highlight of this dish. I'm not sure the sauce did too much for it. So I think we're going to have to tweak this idea a little bit. I think in the future I would use crushed tomatoes, or else possibly blend the whole sauce before adding the meatballs. Also might use some madras curry powder? Not sure about that. There was something missing here.

Disaster Index: 4/10

Crumpets

We have a huge back-log of recipes to blog. We made these a couple months ago.

Ingredients

• 1c milk
• 1c warm water
• 2.25 tsp yeast
• 1tsp sugar
• 1.75c unbleached AP flour
• 1/2tsp salt
• 1/4tsp baking soda
• a little hot water

In a bowl, mix the water, milk, yeast, and sugar. Then add the flour and salt. Stir into a batter and let sit for about an hour and a half to rise. Then mix the baking soda in just a little hot water and add to the batter and stir. Cover and let rise again for another 30 minutes.

When that's done, spoon the mixture onto a hot griddle (350 degrees or so) in well-greased English muffin rings (well, cookie cutters, tins that you've cut both sides off of, etc). Cook until the top starts to look quite dry, about 7 minutes, then flip and cook the other side for just a minute or two before removing.

Thoughts: Although these weren't bad to eat, the texture was a lot more cake-y than I had hoped, and there were totally not enough bubbles. I'm not sure how I would fix that. The flavor was good but not too exciting. Maybe next time needs more leavening and a more liquidy batter? I really have no idea.

Disaster Index: 4/10