Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Mache salad with Manchego, pine nuts and tortilla strips

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.
I was on my honeymoon in New Zealand, where we had some lovely meals, including a lamb Greek salad that is, I think due to the quality of the meat, the best Greek salad I've ever had. And it was at an English pub?

Also, have you tried fried taro root? Or what I think may be my favorite flavor of ice cream EVER, Hokey Pokey? The candy is good, but not nearly as good as the ice cream...

(Or seen Hobbiton? I hate to gloat, but OMG, if I could legally show you pictures of the fully dressed sets for "The Hobbit" that we saw, I totally would. Here's a taste, from someone else who can get in trouble instead of me.)

More importantly for you, while we were gone, most of the snow melted and the local farms and greenhouses started churning out the spring greens.
This week, I ordered some mache from Idaho's Bounty. I think I've had it in restaurants before, but never purchased it until now -- and apparently, according to a Google search I just did, I'm a little behind the times. It's a vaguely sweet, vaguely nutty leaf, but delicate in flavor, with not a lot of green leaf per stem, at least in the early-season version I got today.
I'm not sure if this is fortunate or not, but mache apparently can't be machine harvested, so its cost is usually much higher than other lettuces, but most of Idaho's Bounty's greens are a bit higher in price than grocery store greens anyway because they're hand-harvested, so I think I came out on the good side of that equation.

I started by looking up recipes for mache on Epicurious, my go-to site for recipe exploration. None of them had the mache heated, which after having a salad of it, I understand. It'd just disintegrate if you tried to wilt it, I think. Most of the recipes paired the mache with a fat (olive oil, avocado, pancetta, etc), and something with texture (green apples, Bing cherries, pistachios, etc).

So I threw some olive oil and a sprinkling of powdered chipotle in a fry pan, cut two small (stale) tortillas into 1/4" slices, and browned them in the medium-heat oil -- though in retrospect I should have let them brown a bit more -- then let them dry on paper towels. I trimmed the greens and tips off the mache (ending with probably about three to four very loose cups) and put them in a bowl, added a few tablespoons of pine nuts. Incidentally, is anyone else incredibly disappointed by the high price of pine nuts this year?
I then shaved some Manchego cheese (from Costco!) on top, drizzled on a tablespoon or two of the Persian lime olive oil (oh, nom nom nom) from Stonehouse California that we got for our wedding, and ground some fresh peppercorns over all of that. About half the fried tortilla strips topped it off, and voila...

This salad was surprisingly satisfying, I think primarily because of the oil, nuts and tortillas, but also delicious, thanks to the previously mentioned ingredients plus the mache, which stood up quite well to what I layered all over it.

(Above, the first image is my salad; the second is one I found on Google images, and I'm probably stealing it from someone. Sorry about that.)

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Mache salad with Manchego, pine nuts and tortilla strips

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: What do you think?

So I've started my canning for the year, and thus far have made only spicy dill pickles and hot sweet mustard pickles (I'll post about those soon).

I'm waiting for some additional bulk produce to show up on Idaho's Bounty, and in the meantime I bought 12 pounds of strawberries from Costco yesterday. I'm not certain what I want to make with them, but I know I don't want to make some boring old strawberry jam. Not that strawberry jam isn't delicious, but I have lots of jam in the cupboard already, and want to be more creative.

There are some great onions around, and I've been thinking -- strawberry-onion compote/marmalade? Possibly with some hot peppers in?

A quick perusal of the internet didn't come up with any recipes for that kind of thing, so I could be onto something not often done before. Which could mean it's a great idea, or a very bad idea.

What do you all think?

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: What do you think?

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Sour summer slaw

Sorry for the absence, folks!
I went off and got married, then unfortunately we had a loss in our family, so I haven't had a lot of time for creative cooking.

I did make a rhubarb pie last week, but it was honestly really, really bad. Not so much that I wouldn't eat it (PIE!) but not good enough for this blog, even to help others learn from my mistakes.

But the summer produce is coming on, and I'm getting excited. I'm going to wait to see what looks awesome and fresh in the next month or two, and start canning again. You'll get the story on that once I get my enormous canning pot out of storage :)

It being summer, it's time for barbecue, slaw and salads, and those last two were on the menu tonight. I had some great fresh fennel -- a whole bulb, feathery top bits (I'm not sure what to do with those) and all, from Idaho's Bounty. I sauteed half the bulb for something else, but the remaining half went into the Cuisinart's shredder attachment, with two small Fuji apples and about a dozen baby carrots (I would have used big carrots, but the babies were getting a little...rooty, so they needed to be used). I didn't have any cabbage, or that would have gone in too.

Mixing that in a bowl and removing the big, improperly shredded pieces, I added about three tablespoons of lime mayonnaise (interestingly, the Hellmann's intended for the Hispanic market has fewer unpronounceable ingredients and preservatives than the American varieties -- thanks, Grocery Outlet!), a tablespoon of lime juice, a tablespoon of grapefruit vinegar, salt, pepper and freshly-ground red pepper flakes. Oh, and a handful of dried cranberries, since I was out of raisins, for that hint of sweet. If I were to make this again, I think I'd use a little less total liquid, but that's just my taste; others might prefer the squishier texture.

I paired it with a simple salad: organic greens from Idaho's Bounty, topped with corn kernels, sliced almonds, a vinaigrette and some grilled Halloumi-style grilled cheese (not pictured). With a glass of red wine for a little mouth weight, delicious!

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Sour summer slaw

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Roasted Garlic Rosemary Potatoes and Spicy Salmon En Papillote with Squash and Carrot Base

Seriously, en papillote is one of my favorite ways to make fish. And it's so, so easy. Much easier than it sounds.

Tonight, before the fiance and I leave for Valentine's Day to his cabin in central Idaho (near Salmon), where there is no internet and no cell service, I made something that I knew would appeal to both him and me. This is a bit on the complicated side, but the gist of it is using a technique you're comfortable with (or getting comfortable with), with whatever ingredients you have on hand.

I started with about five medium-sized Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into approximately 1-inch cubes. I later decided that I should have cut the potatoes into smaller pieces; it would have created a better mixture of crispy edges and soft centers.
Into a small Cuisinart blender went two large sprigs of rosemary, stripped off their stems, with almost an entire head of roasted garlic. I added about half a cup of olive oil, and 1/3 to 1/2 cup of white wine. I pureed that all together until the rosemary was less than half a centimeter long in its largest pieces. I used about half this sauce on the potatoes, and the rest went into reserve for a future dish.

Once the sauce was blended, I tossed the potatoes in it, and set those aside in a large baking pan -- large enough that each piece of potato was touching the bottom of the pan. This went into a 425 oven for about 20-30 minutes until I was finished preparing the fish (and watching parts of the Olympic opening ceremonies). I turned the potatoes about halfway between placing them in the oven and adding the fish to the oven.

Separately, I added to the small Cuisinart blender the two halves of a medium-sized acorn squash from Idaho's Bounty that I cooked almost a week ago. That had been merely halved, filled with butter, brown sugar and a little salt, pepper and chili powder, and baked until soft. In addition to the squash filling, I added about one canned chipotle pepper (hard to tell, since once they're canned they break apart). This is important -- it gave the final product much of its bite.

I bought two pieces of salmon that were cut from about 2/3 down the length of the fish towards its tail. By buying two pieces that were approximately the same width (2-3 inches) and same thickness, I ensured that the fish would cook approximately evenly throughout the en papillote process. I believe they were previously frozen Atlantic salmon. Certainly not my favorite, but what's available in the middle of February in Idaho, and better than some of the alternatives.

Using my madeline (a really, really fun tool, and not too expensive -- I'd recommend the investment if you have the space), I julienned two smallish sweet carrots from Idaho's Bounty, and then hand-julienned two red jalapeno peppers from Albertson's. I'd never seen red jalapenos before, which is why I sprang for them instead of some other hot pepper.

Cutting the parchment paper into hearts, per Epicurious, I began with a layer of the squash-chipotle mixture, then topped that with the julienned carrot-jalapeno mixture, and placed the fish on top of all that. I sprinkled the fish with fresh-ground black pepper, fresh-ground sea salt, and drizzles of a red wine reduction (half a bottle of red wine simmered until it was about half a cup). Winding the parchment paper into packets, I put them on a baking sheet and popped them in the oven.
(And yes, I realize that in the middle picture up there, my drizzling of the red wine reduction created something halfway between a Roswell-esque alien and a cartoon character. Totally unintentional, I assure you).

Until they came out of the oven after 15 minutes, I didn't realize that I hadn't boosted the oven from 425 to 475, which I should have. Good thing I tested my piece of salmon, and put the packets back in the oven for another 10 minutes, because when I took them out first, they were underdone. Properly, the re-ovening should have been closer to 6 minutes, because by the time the packets were done, the thinnest ends of the pieces of fish were rather too dry. Still good though, and the middles were beautifully self-steamed.

My favorite bits of the finished dish were the potatoes, which despite being too thick had some gorgeous crispiness on the edges, and the underbase of the salmon (the squash/carrot/jalepeno). It verged on being too spicy, but only *just* not too much for my palate (which was tragically blanded by four years at boarding school).
For an accompanying beverage, I went with a Moscatto (a cheap one, to be sure, as I cannot afford luxury sparkling wines), which was beautifully sweet and bubbly atop the spicy thickness of the main dish. Highly recommended pairing.

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Roasted Garlic Rosemary Potatoes and Spicy Salmon En Papillote with Squash and Carrot Base

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Carroty Latkes

With a big bag of awesome organic carrots in the fridge, I couldn't stop with just one carrot recipe (by the way, in case you don't know, carrots should never be put near apples in the refrigerator -- it'll make the carrots hairy and bitter, just like Robin Williams' career).

It being Hanukkah time, I was inspired to make something vaguely latke-ish.
Into a bowl went half a diced white onion, two very large diced roasted garlic cloves, four small grated red potatoes, and a large grated carrot, and that got mixed. In went a couple tablespoons of almond flour and a couple of white flour, salt and pepper. It honestly could have used a little smoked paprika or hot pepper powder, a little zing to balance the flavor profile, but I didn't think of it.

Then we got to the eggs. Because it's utterly cold here, the chickens aren't laying, so I haven't been able to get eggs from our local growers' co-op, Idaho's Bounty. I got my usual backup store brand, Eggland's Best, but stupidly didn't open the carton until tonight. You can see what's coming.

I removed the eggs that weren't egg-white-glued to the walls of the carton, then used a knife to halve open the eggs that weren't broken but couldn't be removed, and used a spoon to scoop out what egg interiors I could before throwing the rest away. In total, I think approximately 4 and a half eggs got into my latke mix.

I started with a medium-heat fry pan, with a tablespoon or two of olive oil, and added my first batch. After some experimentation, I ended up on the higher end of medium-high by the last batch, with about half a tablespoon of olive oil per batch.

Being kind of a salt junkie (though don't think that means I'm absent a sweet tooth -- the fiance brought home white, dark and milk chocolate Lindor truffles on Saturday, and I've been having a really hard time staying out of them!), I topped the latkes with sour cream and sauerkraut. Which was absolutely perfect. The chilled pickled cabbage was utterly delicious atop the hot, crispy latkes.

So there you go, my carroty Hanukkah experiment. Now I need to figure out what to make for Kwanzaa!

For another latke recipe using sweet potato and lingonberry, click here.
Akitcheninbrooklyn.com is doing a roundtable on carrots for the month of December. For additional carrot recipes, click here for my Sweet Gingery Carrots.

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Carroty Latkes

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Sweet Gingery Carrots (as a side)

So I tried four new things tonight -- two mostly from a recipe, and two from my head.

The two from a recipe were basic white/wheat bread and mashed potatoes, out of Joy of Cooking. The two without were what I'm calling Sweet Ginger Carrots with Leeks, and Cream of Squash Soup. More about those last two later.


Potatoes:
Unfortunately, I decided to use my Cuisinart instead of a masher to make the potatoes, and they ended up being potato puree. I did originally try a ricer, but it was going so slowly that I gave up. I really need to learn how to properly use a ricer.
I should have gotten out my manual masher, but just didn't think about it, so into the Cuisinart the potatoes went. The flavor (check out that Joy of Cooking recipe -- it has garlic, celery, bay leaf, etc) was awesome, but the texture left much to be desired. I'll definitely remember that for the future.

Bread:
The bread is currently in the oven, but there were two major issues. The first is that it is very possible that I was using old yeast. And that, I've heard, is not a good thing -- your bread just doesn't rise. When I set the bread aside in a warm spot, it basically just didn't expand at all.
The second problem was that when I opened my white flour bag, it was full of gross bugs that looked to have been breeding there for a while *ICK!* Fortunately, I hadn't used it in a while, so I'm not too worried I've been downing, um, extra protein.
I sent the fiance to the store for some more white and threw the nasty flour in the trash, but my understanding is that timing is important when adding yeast to the dough, and I'd already done that with the wheat flour. So I had to leave the dough sitting for 20 minutes until he came back with more white flour. I'm blaming these two things for my imminent bread failure, and hoping to more successfuly explore baking further in the near future.
(P.S.: At the end of baking, the bread has good flavor, but is, as I expected, extremely dense -- if you end up with this problem someday, use as large a bread pan as you can, because the middle of the bread is good, but the crust is too thick. The small individual-loaf pans I used left too little good middle and too much thick crust.)

And now for the successes. W00t!

The carrots:
I sliced two large carrots to a medium thickness, and added them to a medium nonstick saute pan with about three tablespoons of butter, salt, pepper, half a diced white onion, a tablespoon or so of pinot noir, and about 2/3 tablespoon of pre-minced ginger. That pan got a lid, and about halfway through the cooking process I added about a tablespoon and a half of brown sugar -- late enough so it didn't caramelize too much and make everything too sticky/overbrowned.
In a separate pan I sauteed some leeks in Trader Joe's (OMG I miss Trader Joe's) black truffle oil and a little white wine, though I got distracted and let them go a mite too long, so a few sides of the leeks were a bit blackened (I threw out the worst pieces).

The soup:
Early in the day, I baked a squash (I think it was acorn, but I'm not certain, as I got a variety bag full of squash from our local growers' membership food co-op, Idaho's Bounty, and forgot what was in the bag). Halving the squash and removing the seeds, I put in the empty cavities about two or three tablespoons of butter, a heavy sprinkle of brown sugar, and a medium sprinkle of powdered red pepper, and baked that whole business until it was soft to a fork, probably a couple hours at 350. This is the easiest thing in the world, and there's so much you can do with the finished squash, I highly recommend it.
Later in the day, I sauteed a half-dozen diced raw garlic cloves, two large roasted garlic cloves, two large celery stems, a few slices of white onion, and salt and pepper. I put that and the scooped-out squash innards into the Cuisinart and pureed the whole mess with a tiny carton of heavy cream until smooth.
The puree was put in a medium pan on very low heat, and tasted as I was working on the other parts of the plate. It was tasting kinda meh, not complex enough, so I added some white wine and the juice from some canned chipotle peppers (probably half a tablespoon of chipotle juice total, for I'm guessing eight cups of soup). And that gave it the perfect heat -- enough to give it zing, but not so much that it overwhelmed the beautiful creamy squash flavor. I ended up topping it with some dried chives, which wasn't the right choice. Thinking back, I'd float a little citrus oil and some grated citrus peel, probably lemon, on top. Or perhaps some grated hard cheese of some kind, like an asiago, Jarlsberg or manchego (though that would be just for me, as the fiance isn't so fond of cheese). Or maybe fresh julienned Italian parsley. Mmmm...

Overall, the meal was a success: the soup and carrots definitely starred the show, enough that the weird potato texture almost got lost. Fortunately, there's some soup left, now waiting for another meal in the freezer. There were also left-over potatoes, which I'm eager to reinterpret in other contexts, perhaps as the plate base for some of the Lava Lake lamb sirloin tips I'll be getting from Idaho's Bounty on Wednesday. If I find something good to do with pureed potatoes, I'll let you know.

Akitcheninbrooklyn.com is doing a roundtable on carrots for the month of December. For additional carrot recipes, click here for my Carroty Latkes.

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Sweet Gingery Carrots (as a side)