Category Archives: Reno

01.24.13
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Turkey Left Over

I’m just getting around to writing about our leftover Thanksgiving turkey.
If we don’t serve a turkey on Thanksgiving, Carol likes to buy one anyway, just to have turkey leftovers. I’m no fan of sandwiches — as you must know by now — so I’ve made Turkey Pot Pie which is pretty good, and other kinds of soups and stews. This year, I was attracted to the Dish it Up column in the Reno Gazette Journal (RGJ) for Turkey Barley Soup. That column is written by Nancy Horn, owner of Dish Cafe and Catering in Reno. As you shall see, she writes about home-style food that tastes good.

The RGJ has a really good food section that appears on Wednesdays. It usually has five full pages and covers things interesting enough that I usually read it all. This week — January 23 — for example:

Do they cut the Mustard: We blind taste 11 national brands…
Dish it Up: Pantry Raid! Southwestern black beans
Courtney’s Kitchen: Chicken won tons, Orange beef by Courtney Barnes of Gourmet Rooster
In One Ear: Tidbits, sightings and buzz from Northern Nevada’s food and drink scene.
Tilapia steamed with soy sauce, ginger by Sara Moulton (AP)
Sweet potatoes loaded with cheese and kale by Elizabeth Karmel (AP)
Poached eggs over ricotta and arugula by J.M. Hirsh (AP)

Surprise! The the Dish It Up column for the week of November 27 was for Turkey Barley Soup. I wouldn’t be writing this if the soup weren’t incredibly good and EZ and the leftovers great. It seems as though it would freeze well, but ours wasn’t around long enough to try that.

start chopping… onion, celery, carrot

Continue reading →

01.07.13
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Salad and Sugo

How do you like YOUR salad?

By now, I’m resigned to the fact that I usually eat differently than other folks. You’ve seen plenty of examples in my BKFST posts. Now for salads.

I think my best salad experiences were in Jerusalem, where Israeli or Arab salads were the norm. As you can see, the wikipedia definition for each is pretty similar. Indeed, chopped tomato and cucumber is the base salad. In practice, many small plates of chopped vegetables often found our table, and one would take something from each. At breakfast in the hotels, the buffet followed the same principles.

I’m not a fan of lettuces or greens (derisively called leafs, by some non-foodies); although a good ceasar salad, properly made, is pretty hard to beat. At the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco — oh, how I miss that — hearts of romaine were available most of the year, and endive — crunchy and mildly bitter — for much of the year. Those kept well in the crisper drawer of our refrigerator and formed the basis for salads that I made. Arugula and frisee and radicchio — especially grilled — are okay, too.

Carol’s sugo with spaghetti and my salad

Last night, Carol got a container of her Sugo out of the refrigerator and said, “We have two endive, why don’t you make a salad for dinner?” At about the time to put pasta in water, I chopped the endive, threw it in my favorite wooden two-person salad bowl and rummaged around to see what else to throw in. I sliced some red radishes and tiny baby carrots we get from a guy at the winter market — Sundays 10am to 2pm, indoors at the Garden Shop Nursery. Reno is cold just now, but there is plenty of sun and he grows his vegetables (including chard) in a heated cold frame.

those baby carrots and radishes

Core, peel and cube a pear, that’s good for something sweet. If I didn’t have a pear, an apple would do. Slice in a couple of scallions and cube a fabulous pickled yellow beet.

I tossed all that together and put on a little more than a tablespoon of Marzetti Simply Dressed Ranch Dressing, just enough to coat and moisten everything, but not add a lot of taste. If I hadn’t had that, I would have used Newman’s Own salad dressing — or my own concoction of vinegar and oil and lemon juice. I seasoned with salt and pepper and just a pinch of sugar to make the beets and pear happy.

You’ve seen these beets on my breakfast plate. We get them at the Great Basin Coop, roast them for about 50 minutes at 400°F, cool, peel and put them in a jar. I mix 1/2 cup fresh orange juice, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 ounce Pastis and a good pinch of salt and pepper mixture in a saucepan, heat to boiling and pour over the beets. Refrigerate for a day and they’re ready to eat. (That’s for the yellow beets, for red beets the vinegar of choice is balsamic.)

the next morning’s breakfast of egg, beet and leftover salad

12.18.12
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Scallops: Marvelous: EZ

Scallop Pan Roast

I am a lover of scallops, and am always up for a way to prepare them other than the “sear and dress” methods.

Back in ought-eight Melissa Clark wrote about the way the Oyster Bar in New York prepares scallops. I made the recipe, filed it as Scallop Pan Roast and didn’t open it again until now. How silly of me. This time, I opened the recipe and re-read the story and prepared those wonderful scallops.

She starts:

A PAN roast at the Oyster Bar, like cheesecake at Junior’s and frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity 3, is one of those dishes New Yorkers love to champion, even if we haven’t tasted it in decades.

She goes on to write about those scallops and how she might bring the recipe up to date. Her story is so lyrical and charming that I’ll include the whole thing at the end, but first, the recipe, which I rewrote for the way I cook.

Scallop Pan Roast
based on a recipe by Melissa Clark in The New York Times, January 2, 2008.
Yield: 2 servings.

PREP
Put out 3 Tbsp butter, milk, cream, scallops to come to room temperature.
Make toast.

COOK
1. In a heavy saucepan [chicken fryer] over low heat, combine 1/3 cup bottled clam juice, 2 tablespoons butter, 2 Tbsp Heinz chili sauce, 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 4 tsp gin, 1/2 tsp sweet paprika, 2 dashes celery salt and 1 dash <strong>Tabasco; bring just to a simmer.

Add 1/2 pound scallops and let cook for 30 seconds without simmering (if you see a bubble, pull pan off heat for a few seconds). Add 1/2 cup heavy cream and 3/4 cup whole milk and continue to heat without simmering until mixture is steaming hot and scallops are opaque, about 2 minutes longer.

pan stew cooking

Place a piece of toast in each of two bowls and then add pan roast, dividing scallops evenly. Float 1/2 Tbsp butter on top of each bowl. Eat immediately. Continue reading →

12.05.12
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BKFSTS: HB Eggs

egg mangled while peeling… the bluish bit to the right is irrevocably stuck to the white (the knife was not used in peeling, it is there to keep the egg from rolling over)

What a mess.

I am a lover of hard-boiled eggs. I make them 4 or 5 at a time to have on hand for breakfasts, or just to salt and pepper and eat out of hand. They are an excellent source of protein, they go with almost anything, and they taste good. What’s not to like?

What’s not to like is that this time of year, with really fresh pasture raised eggs, they’re almost impossible to peel. I get my eggs from Hadji Paul’s Chicken and Feed who come to the Farmers Market at Garden Shop Nursery on Sundays.

HB egg for breakfast with green beans, beet, roasted cauliflower, bits of potato and cheese curds

egg tool, for slicing or sectioning a HB egg.

sliced egg breakfast with castelvetrano olives, red beets, yellow beets and cheese curds

“There are two peculiarities associated with hard-boiled eggs. One is the occasional difficulty encountered when peeling the egg. It turns out that peelability is affected by the pH of the egg white, and so by the egg’s freshness. If the pH is below 8.9 — in a fresh egg it is closer to 8.0 — then the inner membrane tends to adhere to the albumen, whereas, at the figure typical after three days of refrigeration, around 9.2, the problem no longer exists. Exactly what the chemistry involved is, no one knows, though some cooks claim that salt in the cooking water helps.”

On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, Chapter 2: Eggs

Joy, the egg lady says that to peel, the eggs must be 10 days old. The mangled egg above was one of three I kept for 10 days. Well there you go. But I hadn’t read Harold McGee and didn’t salt the water. Maybe that works. Continue reading →

11.26.12
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Thanksgiving 2012

Reno, Nevada

A sunny day — somewhat chilly outside — the warmth of family in the house. Football on the TV settles into the background. Folks are taking turns in the kitchen on their various dishes. The food, simple, but highly qualified to be described as Thanksgiving Dinner with all the Trimmings.

Gathered at our table, Brian behind the camera.

Carol’s Turkey
Inspired by Tom Colicchio’s Herb-butter Turkey
bonappetit.com

We bought a fresh turkey at Raley’s and ordered it butterflied and wrapped with neck, giblets, backbone, etc. The butchers did a great job and had it all wrapped and ready for us. (hint: wait until the week before Thanksgiving to order. Prices plummet.) 13 to 15 pounds was the size they offered; ours was 14.9 pounds, way too big for four folks, but there you go.

DAY BEFORE
When we unwrapped the butterflied turkey, we found it oh-so-easy to cut in half. We froze half, for a later date. Rubbed the fresh half on all surfaces with Diamond Crystal Kosher salt and put it in the refrigerator uncovered, overnight.

BROTH
Made broth with giblets, neck, backbone and whatever spare parts we had. You know how to make broth, don’t you? If not, see this.

DAY OF TURKEY
Two hours before oven put the 1/2 cup butter and the turkey on the counter to come to room temperature. Don’t wash the turkey.

Preheat oven to 425°F Allow 15 minutes extra so it’s really hot when the bird goes in. Continue reading →

11.14.12
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BKFSTS: grits oatmeal egg

Are grits groceries?
Then oatmeal must be groceries, too. And good for you, they say.
I’ve made grits or oatmeal for breakfast a few ways. They are almost always savory, and almost always involve a poached egg, on top. So, perhaps the subject of this piece is the poached egg.

Here are some savory grits topped by a poached egg.

I can assure you those grits were good, but I don’t remember what I put into them. For another gritty breakfast, I took the opportunity to lay out the ingredients, so there’s no doubt.

Here, I have a packet of instant grits, a bowl of leftover ham, and vegetables, to which I will add the grits and boiling water and stir. An egg to poach, and a saucepan to poach it in.

This is the result.

Thing is, I’m not fond of sweets… oatmeal is often served with sugar or syrup or something sweet like apples and cinnamon. I prefer savory with leftover (LO) bits of meat, fish or vegetables — or all of those. On the other hand, Carol made some baked apples — hollow out the core and stuff the apple with chopped nuts, butter, brown sugar and maybe cream and bake. I would chop up a LO stuffed apple — filling and all — and add to oats. That’s sweetness that I can get my mouth around.

But never mind that, here’s another breakfast with grits, not sweet. Continue reading →

11.07.12
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Tomato Peach Salad?

I’m doing some picture editing for a piece on breakfasts and I came across these pictures of a salad I did in August. Yes, I know it is now November and there are no fresh, juicy peaches or tomatoes, but you can revisit this next summer… I may even remind you.

Carol was reading from her iPad as I had finished my walk and was thinking about breakfast. “Here’s a thing about a peach and tomato salad,” she said.

“Sounds weird,” I said; “Why would anyone want to do that?”

“I’ve seen quite a few recipes,” she said; “This one from Food Network and I saw one in Cooking Lite.” She handed me her iPad. The recipe was two sentences:


Tomato-Peach Salad Recipe
Toss tomato and peach wedges with red onion slices. Drizzle with cider vinegar and olive oil; season with sugar, salt and pepper.

red onion, two kinds of tomato, peach

I had a beautiful O’Henry Peach, a Cherokee Purple tomato and an Early Girl tomato, and a swell right-size red onion. Peeled all and tossed as above, but with Balsamic vinegar. Pretty good breakfast, but I would say that the tomato doesn’t enhance the flavor of the peach, nor does the peach enhance the flavor of the tomato. Red onion is good and all together, the salad is quite refreshing.

all dressed and tossed

served — I slipped in a few bits of ham, just because

So here’s the proper recipe.

Tomato-Peach Salad Recipe
courtesy Food Network Magazine
Directions
Toss tomato and peach wedges with red onion slices. Drizzle with cider vinegar and olive oil; season with sugar, salt and pepper.

After, I looked on the internet and found a few other such recipes. It is interesting how they vary in style of writing, but are basically the same. Here are some other peach and tomato salad recipes. Who knew? Continue reading →

10.19.12
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Chicken Cut-up

I am so pleased… I just cut up a chicken. It took about 10 minutes of cutting and several hours of agonizing.

Now, I’ve cut up chickens before. I even took a knife skills class at CUESA. Here’s a picture of a half chicken that I cut up to make Fried Chicken just after I took the class in February, 2011. I wrote a story about it. Well, that was a year-and-a-half ago.

Last week we bought a whole chicken, frozen, from Hadji Paul’s, a chicken and egg guy at our local Garden Shop Nursery Farmers Market. We haven’t yet found reliable, sustainable meat guys, but this guy and his wife are reliable, their eggs are great and they just brought their first meat chickens to Market.

I flashed back to my eats story, The Root of a Stew from just this past April. The recipe calls for 3 leg and thighs, but I figured I could use the legs, thighs and wings of my chicken for this stew.

So I dreamed about cutting up that chicken, and in my dreams, all I remembered was holding up the bird by a wing, turning it a certain way and… and what?

This morning, after my walk and breakfast, I Googled “Cut up a chicken” and found a video from Food Network showing Alex Guarnashelli cutting up a chicken. Looked really easy. I went to the kitchen, got my chicken out of the fridge and everything came back to me, slightly different than the video.

Start with the wing, the way Dave-the-Butcher taught us. Pick up the bird by a wing, turning it a certain way so the weight of the chicken pulls the skin taught and make a cut where the wing meets the breast. Bend back the wing to locate the joint… make a clean cut around the joint and cut the joint.
Do the other wing.

Breast up,
Cut off the thigh and leg… make a cut and bend back so you can see the joint… make a clean cut around the joint and cut the joint.
Cut off the other thigh…
Separate the leg and thigh… make a cut and bend back so you can see the joint… cut cleanly through the joint.

Straighten the skin and plump the bird. Continue reading →

10.16.12
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We went to a movie and a swell dinner broke out.

Friday afternoon. “Let’s go see Trouble with the Curve.”
Turns out we had waited too long and it was playing in only one Reno Cineplex, the Century 16 Park Lane, south of Downtown, not our regular Riverside on Sierra by the river.

We left early, hoping to find a place for a bite before the film. Yelp said there were a few places nearby. We knew nothing about any of the places mentioned, so we had to go by name and curb appeal. We passed by Lulou’s on Virginia, which looked very modern and colorful, and opted for The Gas Lamp, a homey looking place, just off Virginia.

Wow! What a find. We walked in before the 6:30 end of Happy Hour, and sat at the bar, so all appetizers and drinks were half price. Better yet, the menu was creative and the food delicious; well prepared and presented.

We each ordered two appetizers — not because they were half price, well maybe — they looked great and we weren’t up for actual dinner-dinner.

smoked salmon carpaccio

I started off with the Smoked Salmon Carpaccio, thin slices of smoked salmon garnished with lots of capers and shaved parmesan, just enough to play a supporting role to the salmon. It was dressed with a non-assertive cream dressing. The grilled breads are very thin slices of baguette, “grilled to perfection.” I stretched those lovely things over my entire meal.

small ceasar salad with shrimp

For my second appetizer or first salad, I chose the Small Ceasar Salad and sprung for Shrimp to go with. It is what you think it is, expertly prepared and as Carol said, “They aren’t afraid to let you taste the anchovies.” (C had the small Ceasar as her first course.)

steamed clams

Carol’s ‘main’ appetizer course of Steamed Clams. I always think of steamed clams as “longneck or soft shell clams,” but these were cherrystone (littleneck). C said the juice was divine, and besides using her ample supply of bread, begged for my last piece of grilled bread to soak up the sauce. All in all, an extra-fine pre-film repast.

We’re learning that Reno offers many, many good local restaurants outside the casinos. I suspect we’ll be back to the Gas Light and pay a visit to Lulou’s, as well. Continue reading →

09.18.12
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BALLS TO THE GRILL

And off the grill

Just walk out the door…

Enamored as I am with the ability to walk out onto my terrace and grill, I want to grill EVERYTHING.
I’ve been thinking about meatballs, but that seems like a cool weather thing — not August in the high desert — but loving meatballs as I do, I got some ground beef at the Saturday Farmer’s Market.

Why not do meatballs on the grill? My swell grill pan should make that possible, at least on the no-stick front.

My recipe files produced only one recipe suitable — Marlena Spieler’s Big Meatballs, but those are kind of boring. The others are braised, rather than fried or broiled. Better to adapt something from meatloaf. I spied two major candidates:
K-Paul Cajun Meatloaf and Sam Sifton’s Fancy Meatloaf (NYT) that he made for Nora Ephron.

The very next day the RGJ (Reno Gazette Journal, a pretty good local rag) published “Make It Easy: Meatloaf burgers look ahead to Labor Day”. How’s that for timing? The recipe is eerily similar to K-Paul meatloaf, using cooked onion and green bell peppers, lots of good spices and ketchup. I decided to go with the RGJ version; see what it’s like.

And since I still have some caul fat in the freezer, I’ll just make some of the burgers as crepinettes. I’m using grass fed Angus ground beef from Hole-in-One Ranch and that is very lean, so I substituted 1/4 pound of ground pork for that amount of beef.

Here it is, mixed up and ready to be wrapped.

The meatloaf mixture is a bit loose and moist, but certainly formable. I wrapped 4 burgers and made two plain patties, put them in the refrigerator overnight to rest and get their act together.

The next day, I got the grill going, unwrapped two crepinettes and two plain meatloaf burgers.

Ready for grilling…

I used my grill pan for its non stick qualities. Once the grill was pre-heated, I turned off the center burner and turned the outside burner to medium. They took about 15 minutes to cook to 135°F. Continue reading →