a cook’s tale

Posted: July 6, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Life | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

I’m not a great writer, but I’m beginning to understand the process.  To me, it’s kind of like cooking.  There are some natural steps involved.  First I have to be inspired (what to make).  Then I need some words (ingredients).  Next, a story (recipe), then words on a paper (cooking), editing (tasting and adjusting the ingredients), then finally creating the cover and publishing (plating and presenting the meal).  Wow, that was pretty deep, huh?

Here is the breakdown in last night’s story:

The inspiration:  The vegan culture.

The words:  arugula, Japanese eggplant, sea salt, San Marzano tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, raw hot cherry peppers, 0recchiette pasta, asparagus, white balsamic vinegar,  plum tomatoes, garlic, cucumbers, dark balsamic vinegar, dried oregano, and cracked black pepper.

The story: Pour 1 cup dark balsamic vinegar in small pan, bring to a simmer until liquid is reduced by two-thirds.  Saute thinly sliced garlic until soft.  Add crushed San Marzano tomatoes, salt, pepper, and ripped fresh basil and bring to slow simmer.  In another fry pan, bring water to rapid boil, blanch asparagus for one minute, remove and put into an ice bath.  Thinly slice Japanese eggplant.  Wrap about 3 or 4 asparagus spears with the eggplant and secure with a toothpick.  Fill large pasta pot with salted water and bring to rapid boil, add pasta.   In another fry pan, saute wrapped asparagus spears in extra virgin olive oil until nicely browned.  Drain pasta and add to simmering tomato sauce for 2 minutes.

Creating the cover and publishing:  Spoon vinaigrette over arugula salad.  Plate pasta and eggplant wrapped asparagus (don’t forget to remove the toothpicks).  Drizzle reduced balsamic over eggplant and asparagus.

pasta in marinara sauce with eggplant wrapped asparagus

arugula salad with white balsamic vinaigrette

The end

Culture Shock

Posted: July 5, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Life | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

A few years ago, we hosted two boys from Korea through our church’s exchange program.  That’s when I learned how to make Kimchi.  After returning from a business trip to San Antonio, I obsessed on making Tex-Mex Cheese Enchiladas.   A trip to Rochester New York resulted in the perfect Buffalo Wing.  Of course there are, Muffalletas from New Orleans, Cincinnati Chili, Miami’s Cuban Sandwiches,  and one of my favorites, Hot Lobster Rolls from my home state of Connecticut.   On a recent trip to Pennsylvania, I had the opportunity to try Scrapple.  When I got home and researched the recipe, I was disappointed to find out that I would have to simmer a whole pig carcass for a day or two  if I wanted to authentically reproduce the recipe.  On St Patrick’s Day, I make Corned Beef and Cabbage, on Columbus day, I have to cook Italian (I know that’s a stretch), and while I haven’t got around to it yet, I know Mrs. BG and I will be sipping Mint Juleps on Kentucky Derby day one of these years.   I guess the point I’m trying to make is that I love to learn about different cultures through the food they create.  What I enjoy even more, is mixing and matching their ingredients and techniques into my own concoctions.

My little side trip into juicing led to vegan web sites, which led me to vegan recipes, which led me to quinoa and seitan (meatless meat).  Which led to this.

peppers and seitan in Korean brown sauce over quinoa

Have I mentioned how much I love cooking.

Basta!

Posted: July 4, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Life | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

I love to cook.  I warned you all that I did.  It’s my passion.  It consumes me.

About mid-way through Day 5 after returning from the store with a new batch of veggies, I overheard Mrs. BG suggest that she was going to cook dinner for her and my son.  What?!  Wait a minute, wait a minute, that’s my job.

I was already having trouble gagging down my juice drinks, so what followed seemed like the natural next step.  I was at the sink washing the vegetables…zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, celery, etc.,  when suddenly I had two visions of the future at the same time….kind of like a split screen, out-of-body experience.  On one side I saw myself jamming those precious pieces of God’s creation into the dreaded juicer….spilling their blood in one direction, and shooting their guts in the other.  The smell that occurs when this happens is indescribable, but violent death usually is.  On the other side, I saw my self gently caressing those beautiful gifts from the earth into perfect bite size pieces just waiting for me to perform my magic on them. I had just finished reading Planet Sarah’s Juice+Protein plan and saw that she had decided to start juicing AND eating so maybe I was influenced by that also.   So as I finished washing the rest of the haul, I slowly made my change.

Cooking comes naturally to me.  I can cook anywhere with anything.  For example, Mrs. BG and I used to be sailors and one weekend out on the boat while I was sleeping in the V-berth, she decided to surprise me and cook dinner on the cockpit grill.  It was dusk when I woke up and looked out at the cockpit and saw a silhouette of her sitting there with her head in her hands.  I got up and ask her “what’s the matter honey”?  She replied sheepishly,  “I dropped the grill overboard”  Really?  “Don’t worry” I said, “I’ll come up with something”.  Fortunately, the grate didn’t fall in the water, so I had a place to start.  So with an old pot, a colander, the grate from old grill, and my magic, within 30 minutes we were sitting down to scallops wrapped in bacon, with grilled chicken and corn.  I think I would do well on one of those cooking challenges where they give you a box of ingredients and tell you to have at it.  I’m sorry, I’m way off track here, aren’t I?

So I chopped an onion, garlic of course, zucchini, celery, carrots, and a little cabbage.  What to do, what to do?  I looked in the pantry and the freezer to see what else I could find that came from the earth and had never had a face on it.  Frozen corn, black beans, and canned tomatoes…that’s it, Chili!  I sautéed the veggies in a little olive oil, added a chopped jalapeno, some cumin, chile powder, some other spices, and some vegetable stock, and voila,  I did it.  The kitchen smelled like heaven.  The veggies that didn’t make the cut were giving me a standing ovation, and Mrs. BG easily relinquished the chef’s duties back to where they rightfully belonged.

Vegetarian Chili Big Guy Style

So have I totally copped out here?  Maybe.  Will I continue to juice?.  Absolutely.  Will I become a Vegan?  No.  Will I become a vegetarian?  I doubt it?  Will I go back to my old habits?  I really hope not and I hope all of you will help keep me some what on track.  It’s now after mid-night and it’s day 7.  Day 6 was very interesting also and I learned a lot of new tricks for cooking with vegetables, but I will share that another time.