Colcannon

I would like to think that my love of the potato comes from being partly Irish because, after all it was the Irish who took what was originally a South American cultivar and made it an old world menu staple, but I would be lying to myself.  I love potatoes because they are full of carbohydrates and taste good loaded up with milk and butter, or fried into chips and dipped into something fatty.  They satisfy in a way that makes me feel comforted and loved.  You could call them one of my “red light” foods because if I have them in the house I will eat them and it won’t be pretty.  I only buy them now when I am going to have company because really, who doesn’t love something made with potatoes. Oh sure, you may be avoiding them because of dietary concerns but you know you probably secretly shout with glee when you see them come out of the kitchen in one of their many presentations.

Anyway, back to the Irish.  I recently had people over for St. Patrick’s Day and went all out with the Irish food and discovered this dish when looking for Irish menu ideas.  I mean really, potatoes with cabbage cooked in cream and loaded with butter; wow!  I would never have of thought of that myself since I don’t eat a lot of cooked cabbage, but, you know, it was dang good.

Colcannon (adapted from Saveur)

4 to 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 pound russet potatoes peeled (about 3 large)
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter plus more for serving
• 2 cups thinly shredded cabbage
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 green onions green parts only finely chopped
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Place the peeled potatoes in a large pot and cover with water, bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 30 minutes.  Drain and set aside.  When cool enough to handle run the potatoes through a potato ricer.
2. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven, add cabbage and cook until tender-crisp, about 5 minutes.  Add milk, cream and green onion and bring to a simmer.  Add the riced potatoes and salt and pepper and mix until well blended and the potatoes are reheated through.
3. Top each serving with a slice of butter.  Serve hot.

St. Pat's Green Eggs and Ham

Okay, I know Saint Patrick's day has come and gone, but to be honest with you I can't seem to get my act together very quickly to download and edit my photos, get the recipe typed up and write something pithy about the whole thing in any sort of timely manner like some people I know (you know who you are).  So here I am nearly a month later sitting down and getting the darn thing posted.  Oh, sometimes I can manage getting it all done in the same week, but frankly I am totally on "time delay" and maybe even "pause" at times. 

Anyway, back to St. Pat's day, I had some people over for a dinner of Irish stew and thought these green eggs would be a fun nosh while we waited for the stew to finish up in the oven.  I found the recipe at Food Network and adapted it to my taste by using a little less water cress and adding some hot sauce.  The color was something special and the flavor was unique.

Green Eggs and Ham (adapted from Food Network)

6 servings

Ingredients:

• 6 hard boiled eggs
• 3/4 cup water cress leaves coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped green onion, white and some green
• 2 tablespoons fresh tarragon
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 3 to 6 dashes of hot sauce (I used Tabasco)
• 6 1-inch square ham slices cut in half to form triangles

Directions:

1. Peel the eggs and cut in half.  Place the yolks in the bowl of a food processor.  Add the water cress, mayonnaise, green onion, tarragon, salt, pepper and hot sauce.  Process until smooth.
2. Fill the egg white halves with the egg yolk mixture and garnish with ham triangles.

Ancho Chicken Tacos

Okay, so you may look at this recipe and decide that it is way too easy to bother with, but you would be missing out on one flavorful taco.  The chicken is the star, and the toppings can be whatever you like, but if you can find ancho chile powder (I found it at my local grocery in the spice section) the flavor is transcendent.  The original recipe called for cooking the chicken on the stove top, but I decided to do it on the barbecue.  Awesome!  Follow the link to Epicurious if you want to use the pan method.  I will be making these again, and again.

Ancho Chicken Tacos (barely changed from Epicurious)

6-8 servings
 

Ingredients:
 

For Chicken:

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 3 tablespoons ancho chile powder
• 3 tablespoons ground cumin
• kosher salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

For Tacos:

• Flour or corn tortillas
• shredded lettuce
• sliced radish
• pico de gallo
• cilantro
• sour cream

Instructions:
 

For Chicken:

1. Place chicken in a bowl and toss with ancho chile powder, cumin, and salt to taste.  Cover the bowl with clear wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for 2 to 4 hours.
2. Heat your barbecue to medium high.  Remove the chicken from the fridge about 30 minutes before you are ready to grill it.  When grill is ready add chicken pieces and grill until chicken is cooked through and has nice grill marks, turning once, about 4 to 5 minutes per side.  Transfer to a plate an let rest for 5 minutes lightly tented with foil.
3. When ready to serve, cut the chicken into ½ inch pieces.  Check for seasoning and add more salt if needed.

For Tacos:

1. Warm the tortillas in the microwave or in a skillet.  Top each tortilla with some of the chicken, shredded lettuce, sliced radish, pico de gallo, cilantro and sour cream, roll up and eat. 

Brussels Sprouts with Figs Jam and Walnuts

According to my name I should be all about figs and artichokes, but you name a blog what you name it in order to convey the tone of your writing and then you live with the choice, hopefully happily.   I think that back in the early days of this blog I made some sort of lame excuse for why it is titled “Figs and Artichokes”, but the total truth is I just liked the way it sounded as a food themed title and it truly was just happenstance that David Tanis of Chez Panisse named his first book “A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes” prior to my starting this blog and his second book “Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys” after I had been into it for a while.  Great minds…maybe.   Don’t get me wrong, I do like both of these things a lot, but I can’t truthfully say I am obsessed.  I toyed with the idea for a blog about bacon, but even I cannot see myself locked into a topic so narrow.  In fact even this blog, which is about food and my experiences with it, will sometime wander off the mark.  Not by much, but sometimes. 

But I digress.  Since I have entitled my blog “Figs and Artichokes” I do make some effort to celebrate these two ingredients which is how I found myself raiding my pantry for a jar of fig jam (always on hand), some walnuts and a bag of Brussels sprouts that have been in the fridge for a couple of days.  The sprouts and walnuts with their slightly bitter bite pair wonderfully with the slightly sweet fig jam.  I absolutely loved this dish.

 

Brussels Sprouts with Fig Jam and Walnuts

2 to 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups sliced Brussels sprouts
• ¼ cup chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons fig jam
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Melt the butter in a medium to large sauté pan until it starts to bubble over medium high heat.  Add the Brussels sprouts and sauté until the sprouts begin to brown, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the walnuts and continue to sauté for another two minutes.  Add the fig jam, salt and pepper and stir until jam is loose and has coated the sprouts.  Remove from heat and serve warm.

Pork Tenderloin and Scallion Stir Fry

 

There is nothing easier than a stir fry to get lots of flavor on the plate in a short amount of time.  I am a fan of all things stir fry during the work week when I come home tired and really don't want to put a lot of effort into feeding us, but don't want to give up on having something tasty.  This is probably one of the simplest stir fries because there is very little prep.  To make it even quicker you can make up the marinade over the weekend and keep it in the fridge until you are ready to add the pork. 

 

Pork Tenderloin with Scallion Stir Fry

 

4 servings

 

Ingredients:

 

For the Marinade

• 1 1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed, silver skin removed, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic finely minced
• 2 teaspoons grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon mirrin (rice wine)
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar

For the Stir fry

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 8 scallions (green onions) white and some green parts cut into 1-inch pieces and then cut in half lenghtwise
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• rice

Instructions: 

1. Place the pork in a re-sealable plastic bag.  Mix together the garlic, ginger, corn starch, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, mirrin and sugar and pour over pork.  Seal the bag and let pork marinade for 30 minutes at room temperature.
2. Heat vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet until oil is shimmering, add pork and marinade and cook until pork is no longer pink, about 1 minute, add scallions and 2 tablespoons soy sauce and cook until onions wilt.  Remove from heat and drizzle with sesame oil.  Serve with rice.

 

 

 

 

Chicken with Red Wine Vinegar

If I had to make a choice amongst all of the proteins out there, and I am saying “if I had to choose”, I would choose chicken thighs.  I love chicken period, but the thighs just contain the most flavor of any part of the chicken (we will pretend that I don’t also love chicken liver pate).  I pretty much use chicken thighs in any recipe that calls for the bird.  There are a few exceptions I can think of, but generally it is my go to “part”.  The thing I like most about using chicken thighs (besides their flavor) is the fact that you really have to try to make them dry, so if you aren’t really much of a cook you can still get a moist and tender chicken dish if you use thighs.  

This recipe comes to me by way of Saveur magazine.  There is not much that I changed other than using all chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken cut up, and Parmesan cheese instead of pecorino, but really only minor changes and having never had the original dish the recipe was meant to recreate I was pretty happy with how this turned out.  I was a bit concerned that the red wine vinegar would be too overpowering, but I was happily surprised at how the vinegar brought up the flavor of the chicken, cut through the fat and combined with the cheese to be something extra special.

Chicken with Red Wine Vinegar (adapted from Saveur Magazine)

4 to 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 6 chicken thighs with skin and bones
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 4 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
• 1⁄3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 tablespoon olive oil, divided
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 cup red wine vinegar

Instuctions:

1. Preheat oven to 500˚.
2. Season the chicken thighs all over with salt and pepper, then let sit for 20 minutes at room temperature.
3. In a food processor, finely chop the garlic, Parmesan, 3 tablespoons olive oil, oregano, and thyme; set aside.
4. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken thighs, skin side down, and cook until golden brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. Turn chicken pieces over and lightly blot the skin with paper towels, then top chicken skin with the cheese/herb paste.  Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook until well browned and cooked through, about 20 to 25 minutes.
5. Remove the skillet from oven and remove most of the fat (I left about a teaspoon).  Add the red wine vinegar; let it sizzle for a minute then spoon over the chicken. Transfer chicken to a serving dish and pour pan sauce over it.

Agave Glazed Pork Belly with Grilled Pineapple

 

Okay, I really wanted to like this one a whole lot more than I did, especially since it is a time consuming dish to bring to the table, but I think it was a personal thing for me in that I was not happy with the poblano chili flavor in the sauce.  They added a bitterness that I didn’t really care for.  I think I will try Hatch chilies or Anaheim chilies next time.  There will definitely be a next time because I really can’t fault anything else about this dish.  Really, pork belly and pineapple on the grill, you bet!  Here is a link to the original recipe.  I cut the recipe in half and used a piece of pork belly that did not have skin or bones, but didn’t really change anything else.

 

Agave Glazed Pork Belly with Grilled Pineapple (Bon Appetit Magazine)

4 to 6 Servings

Ingredients:

• 1 2-pound pork belly without skin
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 3 poblano chilies, stemmed, coarsely chopped
• 1 habanero chili, stemmed, sliced into 1/4" rounds
• 2 Serrano chilies, stemmed, chopped
• ½ cup agave syrup divided
• 1cup water
• Vegetable oil
•  ½ ripe pineapple peeled, cored, cut into 1/2" rounds
• ⅛ cup cider vinegar
• Tortillas for serving

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 250°. Season the pork belly all over with the salt and pepper.
2. Place the three different chilies in a medium roasting pan.  Place the pork belly on top of chilies and drizzle with ¼ cup agave syrup. Pour remaining ¼ cup agave syrup and 1 cup water into pan. Cover the pan tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil.
3. Place the pan in the oven and cook the pork belly for 3 hours, basting with pan juices every hour. Turn the pork belly cook for an additional 3 hours or until the pork is very tender.
4. Transfer the pork belly to another rimmed pan (like a casserole dish) and cover it with parchment paper.  Place another, smaller pan, on top of the parchment covered pork belly and place a weight of some sort in the pan to press down on the pork belly  (I used a couple of cans of whole tomatoes)  Place in the refrigerator and chill overnight. 
5. Meanwhile, strain the cooking liquid from the roasting pan into a saucepan reserving solids.   Gently simmer the cooking liquid until reduced to about ¾ cups, about 35-40 minutes.  Add the chilies back to the liquid and remove from the heat.   Let the glaze cool then chill overnight.
6. When ready to eat reheat the agave/chili glaze over a very low heat and keep warm.
7. Prepare your grill of choice to hot heat and brush the racks with oil. Grill the pineapple slices until nicely charred, about 2 to 3 minutes per side and set aside on a plate when done.
8. Reduce the heat of the grill, or let cool to medium heat. Slice pork belly into 1"-thick pieces. Grill the slice until warmed and crispy, about 3 minutes per side brushing each side with some of the agave/chili glaze.
9. To serve, place a couple of pineapple slices on each plate, top with a couple slices of pork belly and drizzle with some of the agave/chili glaze and a little vinegar.  Serve with warm tortillas.