Recipe: Polenta Arrabiata

Easy for camping. Even easier at home on a lazy hungry night. I can be eating this in about 20 minutes.

Polenta Arrabiata

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 small onion, rough chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large can roasted diced tomatoes

cayenne pepper flakes

salt and pepper

fresh basil, chopped (any fresh herb really)

1 tube polenta

1 Tbs. olive oil (I used a garlic chili oil)

In a medium saucepan or cooker, add olive oil and heat to medium. Add onion and sautee for a couple minutes. Add garlic and cook a few minutes more. Add tomatoes and stir. Cook until the sauce is thickened, about 10 minutes. Add cayenne, salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped fresh herbs and remove from heat.

While sauce is cooking, slice polenta into 1/2" thick rounds. Add oil to a cast iron or other nonstick skillet and pan fry polenta rounds over medium heat until crispy and brown.

Pour the spicy sauce over crispy polenta and enjoy!

Recipe: Greek Melt

Mmmmmmmm Cheesy! Fast and easy. Who could ask for more?!

Greek Melt

2 Tbs. butter
1/2 lb. Muenster cheese, chopped or sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 lemon
Warm crusty bread

In a cast iron skillet over medium-low heat, melt butter. Add cheese and garlic evenly around pan and heat until the cheese begins to bubble around the edges. Remove from heat, sprinkle with lemon juice and serve in the skillet with warm crusty bread.

WCN! This Wednesday ~ Campfire Cuisine

Tune in to 88.7 WMMT at 6pm on Wednesday September 1st

for the world's only live radio cooking show (that we know of) What's Cookin Now!

This months show finds Jenny, Jonathan and Tricia exploring the wide world of Campfire Cuisine. You will be amazed at the delicious delicacies and tasty tidbits that can be created over burning wood. Camping doesn't have to mean your stuck eating beanie weenies. potted meat and cheetos. Join 3 geeky campicureans for camp cooking tips, witty commentary, sexual innuendo and as always, yummy food.

Tricia will show us how to make an easy cheesy garlicy appetizer on the fire. Follow that up with some pan fried polenta and spicy arriabata sauce. What are Jenny and Jonathan cooking!??! Well, you'll just have to tune in to find out! Don't miss this hour full of fun and deliciousness.

Be sure to friend us on facebook. And if you like what you hear on WMMT, make a donation to support public community radio.

that's right Saturday night.

Today was a day for nesting. Cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry and more cooking. I've been thinking alot lately about Grandma Toy's Thai Eggrolls.

If you are one of the 5 people who regularly listen to What's Cookin' Now! then you already know but just in case... Grandma Toy is my husband's ex-wife/baby momma's mom and is from Bangkok, Thailand. She is a wonderful cook and gracious hostess. She invited me into her kitchen and taught me a few of her classic recipes.

I must admit that I change the eggroll recipe a little. I add carrot because I think it makes them prettier.They are more a fried springroll than an eggroll but she calls them eggrolls so I call them eggrolls too. Who am I to argue with her about Thai food names!??! Anyway, I haven't made them in forever because it takes a while when your kitchen helpers are away at college. But I was craving them... Soooo, I cooked a pound of ground beef and boiled 1/2 pound of shrimp. Chopped onion, celery, green onion and cilantro, shredded carrots, soaked and chopped bean thread, added some seasonings and got Sam to mix it all up. I ended up rolling 27 eggrolls.

Fried a few because you have to test to make sure they are good! We ate 6. Yes, 3 each for dinner and put the rest in the freezer for future easy deliciousness.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

The dipping sauce is made of pancake syrup, white vinegar, sweet chili sauce and salt. Weird huh? But soooo tasty.

Then, I needed to use up a bunch of tomatoes that my nice co-worker Kasey gave me so I decided to make a from scratch spaghetti sauce. Blanched, peeled and tossed those ^ tomatoes (2nd batch was a ton of tiny tomatoes) into a pot with a little water and a little salt and put it on medium heat. A couple hours went by, stirring sometimes and adding water if needed. The more it cooked, the more seeds came out. seeds, seeds, seeds. They were everywhere. It was waay too seedy to make spaghetti sauce so I decided to try a blended tomato basil soup. Sauteed some garlic and onion in a little olive oil till it was soft, picked some basil off the back porch, chopped it up, added everything to the tomatoes and pureed the whole mess with my immersion blender.

If you don't have an immersion blender, buy one. They are affordable, handy, easy to clean and kinda fun to use. The soup turned out great. It needed a little salt, black pepper and a dash of cayenne to be perfect. And then I succumbed to the power of cheese. I added a little fresh grated Parmesan and let that melt in. It was so much more perfect-er. I'm going to take it and some good bread to share share with my sisters in the ville for lunch tomorrow. Jenny has her fancy tasting spoon and this is mine. Handmade by Appalachian Artisan Center Studio Artist Michael Holliday.

See you on the radio! Next show Campfire Cuisine. It's gonna be hot! Don't miss it!

Bacon! (Part the First)

I've done some pretty good things in my life. I've cared for thousands of sick people.  I've entertained all kinds of people with words and music.  I like to think I've been a good husband, a good son, a good friend, and a good citizen.

But if I died tomorrow, I imagine people would say one thing: "He sure made some tasty bacon."

It was only about a year ago that I dove headlong into charcuterie, using Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn's excellent book as my guide.  I haven't ventured in as far as I'd like, limited somewhat by materials (and even more by laziness), but I've been floored by how good even first attempts have come out.

As it turns out, the hardest part of making bacon is tracking down fresh pork belly.  But sometimes all you have to do is ask:

This came from Food City right here in Haz Vegas.  I happened to ask the meat guys one morning while I was shopping, and they had just gotten a box of pork bellies in.  They usually sell it sliced, but you want it whole, or at most cut in half.


The pork belly is beautiful meat on one side and pig skin on the other, with that nice big seam of fat in between.  You can take that skin off at this point, and you have to if you're going to do a rolled-up preparation like pancetta.  But for this purpose, you should leave it on--it's much easier to take off after it's done, and a big hunk of cured and smoked pig skin is the best friend a pot of beans ever had.

You should trim the belly into a nice rectangle.  You can toss the trimmings with some basic dry cure (see below) to make salt pork, or save them to add to some sausage later on.  But this belly came nice and trimmed already, so all I had to do was split it in half and throw each chunk in a Big Ass Ziploc.

(Can I say how much I love the Big Ass Ziploc?  They come in two and 2 1/2-gallon sizes, and they're awesome for all kinds of things.  They're especially useful when you're traveling; for instance, you can put your laptop in one inside your laptop bag to keep it dry in a downpour.)

So next we need our cure.  You can add just about any flavor you want, but unsurprisingly, my favorite is garlic and lots of it.

Left to right, we have about nine bay leaves, a tablespoon or so of really coarse cracked pepper (use your grinder wide open, or a heavy skillet and all your aggression), about 18 cloves of garlic smashed up, and about a cup of Basic Dry Cure, which is 8 parts (by weight) kosher salt, 4 parts sugar, and 2 parts "pink salt".

Pink salt is sodium nitrite, often sold as Insta-Cure #1.  It helps preserve the bacon in several ways--it keeps it from going rancid, it preserves its red color with cooking, and it inhibits bacterial growth, especially our friend C. botulinum.  It isn't naturally pink; it's colored that way so you won't mistake it for regular salt.  It's available all over the internet, and a few bucks will buy you more than you'll ever use.

From here the process gets complicated: you mix all this stuff up and rub it all over the pork belly.

Don't worry about covering every square inch; as juice drains from the belly it will dissolve the salt and spread the flavors all over the meat. Just spread it kind of evenly on both sides.

Finally, seal up the bags and stash them in the fridge as flat as possible.

These will live in their bags in the fridge for 7-10 days, or until they're pretty firm in the middle. Every other day you'll want to flip the bags over and redistribute the cure all over the meat.  (I like to put a schedule up on the fridge for doing this, so I don't forget.)  And that's when we'll move on to Part II--when the meat hits the smoke.

Green Tomato Pickles

Every summer I fall in love. As I work to take advantage of the bounty of summer produce, I stumble on a recipe that I can't stop thinking about and talking about, a recipe that I want to run home and make again night after night.  Last summer it was dried tomatoes, and more specifically dried tomato butter, especially with a little bit of garlic and some aleppo pepper. I think this summer's winner might be green tomato pickles.

I was looking around for a quick pickle to do for this past weekend's Supper Club, and I stumbled on this recipe in Food and Wine from the Lee Brothers. (SAT time: Lee Bros. : Paula Deen :: Chuck D. : Flavor Flav.)  Green tomatoes suck up the brine so well that people couldn't believe these had only been made earlier in the afternoon.  My only quibble with Matt and Ted was that I felt they needed more sugar, but this is probably because my tomatoes were especially tart.

If you have a mandoline, it's just insane how quick and easy this recipe is.  As long as I have a source of green tomatoes, I'll definitely have a batch of these in my fridge.

Green Tomato Pickles
from Matt and Ted Lee
3 small, green (unripe) tomatoes (12 ounces), cored
1 medium white onion
1 cup water
1 cup white wine vinegar
3 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar (I upped this a lot--probably two tablespoons)

Using a mandoline, very thinly slice the green tomatoes and white onion. Layer the slices in a heatproof 4-cup measuring cup. In a small saucepan, combine the water with the vinegar, garlic, peppercorns, salt and sugar and bring to a boil. Pour the hot brine over the tomatoes and onion and let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour, then drain and serve.

NOTE: These will keep in the fridge, drained, for about two weeks. Don't try to can these, since the vinegar solution isn't acidic enough for that; if you want to can some (and you should), find a recipe specifically for canning.

Recipe: Tomato Tart with Cornmeal Crust

I love tomatoes, and when the first ones come ripe, I want to just eat as many as I can in their pure, unadulterated form--just gulped down, sprinkled with salt, or maybe sliced on white bread with just a little mayo. A BLT, maybe. I eat them for almost every meal, in some form. And when I've satisfied my yen for just plain tomatoes, I start cooking them. I love fresh tomato sauces for pizza and pasta. Favorite quick fix: halve tomatoes and put them skin side down on a blazing hot grill. When the skins blister, slip them off of the tomatoes. Chop or puree, mix with roasted garlic and fresh basil, salt and pepper, and eat--on pasta, on pizza, or just scooped up with fresh crusty bread. But this isn't that recipe.

This is a recipe for a tomato tart. Really, it's barely a recipe--more of a preparation. I think I originally got this dish from Linda Blair (my dear friend and colleague, not the actress famous for spitting pea soup and spinning her head around), but lots of people make some version of it. It's a juicy, flavor-filled tart, good hot, cold, or room temperature, a meal on its own, but even better with a grilled steak, charred on the outside and red on the inside, sliced thinly and releasing its juices along with the tomato tart's. Maybe a simple salad dressed with a balsalmic vinaigrette on the side. I used a cornmeal crust, because it's more substantial and has a better texture to soak up the juices of the tomatoes. But you could easily use any crust, or even a store-bought pre-made one, and this would still be great.Cornmeal Crust (you might want to get the real recipe for this from Joy of Cooking if you don't make pie crusts often--after you've made a few, you get a sense of how they should feel and you can wing it. These measurements are approximate at best--I just threw stuff in my food processor until it looked right.) This makes enough for two regular sized pies or one big (11 x7?) tart.

• 1 1/2 cups cornmeal (yellow makes it prettier)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 TBS salt
• 1 stick butter, cut into small pieces
• 6 TBS cream cheese, cut into small pieces (freeze it first)
  
• 5-6 TBS ice cold beer

First, be sure all these things are chilled--put the bowl and blade of your food processor in the freezer for a while, and make sure everything else is cold too--you can even freeze the butter and cream cheese. The idea is that you want the fats to stay cold and not melt while you mix the crust. That way, the little pieces of fat will melt during baking, creating little pockets and making your crust tender and flaky.

Toss the cornmeal, flour, and salt in the bowl of your food processor and whir it a few times to combine (we do love the verb "to whir" at WCN!). Add the small pieces of cold butter and cream cheese and pulse until the mixture looks like small crumbs. If you squeeze a handful together, it should hold. Again, when you've made a few crusts, you'll know how it should look and feel at this point. Humidity, moisture content of the meal and flour--all these things can make a difference, so I think it's better to learn how it should feel and then you can adjust the ratio of fat to flour/meal. Drizzle in the cold beer (I used beer for the first time last night on the show because Jonathan told me that using alcohol retards the formation of gluten, resulting in a tender crust, and I had a cold beer in my hand, and I believe everything Jonathan tells me. About food, anyway...). Add it a tablespoon at a time, while you pulse the processor, until the dough just starts to hold together and form a ball. Gather the dough and press into two disks. Wrap them in plastic and put them in the refrigerator for about a half hour (or up to one day).

When you're ready to make your pie, take the dough out and put it in the center of your pie pan (or a tart pan with a removable bottom). Use the palm of your hand to press the dough into the pan. Try to press it evenly, using the heel of your hand, but don't worry if it's not perfectly even all over. It should be fairly thin but not transparent (you may have too much dough, in which case you should pinch some out, repress the crust, and use the leftover dough to make little black bean and salsa hand pies--just press it into rounds, put a tablespoon of filling in, fold over, and crimp with a fork. Bake on parchment paper so it won't stick). Prick the bottom with a fork and bake in a 375 degree oven until it's just starting to brown around the edges and feels dry to the touch. Fill with whatever you want (besides tomaotes, this is a great crust for just about any savory tart or quiche) and bake until the bottom and sides are brown.

For the Tomato Tart (2 regular pies or one big one)

• sliced tomatoes, enough to make about two layers in your tart
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• freshly chopped herbs, as much as you want, from a TBS to a quarter cup or so (basil, oregano and parsley are nice. I also like thyme or tarragon--anything that's good with tomatoes)
• 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 jar mayonnaise
  

Sprinkle grated cheddar cheese over the bottom of the crust in a thin layer--the idea is that the cheese will melt and form a barrier to keep the tomato juice from making the crust too soggy. Slice tomatoes, not too thinly. A mix of colors is prettiest. Layer them over the cheese, salting and peppering as you go (I used porcini mushroom salt for a little added flavor boost, but just regular kosher salt will do) to taste. You want about two layers--more than that, and it tends to get too soggy. Sprinkle the chopped herbs over the tomatoes. Mix the mayo with the remaining cheese and spread it over the top like a delicious white-trash meringue. Bake at 375 degrees until the crust looks done and the topping is nicely browned--about 20 minutes or so. Let cool for about 10 minutes, then slice and serve. Don't expect this to sit in pretty wedges--this is a loose and juicy tart that wants to spread itself out on your plate to mingle with the other flavors there--the juice from a steak, maybe. If you have any, the leftovers are perfect for lunch the next day--or yummy eaten with a fork standing in front of the open refrigerator door for breakfast. Enjoy!