Date Nights...Kith and Kin & Vincent

I love date night!  Tonya and I had two great dinner dates in a row.  A few weekends back we finally got out of our neighborhood and headed to Lincoln Park. Kith and Kin, where several of my friends work and was winner of Best Neighborhood restaurant, was our first choice.  We had some of their best... The pimento cheese spread, foie gras, smoked oysters, mussels, fried chicken and steak.  Everything was delicious.  The fried chicken was the best I've had in the city, hands down.  It was served with dirty rice- chicken livers included, amazing!  Service was great, atmosphere and soundtrack was fun too.

Last night we went to Vincent, a newer spot in our neighborhood.  At first I was hesitant to have Dutch influenced food because most of my experiences with it have been dull however this was outstanding.  We had the caramelized cauliflower soup with bread, cheese, and pickled onions-it was a touch weak on the seasoning but no biggie, once all mixed up the bacon which had settled on the bottom brightened up with the onions.  The traditional Dutch mustard soup with crab salad and tarragon pesto became one of my new favorites so much that I had to come home and immediately look it up.  I had beer battered haddock on snert-a thick split pea soup with sausage that was more like a mash and I didn't have faith in it until I tasted it.  She had steak and frites, also perfectly seasoned.  I wouldn't recommend this place as a first date because the strong garlic accents are still lingering today however when you become use to your partner's smelly garlic breath, indulge.  I love both and still have many new places to try.
Still checking in on Next tickets daily to no avail however Tonya is now working at Aviary so maybe someday she'll be able to pull some strings.  I can't wait to go to ING, right next door to next and Aviary and then there is always Girl and the Goat and GT oyster, man-what a list!  And I don't get much time off so this may take another year.  But even with all of that I still have a favorite go to right here in my neighborhood, Ante Prima, if you haven't gone you must.  It's affordable and so so so delicious.

Food Porn

This will make your mouth water!  Jen Moran Photos and my food! Here's a teaser... or would it be fluffer in this case?

Dried Mushrooms.

some beauties!

As most of you know, I'm in love with mushrooms.  I love love love foraging for them and even if I find nothing, which often happens, I still love hearing the forest, the dried leaves and sounds beneath my feet and all around me.  However when I do find mushrooms, loads of them, I resort to my dehydrator or air dry them-it depends.  But here are some great ways to put them to use once they are dried.  Rehydrate them-about 4 oz. mushroom to two cups of hot water.  Allow to steep until mushrooms are plump, strain, saving that precious liquid which you can add to stock or reduce and season to make a wonderful gravy, drink as tea, etc. Another use is to pulverize them in a spice grinder, sift them and add to cookie batter, pasta dough, bread dough, whatever you can think of really...butter.  Another use is the hydrated mushroom itself which is a great addition to pizza, risotto, again the list goes on, so if you get a lot when foraging or even come across dried mushrooms at the store, don't be shy.

Vegetable Stock

After being in my garden yesterday, with all the beautiful asparagus poking through the soil I had one thing on my mind when I woke up-asparagus terrine.  One of my new Spring menu dishes is a scrambled egg cannoli filled with asparagus custard, topped with local prosciutto, asparagus ribbons, asparagus terrine, toasted yeast a butter sorbet and a globe of lemon cream.  I'm making the vegetable stock for a terrine base to bind the asparagus.  This is the recipe:
10 carrots peeled and chopped
3 leeks, white parts only
1 shallot chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
3 Roma tomatoes chopped
2 sweet onions chopped
1 fennel bulb chopped
20 green peppercorns
salt to taste
8 sprigs of thyme
3 bay leaves
1 sprig of basil
1 sprig of oregano

Saute all chopped vegetables in a touch of canola to sweat them down, add peppercorns and salt, continue to sweat until rich in color.  Add water to cover the top about 6 inches, bring to a boil, let simmer for two hours.  Strain.  Once it is strained I will clarify this stock and then put it in small containers and freeze it.  You can do the same, just remember that veggie stock will lose it's flavor faster than other stocks so use quickly.  Freezing is good for this amount.  You can also change the recipe by adding different herbs, etc.  I chose these for added flavor, typically a sachet of parsley, thyme and bay is  common.

Quick Yummies!

What I was really doing here was practicing my scrambled egg cannoli for my Spring menu.  Excellent spring asparagus from my garden in Indiana is going to be a major component.  The dish is likely to be much more elaborate come dinner time but for the meantime this is scrambled egg cannoli around asparagus with shaved asparagus, asparagus coulis, sprouts, and a toasted yeast and butter sorbet.

It only took two of these babies from my garden to make the lovely picture above.

Last night craving-clams.  Went to whole foods and picked up ten of these puppies.  In a pan I sauteed garlic and onions, added a splash of chenin blanc, thin sliced purple potatoes, carrots, thyme, oregano, basil, lemon juice and about 1 cup of shellfish stock, cooked for ten minutes, added the clams and broccolini and allowed it to steam until the clams popped.  Hot dog!  Satisfaction.

Mushroom caps baked with Bragg's Aminos.  So good.  This adds the perfect amount of seasoning if you are looking for a healthy kick.  We used this for the vegan dinner to add to the mushroom gravy.  So delicious.

This Is How Good It Was...

Photo by Jen Moran.  

And check out more photos from the Vegan Dinner I hosted with my mom HERE!  What a fun night!  Love cooking all food.  This means all the more welcome to my dinners!

Well Rounded

So many times I've encountered savory chefs that do not do sweets or sweets that don't do savory, on and on.  Being one who thinks more about savory has had to really focus and teach myself how to do sweets, bake, the works.  My menus combine sweet and savory in almost every course and roller coasters from one side to the other throughout.  But even settting those parameters aside there is a whole other world between working with meat as opposed to meat/animal/face-free cooking.  Tomorrow I am using my One Sister umbrella to host a dinner for vegans using my mother's plant strong vegan preparations, which is for her an essentially fat-free cooking style (I did get to add fat into some of the preparation but very little).
I can remember several years back when I retreated to the kitchens full-time, my mother telling me to be more neat and clean when cooking.  I definitely didn't learn my militant organization from my stints at any of those fine places where I've worked either front or back of the house-it was solely from my mother, Sandra Regan who was a chef herself when I was in the womb.  These days I rarely get a speck of flour on the floor and today I had to clean up after her.  I hope she's reading this ;).  But wow, what a way to force myself to become more well-rounded.  I used miso, nutritional yeast, almond milk, tomatoes, tumeric, paprika, garlic powder and several other ingredients to make a cheese sauce.  We will serve seven courses tomorrow.  One thing I could not keep my hands off of was the mushroom caps we doused with Braggs Liquid Aminos and then roasted in the oven to complete a mushroom gravy.  I'm so impressed with the improvisation and glad to gain the experience and broaden my knowledge.  It ensures my abilities to be able to cook for anyone.

Rampin Up

Photo of Spring dish one year ago taken by Josh Brusin of Chicago Foodies

Ooo how I love spring!  In this photo I have ramps in two different preparations.  One is pickled ramp bulb the other is chilled ramp top soup.
For the pickled ramps:
Clean about 1 cup ramp bulbs, cut tops and reserve.
1 cup water
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
3 finger pinch of salt
1 t coriander seeds
1 t black peppercorns
Bring water, vinegars, sugar and salt to a bowl.  In an airtight container place ramps along with coriander and peppercorns, pour hot liquid over, allow to cool to room temp, cover and store in refrigerator.  Ramps will hold for two to three weeks if not a touch more.
For the soup:
3 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
350 g heavy cream
100 g water
50 g butter
1 1/2 t salt
about 6 oz ramp tops cleaned and blanched
Cook potatoes in cream, water, butter and salt until tender.  Transfer to blender and blend with ramp tops.  Add more warm water to thin if necessary.  Adjust salt seasoning if needed.  Cool quickly by transferring warm soup into bowl within a larger bowl filled with ice.  Transfer to airtight container and chill.
Now the tricky part is getting that ramp soup in those bud vases.

When Hunting For Morels...

It's hard not to only be searching for this lovely wicked creature.  Keep your eyes open.  There are ramps, nettles, fiddleheads, dandelions, pheasant back mushrooms and plenty more goodies to get your nature loving hands on.  Keep in mind not to look too soon.  Soil conditions should be well into the high fifties regardless of a nice day or two.  They are tricky little suckers never showing up it seems in the same place. Look for damaged woods where poplars, elms, and ash trees are plenty.  After this weekend when the weather conditions are well into the high sixties and seventies, nice and rainy, head down south towards St.  Louis.  You're sure to find them in the woods-Jackson and Union Counties.  If you can't go that far wait till it gets a bit closer to the end of April and head over to Putnam and Shelby Counties and if you really want to check out something fun, take a look at this event.  Enjoy the beautiful Illinois woods.

Cook County Forest Preserves

I think sometimes we don't realize all we have to do is step out our back door to be mystified by how beautiful Illinois, even Cook County can be. Our forest preserves stretch many acres and are full of wildlife, trails, quarries, lakes, and sloughs. Bass, walleye, bluegill, sunfish, crappie and even trout are in some lakes.  I'll be riding my bike to some of these fishing spots this week, soaking up nature.  It's getting nice and I am just so excited!

Spring Menu!

Spring menu in the works.  I've got so many ideas for this Spring I see the menu to be changing fairly often losing a dish here or there only to be replaced by something else fun and of course it will be subject to change depending on my foraging excursions.  I should have lots of wonderful items like ramps, nettles, fiddleheads, morels, chickweed, mulberries, elderberry flowers... 

Gazpacho

cucumber, hibiscus

Sunflower

goat's milk, lavender honey, home grown

Pierogi

white truffle, potato, marscarpone

Snow Crab Ball

hanging

Shrimp and Avocado 

mango noodles, other garnishes

Cannoli 

Scrambled egg, asparagus, prosciutto di Parma, yeast

Shrimp Noodles

scampi

1 Pill Makes You Larger 1 Pill Makes You Small

maitake, pecan, cocoa, chamomile

Hand-Cut Pasta

English peas, chicken liver, black truffle

Sweetbreads and Brains

pumpernickel, apples, nasturtium 

Oatmeal Dashi

hato mugi

Ice Cream Cone

bacon, Koval Whisky, black pepper

Bison Tenderloin

blood, marshmallow, berries

Gobstopper

strawberry and rhubarb pie

Mirepoix

Carrot, celery, onion, white chocolate