Pecorino Polenta with Pig Candy, Walnuts, Aged Balsamic February 26, 2009

I’ve made soooo many mistakes when I’m cooking for people it’s not even funny. The food usually turns out edible so it’s not too big of a deal but the worst is when I mess up an entire dish. The last incident? Bacon wrapped and roasted raddichio. Um, yeah. Like that is so hard to mess up on, right?! But I did. I have no idea what happened but it was gross and there was no carmelization of the raddichio at all. I was planning to serve it over a small pool of pecorino polenta sprinkled with toasted walnuts as a first course but my plan was dans la merde now. I panicked and thought about what I had in the fridge to try to create a new first course with the polenta that was still around.

I had thinly sliced bacon leftover and that was pretty much it. No other produce to roast or saute deliciously and top the polenta with. I pretty much gave up and my night was turning out to be a fail. But then the idea came to me: bacon… pig candy… Oh hell yeah. Pecorino Polenta with Pig Candy, Walnuts, Aged Balsamic was born. The 25 years aged balsamic vinegar was the cherry on top. So yum. My bad luck with the raddichio turned out to be a blessing. What a last minute save, thank goodness.

Cannellini Veloute with Romesco, Bacon, Cilantro February 25, 2009

After catering comes leftovers. That can be a good thing or a bad thing. Good thing because you got food in the fridge. Bad thing because you’re already sick of the food. I made too much of a few things including the cannellini puree. I was trying to fix my mistake of adding too much liquid to the bean puree by adding more beans. Hence, bean puree leftovers.

Soup seemed like the logical idea. I thinned out the cannellini puree with more water and simmered it while crisping up the thin bacon trimmings in a pan. Why water? The puree was made with chicken stock and I didn’t want additional chicken stock to overpower the soup. When the soup was heated I served it with a small dollop of romesco, few drops of lemon juice, a pile of bacon bits, cilantro leaves and a drizzle of the romesco oil. All the rest of the ingredients were leftovers too. A completely new dish came about – Cannellini Veloute with Romesco, Bacon, Cilantro – and I didn’t feel like I was eating the same ol’ leftovers. A simple reworking.

Catering February 24, 2009

It’s been a very long time since I’ve catered but I did it over the past weekend for a 40th birthday party for fifty people or so. The prep and event both went very smoothly and surprisingly I didn’t feel like my feet were going to crumble or that my eyes were going to cross from fatigue. Of course I had my dependable cooks Dylan and Julie to back me up.

Here is the menu:

Prosciutto Goat Cheese Involtini, Pistachio, Basil

Pork Rillette Toast, Pickled Red Onion

Roasted Dates, Bacon, Parmigiano Reggiano

Chermoula Swordfish, Red Pepper, Sweet Onion, Cilantro

Flank Steak Romesco, Cannellini Puree, Microgreens

A disclosure – I temporarily broke away from my no alcohol and eating out mantra because of the catering. If you’ve ever catered you know how soul nuturing (and salvaging) a cold beer can be. Thanks to my friends who came out to work as servers too!

*If you are interested in my catering services you can contact me at yoonyingham@gmail.com*

Vadouvan Kabocha Soup, Lemon Oil, Basil February 18, 2009

Winter squashes are so delicious but yet I’ve only cooked with it once this season. The whole peeling and sometimes difficult cutting keeps me at bay. I always feel like I’m going to lose a finger trying to cut through these suckers. But I love them so much! Yeah, contradictory feelings here. But once this season I did make a velvety and gorgeously hued kabocha soup as a first course for a dinner. I cooked the squash a very easy method. The kabocha was sliced in half horizontally and seeded. Then placed cut side down on an oiled baking sheet and baked off for 30 minutes or so at 350 degrees. I scooped the flesh out when the squash was done cooking and added it to the soup base and pureed the whole lot. Easy peasy and way fast than peeling and chopping up the whole squash. I seasoned the soup with vadouvan, a French version of an Indian curry spice mix, and before serving finished it with O Lemon Oil and basil chiffonade. The bright citrusy lemon oil and fragrant basil accented the earthy vadouvan and sweet kabocha nicely.

Ras El Hanout Roast Chicken Legs February 9, 2009

Spices are the perfect tool to effortlessly elevate an ordinary ingredient into something special. They can add heat, warmth, earthiness, floralness, sweetness and everything between that is subtle or heady. One of my favorite spice seasonings is ras el hanout, which means “head of the shop” in Arabic. Spice shops in the Middle East and North Africa each have their own special mix of ras el hanout, made from a combination of their best spices. When I make it at home I take que from more than one recipe, mixing it up slightly different each time I make it.

I used cumin, coriander, ginger, cayenne, paprika, turmeric, black pepper, allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I rubbed it into chicken legs along with salt and let them marinate for a bit. I rubbed olive oil over them and put em into the oven to roast at 400 degrees for about an hour. The fat rendered out nicely over the roasting time and a thin deliciously spiced skin was left behind. Alongside the chicken legs I roasted orange and yellow carrots and onion also tossed lightly with the ras el hanout. I finished the dish with a sprinkling of chopped cilantro and scallion served the chicken with lemon wedges. A simple dish but packed with flavor.

Spaetzle with Chestnuts, Bacon & Gruyere February 6, 2009

If you need another dish to add to your comfort foods list spaetzle is it. The little German dumplings are so quick and easy to make. All you need to do is make a batter then cook it in simmering water by pushing the batter through a spaetzle maker or something similar to it with small holes that will allow the batter to fall through and take shape, such as a holey colander. And you can be simple or as creative with it as you wish. Just simply salt, black pepper and butter would be delicious.

But for this edition of spaetzle I added steamed chestnuts, bacon, gruyere and a mix of herbs. I love chestnuts so much but they are so hard to cook at home and peel. I used Trader Joe’s steamed chestnuts which worked fine since I abhor cooking chestnuts at home. The one time I tried they absolutely refused to be peeled. I decided that would be the first and last time I tried that. But after taking a bite of the delicious spaetzle I wondered how wonderful it would have been with freshly roasted and peeled chestnuts.

I am almost motivated to try again. Almost!