Grilled Fingerling Potatoes

Last weekend, when it was about 75 degrees outside which is just the way I like it at the end of January, we stood outside around the grill and watched as these potatoes crisped over the open flame. If I were making these potatoes again today I’d opt for a grill pan inside on top of the stove since right now, it’s 50 degrees cooler than it was last weekend. The potatoes would still be great grilled inside, and the sour cream drizzle, chile powder, and chopped cilantro have a lot to do with their flavor. Although, if you do have the opportunity to place these on a charcoal grill, the added smokiness they'll attain will make them even better. I received a review copy of a new, little book from Sur la Table called Everyday Grilling. It includes 50 recipes covering everything from appetizers to salads, sandwiches, vegetables, main dishes, and desserts, and there are some great grilling tips too. An enticing photo sits next to each recipe, and I was immediately drawn to the grilled mozzarella and anchovies in chard leaves, the grilled cauliflower steaks with tahini sauce, and the grilled eggplant cannelloni with ricotta. There’s a stir-grilled chicken, mushroom, and baby bok choy dish prepared in a grill wok, and plank grilling recipes for salmon, shrimp, and papaya. There’s even a grilled banana split for dessert. The grilled fingerlings with their toppings looked like they’d be great as a side dish or as party food. The fingerling shape makes them naturally pick up-able, and the toppings are like those of a simplified stuffed baked potato.

I used French fingerlings but any oblong, little potato would work. They were par-boiled on the stove first. The goal of the initial cooking is to get the potatoes just tender but not completely cooked through. Then, they were drained, sliced in half, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with salt, and placed on a hot grill for about five minutes per side. Last, they were topped with sour cream that had been thinned with water to make it pourable. The chile powder sprinkle could be whichever kind you prefer, and I used a mix of ancho and chipotle powders. Last, chopped cilantro was added, and last weekend I had plenty of cilantro in my herb garden but I haven’t checked its status since the arctic blast arrived.

Pre-cooking the potatoes made them fluffy on the inside, and grilling made the cut surface crisp while lending flavor from the grill smoke. These were easier to prepare than potato skins or twice-baked potatoes, and the toppings were simple, fresh, and well-matched. It’s a fun, useful book, and I’ll be turning to it for grilling ideas year-round as long it’s warmer than 25 degrees outside.

Smoky Chile and Coffee Barbecue Sauce

The kind of food that we eat at home with our families is what Ad Hoc at Home is all about. The book is dedicated to comfort food from American family traditions and other cultures as well, and it serves as a reminder to sit down and enjoy time spent around the dinner table. That being said, the book is also about cooking with a certain level of precision and paying close attention to technique for the best possible results. This is a Thomas Keller book after all. His secret equation is great product plus great execution equals great cooking, and he provides the tips to achieve it. The recipes here are far simpler than what you’ll find in the French Laundry Cookbook, but there’s still a lot of care taken and some intentional fussiness here and there. I was immediately inspired to put together the kind of family meal that this book encourages. On page two, Keller describes a meal he prepared for his father which included barbecued chicken. Believe it or not, in the recipe it states, “try to find a sauce with some integrity, preferably from a small producer.” Yes, that was a suggestion to use a purchased barbecue sauce. I couldn’t do it. For a Thomas Keller meal, I had to make my own sauce. I’ll describe the side dishes, which were from the book, in another post, but what I’m showing today is the sauce I made for the grilled chicken. I had saved this recipe from the June 2009 issue of Living magazine. In that issue, there was a classic barbeque sauce recipe followed by three variations. I chose to use the smoky chile and coffee option. I hope Keller would approve.

To start, the classic sauce recipe was prepared which involved sauteing chopped onions and garlic. Salt, pepper, ancho chile powder, ground coriander, cumin, molasses, and brown sugar were added next. After that simmered for a bit, canned crushed tomatoes and cider vinegar were added, and that mixture was left to slowly simmer for about three hours. It’s a long simmer time, but it doesn’t require much attention other than an occasional stir. During the last half an hour, I placed chopped, seeded dried chiles in a bowl with hot espresso to rehydrate them. When the sauce was nicely thickened, half of it was pureed with the chiles and espresso. I left the other half as it was and placed it in the freezer. That way, I can try one of the other variations at a later date, and peach and bourbon, I’m looking at you. As Keller advised in the book, I bought a whole chicken and cut it into pieces and that seems to get easier every time I do it. The chicken was seasoned and left in the refrigerator for a few hours. Then, the legs and thighs were placed on the grill first followed by the breasts and wings a few minutes later. When all of the pieces were cooked through, the sauce was added and it cooked another couple of minutes.

We did a quick taste test of the classic sauce versus the smoky chile and coffee sauce. The classic was sweet and flavorful, and it was a perfectly good barbecue sauce. The smoky chile and coffee, however, had layers of earthy flavor that balanced the sweetness, and there was a little spicy heat for good measure. It was a thick, clinging kind of sauce which was great for chicken. The barbecued chicken and vegetable side dishes made up the kind of meal that makes you slow down for a bit. We enjoyed some simple but memorable food, and we’ll be doing more of that as I continue to use the book.

Il Galletto Al Mattone

We use our grill year-round, but it gets frequent use during the hotter months. Last weekend, we grilled stuffed chiles and then chicken under a brick. This grilled chicken with an Italian name comes from Mario’s Italian Grill. In the introduction of the book, he explains that Italian grilling isn’t so different from that in the US. However, in Italy, nuance is important as there is only ever minimal interference with the primary ingredient. There are no thick sauces, and the marinades are simple. I read this a year ago and enjoyed Mario’s wit sprinkled throughout the book. In the tuna like fiorentina recipe after suggesting a cooking time for a rare tuna steak, he wrote: “If you want your tuna more cooked than that, throw the steaks directly into the trash bin and buy some cans of good tuna instead.” That made me chuckle. Last summer, I tried the clams in cartoccio and the tuna and calamari spiedini. Now, that I’ve flipped through the book again, I remember there’s a simple recipe for homemade ricotta to use in the marinated zucchini with ricotta and bottarga, and I just mentally bookmarked that. And, look at that, I haven’t cooked, or grilled, from the vegetables chapter yet. I do get distracted when I have a cookbook in front of me.

Back to this grilled chicken. It was very easy to prepare and was seasoned with only fennel pollen, salt, pepper, and fresh thyme. Speaking of fennel pollen, when I made the charred tuna spiedini last year, I headed off to the grocery store with every confidence that I would find some there. Two grocery stores and phone calls to two other markets later, I was not able to locate any fennel pollen in Austin and might have been somewhat frustrated by that. Eventually, I placed an order with Market Hall Foods and since then, fennel pollen has had a home in my spice rack. So, my shopping list for this dish was: chicken. The backbone was removed, and I saved it for stock, and the breastbone was cracked so the bird could be flattened. Once the herb/spice mixture was patted onto both sides of the chicken, and under the skin as is my habit, it was wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerated for several hours. While prepping the grill, a brick from the backyard was wrapped in a double layer of foil. It was set on the grill to pre-heat. The chicken was removed from the refrigerator, allowed to come to room temperature, and rubbed on both sides with olive oil. It was placed on the grill, skin side down, and the hot brick was set on top of it. After 15 minutes or so, the brick was set aside so the chicken could be turned, and the brick went back on top. After another 12 minutes or so, the chicken was done.

That was the fastest and easiest method of grilling a whole chicken I’ve used. The under a brick concept is nothing new, but I’d never actually tried it. As Mario promised, it produced a cooked chicken with incredibly crisp skin and succulent, juicy meat. Fennel pollen is like ground fennel seed only more intense. It has an herby aroma, and it adds incredible flavor to meat and fish. The flavor of the fennel pollen and thyme permeated the meat, and this was one of the best tasting chickens off a grill that I can remember. It couldn’t have been simpler to prepare, and the flavors were straightforward and perfectly combined. The brick trick definitely works wonders.

Grilled Stuffed Jalapeños and Banana Peppers

I have a new kitchen gadget, and it’s a fun one. Actually, it’s a grilling gadget for roasting jalapeños, and it’s from Williams-Sonoma. I wish they were paying me to tell you about it, but they’re not. I’d had my eye on this for the longest time and finally purchased one the other day. It’s made to hold jalapeños upright and keep them above the flame of the grill, and it has little handles on each side for easy moving and lifting. I couldn’t wait to pull a rack full of oozing, cheese-filled chiles with blistered skins and smoky flavor off the grill. I found some nice and smallish banana peppers at the farmers’ market but had to stop by the grocery store for the jalapeños. The first step was cutting off all the tops and hollowing out the centers. Williams-Sonoma also sells a pepper corer, but a grapefruit knife works well. You’ll want to scrape away the white membranes all the way down the tip inside the chiles and tap out the seeds. This opens space for the stuffing and removes the source of the chiles’ heat.

Once the chiles were cleaned and hollowed, I placed them in a glass bowl and poured a quick, garlic marinade over them. They sat in the marinade for about two hours, and I stirred them twice during that time to distribute the marinade. Next, it was time to stuff them. I made a simple stuffing of cream cheese, monterey jack cheese, chopped cilantro, and salt and pepper and used a butter knife to fill each chile. With a butter knife, it’s easy to push a small amount of filling all the way to the bottom of the hollowed chile and then keep adding until it’s full. I had reserved the tops of the cut-off chiles, and they were returned to where they belonged once the filling was in place.

There was just one little issue with this roaster contraption, or maybe it’s not the contraption at all but was just a twist of fate regarding the size of jalapeños being sold locally last weekend. Several of the chiles I used slid right through the holes on the roasting rack. Maybe they were slenderer than usual. The banana peppers were definitely smallish and thin, but I didn’t think the jalpeños looked any thinner than normal. To hold our chiles in place, Kurt took charge of placing little rings of foil on the rack to fill out extra space in each opening, and that worked fine. The stuffed chiles went to the grill as secure as can be, and we eagerly awaited the end of their cooking time. They sat on a medium-hot area of the grill for about 18 minutes total, and Kurt turned the rack once after 10 minutes. The wait for the molten centers to cool enough so as to only burn a little seemed like an eternity, and I worried the jalapeños would be too spicy even though the membranes and seeds had been removed. We were surprised to find the jalapeños were very mild tasting as if the grilling had tamed them. The simple cheese filling worked well as it allowed the character of the chiles themselves to play a bigger part, and the time over charcoal was a key element in building the overall taste. The jalapeños were terrific, but we found that we were gravitating to the flavor of the banana peppers, and they oddly had a bigger hint of spiciness. Roasting the stuffed chiles was as fun as I’d imagined it would be, and I predict we’ll be doing this pretty much every time we light the grill.


Grilled Stuffed Chiles

18 plump, short chiles to fit the roasting rack as best as possible
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T white wine vinegar
1/3 c olive oil
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 c shredded monterey jack cheese
2 T chopped cilantro leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

-cut tops from chiles and hollow out interiors removing membranes and seeds
-in a small bowl, whisk together minced garlic and vinegar, slowly add olive oil while whisking, and season to taste with salt and pepper
-place hollowed chiles in a glass bowl and pour marinade over them; refrigerate for two hours; to evenly distribute, stir chiles and marinade twice during the two hours
-in a medium bowl, stir together cream cheese, monterey jack cheese, cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste
-remove one chile at a time from marinade and let excess oil drip back into bowl; fill each chile using a butter knife; start by placing a small amount of stuffing all the way at the bottom of the hollowed space and then continue adding until the filling reaches the top
-place filled chiles in the roasting rack and replace reserved tops on the chiles
-grill over medium-high heat for 10 minutes; turn rack; check for doneness after another eight minutes; chiles should be blistered and softened and the filling should be oozing and melty

Grilled Steak with Mango Salsa

I was invited by the Texas Beef Council to participate in their Beef Recipe Grilling Experience, and I thought why not, sure. I knew Kurt would be happy with a grilled steak for a meal. Grill a steak, no problem, make Kurt happy, all well and good, but wait a minute, what about my hang-ups about red meat and issues with beef processing and all of that? Could I accept this offer from TBC with a clear conscience? How would this rate in the realm of food blogging ethics? I decided to turn this into a little research project, ask some questions of TBC, and report my findings here. Before I get to all of that, I’ll tell you about this grilled steak and salsa, and farther on down the page, I’ll explain what I learned about the Texas beef industry.

From a list of five different recipes from TBC, I chose the grilled steak with mango salsa. We’ve had mango salsa with grilled fish before, but pairing it with steak was a first for Kurt. The salsa came together quickly and easily. Dice a fresh mango and combine with minced green onion, fresh lime juice, chopped cilantro, and a finely chopped red chile. Just for fun, I added a finely chopped red habanero too. A marinade for the steak was made from lime juice, green onion, ginger, garlic, and salt. The steak bathed in that, in the refrigerator, for a few hours. When the grill was ready, the marinade bits were swiped from its surface so they wouldn’t burn, and it went over the coals. Kurt enjoyed the hint of lime in the meat from the marinade and was happy with the salsa with the steak. He usually keeps his grilled steak rather simple by just seasoning with salt and pepper before grilling, but he said this was a nice change of pace. I can report that the salsa was also very good with grilled chicken, and I’m now convinced that mango salsa would probably go well with any kind of protein. Have a look at the TBC site for many more beef recipes.

Now, about my conscience being my guide for this post:
First, I’ll attempt to explain my reasons for not eating red meat. I grew up eating pretty regular, American, meat and potatoes meals. However, when given options, I always chose fish and fowl over red meat. So, one April morning in 1991 when I attended an Earth Day event on the University of Illinois campus and learned about the environmental impact of cattle ranching, I made what was an easy decision to stop eating red meat. There are also a host of health-related reasons for eating lower on the food chain, but the simple fact is that I didn’t miss it much once I stopped eating it.

These days, we’ve all heard the news regarding concerns about the beef industry. A frequently repeated statement is that you can do more for the environment by eating less meat than by making any other single lifestyle change. I read both Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore's Dilemma with great interest. Disturbing information about the beef industry was presented in both books. This topic has been discussed at length and current practices have been criticized by many in recent months. Rather than rehashing all of that information, my goal for this post was to ask some questions in hopes of finding news of positive change in the beef industry. I contacted the Texas Beef Council, asked a lot of questions, and learned a great deal about the beef industry.

Some quick facts:
-Texas has 149,000 ranchers, cattlemen, and dairy farmers. This figure represents about 15% of the nation’s combined nearly one million beef and dairy producers.
-The Texas Department of Agriculture has recognized almost 4,200 farms and ranches in 232 counties across Texas for more than a century of continuous operation. Five ranches have been recognized for 200 years and 80 farms and ranches for 150 years of operation.
-Total global greenhouse gas emissions from livestock for 2006 was 18%, but the EPA put the percentage from livestock in the US at 6%.
-The TBC was established in 1986 by beef producers who wanted this council to operate as an advertising and marketing arm of the industry. The TBC is funded by receiving one dollar from each head of cattle raised in Texas.

Beef producers in Texas come in all sizes. There are smaller producers who raise less than 100 head of cattle on their property, and there are others who operate multiple ranches in different locations. At some point these cattle all come together in what has become the conventional process. There are several stages in the cycle of conventional beef production. First, there are cow/calf producers who breed calves that are sold to other ranchers. The calves are sold to ranchers who have available land where cattle can graze. This is the most interesting aspect of the cycle to me because there is only so much land and so much grass where cattle can be fed. Because of that, next in the cycle, cattle may be sold to a stocker who tends the animals and feeds them until they reach the weight at which they can be sold to a feedlot. A feedlot sets the weight at which they’ll buy based on the current price of grain. Once cattle arrive at a feedlot, they are grain-fed until they reach market weight. Grain is grown in mass quantities and is a more efficient feeding solution that grass pasturing. The last transfer in the cycle is to the harvesting plant, or slaughterhouse, where the beef is processed into various cuts.

Interestingly, as cattle are moved from one stage of the cycle to another, they may not spend their entire life in one state. Many of the feedlots are located closer to where the grain is grown in the Midwest. Likewise, many harvesting plants are located near the feedlots. This led me to the question of what then is Texas beef? I was told that the official designation of Texas beef as defined by the Texas Department of Agriculture is that the product must have had some value added in the state of Texas. That means that just one part of the whole process must have taken place in Texas. Therefore, not all Texas beef is completely born, raised, and processed in this state.

So, there are issues with supply and demand. Because of limited space and difficulties in providing enough grass, as demand for beef has grown, the process developed to move cattle to feedlots to be finished on grain. Bringing so many animals together in one place has led to other practices such as the use of antibiotics to prevent diseases being spread among so many animals. There are a lot of concerns and questions, both about the safety of the meat and the environmental consequences regarding this practice, and I did not learn of any alternatives or future plans regarding this issue. The TBC is confident in the FDA’s approval of the use of antibiotics. This is the situation in the area of large production. There are small-scale producers who are raising cattle entirely on grass, never sending them to feedlots or harvesting plants, and having them butchered locally. The difficulty is that as long as demand remains where it is or increases, it’s just not possible to supply enough beef from these kinds of small-scale operations.

I ended up feeling like I didn’t quite find the good news story I was hoping to report, but I did find that the people with whom I spoke at TBC are working hard to make Texas beef the best it can be. They genuinely believe in the programs they offer and are proud of the level of quality they see at all stages of the production process. They also feel that a lot of the criticism towards the beef industry is unfair or exaggerated. It’s not their goal to promote any particular way of raising beef but simply to promote all beef in Texas.

For Kurt and me, our preference is to support local, small-scale beef producers. However, there is a limit to what they can produce. We stopped by the farmers’ market last Saturday to purchase a locally raised, grass-fed, grass-finished, locally butchered steak, and the vendor was sold out an hour and a half after the market opened. So, the steak pictured in this post was a locally raised, grass-fed New York strip steak purchased at Whole Foods. The nice man at the meat counter told us that particular steak came from a processing plant in Fort Worth which only processes naturally- and organically-raised cattle given no antibiotics. The cost was the same as the other steaks in the case. If you’re interested in supporting one kind of beef production over another, ask questions about where and how your beef was raised. Or, consider seeking out a local beef producer at your farmers’ market. I don’t have any answers for the big questions about the industry, but we’ll continue to choose local, grass-fed beef for Kurt’s occasional steak meals.

Spiedini

On Saturday evening, I tried a couple of recipes from Mario’s latest, Italian Grill, with mixed results.

The Calamari Spiedini in Lemon Leaves looked delicious on the page, and I had Meyer lemons and leaves at the ready. In real life, it looked good, smelled good, tasted good, but the texture wasn’t perfect throughout. The problem could have been that some of the calamari tubes I purchased were thicker than others. Also, I may have packed too much onto each skewer thereby preventing good heat transfer to all the pieces stacked together. Some of the tube pieces could have used one more minute on the grill. The flavor was fantastic, and the texture of the thinner tubes and that of the tentacles was fine. I served this dish with a garden fresh arugula salad, and the peppery greens were a nice complement to the marinated squid.

Up next was Charred Tuna Spiedini with Spicy Peppers. The spicy peppers included red and yellow bell peppers and jalapenos which were sautéed and then served as a bed for the tuna spiedini. Turns out the jalapenos were both large and piquant this weekend and managed to completely overpower all other flavors. The tuna was to have been dusted with a combination of fennel pollen and dried oregano and then seared briefly on the grill. First, Austin has no fennel pollen. Huge oversight, Austin! Second, to get a good char on the tuna, I really should have turned it in oil rather than just drizzling. While delicious itself, the tuna suffered from the very spicy, jalapeno-forward pepper mélange.

Our conclusions were that while I quite enjoyed the marinated calamari and had less chewy pieces than Kurt did, Kurt was happier with the tuna but wished the pepper pile hadn’t disappointed so.