Cheddar chipotle popovers with rosemary

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I wanted to revisit the Gouda popovers with black pepper of last year, but did not want to drive to the market for Gouda - OK, I still had to drive to the 7-11 for milk, but at least that's only a mile off.  I had shredded cheese on hand, and thought to make a "warmer" version with smoky, spicy chipotle powder and a pinch of fresh rosemary.  What a treat - Especially slathered with fresh butter, right out of the oven!

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THE RECIPE

1 1/2 cups whole milk
2T sweet butter
3 large eggs
1 1/4 t sea salt
1 T chipotle powder
1 T E.V. olive oil
1 t minced fresh rosemary leaves, or 1/2 t chopped dried
3/4 t freshly cracked black pepper
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese


Preheat oven to 375º Fahrenheit.  Place muffin or popover pan on a lower rack.  Meanwhile, heat the milk and butter over medium flame until warm and the butter has melted. 

Whisk together the eggs and spices until smooth; slowly stir in the hot milk and butter.  Add the flour in small increments and whisk until smooth.

Once the above steps have been completed, pull the pan out of the oven and coat thoroughly with pan release spray.  Pour the batter evenly among the baking cups and top each with a pinch of cheese in the center.

Bake at 375º Fahrenheit for approximately 40 minutes.  Check after 35 minutes.

RESIST the temptation to peek in the oven and don't, as my Mom would say when she was baking, "For God's sake, don't go stomping around the house, or it will fall!".

(Click on image for larger view) Just out of the oven; perhaps a little more batter, and 2 - 3 minutes fewer.

Serve the popovers immediately, and don't be afraid to top with some more grated cheese or butter (or both!).

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Marinated baby octopus salad

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This is another fusion / experiment / my-curiosity-got-the-best-of-me-and-I-had-to-finally-buy-this-when-I-saw-it-in-the-Asian-store recipe.  I was searching for some scallops for the Ceviche spring roll recipe I'd been tossing around (by the by, they apparently don't usually stock bay scallops in Asian supermarkets) and instead found myself in front of piles and piles of these slaughtered innocents - baby octopus.  Octopi.  Occies.

The baby octopus I found happened to be cleaned, but prepping them is similar to cleaning calamari - but rather than a mantle which can be cooked, the heads are usually discarded; your choice, they must at least be cleaned out by making a small slit, turning inside out and removing the internal organs.  Press the beak out from the inside and pluck it out as well.  Rinse the whole product.

I really, really wanted to go with a ceviche style recipe, but I found through research this is ill-advised as they will not "cook" by themselves in citrus juice and will not become tender through just this process.  The answer is to quickly steam them for just a few minutes, chill them and marinate.

So this interpretation is mostly Asian influenced, and similar to ceviche (but for the facet outlined above) or pulpo a la vinagreta, a Galician tapa.  It has both sweet and tart flavors, crisp and tender texture, crunch and a bold profile -- so much so that I found the marinade should be prepped a day ahead of the salad, and allowed to meld and mellow prior to adding the seafood.

IF you cannot picture yourself staring down the barrel of a dead octopus, then try shrimp, white fish or scallops in this prep.  I did not have any at the time, but this dish could benefit from some seaweed salad.

THE RECIPE


1# baby octopus (octopi), cleaned
steam the octopus for 3 - 4 minutes, being careful not to overcook; nip at one of the tentacles to gauge doneness.   Immediately drop them into ice water to chill them.  Once chilled, rinse and pat them dry.  Chop the octopus into small bite-sized segments.

For the marinade:
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 scallion bulbs, thinly sliced
1/2 t grated ginger
2 T kecap manis (Indonesian soy condiment)
1 T black Chinese vinegar
1 T seasoned rice vinegar
1 T mirin
1 T lime juice
1 T light brown sugar
1 T olive oil
1/2 t fish sauce
1/4 t sesame oil
1/4 t Chinese five spice powder
1/4 t ground white pepper
pinch salt, to taste
pinch red chile flakes or 1/2 minced chili pepper

For the salad:
Julienned scallions or any other green you may prefer
dash mirin
dash lemon juice

Mix marinade ingredients thoroughly and keep refrigerated overnight - allow to come up to room temperature for an hour prior to final prep.  Add octopus and stir; marinate for at least 8 hours in refrigerator.

Final prep: lightly toss the greens and dressing ingredients and plate.  Top with the marinated octopus and enjoy.

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Purple Vichyssoise with Tokyo negi

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I love making new discoveries, as I did the other day at the Japanese market.  I found Tokyo negi, which looks like a 2 1/2 foot long leek on steroids.  I asked the staff if it were more like a scallion or a leek - "Onion", "Leek", "well, kind of like both" were the responses - SOLD!  I grabbed two bunches and decided to use it as a leek; so if anyone asks you which it is, today it's a leek.

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The Negi is in the same family as the scallion and Welsh onion, in the genus Allium.  They are typically used as scallions - why my obsession with the leek-like qualities?  It is another of my rants, my opposition to the Retail-Industrial food distribution complex - you CANNOT buy large quantities of good leeks in most supermarkets!  The best one can hope for is only an inch or so of usable white bulb.  So the foot - long white bulbs of the negi were very appealing, as I have really wanted to make a batch of vichyssoise recently.

The purple potatoes - well, that's just me being weird.  I saw them at another store and had actually picked them up for mashed potatoes with a roast and changed course.

Obviously this is not the typical Vichyssoise recipe, as I have taken so many liberties and use some different ingredients.  However, it contains all the classical elements therein - rich, earthy potato, leek / onion flavor, stock and cream blended into a velvety puree.  I love to make this soup - even if I have to buy half a case of leeks (until now)!  The Negi gave this dish great flavor.  They are a bit forgiving, and as we have a purple dish, one can get a bit more of the leek-like flavor by using a bit of the light green stem above the bulb, unlike Western (commercial) leeks.

I thought to keep all the lovely color to blanch the potatoes, then plunge them into ice water and only steam them quickly and even preserve the steaming liquid to keep the color intact.  Things were going great up until this point; here reality took over the concept and the soup completely lost color.  After blending, the puree looked like poi - and I hadn't even added the cream yet!

FLUB.

I re-seasoned and tasted; this was a GREAT result - but I couldn't stand looking at it.  I ditched the original photos.  For the first and only time in writing this blog, I resulted to food coloring.   Going back to elementary school, I remembered red and blue make purple!  This cheat bought me a couple of shades on the color wheel, not too artificial a change.  I may try the purple potato in this dish again, and I have another trick up my sleeve - otherwise, back to regular spuds.

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THE RECIPE

about 6 medium purple potatoes, medium dice (approx. 4 cups)
Boiling, heavily salted water
4 stalks Tokyo negi, white bulbs cut in half lengthwise then thinly sliced (again, approximately 4 cups)
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 small shallot, minced
2 T butter
2 Quarts chicken stock
Sea salt and white pepper, to taste
1-2 cups heavy cream, based on final volume
Pinch nutmeg, to taste and for garnish

Drop potato cubes into boiling water and blanch for one minute; immediately plunge pieces into ice water.  Drain and steam potato over 1/2" water in a basket for 5-6 minutes, until just tender when pierced with a fork.  Reserve steaming water.

Sweat the negi, garlic and shallot in butter over medium heat for approximately 5 minutes.  Add to steaming liquid, potato and stock.  Season with salt and pepper.  Over medium low heat, simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat, cool and blend into a puree with a blender or immersion blender.  Add a pinch of nutmeg and as much of the cream as desired.  Chill and serve cool, with another pinch of nutmeg for garnish.