Daily Munch

Just before the Beijing Olympics, Chinese news agency Xinhua is reporting that popular Peking Duck restaurant Quanjude is guaranteeing all roast duck served to Olympic athletes will be 100% safe after passing an anti-doping test. What exactly does that mean? That's a little unclear, since the only unhealthy substance mentioned in the article on the testing is colon bacillus (aka E. coli). At least athletes shouldn't have to worry about food poisoning.

There is nothing mentioned about factory farm conditions in raising the ducks, their diet prior to arriving at your table, or whether the birds would pass any kind of organic certification, presumably because you don't really want to know. Having eaten roast duck more than once while staying in Beijing, I can tell you it tastes unlike any duck I've had anywhere else. However, I'm not sure I'd want to know exactly how it got to my table. While Quanjude is arguably the most well known roast duck in Beijing, if you're going to the Olympics (or just to Beijing) Li Qun Roast Duck restaurant, which is only a few blocks away, provides a more authentic atmosphere and you can at least see how the food is prepared before you eat it.

If you have a standing mixer, pitas are really easy to make. We make them and I freeze them. These pitas actually have pita pockets. The first time I made them, the pockets weren't very puffy but they tasted just as great. If you get a flat pita, don't fret. The taste is the same.

Ingredients:

3 and 1/2 cups of flour
1 pack of yeast (I used a pack and a tiny bit of the next for better results)
1 and a 1/2 cups of water
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 a tablespoon of salt
2 tablespoons of olive oil

1. Put flour in mixer with dough hook and add yeast.
2. Add water, sugar, salt, and olive oil . Mix until you get a slightly sticky, shiny dough.
3. Place a tiny bit of oil in the bowl, roll the dough in the oil and let dough rise until doubled in size.
4. Heat oven to 500 degrees.
5. Divide into balls and let rest for 10 more minutes.
6. Roll into flat discs and place in oven for 5- 7 minutes. Stay close to the oven and keep checking until the pitas have little golden areas.

Pitas can be frozen and heated in microwave.

As the first strawberries of summer arrived this year, people who discover I now live on Bainbridge Island keep telling me that the island has the best strawberries in the Pacific Northwest. I've had great strawberries all over the country, but after sampling the local berries here on the island, I'm convinced these are the best berries I've ever eaten. I'm surprised more Seattle restaurants aren't demanding them. Many of berries are this deep almost blood red color all the way through to the core and they almost melt in your mouth as you eat them. Pity you can only get them for a few weeks each year.

Making strawberry freezer jam is one of the best ways to preserve real strawberry flavor, allowing you to enjoy a wonderful summer flavor in the middle of winter. When you make freezer jam, be sure to use a no-cook freezer jam recipe like the one below, because cooking the berries breaks down some of that fresh sweet flavor you expect from homegrown strawberries. This is also a great project for kids of almost any age.

I decided to try Simple Creations No Cook Freezer Jam Pectin rather than Sure Jell, because it required considerably less sugar to activate the pectin, I think seeing Robin spooning the jam out of a jar the next day suggested I found a winner. The recipe is straight from the back of the package, with some minor procedural changes.

Ingredients

1. 4 pints whole fresh strawberries
2. 1 packet of Simple Creations No Cook Freezer Jam Pectin
3. 1 1/2 cups of sugar
5. Start by halving all the strawberries into a large bowl.

6. Crush the strawberries with a potato masher or similar flat utensil.

7. In a second smaller bowl, combine the pectin and sugar so they are evenly mixed.
8. Pour the sugar mixture over your crushed strawberries, stirring it in as you pour. Continue stirring for about 3 minutes to make sure sugar and pectin are distributed evenly.

9. Ladle jam into clean jars leaving room at the top of each for the mixture to expand when it freezes. Having a funnel on hand at this stage is helpful in reducing mess (even for adults).

10. Screw lids on and let stand on counter for 30 minutes - 1 hour until the jam firms up. Place in your freezer for up to a year.

Yield: approximately 5 8oz jars or slightly less than 3 pint jars.

Whether you call it beer can chicken, beer butt chicken, or drunken chicken, inserting a beer can in the body cavity of a whole bird is a wonderful summer grilling tradition. Most of the recipes online call for using a dry rub on the outside of the bird, relying solely on the beer can to keep the chicken moisturized throughout the grilling process. If you're doing this as a last minute preparation, a rub is a better choice, but if you've got the time, brine the chicken before grilling for a truly amazing flavor. I also recommend using wood charcoal rather than briquettes, so you get a nice wood-smoked flavor.

Ingredients:

Brine
1 Gallon Water
3/4 cup kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbl pepper

Chicken
1 whole chicken
1 can of beer

For a hint of spice add 2 tsp cayenne pepper to the brine.

Before beginning, remove any giblets from the chicken's body cavity and discard.

Stir salt, sugar, and pepper into the water until sugar and salt are mostly dissolved (you can speed the process up by boiling the mixture on the stove). I also like to include several sprigs of thyme in the brine for additional flavor. Submerge the chicken in your brine and place the container in the fridge for 6-8 hours.

When you get close to the end of the brining process, start your grill with coals on one half of the grill. You'll be cooking the chicken with indirect heat, so you want to make sure you have space to place the chicken with no coals underneath.

Empty or drink half of the beer can. Insert the can in the body cavity of the chicken so that the base of the can and the two legs make a tripod to hold it up on the grill. Place the chicken on the side of the grill away from the coals - this is an indirect cooking process; the outside of the chicken will burn before cooking finishes if it's placed over the coals. Cook the chicken with the grill cover on for approximately 1-1 1/2 hours, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees. Check every 20 minutes and rotate the chicken on the grill for even cooking. The temperature is more important than the cooking time.

If you get the chicken too close to the coals, the skin can get too dark like this:

The first strawberries of summer finally arrived after a later than normal end to the Northwest gloom. What better way to celebrate than with the first strawberry shortcake of the season. The recipe here calls for heavy cream, but I substituted Silk soy creamer in keeping with my general avoidance of dairy. This is another recipe that's fun to do with kids because the steps are fairly simple and the payoff for your kid is dessert. Wyatt and I tackled the shortcake while Robin prepared the rest of dinner.

Shortcake Recipe

3 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbl sugar
1 1/2 Tbl baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (or 1 1/4 cups soy creamer)
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract

Procedure:

1. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix dry ingredients with a fork.


2. Cut the butter into the dry mix with a fork until there are only small pieces remaining (you can also use a food processor).


3. Combine cream, egg yolk, vanilla, and almond, mixing until the egg yolk is beaten into the liquid.


4. Make a well in the center of the dry mix and pour in the cream mixture.


5. Mix your batter with a fork until the dough is evenly combined but still rough. Knead the whole mixture with your fork.


6. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and let dough chill while oven comes to temperature.


7. Place dough in 8-inch round baking pan, pushing it evenly out to the edges with a fork.


8. Bake until the top is a medium golden brown, which should take approximately 20 minutes.

Allow shortcake to cool in pan and serve with strawberries and your favorite whipped topping.

First impressions count. Would you greet a new friend with greasy hair and old sweatpants? Of course not. Then, why would you serve food that doesn't look neat and appetizing? Whether you put together your meal in 30 minutes or worked on your sauce for hours, the appearance is the final touch on the food. There are so many different ways to plate the food so that it looks as good as it tastes.
I am not a chef but I have learned from chefs in cooking classes and I noticed a few things.

1. Who framed the risotto?
The rim of the plate is like the frame of a picture. Many chefs like to keep the frame clean but some don't mind drizzling some sauce around to decorate. If you do , make sure to make it look neat and don't overdo it.

2. Good things come in all colors, shapes and sizes
Make sure to vary the colors on your plate. Don't use too many foods that are the same color. Sweet Potatoes and carrots will look boring. Sometimes a sprig of parsley is enough to liven up an item that is bland color. Don't put only round things on the plate, balance different shapes.

3. White is pure
I have noticed that using plates with busy designs tends to look messy. A nice big white plate is perfect for the pure, clean, appetizing look. If you can use busy plates and still pull it off, then do it.

4. Ring - A- Ding- Ding
Those ring molds that look like oversize cookie cutters are perfect for shaping a mound of rice. Just place the ring on the rice. Use a knife or something flat to level it out on top and remove the ring. Voila!

5. Roll your balls
Melon ballers are not just for fruit. Use them to carve potatoes into balls. Fry the leftovers for hash browns.

6. Let's twist again
For Pasta:
Pick up the pasta with tongs and give a little twist at the end for it to look nice.

7. Read up on Plating: Working the Plate: The Art of Food Presentation , Amuse-Bouche: Little Bites That Delight Before the Meal Begins

"How long should I cook a free range turkey to make sure it's cooked all the way through?"

The length of time you need to cook a turkey varies by weight and should be reasonably consistent whether the turkey is free-range or raised through industrial methods. Regardless of how long it should take to cook a turkey, it is always best to have a meat thermometer handy to verify the temperature of the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast have all reached 165 degrees. Below are some guidelines to help you determine how long you need to cook the turkey, just be sure to verify temperature of the meat before removing from the oven to serve. Timetable assumes a 325 degree oven temperature and a turkey that is either fully thawed or was never previously frozen.

Unstuffed Turkey

4 to 8 pounds: 1.5 to 3.25 hours
8 to 12 pounds: 2.75 to 3 hours
12 to 14 pounds: 3 to 3.75 hours
14 to 18 pounds: 3.75 to 4.25 hours
18 to 20 pounds: 4.25 to 4.5 hours
20 to 24 pounds: 4.5 to 5 hours

Stuffed Turkey

6 to 8 pounds: 2.5 to 3.5 hours
8 to 12 pounds: 3 to 3.5 hours
12 to 14 pounds: 3.5 to 4 hours
14 to 18 pounds: 4 to 4.25 hours
18 to 20 pounds: 4.25 to 4.75 hours
20 to 24 pounds: 4.75 to 5.25 hours

I've been nagging Robin to help me make a lasagna with sheep cheese for awhile, primarily because I have an allergy to dairy, which means a "real" lasagna is simply out of the question for me. Somewhere along the way this morphed into a recipe that was something closer to the whole sheep lasagna. We substituted ground lamb in place of the normal meats you would include in a lasagna and instead of spinach we used Marche, the greens also known as lamb's lettuce. The result was an outstanding dish that stacks up nicely against any of the more traditional lasagna recipes (just because I shouldn't eat dairy doesn't mean I don't sample on occasion).

Whole Sheep Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients

Lasagna Noodles

Meat
2lbs ground lamb (coarse if you can get it)
1 Tbl fennel
2 Tsp red pepper flakes
Salt & Pepper to taste

Sauce
28oz can Crushed Tomatoes (San Marzano)
1/2 yellow sweet onion (diced)
5 whole cloves garlic
1 Tsp red pepper flakes
1Tsp anchovy paste
3 Tbl EVOO
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 cup red wine (Sangiovese / Chianti)
1/4 cup total basil, oregano, thyme
1 pint grape tomatoes

Filling
16oz cubed soft sheep milk's cheese
1 cup grated pecorino romano
3-4oz Mache (lamb's lettuce) or sub spinach
1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves whole
2-3 cups sliced baby bella mushrooms

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven 375
2. Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water until almost al dente. Remove from heat and set aside in a little water and olive oil
3. While the noodles are boiling, use a medium saute pan to brown lamb and combine with ingredients for seasoning meat. At this time you can also start your sauce by sweating your onions and garlic in medium sized sauce pan, combing the onion and garlic with olive oil, anchovy paste, red pepper flakes, and salt & pepper.
4. Once meat is brown set aside.
5. Finish sauce by adding wine, cook to reduce till liquid is almost gone.
6. Add crushed tomatoes to the sauce, simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes (this is a good place to sample the wine you purchased for dinner)
7. Prepare your filling by picking basil, cubing soft cheeses, grating pecorino romano (reserve half cup of cheese for top). Combine all filling ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
8. Slice mushrooms
9. Add chopped herbs and grape tomatoes to sauce. Combine meat and sauce at this point.
10. Using the saute pan from your meat add olive oil and saute mushrooms on medium high to high. Add salt, pepper, and thyme to mushrooms. Saute till browned. Add mushrooms to bowl with filling.
11. Prepare lasagna 9x12 baking dish so you can start making layers.
12. Coat the bottom of dish with a layer of sauce, followed by a layer of noodles, and then a layer of filling (veggies cheese and mushrooms).
13. Repeat layers until you get to your last row of noodles, then finish with a layer of sauce and sprinkle the reserve cheese on the top.
14. Cover with foil and place in oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Remove foil, change oven setting to broil. Cook lasagna until topping is golden brown and bubbly (5 minutes max). Don't walk away at this stage or the lasagna will burn.
15. Remove from oven, allow to rest for 5-7 minutes before serving.
16. Serve with bread, salad, and your favorite Italian wine.

The three sheep cheeses used in this recipe are pecorino romano, pecorino di pienza, and brigante pecorino pinna. The pecorino romano is an excellent cheese for grating, the other two cheeses a much better for melting.

When Robin told me she was making graham crackers for part of a Skillet Street Food dessert this week, I thought it sounded like a great project for Wyatt (our 6-year-old son) and I to tackle at home too. The ingredient list for graham crackers is fairly simple, the preparation steps are easy, and I don't know a kid that doesn't love graham crackers. The dough is even safe to eat raw since there are no raw eggs, which makes it even more fun. We didn't have any graham flour in the house, so the recipe below uses whole wheat flour in its place.

Homemade Graham Crackers Recipe

1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup cold butter (1 stick if you buy quarters)
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbl honey
2 Tbl molasses
1/4 cup water

The recipe this draws on calls for adding the two flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon to a food processor for mixing. Wyatt and I dumped them all in a bowl first and then in the food processor. You could also use a mixer with a paddle and get the same result.
Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and add to the dry mixture in your food processor, mixing until it looks fairly coarse and there are no visible lumps of butter. This should take between 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Add the honey, molasses, room temperature water, and vanilla. Mix until the dough becomes a big lump. This may take about 1 minute as well.
Take out a big cookie sheet with no sides and place a layer of parchment or waxed paper on it. Scrape the dough onto the parchment paper and place another piece of the paper on top. Roll the dough until it's about 1/8-inch thick.
Chill for 1 hour (longer is okay). I left the parchment paper on the cookie sheet for easy transportation. Wyatt and I played cards while we waited.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While oven heats, remove the top layer of parchment paper and cut the dough with a sharp knife into approximately 2 1/2-inch to 3-inch squares, which will yield about 20 graham crackers. We left the cuts together, which created crackers similar to the ones you get at the store that break apart at the seams. We ate the portions that were removed to square the edges.
Using a toothpick, poke holes in the top of each cracker (we did 9 per cracker).
Bake for 15 minutes until the edges are lightly brown. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan.

Once the crackers are cooled, eat plain or top with Nutella or your favorite spreadable.

Before baking:

After a recent reading of Bottomfeeder, I'm trying to refocus my seafood eating on fish that are more sustainable, responsibly fished, and higher in omega-3's. This means kicking most of the larger fish like tuna out of my diet and replacing them with smaller faster-maturing fish like mackerel. Just be sure to look for mackerel from the North Atlantic Ocean, as the ones found near the Gulf of Mexico tend to be high in mercury. Here's a great recipe Robin put together for roasting whole mackerel in an Asian-themed sauce.

I recommend having the fish monger gut the mackerel for you before you bring it home. At home, you'll need to bone the fish, removing the backbone before cooking per the instructions below.

Ingredients:
1 whole Atlantic mackerel
1 Tbl yellow miso
1/2 sweet onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/3 cup sake
3 Tbl soy sauce
2 Tbl Mirin
2 Tbl rice vinegar
1 Tbl sugar
Salt & Pepper
Siracha

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare fish for cooking. With the dressed fish on its back, use a sharp knife to cut on both sides of the backbone starting at the head and cutting toward the tail. Be careful during the cutting process as mackerel flesh is soft. Once cut, remove the backbone and tail, leaving the head on for presentation. Remove rib bones, realizing mackerel is a bony fish; there will be pin bones along the center line.
2. In a 9x12 glass roasting dish combine miso, sake, soy sauce, Mirin, rice vinegar and sugar until miso dissolves. Add onion and garlic slices.
3. Dip fish flesh side down to coat with sauce then place in pan skin side down to roast. Salt & pepper fish to taste.
4. Place roasting dish in oven for 7-10 minutes (depending on size of fish). Fish should be slightly opaque and starting to flake.
5. Remove fish from pan to serving plate.
6. Place baking dish back in oven to reduce sauce (or reduce sauce in pan on stove if you're in a hurry).
7. Pour sauce over fish and serve with rice.

If you're feeling ambitious, you can crisp the skin in a lightly oiled pan on the stove (pictured below).

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 7-10 minutes