Chickpeas, Fennel, Bell Pepper, and Grapes

...and brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things.

There is so much good in this one easy dish. Bell peppers are my favorite vegetable--particularly the red ones. Grapes, when roasted, take on an entirely ethereal sweetness and juciness.  They actually burst in your mouth, like some sort of natural Gushers fruit snack. And fennel, with it's crispness and slight anise/black licorice flavor is a new muse of mine. Filling, hearty chickpeas combine with these to ground the whole thing.

The health benefits of each of these ingredients are also astounding. Scientists and nutritionists agree grapes and bell peppers are two of the best things you can eat--I'll leave it at that.

This goes great with roast pork or chicken, or just eaten straight off the pan. Did I mention this comes together in about 5 minutes? 

Recipe, from Whole Living by Martha Stewart: 

Serves 6

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 head fennel
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 pound seedless large red grapes
• 1 14-oz. can chickpeas
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (I use less than 1 Tb)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (I use dried)
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Thinly slice garlic. Halve and thinly slice fennel, leaving the core intact. Stem and seed bell peppers, and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Divide vegetables, grapes, and chickpeas, rinsed and drained, between two rimmed baking sheets.
2. Drizzle each sheet with oil and toss with oregano, salt, and pepper, to taste.
3. Place in oven and roast, rotating sheets once, until vegetables are golden brown and grapes are beginning to burst, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove vegetables and any pan juices; transfer to a serving platter. Serve warm.

Open-faced BLE

Some people are good at hiding their emotions. I am not one of them.

A few years ago I was at a grocery store sandwich counter for lunch with my boss. I was expecting the usual smorgasboard of options--Iceberg, American, green bell pepper. So, I couldn't hide my delight when I saw the premium upgrades before me. I could get brie! I could get chutney.  And finally, I couldn't hold back, I practically yelled:

"Oh my God, they have ARUGULA!". The unnecessarily excited exclamation was (justifiably) brought up frequently thereafter. In meetings, emails, and phone calls, and of course, client dinners.

This peppery, healthy lettuce is great in hot dishes like pasta, pizza, or panini. It's equally wonderful in cold salads.
 
The slightly bitter taste plays out well in this easy breakfast sandwich.
----------

French baguette, day-old is fine
2 eggs
2 strips of bacon
Lots of ARUGULA!
Black pepper

Cook the bacon however you like it. I use turkey bacon. 

To get the eggs oozy and blissful, start by heating well the skillet. Add butter and wait till foam subsides, indicating it's very hot. Carefully crack eggs into the pan and pepper well.

To set the top of the eggs, you can either flip them (it can be tricky) or cover the pan for a few minutes.

Slice the baguette lengthwise and heat, cut side down in the leftover bacon skillet (YUM) or in a toaster.

Layer baguette with bacon, ARUGULA!, and (carefully) added fried eggs.

John's Fiance-Maker Tuna and Peas

John and I first met at a Mardi Gras parade, and hung out for the next 12 hours, spanning another parade, a house party, a front-yard party, and eventually closing down the old college favorite, The Boot. 

Shallot-Tarragon Jam

What I'm making this weekend...should be delicious on hot panini sandwiches. This is from Chow:

In this jam, shallot pairs with tarragon to create an instant appetizer spread that’s great on roasted turkey or spooned over a log of fresh goat cheese.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 pounds shallots, peeled, halved, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 tablespoons white wine–tarragon vinegar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons chopped tarragon

1. Heat oil and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. When butter foams, add shallots and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are softened and just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Season with freshly ground black pepper.
3. Stir in 4 tablespoons of the vinegar and the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are completely soft and caramelized and the jam is thick and syrupy, about 20 to 25 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in remaining 2 tablespoons vinegar. Allow jam to cool for 20 minutes. Stir in chopped tarragon.

Bittersweet Success with Agrodolce Peppers

This is one of the trustiest kickin' Italian side dishes. It adds a real pop of color and who doesn't love red bell peppers? The tangy/sweet/sour combination is a real winner. Serve with a crisp white wine.

Sweet and Sour Bell Peppers (serves 4)

3 Tb Olive Oil
4 Bell Peppers, sliced how you like to eat 'em (I prefer 1 x 1 cubes)
1 c Vinegar (I mix about 2 parts white, 2 parts apple cider, and 1 part balsamic. The balsamic gives a great color and packs great flavor, but 1 c of it is too strong, and pricey.)
2 Tb Sugar
Salt

Heat the oil in a pan, add the bell peppers and cook over low heat for about 15 minutes. This ensures they cook through, but more importantly, sweats them a bit so they leave all their delicious juices in the pan. After 15 minutes, add salt, which helps pull out even more of their juice.

This is where the magic happens: use tongs to lift the pep's out of the pan. Put them in the serving dish, but you're not done yet!

Add the vinegar into the pan juices, stir in the sugar, and heat over medium to med-high. Stir and watch the vinegar evaporate--the acidic part cooks off, and the fruit solids are left behind to mingle with the sugar and pepper juices. Let the mixture bubble and keep stirring till the mix becomes syrupy and the vinegar is almost completely evaporated.

Now, add the peppers back into the pan and cook for 2 more minutes.

Eat 'em up!

Easy Italian for Londoners Trying to Cook

Yummy Pasta with Italian Tuna Red Sauce
(Do you like tuna? its a great, easy, cheap, healthy protein, so you should learn to like it if you dont already, mmmk? I cant stand it raw or in tuna salad, so this is essentially the only way I eat it.)

Pasta, rigatoni, penne, or bow tie (about 2 servings)
Pasta sauce, any kind
1/2 onion, red, white, or yellow, chopped
Garlic if you want
Olive Oil
1 Can of Tuna
Capers
Black olives if you want
French bread for dippin and eatin

Start the pasta water. When it boils, throw in pasta and set the timer. Meanwhile, start the sauce:

Add about 1 Tb olive oil to a pan, heat it up over medium and throw in the onions. Let those babies soften a few minutes, and then add minced garlic if you want. When the onions/garlic are soft, and slightly browned, add the can of tuna. I like to brown the tuna a bit, so I let it rest in the pan and get crispy, on medium, about 3-5 minutes. When the tuna looks good (not fishy anymore) add capers, as many as you like. Toss in some chopped black olives if you roll like that. When all of that is warmed up and looking good, add in the pasta sauce. (You could additionally--or instead--add plain crushed tomatoes..if you do, add oregano, thyme, basil, salt, and pepper.) Stir in tomatoes well, cover, and simmer over low heat, about 5-10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Toss sauce with pasta, douse in fresh Parm, crack vino, make out with boyfriend before this dish destroys yo breaf. Eat.

East V. West

Can Shun and Global Take the Title From Wusthof?

Kitchen knives are a lot like underwear: basic, necessary, and extremely personal. But, unlike your tried and true Fruit of the Looms, trying a new style can be an expensive and daunting decision. But the Asian knife houses of Shun and Global are begging for a chance to win you over. Below, some factors to consider when upgrading your collection--be it with Asian knives or more of what you've always used.

Beware the...

• Partial Tang: Insist on a full tang knife--the blade is one piece of metal that extends through the length of the handle. Improves balance and maneuverability.

• Stamped blade: Insist on a forged blade--the metal is poured into a mold instead of bashed into the shape of a knife.

I'll take these two features as givens for the rest of the discussion.

Now, to attack the onslaught of options. First of all, the way a knife feels in your hand surpasses any manufacturing specs anyone could ever offer. Sure, you might follow a learning curve and adapt to a knife you at first disliked. But you might not. This makes much of knife talk highly subjective.

FEEL: The top brands, and even lines within the same brand, all feel much different. Global is the lightest, and the one people feel the strongest about, either for or against, as it is much different. These differences come down to matters of preference--weight and shape in one's hand. Go try them out.

STEEL/BLADE: More objective are the differences in the steel and blade. The Asians are made of significantly harder metal-- Shun at Rockwell 61, Global at Rockwell 58 and Wusthof Rockwell 55. This supports a more acute cutting angle. Sources vary on specifics, but
generally agree Wusthof and Henckels cutting angles are 18-22 degrees, Shun and Global 15 -16 degrees ... a razor blade is 4 degrees.

SHARPNESS: When people say they want "sharp" they usually mean "requires less cutting force." Cutting force is a product of the profile of the edge of the knife, i.e. concave or convex or flat, the edge angle in degrees and the coeficient of dynamic friction between the side of the knfe and what it is cutting. Global knives stay "sharp" so long partially due to the fact that they sharpen the edge without a bevel and instead employ a straight V shape--check it out at a Williams-Sonoma.
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku6100432/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1%7C15%7C%7C%7C0%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7Cglobal&cm%5Fsrc=SCH

MAINTENANCE: For all knives, match the brand of honing steel with the brand of knife and get them sharpened once a year or so. I use different brands of knives, and I hate honing, so I just get mine sharpened every six months. Asian knives hold their edge longer, but are more difficult to revive. Solution is to not let them go too long, and the very hard, very thin blade will be very good to you.

GLOBAL: I appreciate the light weight because it's more nimble, and so sharp that it doesnt REQUIRE heft like my Wuthof does. (I used to love a good heavy Wusthof...) Specifically, the shape of the Asian Chef's knife by Global is delightful--its the third knife down pictured in
that link above, its a hybrid of a santoku and chef's knife. I suspect anyone would love these, if they can get used to the handle.

SHUN: Shun is great, too, with its own special steel production technique that I could spend more paragraphs on, but they cost 2 to 3 times more than a Wusthof Classic, while Global is only slightly more than Wusthof. With my huge discount, price was of no concern to me, and among chefs that came in the store all the time, Global was the most common for them to brag about, purchase, and generally adore. My parents love their set of Shuns, but I still prefer Global.

Bottomline, Asian knives are equipped to surpass European in popularity among gourmets. They are sharper, and no harder to maintain, just different to use. I suggest you try one out,
Williams-Sonoma has a VERY lax return policy if you find it unadapatable.