Chabernet

Another Glass of Chabernet

Corn Tortillas

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  To make 12 Corn Tortillas 2 1/4cups instant masa harina (corn flour) 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/3 cups cold water In a mixing bowl, combine the masa harina and salt, and gradually pour in 1 cup of water, stirring constantly. Knead the mixture with your hands, adding more water, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough be- comes firm and no longer sticks to the fingers. If you have a tortilla press, break off small pieces of dough and shape them into balls the size of a walnut. Place one ball at a time between two 8-inch squares of wax paper, and press them into 5- to 6-inch circles. Or divide the dough into 3 or 4 batches and, with a rolling pin, roll each batch between long strips of wax paper until the dough is about Read more [...]

Yellow Chili Paste

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Chile Amarillo Molido con Aceite   YELLOW CHILI PASTE To make about 2/3 cup 24 fresh yellow guero chilies, each about 3 to 4 inches long, or substitute other fresh, mild, yellow chilies like Hungarian Wax 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar 1 tablespoon salt In a heavy 4- to 5-quart saucepan, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil over high heat. Drop in the chilies and boil, uncovered, for 5 minutes, then drain them thoroughly and run cold water over them. Split the chilies in half and remove the seeds. Combine the chilies, oil, vinegar and salt in the jar of a blender, and blend them at high speed until the mixture is reduced to a smooth, thick puree. (To make the sauce by hand, Read more [...]

Red Chili Paste

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Aji Molido con Aceite RED CHILI PASTE   To make about 2 cups 1 cup tightly packed dried hontaka chilies 2 cups boiling water 6 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup boiling beef or chicken stock, fresh or canned, or boiling water Break the dried chilies in half and brush out the seeds. Place the chilies in a bowl, pour 2 cups of boiling water over them, and let them soak for 2 hours. Drain the chilies and discard the soaking water Combine the chilies, oil, garlic, salt and boiling stock or water in the jar of a blender and puree at high speed for 1 minute, or until the mixture is reduced to a smooth puree. Scrape into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. (To Read more [...]

Salsa Guasacaca

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SPICY AVOCADO SAUCE To make about 11/2 cups of sauce 1 small ripe tomato 1 large ripe avocado 1/4 cup olive oil 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 1/2 teaspoon red chili paste or very finely chopped, seeded, fresh hot chili 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons finely diced green pepper 1 cold hard-cooked egg, finely chopped 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh coriander ( cilantro)   This is a favorite of Venezuela.   Cut out the stem of the tomato, then slice the tomato in half cross- wise. Squeeze each half gently to extract the seeds and juices, discard them, and chop the tomato into 1/4-inch dice. Cut the Read more [...]

Ceviche

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FISH MARINATED IN LIME AND LEMON JUICE   Peruvian Version To serve 6 1 cup fresh lime juice 1 cup fresh lemon juice 4 dried hontaka chilies, seeded and pulverized with a mortar and pestle 2 red onions, sliced 1/8 inch thick and separated into rings 1/4 teaspoon finely chopped garlic 1 teaspoon salt Freshly ground black pepper 2 pounds grey sole fillets cut into 1- inch pieces, or substitute any other firm white delicately flavored fish 3 large sweet potatoes.-unpeeled 4 ears fresh corn, shucked and cut crosswise into 1 1/2-inch rounds 2 heads Boston or romaine lettuce, washed, separated into leaves, and chilled 2 fresh hot red chilies, washed, split, seeded, deribbed and cut lengthwise Read more [...]

Oxtail Stew

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Do you know that phrase, "lip smacking good"? This Oxtail Stew recipe transforms the humblest ingredients into a lip smacking good meal. The science behind all that smacking of lips, is the slow cooking of all the connective tissue and gristle until it turns into gelatin. The cooked gelatin actually coats your lips and tongue - hence the expression. Here is our recipe for Oxtail Stew:     OXTAIL STEW RECIPE YIELD: 06 Servings PREP: 30 mins COOK: 3 hrs 0 min READY IN: 3 hrs 30 mins Slow cooked Oxtail Stew, browned on the stove and then braised in the oven. INGREDIENTS 3 pounds Oxtails cut into 2 1/2 inch pieces 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt 1 1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper Freshly Ground 1/2 Cup Flour All Purpose 1/4 Read more [...]

Wood-Fired Pizza

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I stumbled upon a blogger who questions whether Wood-Fired Pizza is inherently any better than the more typical baked product. In our experience (which is mostly in Italy), the thin-crust perfect pizza is almost always wood-fired. Here are a some shining examples from the USA. The Diavolo, which is topped with tomato sauce, sopresatta, roasted peppers, crushed red pepper flakes, and mozzarella. Connies Pizza has a unique pie-like top crust Spinach with Browned Onions, Roasted Peppers, Kalamata Olives and Feta Cheese Flying in First Class on a major airline The anchovy pizza at City House, Nashville Keep it simple with the margherita (San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, extra-virgin olive oil ,fresh basil, Read more [...]

Food Network Tipping Point

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I  was just commenting to Mrs Chabernet that Food Network appears to have been hijacked by Guy Fieri who ordered them to run all his episodes back-to-back. Lo and behold, Salon Magazine has just published a story titled "How one man destroyed the Food Network: Guy Fieri has made culinary TV into a viewer’s hell" Could this signal a tipping point for the highly successful Food Network and now every cooking show will be Triple-D'd? This reminds me of the Shoe Store theory in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: an economic theory that draws a correlation between the level of economic (and emotional) depression of a society and the number of shoe shops the society has. The theory is summarized as such: as a society sinks into depression, Read more [...]

Sourdough Baguettes

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Inspired by Julia Child. From my Sourdough Bread Recipe with Sourdough Starter.

Sourdough Bread Recipe

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Please accept our apology for the delay in providing this bread recipe after whetting your appetites with stories of wild yeast. You might recall our prior posting regarding foraging for Sourdough yeast. Hopefully you have had success in culturing your own variety of wild yeast or have obtained a Mother starter. In any case, let’s get started with Sourdough Bread Baking 101. We have tried many recipes for baking Sourdough loaves of the years, but none came close to our “Ideal”: the classic Sourdough of San Francisco. Throwing caution to the wind, we went back to the Fountainhead of superb bread baking – Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume Two. I won’t recite her bread baking techniques here, but please Read more [...]