Kirkland Anejo Tequila

I found this at my local CostCo and was surprised by the quality. This is a smooth, sipping tequila with hints of anise, caramel and a bit of smoke. A $24 bottle thats comparable to $50 bottles from Milagro.

A fall tradition - Green Chili

Every year I visit Santa Fe, NM in the fall to experience the various festivals and enjoy the great food. During my visit, I make a point of visiting the farmers market and stocking up on some local chilies. I've been buying Chimayo chilies for their great flavor and spice - they make a wonderful green chili stew.

The green chili stew starts off with about a half bushel of roasted Chimayo chilies. Peel and seed the Chimayos, then dice them into half inch pieces. Reserve the diced chilies and any juices for later.

Next braise the pork - I usually use pork shoulder (while i use boneless shoulders from CostCo - bone-in would be preferable). For the braise, you'll need a large heavy pot - this is where my 9q Le Creuset comes in handy! Brown the pork shoulder on all sides and remove. Then add onion, garlic, celery and parsley to the pot - scraping up any accumulated fond. Add spices (coriander, cumin, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt, black pepper and chili powder) and cook with the vegetables. Return the pork shoulder to the pot and add chicken stock until about 2/3rds of the shoulder is submerged. Bring up to a boil, then cover and braise in a 250 degree oven for 3 hours. You should rotate the shoulder about ever hour. Once the pork is done, remove from the braising liquid, and cool to a safe handling temperature. Strain and reserve the cooking liquid - once cool you should skim off any fat that has risen to the top. Discard the spent vegetables. Cut the pork shoulder into a small dice - I recommend a electric knife since this is a lot of meat and typically big pieces.

Next you can start the base for the stew - begin by sauteing onions, add garlic, tomato paste, and diced potatoes. Next add the reserved stock from the braise - bring up to a boil and add the diced chilies. At this point, check for salt. Simmer for 20 minutes, then add the diced pork and continue to simmer. Check the seasoning again. You may need to adjust the amount of liquid by adding more chicken stock, or by simmering down to reduce. You can also add flour paste if you want a thicker chili.

Serve on its own with a bit of sour cream and a tortilla, or serve over tamales!

This has become one of our household favorites so I usually make a double batch and freeze to enjoy throughout the year!

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week26

A great CSA season comes to a close with week 26. As I look back over the last 26 weeks, we've had an amazing bounty of vegetables. While there were some weeks where I couldn't believe there was still more kale or cilantro, I was exposed to many things I've never cooked before, which expanded my cooking repertoire! Additionally, I learned about what grew in our Colorado seasons - so often we're disconnected from reality when we're buying tomatoes in December, forgetting they were trucked half way across the country. The flavors of locally grown tomatoes, allowed to ripen on the vine, then picked at their peak was unlike anything i've every experienced from a store bought tomato. Sometimes there was more food then I could handle (especially when I was traveling for business) - this taught me what needed to be eaten immediately versus what could survive in the fridge until I could get to it.

This week's harvest included:

• Kambocha squash
  
• Acorn squash
  
• Carrots
  
• Potatoes
  
• Onions
  
• Brussel sprouts
  
• Diakon radish
  
• Decorative corn
  
• Beets
  
• Cabbage
  
• And Wine!

Thank you to Grant Family Farms for a great CSA experience - I'll be back next year!

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week25

Week 25 continues the fall harvest with a nice variety, including:

• Spinach
  
• Brussel sprouts
  
• Kambocha squash
  
• Pumpkin
  
• Diakon radish
  
• Broccoli
  
• Radishes
  
• Beets
  
• Carrots
  
• Potatoes
  
• Chard

The brussel sprouts were fantastic - I removed them from the stalk, then cut an x into the base off each sprout. I boiled them for 7 minutes in salted water. I removed and then tossed with a mustard butter with truffle oil.

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week24

Another great food week with brussel sprouts on the stalk!

This week I made a curried butternut squash soup with cilantro oil and creme fraiche.

The recipe was adopted from Deborah Madison's Greens Cookbook. The soup starts with simple vegetable stock made from carrots, zucchini, celery, onion, potato, parsley and curry spices (cinnamon, clove, garlic, coriander, cumin and cardamom). Cook everything together and then strain the stock. For the soup, saute onion, and cubed butternut squash until tender. Next add ground curry spices (cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, and cayenne pepper) with fresh garlic and ginger. Continue to cook until the spices become fragrant. Then add the soup stock and simmer until all the flavors come together. Finally, puree the soup in batches until smooth.

For the cilantro oil, quickly blanch the cilantro in boiling water and shock in an ice bath to preserve the color. Then puree until smooth with a neutral flavored olive oil. Add a pinch of salt.

For the creme fraiche, bring whole milk or half and half to a simmer, take off the heat and once its returned to room temperature mix in some cultured buttermilk. Let the mixture stand, covered for a day or until the desired thickness is achieved.

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week23

This week's harvest includes:

• Baby greens
  
• Broccoli
  
• Beets
  
• Carrots
  
• Potatoes
  
• Spagetti squash
  
• Dino kale
  
• Curly kale
  
• Spinash
  
• Cabbage
  

The napa cabbage from Grant Family farms continues to be beautiful - this week I made another slaw. I also made a quick version of creamed spinach. Cook down the spinach until soft, then add butter, and milk. I also added some diced chipotle chilies for some extra spice.

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week22

This weeks basket included:

• Baby greens
  
• Cabbage
  
• Cilantro
  
• Napa cabbage
  
• Red leaf lettuce
  
• Curly kale
  
• Green chilies
  
• Red skinned carrots
  
• Beets
  
• Potatoes
  
• Butternut squash

This week I made a slaw with the napa cabbage and carrots. Slice the cabbage as thinly as possible. Shred the carrots, and add to the cabbage. Salt and let sit for about an hour. Using cheese cloth, squeeze out the moisture as best you can. Make a dressing - I use canola oil, and dijon mustard to create a base emulsion. Then add honey, lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and chipotle peppers with adobo sauce. Toss with the dressing and serve.

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week21

This was a great harvest week - hard to believe its November with fresh greens like these. Additionally, this week's basket included these beautiful red skinned carrots that had amazing flavor - probably the best carrot I've ever tasted.

• Baby greens
  
• Spinach
  
• Onions
  
• Cabbage
  
• Lettuce
  
• Chard
  
• Beets
  
• Carrots
  
• Leeks
  
• Green chilies
  
• Cauliflower
  
• Butternut squash
  
• Cilantro
  

I had a couple of heads of cabbage from the past several weeks, so i used them for a braised cabbage dish. Remove the tough core from the cabbage, then slice into wedges. Arrange the wedges in a glass baking dish. Add sliced onion and carrot. Sprinkle on salt, pepper and red pepper flake (you can also add other herbs - I had extra thyme that worked perfectly). Then drizzle on olive oil. Add chicken stock to prevent the dish from drying out.. Tightly cover with aluminum foil and bake for 2 hours on 325 degrees. After an hour flip the cabbage wedges. Raise the temperature to 400, remove the foil and cook until the top begins to brown.

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week20

The produce continues, this week's basket includes:

• Baby greens
  
• Rainbow chard
  
• Broccoli
  
• Red new potatoes
  
• Leeks
  
• Onions
  
• Romaine lettuce
  
• Mini pumpkins
  
• Squash
  

No inspired recipes this week, just plain old good food! I roasted the squash (Kabocha i think) and served with a bit of butter, salt and pepper. The Kabocha squash has a very delicate, custard like consistency.

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week19

Fall has definitely started! Decorative corn and squash are included in this week's basket, but we've still got some reminders of sumer with lettuce and tomatoes.

• Corn
  
• Squash
  
• Spagetti squash
  
• Celery
  
• Baby greens
  
• Green chilies
  
• Carrots
  
• Onions
  
• Romaine lettuce
  
• Curly kale
  
• Curly parsley
  

This week I used the onions, green chilies (including those from week 18) and last week's cilantro to make a quick rice dish. Roast the chilies, then peel, seed and dice. Slice the onions and grill to add some smoke flavor, then dice them and combine with diced chilies. Finally, roughly chop the cilantro and combine the chilies, onions, cilantro with some cooked rice. Dress lighly with lime juice and a neutral flavored olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. To kick it up a bit, you can add some cayenne pepper and some ground cumin.

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week18

Week 18 baskets:

• Cucumber
  
• Small pickling cucumbers
  
• Golden Beets
  
• Eggplant
  
• Green chilies
  
• Acorn Squash
  
• Pumpkin
  
• Flat leaf parsley
  
• Curly parsley
  
• Cilantro
  
• Cabbage
  
• Swish chard
  
• Celery
  

One of my favorite dishes for this week is a simple roasted beet salad with blue cheese. Start off by lightly coating the beets in olive oil, then wrapping each individually in tin foil. Roast in a 350 degree oven until tender, you should be able to easily slide a knife into the center of the beet. Roasting time will vary based on the size of the beets, i usually find medium beets to take about 1.5 hours.

Once done, let cool, then remove from the foil, and remove skin. I use a paper towel to lightly scrub the surface of the beets - the skin comes right off. Next slice the beets into wedges or slices. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and top with a blue cheese, like blue or gorgonzola.

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week17

Week 17 continues with a nice variety of vegetables, including:

• Baby Greens
  
• Cilantro
  
• Green Peppers
  
• Broccholi
  
• Tomatoes
  
• Cucumber
  
• Eggplant
  
• Green Beans
  
• Celery
  
• Rainbow Chard
  
• Yukon Gold Potatoes
  
• Corn
  
• And Beer!
  

Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of eggplant so we've taken to making eggplant parmesan. First peel and slice the eggplants into thick rounds. Salt both sides of the slices liberally then lay out on a clean towel. Cover with another towel, then place a cutting board over and add weight. This will help to pull the water out of the eggplant. Bread and fry the eggplant. Move to a sheet pan, cover with a slice of cheese and bake until bubbly. Finally, plate and cover with a bit of sauce.

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week16

Week 16 continues with the beautiful produce, although not nearly the size of last week's enormous basket. This week included:

• Watermelon
  
• Zucchini
  
• English peas
  
• Fava beans
  
• Tomatoes
  
• Green peppers
  
• Cucumber
  
• Eggplant
  
• Carrots
  
• Radishes
  
• Corn
  
• Baby Greens

This week many of the veggies went into a simple succotash - to spice things up a bit I added a bit of fennel pollen at the end. This complimented the vegetables nicely while adding a bit of a unique flavor.

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week15

The CSA posts are a bit backlogged due to a hectic work travel schedule but, not to fear, I've still been cataloging the weekly basket (with a little help)!

Week 15 is one of the largest baskets of the year, including:

• Baby Greens
  
• Giant Beet
  
• Yellow Onion
  
• Cipollini Onion
  
• Carrots
  
• Parsley
  
• Green Beans
• Zucchini
  
• Eggplant
  
• Tomatoes
  
• Corn
  
• Celery
  
• Cabbage
  
• Spinach
  
• Romain Lettuce
  
• Watermelon
  
• Musk Melon

All this produce made it into several different dishes and salads. One of my go to dishes with all of this produce is a simple vegetable succotash - dice up all the veggies and saute with garlic, olive oil and fresh parsley until tender. This is a great way to utilize a lot of produce in a healthy, satisfying dish. The cabbage was made into a fresh slaw to accompany barbecued salmon. And the corn was roasted on the grill. I still haven't found a use for a beet of this size - probably would be best juiced.

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week14

Holy tomato Batman! This week we had several pounds of perfectly ripe and delicious tomatoes - they're nothing like the bland, stiff and orange tomatoes that you find at most grocery stores. These are deep red all the way through - the red that only comes from vine ripening. They are juicy and tender. Finally comes the flavor - the perfect expression of summer's bounty.

This weeks basket includes:

• Celery
  
• Tomatoes
  
• Yellow Onions
  
• Japanese Eggplant
  
• Spinach
  
• Baby greens
  
• Green peppers
  
• Yukon Gold Potatoes
  

This week I made a couple of pastas - I slow roasted the tomatoes for about 2 hours at 250 degrees with dried oregano, garlic and olive oil. Then tossed with pasta for a very simple sauce. I also had some left overs from last week's basket that I used in a pasta - cipollini onions, parsley and fava beens were quickly cooked. I then added roasted tomatoes and eggplant and tossed with some left over pasta. This dish worked out amazingly well. Finally, I used celery, onions and potatoes in simple chicken soup with wild rice.

That does it for now! Week 15 just arrived and it is the largest basket of the season!

Steel Cut Oats in a Zojirushi

I purchased a Zojirushi induction rice cooker and have been experimenting with cooking steel cut oats in it. One of the great features of the Zojirushi is the timer setting - this allows me to put the oats and water in at night, and program them to be done by 6am the next morning. Add one portion of oats to three portions water, a bit of salt and start the Zojirushi using the porridge setting. An hour and fifteen minutes later the oats should be ready. Either cooked fresh, or by timer, the oats come out wonderfully; with more texture and flavor then traditional oatmeal. Due to the decreased processing, I also believe they're better for you! I like the oats flavored simply with a bit of maple syrup.

Twelve Restaurant - Under Review

For my next review on the Denver Restaurant Review, I'm working on Denver's Twelve Restaurant. Twelve has been open for 9 months and received some positive mentions from local press and folks in the industry. Look for the review due out in about a week!

San Francisco Food Hot Spots

I just returned from several days in San Francisco where I enjoyed great meals at several of the city's hot spots.

A16 - despite Chef Nate Appleman's departure, A16 continues to serve up outstanding dishes. I sat at the Chef's counter and observed masterful cooking in the 800 degree wood fired oven. I sampled two appetizers - the roasted chanterelle mushrooms, and the roasted peppers. The chanterelles were wonderful - perfectly cooked, smokey and full flavored. For the entree I tried the squid ink pasta, the ricotta gnocchi and the pork chop. The gnocchi was amazingly light, but still cohesive. The pork chop was probably the best I've ever had - flavorful meat with a thick layer of fat that was roasted into delicious submission. For dessert I had to try the chocolate budino tart with sea salt and olive oil. Although skeptical at first about the salt and olive oil - this dish really came together nicely. Overall, A16 did the local produce schtick very well - the ingredients were still respected but not at the expense of flavor or the success of the overall dish.

Hog Island Oyster Company - if you're in the area on Monday or Thursday, stop in for their happy hour (5-7pm). However, get their by 4:45 to make sure that you get a table or at least a spot at the standing bar. Try the $1 oysters and the 3.5 pints - including my favorite IPA, Racer 5.

R&G - this Chinatown favorite was recently featured in Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. Not my favorite restaurant of the trip, but if i was in the mood I might go back.

Cane Rosso - stop in for their great egg sandwich - opens @ 8am.

Taylor's Refresher - great spot for lunch. The ahi tuna burger was fantastic. A generous portion of sushi grade tuna, perfectly seared, accompanied by slaw and an egg bun.

Pizza Delfina - nice relaxed, neighborhood atmosphere serving great pizza!

Zuni Cafe - a San Francisco establishment, with the attitude that goes with it. While the food was good, I'd go back to A16 first.

Seduced by Papillon

Faced with a Saturday night at home, an average movie and a couple of hours to kill, I decided to liven things up with Orin Swift's 2005 Papillon. This Bordeaux style blend from California was the second wine I purchased from the local CostCo (the first was The Prisoner - see my other post here). At $50, this bottle was a hefty one, both on the checkbook and physically. The bottle itself is the first thing you'll notice, a pound and a half heavier then most other 750 ml bottles, and sporting a unique label.

After reading other online reviews (YoungWinosOfLA), I thought it best to open the bottle, decant and let breath for a full hour before diving in. The first taste was intriguing - smooth, high in alcohol, with flavors still wound up into an indiscernible mass. After more time, and frequent tastings I found hints of caramel / toffee, vanilla, clove, plum, chocolate and something a bit funky / earthy. This was a big wine that needed several hours to fully open up and enjoy - definitely not for the faint of heart (or wallet).

I'll definitely buy a few more bottles for cellaring.

Weekly Blog on Grant Family Farms CSA - Week13

Week 13 marks the half way point in this year's Grant Family Farms CSA membership, and has me thinking of the experience to date. So far the experience has been an enlightening reconnection with the local food chain - learning to what's in season, what grows in Colorado, and how to make great food out of it. While the Cherry Creek farmers market may have tomatoes in May (when you question the purveyor you'll find that they are actually sourced from California), Grant Family Farms provides honest, locally grown produce. They may be one of the "mega" CSA's around, with several thousand acres under management, but for a first timer this has been a great experience. I hope the fair weather and plentiful moisture continues, so we can reap the full benefits of the coming harvest.

So on to the harvest - this week's basket included:

• Read leaf lettuce
  
• Beans
  
• Tomatoes
  
• Cucumber
  
• Zucchini
  
• Corn
  
• Spring baby greens
  
• Radishes
  
• Parsley
  
• Yellow squash (pattipan?)
  
• Potatoes (Yukons)
  
• Cipollini onions
  
• Kale

Overall, a larger diversity in produce then summer's early baskets. I used the produce in several ways, with varying success.

The various lettuces, tomatoes and cucumber were used in fresh green salads.

The zucchini, yellow squash, parsley, and tomatoes were used in a light pasta sauce with garlic, red pepper flake, onion, italian sausage, and basil. This dish was a wonderful expression of summer's bounty - full of fresh bright flavors.

The corn was cooked on the grill (my favorite preparation).

The radishes were prepared using a quick pickle method (vinegar, sugar and coriander) - while tasty, the odor was beyond funky.

The potatoes and onions were tossed with olive oil, garlic, salt, black pepper and paprika. Then oven roasted until cooked through. Unfortunately, the potatoes were a bit dry - Yukons would probably do better in a stewing preparation, or mashed with copious amounts of butter and milk!

The kale was cooked with garlic, red pepper flake, olive oil and lemon - one of my favorite kale preparations. This dish is full flavored and spicy - however, you can adjust the flavor level by adding / removing garlic to taste.

Finally, I used the remaining parsley and tomatoes in a simple tabbouleh with bulgar wheat, mint, scallions, garlic, olive oil and lemon. This dish was a wonderful accompaniment to the Moroccan spiced lamb sliders w/ cucumber yogurt sauce.

With Week 14's basket arriving tomorrow, I still have all the beans, a few potatoes and a few onions to deal with. Overall, we worked through the basket effectively, eating many healthy flavor meals, despite eating out twice!