A report from the Hudson Valley Winefest

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

Just got back from the Hudson Valley Wine and Beer Festival and am reporting on my experience for those who are thinking about going tomorrow. The festival takes place each year on the Saturday and Sunday after Labor Day. It’s a low key event in the sort of charming (I think because it’s small) Duchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, NY. Tickets for the day are $25 with no alcohol, $40 with wine access and a glass, $45 with wine and beer access and TWO glasses.

The festival takes place in three exhibition buildings, an open area with food trucks, and two large tents for restaurant food sales and craft beer. The pavilions have a combination of wine tasting and a mishmash of snack vendors offering pretty small samples as well as a few non-food exhibitors. (You will definitely need to buy food, from the trucks or the restaurant vendors, to get through the wine tasting experience. There are some good choices, but at festival prices.)

Most of the wines are quite inexpensive, and there are lots of deals where you get a carry bag when you buy 2 or 3 bottles. If you buy a lot of wine there’s a valet service so you don’t have to carry it with you, though that service stops mid-afternoon so you need to drink and plan early.

Leaving aside the beer for a minute, whether this is a good value depends on your ability to drink a lot of tiny sips of inexpensive wine (and many people were doing their best to get their money’s worth). But a lot of people came in groups (hopefully including a designated driver for each) and were having a good amount of fun.

If this was a Yelp review, it would veer between 3 and 4 stars but settle on 4 for the beer tent. No reason not to pay the extra $5 for a 4 ounce tasting glass and five stubs that can be redeemed for good sized tastes (not sips) of some interesting beers. You can buy more coupons, but I didn’t because I had a long drive home to Saratoga.

If you’re in the area, or if you’re up for a drive on picturesque back roads, check it out.

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A groaning board of fall food festivals

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

2015-posterThe weekend following Labor Day seems like a perfect time for a food and wine festival. We’re approaching harvest season, the kids are back in school, time to get to work after a summer of frivolity. So let’s celebrate with one last fling!

Alas, that means lots of competing festivals, at least in my neck of the woods in upstate New York. For the past several years I have attended the Saratoga Wine and Food Festival which is a fine excuse to enjoy fall weather and good eats and drink in Spa Park. But this year I’ll be attending the Hudson Valley Wine and Food Festival courtesy of my friends at Albany Yelp.

The top price for the Hudson Valley festival is $45 including food and wine tastings plus five sips of beer. That’s quite a bit less than the Saratoga festival and I am curious about how generous they are with the samplings for that price. One nice feature is that if you taste a wine and you like it, you can buy it on the spot and have it delivered to you as you go home. I’ll report on my findings but not until this time next fall since that’s when my recommendations would be of interest to the next round of festival goers.

In addition to Saratoga, I am foregoing the inaugural Bakers’ Harvest Festival at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, VT which sounds like a really wonderful event (if you’re interested check it out immediately as there are sessions starting Thursday) and the Longhouse Food Festival in Rensselaerville which is a confab of food writers, chefs and foodies at a barn in the country (I think; their website was not written by a food writer) that I’ve always been curious about. Lots to look forward to for a future year.

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Recipe: Greek Fried Rice

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers
Greek Fried Rice

Greek Fried Rice

Like Chinese fried rice, except it’s Greek! Needed a quick carbohydrate to go with squid on the grill, and found a container of leftover takeout and turned it into Greek fried rice. The net effect is close to the pilaf I could have made from scratch with more time and better planning. Serves 8.

Ingredients:
1 quart container leftover rice (if you’ve got a pint container, divide everything in half)
1/4 c olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
4 green onions, sliced into 1/2 inch batons OR 1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 c chopped mint leaves (optional; if you don’t have any use more oregano)
1/2 t dried oregano
zest of 2 lemons
Juice of 2 lemons (about 1/4 c)
1 t salt (unless the rice is already salted)

Method: Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the garlic and green onions/onion. Saute briefly then add oregano and chopped mint. Saute just until mint is wilted then add the rice and stir vigorously so the oil is evenly distributed. Add lemon zest, lemon juice and salt and toss again. Cover and cook on low heat a few minutes until heated through.

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Recipe: Panzanella (Italian Bread Salad)

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers
Panzanella

Panzanella

This is a good way to use up over-ripe late season tomatoes, stale sourdough bread and whatever else you might have on hand. Serves 6.

Ingredients (basic):
1 lb or so stale sourdough bread, Italian or other sturdy white loaf
1 lb or so tomatoes, coarsely chopped (be sure to reserve the juice)
1/2 red onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1 t salt
1/4 c olive oil
4 t red wine vinegar
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped (traditional, but optional to me)
Some chopped or crumbled tart cheese like feta (optional)
A handful of marinated vegetables from the DeLallio counter at the store (optional)
Whatever else you may have lying around (optional)

Method: cut the bread into 1 inch squares and soak in water till crustiness is gone (maybe 20 minutes if the bread is really hard and stale). Squeeze out as much water as you can and place in a bowl with the chopped tomatoes. Let it set a bit to absorb some juice, or just toss with the other ingredients. Allow to macerate a bit before serving. Tastes at least as good the next day.

PRO TIP: if your initial taste is a bit bland, try more salt and vinegar and/or lemon juice. There’s a lot of liquid so it’s important to get its flavor balance right.

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The difference between home cooks and professional chefs

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers
Tomato Production Setup

My tomato peeling production setup

The other day I got pressed into service on a canning operation. My job was to peel 25 pounds of tomatoes and pass them on to be made into sauce. This required the set-up you see here: a pot of boiling water to loosen the skins, a pot of cool water to bring them back to handling temperature, a place for the discarded skins and a slotted spoon to make the transfers.

I had been told I didn’t need to worry about the stems but quickly discovered this particular batch of Romas was a bit woody. So when is the best time to cut out the stem-ends? If you do it after peeling the tomato falls apart. So, it needs to be done before they go in the boiling water bath. This is the kind of production-line decision that is made by professional cooks dozens of times a day and is why they are different than even the most accomplished home cooks.

You can do a job very well, but if it’s one-off there’s no guarantee that you will be able to repeat with identical results. I can reliably cook steaks because I once worked in a steakhouse. But I have no such experience with deep frying so my results are more experimental. I expect it’s the same for most of us. In particular, it’s why there’s such a difference between home and professional bakers. You can’t be assured of consistent baguettes until you have made dozens or hundreds of them day after day.

This is not to slight home cooks. It’s fun to experiment and discover new things. But predictability is nice, and if I’m paying for the meal I insist on it.

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Recipe: Steak American Pharoah

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers
American Pharoah

Steak American Pharoah

Here’s my contribution toward the excess caused by the arrival of the Triple Crown winner to run in this weekend’s Travers Stakes. It was inspired by some ripe stone fruit and a tub of duck fat that was in danger of being discarded. Oddly but deliciously, the sweetness of the fruit and the decadent gaminess of steak combine to produce a taste reminiscent of foie gras.

Steaks frying in duck fat

I used an aged Delmonico and a ribeye for this little experiment

Ingredients:
Duck fat
Ripe peaches or nectarines
Some really nice steak

Method: heat a generous amount of duck fat in a cast iron skillet–about 1/4 inch deep. Split and stone the fruit then cook the halves, open side down, until nicely caramelized. Reserve on paper towels. Salt and pepper the steak and fry each side to your preferred tenderness, hopefully no more than medium rare. Drain the steak on paper towels, transfer to serving plates, place a fruit half on top, rest a few minutes then serve.

Fried Nectarines

Luscious fried nectarines

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Recipe: Ultimate Blender Gazpacho

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers
Ultimate Gazpacho

Ultimate Gazpacho

I love this “salad in a cup” and I have to say my easy blender gazpacho version is the best I’ve found. It’s worth investing in some good sherry vinegar, which you can find here. 8 servings.

Ingredients:
1 pound good red tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
½ medium bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic
1/2 medium white onion, coarsely chopped
6 T sherry vinegar, OR 5 T red wine vinegar and 1 T balsamic vinegar
4 c good tomato juice (I used Campbells which was the only brand in my store; it has scored well in various taste tests)
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 t Tabasco sauce

Method: Dump everything except the tomato juice into a blender. Add 2 c tomato juice and pulse until ingredients are finely chopped but not liquefied. There should still be a significant amount of roughage in the gazpacho. Pour into a 64-oz container; add the remaining tomato juice to the blender and pulse to capture any remaining scraps of vegetable, then pour into the container and shake to blend. Chill 4 hours before serving.

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Recipe: Grilled Shishito Peppers

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers
Grilled Shishito Peppers

Grilled shishito peppers

I did not realize until I found this article that shishitos and padrons are two different varieties. Both have just enough heat to be interesting. Shishito peppers are pointy and slim while padrons are more bell-shaped. Shishitos are also much easier to find, and I’m told they are often at a good price at Trader Joe’s. Serves 4 as a bar snack along with other munchies.

Ingredients:
6 oz. shishito or padron peppers
Olive oil
Salt

Method: wash the peppers and toss them with a bit of olive oil, then sauté or grill on a perforated sheet until nicely blackened but not burned. Salt generously before serving.

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Recipe: Boiled Okra

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers
Boiled Okra

Boiled okra. Not the prettiest picture, but apparently the rest was thrown out before I could make a nice composition.

This is the basic way we cook okra down south, and it’s pretty hard core. It produces the notorious sliminess which is loved by southerners and reviled by anyone north of the Mason-Dixon line. Try to buy younger, smaller pieces because they get very woody as they grow. Serves 4 southerners or 150 northerners.

Ingredients:
1 lb okra
Salt
Water
Butter

Method: Trim the stem end of the okra and cut into bite-size pieces if you like. Cook in well-salted boiling water until tender, maybe 10-15 minutes. Drain and serve with a pat of butter.

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My San Francisco food rotation

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers
[UPDATE 9/22: I just ran across this old post and was amused that there has been virtually no change in my prices in 7 years. See below for the exceptions.]

Based on the interest in my review of Middle’terranea, I thought I’d share a bit more about how I eat when I’m in San Francisco—a city I visit usually on my own, for business but with some downtime, several times a year. Call it my San Francisco food rotation.

I always try to visit at least one new and interesting place that takes some advance planning and logistics. This time it was the fascinating Middle Eastern pop-up; previous experiences have included Kin Khao, State Bird Provisions and Bar Tartine. (All these places can be found on Yelp.) San Francisco’s an intense restaurant town so it’s unlikely you are going to get into places of this caliber without some kind of advance planning though some take walk-ins at the bar.

Then, for lunch:

  • Take out dim sum from Wing Lee (Clement Street) or Good Mon Kook (Chinatown)
  • Pho at Golden Flower in Chinatown
  • Thai Beef Noodle Soup at King’s Thai Cuisine between 7th and 8th on Clement St (the location is still listed as King of Thai Noodles on Yelp, but it’s changed its name) or King of Thai Noodles in Fisherman’s Wharf
  • Banh mi from Saigon Sandwich on Larkin to take on the flight home, usually a special combo for lunch and a roast pork to be eaten somewhere over the Midwest
  • Two cheeseburgers with extra onions, mustard instead of sauce and pickles from In ‘n’ Out at Fisherman’s Wharf
  • Spicy Prawn lunch from Taiwan on Clement Street (the dish was disappointing on my last visit, but the owner assures me that was an off day and I must try again) Haven’t been to Taiwan the last few visits. The proprietors are aging and the food hasn’t been as good.

And here are some places I visit for things to cook or eat in the room:

  • Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market for Acme Bread, fresh vegetables and to say hello to my friends at Frog Hollow Farm
  • Trader Joe for basic foodstuffs
  • Safeway for craft beer at good prices I now realize there’s good beer at better prices at TJ
  • Tartine Bakery or Josey Baker for a baked treat If I can get there. More likely I pick up a loaf at Rainbow Grocery, which should have been on my original list.

Ok, I’m hungry and ready to go back!

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