Sweet Potato Fries

I have to admit that at first I thought sweet potato fries might be too basic to warrant a post of their own. But, after finding out last week that several of my acquaintances had never even thought of making the simple sweet and savory fries from scratch, I quickly reconsidered. These are the perfect thing to dip in your Chipotle & Date Chutney! And, since my version is actually made in the oven, they're slightly healthier than your standard freezer section variety. One large sweet potato makes a substantial side dish for two.

Sweet Potato Fries

1 Large Sweet Potato

1 T Vegetable Oil

Kosher Salt

Freshly Ground Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. While the oven is preheating, peel the sweet potato and slice off the sides and ends to form a square (you do not have to cut off these curved parts, or peel the potato for that matter, but remember that the more evenly sized your fries are, the less likely they are to burn). Cut the squared-off potato lengthwise to form sticks as long as the potato and about 1/2 inch square in thickness. Put the oil in the bottom of a medium-sized bowl and add the potato, tossing to coat each stick with the oil. By this time, the oven should be up to temperature. Place an empty baking sheet in the oven and allow it to heat for about 15 minutes, while the potatoes absorb the oil. After 15 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven (don't forget to use oven mitts!), and place the potatoes on the sheet in one layer. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Place the baking sheet in the oven for about 20 minutes, then flip the potatoes with a spatula and bake for another 20 minutes. Make sure you watch them while they are baking because the high sugar content can make them prone to burn! The fries are done when they are crisp, separate from the pan easily, and are beginning to look like they are edged with brown sugar.

Herbed Pork with Dried Fruit

This dish was born out of a stuffed tenderloin recipe that I came across last year, and I like it for several reasons. First, I generally have most of the ingredients on hand. Dried fruits are always in my cupboard, and I like to keep at least one or two fresh herbs in the fridge at all times. If I don't have boneless pork chops in the freezer, they are easily attainable. Second, with only a few ingredients, this is easily a weeknight meal. Better yet, it is a weeknight meal that uses mainly "whole" ingredients. Third, the petite little rolls allow for a beautiful presentation and just the right portion for those of us who are trying to think of our meat as more of a luxury than a staple. Try it the next time you are craving something a little bit sweet for dinner, or when you have last minute guests to impress!

Herbed Pork with Dried Fruit

4 boneless top loin pork chops
10 dates, pitted and chopped
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (parsley, rosemary, sage, and tarragon all work well
2 T olive oil
Kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix dates, raisins, and cranberries in a small bowl and set aside. Place the pork chops between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound until 1/2 inch or less in thickness (You can use a meat mallet to do this or, in the absence of one, the bottom of a heavy pan). Spoon the fruit mixture onto the middle of each chop, arranging it across the width of the chop, and including enough that the ends of the chop just touch when rolled. Roll up the pork and tie off in two places with cooking twine. Mix the herbs and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil together in the small bowl, then cover the outside of each pork roll completely with the mixture. Salt each roll with kosher salt.
Heat the rest of the olive oil in an oven-proof skillet on medium high. Place the rolls in the pan and brown, turning frequently to cover all sides. Once the meat is browned, place the skillet in the oven to cook the meat until done (The best way to check for doneness is with a meat thermometer, but make sure you keep it in the meat, not the filling!). A small roll will need only 12-15 minutes to cook through, while a larger roll may need up to 3o minutes.

Profile: Peppercorns

There are certain ingredients in my kitchen that I just couldn't live without. Most are deceptively simple, yet amazing in their ability to enhance, or even transform, a dish. These are my "go-to" ingredients on nights when I need to improvise a meal using only what I have on hand. Peppercorns, and particularly black peppercorns, are one such ingredient. It is easy to take pepper for granted because it's everywhere - tucked into the cupboard, rounding out the ingredient list in myriad recipes, even sitting on the kitchen table! In addition, its flavor often seems to get hidden among all of the other elements of a dish. However, I've found that using it alone (or almost alone) to season fresh ingredients adds that little bit of extra interest that can make a really simple dish work.

It may seem surprising that dried black peppercorns, white peppercorns, and green peppercorns all come from the same plant, Piper nigrum. What's more, they are all really the fruit of that plant, let ripen to different stages and processed in different ways. For both black and green peppercorns, the berries are picked while still unripe. Then, the black is allowed to dry with the skin still intact - it is this skin that shrivels and turns black, giving the black peppercorn its distinctive color. To produce the green peppercorn, the berry is merely treated to prevent its skin from turning black. Conversely, the white peppercorn is the berry with the skin removed. To accomplish this, the berries are allowed to ripen, then they are soaked and the skin is removed before the rest of the berry is dried. Ripe Piper nigrum berries are red, and red peppercorns do exist, but are not widely available and should not be confused with the "pink peppercorns" often found in peppercorn blends. These are the fruit of a different plant altogether!

Pepper gets its spicy quality from the compound piperine, and this compound, along with pepper's other aromatic qualities, can quickly evaporate once they are released. For that reason, I am a firm believer in a good pepper grinder, used as close to service as possible! So much is lost from pre-ground pepper, next to freshly ground, it doesn't even taste like the same spice. In my kitchen, the pepper grinder is always on hand, and is integral in (starting and) "finishing" many a dish. My favorite uses of pepper are very simple - a couple of turns over a green salad before serving makes the salad restaurant-worthy, combining pepper with citrus juice and olive oil produces a simple, bright marinade, and sprinkling it over potatoes or sweet onions before roasting creates great contrast. I've even used pepper to top strawberries...and in cookies! If you don't have a pepper grinder, consider investing in one now. It could change the way you cook.

Wine of the Week: McManis 2007 Pinot Noir

Since the book review I am working on is not yet perfected, I decided to publish this Wine of the Week post instead. I figured that wine is always welcome! My friend Mary gave Kevin and I this bottle of McManis 2007 Pinot Noir as a gift a few weeks ago, and I was eager to give it a try. Her choice of the McManis Pinot Noir was not random; we enjoyed the McManis most out of a Pinot Noir flight a while back, and the gift was a reminder of that night. I was interested to see if this, a more recent vintage, would be as enjoyable. The color of this wine is ruby, and pretty dark for a Pinot Noir. The fruit did not come through in either the aromas or the flavor upon first encounter. Fifteen or twenty minutes after opening, the wine smelled smoky and earthy to me. The taste was not fruit forward either, and I had to search for the cherry flavors. As the wine had more time to breathe and also to come closer to room temperature, though, the fruit began to come forward more, and the wine developed a more "red fruit" taste. I found the tannins in this wine to be prominant, but not astringent, and the balance to be tipped a little toward the acidic side. The wine is light- to medium-bodied overall, with a long finish. This is what McManis' website has to say about it, "The 2007 is deep Ruby in color. The Pinot Noir has aromas of Cherry, Strawberry and Violets. Adding to the intrigue of this wine, are notes of Vanilla and Cola which are contributed by the oak aging. Full of berry fruit, the flavor of this rich wine remains long after swallowing." I would tend to agree with everything except perhaps the aromas. The Cola seems to have come through for me, perhaps the Violets, and maybe the fruit, but I did not get any Vanilla at all. Overall, I'd say that this wine is good, but fell a little bit short of my (perhaps unfair!) expectations.

Gruyere Grilled Cheese on Challah

I am fortunate to live in an area where challah, that deliciously egg-filled and braided Jewish yeast bread, is readily available. Last fall, after securing a beautiful golden loaf at the cider mill (of all places), I practically stumbled upon the most heavenly way to use it. Scouring my kitchen for the makings of a meal, I came up with the loaf of challah, half of a block of gruyere cheese, and a tomato. It was all of the makings of a gorgeous grilled cheese sandwich! The sweetness of the challah and the gruyere nicely complement each other, while the slight salty, nuttiness of the cheese melds perfectly with the butter. The light and fluffy challah browns up nicely, and the gruyere melts easily, attaining that creamy consistency so critical to a good grilled cheese. I like to make two or three big sandwiches and then cut them up into fancy little bites. This sandwich is rich, so a little goes a long way.

Gruyere Grilled Cheese on Challah

3 oz. Gruyere

6 slices Challah

1 small tomato

1/2 T butter

Using a cheese slicer, section the gruyere into small slices and set aside. Cover both sides of each of the challah slices with the thinnest layer of butter possible. Place one layer of gruyere onto each of three slices of the buttered challah. Add a tomato slice (or two) to each, and top with another buttered challah slice. Heat a skillet or griddle to medium, then place the sandwiches on the skillet. When the first side is browned (2 or 3 minutes), flip the sandwiches and brown the other side. Keep flipping every couple of minutes until the cheese is melted. If the bread is getting too dark and the cheese has not melted, cover the sandwiches with the lid of a pan for a couple of minutes to coax it along. Remove the freshly grilled cheese and cut into bites. Serve while still hot.

Wine of the Week: Pacific Rim NV Chenin Blanc

I have been curiously considering bottles of Pacific Rim Chenin Blanc at Trader Joe's for a couple of months now; The bright teal caps and Japanese-inspired art are eye-catching, to say the least. So, I was particularly thrilled when my cousin Lisa gave me a bottle of the non-vintage as a gift last week! Some might know Chenin Blanc as the grape of the Loire Valley, but despite the "French" grape, and the Asian name, this wine is made right here in the United States by the Pacific Rim winemakers out of Washington state. The color is light straw, almost greenish, and the first thing I noticed when I picked up the glass was the slight effervescence clinging to the sides. This wine is bright, but also off-dry. In fact, I was caught off-guard by how sweet it tasted at first! Upon further tasting, though, I was able to pick up the slightly bitter citrus flavor which, along with the acid, balances the wine out nicely. There are also apple or pear flavors present. The nose, described as floral on the bottle, is slightly herbal to me. I will admit that I am not as familiar with Chenin Blanc as I am with other grapes, so I found this wine to be very interesting. I think it retails for a little more than $10 at Trader Joe's, so I won't rule out picking up another bottle on a night when I'm looking for something to pair with seafood. Pacific Rim is more well-known for their Riesling, though (their website is rieslingrules.com), so now I am tempted to try their Dry Riesling first!

Croutons

Making croutons is a great way to use up stale or almost-stale bread. Once you've made your own, you will never even consider buying them again! Plus, they last a while on the shelf, which is always a bonus for anything homemade. The basic technique is to cube four or five slices of bread, cutting down and across to form about one-inch square cubes. Then, put about a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of a mixing bowl, add the bread cubes, and toss to cover with the olive oil. After the cubes are relatively evenly covered with the oil, you can add seasoning as well. Most often, I just add some kosher salt (about 1/8 tsp.) and a little freshly ground black pepper, but you can add whatever you'd like to make them fun and interesting. I sprinkled in a little bit of fresh thyme when I was making the croutons in the picture, and it worked quite nicely. After the bread is fully oiled and seasoned, spread the cubes out flat onto a baking sheet and slide them into a preheated oven to toast at 375 degrees until nicely browned, about 10-15 minutes. I've made croutons with all kinds of bread and seasoning, and each combination brings its own unique flavor to the crouton. It's great to know exactly what has gone into making them (how much oil, what kind of seasoning, etc.) as well, so I am not shy about stretching their use way beyond salads to other things that may need a little crunch - like the cauliflower soup! Try this technique before your next loaf goes bad.

Food Read: Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter

After last reviewing Anthony Bourdain's back-of-the-house Kitchen Confidential, I thought it would be most appropriate to review a front-of-the-house book next (no it's not Waiter Rant). Phoebe Damrosch's Service Included was published in 2007, and I picked up my copy after hearing an interview with her on The Splendid Table in February 2008. The book (Damrosch's first) chronicles her experiences moving up the ranks at Thomas Keller's acclaimed Per Se in New York, where she is hired as a backserver for the restaurant's opening and eventually attains the status of captain (not an easy feat for a woman). The book is quite captivating from the start. Any food devotee will understand the chapter "food porn", and will know exactly what Damrosch means when she says she, "had a crush on the French Laundry Cookbook for ages". Those who are not familiar with the inner workings of very fine dining will be enthralled by her listing of The Rules ("When asked, guide guests to the bathroom instead of pointing"), by her description of VIP canapes (soup, savory sorbets, caviar, etc.), and by her explanation of the elaborate and specific intricacies of coordinating service at a restaurant like Per Se. Like Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, Service Included is studded with tips , which, for obvious reasons, are actually called out as such, and include items like "There's no need to say that you are allergic when you don't like something." And the recounts of serving food critic Frank Bruni, or any guests really, are delightfully executed. I wish I had marked the spot in the book where I began to realize it was losing me, so I could tell you exactly where that was. There is no doubt that Damrosch got extraordinary lucky (whether or not she made that luck herself is beside the point). Not only did she receive a free culinary education, compliments of weeks of Per Se training, but she was a frustrated writer who stumbled on a gold mine of book-ready experience! So it is a bit disconcerting that she seems to have lost her way a bit about two-thirds of the way through the book, when it becomes decidedly more about her romance than about the restaurant. Not that the romance isn't interesting, but let's face it, anyone who is picking up a book called Service Included is interested in the food! But all of that aside, there are more than enough well-written food facts in here to make Service Included worth the reading. Just be sure to savor the beginning, instead of holding out for the dessert!

Wine of the Week: Sacred Stone Master's Red Blend ~ Cask #004

This week's Wine of the Week was another recommendation from my favorite "old-neighborhood" wine shop. Sacred Stone is an affordable label from the Pietra Santa Winery in California's Central Coast, and this Proprietor's Red Blend is a great $10 pick! The blend includes Merlot, Sangiovese, Zinfandel, and Dolcetto grapes, which have been oaked for 24 months in both French and American Oak. This wine is not shy! Upon opening the bottle, I was immediately hit with chocolately, musky, earthy, minty aromas, followed by rich plum. The color is a deep, deep purple. Interestingly, the flavor was not what I expected, given the nose. It is earthy, with stone fruit, but also carries some cherry flavors and spice. It is lighter-bodied than I expected as well, but with good balance and lingering flavors on the finish. The tannins give it a soft, velvety mouth-feel. This wine is wonderfully drinkable, particularly at this price point! Have it on a weeknight with a good meal.

Francesco Clemente's Amazing Hot Sauce (Chipotle & Date Chutney)

The four years I spent in the apartment I shared just prior to getting married and moving in with Kevin have the distinction of being the longest time I have lived in one place since leaving my childhood home. In the final year before I moved out, a strange phenomenon began to occur by which my roommate and I would find the refrigerator oddly devoid of the makings of any type of discernible meal, despite appearing to be absolutely stuffed to the gills. Pondering this situation, we would alternately accuse each other (in good fun, of course) of taking up more than our fair share of space in the over-filled appliance. It was not until we took the time to actually consider the contents of the refrigerator that the truth became clear - I have a particular affinity for condiments, and the myriad bottles and jars of the well-keeping stuff were taking over! I will admit that it is a bit of a problem, but the fact that just a little bit of the right condiment can add so much flavor, often without the addition of many "undesirable" nutritional side effects (fat, calories, etc.), is just unresistably alluring to me. So imagine my excitement when I heard an interview with Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi and found out that she, too, is a fan of condiments - so much so, in fact, that she devoted an entire chapter of her 2007 book Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet to Pickles and Chutneys! Haunted by her description of the Chipotle & Date Chutney included within, I had to buy the book. Let me just say that the chutney is everything I had dreamed of - smoky, sweet, and fiery hot (the rest of the book is great too, incidentally). It is amazing and very, very easy to make, so if you like hot and sweet, you would be remiss not to whip up a batch. I promise, it won't last long enough to take over your 'fridge!

Francesco Clemente's Amazing Hot Sauce (Chipotle & Date Chutney)
-from Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet by Padma Lakshmi
(Recipe also available from Good Food)

Naturally Flavored Water

Choosing everyday beverages sometimes seems a little tricky to me. Though I'll admit that I might love to, I can't drink wine, coffee, or tea all of the time. Because of the sugar, I try to make fruit juice an occasional, and preferably freshly-squeezed, indulgence. Soda's triple-whammy of sugar, caffeine, and chemicals severely limits its appearances in my diet. Even drinks like Crystal Light make me stop and consider how much Red 40 I would really like to be consuming. But let's face it, there is only so much water one can drink before it starts to get, well, a bit boring. When I start to feel bored with my water, I use a trick that my friend Amy taught me to add just a bit of subtle and interesting flavor, naturally and without the addition of a load of extra calories. It's really a variation of the ubiquitous lemon in the water, and is a great way to use up fresh herbs from the package you bought for the recipe and that called for one sprig! The idea is to pair a fruit (or vegetable) and an herb to flavor your water. The water quickly takes on not only the taste of the fruit, but also that of the herb, in a delicate and pleasing way. My favorite combination is orange and rosemary, which I made a whole pitcher of today, but many other pairings work just as well. For a medium-sized water bottle, I usually use just two or three slices of the fruit, and one or two sprigs of the herb; That's really all you need. Bruising the herb a bit will bring out more of the flavor, but is not required. Definitely try the orange rosemary version. For more variety, though, here are some other versions that I like too:

Lemon/Basil

Lime/Cilantro

Cucumber/Mint