.png)
Cooking Up a Storm with Fresh Local Ingredients
I needed a break from the computer this weekend and we have a lot of ingredients in the fridge and pantry. So I had a little bit of a cooking frenzy.
Regular readers of Local Food Forum already know this, but I love to cook. And if I'm unrushed, as I was this weekend, I find it very relaxing. It's a rare Zen moment in my multi-multi-tasking life.
I've been a mostly scratch cook for quite a while, but the preparations in the photo above were based on recipes in the Chicago Chefs Cookbook. A collaboration of the Chicago Chefs Cook philanthropic non-profit and Mariano's supermarkets, the soft-covered book contains recipes contributed by 48 of the region's leading chefs.
I'd been hankering to try the recipes that I finally got around to on Saturday. Starting with the one on the right:
That's jambalaya, a Cajun dish contributed by Dominique Leach. She's the chef/owner of Lexington Betty Smokehouse, with a restaurant in the Pullman neighborhood on Chicago's Far South Side and a line of products including hot dogs made with Wagyu beef.
I love Cajun food. (I also love Cajun music... Any other Beausoleil fans out there?) So I had a high comfort level in putting this recipe together.
The photo is of some of my mise en place, the fancy French term for food prep. Three of the ingredients — celery, bell pepper and onion — are the "holy trinity" that forms the base of much Cajun cooking. Along with minced garlic, the dish includes spicy andouille sausage, shrimp, tomatoes, rice, hot sauce and seasonings, cooked in chicken broth.
Most of the ingredients I used were regional, including the rice produced by Cahokia in southern Illinois. The shrimp... well, they don't swim around these parts, so I made a point to going to Dirk's Fish, my regular Chicago seafood stop, and bought some Gulf of Mexico shrimp.
Most of the work is in the ingredient prep, and it comes together easily on the stove. I'm a fan.
The dish on the left is Beet Salad with Ethiopian Infusion, conceived by Tigist Reda, the great chef and awesome person who founded and runs Demera Ethiopian Restaurant in the Uptown neighborhood.
I recently attended a dinner at Demera, and while everything was delicious, the beet salad was the one item on which I took seconds (and maybe thirds and fourths). While I enjoy the spicier specialties of Ethiopia, the beet salad is cool comfort food with just a bit of bite and a balance of sweet and tart flavors. It includes a diced whole orange, a dressing made with fresh lime and lemon juice, and a goodly amount of goat cheese (though I admit to using a sheep's milk feta that I had in the fridge).
Since the cookbook is still on sale at Mariano's stores and proceeds benefit the Chi-Care non-profit that provides for the basic human needs of homeless individuals, I'm going to recommend that you buy it for the recipes. As a publisher and writer, I'm a strong believer in protecting intellectual property.
I can, however, share a link to another weekend creation, this pasta dish that is available on the invaluable New York Times Cooking site. The recipe is basically in its name: Fresh Tomato, Basil and Prosciutto Pasta. Comes together in minutes, and you should follow the recipe's recommendation to add a dollop of ricotta to each serving.
Believe it or not, there's more, but I don't want to go on too long here. Later...
Comments