Blue Corn Chili Souffle (With a Side of Tournedos and Sauce Bearnaise)

I think Jenn and I have been out on a date for valentine's day once.  It was an unmitigated disaster.  Cold food, crappy service, and a menu with about three choices. Oh, and it was over-priced, to boot.  Suffice it to say, we don't go out for valentine's day. 

Besides, when every day is valentine's day, what's so special about the 14th of  February?

After failing at making blue corn cornbread because of the fine consistency of the corn meal, I thought that maybe it would work as a flour substitute in something else. It still has the gritty quality of corn, so it's not really good for bread or pasta.  But it works quite well for a savory souffle.

Blue Corn Chili Souffle (With a Side of Tournedos and Sauce Bearnaise)

What You Need

Souffle

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature

1/4 cup blue corn meal
2/3cup whole milk
5 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 large egg yolks
4 large egg whites
1 small can Hatch green chilis (diced)

Tournedos with Sauce Bearnaise

2 10-oz filets, preferably prime (about 2 1/2 inch thick) (OK, technically not a tournedos, but we went a little over-board)
2 tablespoons grape seed oil (or other high smoke point oil)
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cold water
150 grams butter
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
2 sprigs tarragon
1 cup prosecco
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 lemon
salt
1/8 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
white pepper

What To Do with It

Get a sous chef.  Things get going kind of fast.

About an hour before cooking, put your meat on the counter to warm  up.

Drain the green chilis well.

Mince the shallots. Strip the leaves off one tarragon sprig and mince them.  Set the minced leaves aside and keep the stem.

Put the prosecco, vinegar, black pepper, one sprig of tarragon and the stem in a small sauce pot. Reduce on medium until there's about 1/3 cup left. Strain through a fine chinoise (or you can use a coffee filter).

Clarify the butter (cook on low heat until melted, then skim the solids off the top (you don't have to get them all).

Preheat oven to 350°F. Rub inside of four one-cup ramekins with butter. Coat with a light dusting of cornmeal; tap out excess. Beat egg whites in large bowl until stiff.


Souffle

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add 2 tablespoons corn meal and cook 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Gradually whisk in milk. Increase heat to medium. Simmer mixture until very thick, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Add the goat cheese and whisk until melted and smooth. Mix in salt and pepper. Whisk egg yolks in medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in hot the corn meal mixture. Cool 5 minutes.

Mix 1/2 of whites into the souffle base to lighten. Add the drained chilis and fold in the remaining whites. Pour into ramekins. Place in 13x9x2-inch glass or metal baking pan. Add enough hot water to the pan to come halfway up the sides of ramekins.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Tournedos

Put a pan on medium-high heat. If you have a second oven, turn it to about 175. Put salt and pepper on each side of the steaks (a healthy pinch on each side).

In a saucier, whisk the egg yolks and water until frothy. Place over medium heat and whisk like the dickens.
The sabayon will suddenly thicken and just about triple in volume, and you'll be able to see the bottom of the saucier.  Keep whisking 5-10 seconds, then remove from heat and continue whisking for about another 30 seconds.

With about 15 minutes to go before the souffle is done, put the oil in the pan. Once it gets heated and you pan is coated, throw in your steak. Cook for 5 minutes per side (you're going to end up with a rare steak). Put the entire pan in your second oven (if you don't have a second oven, cook an additional minute, then remove from heat.

Stir the butter into your sabayon (maybe over the course of about 45 seconds).  Add the prosecco reduction, then add the minced tarragon and salt, white pepper and lemon to taste).

We served with a Del Dotto Cabernet Franc (2007).  Enjoy!

Hunter's Stew

I believe that we lack rites of passage. I'm not talking about the "put your hand in a woven glove filled with stinging ants variety." I'm talking about those things that propel us from one stage of life to another.

It used to be that we had some significant milestones.  Your first car? It was freedom. It was establishing boundaries. It was responsibility.  Now? It's either a riced-out racing machine that only teaches responsibility when wrapped around a street lamp, or it's got so many parental-imposed limits ("don't drive on the freeways" "don't drive after dark") that the boundaries are pre-made, and freedom is squelched.

Instead of true rites of passages, we substitute events such as kindergarten "graduation" (give me a freaking break), or children create their own (hazing, anyone?). Either way, these are not rites of passage. They teach nothing. They do not serve as watershed moments.

Recently, we had our nephews up to my family's place in Colorado. Pretty much located in the midst of the Pike National Forest, it's where I did a lot of my growing up.  My dad brought out a BB gun for them to shoot with one caveat: nothing moving except a rabbit that liked my mother's petunias.

For several days, it looked as if the rabbit would win (favorite quote from the great rabbit hunt: BUNNY! ... chck-chck). 

Then, finally, Cole shot it.

And with the clarity of a diamond bullet to the forehead he confronted a range of dilemmas and moral choices. What's the difference between enjoying the hunt, and enjoying killing? If I'm not OK with shooting a rabbit and cooking it up, can I be OK with the hamburger I ate yesterday?  Perhaps most importantly: Now that I've done the deed, am I going to cowboy up, own what I've done, and finish the job?

After a few minutes on the front stoop processing through things, and coming out on the right side of the questions, in my opinion, we got down to the business of skinning the rabbit, then butchering it (part of the lesson, donchaknow?).  The next day, we made hunter's stew for lunch which, although a bit lean on the meat (one rabbit for 6 provides about two to three bites each), was pretty damn tasty.

But most importantly, it was a rite of passage for Cole that few his age experience.

Hunter's Stew

What You Need

Rabbit. Ideally, one for every two people.
Broth (made from the rabbit carcass if you have it, from chicken if you don't).
Carrots, about one per person (oh, the irony)
Potatoes (depending on how much starch you like in your stew, around 1 for every 2 people)
Onion, about 1/4 cup sliced per person
Celery leaves (fresh)
A few sprigs parsley
Oregano
Salt
Pepper

What To Do With It

The Rabbit

Butcher your bunny. Here's a link if you have no idea (except I cut the loin off, as you would  from a deer). You're going to want a boning knife, by the way.

Put each carcass (ribs, backbone) and belly meat in about 2 cups of water per rabbit with pepper, salt, the celery leaves and oregano (1 teaspoon per rabbit). Bring to a boil, then simmer for an hour.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat, drop in about a teaspoon of olive oil, and get a good sear on your rabbit (legs, loin): about 3 minutes/side.

The Rest

After your broth has been going about 30 minutes, put your potatoes, carrots and onions and a bit more oregano (1/4 teaspoon or so per 2 people), on to boil (about 1 cup water/2 people), then simmer over medium-low heat (for a thicker stew, start the potatoes at the same time you start your broth so more starch gets released, then bring to a boil mid-way and add the carrots and onions.)

Finally, join it all together (broth (minus the carcass), rabbit, veggies, parsley), and let that go for about 15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy with some soda biscuits (or as my friends call them, "hard tack").

Sesame Shrimp Salad

Pity my sister.

All she ever wants when she comes to our house to eat is Caribbean Shrimp. Or lobster (once she got so desperate for it she actually brought her own).

But  does she ever get it? Nope.

We just tease her: a bit of shrimp here, a taste of mango there...

Throw in our generally healthy eating of late (lower carbs at night, for instance), and disappointment for Jane is almost guaranteed.

Not that she eats poorly mind you.  In fact, don't pity my sister.  Envy her instead.

Sesame Shrimp Salad

What You Need

6-8 oz of shrimp per person
1 tsp sesame seeds per 6 oz shrimpAbout 2.5 oz soba noodles (dry) per person
1 tsp serrano, minced per 6 oz shrimp
1/2 lime for every 3 people
Salt
Red bell pepper, sliced thin
1/4 cup shelled edamame per person
1/3 avocado per person
Napa cabbage, sliced latitudinally
Broccoli stems, sliced thin
Crimini mushrooms, sliced
Sriracha
Soy Sauce
Olive Oil

What To Do with It

First, toast your sesame seeds. Put them in a skillet over medium heat, and keep them moving until they start to turn brown, then remove.

Peel the shrimp completely, then put in a bowl. Add the serranos, sesame seeds, lime juice and a couple pinches of salt. Toss until the shrimp are well-coated.

Put water on to boil.

Heat a skillet over medium medium high heat.

Once the water starts boiling, throw in your soba noodles and put the shrimp in the skillet (with a bit of olive oil) and sautee.  Each should cook about 4 minutes.

To plate, put a bit of napa cabbage down as a bed, the put your noodles on top of that. Arrange the rest as you see fit.

Finally, create a dressing by mixing the sriracha, soy sauce and oil in a 2:2:1 mixture (the exact amount will be determined by how much dressing you want, but go for about 1 tbsp per person).

Wilted Spinach and Spicy Pork Salad

So, I'm in trouble with my wife's trainer.

Apparently, the food I cook isn't healthy enough.

What E.V.E.R.

I can cook healthfully. The trick is to make it taste good, but I can do that, too.

When I get lucky. And the stars align. And the gods smile upon me...you get the idea.

Wilted Spinach and Spicy Pork Salad

What You Need

4 cups raw spinach

1/3 cup chopped red onion

4 crimi mushrooms

4 strawberries

12 oz extra lean pork loin (trim the fat, if necessary)

1 tbsp bacon grease

1 tsp olive oil

powdered chipotle

powdered, smoked paprika

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 ounces reduced-fat feta cheese

kosher salt

What To Do with It

Sprinkle the chipotle and paprika (liberally) on 2 sides of the pork loin (OK, you're going to coat it, just don't overdo it, as it will get a bit HOT).  Lightly sprinkle on some salt. Let stand, unrefrigerated, for 2 hours.

After 1 hr, halve the strawberries and mushroom, then slice (you want them at room temperature before serving).

After 2 hours, turn an oven to 400.  Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon grease then sear the pork loin for about  5 minutes per side. Place in the oven for 10 minutes.

While the pork finishes in the oven, sautee the onions in the olive oil, and quickly wilt the spinach in the same pan you cooked the pork in (and by quickly, I mean throw in the spinach, then flip after 10 seconds, then remove after 10 seconds).

Remove the onions from the other skillet, then put in the vinegar. Remove from heat.

Plate the spinach, feta, strawberries onions and mushrooms and toss.  Drizzle on the vinegar, and sprinkle a bit of salt on top.

Remove the pork loin from the oven, cut longitudionally, then slice and plate.