Romanian Mititei (Mici)

Lately I've been on an Anthony Bourdain No Reservations kick.  I've been DVRing every episode that comes on and watching them in spare time.  Recently I watched him travel to Romania.  It didn't go exactly as planned...they couldn't film at a Dracula site and Tony clearly wasn't loving the Dracula Halloween party he attended.  He did love the mititei (mici) though.  If you're having trouble with the pronunciation, it's like "meet-e-tay" or "meach."

No Reservations: Romania

What's mititei?  It's Romanian sausage, sans casing.  Evidently it's street food--best with mustard, pickles, and beer.  Snacks for everyone by day.  Meatballs for drunk Romanians by night.  A mix of meats and spices.  Everyone does it a little differently--some use more traditional seasonings like garlic and thyme, others get more adventurous with caraway and anise.  I'm not a big fan of anise, so we'll keep it simple.

I decided to make my own mititei.  I made mine a bit bigger than the traditional Romanian ones, but with the same flavors.  They turned out deliciously fatty and flavorful.

Ready to try some Romanian food?  While not the perfectly authentic ingredients, these are things you can find readily available and will evoke everything you need to hit that Eastern European note.  The hardest thing to find will be the ground lamb.  I called ahead to the Marsh closest to my house on Mass Ave. in Indy and they didn't have any.  I also tried the downtown Marsh, who said they have it from time to time, but not that day.  Claus' German Sausage and Meat Market in Indy also didn't have any--you have to call one to two days in advance because they thaw a piece of lamb shoulder for you and grind it to order.  But, Goose the Market to the rescue on Delaware Street!  I was able to pick up half a pound within thirty minutes of calling.

You'll need:
1 lb. ground beef (I used 80% chuck)
1 lb. ground pork Italian sausage (I use Bob Evans brand--has fennel seed in it)
1/2 lb. ground lamb
1 packet of beefy onion soup mix
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 c. club soda
skewers

Ingredients assembled.

Mix everything but the baking soda and the club soda in a large bowl, cover, and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.  Don't press too hard or compress the mixed ingredients--just loosely form a ball.  While refrigerating, soak wooden skewers so they don't burn.  No need to soak if you're using metal skewers.

Mixed and ready to be covered and refrigerated.

When you're ready to cook them, preheat your oven to broil or heat your grill.  Add the baking soda and club soda.  Separate the meat into balls for however many skewers you're preparing (no fewer than six--six will make entree size mititei).  About twelve will make more expected snack sized size mititei.  Don't pack the meat down into the balls hard or you'll get what evidently they call "pucks" on the street.  The balls are just so the skewers are uniform size.

Take each of the balls and smooth the meat over the skewer into more of an oval or traditional sausage shape and size.  Again, don't push the meat down too hard or it will be too dense--a puck.

After the skewers are prepared, place them across a foil lined pan (not in the pan where they will sit in the fat that renders) or directly on the grill.  Don't move them until you have a nice char on the side.  Then rotate.

Once all sides have a nice char, remove and serve with homemade chips, mustard, pickles, and if you're included, a beer or three.

The final product--when six skewers are made--an entree-sized mititei (mici) skewer.

Poftă bună!

Copycat version of Cheesecake Factory's Fresh Kale Salad

Earlier this month, my husband and I had dinner at Cheesecake Factory at the Indianapolis Fashion Mall.  Instead of ordering a fattening appetizer or gorging on bread, we decided to split the Fresh Kale Salad from the Small Plates and Snacks section of the menu.  According to the description, the salad was going to contain apples, marcona almonds, golden raisins, and green beans tossed with buttermilk-black pepper dressing.  We were expecting a little side salad.  When it arrived, it was a mountain of kale and ingredients, although the apple was conspicuously absent.  As it turned out, the salad didn't need the apple--it was perfect as is.  If you like apple, or you dined at Cheesecake Factory and they remembered to put the apple in your salad, feel free to add some diced green apple.  The golden raisins gave the right amount of sweetness and the marcona almonds were pleasantly salty.  I like kale salads because the greens are firmer than spring mix.

My husband insisted that I make this salad for him at home.  I didn't mind because with five ingredients, and a little salt and/or pepper to taste, you have a nice light meal or a fantastic side dish.  And the best part?  This copycat version tastes just like the real thing.

All you're going to need:

fresh kale
green beans
marcona almonds
golden raisins
Ken's Steakhouse peppercorn ranch dressing

The marcona almonds will be the most difficult ingredient to locate.  They do not sell them at the two Marsh stores closest to my office, so I purchased a container of them for about $6 at Fresh Market.

Start by washing all the produce.  Trim the ends from the green beans.  Using kitchen shears, cut them into a microwave safe container in small rounds.  I used two handfuls of green beans for two salads.  Once green bean circles are sliced, top container with water and microwave for three minutes.  Taste the green beans.  They should be blanched but still firm.  If they are the desired firmness, immediately drain in colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.

Here's what the little green bean rounds look like.  The smaller the better.

While the green beans drain, tear the kale into small pieces.  I used about four huge leaves.  Omit out the ribs--just tear the leaf away from the center of each leaf and any coarse veins.  Add these to your colander of green beans.  Using the kitchen shears, give the kale a few chops to make sure all your pieces are really small.

Add one handful of golden raisins to your colander.

Transfer one handful of marcona almonds to a ziploc bag.  Cover with a towel and crush with mallet or back of a large spoon.

To cut down on dishes, I did not move the contents of the colander to a bowl for the next step.  The holes in my colander are small enough that nothing fell through.  Next, this step is a matter of preference.  Add one to two tablespoons of the Ken's Steakhouse peppercorn ranch dressing to the colander and stir everything around so the dressing is distributed.  I do not like a wet salad, so about two tablespoons was just right.  You may want more.  Just remember to add dressing sparingly.  You can always add more, but once you put in too much, you have a soggy, ruined salad.

See--nothing is falling through the colander.

Last step, add the crushed marcona almonds and stir.  Again, they didn't fall through because they stuck to the dressing.  Taste a bite--if you really like the peppercorn flavor, add some fresh cracked black pepper to taste.  (I did.)  I usually salt salads lightly, but this one did not need it because of the almonds.  If you need a pinch of salt, add it now.

Serve by piling the salad into a high pyramid.  Enjoy!

My finished product!  It looks and tastes just like the Fresh Kale Salad from the  Cheesecake Factory.

Copycat version of Chef Gerald Chin's apple salad

Early this fall, I saw the most beautiful salad on the Food and Wine magazine Instagram. Per the photo, it was an apple salad with endive, radicchio,toasted pecans, white cheddar, and a maple emulsion made by Chef Gerald Chin.  Chin is Executive Chef at Chef Michael Mina's Stripsteak at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Bliss in my Instagram feed.

I immediately knew that I wanted to try this with the apples in the overflowing bowl of produce on my kitchen counter.  My husband and I had just driven from Indianapolis to where he grew up in Evansville for the town's annual fall festival.  On the way, we stopped at Slater Farms Market, a cute farm stand alongside U.S. 41 outside of Terre Haute, Indiana.  Outside, there were rows of mums and bins of pumpkins for sale.  Inside, there were all kinds of fruits, vegetables, preserves, and cider.  I didn't even know there were so many types of Indiana apples!

Rows of mums and pumpkins greeted us at Slater Farms Market.  Stop by for a visit!  They're located at 15102 U.S. Hwy 41, Terre Haute, Indiana 47802.  Call for hours since they're open seasonally--(812) 696-5122.

Almost ten kinds of Indiana apples for sale at Slater Farms Market.

More Slater Farms Market scenery--mums and huge pumpkins.

Loads of pie pumpkins, just $.79 each at Slater Farms--last time I bought one, I paid about $3.00 at Kroger.

Huge pumpkins at Slater Farms Market.

We ended up buying a butternut squash, cooking pumpkin, a zucchini, big bag of Granny Smith apples, a tutti frutti candy stick (for me), and a root beer candy stick (for my horse) for less than $10.00.  In hindsight, I wonder if something was rung up incorrectly because that much produce would be more like $30.00 at Fresh Market.  The apples were begging to be transformed into the gorgeous apple salad, so I got to work on my imitation.  With more methodical cutting of the produce, I could have better mimicked Chef Chin's dish.  Regardless, mine tasted amazing.

I started by washing all produce, preheating the oven, and whisking together a tablespoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of maple syrup, and a tablespoon of white balsamic vinegar.  I adjusted the proportions to taste slightly, then repeated to double the amount of dressing.  Last, I added a dash of salt and white pepper.  While my version of maple emulsion sat on the counter for the flavors to meld, I started on the salad.  I put a pan of crushed pecans in the oven to toast for about five minutes at 300 degrees.  After trimming away the bottom of the apple and stem, I sliced horizontally in thin slices.  The seeds and core were visible in the center of the slices.  With more patience, I should've tried for thinner slices.  I was hungry though!  Then I cut away the center of each slice to remove the core and seeds.  It looked like a donut of apple when I was done.

Next, I tore the endive and radicchio leaves into small pieces.  To the novice cook, here is an important note--don't substitute red cabbage for raddichio.  When I went to Marsh for ingredients, they didn't have radichio and endive, so I ended up making a stop at Fresh Market.  The difference matters.  Radichio has a clean but bitter-ish flavor and delicate texture.  Red cabbage is thick and waxy.  I added these to a bowl and chopped a few chives into the mix.  Then I grated some white cheddar--just a little bit--about one ounce.  Last, I added the pecans and two spoonfuls of the dressing and combined the ingredients to make sure the dressing was incorporated.  I diced up the little remnants of apple and a slice that went awry so they wouldn't go to waste and added them to the mix.

To assemble the salad, I drizzled a spoonful of the maple emulsion on the plate.  You can't see it because our plates are red, but it was a very pale yellow.  Then I added some salad mix, topped with an apple slice, and built the salad using a smaller slice of apple each time.  Last, I added an extra sprinkling of chives over the top of the salad.  The presentation was pretty, architectural, but invitingly fresh.  Be sure to include a knife in your place setting so this is easier to deconstruct.

My husband was impressed.  We both enjoyed the light sweetness, punctuated with the flavor of chive or the white cheddar.  We enjoyed this so much that I made it again a few nights later, but with some butternut squash soup.  This is definitely a first course or snack, not an entree salad.

The finished product--my layered apple salad with maple emulsion.  Chef Chin's was definitely prettier.  How it could taste better is beyond my comprehension though since this was amazing, even with my non-chef touch.

Beautifully bright and fresh.  This would be beautiful on a white plate so you can appreciate the pale color of the maple emulsion.

The next time I made this, I served it with a big bowl of butternut squash soup.  It isn't enough for a meal.

Also of note, I tagged Chef Gerald Chin and Chef Michael Mina in my photograph of the imitation version of the salad.  I was a little worried they wouldn't take me trying to copy them at home so kindly, but it was quite the opposite.  They both responded with follows and kind words, which made me a little starstruck.  Yes, you can be chef starstruck!  It also made me happy that they took my imitation as flattery.  I bet they're really nice guys in person.  One of my new travel goals is to get back to Vegas so I can go eat at Stripsteak now.  

Insider tip: use your sharpest knife and cut the apple slowly, or you'll end up with slices that are too thick to be aesthetically appealing.  If you're having vegan guests, omit the white cheddar.

Easy Chicken Fresca

At my house, anything that tastes even remotely similar to a chimichurri is a huge hit.  This chicken recipe has the fresh flavors reminiscent of chimichurri, but on a weeknight schedule (no food processor or blender clean up!). The sauce isn't really a sauce or salsa, it's more of a fresh relish, so I'm calling it "fresca topping."  You can get this from ingredients to finished product in about 30 minutes, depending on the plumpness of your chicken.

You'll need:
Olive oil
Minced garlic
Lime juice
A vine ripe or Roma tomato
Parsley
Cilantro
2-4 Boneless chicken breasts
Cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper

Dice the tomato and sprinkle with salt.  The salt will express some of the moisture from the tomato while you finish the other fresca components.

Diced tomatoes sprinkled with salt.

Begin with 1-2-3.  Mix one tablespoon minced garlic, two tablespoons lime juice, and three tablespoons olive oil in a medium bowl.

The moisture for the topping is this 1-2-3 mixture.

Remove one to one and a half cups of cilantro leaves from the stem.  Other than cooking the chicken to a food safe temperature, this is the most important part of the recipe.  The stems are too coarse and get little hairs on them when the leaves are removed haphazardly.  These mistakes create a poor mouth-feel.  Take the time to remove the leaves cleanly.  Wash.  Then use scissors to chop up the leaves.  Pat dry and add to the 1-2-3 mixture.

Pluck each leaf of cilantro from the stem individually.

If you go to hastily, you'll end up with pieces on the leaves that feel like hair in your mouth.

Use scissors to quickly make the cilantro into small bits.

Repeat with the parsley, about half to three-quarters cup.  Wash, chop, and add to bowl.

Drain the moisture from the plate of tomatoes, add to bowl.  Add fresh black pepper and a few dashes of cayenne.  Taste and adjust the salt, pepper, and cayenne.

Finished topping.  Sit on counter at room temp to allow the flavors to marry.

Let the bowl sit at room temp while you prep the chicken.

Preheat oven to 400 and put skillet on stove on medium-high.  Add a splash of olive oil.  While skillet heats, splash chicken with lime, then sprinkle with salt, black pepper, and cayenne.  When skillet is hot--a drip of water from a spoon sizzles--add the chicken.  Cook about three minutes (so meat is golden) then flip.  Cook another three minutes then transfer the whole skillet to oven.  These free-range breasts from Fresh Market were extra plump and required an additional 10 minutes in the oven, then 10 on broil.  If you have any doubts, check temp with a meat thermometer in thickest part of chicken to ensure you've reached 165.  These breasts can also be prepared on the grill.

Chicken ready to be covered to rest.  Resting lets the chicken soak up the juices and rise a few more degrees internally.

Let chicken rest a few minutes, then slice thinly.  Use the tines of a fork to guide you if you're not used to cutting thin slices.  If you're struggling, you also might need a sharper knife.

Arrange across plate and top with your fresca topping.  You can either place the fresca topping directly on the chicken, or beside it if you're not so sure how much you'll like it.  If there's any juice in the bottom of the bowl where your topping was melding together, drizzle it over the chicken to add a burst of lime freshness and moisture.

Presentation option 1: crown the chicken with the topping.

Presentation option 2: place the topping alongside the chicken.  Good for if you're not sure these flavors will be a hit.

A simple salad, brown rice, or quinoa are nice accompaniments.  Or, if you're looking for a light meal, enjoy alone so you have room for fresh fruit or sorbet for dessert.

Easy Bacon Shortcut

I'm all for making my life more simple.  Last weekend, I had a lot to do and no time to stand over a skillet of bacon.  Actually two skillets.  My skillet doesn't fit all the bacon I usually want to cook, so I end up making two batches.  Sometimes that works in my favor since my fiance prefers his really crispy.  I like mine more chewy.  Nevertheless, I made bacon the easy way.  Here's an easy bacon shortcut for the days you don't have time to stand in front of the stove, or you don't want to clean up the grease that inevitably splatters all over your stove and neighboring counter.

Begin with thick cut bacon.  In the midst of all the wintery weather, I didn't have thick cut bacon from the butcher.  I made due with some thick cut grocery store bacon.  It isn't as good, but bacon is never bad!  Looking for great butcher bacon in Indianapolis?  Stop in to Goose the Market.  They have all kinds of bacon, even non-pork bacon, and a "bacon of the month" club you can join.  You can also stop into Fresh Market.  They usually have four to six bacon varieties.

Lightly coat an old baking sheet with non-stick spray.  Use an old baking sheet so that if a thin part of the bacon burns and leaves dark marks on the baking sheet, you aren't sad.  Then arrange the bacon on the baking sheet. 

Bacon ready to bake in the oven.  This time-saving shortcut allows you to cook something else, get ready in the morning, or cut down on grease splatter clean up.

Insider tip: scrunch the bacon a little bit so that it looks like it was pan-fried.  If you lay it perfectly flat, it won't bubble up as much and will look different than pan-fried bacon.

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes for extra crispy bacon.  For a chewy bacon, bake at 350 and check at 20 minutes, monitor the bacon closely every two to three minutes thereafter until desired doneness is achieved. 

Twenty-five minutes later: crispy bacon from the oven.  The pan will be greasy--this is why you may want to have an old pan dedicated to messy cooking.

Remove the bacon from the baking sheet to drain immediately or it will continue to cook.  Drain, pat with paper towels, and serve immediately.  If you aren't serving it immediately, you can warm it back up by wrapping the bacon in a paper towel and microwaving briefly.

Just remember to cook some extra since you'll probably eat a few slices before you serve the rest of the bacon!

Teriyaki Tilapia with Grapefruit and Fennel

While waiting for my hair color to process at Todd Shrider's Broad Ripple salon, He Does Hair, I picked up the January 13, 2014 copy of People magazine and flipped through.  It was obviously New Year-oriented, with success stories about weight loss and a 200-calorie fish recipe from celebrity chef Rocco Dispirito.

The January 13, 2014 issue of People magazine was all about weight loss.  At the back, look for the Salmon Teriyaki with Grapefruit and Fennel recipe.

I love light, fresh fish recipes, so this one looked perfect for a road test.  Since it was snowing outside, it made for an excuse to create a make-believe summer oasis indoors.  It was also time for a reunion with fennel.  I've avoided fennel since about six years ago.  I was on a weekend date to St. Louis that included dinner at Top of the Riverfront, the city's only revolving restaurant that's been around since 1969.  I had never been to a revolving restaurant, and it was not a pleasant experience.  I ordered a fish dish that included broth that was heavy-handed with the fennel.  Not only did I dislike all the fennel, either the movement of the restaurant, the food, or the combination of the two left me dizzy, nauseous, and sick in the restaurant's washroom.  No fun, no romance that night!

After reading the recipe, and thinking about fennel (an anise-flavored plant that looks like an onion with dill sprouting out the top), I thought it best to swap the salmon for a firm, flaky white fish.  Fresh Market had tilapia for $10.99 per pound, cheaper than salmon and much more affordable than the pretty but pricey grouper for $21.99 per pound.  Since this was going to be dinner, I also purchased radishes to add to the fennel and grapefruit salad so it would be slightly more filling and colorful.  I wanted to use jicama, but the four jicama left at the Broad Ripple Fresh Market were all moldy.  Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen cookbook says that's okay, just cut it off, but I can't justify paying the Fresh Market price for something that's already molding.

I prepped the salad according to the recipe's proportions (combine 2c grapefruit segments and juices, 3c fennel bulb, 1 teaspoon dry wasabi mix), except for the addition of seven thinly sliced radishes.  I didn't have a full 3c of fennel, so I scaled down accordingly.  I prepped the fish according to the recipe (season fish with salt and pepper, cook about one minute each side in hot pan with olive oil spray, finish with teriyaki sauce), except I added a teaspoonful of butter to the hot pan to get a nice crust on the fish.  I also segmented a fresh grapefruit instead of purchasing canned, prepped grapefruit.  The overall result was a refreshing, light dinner with all organic fruits and vegetables.  If I could have changed any of the preparation, I would have used slightly less dry wasabi.  If you don't love wasabi, it's too much.

Sliced fennel, radishes, grapefruit, and dry wasabi in a mixing bowl, waiting to be combined.  

As for my relationship with fennel...we're doing better.  With the grapefruit and wasabi, it was a subtle flavor and nice crunch.  While I was chopping, I ate a slice and was a little unsure.  It's a pronounced taste, and given my dislike of licorice, not my favorite flavor.  Without the grapefruit and wasabi, I may not have enjoyed the dish.

The finished teriyaki tilapia with grapefruit and fennel (plus radish) salad.  This was a dish I enjoyed preparing because it took less than twenty minutes, and enjoyed eating because it was refreshing and light.

I served the entree with a glass of Espiral Vinho Verde, an almost semi-sparkling budget-friendly wine from Trader Joe's, retailing for just $4.49.  The effervesce comes in just under one bar of pressure, so technically this wine can't be classified as semi-sparkling.  This wine comes from the Minho region of northwest Portugal.  The "verde" in the name means green, but not like "green bottle"; it means "young."  The wine is on the shelf when it is less than one year old, and it is meant to be consumed immediately.  This isn't one to put in your closet for a few years to make it vintage.  The first sip is yeasty, but if you stick with it, it'll give way to tart apple, subtle pear, heavy-handed acid, and a hint of citrus.  The citrus develops with the first taste of the grapefruit fennel radish salad, creating a pleasant pairing with this dish.

Espiral Vinho Verde, $4.49 at Trader Joe's.

This isn't a wine where you'll be observing any perlage.  You'll see big bubbles, but they aren't rising.  They'll cling to the glass until you drink about half, and then some will release.  But c'mon, it's $4 and it's not champagne.  It's an acceptable accompaniment that brings freshness and citrus that blossoms with this particular dish.  If you're a wine snob who can't handle the simplicity and that it's from Trader Joe's, that's okay.  I've found considerable happiness in my life enjoying both the expensive and indulgent, and the everyday unexpected small treasures!

Bubbles clinging to the side of this glass of Espiral Vinho Verde.

The cost of the radishes, 1.06 lbs. (three filets) of tilapia, fennel, grapefruit, wasabi powder, and teriyaki sauce at Fresh Market was about $28, dividing out to $9.33 per serving.  However, by pairing it with a budget-friendly wine, dinner for two comes to a much more sensible $11.58 each, with a serving remaining for lunch the next day.

Overall, I recommend this recipe with the addition of radish or jicama and substitution of white fish.  It is refreshing, full of satisfying crunch, and low calorie.

Insider tip: buy fresh tilapia filets at Kroger for about $5 per pound or your local ethnic market for as little as $2 per pound (ask the butcher to slice the filet off the fish for you--this price will probably be whole fish).  Fresh Market is close to my work, and during the subzero windchill and snow, I was happy to make only one driving stop between the office and home.  If the weather had been better, I'd have driven farther to find a better price.