Oktoberfest and Grüner

I think that the weekends my mom comes to visit result in the best Princeton Eats Portland posts, and I know that is because my mom and I do some damn good eating. This past weekend was no different.

Friday night, a friend of mine and I picked up my mom and headed straight to Gustavs/Rheinlander for Oktoberfest. Not one of the three of us expected the festivities that were occurring in the tent covered parking lot adjacent to the restaurant - long tables packed with people guzzling beer out of 1.5 liter steins, a German band playing all the latest polka hits, sausages, pretzels, and fondue galore. Above are some pictures to give you an idea of how awesome it was.

We may have indulged in a bit too much beer, and had it not been for the sausages, pretzels, bread and fondue we ate, it might have been a rough Saturday morning. Instead, my mom and I hopped out of bed around 7am to run 10 miles. "Hopped out of bed" is not really what we did, but we did run the easiest 10 miles either of us have ever run. We agree that perhaps we hadn't yet metabolized all the alcohol from the night before making the run a bit easier. Who knows.

After the run, we wiled away the day eating and drinking and watching football, basically wasting time until dinner. Not to downplay the eating and drinking we did; we had a wonderful breakfast at Bakery Bar, beers at Migration, lunch at Pambiche, then more beers at Migration. Oh, and a hunt for remaining Missoni for Target stuff resulting in a THROW PILLOW for me! And my mom scored an adorable zig zag bikini bottom for $6.  Why it was marked down is a mystery.  A fantastic mystery.

Thank you to whoever returned this to the Mall 205 Target:

Then, the next event: dinner at Grüner. I have been hearing hype about Gruner for many months now, but this was the first chance I got to dine there. We started with a charcuterie plate consisting of, from top right moving clockwise, country pate, rabbit mortadella, salame gentile, liverwurst canapes, speck, spicy coppa, and house made pickles and mustard.

The speck was the star of the show. I have never had speck served like prosciutto. And, yes, I know speck is smoked prosciutto, but I usually see it diced and used in small amounts. Thinly sliced and served alone is a marvelous way to eat it.  Who knew?  The liverwurst canapes and the country pate came in a close second.

Next was frenched green beans, duck breast, blackberries, goat cheese, hazelnuts, black currant vinaigrette, and crisped shallots.  Absolutely delicious.

For the entree, we split grilled golden trout with a white corn ragout, crayfish sauce, and crisped speck and a mixed grill of sudan farms rack lamb chops and cevapcici - spicy slovenian lamb & beef sausages, cherry tomato-parsley salad, and cucumber-yoghurt salad with mint.

And this wasn't all the great food we ate.  Stay tuned for the rest of our eats!

Bon appetit.

Tacos with Corn Salsa, Margarita(s), and New Shoes

I don't care what anyone says; I love Katy Perry's pink hair.  

Also, reading In Style was how I spent my evening.

I wasn't planning on blogging this week. I was in New Jersey and New York over the weekend, and I basically didn't sleep so I am in recovery mode (read: ordering pizza and concocting raggameals not fit for publishing).


Actually, I had planned on writing about the food I ate in New York City, but my phone died so I couldn't take any pictures except one of roasted peanuts I bought from a street vendor. As delicious as they are, I don't think I can build a post around roasted peanuts. Okay, fine, here's the picture.

But, Wednesday I went to the farmers market with Kate, and when I saw the huge barrel of corn priced at 5 for $2, I knew I needed to buy some. I haven't eaten much corn this summer because there hasn't been much of it around. In fact, I think the only corn I have eaten was in the sweet corn tomalito I made a couple weeks ago.


With my 5 ears of corn in hand, I quickly chose poblano peppers, heirloom cherry tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro for a corn salsa. I had leftover pizza at home, so I made some corn salsa yesterday to eat some with chips, and made easy ground beef tacos for dinner tonight.


I also made a margarita (we will see if that becomes plural) because this morning a friend at work planted the seed in my brain to do so. The margarita recipe is below, but if you are older than 16 and you don't know how to make one, I highly recommend you re-evaluate the choices you have made in your life up until now.  Seriously.  


Oh, and as I was making my margarita, I looked down and realized I still had my shoes on from work. Usually I take off my shoes the instant I walk in the door, but today for whatever reason, I've been tromping around in these brand new Sam Edelman wedges I snagged at the Rack last week. So, per Santina's request, here's a picture of my new shoes getting busy in the kitchen. I always rest my foot on the towel bar as I cook. (No I don't.)

Nasty raw blister on my heel courtesy of being cute instead of comfortable as I spend an entire day walking around NYC.

Margarita 
2 parts tequila
1 parts lime juice
1 part triple sec


Put all ingredients in a shaker with 3 - 4 cubes ice, shake, pour into a glass with a salted rim and garnish with a slice or round of lime.


Corn Salsa
5 ears of corn
2 poblano peppers
2 jalapeno peppers
1 pint cherry tomatoes, each tomato cut in half, or 1 large tomato, diced
A bunch of cilantro
2 limes


1.  This recipe is tastiest, in my opinion, if you roast the corn on a grill. I did not do so because I am lazy, but if you want to do so, peel back the husks, remove the silks, then close the husks again. Soak the ears in water for ~20 minutes, then place on the grill and grill until they're done. Move them around and rotate them, obviously. If you burn them badly, you grilled them too long. If the kernels aren't soft and a little blackened, you didn't grill them long enough.


If you're lazy like me, just remove the husks and silks and boil the corn in water for a couple minutes.


You can roast the poblanos on the grill too, or if you aren't using the grill method, roast them under the broiler until the skins are blackened. Then put them either in a sealed paper bag or in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and let them cool ~20 minutes. You can roast the jalapenos in the same way, if you want.

2. Once the corn is cooked in whatever method you chose, cut the kernels off the cob. Place kernels in a large bowl.

3. Once the peppers have cooled, remove the skin, de-seed them, and dice them. Dice up the jalapeno too, whether you roasted it or not.

4. Add the peppers and the halved tomatoes to the corn.


5. The cilantro is probably prettiest if you pick the leaves off the stems and add to the salsa that way, but the stems actually have really good flavor. I usually just tear up the top quarter or so of each sprig. Add as much cilantro as you want. I love cilantro, so I added a lot.


6. Squeeze lime juice over everything and mix.


7. Eat!


I am not going to put a recipe for tacos.  The tacos I made tonight are nothing special: browned ground beef piled in a corn tortilla with corn salsa, regular salsa, cheddar cheese, and sour cream.  Delicious, but how am I supposed to tell you how to make that?

Bon appetit.

Le Cordon Bleu Cooking Class: Appetizer Party

My wonderful parents got me cooking classes at Le Cordon Bleu for Christmas last year. Le Cordon Bleu holds a series of non-professional classes for the general public, and my gift was to pick three to attend. I went to the Italian class in April, the French class in June, and this past weekend, I went to the "Appetizer Party" class.


It was a great class, perhaps my favorite of the three. There were only three students, and the chef teaching the class seemed genuinely interested in teaching us some good techniques.


The four appetizers we prepared were clam and corn fritters, stuffed figs with gorgonzola, prosciutto, & balsamic honey, panzanella crostinis, and "empanadas". I have quotes around empanadas because what we made only very loosely resembles any empanada I have ever made or eaten. Is it okay to put any dough around any filling and call it an empanada?  In my opinion, no. I am not mentioning those empanadas again in this post.

Clam and Corn Fritters


2 strips thick-sliced bacon
1/2 cup finely diced onion
3/4 cup fresh corn kernels, or thawed frozen corn
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 egg
8 oz beer
1 cup chopped clams (from four to six oz cans) drained
1/4 cup vegetable oil


1. In a medium skillet, cook the bacon slowly until crisp. Remove bacon and set aside. Pour out enough fat from the pan to leave about 2 Tbsp behind. Finely chop the bacon and reserve.


2. Add the onion and cook over medium heat fro 2 minutes without browning. Add the corn and cook for 1 minute. Set onion and corn mixture aside to cool.


3. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder until thoroughly incorporated.


4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and stir in the beer. Add the dry mixture from step 3 along with the chopped bacon, onion corn mixture, and chopped clams. Gently fold everything together until barely combined. Don't over-mix or the batter will become tough and gummy.


5. When ready to cook, heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat and add the vegetable oil. Scoop individual portions of the batter into the hot oil; for bite size portions, use 1 Tbsp or for a more substantial size use a 1/4 cup measure. Cook until browned on the bottom and flip to brown the second side. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.


6. Serve with the following dipping sauce: combine 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning, 2 Tbsp finely sliced chives in a mixing bowl.  Keep cold until serving.

Stuffed Figs with Gorgonzola, Proscuitto, and Balsamic Honey


12 - 14 figs, cut in half
Gorgonzola
1 pack proscuitto
1/2 cup shallots, minced
2 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar


1. Make the balsamic honey: in a pot, sweat the shallows in the canola oil. Add rosemary, honey, water, and balsamic and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon.  Season with black pepper and salt to taste.


2. Stuff the figs with gorgonzola and wrap with proscuitto.


3. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 375 degrees for 5 to 8 minutes.


4. When the figs come out of the oven, glaze with the balsamic honey.


5. The figs can be served with mixed greens or arugula on a salad plate.  Drizzle a little balsamic honey on the greens.

Panzanella Crostinis


1 French baguette
Extra virgin olive oil, as needed
2 cups diced tomato
1 cup diced seedless (English) cumber
1/4 cup diced Vidalia or other sweet onion
2 Tbsp capers, drained
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 bunch fresh basil
1 small head of romaine or green leaf lettuce


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 


2. Slice baguette into 1/4 inch thick slices. Brush each side lightly with olive oil and place on a cookie sheet.  Place in the oven and bake until crisp and golden brown in color.  Remove and set aside.


3. In a mixing bowl, combine the tomato, cucumber, onion, capers, vinegar, and oil and toss well to combine.  Season mixture with salt and pepper and let sit for 15 minutes to 1 hour on the counter to marinate.


4. When you are almost ready to serve, tear the basil leaves by hand into coarse pieces and fold into the marinated vegetables.


5. Separate the lettuce into leaves and cut or tear into pieces slightly larger than the size of the toasted bread crostinis.


6. Place a piece of lettuce on top of each crostini and top with a mound of the marinated vegetables. Serve immediately.


At the Le Cordon Bleu classes, way more food is prepared than is eaten, so we end up taking a lot home.  The chef teaching the class was smart about leftovers, and packed up things like unfried fritter dough, baguette, and baguette dough for us to cook and eat at home.  The pictures here are the result of that cooking at home.


Bon appetit.

Pork Carnitas and Sweet Corn Tomalito

I made carnitas last weekend during the make-room-for-beef-in-my-freezer frenzy. This huge chunk of pork shoulder was taking up way too much room, so it had to be eaten.

I got a little over enthusiastic in the frenzy and ended up with a bit too much defrosted meat. Is it normal to be cooking steak frites and carnitas simultaneously? No. Is that what I did on Sunday evening? Yes. 

Thank goodness carnitas saves excellently. If you make more carnitas than you intend to eat that day, do not broil all the meat.  Save some of the un-broiled meat and the reduced braising liquid.  Then the next day (or the next or the next) warm up the liquid a little, toss some meat in it, and broil.  It's just as good as, and maybe better than, same-day carnitas.

I ended up eating carnitas all week.  I can't say I minded. 

A while ago a coworker and I were discussing Chevy's, and we both agreed that the sweet corn stuff they have is delicious. I wanted something to go with the carnitas tacos, and corn is really good right now, so I decided to make some. Apparently "Chevy's sweet corn stuff" is not the proper name for it; it is called sweet corn tomalito. 

3-4 pounds of boneless (or 4-5lbs of bone-in) pork shoulder

About 1/2 cup lard (or vegetable oil)

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp chile powder

1 tsp cumin (freshly toasted and ground if you can--it does make a difference)

1 tsp garlic powder

3/4 cup orange juice

1. Cut pork into 1-2" cubes, trimming large sections of fat off (we need fat for the flavor, so just cut off any really large pieces).

2. Heat a dutch oven over medium high heat with just enough lard to cover the bottom (about 1/2 cup).

3. Pre-heat oven to 300ºF 

4. Combine the salt, chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder to make a spice rub.  Toss pork pieces with the spice rub. You can increase the amount of spice rub you make if you have more pork than called for in this recipe.

5. Brown the cubed pork well in the dutch oven, going in batches so there is only one layer of meat at a time.

7. When all the meat is browned, deglaze the pan's bottom with the orange juice, stirring to break up the brown bits. Put all of the meat back to the pan and almost fully cover the meat with water.

8. Bring to a simmer, cover, and place in the oven.

9. Stir the pot after one and two hours, the pork should be very tender towards the third hour. After about three hours, or until the pork is very tender, remove the dutch oven from the oven.

10. Remove all the pork from the dutch oven with a slotted spoon and put on a platter. Boil the braising liquid on the stove top to reduce.

11. After letting the pork cool for a few minutes, using your hands separate and discard any fat or gristle pieces that did not melt during braising. Tear the meat into smaller pieces.

12. Turn your broiler on to high and place a rack towards the top

13. Toss the now shredded pork with some of the reduced braising liquid (that should have boiled down significantly by now) and spread in a single layer on a sheet pan.

14. Broil the pork for approximately five minutes per side until the outside begins to carmelize.

15. Serve.

I made tacos with the carnitas, but you can use it any way you would like. For tacos, you will need these additional ingredients:

Corn tortillas

Cilantro

Green salsa

Sour cream

This is a super long post, but I will carry on. Sweet corn tomalito recipe below.


1/4 cup masa harina
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
2 cups frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons milk

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the margarine, masa flour, and sugar until light and fluffy. In a food processor or blender, blend one cup of the corn kernels with the water and cornmeal just until smooth. Stir into the masa mixture. Mix in the remaining corn, baking powder, salt, and milk until the batter is smooth. Pour into a double boiler.  

2. Place the tomalito over a large saucepan of simmering water, and cover tightly with aluminum foil. (I don't have a double broiler, so I instead lined the steamer thing for my large stock pot with cornhusks and steamed the tomalito that way. Here's a picture.)

3. Steam for 50 to 60 minutes, or until firm. Check water occasionally, and refill if necessary. Stir pudding before serving to give it a consistent texture. 

4. Serve in small scoops.


This is one of the best meals I have made in a while, and I have been making some good meals.


Bon appetit.