Fired Up

So the Fourth has come and gone, and the official season of the grill is in full swing. I will admit to being right there, at the top of the bell curve rarely utilizing the oven to make dinner this time of year. And yes, many of the sides I make this time of year are raw, from the garden, salads that are “cooked” more likely through exposure to salt and/or vinegar than radiating heat. Soaring temperatures and humidity is showing no signs of easing up, and I am no than glad to cook outdoors.  In my heart I am a wood or charcoal griller, however, when you are in a relationship and have to negotiate the purchase of mutually used items I confess we have a propane-fired number. In order to get the smoky notes that only wood can give I use herb stems, garlic and onion peelings, or any aromatic trimming that might otherwise land in the compost pile to lace so much of what I grill. Placed either underneath the food itself or over the high flame of an indirect set-up I am constantly looking to add that note of cooking al fresco. Because all the caste-offs I use are still “green” they do not catch fire, but rather smoke, which gives my that primal taste I crave.

Though there are times I actually have to turn on a burner to boil water for some grains or blanch, ever so quickly, a vegetable. Still not sure if I made a mistake and did not get the grill with a burner unit – I figured I would constantly be battling with the evening breeze.

I have put us on a once to every two indulgence of b-b-que ribs or butt. And the reason for this is that we both require a slab each (at a minimum) and 5-pounds of butt is gone by lunch the next day. Clearly, we have pork control issues. While I tend to be a dry rub kind of guy once in a while I like it wet, however, I can not imagine using any of the commercial sauces out there for they are too sweet, too ketchup-based and not nearly as complex as I like it. Why don’t I just remember this in May when the temperatures are still kitchen friendly, and just put up a couple of jars?

Spicy Bar-b-que Sauce - yields approx. 3 cup 

2 chipolte chiles

5 black cardamom seeds

1 small onion - diced

3 garlic cloves - chopped

2-tablespoons tomato paste

1/4-cup honey

1/2-cup ketchup manis

1/4-cup pomegranate syrup

1-1/2 pounds tomato – roughly chopped

1/8-cup cider vinegar

2-teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a 1 quart sauce pan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Fish out the 5 cardamom seeds and discard.  Place the remaining ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Store in the refrigerator. 

Husk Tomato

From the smallest of seeds grows one of the most sweet, overlooked and versatile of summer’s gifts. Growing about two feet high, and laterally spreading with equal dimension I am talking about husk tomatoes: ground cherries, or cape gooseberries, the latter name due to their introduction to South Africa, exhibits few of its tomato family traits. I came across them about a decade ago at a farmer’s market and assumed it was a tomatillo. The grower informed me that it was a fruit that had savory tendencies, which was more than enough to seal the deal. Plus, I live by the credo, if I haven't seen it before I must try it. Regardless of the name you find them under, grab them, you wont be disappointed.

This South American native is easily missed, for at a glance you think you are spying a diminutive tomatillo, its cousin, due to the papery jacket (called a calyx) that conceals the ripening fruit and a dense meaty interior. However, unlike its larger, far more tart doppelganger the husk tomato is edible when the outer husk dries and turns a pale brown, and the fruit itself is a golden-orange -- the green, under-ripe ones should be voided, leave the Salsa Verde for the tomatillo.

When ripe they fall to the ground and continue to ripen, and it is best to store them in a cool, dry spot, for up to a few weeks making them even more explosive (keep them in their husk). Their nature of needing to fall from their branch telegraphing their readiness makes them not a particularly viable commercial plant, even though, they have a strong shelf life and dynamic flavor, which is a benefit to those of us looking for foods that have not been over manipulated in a laboratory and the industrialization of our foods. At only a mere 75 calories in a cup they deliver a good dose of vitamins A, C and B-3 beyond the pleasure they give your mouth, so why aren’t they touted as enthusiastically as the blueberry? Do they need to get an association? The flavor is an intense pineapple-like sweetness with an almost cheese-like finish. Eaten mid to late summer you will most likely find yourself popping these “tic-tacs” into your mouth leaving a trail of husks as you walk home. I would not stop there for they demonstrate great adaptability in the kitchen. Tossed with corn, chili and cilantro for a prefect summertime salad or paired with blueberries and white chocolate for a decadent bread pudding. I won’t forget to make some preserves with them as well with a hint of rose petal or pineapple sage.

If you have a bit of space and the desire, husk tomatoes are easy to grow, which is some compensation when it comes time to search the ground before a chipmunk finds them. Germinate them about 4 weeks prior to the last average frost indoors – they will take about 2 weeks for the seeds to sprout. Give them about 90 days of warm, sunny weather, and you will find yourself crawling on hands and knees to collect these gift-wrapped orbs. Less arduous and definitely less dirty, start hunting your farmer’s markets starting July in the south and on the west coast, or a month later in the north for these special treats and let’s make this New World native one of the delicacies we pine for every summer. 

Corn-Husk Tomato Salad - yields 6 to 8 servings
4 ears of white corn
1-pint husk tomatoes

1-hot chili - such as a habenero or jalapeño (seeds removed to lessen the heat)

1/4-cup fresh lime juice

1-teaspoon toasted sesame oil

2-tablespoons olive oil

1-small red onion - diced

1-red pepper - diced

1/4-cup torn basil leaves

1/-cup roughly chopped cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the corn kernels from their cob and place them in a bowl.  Peel the skins from the husk tomatoes and wash.  Split the chili in half and remove the seeds. Finely dice the chili and toss all the ingredients together. Let the salad sit for 30 minutes at room temperature before serving in order to let the flavors meld.

Hail the Solstice

Reaching its zenith

Bathing life. Ripening life.

Stimulating life

Macadamia Nut Lavender Ice Cream – yields aprox. 1-1/2 quarts

2-cup whole macadamia nuts

1-quart whole milk

2-teaspoons lavender

1-cup sugar

3-egg yolks

1-teaspoon orange blossom water

1-teaspoon vanilla extract

In a food processor fitted with the steel blade process the macadamia nuts until it starts to release it oils – it should have the look of pastry dough and be smooth.

In a 2-quart saucepan warm the milk and lavender together over a medium low flame to just below the boiling point.

While the milk is warming whisk the sugar and yolks together to thoroughly combine, and then beat in the macadamia paste.

Add a ladle full or two of the milk into the egg mixture and beat to combine, and warm up the egg mixture. Then whisk the egg mixture into the remaining milk, and return to the heat. Stir the mixture constantly over the heat for about fives. 

Cool the milk mixture completely. Then pour into the ice cream maker and proceed according to the manufacture’s instruction. 

An herbal life

My love of herbs can be traced back to my adolescence and that first herb that put a tolerable haze over those years – I go stoned.

I glided home in order to be on time for dinner – for it was both a requirement and the pot was working its hunger producing magic. I was so grateful that my father was working late and would not to be home for the evening meal for I was sure he would sniff me out – he has the nose of a bloodhound. My eyes were beet red, and I thought very word I spoke at the dinner table was being scrutinized with great relief I got through the meal undetected. That night’s meal glowed, and yet it was the usual salad; my mother made a mixed salad nightly accompanied with an array of dressings, hamburgers and canned French cut green beans. I inhaled five hamburgers before I started to slow down with my sixth.

My friends and I had the habit of pooling our resources in order to secure an ounce of this sweet aromatic burning herb. I did try to grow my own, a frugal attempt, which was thwarted by the gardener who spotted my struggling, pathetically leafy stems by the chimney on the side of the house – they got yanked -- so much for gardening. One weekend some friends headed into Manhattan to get into innocent teenage trouble, and hopefully cop some pot. With their wallets endowed with our collective funds they made a beeline to Washington Square Park where you could not spend a minute without being propositioned. Personally, I was a bit suspect of this public wholesale market, and my suspicions were borne out when the group returned to Long Island with a bag of oregano. Now, if they had the culinary aptitude I possessed they would have easily recognized that that plastic bag was filled with the wrong herb – we all ate pizza how could they that not recognize the contents of the shaker that was always found next to the grated cheese and chili flakes. For me, I returned my resource of a sure thing – my next-door neighbor.

Today, the herbs I score are just as potent except today their addictiveness is due to their heady aromatic presentation then an inhaled chemical released by smoke. 

Verbena-Mango Cake – yields 10-inch cake

8-ounces unsalted butter

2-cups sugar

4 whole eggs

1-egg yolk

1-1/2 teaspoons minced verbena leaves

1-teaspoon rose water

3-cups all-purpose flour

1-teaspoon baking powder

1/8-teaspoon salt

2-ripe mangoes – peeled and sliced (tossed in 1-tablespoon of flour)

1-heaping tablespoon apricot preserves

Butter and flour the cake pan.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a standing mixer mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

In another bowl beat the eggs, egg yolk, rose water and verbena together to combine.

Once the butter/sugar is very fluffy add the eggs to mix well.

In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking powder and salt through a sieve. Then on a low speed add the flour to the butter mixture.

Pour half of the batter in to the cake pan and then distribute the sliced mangos over the batter. Spread the remaining batter over the mangoes, and bake for about 40 to 50 minutes until set and a cake tester comes out clean.

Remove to a wire cooling rack and cool the cake completely before inverting.

Once the cake has cooled combine the apricot preserves with ¼-cup of water and over a medium heat stir to completely dissolve. Brush the warm apricot preserves over the cake allowing it to soak in.