"Aghadoe" Sushi Fest

Day 3 on the "Aghadoe" Set aka The Longest Day

     In the busy life of this biker girl/cook/florist/"caterer" you find yourself juggling a lot in a day. This week was no exception. If you have read through my blog before you may know that I rode in the BIKE MS ride around Skagit Valley in September. A ride in which I covered 128 miles in only two days! Well any who I was invited to the Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Benefit Luncheon that of course was scheduled at the same time as my own lunch was supposed to be hitting the tables at Lynndale Park for the "Aghadoe" video crew. OH a challenge eh? I’m down. 

     I had been dreaming of making sushi for the shoot in line with accepting the job. All the members Julia Massey and the FFD love sushi, the crew will eat anything that is put in front of them, and well its so damn good. The meal I would assemble would require no heat which was key to preparing something in advance. (Though a hot bowl of miso soup would have been nice, since it was pretty damn cold and wet out there on set!) 

     The third day of the shoot arrived and there I am ready to rock. I had spent most of the night before perfectly (holla!) cooking two batches of sushi rice, rolling spicy tuna rolls, slicing cucumbers and stuffing inari. All I had to do was pack the cooler, grab ice (a must if working with and serving raw foods unless your consumers have rockstar immune systems) and drop off my lunch. I did make sure to label all of the food so that everyone would tell where the vegan food was and luckily for the glutard not one single grain of wheat to be found. I was a little bummed to not be there for lunch because truly as a cook, I love to see people enjoying my food. Yes, its always nice to hear kudos but I’d just rather see empty plates and platters. Thats where the proof lies. 

     Once I dropped off the sushi fest I rushed down to the Washington State Convention Center for the MS luncheon. I really had no idea what to expect; I looked like a million bucks, I was probably one of the youngest people there and I was about to eat meal catered by Kathy Casey http://kathycasey.com/. It was really an experience I am not used to. 
     I was invited by Key Note Speaker Trevis Gleason and was seated at a table covered in fancy desserts and bread sticks with pretty piped butters alongside some of Trevis’s close friends and peers. Trevis is the reason why I went on my first organized ride and got into supporting the MS Society. I knew that Trevis worked with the MS Society and that he and a co-worker of mine had the diagnosis, but I had never been close enough to anyone affected to really know how MS screwed with peoples lives until all this began. It's not everyday that you are privy to someone’s life struggles. Until that luncheon I had never heard about the specifics of Trevis's struggle and I was grateful that he is the kind of person who is not afraid to throw it all out there in the middle of a fancy-pants luncheon and tell people the shitty facts of his past and present. Speaking of, Trevis is the author of an amazingly honest and informative blog about Multiple Sclerosis. You can check it out here: http://www.everydayhealth.com/blog/trevis-life-with-multiple-sclerosis-ms/. I believe that being honest and forward is how to get what you want out of life and its better with people like Trevis around because with a mouth like his, MS seems to be the only thing that holds him back from time to time.
     MS is screwed up and messes with your brain and has no cure, yet. I rode that ride for people like Trevis and it felt good to see the support network of people who help folks just like Trevis every day. Yes it was fancy and everyone put checks into a bag at the end of the luncheon but really it was an event to help people in need. We all know that labs, drugs and trials are expensive, so thank god for people who are willing to donate to a cause that they care about even if all people can do is ride a bike...hopefully one day it will add up to a cure. It may sound cheesy but its the truth. 

     Okay now that I did my mushy and passionate speil back to the food. So hey I make sushi sometimes, its not hard. I used to think it was hard but after helping my dad make some rolls once upon a time + more recent practice + a sweet sushi mat...its really just about your rice. Screw that up and your toast. Sushi rice is not hard, well I’m lying, its particular at best. Don’t worry I’ve got some good instructions. Depending on how skilled you are when it comes to slicing vegetables, rolling your roll should be a snap. Big wide pieces of sushi fillings are going to give you trouble, think thin and long. Now a sushi feast of your own, at a fraction of the cost of what you’d spend out... is waiting (if you get the hang of this.) Then you're ready to impress, I promise it will. 

                                                           Sushi 

     Truly you can wrap anything between those lovely sheets of nori and rice but I like to stick with some basics.

The Big Deal: The Rice

•  3 cups short grain "calrose" rice
•  3 1/4 cup water
•  1/2 cup sushi vinegar (you can find this bottled alone or make your own from mixing together and slowly heating in a pot over medium heat... 1/2 cup rice vinegar, 1 Tbsp superfine sugar, 1/2 tsp mirin, and 1/2 tsp salt. Then allow to cool.)

1.) Place your rice and water into pot then use your hand to mix the two vigorously. Empty water using a strainer and fill pot again, repeat this mixing and draining three more times. Rice water will become less cloudy over these washings.

2.) Drain the last washing of rice, add rice into your pot and add in water again. Let this sit for at least 30 minutes to allow the grains to absorb water. 

3.) Place pot on burner and bring to a boil. Boil for a minute, place your tight-fitting lid onto the pot, reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 more minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook for an additional 15 minutes. (Lid on always ok?!)

4.) Remove pot from heat and let sit for 20 minutes to allow full absorption and time for rest. 

5.) Preferably with a paddle-like spoon, evenly spoon rice into a large and wide bowl. Use paddle to fold and turn rice while sprinkling your sushi vinegar over cooling rice. Make sure not to mash rice here you're just flipping and evenly distributing the sugary vinegar.

6.) Let cool completely and ready yourself for some rollin' and stuffin'!

Spicy Tuna Roll

• 1/2 lb. Raw Tuna Saku, cut into small little chunks
• 3 Tbsp Mayonnaise (Best Foods Brand http://www.bestfoods.com forever baby)
• 2 Tbsp Chili Sauce (oh yes, there are a million different types I like called Cap Jempol; its an Indonesian variety. Plain chili garlic sauce works great too.)

1.) Place little chunks of tuna into a mixing bowl, add in mayo and chili sauce. 

2.) Mix well with a spoon to combine.

3.) Taste and see if you are feeling like you need additional mayo or chili sauce.

California Roll

• About 2 sticks Krab per roll (imitation crab stick, I wasn’t exactly going to go over budget for real crab, but if you wanna spend go wild!) 
• Avocado, cut into long thin strips
• About 2 Tbsp cream cheese 

Veg Roll

• Cucumber, seeded and sliced into long thin strips 
• Enoki Mushrooms (they have 4 inchish white stalks with tiny button tops)
• Green onion, sliced into long thin strips
• Fried Tofu, (I like the flavored varieties like spring onion or chili lemon grass) cut into thin long strips

Sushi Many Ways

1.) On a large cutting board, place your sushi mat. Atop that, place a large piece of plastic wrap. Atop that place your piece of nori with the more shiny side down. 

2.) Wet your hands. (I like a little bowl of water placed next to my sushi area.) Now create a thin square of rice on top of your nori sheet. Designate a top and bottom, with bottom facing you. You want there to be about and an Inch and a half on your top side that doesn’t have rice and also a rice-less area on the bottom as well. Make sure to have the rice pressed out to just barely the edges of your nori. Now you’re ready to load up.

3.) Gather ingredients for the particular roll and place said ingredients horizontally on top your rice in a thin mound. Making sure to have your ingredients an inch above your bottom rice line.

4.) Make sure that you don’t overload your rolls, if there are too many fillings then you are going to be rolling an awkward roll. But if you wanna do it, do it. Then you’ll have mondo rolls.

5.) Once you’re loaded up, ready yourself for technique time! Grab ahold of your plastic wrap along the bottom and slowly pull up, at the same time as you are beginning to feel the curve of the roll, push the center of the bottom as well as begin to pull in the center of your roll into place. From there continue to pull on the plastic wrap so the roll continues to well...roll. Finish out the motion until the nori completely wraps around the rice and pulls away from the sushi mat.

6.) Cover your roll with a piece of plastic wrap until you are plating. When plating, remove rolls from plastic wrap and with a sharp knife cut 1 inchish pieces. 

7.)  TA DA!!! Serve with pickled ginger "gari",  wasabi, and soy sauce.

Inari

(Understand that if you dont care to make a broth or cannot find frozen pockets you can just use canned pre-flavored pockets that are found in small cans in an asian grocery section.)  

• Dashi flavoring packet (I found one that was bonito flavored.)
• 1 cup water
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 Garlic cloves, smashed with a knife
• 1 Box of frozen inari pockets 

1.) In a medium sauce pan, bring Dashi, water, soy sauce, and garlic to a boil. 

2.) While waiting for your boil, prepare your pockets. Frozen Inari pockets are saturated with oil and need to be rung out before taking on the flavors of your boil. What you need to do is grab a pocket at a time and hold under a running tap of hot water. When the pocket starts taking on the hot water, begin to squish and ring out the pocket. You will feel the oil start to leech out and become drier, this is normal. Repeat with remaining pockets.

3.) Turn your boil down to a medium heat and drop in pockets, let simmer for 10ish minutes until the pockets have soaked up most of the liquid in the sauce pan.

4.) Remove from heat and once the pockets have cooled to the touch, ring out excess broth.

5.) Now we’re ready to fill. Grab a pocket with one hand and fill 3/4 of the way with rice, fold open sides into itself and place, seam side down onto serving plate. 

-It is common to have just plain inari with only rice but I like to stuff other things in there before I fill with rice.

-For the shoot I did some with bits of tuna, about two 1 inch thin pieces per pocket and also a few pieces of pickled ginger or “gari” stuffed in there too.

6.) TA DA!!! Inari!!!

Edamame

• 1 bag frozen edamame (soy beans in pods)
• Water
• Kosher salt

1.) Bring large pot of water to boil .

2.) Add in frozen edamame. Cook for 5 minutes.

3.) Drain edamame and run under cold water to prevent over cooking. 

4.) Drip dry and toss with a few pinches of kosher salt.

5.) Serve alongside sushi and enjoy!

Chili Tofu

• 1 lb. Fried tofu bricks (I prefer the flavored varieties like spring onion or chili lemon grass) cut into little strips then into cubes
• 1/4 cup chili garlic sauce

1.) Toss cubed tofu with chili sauce until tofu is evenly coated.

2.)  Serve. Yup, its that easy.

Cucumber Salad

• 2 english cucumbers, sliced into thin pieces (I like to cut them on the diagonal and also, using a peeler,  remove about half of the peel in lengthwise strips for more decoration than anything)
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp superfine sugar (regular is fine, the superfine just blends quicker)
• 2 Tbsp black sesame seeds
• 1 Tbsp sesame seed oil

1.) Place sliced cucumbers into a medium sized bowl along with rice wine vinegar, sugar, sesame seeds and sesame seed oil.

2.) Toss to combine. Let sit a few hours to let the vinegar break down the cucumber a bit so that the salad has a nice bite.

3.) Serve and enjoy.

"Aghadoe" Pasta n' Guac n' Dip

     Day two of the “Aghadoe” shoot brought on a challenge...surprise we need an extra meal for 15! No matter how many times I asked Andrew (Director) if we needed a meal for the so-called “lighter” day of shooting, I felt like he was going to change his mind. So there I am hanging out on set the first day and I'm told “hey Danielle, so I think we’re going to need lunch after all!” Yes of course, leave it to me. I figured a big pasta salad. Most everything can be chopped in the time it takes to boil pasta so making a large batch would be great. Also when you add in a protein it turns into a main dish rather than a side which is what they are known for on many a summer bbq's paper plate. This was also easy to turn vegan by simply not adding chicken. Then again for the glutard...all I did was save a portion of the veggies and chicken from the main salad and cook a 1/4 lb of rice shell-shaped pasta. Toss and serve. There I had it, a pasta salad for everyone. 

   

     Living in an apartment with a small patio doesn’t exactly allow me to own and operate a gas or charcoal grill, but I have found that my cast iron grill pan with lid, works as an amazing replacement. Everything I squish between that hot greased cast iron inevitably turns every food into a moist flavorful and slightly charred wonder food. Obviously I highly recommend finding one of these for your kitchen, and if treated with care will last you a lifetime. 

With that said, that is how I grill, now here is the recipe...

      Grilled Chicken and Veggie Pasta Salad

• 1 1b. boneless chicken thighs
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp Canadian steak seasoning (If you dont have it, a little garlic salt works great too) 
• 1 1b. of your favorite shaped pasta, (I like short rigatoni, farfalle and rotelle)
• 1 large yellow squash; cut the long way into thin flat strips
• 1 large zucchini; cut the long way into thin flat strips
• 10 mini yellow/red/orange bell peppers; with stems removed (two regular bell peppers quartered works too if the minis aren’t available)
• 1 small red onion, chopped into small pieces
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced thinly (I like slicing on the diagonal for longer pieces)
• 1 small 12-16 oz. bag of baby spinach
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 Tbsp freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch or two of salt to taste

1.)  Toss chicken thighs in vegetable oil and seasoning, set aside.

2.) In a large pot of salted water cook pasta until al dente. When cooked, rinse pasta under cold water to prevent over-cooking, set aside.

3.) Grill seasoned chicken until thoroughly cooked and slightly charred. Set aside on a plate for at least 10 minutes before cutting,  meat always needs a rest after its cooked.

4.) Grill squash, zucchini, and peppers until they become pliable and charred a bit. (Depending on your grill size, this may take a few rounds of grilling.) Set aside to cool. 

5.) Chop chicken as well as squash, zucchini and peppers into bite size bits.

6.) In a large bowl combine pasta, chicken, squash, zucchini, red onion, green onion, and bag of baby spinach. Toss to combine.

7.) Overtop the salad, pour on the lemon juice and olive oil. Then add in salt and pepper.

8.) Toss again to evenly cover your salad with oily goodness.

9.) Serve and Enjoy!

*Note that spinach will wilt with time, I prefer it more wilted so I let the salad sit in a fridge for a few hours before I dig in.

* For the shoot, I tripled this recipe

Holy Moly I Made a lot of Guacamole...

     Part two of the quick-throw-together-a-lunch-for-15 came together when I found one of the prop food bags, it had about 6 giant avocados in it. I don’t really know why Andrew thought 6 avos were a good idea for munchies for the picnic scene in the music video, but there they were. I do truly hate wasted food so I decided to make a whopping batch of guac. Another reason why I made it was that Dom Cortese, the drummer for Julia Massey and the FFD was making his first appearance on set and I know of his passionate love affair with the avocado. What can I say, I aim to please. Then I added in another twist to chips and dip and made my smokey chipotle sour cream to go alongside the guac. I know the lactards couldn’t enjoy it but everyone else would...learning the balance with food restrictions is something I’ve been getting better at through all this for sure. 

                      Guacamole

• 3 large avocados
• 1 bunch cilantro, stems removed and leaves chopped slightly but not fine
• 2 roma tomatoes, seeds removed and chopped into small pieces
• 1/2 of a medium sized red onion, chopped into small pieces
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced into small pieces
• 1 medium jalapeno, chopped into small pieces (if your crowd is sensitive to heat, remove the seeds)
• 1 small red chili pepper (looks just like a jalapeno but red), chopped into small pieces
• 1 small yellow chili pepper (looks like the other two but yellow), chopped into small pieces
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped fine
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• a few hefty cranks of a pepper mill

1.) In a large bowl slightly mash avocados with a fork until it is mostly smooth with chunks of avo still intact.

2.) To the bowl add cilantro, tomato, red onion, jalapeno, red and yellow chilies, green onion, garlic cloves, lime,  olive oil, salt and pepper.

3.) Blend with a wooden spoon until every ingredient is thoroughly combined.

4.) Enjoy with chips or tacos or my smokey chipotle sour cream!

*If you are not using this right away, place plastic wrap right onto the guac (not the bowl's rim) before too much oxidation occurs and your green guac turns brown. 

*For the shoot I doubled this recipe and added two additional avos.

            Smokey Chipotle Sour Cream

• 1  16 oz. tub of sour cream (I prefer a cultured or “European” variety like Wallaby)
• 1  7 oz. can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (Chipotles are roasted jalapenos that are canned in an “adobo” sauce which is typically made from a blend of oregano, paprika, garlic, salt and vinegar.)
• Kosher salt to taste

1.) With lid of chipotles removed, use lid to press down onto chilies so to squeeze out the sauce into a medium sized mixing bowl.

2.) Pull out about half of the actual peppers from the can. Lay each on a cutting board and with a knife split in half, then scrape most of the seeds from the chilies. After your heat preference of seeds is removed, chop chilies into small bits.

3.) Add sour cream to the sauce in you mixing bowl and blend. Add in a few bits of chipotles to the sauce at a time and continue this until you taste that it has reached your desired heat level. 

4.) Salt to taste and serve!

*Know that the longer this dip sits, the hotter it will become.

*Okay isn’t the lady on the can amazing? I never want to buy another brand now without her face on it!

"Aghadoe" Beans

    There are only a handful of true barbeque side dish options out there in the food world. You've got your coleslaw, mashed potatoes, yams and one other magical fruit. Baked beans of course! I’ve honestly never made them before but I knew they would be gobbled up by the crew and could easily be made vegan. I played around with the idea of bacon, maple, molasses, spice and also yams. Fast-forward into my crock-pot and discover the miracle of my food brain below.

  Saucy Slow-Cooked Beans with Bacon, Maple, and Yams

• 1 medium sized yam, cut into small cubes
• 1/2 lb. pepper bacon, cut into small pieces
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp hot sauce (I prefer Crystal for a more vinegary hot flavor)
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 1 tsp black pepper
• Pinch or two of salt to taste

1. In a medium frying pan, bring 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil to medium-high temperature, add in yams. Fry yams until they begin the cook slightly on all sides about 7ish minutes. Add in a half cup of water, turn heat down to medium, cover with a lid and let steam in pan for at least 10 minutes until they begin to soften. Remove from heat.
   
2. In a large pan, cook bacon over medium heat just until it barely begins to crisp. Remove bacon from pan and place on a paper towel to remove excess grease.
   
3. Leave pan at medium temperature, add in chopped onions and cook in the bacon grease until onions become translucent. Remove from heat.
   
4. In a medium-sized pot, over medium heat; combine molasses, ketchup, brown sugar, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, dry mustard and pepper. Slowly bring this mixture to a simmer until it is well combined and bubbly.
   
5. Fill your crock pot with the yams, beans, bacon, onions and warmed sauce. Set crock pot to low heat and let cook for 6ish hours. Season with salt if it needs any. (Depending on your time table, you can cook these on high for just 2 to 3ish hours, or it can even be done on the stove in about 45 minutes over a medium heat.)
   
6. Serve and enjoy…possibly with pulled pork sliders and coleslaw.

*If you want to have these beans without bacon, simply cook your onion in 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil instead of bacon grease. Voila, vegan beans. 

*For the shoot, I doubled this recipe and I actually left the slow cooker going all night. On warm-setting they cooked for 10 hours with no problems. 

"Aghadoe" Sliders

                       Day 1 of the “Aghadoe” Music Video Shoot

     Andrew the director,  being the one to inform me of the slight limitations or “additions” as I would refer to them,  wanted to let me know that he didn’t want his stomach to settle for just veg and hoped for many a meaty/cheesy option. When cooking for a lot of people one must consider many things; dietary restrictions, quantity, time in which it takes to make proposed food, and likability. Day one is where I set my bar. High of course! I wanted something that would stick to the ribs out there in the woods all day so I thought barbeque. Pulled pork that is. Dry-rubbed pork shoulder, cooked low and slow, then shredded and mounded onto a bun and topped with simple coleslaw. When walking around the grocery store, I was struck by the cuteness of a bag of mini party buns. I chose to make tons of sliders for lunch, rather than huge sandwiches. Good idea turns out. For the vegans I swapped out the pork for an amazingly robust meaty-tasting portobello mushroom, rubbed with the same pork dry rub. Plus a gluten free bun from Udi’s baking company for the glutard. 

          Pulled Pork Sliders with Coleslaw

• 4 to 5 lb. hunk of pork shoulder
• 3 Tbsp kosher salt.
• 2 Tbsp cracked black pepper
• 2 Tbsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 medium size plastic bag
• Vegetable oil
• Aluminum foil 
• 1 large pack of party buns or large kaiser/hamburger buns
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp hot sauce (I prefer Louisiana’s Crystal hot sauce)

1.) In a medium size bag (like a gallon-size ziplock bag) combine all the dry ingredients together by shaking the bag around until you see that everything has been well combined.

2.) Add your pork shoulder to the spice bag, the shake the bag around so that every part of the shoulder seems to be covered in the spice rub.

3.) Put in fridge for at least 24 hours. In this time the meat will take on the spice’s flavor and will bring the moisture to the edges of the meat for better meat overall. 

4.) Crank your oven to 400 degrees, remove pork from fridge and bag. 

5.) In a heavy duty pan, place just enough vegetable oil to cover bottom of pan, then add meat. Work to sear every side evenly. This should take about 3ish minutes per side of roast. 

6.) Remove meat from pan and Wrap in two layers of aluminum foil. 

7.) Place in oven and cook for 20 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 degrees and continue to cook until the internal temperature of the meat has reached 160 degrees. After its done, let cool.

8.) Meanwhile combine vinegar, sugar, and hot sauce in a small bowl. 

9.) Begin to shred the pork shoulder. I like to use over-sized forks and just literally pull and scrape down the meat so it rips and shreds from the roast.

10.) Pour the vinegar mix into the pulled pork and depending on when you are serving, place meat back into oven to bring back up to a warmer temperature. 

11.) Split buns and load up with pulled pork and coleslaw of you are so inclined. Really easy coleslaw recipe will follow the Portobellos.

  Grilled Portobello Sliders with Coleslaw

*Basically you are making my pulled pork recipe but with portobellos and smaller-portioned ingredients.

• 4 Portobello Mushrooms,  stems removed.
• 1 and 1/2 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp cracked black pepper
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 medium size plastic bag
• vegetable oil
• 1 pack of party buns or 4 large kaiser/hamburger buns
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp hot sauce, (I prefer Louisiana’s Crystal hot sauce)

1.) In a medium size bag (like a gallon-size ziplock bag) combine all the dry ingredients together by shaking the bag around until you see that everything has been well combined.

2.) Add mushrooms to the spice bag, the shake the bag around so that every part of the mushrooms seem to be covered in the spice rub.

3.) Put in fridge for at least 2 hours. In this time the mushrooms will take on the spice’s flavor and help marinate. You will also notice that they will shrink in size slightly which is fine.

4.) Remove mushrooms from bag and heat grill. Grill portobellos for 5ish minutes per side. Remove from grill and place in a bowl. 

5.) Combine vinegar, sugar, and hot sauce in a small bowl. 

6.) If you are using slider buns, cut mushrooms into quarters or leave whole for sandwiches. Pour the vinegar mix on mushrooms and toss to coat. 

7.) Split buns and load up with grilled portobellos and coleslaw of you are so inclined. Coleslaw recipe follows.

                    Really Simple Coleslaw

• Half of a large head of green cabbage
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp hot sauce, like Crystal
• 2 Tbsp white sugar
• 2 Tbsp red pepper flakes
• 1 Tbsp cracked black pepper

1.) Remove the core from the cabbage and slice into thin and short strips.

2.) Blend vinegars, hot sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes, and black pepper together in a bowl.

3.) Add in sliced cabbage and toss to coat evenly with the marinade. 

4.) Let sit at least over night so the cabbage has a chance to break down a bit from the acids which leads to a better coleslaw overall. 

5.) Serve on top of pulled pork above or simply as a side dish.

Craft Service

     When I think about craft service, I think about food made for stars. The impression that I’ve gathered from this industry is that there is a lot of down time between hair and make-up, wardrobe changes, finding the perfect lighting, filming, and collecting people to do said filming. But what do people do when they’re waiting around? They drink a lot of coffee and look for munchies. What I have been told is that there is a whole lot of junk food that gets gobbled up on those picnic benches and in make-shift crew tents. I also get the feeling that there has been possibly many a diva in this industry that has made some poor craft service worker do wild things like pick out only the blue and green M&Ms from a bag or insist on eating apples that have a color ratio of three quarters red hue to one quarter green. Though it is a job and you are getting paid for doing whatever it is that is asked of you...I don’t know if I’d be cut out for the ultimate Divas. Though I am enjoying my new task at hand.

     So, I know this band, they are awesome. I know this director, he is awesome. They both have a wonderfully beneficial relationship since music and cinema feed greatly off of one another. Julia Massey and the Five Fingered Discount recently released their second album “Is There Room For Me?” in August and asked Andrew Birchall to create a music video for them for a track called “Aghadoe.” Julia Massey with the help of another close musician; her lovely fiancee Jared Cortese, have created music for one of Andrew’s movies called “Snapshots” and soon again for his latest movie (without speaking parts) “The French Maid.” “Aghadoe” marks a new and exciting achievement in these creative geniuses’ lives;  Music Videos. With the help of a seriously talented crew and good ole’ raw talent, Lynndale Park in Lynwood, WA was turned into a magical backdrop for a beautiful shoot. Its going to take some time for Andrew to edit, but I hope to see the final product before the new year. Until then heres some food and where I come in...craft service baby!

     Since Andrew expressed that he gets so tired of all the crap food they have eaten on the other sets of his past, he was excited to have me cook for his crew and actors. Giving someone money and a limitless creative license...feels good. I was able to design a whole menu with only a few limitations! We have a few vegans, a few lactards and a glutard. (Note: Stop reading my blog now if theses terms offend you or someone you love because damnit I love those words and I’m not trying to offend anyone. From my perspective, it just really sucks that people can't or don't have animals, dairy or wheat in their diet. I could die happy with a last meal of creamy Cambozola, Crusty Pain du Gorge bread and some spicy Soppressata, but hey its not for everyone.)

     To clarify: a vegan is essentially a person who does not eat anything that has a face nor the foods that are produced by an animal. A lactard is a person with a lactose intolerance and therefore cannot eat any food that contains dairy. Then of course, a glutard is a person that cannot process gluten; which is the central component of wheat and therefore cannot eat foods containing gluten. 

     Now that you know I am a snarky yet accommodating chef..heres a peek at the menu for the week, I will be starting with Day 1 and will work to upload the rest in a “timely” fashion. 

Day 1

Pulled Pork Slides with Coleslaw 

Grilled Portobello Sliders with Coleslaw

Saucy Slow-Cooked Beans with Yams, Bacon, and Maple

Day 2

Guacamole & Chipotle Sour Cream with Chips

Grilled Chicken and Veggie Pasta Salad

Day 3

Sushi

Inari 

Edamame

Spicy Tofu

Cucumber Salad

Day 4

Gyro Loaf on Pitas

Baked Veggie Casserole with White Beans and Tahini

Tabouleh

Tzatziki Sauce

Veggies with Hummus

I Made Cheese!

     Ive always been a avid food magazine reader. I grew up reading Martha Stewart Living, Sunset, Canadian Living, Gourmet, and Taste of Home (that cheezy one that hides a toothpick in every edition). Then in more recent years Cooks Illustrated, Rachel Ray (even if it makes me feel like I've been diagnosed with ADD after I read one,) my favorite mini-magazine Everyday Food and of course  Bon Appétit.  I’ve always enjoyed my random subscriptions because they offer me a monthly magical present of mouth watering eye candy. Though I’ve spent a pretty penny on ladies magazines with their glamorous, smutty and slutty exposes I truly enjoy the food ones. You always feel like you’re getting a jump on the next season or food trend and for me its a game of what did I already just make before I even lifted the cover page. Its fun to cook seasonally and magazines are a great and easy read that help to boost your food brain. I completely own up to the fact that I get bored with food easily. Hell, I have a problem with eating at the same restaurant without enough time between visits. Therefore getting exposed to new food ideas are what keep me excited about cooking. 

     The idea for this post came from reading the September 2011 edition of Bon Appétit. They did a piece on cheese and Italian fare called “Dairy Queen” offering up Chef Nancy Silverton of Osteria Mozza’s recipes. She had a D.I.Y. Ricotta recipe that made me feel like a dork for never attempting cheese before. IT IS SO EASY TO MAKE YOUR OWN CHEESE, well ricotta at least. I knew I had to start somewhere and make the hell out of this. I really was pumped. I mean I love cheese and cooking...why not. So I figured in the spirt of the article, make some Italian food to go along with my cheese.

     It is rare that I make a pot of spaghetti sauce. Its just too boring for me, and I have a hard time eating it for more than two days. I also grew up in a home that made many a meaty red sauce throughout my time. But my parent’s red sauces differ a lot from my own. They were about the thickness as well as seeing how many filler items they could stuff into the pot while I am more of a simple flavors and textures variety. So when I think about my aversion to spaghetti sauce I realized that...I got sauced out. I understand that it was simply just an easy dinner with two big guy eaters in the house, plus when that sauce was made....it got eaten for days. Though they never cared. It was I, the young food snob that wasn’t the happiest when I saw that thick, meaty, tomatoey, cauldron bubbling away on the stove. I tended to like the carb and green portion of those dinners way before the sauce. I’d rather eat a plate of butter noodles, garlic bread, and salad any day. Though what I have found about my self as an eater is that I have a quirk. More than likely from my old experiences with red sauce, I eat most all parts of my meals with everything on its own, and decide when to mix (gravy excluded here.) Yeah I get a tiny bit of sauce on my noodles, but I like two separate piles. Im not one of those “oh my god if my bread touches my broccoli which touches my lasagna, Im not going to eat it” kind of person, but I enjoy the separate tastes. I have noticed that this carries on to other genres of food. I’ll pile that basmati rice on my plate and eat a spoonful only after I have a bite of my tikka masala. Its not too weird right? Its just my style of eating...blame red sauces of my past. Any who as you will see from my pictures I enjoyed this meal with its separate components, but you can sure go crazy and do something wild...like put that sauce all over your spaghetti squash. You rebel you. 

                   Ricotta Cheese 
(Adapted from Bon Appétit September 2011, p. 135. Click here to read the original recipe)

• 4 cups whole milk 
• 1 cup whipping cream 
• 1 and a 1/2 tsp of kosher salt
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice (I added another Tbsp and a 1/2 after the 3rd step)
• Cheese cloth (can be found on usually on the baking isle of the grocery store)

                        How

1.) Seriously, bring all four of these ingredients to just the point of boiling. Here you are watching for the milk level starting to rise and foam but no big bubbles! Remove from heat. 

2.) Let the creamy boil sit for 15 minutes away from the hot stove. 

3.) Check to see if curds begin to form, if theres a lot of them; no need for extra lemon juice but I figured it couldn’t of hurt mine and I love lemon. So very gently, stir in some extra lemon juice. 

4.) Let sit another 5 minutes, meanwhile set up your cheese factory. Line a fine mesh strainer with a double layer of cheese cloth and then place clothed strainer over a larger bowl for drainage. 

5.) Using a scooping instrument (like a handy measuring cup) slowly ladle a cup at a time of the warm pre-cheese into the cheesecloth. Let sit at room temperature for about an hour then transfer to your fridge to continue the draining process.

6.) Wait. Think of what you are going to use this ricotta for, then decide how dense you like your cheese. The longer the draining, the denser the ricotta. (After 4 hours I had a little bowl of it with some olive oil and salt and then decided I’d like it denser when I ate it with my meatballs, sauce, and squash. So It got about 12 more hours of draining when I ate dinner the next day. It was quite dense after that long but I enjoyed how it held together and offered up bursts of cream throughout the rest of my meal.)

7.) Jump up and down, you made cheese! Eat it. 

**I chose to use organic whole milk from Organic Valley and the thickest cream I could get my hands on from Twin Brooks Creamery (in those cute glass bottles). I went all out for this recipe but it can certainly be made with whatever variety of milk, just make sure you get fuller fat dairy here. I also understand that this was an expensive recipe, but once you try your cheese you wont want to eat it store bought anymore.

                        White Meatballs

• 3/4 lb. ground hot italian pork sausage
• 3/4 lb. ground mild italian chicken sausage
• 1 medium shallot, finely chopped 
• 3 to 5 cloves of garlic, run through a microplane, or just finely chopped
• 1 tsp dried red chili flakes
• Heavy dose of ground black pepper
• 1 big pinch of kosher salt

                     How

1.) Place all of the ingredients into a large bowl.

2.) Preferably using your hands, squish and mash all the meaty goodness together until the ingredients are evenly combined. 

3.) Clean hands, and roll about a ping pong-ball-sized amount of meat around in your hand until you get a shape that at the least, resembles a roundish blob. 

4.) Place meatballs evenly apart on a baking sheet. (I love me some Silpat action when I bake anything, but tinfoil lining works great too for a quick clean up.)

5.) Bake meatballs at about 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until they begin to lightly brown and become firm. Cut into one at the 20 minute mark for an inspection, remembering that you have two different types of meat cooking in there. 

6.) Eat them just like that or add to a tomato sauce, may I suggest mine below?

**I like using a mixture of meats in my meatballs, because it offers a more complex texture. Using regular ground meat leads to less flavor too so I tend to only use spiced sausages. 

                    Red and Easy Tomato Sauce

• 3 Tbsp of olive oil.
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped into medium-sized chunks
• 5 thick slices pepper bacon, chopped into smallish bits
• 4 to 8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped into smallish bits
• 1 Tbsp of dried chili flakes
• 3 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves (if dried is all you can find use 2 Tbsp)
• 15ish large basil leaves, roughly chopped
• Heavy dose of ground black pepper
• 2 28 oz. cans of whole peeled tomatoes (I used the good stuff, San Marzano)
• Kosher salt to taste

                        How

1.) In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat then toss in onion and bacon bits. Cook until onions become almost golden and bacon begins to almost crisp. 

2.) Add in garlic, chili flakes, thyme, basil, and black pepper. Cook for about 10ish minutes on medium heat to bring out all the different flavors of your sauce-to-be. 

3.) Add in both cans of tomatoes with juice. Let sauce cook for at least an hour over medium heat. With the help of your spoon, while you stir, break up the whole tomatoes into smaller pieces. 

*** Since I like a smooth yet chunky sauce I chose to use my “Thunderstick”  here better known as an “immersion stick blender”. I poured half of my tomato sauce into a heat resistant bowl and ran the blender through it for about 10-15ish seconds until I had thoroughly blended the tomato chunks with the onion and bacon bits. Then I poured the blended sauce back in with the original sauce and continued to cook for another 30 minutes. 

**If you dont have a Thunderstick, just make sure that you break up the tomatoes in sauce. Or of you’re worried; switch the cans of whole tomatoes with crushed tomatoes in step 3.  

4.) Sauce, like we all can attest from someone or someone’s mother... we’ve heard them tell us is that the longer it cooks, the better its going to taste. Heed this advice. For my sauce, I put in about an hour and a half of cooking past step 3. Add salt to taste. 

5.) Prepare for where you’re going to ladle this sauce. 

                     Baked Spaghetti Squash

• 1 medium sized spaghetti squash, (bright creamy yellow colored squash in the shape of a boxy football). 

                             How

1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

2.) Cut spaghetti squash in half from stem to end. 

3.) Using a spoon, scrape out the seedy innards of the squash and place on a baking sheet, cut side down. (Just like my meatballs, I used my Silpat here.)

4.) Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until tender. 

5.) Using a pot holder, hold half of your squash in one hand. Grab a fork with your other hand and scrape out meat. (Here is where you see how your squash got its name, I’d say its comparable to angel hair in size.)

6.) Enjoy alongside a wonderful red sauce or enjoy its simple divinity with just butter and a little bit of dry cheese like Parmigiano-Reggiano. 


Put it all together and what do we have....

Power Salad

     We had a sweet potluck the friday night before the MS ride and I figured why not make my power salad. With a combination of super hearty wheat berries and heart and brain healthy almonds and kale, this salad can only lead you to kick ass. The first time I made this salad was for my friends in Julia Massey and the Five Fingered Discount when they were recording their second album. I knew they were working to all hours of the night getting this album finished and had little time to spend on anything but the music. A special delivery of power salad was necessary. Later I was told that it saved their life. This salad does the trick!

                                             Power Salad

• 1 1/2 cups dry wheat berries
• 1 medium sized bunch of dark green crinkly “dinosaur” or “lacinato” kale, (inner stalks removed, cut in half length wise, then into little strips width wise)
• 1 small shallot, (diced into fine pieces)
• 1/3 cup sliced toasted almonds (how to toast below)
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• salt and pepper

                                                         How

1.) Bring a medium sized frying pan to medium heat. Add in sliced almonds in an even layer and slowly move them around the pan every minute or so. Its going to take about 10 to 15 minutes and you should not leave the room, they are easy to accidentally burn. After you can smell the almonds and they have turned a light brown color, remove from pan to cool on a plate. Set aside.

2.) Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add in wheat berries, bring back to a boil, then turn heat down to a medium and simmer the berries for about 45- 55 minutes or until they are softly chewy and semi-squeaky. When cooked, drain and rinse with cold water. 

3.) Add wheat berries, chopped kale, diced shallot, almonds, cranberries, lemon zest and juice, olive oil and few good cracks of pepper and a pinch or two of salt to a large bowl. 

4.) Fold together all the ingredients and let sit in fridge for at least an hour before serving. Know that this salad gets better the longer it sits, so it can easily be made in advance for even better taste. 

5.) Go work out or do some homework...this salad is great brain and body food!

Substitutions: 

-You can switch the kale with swiss chard or even another variety of kale, just know, the heartier the green, the longer its going to need to marinate in the salad. 

-This salad is also wonderful with goat cheese if you want a bit of creaminess in there.