Sweetbreads w/ Asparagus & Crab Salad

Apparently today is the first day of Spring.  One would never really know by looking at the temperature, though.  I mean, seriously - 38 degrees?!  Come on warm weather!

I had the day off on Monday and decided to take advantage of the sunshine (maybe a little too much since these photos are a little over-exposed - my laziness in editing and properly styling photos is a side effect of the cold weather) and made a unique salad to start my day. 

I could eat sweetbreads all day long.  They're seriously the most appealing of all the offal meat, in my opinion.  They're not sweet.  They're not bread.  But they're oh-so-delicious.  And for those of you that follow me on Instagram (@mtlabor) - you know that my new t-shirt exemplifies my love for sweetbreads =)

Ingredients:

Sweetbread Poaching Liquid:

1 lb. veal sweetbreads
1 carrot, peeled and small diced
1/2 onion, small diced
2 celery ribs, small diced
5-6 parsley stems
3 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup white wine
1 cup veal/beef stock

Sweetbreads:

1 lb. poached sweetbreads, peeled (great video on how this is done here)
1 cup seasoned flour, for dredging (you can adapt this however you like and it can even be as simple as salt and pepper - I add salt, onion powder, cayenne, oregano, and chili powder for mine)
salt and pepper, to taste
Oil, for frying

Asparagus Dressing:

4-5 stalks of asparagus, peeled, blanched, and shocked
1 cup spinach, blanched and shocked
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup watercress, washed
1/4 cup lump crab meat
asparagus stalks, peeled, blanched, and shocked - then cut on a bias
juice from 1/2 lemon
aged swiss cheese, optional
salt and pepper

I know what you're thinking - this is a lot of fuss for a salad.  But if you've got the time, or the occasion, it's definitely well worth it!

In a medium saucepan, combine the carrot, onion, celery, parsley stems, thyme, bay leaf, salt, pepper, white wine, and veal stock.  Bring to a slow simmer and add sweetbreads.  Poach for about 10 minutes, or until the sweetbreads start to firm up.  Remove the sweetbreads from the poaching liquid and transfer to an ice bath to cool down. 

Once cool, carefully remove the membranes from the sweetbreads - if you don't do this step, you'll end up with tough sweetbreads, and nobody likes that!

Heat a deep fryer or heavy-bottomed pot with oil to 325 F. 

Dredge the sweetbreads in the seasoned flour and fry until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.  Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to dry and season with salt and pepper.

In a Vitamix or a blender, combine the asaparagus, spinach, olive oil, and vinegar.  Blend until smooth and season with salt and pepper, to taste.  You can choose to strain through a chinois or fine-mesh strainer if you'd like.

Toss the watercress in a little bit of lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  Arrange on a plate in sort of a straight line.  Place sweetbreads on top, along with scattered pieces of lump crab, asparagus, and swiss cheese bits.  Drizzle some dressing around the plate and finish with freshly ground black pepper.

And voila - a fancy salad to impress any offal lover!

Have you guys had sweetbreads?  How do you like to cook them?

Spicy Pickled Carrots & Asparagus

 

I've been dying to pickle something ever since the summer began.  Cucumbers, Okra, Radishes... you name it, I wanted to pickle it.  Did I ever get around to pickling those things?  Well, no.  Life got in the way.

But I did manage to do a quick pickle on some leftover carrots and asparagus that turned out great!  We used these on tacos, as accompaniment to salmon, and even ate them straight out of the jar.  Not bad for a first timer, if I do say so myself.


What's your favorite vegetable to pickle?

Ingredients:
Adapted from Apt. 2B Baking Co.'s Recipe

1 lb. carrots, peeled and julienned
about 10 asparagus spears, cut into 1 inch pieces
10 Thai chiles, split in half
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup warm water

In a medium bowl, combine carrots, asparagus, 2 teaspoons of sugar, and salt.  Massage sugar and salt into vegetables until they because somewhat flexible.  Transfer to a colander and rinse with cold water.  Drain.

In another bowl, combine the remaining sugar, rice wine vinegar, and warm water.  Stir until sugar is dissolved. 

Tightly pack the drained carrots, asparagus, and chile peppers into pint-sized mason jars (I did 2 jam-packed jars).  Pour the vinegar mixture over the vegetables until about 1/2 inch from the top.  Seal jars and place in refrigerator overnight.

These were a quick pickle, so I'd say they would last no more than 3 weeks in the fridge.  Ours didn't last that long, since I pretty much served them with everything we ate!

I'm off to go play a night volleyball game and tomorrow I'm down for a road trip to Danville, KY where I'll be meeting up with a few other KY Food Bloggers.  Pictures to come!

Duck Breasts w/ Panzanella

Happy Monday everybody! 

How was your weekend?  Ours was pretty relaxed, nothing new right? 

We had our first Fantasy Football draft of the season (we're in 3 leagues!) yesterday and I ended up with a pretty solid team.  I'm just so happy that #1.  NFL Football is actually happening this year. & #2. That the season is actually here!  Sundays = Football in our house!  And I can't help but laugh when I think about when I first met Andy, he didn't like any sports whatsoever.  I guess we do rub off on eachother.

Anyway...

I usually don't post something I've made right away.  I usually wait a day or two most of the time.  I've just got tons of things in my Lightroom gallery that it's hard picking what to do next.  However, we had this for dinner last night, and it was so amazing that I couldn't wait to share it.  Seriously, if you like duck (it's probably my favorite protein) and want something special and elegant - this is it.  Trust me.

Ingredients:
Adapted from Food & Wine's recipe

2 boneless duck breasts
4 ears of corn
2 potatoes, scrubbed and diced
15 asparagus spears, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
4 slices of bacon, chopped
5 slices of bread (we used a local bakery's Cereal Loaf), cut into 1 inch cubes
salt and pepper, to taste
1 pint heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup red wine vinegar

I'm so glad I decided to buy a whole duck instead of just the breasts.  It's a lot cheaper, plus I have the rest of the duck to use to make a confit (which is actually in the works as we speak! The house smells so good right now!).

Food & Wine recommends aging the breasts for 4 days - but I didn't have 4 days.  So I quickly aged the duck breasts for about 2 hours.  Just place the duck breasts in a glass dish, skin side up.  Season with salt and pepper and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours, and up to 7 days.

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Line up corn, asparagus, and potatoes on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes are golden brown, stirring occasionally.  You'll want to flip around your corn every once in a while too.  Let vegetables cool slightly, then cut off kernels from corn cob.

While the vegetables are roasting, heat a large cast iron skillet under medium heat and add bacon.  Cook until bacon is crisp, about 5-7 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel-lined plate.

Add the bread cubes to the bacon fat (this was genius!) and coat well.  Transfer skillet to the oven (on a rack underneath the vegetables) and bake until crisp, about 13-15 minutes.  Season croutons with salt and pepper.

Heat a large skillet under medium high heat.  Add duck breasts, skin side down, and cook until skin is golden and crisp - about 12-14 minutes.  Turn duck over and cook until medium-rare (if you're not comfortable with that, cook it a little longer) about 4-6 minutes. 

Transfer duck to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes.  Slice thinly.

While the duck is resting, you can prepare your panzanella.  In a large bowl, combine the corn, potatoes, asparagus, bacon, croutons, tomatoes, scallions, and oregano.  Toss well. 

In a small bowl, combine the red wine vinegar and 1/4 cup olive oil.  Season dressing with salt and pepper and drizzle over vegetables and croutons in bowl.  Toss to mix well.

Divide the panzanella among plates and top with slices of duck. 

Seriously, this was absolutely amazing.  I think it took Andy all of 5 minutes to clear his plate.  He said it was so good he couldn't help but keep shoving it in his mouth.  Me, I took it slow.  So I could enjoy every bite because it was really the perfect meal! 

Have a great Monday guys!

Ribeye w/ Asparagus

Okay, remember that whole statement from Thursday of me saying that I was going to be getting into some debauchery, but not 'really'?  Well, 'really' happened.  Hehe.  I've been a bit behind (obviously, since there was no post yesterday), so I couldn't just leave you guys empty handed.  And hopefully I'll be up to speed Monday!

So let's talk Ribeye.  A lot of people kind of stray away from ribeye cuts.  Too much marble to work around, and all that jazz.  But me.  I love a good ribeye.  I actually LOVE the marbling (am I sick?  I don't care!)  And the beauty of a ribeye to me, is it's simplicity.  You don't have to jazz it up, you can just let the good grass-fed beef (assuming that you bought a grass-fed beef product) speak for itself.  And to pair it with some simply sauteed asparagus and squirt of lemon juice?  And you have yourself dinner in seriously less than 20 minutes. 

Think I'm crazy?  Think I'm lying?  Try it for yourself.  I'll show ya! =)

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless ribeye steak
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil, for rubbing
about 15-20 asparagus spears
juice from 1 lemon
lemon slices, optional
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, optional

Preheat oven to 500 F.

Heat a large oven-proof skillet under high heat. 

Rub ribeye with olive oil and generously season with salt and pepper on both sides. 

Place ribeye in dry skillet and cook for about 30 seconds.  Using tongs, flip over and cook an additional 30 seconds.

Carefully place skillet in oven and cook for about 3-4 minutes per side, for a medium rare/medium.

Carefully remove skillet from oven and transfer steak to cutting board to rest for about 5 minutes.

While your ribeye is resting, you can prepare your asparagus.  Gently toss the spears with some olive oil, salt and pepper.  Squeeze the juice of half of a lemon onto the asparagus. 

Carefully wipe the skillet used for the steak clean with a paper towel (it'll still be hot, so make sure you're careful!) and heat under high heat.  Melt 1 tablespoon of butter to the skillet and add asparagus.  Saute for about 2-3 minutes or until starting to soften, but still crisp and green.

Cut whole ribeye in half to serve as two steaks.

To plate, arrange about 6-7 spears on a plate and top with one ribeye steak and serve with a lemon wedge.  You can also top your steak with a little pat of butter, if you'd like.

Seriously.  Simplicity.  At. It's Finest.  No joke.  And what did I tell you?  Dinner is ready in 20 minutes!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend guys! 

And I know I've been all about the meat this week, but I promise next week will be a little 'sweeter' and 'lighter'!

Food Science Friday and Shrimp & Asparagus Pasta

This week for Food Science Friday, I read the article:

'Consumer Acceptance of Fresh Blueberries in Bio-Based Packages' by Eva Almenar et al. Journal of the Science of Food & Agriculture 2010 Vol 90: 1121-1128

So how many times have you gone into a supermarket or grocery store and wanted fresh berries or fruits? Then you get to the counter and realize that there's mushy, and somewhat fungus infected fruit in the container. Do you really want to waste your money on a product that's obviously past due? No! Of course not.

Well, this article presents a study on non-vented PLA (Poly-lactic Acid) containers vs. the normal commercial vented petroleum-based (PET) clamshell containers. Now if you looked at both of those pictures, you wouldn't really be able to tell much of a difference right? Well, the material the container is made from, actually makes a TON of difference, and this study presents why.

If you're like we, quality is usually more important than price for a certain ingredients. I can dish out a few more dollars for something that will last longer, taste better, and just be better for me. Am I right? Right.

The study is conducted on blueberries, so we'll stick to just referring to blueberries from here on out.

Right now, blueberries are only packaged in vented clamshell containers. These containers help with rapid cooling and protects them from mechanical damage during shipping. PLA containers, however, have been shown to increase the shelf life of blueberries as compared to the clamshell containers. But they've never been used in a commercial setting. Blueberry consumption is steadily increasing from year to year and a switch to PLA containers would essentially reduce environmental impact (because most PLA containers are biodegradable) as well as reducing fruit deterioration, allowing for less economic losses (because essentially we, as consumers, would buy more blueberries because they look a hell of a lot better, for a longer period of time).
Alright, so how did they conduct this study? Well, the researches obtained about 100 g (roughly 75-100 blueberries) of high bush (cultivated) blueberries from Michigan Blueberry Growers and divided them between non-vented PLA containers. The same amount was divided up between vented PET clamshell containers (these were the controls).

Half of the PLA and half of the PET containers were stored at 10 C (50 F) to simulate commercial transportation conditions, and the other half of both types of containers were stored at 3 C (37.4 F) to simulate display conditions.

the samples were analyzed on day 0, 7, and 14 of the study. What exactly did they analyze the berries for?

• Weight Loss - this indicated degradation of fruit
• Soluble Solid Content - to test for firmness of the fruit
• Titratable Acidity - did the blueberries retain their acidity?
• Off-flavors & Aroma - do they still smell and taste fresh/appealing?

The samples were also visually examined for fungal development.

The sample also underwent and consumer testing at days 7 and 14 of the study. The "consumers" in the study were all recruited from Michigan State University (students, faculty, staff). They were to grade the unidentified sample blueberries based on flavor, appearance, and overall quality and texture.

Results:

In the consumer testing phase, panelists were asked to describe the appearance of their blueberry samples. An overwhelming amount of panelists described some of the samples as "shriveled" or "wrinkled". Would you want to eat a blueberry described like that? What container do you think those blueberries came from? You guessed it, PET. Shriveling and wrinkling are usually caused by transpiration rates and RH (Relative Humidity) levels. Vented containers don't allow for high RH levels, causing less moisture to keep the blueberries in a "plump" state. However, non-vented PLA containers keep RH levels high due to the very absence of vents and the hydrophobic nature (water molecules basically don't escape "through" the material) of the PLA polymer itself.

Out of the 33 panelists subjected to the consumer study, the following shows how many picked the non-vented PLA containers over vented-PET containers in each aspect of study:

Flavor - 24 @ 3 C, 24 @ 10 C
Texture - 30 @ 3 C, 29 @ 10 C
Appearance - 30 @ 3 C, 30 @ 10 C
Overall Quality - 28 @ 3 C, 30 @ 10 C

In each category, at least 80% picked PLA containers each time. That should show right there how we should package our blueberries. And if that didn't convince you, here's the results of the analysis tests:
Weight Loss - 14-16 % was observed in vented PET containers and less than 2 % was observed in PLA containers. Shriveling in the PET containers attributed a massive weight loss over the 2 week study.
Soluble Solid Content - Now this was a tricky one for me, vented PET containers were shown to have a high sugar content, therefore being "sweeter". But you necessarily want a "sweet" blueberry? Or do you want a "tart" blueberry. Non-vented PLA containers were not observed to be sweet, and definitely picked moreover than the PET blueberries, so maybe sweet is not so good in this aspect? I'm indifferent on this bit of analysis.
Titratable Acidity - was not noticeably different in either container so it was deemed not to be affected by packaging.

Aroma - The panelist study confirmed that PLA container blueberries were preferable to vented PET containers.

So basically, what does this all mean? Well, in my opinion, I think PLA containers should be implemented for the packaging of blueberries. The study really didn't say whether other fruits were packaged using the PLA containers as well, but I know I've seen them around. PLA containers can be bought online from Eco Products and I know that I'm definitely going to look for the non-vented PLA containers from now on. After all, how many times have you gone to the grocery store, picked up some fresh fruit, not used it within a couple of days, go to use it, and it's already mushy and gross? TOO many times this has happened to me, and it's good to know that there's something out there that prevents this. * And just a little disclaimer here, no, I wasn't paid by Eco Products or any PLA company to post this, I just feel really strongly about quality and freshness of products that we use, and plus... these things help the environment, so it's always a good thing then!

Alright... what a doozy, let's get to a quick and spring-time recipe!

Ingredients:

1 lb. spaghetti noodles
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 lb. shrimp, deveined, shells and tails removed
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the spaghetti noodles according to package directions. I always like a good al dente boiling.

While you're waiting for the noodles to cook, heat the olive oil in a large skillet under medium high heat. Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about a minute or so. Add the asparagus and cook until it softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add in the shrimp and make sure you spread them out pretty good for even cooking. Cook until the shrimp are a nice pink, about 5-6 minutes (make sure you flip them once, in between).

Drain the pasta, reserving about 1 cup of liquid. Add in pasta to asparagus and shrimp mixture and pasta liquid, if needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve right away!

I figured you guys would need a quick and easy recipe after reading that long spiel about blueberries! I really liked this dish, and considering it's simplicity, the salt and pepper are really key here. Enjoy!