Romesco Sauce

 Romesco is a nut and red pepper-based sauce that originated from Tarragona, Catalonia, in Northeastern Spain. The fishermen in this area made this sauce to eat with fish. It is typically made from any mixture of roasted or raw almonds, pine nuts, and/or hazelnuts, roasted garlic, olive or sunflower roasted red peppers. My personal preference is with the hazelnuts or pine nuts. Flour or ground stale bread may be used as a thickener or to provide texture. Other common ingredients include roasted tomatoes, red wine vinegar and onions. Leaves of fennel or mint may be added, particularly if served with fish or escargot. It is very often served with seafood, but can also be served with a wide variety of other foods, including poultry and some red meats like lamb and roasted  vegetables. During the springtime, salsa romesco is served as an accompanying dip for Spring vegetables or on beef, chicken and fish.

Prep time: 5 minutes 
Cook time: 20 minutes 
Yield: Makes about 1 1/2 cups

INGREDIENTS 
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1-inch thick slice of crusty bread, torn into pieces
1/2 cup blanched almonds, chopped or slivered (can substitute hazelnuts, peeled)
5-6 garlic cloves, chopped
 1 teaspoon salt
1 15-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, or canned whole tomatoes (including the juice) that have been de-seeded, or 1 pound fresh tomatoes that have been par-boiled, skins removed, and de-seeded
1 8-ounce jar of roasted red bell peppers, drained
1 Tbsp smoked paprika (preferred) or sweet paprika
 2-3 Tbsp sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar

METHOD

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Heat the olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, sauté the bread and almonds, stirring often, until they just begin to brown. Add the garlic and sauté another 1-2 minutes, stirring once or twice.

2 Place the contents of the sauté pan into a food processor with the remaining ingredients—salt, tomatoes, roasted bell peppers, smoked paprika, vinegar. Purée until smooth. Spread the sauce out on a rimmed sheet pan and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges begin to caramelize. Allow to cool and scrape into a container to store.

To use romesco sauce, mix with pasta, shrimp, chicken or vegetables either before or after they are cooked, much like you would a pesto.

Kept in a sealed container, Romesco sauce will last for a week or more in the fridge. It freezes well.

Mole Sauce

Mole is the generic name for a number of sauces originally used in Mexican cuisine, as well as for dishes based on these sauces. Outside Mexico, it often refers specifically to mole poblano. In contemporary Mexico, the term is used for a number of sauces, some quite dissimilar, including black, red, yellow and green.

The original recipe calls for 5 Tablespoons  (yes, 5) of chili powder. We cut it in half, but you can take it from there. And don't judge the taste until you add the chocolate. It's just not done until you finish this step! Serve it over good chicken, over enchiladas, or burritos. I think it is good with lots of things.

INGREDIENTS

YIELD 3 cups

4 1⁄2 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons olive oil 
1 cup finely chopped onion
3 tablespoons chopped garlic 
1 teaspoon dried oregano 
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1⁄2 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
(usually Hershey Special Dark, it has a sweetness that mellows the sauce)

DIRECTIONS 
Heat oil in a large saucepan over med.low heat. Add onion, garlic, oregano, cumin and cinnamon.Cover and cook until onion is almost tender, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Mix in chili powder and flour, stir for 3 minutes.  To cook off the flour. Gradually whisk in chicken broth. Increase heat to med/high. Boil until reduced, about 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.Whisk in chocolate; season with salt and pepper. 

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Baking Book in the works

Tasteful Knowledge is happy to announce that it has been transferred to a  new owner,  Wisteria Bakehaus. While they currently have a website and social media presence intermittent updates will appear here. Mostly things that are not necessarily bakehaus or book oriented.

WB is currently gathering and sorting through recipes and ideas for the first baking book. We may begin collecting specialty ideas for future consideration. Like the idea of fruits, herbs, spices and the sort. Stay tuned!

Royal Park Hotel Brunch

Last Sunday we took the morning and treated ourselves to an incredible brunch experience at The Royal Park Hotel in Rochester, MI. I say experience because it goes beyond extremely well tasting food. But, I'll get to that.
From the time we were greeted and seated began a pleasant encounter. The lovely person who took our beverage orders and later talk with us, knowledgably of the dishes and recommendations based on our conversations. Big on interpersonal communications, I felt confident that she was talking with us, not at us. She was listening and not just hearing. It was evident that she was there to make our dining experience a successful time. Major credit goes to our server and the staff at The Royal Park Hotel for creating an atmosphere for patrons to share! Now let's talk food!

Christopher selected Eggs Benedict with Oak Smoked Salmon served with Rosemary Red Skin Potatoes. The eggs were presented on perfectly toasted English Muffins. The sauce was a perfect creamy addition with slight hints, not over whelming, lemon flavor. Pleasantly, the salmon was prepared to perfection with pink salmon center.

I selected the White Chocolate, Raspberry and Blueberry Kugelhopf Brioche "French Toast" with warm Maple syrup. The berries were firm and fresh with the right addition to the dish. I'm told the fruits were local produce items. Thank you for buying/providing local and of course, Michigan Made! Oh, and who could forget the side of crispy bacon!

Thanks to The Royal Park for reaffirming what we have known about great food and excellent service makes for great patrons! Hope to see you soon!

 
 



Herb: Rosemary

 

Rosemary is one of those wonderful herbs that makes a beautiful ornamental plant as well as a welcome culinary seasoning. We grow it every season outdoors on our deck. Rosemary is most closely associated with the cooking of the Mediterranean area. However you don't need perfect sunshine, sea mist or even a never ending summer to successfully grow rosemary. In fact, more rosemary plants suffer from too much attention than from too little.

Rosemary is a native of the Mediterranean but is most commonly used in roast meats and vegetables. Rosemary is incredibly versatile and works particularly well when used in conjunction with tomatoes and garlic. It is one of the most widely used herbs in the UK and is a familiar ingredient in all sorts of dishes. Rosemary can be used fresh or dried for cooking, but it has more flavour when used freshly picked from the garden (take care to wash it thoroughly) and eaten within just a couple of hours.

Rosemary and Meat

Rosemary enhances the flavor of many types of meat, including lamb, pork and chicken. Simply place a few sprigs of fresh rosemary or sprinkle dried rosemary on top of the meat before roasting. Lamb can be flavored by inserting chopped rosemary into small holes pierced into its skin. Rosemary can also be chopped and added to a marinade for Mediterranean-style meat and fish dishes.  My favorite is a blend of lemon juice, lemon zest, minced garlic, and chicken! It also makes a delicious ingredient in stuffing, simply strip the leaves from the stem and finely chop them. Add them to your favorite stuffing mix or make your own.

Rosemary and Vegetables

A few sprigs of rosemary placed in the roasting dish with a medley of vegetables (such as carrot, potatoes, parsnip and beetroot) and garlic will really boost their flavors. It gives enormous flavor when finely chopped and added to "bubble and squeak" (potatoes and cabbage) and can be used to flavor gravy.

Rosemary goes well with most potato dishes, including roasted and mashed potatoes, and the Spanish tapas dish “patatas bravas”. Why not try adding rosemary and garlic to baked beans and serve them with toast or a baked potato?

Mediterranean Dishes

Rosemary works particularly well with garlic and tomatoes and is traditionally used in Italian dishes to flavour pasta sauces, meats, fish and pizzas. Finely chop the leaves and add them to pasta dishes and tomato sauces.

Rosemary and Barbeques

Rosemary is a versatile herb when barbequing food. You can add a delicious homely scent to the smoke by throwing a few fresh sprigs of rosemary over the barbecue coals. The hardwood stems also make excellent barbecue skewers once they have been stripped. Simply thread them through meat and vegetables and place them over the barbecue. You’ll have the added benefit of the stems imparting a subtle rosemary flavor to your food.

Herbs: Basil

 

Probably one of my favorite herbs in the kitchen, for multiple purposes is Basil. It remains a staple part of our container gardening on our deck.  Basil, or Sweet Basil, is a common name for the culinary herb of the mint family, sometimes known as Saint Joseph's Wort in some English-speaking countries.
Basil, originally from India, is a half-hardy annual plant, best known as a culinary herb prominently featured in Italian cuisine, and also plays a major role in the Northeast Asian cuisine of Taiwan and the Southeast Asian cuisines of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Depending on the species and cultivar, the leaves may taste somewhat like anise, with a strong, pungent, often sweet smell.
There are many varieties of basil, as well as several related species or species hybrids of the same name. The type used in Italian food is typically called sweet basil, as opposed to Thai basil, lemon basil and holy basil which are used in Asia. While most common varieties of basil are treated as annuals, some are perennial in warm, tropical climates, including holy basil and a variety known as 'African Blue'.
Varieties of basil (some common, some geographical dominance)

• Sweet basil

• Thai basil
• African blue basil
• Camphor basil, African basil
• 'Dark Opal'
• Dwarf basil, French basil
• Hoary basil
• Holy Basil, sometimes known as Spice basil
• Lemon basil
• Crispum
• Purple basil
• Queen of Siam basil
• Rubin basil 

Basil is commonly used fresh in cooked recipes. In general, it is added at the last moment, as cooking quickly destroys the flavor. The fresh herb leaf should be torn, never chopped to avoid blackening edges. It can be kept for a short time in plastic bags in the refrigerator, or for a longer period in the freezer, after being quickly blanched in boiling water. Fresh basil is also a component in bruschetta, in sauces, flavored oils and Caprese dishes. The dried herb also loses most of its flavor, and what little flavor remains tastes very different, with a weak flavor.

Basil is one of the main ingredients in pesto—a green Italian oil-and-herb sauce. Its other main ingredients are olive oil, garlic, and pine nuts.

Some information here was taken from Wikipedia

Compound Butters

This past holiday season we were in the kitchen more and more. Some times we were in the "test kitchen" mode for Wisteria Bakehaus (www.wisteriabakehaus.com) and some of the time we were creating menu items for our own use. One thing that continued to resurface was the idea of compound butters for meat and fish dishes, gift giving and for baked goods! It was neat to see how some compound butters would/could be used for multiple items. My two favorites were a garlic and rosemary butter and of course on the opposite spectrum, a lemon honey butter!

This is a simple recipe that I found on the FoodNetwork website (www.foodnetwork.com) I have altered it a few different ways based on what herbs were available and what the use was intended. A quick alternative to this process is to purchase flavored oils (i.e. rosemary oil, garlic oil, etc.) But, I must add that it is neat to see some of the fine chopped herbs present in the butter concoctions!

Ingredients
• 1 pound butter
• 3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
• 1 tablespoon thyme, chopped
• 1 tablespoon sage, chopped
• 1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped
•
Hardware:
• Dough scraper
• Standing mixer
• Parchment paper or plastic wrap
Directions
Chop the butter into uniform chunks using the dough scraper.
Place the oil into the food processor and add the chives. Process until the chives are finely chopped. Add the remaining herbs and blend until the herbs have colored the oil. Using the whisk attachment, whip the butter in the mixer's work bowl at medium speed until it softens and lightens in color, about 5 to 7 minutes.