Chef Challenge 2013 Recap

The fifth-annual Durham Farmer's Market Chef Challenge showcased a trio of new contestants, terrific eggplant preparations and great entertainment (and eating) for all.

After Billy Cotter (Toast) announced his retirement following back to back titles in 2011 (okra) and 2012 (sweet potato), market director Erin Kaufman lined up chefs Katie Coleman of Durham Spirits Company, Mike Hacker of Pie Pushers and Justin Rakes of the The Salted Pig (coming soon) to compete for a new, locally-made trophy. She also lined local food guru Susan Sink of Tar Heel Foodie and Independent Weekly food writer Elizabeth Shestak to join me on the judging panel.

The chefs began setting up their workstations at 8:30 a.m. They learned the secret ingredient at nine,  then swept through the market, buying what they needed to feed their three judges as well as a growing crowd of on-lookers.

All the judges were very patient as I hovered over them, watching, learning and asking questions. Katie gave me a quick history lesson on the classic Sicilan pairing of eggplant and cocoa powder as she threw together a caponata of zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, onion garlic, cocoa powder, crushed red pepper, golden raisins and red wine vinegar.

Katie Coleman (right)

Mike and his assistant showed me that eggplant works well with many different types of acids, like apple cider vinegar, which they added to a food processor. They were definitely the most gregarious duo of the group, talking and tasting their way through the cooking process and sharing promoting the Pie Pushers' breakfast menu (breakfast pizza and "the best biscuits you've ever had" smothered in sausage gravy).

Mike Packer (left)

Justin and Scott took advantage of the wide variety of peppers still available at the market, quick-frying Lombardos early and adding padrons late to their eggplant chunks, slices and sauce. Throughout the cooking process, they paused to say "Baba Ghanoush!" with great enthusiasm as audience members tried to pronounce it.

 

Justin Rake (left) and Scott Markin

DFM News

Every year the Durham Farmer's Market seems to get more popular. When I first started going seven years ago it was inhabited by progressive, food-centric types and a handful of casual shoppers. Now it's quite an affair.

Parents bring lunch and watch their kids run around the lawn, chomping on fresh carrots, tomatoes and breads and chasing enormous bubbles.

Activists hand out flyers. Graduate students offer free coffee and cash in exchange for surveys. Musicians perform in every green space.

New vendors set up shop outside the market pavilion hoping to cash in on the pedestrian traffic. Local sports teams raise money for travel and tournaments. Chefs perform cooking demonstrations and hand out free samples. 

Chef Shane Ingram of Four Square

Arts and crafts markets line the nearby blocks. Food trucks line nearby Hunt Street, offering everything from breakfast pizza to slow-cooked Italian pork sandwiches.

The market itself now boasts an ATM machine on-site, a weekly donation station and venders that accept SNAP and EBT. It's also extending the Wednesday market through October 9 and holding its 5th annual chef challenge on Saturday, October 5.

The vendors remain consistently awesome, and this is a great time of year to catch both the late summer and early fall crops.

To learn more, check out the official site and get down to Foster Street next Wednesday or Saturday morning.

The Grandpa Dom Special

The first time I visited India I noticed strings of hot peppers hanging in doorways and taxicab mirrors. They were hung, often accompanied by limes, to ward off evil. Back home in my Italian-American grandparents' house, strings of peppers had the opposite effect.

Every year my Grandpa Dom grew "hot banana" peppers, also known as Hungarian wax peppers. He'd eat them fresh, then dry the rest on strings on the back porch. Rather than drive away evil, these peppers encouraged bad behavior. Whenever he felt the urge, be it four o' clock in the afternoon or eleven-thirty at night, he'd pull peppers from the string, fry them in a boatload of oil and eat them between pieces of buttered bread. If he needed to make a meal of it, he'd eat them with sausage, eggs or both.

"The longer you cook the peppers," he used to say, "the better they get."

We paid homage to Grandpa Dom this week and fried up our own hot peppers. Here's how we did it:

The Grandpa Dom Special

8 Hungarian wax peppers
1/4-1/2 cup olive oil - enough to fill 1/4-inch of the pan
4 eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

1. heat the oil in a skillet until it's nearly smoking
2. add the peppers whole and turn frequently. Allow them to wilt and remember - the longer you cook them, the better they get.
3. When you can't wait any longer, transfer them to the serving plates.
4. Add the eggs to the pan and fry to the desired consistency. Runny yolks work best.
5. Transfer the eggs to the plates, top everything with salt, pepper and cheese, and serve immediately with roasted potatoes or bread.

Wild Padrons

Padron peppers might be the simplest good time I've ever had.

I first tried them in Josh DeCarolis' gnocci with okra caponata. The dish, laced with padrons and guanicale, was fantastic, but I hadn't thought of his preferred heat source until this summer at the market.

"Padrons are amazing," the vendor told me... 

"Fry them in olive oil for about 5 minutes, then finish with a coarse salt and serve as a side. It's that simple, and they're fantastic."

"She's right," the guy behind me in line added. "Serve them as a side tonight and they'll knock your socks off."

By that point, half a dozen eyes were watching me, and I wasn't ready to let them down. I bought a pint of peppers, fried them that night to eat alongside pasta norma, and subsequently searched for my footwear.

The smallest ones carried an almost bittersweet ring, while the bigger ones cleansed my nasal passages in a hurry. 

Some were sweet and tangy, others very spicy. Eating a pile of padrons was like playing Russian Roulette. And just as addicting.

The next day, I wanted more padrons. I envisioned them taking over a pot of shrimp diavolo, but my wife and I didn't want to wait for the pasta and sauce. We instead ate them on their own, waiting for the spicy ones and washing them down with beer.

Putting the kid to bed, picking at padrons and washing them down with beer has become a weekly routine for us. Our summers will never be the same.  

Walking fish + summer heat = grill

When the thermometer hit 86 degrees on Friday I grabbed a roll of aluminum foil, opened a beer and grilled my delivery of fresh seafood. If you've never tried grilling clams and whole fish, you should.

Grilled clams with salmoriglio sauce

2 garlic scapes from Four Leaf Farm
2 lemons, halved and drained
Olive oil
1/4 cup water or white wine
1 pound clams

1. Scrub the clams and set them on a sheet of foil.
2. Squeeze the juice of 2 lemons into the work bowl of a blender or food processor and make salmoriglio sauce.
3. Add the now-empty lemon halves to the clams on the foil.
4. Add a healthy dose of olive oil and the water to the clams.
5. Fold the foil over the clams and enforce with 1-2 more sheets.
6. Grill on high heat for 10-15 min. Remove them as soon as they open.
7. Dip in salmoriglio sauce or eat plain.

Grilled whole fish

- Whole fish ( I used two small bluefish)
- olive oil
- salt
- salmoriglio sauce (optional)

1. Score the fish on each side.
2. Rub each side of the fish with salt and olive oil.
3. Grill over medium/high heat. Flip once and be careful not to let the fish fall apart. I flipped my fish (they each weighed a little over a pound) after 4 minutes.
4. Pour the salmoriglio sauce over the fish and soon as it leaves the grill. The residual heat will cook the sauce and deepen its flavor.
5. Eat the large fillets of fish with silverware, then pick at the remaining bits with your fingers.
 

whole bluefish, sans head



Marinades for grilling season

April is my favorite month in North Carolina. It's warm during the day, cool at night, and insects haven't descended upon our deck.

In short, it's a great time of year to grill.

My dad made kabobs for this week's Sunday night family dinner and used three different marinades to flavor the meats. He made them in a matter of minutes and tossed them with the meats a few hours before cooking them ("the longer you marinate, the better," he says). He gives credit to Alton Brown for the beef flavors, but the chicken and shrimp recipes are his own. Try one next time you need a quick way to add big flavor.

Chicken Marinade

juice and zest of 1 lemon or lime and 1 orange

4 garlic cloves minced

1/4 cup soy sauce 

1/4 cup canola oil

salt and pepper

tablespoon or 2 of chopped fresh tarragon leaves

Shrimp

3 cloves garlic minced

1 large shallot or 2 small minced

2 TBS fresh thyme or 1 Tbs dried thyme

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf italian parsley

1 tsp chili flakes- I used chipolte chili flakes

1/4 cup olive oil

juice from half a lemon- about 2 tbs

 

Steak

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

Winter Vegetables and healthy diets

NPR ran an excellent story this week about yet another study that concluded a Mediterranean diet is a healthy way to eat, particularly for your heart.

The study concludes "a diet rich in olive oil, fish, nuts , fresh vegetables and wine" can dramatically reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke." But in addition to reporting the research findings, Gerry Hadden also visits a small restaurant along the coast of Spain and asks a local restaurant owner why he thinks the diet works so well.

"Everyone already knows our diet is healthy," said Pepe Bache, owner of The Room Service. "Generally speaking, our diet is fresher because of the warm weather. It lets you grow crops most of the year and offers variety."

"Every region of the world ought to have their so-called Mediterranean diet," Sandra, the restaurant manager, added. "That is, you eat what grows where you live and you eat it in season. If you want to eat well, you can't expect to eat mangoes in Iceland in the wintertime."  

Pepe and Sandra's thoughts make a lot of sense to me, as it's difficult to make poor food choices if you're building your meals around locally-grown food. It's always fresh, and the different seasons naturally incorporates variety.

For example, I  built my meal plan around what I picked up at my farmer's market this weekend:

I roasted the chicken, potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes, tossed the turnip greens with pasta, boiled the broccoli and turnips, sauteed the Brussels sprout leaves (botanically identical to collard greens according to George at Lil' Farm), made a pesto out of the stems, simmered the Swiss chard with chick peas and onion in white wine, served the pea shoots in a salad, and ate eggs for breakfast.

In a few weeks, the dark, leafy, winter veggies will give way to fresh garlic, fennel, asparagus and fava beans, and I'll get the variety my diet needs just by showing up every Saturday morning.

All I need now is great wine for six bucks...

Birthday Cake

To celebrate my twenty ninth year Shefali baked Red wine chocolate cake with strawberries in a red wine syrup. Check out the recipe in the newest La Cucina Italiana.

Feast 2012

Each Christmas my family hosts a feast of the seven fishes. A Roman Catholic tradition, the meal is typically meatless and served Christmas Eve. It's bad luck to serve an even number of fish, so even if you can't pull off seven, three or five will keep you in God's favor.

To learn more about the feast check out Maria Vultaggio's article here about this holiday before the holiday.

Our 2012 menu:
Grilled shrimp
Smoked salmon and cream cheese bruschetta
Mussels in white whine and lemon sauce
Baccala cakes with sage aoli
Oi oi (spaghetti with garlic and anchovies)
Lobster ravioli with Christopher sauce
Shrimp and lobster risotto