Rooftop Gourmet

Voting for the Second Challenge is now open! Please register for a free Foodbuzz account and vote for me here…

http://www.foodbuzz.com/project_food_blog/challenges/2/view/672

Voting ends Thursday, September 30th at 3:00pm.

 Challenge #2: The Classics

 Challenge Prompt: Ready to tackle a classic dish from another culture? Pick an ethnic classic that is outside your comfort zone or are not as familiar with. You should include how you arrived at this decision in your post. Do your research then try to pull off successfully creating this challenge. Try to keep the dish as authentic as the real deal, and document your experience through a compelling post.

How offal can it be??? I’ve already stepped outside of my comfort zone and tackled classic Cantonese, Japanese, and Korean dishes. I’ve been to South America and back. I serve tacos whenever I’m cooking for more than twenty, and I make my own kimchi when I’m bored on a Wednesday afternoon. How can I possibly tiptoe further outside of my comfort zone? The only solution is to go where no sane man has gone before.

Introducing the Haggis Monster!!! A three-thousand year old Scottish recipe that was born out of necessity, as a way to utilize the least expensive parts of the animal.

 In a nutshell, haggis is dish containing a sheep’s pluck (heart, liver, and lungs) minced together with onions, oatmeal, spices, and stock, and stuffed inside the sheep’s stomach where it is then simmered for roughly three hours. As the old joke goes, a haggis is a sheep that swallowed itself. Why not give it a try?

I’m sure most of you already dry heaved and clicked back to Facebook, but for all you adventurous souls out there, buckle your seat belts. I am one who appreciates the art of transforming less glamorized animal parts into delectable treats, but I have never in my wildest dreams imagined doing so in my own kitchen.

I called up my local butcher and threw him a curveball on Sunday afternoon, ordering 2lbs of lamb liver, heart, tongue, beef suet, and some large intestine (lamb stomach is tricky to find). I made sure to schedule a pick up and to begin my preparation on my day off when my fiance’ was at work, or else she would suspect I was performing an autopsy.

Now a days, the Scots traditionally serve a haggis dinner in January as a ceremonial centerpiece honoring Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns. Burns’ famous Address to Haggis is read aloud as hundreds of patrons slice into giant Gremlin eggs and throw back a few drams of whiskey.

I invited two of my most finicky-eating friends over for dinner because I’m evil like that. I started my adventure off by opening all of the windows in the condo, and boiling the liver, hearts, and tongue in a big pot of salted water, with a few cinnamon sticks and dried chilies. The cinnamon and chiles add flavor and heat, but also keep my neighbors from moving out.

While the organs were boiling away, I got everything else prepped. I minced my onions and beef suet very finely, and created my dried spice mixture.

 Beef suet is an integral ingredient in haggis. It is the hard fat that forms inside the chest cavity of the animal due to the aggressive contracting of organs. The flavor is rich and distinct, and when it melts away inside the “sausage” it adds another depth of flavor to the dish.

 The spices I chose were a combination of nutmeg, garlic powder, coriander, cayenne, cinnamon, dried oregano, all spice, salt, and fresh cracked black pepper. These flavors are intended to enhance rather than overpower the flavor of the offal. After about an hour and a half, I pulled the organ salad from the pot and let it cool.

I minced the heart and tongue, making sure to incorporate every last delicious ventricle and taste bud. The liver came out hard as a rock and I shaved the entire thing into the mixing bowl.

 Save your instant Quaker Oats for breakfast, because haggis requires a specific type of Scottish steel-cut oats, that take a lot longer to cook. Steel-cut oats are the inner portion of the oat kernel that are cut into pieces as opposed to being rolled. I toasted them in a saute’ pan to bring out their natural oils and oatmeal aromas before I folded them into the onion, suet, offal, and spice mixture.

Now begins the fun part. I moistened the haggis mixture with some beef stock and tossed it into a zip-lock bag to pipe into my large intestine. I felt like I was on the set of a Durex commercial for elephants. I spread open the pliable tubes as Siobhan piped the mixture deep inside and tied the individual haggis off with butcher’s twine.

 To prevent the beasts from bursting we pricked the natural casings with a safety pin and left a few inches of slack because the oats expand quite a bit when they cook. Into the boiling water they went, and I was able to breath a sigh of relief… for a moment.

Classic haggis is served with neeps and tatties, which is a combination of mashed potatoes and mashed turnips, boiled separately. Even though I was recreating a traditional dish, I felt that after the trauma I put myself through earlier, I could reward myself with a hint of creativity. Instead of mashing, I diced and roasted Yukon Gold potatoes and turnips, and arranged them in a beautiful quilt to which my haggis monster would adorn.

My guests arrived, I pulled my boiling haggis from the pot, and I heard bagpipes blaring in the distance. As I sliced open the natural casing, the steaming porridge oozed out onto the dance floor of boring yet delicious Scottish vegetables.

The stuffing smelled like Christmas morning with a meaty hint of minerality. I must admit, I am no scotch aficionado, so I dared to pair this haggis with a blazing red from the Loire Valley, France. The 2006 Charles Joguet Chinon Cuvee’ Terroir is comprised of 100% Cabernet Franc, a typical blending grape in the heart of Bordeaux.

Here in Chinon, the Cab Franc stands alone and delivers a lighter, fruit-forward, masterfully structured wine. The nose offers earthy, mushroomy aromas entwined with bright red fruit. On the palate, the acidity shines and intense flavors of bitter cranberry gastrique boil on your tongue. The unfamiliar varietal with aggressive tannins actually showed its true colors when washing down a spoonful of the hearty haggis.

 To my surprise, even my culture fearing guests inhaled the haggis, and pronounced that they were coming over on Sunday for a leftover haggis breakfast. I took a six hour flight out of my comfort zone and realized that all offal isn’t awful. We polished off the entire haggis, but I didn’t have the heart to tell them.

Check back in a few days for more information on voting for me in this Contest #2!

It’s that time of year again…Siobhan’s birthday, and after all the ridiculous meals I make for her year long, the one thing she asks for like clockwork in September is breakfast. Not just any breakfast… the one type of breakfast that makes me cringe and my teeth hurt thinking about.

 If you don’t know me, the few things that I can’t stand are pancakes (mostly the syrup part), bananas, and chocolate. Let’s face it, I don’t have a sweet tooth in my mouth. I’d take a dozen eggs and endless strips of bacon over pancakes, waffles, or french toast. The banana thing, isn’t as much about flavor as it is texture. I have the same problem with overcooked eggplant. I feel like someone ate fifteen bananas, chewed them all up real good, and then piped the mush into the shape of a banana.

All that being said… it is her birthday, and she deserves whatever she wants, even if I have to pick up a breakfast sandwich for myself. She requested pancakes on Sunday morning after we had a little birthday party on our roofdeck.

I agreed but came up with a twist that would combine all three things that she loves and I fear in one dish (kill 3 birds with one stone). I have never made a pancake in my life so you would think that I would make something basic, but what fun is that?

I relied on my new friend Aunt Jemima and a familiar product from my favorite region of Italy. Nutella is the hazelnut based spread from the northern Piedmont region that is now widely popular in many different countries. In 1949, taxes on cocoa beans hindered the production of natural chocolate, so Pietro Ferrero invented this hazelnut spread that also contains cocoa solids and skim milk.

The amount of cocoa solids is so little that by Italian law, it cannot be labeled as a chocolate product. In 2007, I made my first visit to northern Italy, and spent some time in vineyards in the Langhe district of Piedmont.

I vividly remember sweating my ass off in the back of a cab, leaving a wine tasting, sporting a solid Barbaresco buzz, and listening to the cabbie as he pointed out hazelnut trees. I think we even drove by the Nutella factory, but that could have been the grappa talking. I simmered some milk in a sauce pot and spooned in a few massive dollops of Nutella, whisking away to incorporate everything smoothly.

After a few minutes, I was left with a warm Nutella milk, which I had to let cool because Jemima told me so. It was a good thing that I made extra because Siobhan had a tall glass poured over ice. As much as I despise chocolate… I can still appreciate it, and I did take a small taste.

I have to say, I think that Quiky, the Nesquick Bunny better start learning Italian because this was rich and delicious. After the Nutella milk cooled, I added it to Aunt Jemima’s mix along with some eggs, and vegetable oil. After some folding and stirring, the batter came together, thick and gooey.

While it rested, I started on the topping for my Nutella pancakes. Bananas Foster is a New Orleans legend. It was created in 1951 by Paul Blange’ at Brennan’s restaurant in the French Quarter, and has since then been adapted into tons of different desserts. Originally, it was sliced bananas, sauteed in brown sugar and butter, flambeed with dark rum, and spooned over vanilla ice cream. I peeled, and sliced my banana, and tossed it into the frying pan, filled with a cavity-inducing sauce.

After the bananas were heated through I poured in some dark rum off the heat, and then tilted the pan so that the alcohol was ignited by the flame. “POOF”!!!… the pan was immediately engulfed with tall blue flames, sending Siobhan into panic mode, and leaving me chuckling infront of the stove. The alcohol burned off, the flames died down eventually, and the mixture was left with a rich, dark rum flavor. The combination of butter, brown sugar, rum, and bananas is a classic treat.

I brought out my massive, non-stick skillet and got ready for the flapjack fiesta. One by one, I carefully ladeled globs of dark brown pancake batter into my pan and watched as the bubbles slowly peeked through the top. As the pancakes cooked, the intense Nutella aromas enhanced the kitchen, creating a chocolate, nutty smell. Flipping the pancakes into a giant stack was the fun part, and I topped each plate with an enormous spoonful of Bananas Foster and a cannelle of sweetened, whole milk Ricotta.

From what I hear, the Nutella flavor came through into the light, fluffy pancakes, and the “Foster” sauce acted as a rich, maple syrup substitute. After a giant stack, the birthday girl was asleep in a food coma on the couch, relaxing the day away. Hopefully, they weren’t too good and they can wait another year before I have to make them again.

Voting is now open for Contest #1 and will last for three days. Please click on the Foodbuzz ”Vote Now”  widget on the right hand column (it’s under my picture) and vote for Rooftop Gourmet!

(Then click on Contest #1 and then click the big red heart to vote)

The title of my first entry is “Practice Makes Perfect”

Challenge ONE: For the very first Project Food Blog Challenge, we’re asking you to create a blog post that defines you as a food blogger and makes it clear why you think you have what it takes to be the next food blog star. Consider what makes your blog unique and sets you apart from other food blog brands: is it your foolproof recipes, your mouthwatering photos, or your perspective on family meals? Write a post that comes from the heart and is true to you and your blog.

I was walking off the golf course today, kicking myself in the ass for three-putting the eighteenth green, and a friend of my father whom I haven’t seen in at least five years approached me and said, “Hey Mike… I’ve been reading your blog religiously. Awesome stuff! But why do you put yourself through all that? It seems like a lot of work”? I thought for a moment and then looked him dead in the eye and said, “practice makes perfect”. Ever since I was young, I’ve wanted to be the best. The best at every single thing I did. I wanted the best score on my spelling test and the coolest book report diorama. In high school, I wanted the the lowest ERA and the hottest girlfriend. In college, I was probably the best at chugging beer and polishing off an entire large pizza at two in the morning. Now that I’ve grown up, my priorities have changed, but my cut throat mentality has not left my soul. I ran a marathon because I wanted to impress a girl, and now she’s my fiance’. My new goal is to be the best possible husband I can be, but I know that it’s not possible without practice. Nothing is. Tom Brady doesn’t get thrown into the starting roll, win a Superbowl, and then just fall off the deep end. He works at it day in and day out, studies film, takes care of his body, because he wants to be the best quarterback that ever lived. That’s exactly the reason why I have what it takes to be the next food blog star. There are one million different food blogs out there today, and they’re all a dime a dozen. What separates me from all others is that I want it more. I can say that food and wine is my passion until I’m blue in the face, but my blog says that for me. I need to go out and make a reservation in Chinatown, study the pH levels of soil, taste two different Syrahs from different countries, and stay up all night reading about how to make calves brains delicious. It’s my relentless desire to learn, and my wacky imagination that sets me apart from other food bloggers. I push the envelope with every blog post, whether I’m making my first ever bowl of Vietnamese fish head stew, or pimping out your grandmother’s meatballs. No matter what crazy idea I submit to Rooftop Gourmet tomorrow, I promise you that there will be something for everyone. Some people enjoy the creative writing, the flow, or the goofy ways that I describe a hunk of pork fat. Others learn from the techniques, flavor profiles, or wine knowledge that I’ve acquired from culinary school, restaurant life, and working in the wine business. Most of my friends enjoy the inside jokes and pop culture references, when secretly I’m trying to teach them how to maneuver around a great bottle of Pinot Noir. Heck… some people don’t even know how to read, but they know that there’s always a hefty dose of food porn in each post. Dropping my old camera into a pot of simmering Bolognese was the best thing that ever happened to my blog. I bought a new one, read a book on food photography, and now even I can’t believe some of the shots that seem to magically appear on the lens. I strive to make every single post drastically different and better than the last. It definitely doesn’t feel like work to me when I’m learning, having fun, and writing in a tone that is true to my own voice. My rooftop kitchen and gorgeous roof deck are my culinary sanctuaries. In the words of Carole King and the Drifters,

“When I come home feelin’ tired and beat
I go up where the air is fresh and sweet (up on the roof)
I get away from the hustling crowd
And all that rat-race noise down in the street (up on the roof)
On the roof, the only place I know
Where you just have to wish to make it so
Let’s go up on the roof (up on the roof)

I have accepted the fact that I’ll never be perfect but I refuse to stop practicing no matter how many beef consomme’s I have to clarify or how many bottles of Premier Cru I have to drink. The following is a compilation of photos from some of my most memorable blog posts and why they made an impact in my mind.

Green Tiger Tomato Salad: This really opened my eyes to how amazing a backyard tomato off the vine really tastes.

Pretty much speaks for itself… 3-inch thick, Prime, Bone-In Ribeye that would make Flintstone jealous.

Local Coho Salmon Roasted in a Cigar Box (Cedar Plank): Here I utilized an old cigar box and discovered the amazing pairing of smoky salmon with stellar Pinot Noir.

One of my most memorable food blogging moments. I made a “heart attack” bacon wrapped meatloaf with creamy Gorgonzola sauce paired with Chris Ringland Shiraz. Chris Ringland himself, arguably Australia’s most famous winemaker, got a hold of the post and recreated the entire dish in his own kitchen 10,000 miles away and sent me the pictures!

Roasted Littlenecks in Homemade Black Bean and Garlic Sauce: I really stepped out of my comfort zone and bought some fermented soybeans to create this classic Cantonese comfort food.

Mmmmm….. Bone Marrow! I made a rosemary-bone marrow compound butter to compliment a dry aged sirloin that was perfect with a 2005 Bordeaux.

One of our first meals on our new roofdeck. Chili rubbed Ahi Tuna with Seaweed Spaghetti Salad.

Used my favorite vegetable (broccoli rabe) and made one of the best pizzas ever!

I live in Southie! St. Patrick’s Day is insane. I made a twist on corned beef and cabbage by spooning over an Irish Whiskey Zabaglione.

One of the many nights I spent in a food coma on my couch… I made three different gourmet grilled cheeses and paired them with three different craft beers. Seen here is the Gorgonzola Pumpernickel.

Siobhan wanted Ceasar Salad… I deconstructed it…

I don’t know why, but this open faced, Chili rubbed Salmon sandwich with Lime Yogurt hit the spot in my food memory bank.

I perfected my wild mushroom risotto by rehydrating  dried porcinis, and using the “stock” to flavor the dish. Not to mention the 2004 Barbera was a hit.

I will never forget my first trip to the Super 88. I made a Beef Shabu Shabu hot pot with a scalding hot Dashi broth. Siobhan and I huddled over this baby with our chopsticks and slurped the night away.

One of my most detail oriented, refined dishes. Proscuitto wrapped Lobster Tail with Vanilla Bean scented Turnip Puree paired with a French Viognier.

Rosemary Rack of Lamb with Lemony Chick Pea Puree and Spring Herb Salad… great way to kick off the season.

My first ever 100% Kosher dish. Eggs Benedict for Passover.

One of the many snails that went into my baked Escargot Gratin for Valentine’s Day. Too bad there was too much garlic butter involved to get a kiss in afterwards.

Grilled Shrip Tacos with Watermelon-Feta Salsa: I love street food, and I love fish tacos.

Potato Gnocci with Braised Oxtail Ragu: Rich, comforting, and shows off my obsession with “low & slow” braises.

One of my most memorable food and wine pairings. Slow Roasted Porchetta with Fennel Salad and Apple Brandy Sauce paired with one of my favorite wines. Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montelpulciano. A match made in heaven!

Best Christmas Present Ever! My father “over-nighted” a fresh white truffle from Alba, Italy. I spent the next week shaving it all over everything in sight!

Pan Roasted Black Cod in Saffron Chowder and Crispy Proscuitto: My first time playing around with different textures and flavors from Spain.

My favorite Italian pasta dish… Carbonara with my own butter poached lobster twist. The Pouilly Fuisse was a great match.

The first time I truly felt confident cooking a piece of fish to perfection. Pan Roasted Cod with Tarragon Hollandaise.

Linguini with Fresh Fava Bean and Lamb Ragout. A hearty red from the Rhone during a snow storm and I turn to mush.

Asian Beef Tacos on my birthday. This shows off my love for entertaining and feeding the friends and family that I love to be around.

Check Back for Details on How to Vote for Rooftop Gourmet in the Foodbuzz “Project Food Blog” Challenge.