Columbus Foodie

It’s sort of hard to participate in Grow Your Own, the blogging event that celebrates food we grow/raise ourselves when we’re at the time of year that stuff isn’t growing, and the growing season is just beginning. It’s about this time that we have to check our pantry stores, to find an ingredient that we put up when produce was plentiful. I decided to use a jar of the salsa that we canned last summer, in part from the harvest of our tomatoes that we grew on the back deck. So the challenge was to find a recipe that incorporated salsa.

Not too tough. We found one on Recipezaar which, while not attractive to look out, came out pretty darn tasty. We ended up doubling the recipe (to use 16 oz. of salsa/a pound of ground beef), and it made enough to feed a small army.

Jilly’s Taco Pasta Skillet
recipe courtesy Recipezaar

8 ounces lean ground beef
1 1/4 ounces taco seasoning
15 ounces corn
15 ounces black beans, drained
1 cup salsa
3 cups water
8 ounces mini penne
4 ounces fat free cream cheese
4 ounces low-fat monterey jack pepper cheese

Brown meat, Drain. Add taco seasoning, corn, beans, salsa, pasta and water. Simmer 15 minutes until pasta is cooked. Add cheeses and stir till melted.

If you ask me what spring means to me, on a “local” level, I’d have to say “morels and ramps” - they are so full flavored, but so fleeting. You literally blink and the season for both are over. So when I heard about the Art You Eat #3: Go Local blogging event, I knew my dish for the event would need to feature both.

The ravioli are veal and truffle ravioli from Pastaria in the North Market. I figured it would be lovely base for the sauce. I found the ramps no problem - they are from Athens, Ohio, and I was able to find them easily at The Greener Grocer in the North Market, the produce stand that took over the space that used to be North Market Produce. The owners are involved with Local Matters and focus on sustainable/local foods, which is really nice. I was hoping I’d find morels there too, but there is currently a waiting list and they’re going for $55/lb. But they did have the local Snowville Creamery’s cream I needed. After a few false starts, I did manage to finally find morels at Weiland’s, for $48/lb. I picked up about a half a pound of them to use in my dish. While at Weiland’s, I also spied some really lovely veal scallops, and bought a pound of those. The other items in the recipe I pretty much already had on hand. I couldn’t for the life of me find the chervil the recipe was calling for, so I modified and used a touch of dried fines herbes, which contain chervil as one of its ingredients.

The recipe below is highly modified from the original - I kind of combined two recipes together to make one, and the original called for a cup of chicken broth concentrate (base) - needless to say, that would have been real overkill, and it was salty enough with just a fraction of that amount that I had to add extra cream to mellow it out. I’d recommend using only a couple of tablespoons of base at the most. And in the future, I’d probably caramelize the ramps separately (or chop them into more manageable pieces), because even after cooking them for a while, they were a little tough. But other than that? It tasted like a dream, and has inspired me to cook more with both these ingredients while the getting is good. What do YOU like to do with ramps and/or morels?

Veal Saute with Morels and Ramps over Ravioli
modified from this and this recipe

1 lb. ravioli (of whatever complimentary flavor you wish - I used veal truffle ravioli)
1/4 c. olive oil
2 tsp. shallots, finely chopped
1/2 lb. fresh morels, washed and halved lengthwise
1 c. dry white wine
2 bunches (around 18 total) ramps
2 tbsp. chicken base
2 tbsp. butter
1 lb. veal scalloppini (cut into about 12 pieces)
salt and pepper (may not need additional seasoning)
1/2 c. heavy cream (or more, if necessary)
1 tsp. fines herbes

In a large frying pan, heat half the oil, then add shallots and saute until they begin to brown. Add morels and cook until their juices release, then add wine. Bring to a boil and reduce liquid by half. Add ramps, then base (with enough water to equal one cup), and simmer 5-10 minutes. Set aside.

In a new frying pan, heat remaining oil. Add butter. Season veal, and then saute for 2-3 minutes each side, or until browned. Remove and keep warm.

Add mushroom-ramp mixture to pan and bring to a boil, scraping bottom of pan to deglaze. Add cream, stir to combine, and then add veal with any juices and stir to coat with sauce. Check seasoning level and add fines herbes.

Prepare the ravioli and then place on plate and top with vegetables, veal, and sauce. Serve and enjoy.

This edition of Hey Hey It’s Donna Day is hosted by Bron Marshall, whose food photography literally makes me drool. Talk about food porn, folks… but I digress. This is one event I was really looking forward to. The theme this month? Clafoutis.

When I think of clafoutis, I think of the one I made last summer - dense, eggy and solid, and a great carrier for the nicest summer fruit Ohio has to offer. But here we are making clafoutis in April, still a month away from when we’ll be lucky to find Ohio strawberries in the farmer’s markets, let alone blackberries and blueberries and raspberries. So when hunting for recipes to use up some fruit I had bought a couple of days earlier, I found this recipe. I modified it slightly to use what I had, so I ended halving the recipe (and putting it into a 2-ish quart Le Creuset casserole) and making ond dish instead of two. I did use a whole vanilla bean, as well, which ramped up the vanilla flavor wonderfully. I’m still out on the texture, though - it reminded me more of creme brulee than of clafoutis, and I was half tempted to whip out the culinary torch and some sugar to caramelize the top. I’ve updated the recipe below to include my adaptations. You can find the original here.

Summer Berry Clafoutis
recipe adapted from Food and Wine Magazine

Palladin’s flourless dessert is more like a delicate custard with fruit than like the usual sturdy country clafoutis.

4 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1/4 cup sugar
One vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped out
3/4 cups whole milk
3/4 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoons kirsch
1/2 pint blueberries
1/2 pint raspberries
1/2 pint blackberries
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter two 9-by-13-inch baking dishes. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the eggs, sugar and vanilla seeds. Whisk in the milk, heavy cream and kirsch. Put half the berries in each baking dish and pour the custard over the top. Bake for 20 minutes, or until just set. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Dust the tops with confectioners’ sugar and serve warm.

Ben’s third Food for Plastic Challenge asks us to cook a dish that either we loved as a kid, or something that our kids love - considering we’re childless, it was time to put our thinking caps on for a trip down memory lane. My husband, moreso than me, has very distinct childhood food memories. Here’s just one of them, in his own words…

–

Food… it evokes memories. Memories of a more innocent time. Memories of childhood. And what food, you may ask, evokes my childhood best?

Creamed tuna on toast.

Yes, THAT humble dish.

My parents were not wealthy; in fact, I’d dare say they were members of the working poor. Dad was an optician until his retirement at age 62. Mom was a seamstress, or “garment worker” as her union (ILGWU) referred to people in her trade.

Since we weren’t well-off, we tended to make a lot of simple, inexpensive comfort foods. Spaghetti was a regular on our menu, as was meatloaf, and chicken a la king. But the dish I remember best was my father’s Creamed Tuna. His creamed tuna was GREAT. Why was it great, you may ask? I’ll let you in on a secret –

Add drained salad olives with pimentoes to the creamed tuna.

Adding olives gives the tuna a much-needed salty/sour kick that’s otherwise missing from the dish. It also adds texture. And most kids *will* love it. If they hate olives, just don’t tell them they’re in it — or alternately, mince the olives so finely that they’ll never guess they’re in there.

Don’t think that olives in creamed tuna are good? B doesn’t like olives, but she agreed that the creamed tuna *with olives* was great.

Creamed Tuna

6-1/2 ounce can tuna fish (drained)
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup green salad olives with pimentoes (drained)

To make white sauce, melt butter, blend in flour, salt and pepper. Mix until smooth. Gradualy stir in milk and heat while stirring constantly. (I use a whisk.) Heat until mixture boils and thickens.

To thickened sauce add drained tuna fish and olives. You may increase or decrease quantity of olives to taste. Stir until well mixed and thoroughly heated. Serve creamed tuna over mashed potatoes, rice, toast, etc., with vegetables if desired.

Makes approximately 2-1/2 cups.