Cooking With Glamour

Over the holidays, I needed to buy some fruit to make mulled wine, so I thought I would step it up a notch by buying Meyer lemons and blood oranges instead of the typical lemons and oranges. It made such a difference that I realized how easily we can elevate a simple dish with special ingredients. Chefs do this all the time, taking something mundane, like a grilled cheese sandwich, substituting Guyere for the cheddar, adding some prosciutto and arugula, and voila, what was once a plain old grilled cheese has now been elevated to a croque monsieur.

A good chef often lets the ingredients dictate the menu. He or she orders ingredients based on the season, availability and price and then creates the menu to make full use of the inventory. At least that’s what Anthony Bourdain says and I believe everything that my beloved Tony says. I'm hoping to apply the same practice with my new weekly Greenling delivery.

Paying attention to menu descriptions is a great place to get ideas for glamming up your home cooking. I experimented with this concept recently, taking my cues from some of Austin’s most inventive restaurant menus. Olivia, East Side Showroom, Paggi House, Chez Nous, Jeffrey’s, and Bess Bistro are just a few of the restaurants using fresh, local ingredients in unique ways. Below are some of the unique ingredients used by these restaurants, most of which are readily available for the rest of us to use in our every day cooking.

Bosc pears 

Yaupon honey
Baby arugula
White anchovy
Meyer lemon
Black kale
Sea salt
Local cheeses
Burrata
Taleggio
Pure Luck Chevre
Persimmons   

Fingerling potatoes 

Purple potatoes 

Apple Wood Bacon

Red chard

Niman Ranch lamb, pork, and beef 

Figs  

Shallots

Duck eggs

Pure vanilla

Boggy Creek Farm rapini

Curly endive

Lavender extract

Brussel leaves

Cipollini

Parsnip

Marcona almonds
Brassicas
Lychee
Fennel
Celeriac
Brandy
Cornichons 
Nicoise olives
Saffron
Porchetta
Stilton bleu cheese
Candy-striped beets
Proscuitto
Dates
Capers
Sun-dried tomatoes 

Oh, and don't forget to serve it up on something pretty. What are some of your chef secrets?

An American Girl Goes Global on the Christmas Dinner Menu

I care about you Readers. I really do. So much so, that I'm planning my Christmas meal around what you might find interesting.

My super spectacular sister has purchased a lovely rib roast from Central Market to be picked up on Christmas Eve. Other family members are pitching in with important things like stuffing, desserts and under-the-sea salad (a superfluous side dish that is rarely eaten, but which will incite loud protest if omitted.) With most of the traditional elements taken care of, we are  free to go crazy with the rest of the meal. Sounds like a great time to go global, wouldn't you agree?

Eating tamales on Christmas Eve has become almost as much a Texas tradition as a Mexican one, but I'll include them as Mexico's contribution to our ethnic inspired meal. No, I'm not going to make them myself. Why would I do that when I can just go pick up a dozen or so from the nice people at Jorges.

As for the rest of the meal, I'm flying without a net here. I'm a little ashamed by my ignorance regarding Christmas traditions around the world. I'm only vaguely aware of the Swedish tradition of young girls wearing a crown of candles on their heads, and I recall something about the Dutch putting wooden shoes at the end of their beds. In fact, if it weren't for American Girl dolls, I wouldn't even know this much.

So, it's for your benefit that I'm opening up my mind and adding to my workload. I can't say that my choices are highly representative of well-known Christmas traditions around the world, but, at the very least, I'm attempting to step outside my own borders of tradition. I hope to follow up after the big day with some awesome photos showing the results of my efforts, but that is contingent on whether or not Santa brings me this.

Voila, le menu.  

BEVERAGES

Glogg - Swedish or Norwegian, (depending on which diacritical mark is used), is a warm red or port wine mulled with cinnamon sticks, orange slices, cloves and sugar.

Innisfree Cabernet Sauvignon (2005) available at Twin Liquor 

APPETIZERS

Oysters are supposedly a French Christmas tradition, so I think oyster cocktails with fresh oysters from Quality Seafood Market would be tasty.

Fig and Mozzarella Salad seems foreign enough

SOUP 

Sardinian Clam and Fregula Soup
OR

Butternut Squash Bisque

BREAD

Weihnachstollen - German sweet bread  from Central Market

SIDE DISHES

Braised Russian fingerling potatoes with pearl onions, cremini mushrooms & rosemary sauce.

Maple Glazed Brussels Sprouts Are brussels sprouts from Brussels? Let's say they are.

and possibly...

Sicilian Style Sauteed Chard

How 'bout you. Do you have any unusual or ethnic traditions you would like to share? Go ahead and leave a comment. Comment like you've never commented before.