Recipes

In the Kitchen with Tommy Habetz

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:31:00 -0700

READ Tommy Habetz elevates a lowbrow classic to the throne of deliciousness.

Beer Can Chicken

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:31:00 -0700

Is there anything more beautifully brazen than a whole chicken, perched on a metallic throne of beer and charred to a golden crisp over an open flame? We certainly don’t think so. In our minds, beer can chicken falls into the same, deeply beloved culinary category as deep-fried turkey: simple, effective, and deliciously lowbrow. Zealots stake their reputations on its transformative qualities, praising moist, beer-steeped meat with hoppy high notes and malty undertones.

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In the Kitchen with Tommy Habetz

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At Trigger, co-owner Tommy Habetz puts his own Tex-Mex twist on the BBQ classic, marinating the bird in a spicy mix of chiles, citrus, and dark beer before cleaving it lengthwise and serving it slathered with a sweet, nutty mole sauce. Habetz explains that the key to achieving a moist interior and crispy exterior is the can itself, which ensures that the legs and wings cook evenly while the chicken effectively self-bastes in its unruffled vertical pose. “To be honest, none of the beer flavor really gets into the chicken,” says Habetz, gleefully debunking many a grillside fairytale. “You might as well use a Coke can—but where’s the fun in that?”

The two most important steps to beer can chicken success? 1) Don’t splurge on craft brews; lower-shelf Tecate is just as effective as your favorite summer seasonal. 2) Open the beer can before propping your chicken; otherwise it will explode. And that, Habetz reminds us, would be a waste of a perfectly good cheap beer.

Beer Can Chicken

(Serves 8–12)

2–3 chickens, 3 lbs each
Yucatan marinade*
2–3 24-oz tallboy beers (Habetz recommends Tecate)
Hazelnut mole**

(1) SUBMERGE birds in marinade and refrigerate 48 hours.

(2) OPEN beers and drink half of each.

(3) INSERT half-filled beer cans halfway into each chicken cavity and stand them upright on the grill. (Make sure chickens will fit under your grill cover—if they don’t, substitute 12-oz beer cans.)

(4) GRILL chickens over medium-high, indirect heat (not directly above coals), covered, until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees in the breast, 180 degrees in the thigh (about an hour and 15 minutes).

(5) REMOVE chickens from heat and let rest 15 minutes.

(6) SLATHER with hazelnut mole sauce and serve.

*Yucatan Marinade

12 dried ancho chiles, deseeded
12 dried guajillo chiles, deseeded
20 cloves garlic, peeled
1 cup orange juice
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 12-oz bottle Negra Modelo
2 tsp achiote powder or annatto seed
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ cup chopped fresh oregano
2 tbsp salt

(1) SUBMERGE chiles in hot water and soak for 20 minutes.

(2) REMOVE chiles and purée them with up of the soaking liquid.

(3) ADD remaining ingredients, and purée.

**Hazelnut Mole Sauce

2 dried ancho chiles, deseeded
2 dried New Mexico chiles, deseeded
1 dried guajillo chile, deseeded
1 head garlic
½ cup roasted hazelnuts
1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
4 cups water (divided)
1 cup crushed tortilla chips
1 cup tomato purée
¼ cup golden raisins
1 oz bittersweet chocolate
2 tbsp molasses
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
½ cup lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste

(1) PREHEAT oven to 400 degrees.

(2) COAT full head of garlic in olive oil and salt, and wrap in tin foil.

(3) PLACE hazelnuts on a baking sheet.

(4) ADD garlic and hazelnuts to oven, removing hazelnuts after 10 minutes and garlic after 30 minutes.

(5) SUBMERGE chiles in hot water and soak for 20 minutes.

(6) DRAIN chiles and roast in a cast-iron skillet over high heat for 5 minutes.

(7) SAUTE onion in olive oil over medium-high heat until browned around the edges.

(8) SQUEEZE garlic to separate from its skin—discard the skin.

(9) ADD chiles, garlic, hazelnuts, and onion to a food processor, along with 1 cup of water, tortilla chips, and almonds, and purée, adding more water if needed.

(10) POUR mixture into a medium saucepan and add remaining water, tomatoes, and raisins.

(11) BRING to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 1 hour and 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

(12) ADD chocolate, molasses, cinnamon, cloves, and lime juice, season to taste with salt and pepper, and simmer another 15 minutes.

(13) REMOVE from heat, allow to cool, and purée until smooth.

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Snap Pea Martini

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 09:00:00 -0700

Image: Nomad

It’s easy to forget the singular flavor of fresh snap peas. Worlds apart from their mushy, frozen brethren, these crisp pockets of sweet joy are summer’s natural candy. In an age of food-forward drinks, some enterprising mixologist was bound to juice their garden-bright charms into an essential summer cocktail.

Bartender Daniel Strong devised his snap pea cocktail for Northeast Portland’s Yakuza Lounge in 2008, and it’s been a menu favorite ever since. First, Strong tried pairing the freshly blended pea juice with playful accents—vanilla syrup, peppered rims, citrus vodka. But the pea flavor stood on its own, needing little more than the simplest touch: “I use one of the smoothest vodkas, add just a little bit of sugar to offset, and then some citrus for a bit of vibrancy.” The result is beautifully balanced, with just a slight hint of sweetness and acidity to highlight the boozy, vegetal flavor.

Ensuring that the peas make it into the drink may be the hardest part. “When I’m juicing them,” Strong admits, “it’s three in the juicer one in your mouth.” Luckily, peas are ripe for the picking this season.

Snap Pea Martini

1½ oz vodka (Strong recommends Medoyeff)
2½ oz juiced snap peas (run about a cup of peas through a juicer, or blend and strain with cheesecloth)
½ oz 2-to-1 simple syrup
½ oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
½ oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in an ice-filled shaker, shake vigorously, strain, and serve in a martini glass.

The Ultimate Breakfast Taco

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:10:00 -0700

Towering at six and a half feet, with a scruffy beard and a barrel of a chest, Tastebud’s Mark Doxtader effortlessly carves a wide swath through the Portland State University farmers market’s ceaseless crowds, greeting veteran vendors and popping kale flowers in his mouth along the way. Just as he’s done nearly every Saturday for the past 13 years, Doxtader combs market before the opening bell, trading Tastebud’s wood-fired pizzas and bagels in return for fresh pea shoots and rhubarb stalks to transform into salads and cobblers back at his booth.

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On a recent Saturday, we shadowed Doxtader on a hunt to assemble the consummate breakfast taco. His cherry-picked ingredients hail from some of Portland’s brightest new farms: a dairy producer brandishing nine-pound wheels of creamy, “blueless” blue cheese (without the funky mold), a tortilla doyenne grinding fresh corn masa, and a butcher shop selling intensely marbled Wagyu beef and pork jowl bacon. The result is breakfast à la Doxtader, with unadulterated flavors and an unfussy approach to fresh ingredients. But the concept is endlessly improvisational and meant to be tailored to your taste buds—don’t hesitate to throw in fresh corn, snap peas, or even pumpkin as summer unfolds.

THE DOXTADER BREAKFAST TACO

1. Masa or tortilla (Three Sisters Nixtamal)

Roll masa into walnut-size balls, place between two pieces of plastic wrap, press into a tortilla using a pot or cutting board, and heat in a cast-iron skillet for one minute on each side. (Premade tortillas are also available.)

2. duck eggs (Dancing Chicken Farm)

Duck eggs make for a richer, fluffier scramble. Add butter and eggs to a cold, nonstick skillet, turn heat to medium, and scramble eggs with a fork, adding cheese, salt, and pepper as they finish.

3. Pluvias Cheese (Willapa Hills)

Crumble bits of this creamy, cratered, blue-style cow’s milk cheese to melt into the scrambled duck eggs as they cook.

4. Pork Jowl Bacon (Pono Farm)

This flavor-packed cheek bacon is soaked in a brown-sugar brine for two weeks and smoked over apple and cherry wood. Slice it into ¹/₈-inch lardons, and fry over medium heat until crispy.

5. Market Slaw (Spring Hill Farm, Groundworks Organics, Gathering Together Farm)

3 cups finely shredded green cabbage or Italian kale
1 cup thinly sliced French breakfast radishes
2 tbsp thinly sliced green scallions
½ cup roughly chopped cilantro
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
1 pinch chile flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

COMBINE vegetables in a bowl, toss with lemon juice and olive oil, season with chile flakes, salt, and pepper, and scatter on taco.

Makes about 1 quart of slaw.

In the Kitchen with Mark Doxtader

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:12:00 -0700

READ Farmers market veteran Mark Doxtader shows us how to start the day right.

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New Potato Gnocchi

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:42:00 -0700

Image: Nomad

Abby Fammartino relishes a good challenge. At her supper club and cooking school, Abby’s Table, she is a tireless explorer of dietary restrictions, inviting all manner of quirky eating habits and gluten sensitivities into her sun-flooded kitchen in Southeast Portland. “Please—tell me you hate mushrooms, that you can’t stomach dairy,” she dares.

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We gave Fammartino a challenge of our own: to reach beyond the ubiquitous harbingers of spring (asparagus, we’re lookin’ at you) and unearth some of May’s more underutilized gems for a healthy dish that surprises. Her response: guilt-free gnocchi (potato dumplings) with pesto. First, she reached for new potatoes—an immature stage of tuber that’s sweeter and more supple than the usual russets. Next, in place of pesto’s signature basil came the intensity of red-veined sorrel, a citrusy herb and farmers market favorite best used raw to brighten sauces and salads early in the season, before its puckering acidity fully matures.

For the gluten-averse, Fammartino’s gnocchi subs out regular all-purpose flour in favor of a variety made with chickpeas and sorghum, with vegan-friendly coconut oil in place of eggs. For the lactose-intolerant, nutritional yeast replaces the pesto’s parmesan. If such tweaks make you squirm (or if nutritional yeast just isn’t in your wheelhouse), fear not: substitutions are politely encouraged.

New Potato Gnocchi with Spring Sorrel Pesto

(Serves 4)

1½ lb new potatoes
4 tbsp coconut oil
1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (Bob’s Red Mill), sifted
¼ tsp salt (plus more to taste)
¼ cup potato starch or cornstarch

PREHEAT oven to 350, poke holes all over potatoes, and roast whole on a lightly oiled sheet for 1 hour.
PEEL potatoes when cool enough to handle but still hot, and pass through a food mill or grate against the large holes of a box grater, allowing the steam to release.
MELT coconut oil, add to potato, and mix evenly.
MIX flour, salt, and starch in a separate bowl.
COMBINE flour mixture and potato by hand and knead until it forms a springy dough, being careful not to overwork.
FORM dough into a ball, divide into 6 pieces, and form into long ropes about inch in diameter.
CUT the ropes into 1-inch segments, and roll each segment on the back of a fork to create grooves.
BRING a large pot of generously salted water to a boil, and turn down to a simmer.
DROP IN gnocchi in batches, being careful not to overcrowd the pot.
REMOVE from the pot with a slotted spoon 10 seconds after the gnocchi have begun to float on the surface.
TOSS gently with the sorrel pesto* and serve.

*Sorrel Pesto

1 cup sorrel, loosely packed
1 cup parsley, firmly packed (stems included)
3 scallions or green garlic, root ends removed and roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
½ cup hazelnuts
¼ cup nutritional yeast
½ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ lemon, juiced

COMBINE first six ingredients in a food processor, and pulse until finely minced.
ADD oil in a slow, steady stream with the machine running, scraping sides as needed.
ADD salt and lemon juice, process a few seconds longer, and adjust seasoning to taste.
Pesto can be stored up to 1 week in refrigerator.

In the Kitchen with Abby Fammartino

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:41:00 -0700

READ Flexitarian chef Abby Fammartino serves a spring dish almost anyone can enjoy.

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In the Kitchen with Ken Forkish

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 23:28:00 -0700

READ Local dough master Ken Forkish rolls out a new way to bring bread to the table.

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Spring Salad

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 23:28:00 -0700

Image: Nomad

Before Ken’s Artisan Bakery earned a name as Portland’s Francophile baking sanctuary, Ken Forkish was a one-man show. In 2001, he rose every day at 3 a.m. to start his levain dough, bake his baguettes and brioche, and pre-ferment the next morning’s ciabatta before the mad rush of top chefs came knocking for their daily bread.

Twelve years, an always-mobbed pizza joint, and a serious bread-baking tome later, Forkish is returning to the oven. But at SE Sixth Avenue’s Trifecta Tavern, fresh loaves will puff forth from the oven only after 5 p.m. “There’s a kind of consciousness in the baking world that demands waking up early,” Forkish explains. “But I’m not going to deprive myself the pleasure of my craft for the sake of tradition.”

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Trifecta’s levain twists, smoked rye, and pan-baked pumpernickel will drive a vision of elevated tavern cuisine—part baking lab, part small-plates eatery. Look for glutenous creations supporting open-face Nordic Smorrebrod sandwiches, soaked in booze for rum baba, and grilled alongside buckets of East Coast–style clam steamers. As Forkish says, “When it comes to bread, you can be damn sure I’m gonna do just about everything but pickle it!”

To whet your appetite until Trifecta’s summer opening, Forkish offers a spring salad recipe that he promises will change the way you look at rye. Forkish smokes his loaves in a wood-fired oven. At home, cook yours on a barbecue with the vents closed for a few minutes to cloak it in a smoky crust.

RECIPE

Early Spring Salad with Salami Crisps, Pickled Asparagus & smoked rye

(Serves 4)

3 oz Olympic Provisions salami, sliced lengthwise and chopped in a medium dice
4 heaping handfuls fresh spring greens
Olive oil and lemon dressing*
1 loaf Ken’s Artisan Bakery French Rye bread
8 oz Portland Creamery fromage blanc
Pickled asparagus and onions**
1 dash balsamic vinegar
1 pinch fleur de sel

(1) SAUTÉ salami in a skillet until crisp on both sides, reserving the residual fat. (2) TOSS greens with the dressing, add crisped salami and pickled vegetables, and drizzle with reserved salami fat. (3) SLICE bread thinly, and toast over an open flame until charred around the edges, and cut into thirds. (4) WHIP fromage blanc with a fork, spread on toasted rye, drizzle with balsamic vinegar, finish with fleur de sel, and serve alongside the salami salad.

*For the dressing

½ tsp diced shallots
1 pinch chile flakes
2 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice or champagne vinegar
6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt to taste

(1) COMBINE first three ingredients in a bowl, slowly whisk in olive oil until emulsified, and season with salt.

**For the pickled asparagus & onions

1 lb asparagus, tough stems removed and cut into 1-inch segments
1 red onion, sliced into thin half-moons
2 cups champagne vinegar
2¼ cups water
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tsp mustard seed
2–3 dried hot chiles
1 tsp dill seed
¼ cup salt

(1) PACK asparagus and onion into four 8-oz glass jars. (2) HEAT all remaining ingredients in a nonreactive pot and bring to a boil. (3) REMOVE from heat and pour over asparagus and onions while still hot. (4) REFRIGERATE overnight and up to several weeks.

In the Kitchen with Earl Ninsom and Ning Purnabimba

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:34:00 -0800

READ A new market brings the essential ingredients of Thai cooking to inner Southeast.

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