The Chef Within

I’ve learned many lessons in the kitchen over the years.  And some I’ve had to learn the hard way.  One thing I’ve learned and wish I could convince others to do is always put on an apron the minute you step into the kitchen.

When I was married (in the 70’s) I inherited some aprons from my mother.  They were half aprons made with purple and pink smocked gingham fabric that tied at the waist.  Honestly, I just didn’t feel inspired to wear them.  So I cooked in my regular clothes and over time my clothes became ridden with grease stains.  I didn’t realize this was happening until years had gone by.  I assumed all the stains were coming out in the wash but one day I couldn’t find a single article of clothing that didn’t have some kind of grease spot on it.  And at the time I didn’t make a connection between wearing an apron and avoiding stains.  I just bought new clothes and thankfully a friend told me that dry cleaning could get alot of tough stains out.  So I took some of my favorite articles to the cleaners and that helped.

Well one year, for Christmas my husband presented me with a very stylish blue and white striped Bistro apron.  It was quite professional looking and so I started wearing it.  Before long I noticed that the apron was developing a stained area.  Even after several washings the stains were still there.  It was about a year after wearing the apron that I realized my clothes no longer had stains on them.   The apron was taking all the abuse.

There are alot of cute aprons on the market today.  Buy one and get in the habit of using it.  It will save wear and tear on your clothes and it may even inspire you in your cooking.

I think most people like to eat good, fresh pineapple but we might be reluctant to buy one because we simply have no idea how to tear into one.  They are a bit intimidating.  So here’s how I learned to cut pineapple in cooking school.  I do think it’s a great method.

Take the pineapple and a good chef’s knife and slice off the top and bottom, about one inch from the ends.  Those are discarded unless you want to keep the top for some kind of garnish.  Set the pineapple upright on one of the ends and then start slicing off the side skin in long vertical strips.  Go deep enough that you remove the eyes and all dark indentations as you slice and try and follow the contour of the fruit as you move from the top to the bottom.

When the fruit is peeled, quarter it lengthwise…

and then remove the core of each quarter length as pictured below. (If you are interested in cutting whole slices or rings you should not cut the pineapple in quarter lengths but should leave it whole and use a pineapple corer to remove the core and then slice in rounds).

At this point you can cut the pineapple into whatever size pieces and slices you need.  Because my husband and I can never eat a pineapple in one sitting I will usually cut off the top of the fruit (I leave the bottom in tact) and then I cut the fruit in half with the intention of cutting and using half of the fruit at one time.  I then wrap the remaining half with plastic film, stick that in the fridge and it holds well in it’s half size for several days.

How do you know if a pineapple is ripe?  That is a tough question and I still don’t get it right every time but when my husband and I were in Hawaii I toured the Dole pineapple plantation and they said the proper way to select a pineapple is to judge it by the shape of it’s exterior design, which are called the eyes.  If the eyes are consistently large on the top, the midsection and the bottom the fruit is mature.  But if the top or bottom eyes are smaller than the ones in the center the fruit was picked before maturity.

And one more thing.  At the Dole plantation cafe they were serving a chili that had chunks of pineapple cooked in it (or added at the tail end of the cooking period).  It was heavenly.  If you like chili and you like pineapple it’s something you should try.

No, I am not the first person to think of making a nut and dried fruit jam.  In fact, when I shop at our specialty market I am always wowed and impressed by the tiny jars of delicious sounding jams that run $5 or $6 a piece.  I’ve never been able to justify spending that much for two ounces of product.  But it did inpsire me.

What happened is the following.  A few weeks ago the youth in our church reinacted a pioneer experience.   As part of one of the meals I had purchased some dried apple rings, dried apricots, whole almonds and raisins.  There was some leftover and I really wasn’t in the mood for any more of that so it sat in the cupboard for a few days.

I kept wondering how I could use up the dried fruit.  Then I remembered the jams.  So….. here’s what I did. 

I took the leftover fruit and chopped the apples into little pieces and sliced the apricots.  I left the raisins and almonds whole. 

Everthing got taken to the food processor and processed…

until quite fine but not too fine.  I wanted some distinction between the fruit. 

Once the fruit was to the right fineness I transfered it to a small saucepan and added about 1 cup of water.  I had about 1 pound of fruit to begin with.  I started cooking the water and the fruit and wondered if it would be sweet enough and so I added some honey, about 1/4 cup.  I could have added sugar but I just felt the honey would be a better fit. 

That was cooked for about 10 minutes (and stirred occassionally) over a low to medium heat…

and then transferred to an airtight container.  We’ve been enjoying it ever since on our english muffins, bagels, crusty bread, pancakes and waffles.   The other day I was doing a mole style enchilada and I added a small amount to the pork filling much the same way you might sweeten a beef empanada with raisins.  They were quite good.

Another thing I tried with the jam were little phyllo pastries.  I took a spoonful of the nut jam and some cotija and mozarella cheese and filled the each of the pastries.  That was served with some honey yogurt and I have to say it was quite light and delicious.  A nice ending to a meal but not too sweet. 

What I especially like about this jam is that it is not overly sweet but has a ton of flavor.  In fact, I would imagine that if you wanted a sugar free product it would be just fine without any added sugar.  There are probably a ton of variations with this, including the types of dried fruit you use.  It would be fun to experiment with.  This jam would also make a beautiful gift when stored in a smaller, dainty glass jar.

This is a favorite pizza of mine and was inspired by the popular salad using pears, pistachios and gorgonzola.  The combination of flavors is so interesting I thought…why not turn it into a pizza. In a nutshell…the pizza consists of a roasted garlic aioli as a base on the crust, pears, pistachios (or some nut), prosciutto (or some salted meat), gorgonzola cheese, mozarella and some basil dressing (or something similar). 

What caused me to think about this pizza at this particular time is that I found myself with some leftover summer sausage.  I wanted to use it up and so I used it in place of the prosciutto.  It isn’t quite pear season so I resorted to the canned and I didn’t have pistachios so I used lightly toasted pecans.  This is how I cook…substitute everything.

I typically have grilled pizza crusts on hand and so I started with those.  You can buy store bought or really use any crust that you like.

Spread some aioli (refer to post on how to make roasted garlic aioli). 

Next you can use your prosciutto or cured meat.  I’m using the summer sausage cut in small dices.  You can omit the sausage if you prefer a meatless pizza.  Just use extra nuts and gorgonzola. 

continue by adding nuts….

Then you add the pears.  This step is rather critical.  You will want a substantial slice of pear to offer enough pear flavor.  If there are good, ripe pears in season those of course would be your first choice but if the fresh are not ripe then you should resort to the canned. 

Place a good number of pear slices in a concentrical circle around the crust.

Then the gorgonzola and mozarella.  I like to finish the whole thing with a drizzle of homemade basil dressing but I’m sure there are many store bought dressings that would provide the same “bite” that the basil does.  Take to preheated 400 oven and let them bake until the cheese is melted and golden around the edges.  Cut and serve.