The hubs turned 40 the other day. He is a guy who hates a big party so he just picked a few people to join us for dinner. The problem with not liking big celebrations though, is that you don’t get lots of special attention. But even people who like it quiet want to feel special so I thought I’d make him a special surprise cake. (more…)

I’d like to take this opportunity correct the common and outrageous misconception that slow cookers are meant to save time. If you’re busy and need to make dinner fast you can always dump some junk out of cans and heat it up in the microwave, or order a pizza. Or if you want a quick home cooked meal, maybe you can pull some freezer-burned lasagna out to defrost before you leave for work or stir-fry some rough chopped veg while you cook white rice. No time for rice? Rice stick noodles are ready in like 3 minutes. There, you’re done. You have kids? Then we both know you’ve got a box of Annie’s organic mac & cheese and some frozen peas.

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Blustery storms and cool fall evenings always make me want soup for dinner. When I was a kid I warmed myself over a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Now, if I have the time, I’ll make chicken and rice from scratch or a smooth fennel and celery root puree. A few weeks ago though, my sister Sarah and I made ramen and ever since I’ve been obsessed with dashi. One of the basic building blocks of Japanese cuisine, dashi goes in everything from miso soup to sauces (agedashi tofu anyone?). There a bunch of different kinds too—you can make it with kombu (an edible sea vegetable), bonito flakes, dried baby sardines, dried shitake mushrooms, or any combination of these. That night Sarah and I made a kombu and bacon dashi (it sounds intense, I know, but it’s surprisingly delicate) à la Momofuku. Last night though I was feeling traditional so I made ichiban dashi, which is made with kombu and bonito flakes. It’s also called “Number One Dashi”: once you make it, you can reuse the leftover kombu, by adding a little more bonito in new water to make Number Two, or niban, dashi. (more…)

(I’d like to introduce a new regular series of posts written by PAEOI’s associate editor Megan Keough. Please excuse the lack of photos in this inaugural post. We’ve sent her out to get a camera for the next one. -SFK)

Up until a two months ago, the only things growing in the raised beds in my backyard were crabgrass and a patch of spearmint my dog Zephyr liked to use as a toilet. In late June, lured by visions of sun-warmed tomatoes and fragrant fresh herbs, my husband Nick and I decided to turn at least one corner of this wasteland into garden. I’d decided not to take classes over the summer and had more free time than I knew what to do with. Of course it took much longer than I thought it would to get the beds ready for planting—I had to pull all those weeds, rebuild a rock wall, throw some nutrients in the soil, etc—and by the time I made it to the nursery in July, all they had left were tomatoes, peppers, and lots of eggplant.

I bought three plants of each. I figured that, given my inexperience with east coast gardening, only a few plants would actually yield anything. I was wrong. I now have piles of poblanos. Mounds of jalapeños. Heaps of eggplant. And while I can find a million ways to use the peppers, the eggplant has left me a bit stumped. I hardly ever even buy eggplant unless I have a craving for caponata or baba ghanoush. Now I have more than Nick and I could possibly eat, and we’ve been struggling to find new and simple ways to prepare it. Last night, while staring at the growing collection of vegetables on my kitchen counter and my nearly empty fridge, I decided I was going about it all wrong. I obviously didn’t have the ingredients to make an eggplant parmesan or baingan bharta, but who said I had to follow a recipe? Instead of thinking in terms of what dish I could make, I needed to think in terms of flavor. What would match the smoky undertones of an eggplant? When I imagined marrying the spicy poblano and the mellow eggplant I knew I was on to something. I pulled out what I had in the fridge. It didn’t amount to much: two bratwursts, a bag of shiitakes, a yellow onion and a half a head of garlic. In the end I used everything. The shiitakes looked a little too sad to just stir fry, so I decided to confit them and their earthy flavor added depth to the eggplant and poblano. Surprisingly though, the sausage was what pulled it all together. Their rich and salty flavor laced with subtle hints of sweetness soaked into the rice and balanced the spicy peppers, smokey eggplant and umami mushrooms perfectly. Really, the only thing this recipe lacks is a name.

Untitled Eggplant

2 bratwursts, casings removed
1-2 poblanos, seeded and chopped
one small yellow onion, halved and sliced thinly in half moons
3 cloves garlic, diced
4 small japanese eggplants, peeled quartered and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
mushroom confit*
olive oil
1 1/2-2 cups cooked rice

Start the rice first (I used basmati but any long grain rice will do). While the rice is cooking, break apart the sausage into chunks and brown in a medium heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When done, remove with a slotted spoon and turn the heat down to medium. Leave the fat in the pan; you’ll use this to sauté the vegetables (if there isn’t enough left, add some of the oil leftover from the mushroom confit). Throw in the onions and poblano and sauté until the onions are soft. Add the garlic; cook until fragrant. Then add the eggplant and cook until they start to look translucent; fold in the sausage and mushrooms. Finally toss in the cooked rice so it soaks up some of the fat and flavor from the sauté. Salt and pepper to taste.

*Mushroom confit

10-15 wild mushrooms (I used shitake because that’s what I had lying around, but chanterelles, hen-of-the-woods, and oyster mushrooms all work well too)
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
herbs (a bay leaf, some rosemary, thyme works well also)
enough oil to cover (I used a combination of olive and vegetable, but any fairly neutral oil will do)

Preheat the oven to 275 with the rack in the middle. Clean and de-stem the mushrooms. You can confit them whole, or if you are impatient like I am, you can slice them into 1/4 inch pieces. Place mushrooms, garlic and herbs together in a roasting pan and cover with oil. Don’t be afraid to really pour it in there. You want the mushrooms to be submerged in the fat. Let the mushrooms roast until tender, 45 minutes to an hour if whole (30-45 minutes if sliced). When they’re done, strain the mushroom-infused oil into a clean jar and store it in the fridge for future use.

Michael Psilakis, chef and owner of New York restaurants FishTag and Kefi, shared a few things with us in PAEOI #3 including a recipe for a salad he likes to make for himself when he gets home from a long day. He also treated us to an incredible dinner at FishTag which included a Sea Urchin Crudo in Ocean Water and a grilled Branzino stuffed with head cheese and served with King Oyster mushrooms and broccolini. We weren’t able to include his recipe in the magazine, so please enjoy it here. I’ve made it many times already and it’s great.

Warm Feta with Tomato, Olive, and Pepper Salad

This super-easy and fast dish is a play on Saganaki—a typical tavern dish that melts cheese by grilling, broiling, or pan-frying. You could grill a large plank of feta and top it with this salad, but since this is a meze, I don’t want anyone to have to use a fork. Serves 10 to 12 as a meze.

1 small Spanish or sweet onion
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper
9 caperberries, halved lengthwise
2 tablespoons capers
9 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
9 cracked green olives, pitted and torn
9 Kalamata olives, pitted and torn
1 small red onion, roughly chopped
2 fire-roasted red bell peppers, home-roasted or from a jar, roughly chopped
9 Greek sardines or white anchovies (optional but seriously recommended)
9 small, picked sprigs dill
9 small, picked sprigs parsley
9 leaves basil
1/3 to 1/2 cup Red Wine-Black Pepper Vinaigrette*, or 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon dry Greek oregano
12 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
3 warmed or toasted pita breads, cut into wedges

1. Brush the onion slices with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  On a hot grill pan or in a cast-iron skillet, grill until tender and slightly char-marked.  Separate into rings.

2. In a large bowl, combine the grilled onion, caperberries, capers, tomatoes, olives, red onion, roasted peppers, anchovies, dill, parsley and basil.  Drizzle with the vinaigrette, season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with oregano, and toss until evenly coated.

3. Scatter the feta evenly over the base of an ovenproof baking dish or gratin.  In a microwave for 30 seconds, or under a broiler for 3 minutes, warm the feta until slightly softened.  Top with the salad and serve with the pita wedges.

*Red Wine Black Pepper Vinaigrette

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 small grilled onion
6 leaves basil
1 teaspoon picked thyme
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
6 small garlic cloves, smashed
2 shallots, thickly sliced
2 tablespoons dry Greek oregano
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon coarsely cracked black pepper
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a food processor, combine the vinegar, grilled onion, basil, thyme, mustard, garlic, shallots, oregano, salt, and pepper. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil until smooth. Add salt and pepper if desired.

You can buy issue #3 to read the rest of Michael’s story as well as the current issue, subscriptions and t-shirts all here at the PAEOI store!

This drink recipe didn’t fit into our picnic section but we love it and want you to have it. It has a definite Summer feeling so if you are from a chilly place, take it with you on your tropical vacation or do what we do and when the Winter gets you down, turn the heat up, get a sun lamp and have a Miami-themed dinner party. Recipe by Amanda Zug-Moore and David Moyer, a.k.a. Violet Temper.

Basil Peach Fuzz Punch 

I 750 ml bottle gin
4 peaches
8 cups Earl Grey tea
1 bottle of Sparkles (Cava, Prosecco or Champers if you’re fancy)
1 cup Basil Simple Syrup: 1.5 cups water, 1.5 cups sugar, 1 cup packed, picked & washed basil

1. Infuse the gin with the peaches. Slice up the peaches (not too thin not too thick) and drop in a nice sized glass container with a lid then pour the gin over top and let sit. If the peaches are quite ripe this could take only a couple of hours but best to let sit at least over night. The longer they sit the peachier your gin gets

2. Make the basil simple syrup. Bring water, sugar, and basil to boil in a small pot. Once its boiling drop the heat and let simmer for a bit until your syrup turns slightly green, the longer it simmers the more basily your syrup. Remove basil from syrup and let cool.

3. Boil yourself up some Earl Grey. You wanna make this a bit stronger than a normal cup of tea, use more tea bags don’t infuse longer than recommended because that can make the tea too tannic and bitter. Let cool.

4. Add earl grey and basil simple syrup to the gin and peaches. Stir.

5. Fill an iced tea glass up with ice and then fill just over two thirds with the punch and top it with your sparkles.

6. To garnish add a slice or two of peach from the punch and a basil leaf or two.

Drink up! Pick up a copy of issue #4 here for more picnic recipes, cookout photographs and more.