Well here’s a crazy idea I’ve been tossing around for a while. These sweets don’t really jive with the Mexican food we’re eating at the moment, but hey—I thought of this back when I was making Japanese Curry. And this is kind of… maybe.. sort of… okay, vaguely… Asian, so in my mind it works :P

I’m not really sure what to call this concoction. It’s a dim-sum wrapper made with sweet glutinous rice and pumpkin instead of sweet potato; on the inside, there’s a pumpkin puree spiced with the cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, sugar and grated crystallized ginger. So basically I crossed jin deui with pumpkin desserts and this odd little deviant child came out. And if I haven’t scared you yet, there are more mutant babies inside my head at the moment. Parents: this is what happens to your kids when they play with their food as wee children.

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Okay, I had planned on roasting the chicken with a persimmon glaze. However, there were two major problems with this approach. Problem One: persimmons are delicately flavored and, short of a mild cream or custard sauce, are difficult to pair with other flavors. Even too much sugar or honey seems to destroy the subtlety of the persimmon. Problem Two: fuyu persimmons, the kind I usually buy, don’t really have the texture to make a proper glaze. Imagine trying to make a glaze out of something like partially cooked carrots. (Usually you glaze the carrots themselves, not make a glaze out of them.) Nothing I did, including softening the persimmons via cooking and straining in a sieve, yielded the smoothness you associate with a glaze. Arrowroot might have given me a more shiny or glossy sauce, but without the texture, the whole deal was a bust anyway. So there’s a lesson learned: never, ever try to make a savory sauce out of fuyu persimmons. Hachiya persimmons might do better, but you’d have to use the softest, ripest fruits to avoid the astringency associated with that variety. It’s such a shame; I love persimmons. I was really hoping to bring their deliciousness to a main course.

That said, dinner was far from a bust. The spice rub was good, the chicken was beautifully tender and juicy, and the wilted greens were fabulous—that last bit is the real surprise because I usually find myself saying "meh" to most green side-dishes. Also, spatchcocking a chicken is just plain darn fun.

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Occasionally I get the urge to cook what no sane, modern man or woman should ever try. Take today for instance—I thought, "Wouldn’t it be great to make Mom’s Japanese curry, but without the help of roux from a box?" Ha bloody ha-ha. Okay, so maybe starting this the day after the cioppino was not my brightest idea. Starting this after finishing a fish stock, a molten cake, a cioppino, and a pesto while also working on two loaves of bread was truly the pinnacle of brilliant scheduling. But like you, I thought, "I just need to make a roux. How hard could it be?" I’ve made roux thousands of times and killed thousands of roux babies. I eat roux for breakfast (okay, not really). But still!

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The inspiration for this dish came from the popular Greek savory pastry spanakopita and it’s lesser known cousin the kreatopita.  Instead of lamb or spinach, however, poultry is the main star in this recipe; I also went with leeks over onions for a more subtle flavor and added feta cheese for extra richness.  Google tells me the result is appropriately referred to as “kotopita.”  As I’m not fluent in Greek, however, I can’t verify.

3 lbs ground chicken
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 small boxes, reduced fat crumbled feta cheese
1 bag spinach, washed
1 large leek
2 cloves garlic, minced
rosemary, chopped
white pepper, ground
salt
phyllo sheets, thawed

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I left for Pennsylvania with the notion of having a kitchen-free “vacation.” But when I arrived at the McHenry residence, I could hardly help myself; bordering the back of the house was a patch of elderberry bushes loaded with ripe fruit—and it was all going to rot if I didn’t do something! Sacrilege! I’d never cooked with or tasted elderberries, so preparing this fresh hand-picked fruit was also a rare opportunity and adventure.

Harvesting the berries was simple enough with a little maneuvering and the right equipment. I wore long jeans, my trusty ol’ jogging shoes, a hat, and a fitted long-sleeve jacket to protect me from the surrounding brush and its creepy-crawly inhabitants. Sharp clippers did the snipping, and a rake brought the taller bunches down to eye-level. No comments from the peanut gallery about short Asian people, please.

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As the end of summer approaches, the juicy, ripe nectarines and peaches are fast disappearing from the farmer’s market. The heat wave, however, is still here; so this week I decided to celebrate the passing of the summer produce season with a cold chicken salad and caramelized nectarines. To be fair, I must credit the idea of caramelizing nectarines with onion to the folks at Christine’s. The nectarines at said restaurant were plated with a fish entrée, and at the time I thought to myself, “This would be great with a salad.” So here’s the breakdown of my procedure:

Breaded Chicken
chicken breasts, 3 lbs
leftover panko breading from the freezer (see my article on the ono)
egg
vegetable oil
cayenne pepper

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Il Grano’s very intriguing white peach gazpacho caught my eye in this article from the Squid Ink. Thusly inspired I set out to make my own creation.

The Base:
1 medium-small white peach
1.25 medium-small heirloom tomatoes*
1 shallot
2.5 tsps of sherry vinegar
salt
a bare hint of cinnamon

The Emulsion:
tarragon, the leaves of several stalks
2 small chile peppers, mystery variety**
olive oil

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