Flavors of Fall

The season is definitely changing. There is snow coming lower almost every night on the Chugach mountains. That coolness in the air brings on a taste for a whole different menu selection. So tonight I put together a meal with as many foods from the season as I could squeeze on one plate.


Pork chops seared in duck fat and finished in hard pear cider, sweet potato gnocchi with a gorgonzola cream sauce, and brussel sprouts roasted with deep smoked bacon. How is that for a kick ass meal?


Lets start on the gnocchi. I steamed up two peeled and chopped sweet potatoes.


Cook these until a knife slides in easily.

I set these in the steamer basket up on my kitchen window sill to cool off.

When they are cool, smash with a potato masher or with a potato ricer if you have one.

Now add in an egg and some flour. I started with a 1/2 cup but ended up adding quite a bit more to get the dough to the right consistency. I estimate using about 1 3/4 cups of AP flour after all was said and done. This is my first time making gnocchi so I was unsure of the consistency needed. I made it kind of like a soft orrecchiette dough.

Divide the dough into several balls and roll those out into ropes. Then cut those up into small pieces. Use extra flour so that the cut sides don't stick.

Now take a fork and gently roll the tines across the dough balls so as to leave raised edges on the gnocchi. It takes a little practice. I found that placing on ball on my left hand and rolling with the fork in my right. You will get faster as you go. They should look something like this.

I set these aside to dry while prepping the rest of dinner. Next on the list was cooking some bacon. I got this extra smoked thick sliced at the butcher shop. Isn't it pretty.

This was cooked slowly over low heat. Then set aside. Save some of the grease. I was unable to find fresh brussel sprouts so I went with frozen. Cut the larger sprouts in half. Toss with the bacon grease and chopped up bacon pieces.

Now everything starts to go fast. I took this oppurtunity to clean up and start some salted water to boil.

Put the sprouts in the oven for about 25 minutes at 375 F. Stir every 8 minutes or so. They will come out looking something like this.

Start some duck fat to heating in a skillet. Season up some THICK cut pork chops. I got these at the same butcher as the bacon, Mr. Prime Beef.

Seasoned these with just a little salt and pepper and some fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, and just a little dried sage.

Sear these in the duck fat on high heat to get a nice color.

I gave these about 4 minutes per side and then poured in some Hard Pear Cider that I found while looking for the apple kind. Tasty stuff.

Cover this with a lid and set the heat to low. Let braise for about 10 minutes.

Now is the time to start on the gorgonzola cream sauce. In a sauce pan start some whole milk or 1/2 & 1/2 to warming. Add in a hefty chunk of a good quality gorgonzola cheese.

Season the milk with salt and lots of pepper. Allow the milk and cheese to just barely simmer so as to reduce and thicken.

Now pull out your pork chops and allow to rest covered. I pulled out when they still felt medium rare to the touch. The carryover will fully cook them.

Start your pan juices and cider mix to reducing.

Now is the time to toss your gnocchi into the salted boiling water. When they float to the top taste one. They should be little pillows of delicate sweet potato goodness. Pull out with a slotted spoon. I put them right into the cheese sauce. I made too much sauce for the amount of gnocchi but not to worry.

With your pan sauce reduced, add in some whole grain mustard and whisk together. I also added in some of the herb blend and just a bit of fresh Italian parsley.

I used a slotted spoon to get the drowning gnocchi out of the extra sauce. Worked perfectly. Serve with the sprouts and the chop. Make sure to sauce the chop.

Some meals just come together well. This was a lot of work but I gotta say the results were definitely worth the effort. Everything was just as I had hoped. For my first try at gnocchi they came out so delicate and flavorful. You have got to try this meal at least once.

Rockfish in Umido and Cavolo Nero

This is a blog that is completely inspired by my fellow food bloggers. First was the fish in Umido that my friend Lesley blogged about. Halibut in Umido. Next was the Cavolo Nero blogged on by my friend Kitty. Both of these women are excellent cooks and you should check out their pages.

Don't let the Italian names scare you off. These are two fairly simple recipes that are not only healthy but oh so flavorful.

Don't you just love fresh fish?

The Cavolo Nero takes the longest so lets get that cooking. This isn't actually the Tuscan variety but everyday Kale is close enough. Greens like this really do it for me. They just seem so healthy.

Now is a good time to start rendering some bacon over low heat.

While those are cooking, Wash your greens.

Oops, I almost forgot that you are supposed to pull the green off of the tough stems.

Finish washing and then blanch for about 4-5 minutes.

Pull these out and put them into the skillet after the bacon is finished. I then slice the bacon into lardons and sprinkle over the top. Sautee over medium heat using tongs to turn frequently.

The liquid will cook out eventually. When this happens just add a little chicken stock to keep moist.

I decided to go with some Quinoa as my "starch". Just rinse thoroughly and allow to drain in mesh strainer.

After about 35-40 minutes of working on your greens, add in some finely chopped garlic and shallots. Let all the liquid cook out and carefully allow some of the greens to crisp. Season with fresh cracked pepper. No salt because the stock has lots and should be plenty after cooking out.

Here is the finished quinoa. It is simply cooked with 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups of chicken stock. Cook over low heat for about 15 minutes. Seasoned at the end with salt, pepper, a little butter, and some fresh parsely.

Now for the fish. Black Rockfish are definitely in my top 5 of favorite fish to eat. They are a whitefish with scales that are a great empty canvas for the flavors you want to add. Mine were caught by my cousin Greg on a trip he took out of Seward Alaska.

These filets were trimmed up and cut into 2 pieces. Season with salt and pepper and then dredge in flour.

Here is my mis en place for the Umido. This includes halved grape tomatoes, fresh dill, thyme, red onion, Italian parsely, and some dry white wine. I used a Fume Blanc.

Drizzle your pan with some olive oil and toss in your onions. After a few minutes, toss in your sliced tomatoes and some capers.

Then after another few minutes, toss in your parsely, dill, thyme, and garlic.

Stir to combine the flavors.

After most of the moisture has cooked out of the tomatoes and onions, deglaze the pan with your white wine.

Cook out most of the wine. Then add in some chicken stock. The recipe now calls for tomato passata. Well I didn't have the time to make my own so I thought subbing stewed tomatoes would be a good idea. It wasn't the best idea. I needed to take a potato masher to the large chunks of tomato to help break them down. Let the sauce simmer to reduce.

Gently place your floured filets into the sauce and spoon some over the top. Put into a pre-heated 375 degree oven.

These took about 17 minutes to fully cook. Never commit the sin of overcooking fish. Don't be afraid to pull out your pan and check with a fork for doneness.

Here you go. A very health delicious meal from super fresh ingredients that you won't be able to find at any restaurant.

I was impressed with the mix of flavors on this. I have rarely cooked with capers in the past but that will change. They add something very new to a normal tomato sauce. The slow cooked greens had picked up a smokiness from the bacon and from the browning. A real treat for anyone.

I served with an Italian White.

If you like the food be sure to say so. If you don't, then say that as well.

Not Your Everyday Bacon and Eggs

I should have been working more today than I did. The thing is, I was struck with inspiration and it wasn't work related. Over the last couple of days, I have seen an amazing style of ravioli and an even more inspiring photo of roasted pork belly. The ravioli was on Michael Ruhlman's blog at http://blog.ruhlman.com/ .

Two seemingly unrelated coincedences. In my twisted mind I immediately put the two together. Just like those Reese's commercials from back in the day. "You got your peanut butter in my chocolate".

Well this isn't peanut butter and chocolate. This is something far more serious. I will start with the "Bacon". While not really bacon, it is the very same cut of pork. Mr. Prime Beef once again came through for this cook. They had 1-1.75 lb pieces of pork belly in the freezer. I took a 1.5 lb piece and brought it home to thaw.

So to start on this puppy, I got going on the spices. This is coriander, anise seed, 4 peppercorn blend, and course sea salt.

These were coursely ground in the coffee grinder. I generously applied them to both sides of the pork belly. On the skin side I scored the skin so as to help in rendering. Next time I will use a carpet knife with a short setting so as to not score so deep.

This goes on the grill. I started with the skin side down over high heat to start the crisping.

I also decided on a little bit of smoke flavor. These were cherry wood chips. After just a few minutes, I flipped over and took off of the direct heat. I put the pork belly on indirect heat to slowly roast on the grill.

We are off to a great start. Now just leave this on indirect heat and forget about it for at least 2 hours.

I took a break and opened some wine. Because this meal was going to be so rich, I went with my new favorite white.

This wine just seems to fit this 2 day long "Dog Days of Summer" that we are having in Anchorage. I think it reached 68 F today. It was the best day all summer. (Is that sad?)

Now on to the egg portion of this meal. Just make a small batch of pasta. I used one cup of AP flour and one whole egg and one egg yolk.

If you haven't made fresh pasta already, just go look at Mario Batali's recipes on FoodTV.com. I mixed this up. Then kneeded for only about 2 minutes. I have recently read about no kneed bread and no kneed pasta. So to try out the philosophy, I only kneeded for a couple of minutes. Then allowed the dough to rest wrapped saran wrap at room temp. Roll it out in a pasta roller all the way to it's highest setting. Mine ended up like this.

These sheets were allowed to set while I worked on the filling. Sautee some fresh baby spinach in olive oil. When it is finished, chop it up fine. Add the spinach to a mix of whole milk ricotta, one egg, grated parmesan, chopped fresh tarragon, oregano, and thyme. This was seasoned with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Mix thoroughly.

To this mix I added just a bit of finely chopped Ruby Red Grapefruit zest.

Now lay out your sheets. Add a teaspoon full of your filling mix and make a well in the center. Just like when you are making pasta.

Now carefully place an egg yolk into the well. Have extra eggs. I bought a whole dozen just for this process. I ended up breaking a few just while separating the yolks. This never happens any other time. Go figure. They should look like this.

Top the ones you have done correctly with just a tiny bit of the ricotta mix. This will help protect the yolk while in the boiling water.

Brush the pasta with an eggwash. Damn this recipe uses a whole lot of eggs. Now top with another sheet of pasta and squeeze out all of the air. I used a pint beer glass to seal up the two sheets. It took a little work to gather up the filling into a tight enough package to seal with the glass.


Trim off any excess pasta and set aside. When your pork belly is done, pull off the grill and allow to rest.

Gently place your egg yolk ravioli into generously salted, gently boiling water.

This will take only 2 minutes to cook. While it was in, I melted some butter in a hot pan. When it just barely started to turn brown, I sqeezed in some Ruby Red grapefruit juice.

Shake this around in the pan just until it emulsifies. It won't take much effort. Just a little motion. Pull out the ravioli, slice the rested pork belly, top with some finely grated parmesan, chopped tarragon, and finally with the grapefruit brown butter sauce.


I think that I am on to something here. Let's just see how the egg yolk filling turned out.

Oh my God! Perfecto.

The flavor of these two dishes are amazing all by themselves. Together, with this super easy sauce, they make something almost beyond description.

I will try. The yolk once cracked, floods the dish. It gives a richness like yolks always do. The skin of the pork belly is oh so crunchy and crispy. It tastes like pork rinds but oh so much more intense. The meat/fat layers of the pork belly are just ever so tender. They almost melt like a confit of duck but just a little firmer. Finally the simple and quite sparing addition of the grapefruit to the butter gives a refreshiningly sweet/tart bite to this very rich meal.
Definitely not your everyday bacon and eggs.

I am currently considering posting all of my food blogs at this site. I currently have almost 100 food blogs at my Myspace page. Check those out at

www.myspace.com/climbhighak