Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

April 22, 2013 by 2 Comments

I attended another Caprial + John cooking class last week, this one centered on Modern Pot Pies. This was held again at their Chef’s Studio 2818 S.E. Pine, and included

  • Radicchio Salad with Black Pepper Fromage Blanc Dressing with toasted hazelnuts
  • Braised Leek and Chicken Pot Pie with Crispy Potato Crust
  • Pork and Lemon Pot Pie with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower Crust
  • Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust
  • Buttermilk and Lime Curd Layered Panna Cotta

As usual, the class started with Cappy opening up various wines for the class- it is BYOB- so that us students could sip and swirl as they started teaching us the various courses that we would also be eating as our dinner. Recipes are already printed with our names for our places at the table so we can take notes as they cook and we drink.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

My favorite of the three pies was the Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese crust. The roasting of the vegetables just brought out a wonderful depth of flavor that I really liked and could make even for F and I (without the bacon). The vegetables in the recipe include onion, carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, fennel but Cappy talked about how she loves to throw in swiss chard or kale too, and I love that idea.

The vegetables were already roasted when we arrived as that takes more time, so mainly John and Cappy talked about creating the ricotta crust on top- and I totally agree that the topping alone just thrown with pasta would be delicious. Putting pieces of the recipe on pasta was mentioned a few times- perhaps because they happened during the class to be on day 5 of a no carbs no alcohol diet in preparing to rest their stomach and livers for an upcoming trip to France.

She also made her own ricotta for this recipe using milk, cream, and white vinegar, and talked about her obsession (which will soon become mine) with being able to recreate a baked ricotta dish (just plain pressed ricotta- not ricotta cake) and finally tracking it down in some Australian recipe.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

At the same time, the pork for the Pork and Lemon Pot Pie with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower Crust was cooking and the cauliflower steaming away in the background: they are definitely multi-taskers in the kitchen. John showed us his trick to very efficiently dice an onion which includes flattening one side and not cutting fully through when doing the first rows so everything holds together at first until you cut the rows the other way.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class dicing an onion Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class dicing an onion Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class dicing an onion Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class dicing an onion

As John sauteed the pork and onions and added potatoes, Cappy talked to us about the panna cotta part of the Buttermilk and Lime Curd Layered Panna Cotta, specifically the combining of cream, sugar, gelatin, and buttermilk so that it would then have time to chill as we returned out attention back to the pies.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

Back with the Pork and Lemon Pot Pie with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower crust recipe workstream, John zested and squeezed lemons and prepared the mashed cauliflower crust with all its cheesyiness thanks to parmesan and goat cheese. We agreed we could enjoy that mashed cauliflower just as too.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

We finished the Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust assembly and put it in the oven.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust

Meanwhile, the pork was ready to be placed in the pan and topped with the cauliflower mixture, and also put in the oven.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

At this point the Bacon and Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Crust was almost ready, so Cappy quickly talked through the importance of soaking the radicchio while John prepared the dressing and talked through how to attempt to fix the dressing if it breaks. And then it was time to eat the salad and that first pie!
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

The Pork and Lemon Pot Pie with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower Crust didn’t seem as seasoned as it should be. In order to make it for a meal for vegetarian F, I will probably take their other suggestion which is to just make the cheesy mashed cauliflower and fry those into cauliflower cakes!
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Pork and Lemon Pot Pie with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Pork and Lemon Pot Pie with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower Crust

While we were eating the pork and lemon pot pie with mashed cauliflower, John showed us how to create the mushroom leek mustard and garlic white wine (well, they actually used vermouth) cream sauce for the Braised Leek and Chicken Pot Pie with Crispy Potato crust. I don’t have a mandoline, so although I like the idea I’m not sure when I’ll execute this recipe.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Braised Leek and Chicken Pot Pie with Crispy Potato crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Braised Leek and Chicken Pot Pie with Crispy Potato crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Braised Leek and Chicken Pot Pie with Crispy Potato crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Braised Leek and Chicken Pot Pie with Crispy Potato crust

Everyone was close to drinking up every last drop of that Buttermilk and Lime Curd Layered Panna Cotta. Because it was not chilled overnight it was softer than a usual panna cotta, but all the flavors were there, and everyone liked how it wasn’t too sweet (thanks to the buttermilk) and was so light and refreshing. It’s a super simple dessert to make, although since F can’t have gelatin I wonder how agar will substitute in…
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Buttermilk and Lime Curd Layered Panna Cotta  Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Buttermilk and Lime Curd Layered Panna Cotta

I always enjoy their classes and the little stories they tell and tricks and tips they offer that are outside what you would find in a recipe. They have classes once a week- check out their website to see the menus of their upcoming classes (they always create their own menu for the class), or see if you are interested in attending one of their monthly supper clubs!

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Saison Beer Ricotta on Cucumber

October 24, 2012 by 4 Comments

Inspired by the Beeroness’ Homemade Beer Ricotta, for a beer potluck get together I decided to make this the third offering of beer cheese. I decided to make three times the amount in her version since I was feeding more and hers yielded ~1 1/4 cups of ricotta at the end. My usual ricotta recipe is with a half gallon of whole milk and pint of buttermilk, and I have never had to throw any away, so I figure more is better (so you’ll see a lot more yield in my photos). In the end, I only needed double of the original recipe to make about 45 slices from 2 cucumbers worth.
Saison Beer Ricotta on Cucumber

I then put the beer ricotta on sliced cucumbers as appetizers. For the beer, I used Portland U-Brew Saison, which was a citrusy addition to the creamy ricotta.

It is important that you don’t use Ultra-Pasteurized milk, because it does not have the important calcium chloride which is needed for coagulation and curds (the pasteurization process removes calcium). Whole milk is better because it will also taste richer, as the flavor of the cheese is related to the amount of butterfat in the milk.

Saison Beer Ricotta on Cucumber Slices

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups whole milk- use the best and freshest milk you can find
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup Saison beer and also 2 tablespoons of Saison Beer separated for later
  • 3 tablespoons Lemon Juice, or you can use Apple Cider Vinegar or a combination of the two
  • 1 English cucumber
  • ground pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Cheesemaking is 4 main ingredients: milk, heat, acid, and then extras (any additions like herbs or mold, or aging, or handling and atmosphere like pulling it, smoking, etc). So first, the milk and heat. Combine the 3 cups whole milk and the 1 cup cream and 1/3 cup of beer in a non-reactive pot and heat on your stovetop on medium.
    The Beeroness’s version puts the salt in now, but I held off until later to put it directly on the ricotta- your choice. I am accustomed to adding in the extras after the acid step because that’s when it is done with the steps to make a goat cheese chevre.
    making homemade ricotta
  2. Use a thermometer to track when the contents of your pot reaches 190 degrees F, stirring as you watch so avoid scorching, and scrape the bottom as you stir.
  3. As soon as you reach 190 degrees F with your milk/cream, immediately remove the pot from heat and add your acid, which is the apple cider vinegar/lemon juice. This is the acid to start the curdling process. Stir just a little to get the acid throughout your milk/cream, and then let the heat and coagulation process work.
    You will start to see the white chunks (curds) rise to the surface away from the yellowish part (whey). The Beeroness put in the 2 tablespoons of beer at this point, but I held off as I didn’t want to lose the beer in the whey.making homemade ricotta
  4. Next, time to separate the curds and whey. use a cheesecloth over a strainer such as a large sieve or colander over a larger mixing bowl. I happen to have both a large and smaller sieve so I lined the larger one with the cheesecloth folded in half, and used the smaller one to ladle the curd and whey mixture through the sieve as an initial drain of whey. Place the curds into the cheesecloth so that the curds will stick with the cheesecloth and the whey flow below to the bowl.
    This is the part where I added the salt and drizzled the saison, adding a small little bit with every layer as I ladled. Run your wooden spoon along the bottom of your pot to free up any stuck curds partway through the pour, and they may need to be scraped from your smaller sieve ladle.making homemade ricotta making homemade ricotta
  5. You can pull up on the sides of the cheesecloth to drain off any extra liquid, but don’t press on the curds. Gather the edges of the cloth and fasten them into a knot and over the bowl so the whey can continue to drain for at least another 15-20 minutes. The longer you let it drain, the more firm it will be instead of creamy.
  6. You can move to an airtight container and put in the refrigerator if you aren’t going to use immediately, and you should eat it within a few days while it is nice and fresh. Meanwhile, what I did was take my English cucumbers and slice them to about 1/3 inch thick. Remember your yield will be less than pictured because I upped the recipe for more yield.
    Saison Beer Ricotta on Cucumber Saison Beer Ricotta on Cucumber
  7. When the whey had finished draining from the cheese, I just spooned a smear onto each cucumber, and finished with a pinch everywhere of salt and ground pepper
    Saison Beer Ricotta on Cucumber Saison Beer Ricotta on Cucumber

I kept mine simple because I wanted the subtle taste of the saison to still be detected, but this cucumber and ricotta idea can certainly be further elevated by more additions on top, such as herbs or half a cherry tomato, etc! Meanwhile, since I had tripled this recipe, I still had a good leftover portion that I have been eating with pasta for dinner.

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Fresh Ricotta, butternut squash, baby zucchini in Pasta Shells

June 20, 2011 by 1 Comment

For someone who loves food, and enjoys cheese, and pork, and enrichment of flavors often thanks to fat, trying to make a dish that does not contain much fat and is not too cheesy and is vegetarian but tastes good is an interesting challenge in trying to please a fussy vegetarian palate instead of what I would personally pick.

I had a craving for fresh ricotta and decided to make stuffed shells for dinner. In order to make it vegetarian and not “overloaded” with cheese (I love it with multiple kinds of cheese myself) or too rich, I didn’t follow any recipe that called for sausage or egg, and only used the ricotta, which turns out is most of them. So I decided to wing it. To add more flavor rather then just ricotta in shells, I decided to use butternut squash and baby zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, and fresh chopped sage and dill from the herb garden.

Ingredients: (enough for 4 people as a main dish, 6 as a side)

  • 1 gallon of whole milk. It needs to be not be ultra-pasteurized
  • 1 pint of buttermilk
  • 1 box of large shell pasta
  • 2.5 cups of cubed butternut squash
  • 5 baby zucchini, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons of sage, chopped. As an optional step you can brown the sage with butter first for extra flavor
  • One jar of marinara sauce of your choice
  • 2 tablespoons of dill
  • 1 pint of heirloom cherry tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup of Italian seasoned breadcrumbs or parmesan cheese as topping

Directions:

It is important that you don’t use Ultra-Pasteurized milk, because it does not have the important calcium chloride which is needed for coagulation and curds (the pasteurization process removes calcium). Whole milk is better because it will also taste richer, as the flavor of the cheese is related to the amount of butterfat in the milk.

  1. First, I heated up the gallon of whole milk and a pint of buttermilk under medium heat. I kept stirring with a wooden spoon to make sure none burned at the bottom and no skin would form at the top, and would also monitor the temperature once in a while. It only needs to reach 175 degrees Farenheit. As it heats up, you can watch the curdles start to form, and the white curds begin to separate from the yellowish liquid whey.
    Fresh Ricotta, butternut squash, baby zucchini in Pasta Shells Fresh Ricotta, butternut squash, baby zucchini in Pasta Shells
  2. Once it reaches the desired temperature, take it immediately off the heat, and using a slotted spoon, I started moving the curds onto a strainer that had cheesecloth sitting on another pot to drain more whey. This whole first step maybe took 20 minutes, and then let the whey drain for another 15 minutes or so.
  3. As it is draining, at the same time boil another pot of water in which I placed 25 shells, cooked al dente, and then drained them and quickly ran some cold water on them.
    Fresh Ricotta, butternut squash, baby zucchini in Pasta Shells Fresh Ricotta, butternut squash, baby zucchini in Pasta Shells
  4. As I was waiting for the ricotta and whey to drain some more, I steamed some cubed butternut squash (a little more then 2.5 cups probably once cubed) and five baby zucchini, which I then chopped up, along with the sage (maybe 3 tablespoons chopped). Mix these all together. If I had any lemon juice I might have added some in, but unfortunately someone drank it all. Something I thought of afterwards is that I could have browned the sage in a little bit of butter first- I love browned butter sage as it is a little crunchy. I restrained from adding spice this time because I wanted to let the flavors of the vegetables shine.
    Fresh Ricotta, butternut squash, baby zucchini in Pasta Shells
  5. Finally, the assembly time. While pre-heating the oven to 350 F, I first poured some basil marinara (from a jar thanks to Trader Joe’s) onto a 9×13 baking dish. Then, I would basically put a tablespoon of the ricotta/vegetable mixture into each shell, and line them up. The fact that after they were cooked I had immediately ran cold over them and separated each kept every shell intact.
  6. After they were all filled, I topped the whole dish with the remaining sauce. Next, sprinkle the dill (I used about 2 tablespoons), and this is when I added the heirloom tomatoes basically between every shell- the ones I had were all about cherry tomato size.
  7. Sprinkle some Italian seasoned breadcrumbs instead of more cheese (which again, would be my preference- that way it gets all bubbly crunchy with a bit of burnt parmesan cheese), and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes.

Fresh Ricotta, butternut squash, baby zucchini in Pasta ShellsFresh Ricotta, butternut squash, baby zucchini in Pasta Shells  Fresh Ricotta, butternut squash, baby zucchini in Pasta ShellsFresh Ricotta, butternut squash, baby zucchini in Pasta Shells

Seriously, making ricotta is so easy, and you get so much more yield for the same dollar then if you bought a container (maybe 25 oz, instead of the packaged 15 oz). And it tastes so much better, perhaps like me you will be ruined and no longer like what it tastes like coming from a container.

After all this, the fussy vegetarian pulled out nutritional yeast in order to add a bit more nutty cheesy flavor! What a loser.  ^_^ I had to say though, overall the dish ended up tasting pretty good and I didn’t miss the other cheeses or egg that other stuffed shell recipes use, and I think these were better veggies then spinach as stuffing- I prefer spinach in pasta with simpler sauces so you can taste the spinach instead of just the texture which gets overwhelmed by tangy marinara. Also the bursts of flavor and juice from the heirloom tomatoes are always awesome.

And, there is still leftover ricotta so I can use it inside endive leaves, or as topping on slow-roasted roma tomatoes with a bit of olive oil and dot or so of aged balsamic, the next couple days. Great for some cooler temperature snacks as the weather heats up as summer if arriving in Portland this week with a return to 80 degrees (only the 2nd time this year so far), and summer officially starts tomorrow.

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Celebrating Bacon… the food spread

April 10, 2011 by 2 Comments

It started with a delivery of 2 pounds of bacon in my grocery order. Just a few weeks before on Reddit, there had been a post of someone's grandmother making an insane looking pie using bacon as the pie crust, which then was followed up with other posters noting that it was a recipe from Michael Smith (as covered in my previous post). Obviously, the universe was telling me to make bacon potato cheese tart, right? At the time, I froze the bacon, and found a date when I could have other bacon-loving guests appreciate the bacon with me.

Although the bacon tart was the point, it was also F's birthday, and it also gave me a chance to try a few other recipes. F is not a big soft cheese fan but I wanted to make ricotta, which is very easy (all it takes is milk and buttermilk, heating it up until the curds and whey form, and then scooping the curds using a sieve into a cheesecloth). As a vehicle for the ricotta at the little bacon party, I slow roasted some Roma tomatoes for 3 hours at 250 with a bit of olive oil and rosemary, and once it cooled stuffed them with the ricotta, a little bit of Spanish olive oil, and aged balsamic.

After that I made the bacon tart. I turned up the oven to 350, which is the temperature that would be needed for both the bacon tart and the stinging nettle balls- though the stinging nettles would be done last because it had the smallest cooking time, while the bacon tart would take 2.5 to 3 hours (I did 2.5). That's right, I had the oven going from 9 in the morning and barely finished when guests arrived around 4. But, while the tomatoes were roasting, I went to the Portland Farmers Market to get the stinging nettles so I'll cover that next.

After speaking with Kathryn I lowered my parboil time to only 2 minutes and she helped translate the recipe that originally called for 20 oz of frozen spinach into a pound of fresh nettles. After the quick parboil and scooping them up with a slotted spoon (I discovered later I do have tongs but they were in the very back of the drawer, go figure) and lots of patting dry, we removed the leaves from the stems, squeezed more liquid, and then chopped. In the end it does look a lot like spinach, but more interesting and a little twist on the taste which is more grassy and a tinge of herby bitterness. On the side was the spicy cream, with habanero onion garlic and a few other spices in greek yogurt

The rest of the recipe is the same as if you were using spinach rather then nettles- adding the 4 beaten eggs, cup of grated parmesan asiago cheese, 3/4 stick melted butter and 1 cup of Italian breadcrumbs and a 1/4 cup of panko- in retrospect maybe I should have used a bit more but reviews of the recipe commented on its dryness and recommended cuttting back on the breadcrumbs, so I did. Reviews also said it would take longer then 15 minutes to bake- which they were spot on, it was closer to 25-30 minutes.

The bacon potato cheese tart… the in progress photos. The last one is a bit of a cheat, because I had to pull them back out to put the parchment paper and a lid on top of each tart to keep the bacon from shrinking back where it met on top.

The bacon potato cheese tart… final product. The very first piece of tart I cut was a bit of a mess so I took it for myself, but it held together better when I cut the second tart because it had cooled more.

And the final spread. Add to the above

  • the 24 tacos (8 pastor, 8 tinga, and 8 vegan tinga) from Santeria, plus chips and guacamole
  • the dozen gorgonzola biscuits and dozen chocolate peanut butter cookies from Kettle Kitchen,
  • a cheese plate with crackers and bread (the most popular was Beecher's Smoked Flagship brought by a guest followed by Willamette Valley's Brindisi, Fraga Farm's chevre, Jacob's Creamery's cow milk version of a goat cheese that slips my mind…),
  • red seedless grapes,
  • Kettle chips, 
  • bacon pickles from Unbound Pickling, 
  • watermelon rinds from Sassafras Catering,
  • and the assorted donuts from Voodoo Donuts,

we barely had room to put our plates that we were eating onto the table. When we bought that table I was insistent that we get one that can fit 8 people, I guess that was not enough. I wasn't sure whether we were having 14 guests (we ended up with 8) since F was not all that clear to me on some of the replies he had extended and a few were maybes as guests of guests, but of course what kind of hostess doesn't have enough food? I don't want anyone to go home hungry- you have to waddle home you're so full. I think I get this from my mom's side of the family who also fills the table like that when we visit them in Thailand- which may be followed by digestion/naptime. This is only a slight variation from my dad's side, who totally overorders so we fill the whole table, but does so while dining out at a restaurant rather than eating at home, which I also like because there's no cleanup afterward.

 

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Coming this weekend: Michael Smith’s Potato Bacon Cheddar Tart and more…

April 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

On Friday, after I get home from work, I will be excited to do some early-birthday-party-for-F/bacon hangout prep. I plan to make fresh ricotta which I am going to stuff into plum tomatoes baked in the oven, a recipe I learned from my cheesemaking class at HipCooks. I've made goat cheese chevre a few times now, but I really only like it with the culture and I don't have any right now, and I wanted to try a new kind of cheese. But, making ricotta calls for buttermilk which I found in the quart size which then equals a gallon of milk… equals a lot of ricotta, so a group get together can help me use it in the few days it is good for.

As a semi-tribute to F, there's a spinach ball finger food recipe (basically spinach, cheese and egg with breadcrumbs and seasoning) but I would like to try substitute stinging nettles for the spinach, thus making… Stinging Balls. Awesome right? Also, I'll prep and chill a spicy (habanero) creamy dip made with greek yogurt to have with the stinging balls, let's see what it will be like using the yogurt instead of the cream cheese and sour cream the recipe calls for. I often liberally add chopped peppers or sriracha or liberally sprinkle red pepper flakes when I cook to taste because both of us like a little kick, but one of the potential guests is very spice-sensitive so I figure at least the dip is an optional side. Stinging balls with spicy cream cracks me up.

And… I will try making Michael Smith's Potato Bacon Cheddar Tart. I will make mine extra cheesy with addition of monterey jack cheese to the cheddar. I thought the use of monterey jack would tie it in better with Santeria tacos we are also having as tinga tacos were F's choice for his pre-birthday party (as well as biscuits and cookies from Kettle Kitchen), since he can't have the bacon. The bacon is more for me as my pre-birthday.

 

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