New York – Page 2 – Sam’s Food Blog

De-Elitizing High Quality Food

The year is 2024.

Consumers are scrutinizing what they put into their bodies more than ever. Regular, middle class people are actually caring about how they eat, going so far as to label certain ingredients as “toxic” based on advice from non-experts on social media, and further blacklisting a ton of seemingly inconspicuous products because they can’t pronounce a handful of the listed ingredients. These people needlessly fear mongering over “seed oils” and other superfluous buzz words only do so because they can afford to. Meanwhile, the rest of us have become practice dummies for the greedy corporations to crank prices up to see just how much stress they can put on the working class beneath them. The real issue isn’t antibiotics in your chicken, it’s the fact that a lot of people can’t afford anything but the cheapest option in the meat section.

I’m all for caring about this side of processed food, and holding a magnifying glass up against greedy companies pushing “health food” to people desperate for nourishment. More than ever has it become clear that a lot of the mass-produced foodstuff that we see advertised as wholesome and healthy are really just a branding exercise on how deeply misinformed so many of us are about food. In terms of fresh produce, prices are unsettling to say the least. We can tout “eat organic” all day, but when the organic onions are almost 50% more expensive than their non-organic counterpart ($1.69 for non-organic vs. $2.49 for organic), it feels like less of a “rule of thumb” and more like a luxury most available to those who are ahead financially.

I understand the concept of making more money and rightfully being able to provide yourself with a better quality of life. Love it or hate it, that is the reality of the capitalist society we live in. I would be pissed if my raise in pay ended up not showing in how well I can live for myself. However, it should affect things like your brand of sneakers, the size of your TV, or the maker of your car, not the quality of your necessary provisions. After all, from early childhood onward we are told that god himself wants us to have access to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Obviously that “life” isn’t guaranteed, the “liberty” has become a shrinking list of shit choices, and the “pursuit of happiness” has been reduced to a desire to achieve what others have, rather than an actual path upward in life.

I’m not saying that everyone needs organic everything all the time. I’m not even saying the organic issue is the most pressing part of our food system here in the USA. What I am saying is that eating healthily shouldn’t be a luxury. Having access to clean, well processed meat and poultry should be expected in the “richest country of the western world,” without exception. Our cultural obsession with always getting bigger and faster and more profitable has officially undermined our ability to properly provide for ourselves, and even when a company comes along to provide that service, it’s typical, sooner or later, for that small business to sell-out to the highest bidder and rid themselves of the headache of operating a business like that as a non-corporation. And the cycle begins again and again. “We want our high quality product on she shelves of every grocery store in America,” is what we hear time and again from local mom-and-pop brands on the come-up. The American Dream was never about creating a better America, it’s been about winning at life. And now it’s not even about that, it’s become more about just getting to the finish line of line with you and yours intact and nothing more. Don’t worry about your neighbors getting screwed, just keep your head down and make it to the end and you’ll be just fine.

I don’t know about you, but I want better for my fellow American no matter how differently they look, think, or vote than me. Better starts at the bottom with strong integrity of individuals, and I fear that we may never return to that type of strength. Yes, an 80¢ difference in onion prices seems insignificant. It’s a minute difference that a lot of people won’t notice, but it is a sign of something that’s wrong with the priorities of our leadership.

Yes, I think everyone at some point in their lives should experience the taste of a perfectly ripe, in-season tomato. Yes I think that sort of experience can convert seasonal produce detractors to agreeing that local, seasonal produce might be good for our communities, even if a little more expensive. But that’s the difference in that sort of thing. Produce like that is a luxury right now for a disturbingly large majority of our populous, not an expectation.

My goal is not necessarily to make the absolute best version of every single dish or idea. My goal is to make the best version of things that can be made just as well for a family who eats produce exclusively from Walmart-Mart or any other large-scale chain grocery store with mediocre produce. I used to easily get caught up on specifics like particular ingredients and brands. I used to get very frustrated when people didn’t take specifics like that as seriously as me. Now I know that technique, intuition, and the ability to adapt are the most important aspects of cooking, and the world would be a better place if everyone had that capacity.

Creamy Spinach Flatbread

makes 4 servings

2 tbsp Olive oil

6 cloves garlic minced or grated on a microplane

3 scallions, sliced

1/2 a small yellow onion, small diced

1 bundle spinach (not baby) washed and chopped with stems removed,

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp rice vin

1.5 cups cream, reduced by half

7 oz freshly grated gruyere

Salt to taste

4 pieces 6-8″ store-bought pita bread or flatbread

8 oz low moisture mozzarella, cut into small cubes

Equipment: large sauté pan, chef knife, cutting board, microplane, salad spinner, cheese grater, tbsp measuring spoon, 1/2 cup measure, 1-2 sheet pans, cooling rack

Preheat your sauté pan with the oil in it. Once the oil is hot, add the scallions, onion, and garlic and cook until soft, avoiding brow. Avoid
By the end you should have just under a quart’s worth of the creamy spinach topping. You can use it as a filling, spread, or dip, but today we’re using it to make flatbreads.
Preheat your oven to 400℉ and spread a quarter of the filling on each flatbread from edge to edge. Place 2 oz of the cheese on each flatbread. The cheese shouldn’t cover it completely.
Place your flatbreads onto your sheet pan and then put that on the lowest rack of your oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the bottoms have crisped and the edges have browned slightly. If your cheese hasn’t melted all the way, move the pan to the top rack in the oven and bake until molten and bubbly.
Cool on a rack for 5-10 minutes, cut into quarters and enjoy!

Lemon Curd Roast Chicken

feeds 3-4 people

1 whole spatchcocked chicken

4 hefty 5-finger pinches of salt

200 g lemon curd

1 tbsp neutral oil

1 tbsp corn starch

1 cup water (or more as needed)

2 tsp chicken better than bullion

1 tbsp cold butter

Equipment: sheet pan set with a rack (for marinating), large sauté pan, oven, sheet pan (for resting after cooking), small saucepan, small tupperware/ deli container, small mixing bowl

Season the whole chicken with the salt starting with the underside and working your way to the skin-side. Carefully pull the skin away from the meat where the backbone and head/neck were cut from the carcass. Try not to pull the skin all the way off and do your best to not tear the skin either. Make sure to get salt as far under the skin as possible so that the whole thing will be thoroughly seasoned.
Flip the chicken back over and spread half of the lemon curd onto the exposed underside surface. Once there are no more uncovered spots, flip it back over one last time and spread the rest of the curd wherever you put salt under the skin.
Set the chicken skin side up in your racked sheet pan and let it marinate on the bottom shelf of your fridge uncovered for between 24-48 hours so that the skin dries out well.
Preheat your oven to 375℉ and take the chicken out of the fridge, let it sit on the countertop while the oven comes up to temp. There should be some lemon curd accumulated in the sheet pan under your chicken, and that’s fine. Reserve this extra curd and refrigerate until ready to use. Preheat your pan over medium heat with the oil until it’s shimmering. Dry off any moisture that has formed on the skin and place your chicken skin side down in the pan. Immediately turn the heat down to medium-low.
Cook your chicken until the skin is browned and then flip it over and place the pan into the middle rack of your oven. Roast until a meat thermometer reads 155℉ in the deepest part of the breast, careful not to touch the bone. Move the chicken to your clean sheet tray to rest. Its temperature will continue to rise for the next 15-20 minutes until the chicken is perfectly cooked.
Pour your pan drippings into your saucepan along with the extra curd that was under your chicken when it was in the fridge, heat that mixture on the stove over medium heat. In your small mixing bowl, add the cornstarch and mix in the half cup of water with a fork. Once fully combined, add the bullion paste and mix again. Add the mixture to your pan of lemon curd and mix again. This is the sauce for your chicken.
Bring your sauce to a boil until thickened and remove it from the heat. Add your cold butter and keep your sauce moving with a spoon until it has melted and incorporated itself completely into your sauce. Carve your chicken and serve the sauce alongside with your favorite sides and enjoy!

Zucchini Ribbon Salad

1 zucchini, shaved longways

1 squash, shaved

Salt

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp high quality vinegar (rice or sherry)

1/2 tbsp agave

10 grape tomatoes, halved

2 larger or 3 smaller scallions, cut thinly on a bias

1 cob’s worth of corn

8-10 mint leaves, chiffonade large ones and leave small ones whole

1 pack of tarragon (6-8 stems worth), picked and left whole

4 oz crumbled fresh feta

Salt to taste

A lot of freshly cracked Black pepper (at least 10 cranks, but to taste)

Equipment: large mixing bowl, 1 small mixing bowl, utility/ paring knife, cutting board, mandolin

Cut the ends off of the zucchini and carefully slice it from end to end with the mandolin. You should have long, thin ribbons of zucchini.
Cut the ends off of the squash as well, but cut it with the madoline into thin rounds. Combine with the zucchini ribbons and add a hefty pinch of salt. Carefully mix until everything is coated in salt and let it sit for 15 minutes.
While that’s sitting, mix the lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and agave until fully incorporated. Slightly undersalt the dressing to account for the salty feta on top at the end.
Drain the liquid from the sliced zucchini and squash and add the mixed dressing along with your prepped tomatoes, scallions and corn.
Plate the the dressed salad and garnish with the fresh herbs, crumbled feta and black pepper.
Enjoy!

Cornbread Muffins with Berries and Cream

Cornbread Muffins (makes 9 muffins)

130 g ap flour

130 g stone ground yellow cornmeal

8 g baking powder

25 g toasted milk powder

big pinch of salt

2 large eggs

245 g buttermilk

60 g melted butter

80 g honey

1 tbsp butter (for toasting)

Equipment: scale, measuring cups/ spoons (1/3 and 1 cup, 1 tbsp and 1/4 tsp), 2 small mixing bowls, 2 larger mixing bowls, piping bag, 3×3 muffin pan, whisk, serrated knife, small sauté pan

Thoroughly whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl and the wet in smaller one.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until no pockets of dry ingredients remain, lumps are good so be careful not to overmix. Transfer to a piping bag and rest in the fridge for 30 mins.
Preheat the oven to 400 ℉ and prepare your 3×3 muffin pan by spraying with nonstick spray, or brushing the muffin pan walls with butter.
Fill your muffin molds 3/4 of the way up and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the middle comes out with a little bit of moisture and crumbs stuck to it.
Once removed from the oven, flip the muffin pan over on a cooling rack and flip them individually right side up to cool.

Macerated Berries

1 cup Blueberries

1 cup Raspberries

50 g lemon juice

100 g light brown sugar

pinch of salt

In the other small mixing bowl carefully mix the ingredients together every 10 minutes until all the sugar is dissolved into the accumulated juices

Whipped Cream

2/3 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla paste/ extract

1 Pinch of salt

In a larger mixing bowl whip all the ingredients to soft peaks

To Serve

Cut the corn muffins down the middle and toast in a pan with butter
Plate the cut muffins next to each other with a heavy dollop of whipped cream laid across the top and plenty of berries and sauce spooned over the middle and around the edges. Garnish with fresh mint.
Enjoy!

Vegan Beans

makes approximately 1 gallon of beans

2 quarts dried beans

1/2 cup olive oil (plus enough to sear the aromatics)

2 large shallots, halved pole-to-pole and root “hairs” trimmed

1 head of garlic, halved orbitally

1 poblano pepper

1 lemon, halve

2 packets of Sazon Goya

1 tbsp dried mexican oregano

1 tbsp Aleppo chili flakes

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 tbsp mustard oil (or 2 tsp dried ground mustard)

water

salt and pepper to taste

2-3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Equipment: 6-8 qt pot, chef knife, broiler/ torch

Start by preheating a large pot with 1/4″ of oil over medium heat until the oil shimmers. With their cut sides facing downward, place the shallots, garlic and lemon into the oil. Cook until thoroughly browned. Remove everything from the pot and reserve.
Char your poblano pepper under your broiler or with a butane torch. Your end result should have all of the chile’s skin black, blistered and starting to separate from its flesh. Place the freshly charred poblano in a metal bowl and cover with a pot lid or plastic wrap and let it steam for 10 minutes. At this point, rub the burnt skin off using a dry paper towel. Cut off the stem and remove as many seeds as possible. Place aside with the other seared aromatics.
After checking your beans for debris, add them to the pot along with the 1/2 cup of olive oil, Sazon, oregano, chili flakes, paprika, four 4-finger pinches of salt and 10-12 cranks of freshly ground black pepper (approximately 2 heaping tsp). Fill the pot with water so that the beans are covered by at least 2 inches.
Add your reserved fruit and veg to the top and bring the whole thing to a boil. At this point, reduce the heat to a gently bubbling simmer.
The beans will need to cook between 2.5-4 hours, or until they are tender all the way through. Be sure to keep your eye on the water level, making sure to cover the beans in water whenever needed.
Remove the aromatics from the beans. At this point, you have 2 choices: you can dispose of the aromatics to keep your broth clearer and thinner, or you can blend them in a food processor (careful to de-seed the lemons beforehand) and add them back to the beans. The latter makes your broth thicker and more unctuous. All the flavor has been cooked out of the aromatics, so this step is primarily for texture and appearance.
Turn the heat off on your burner and add your apple cider vinegar and mustard oil. Mix thoroughly and taste your beans. At this point you want to add more salt/ pepper/ vinegar a little at a time until they are seasoned to your liking.
Enjoy with rice or alone as a delicious vegan protein source!

Sam’s Coconut Sablé

makes 16 cookies

75 g unsalted butter, room temperature

50 g extra virgin olive oil

80 g white sugar

25 g fine dry coconut

55 g egg yolk

5 g dark rum (optional)

3 g salt

5 g baking powder

50 g powdered coconut milk

130 g all-purpose flour

Mix the butter, olive oil, sugar and dry coconut until the mixture is fully incorporated and slightly fluffy.
Add the egg yolk, rum and salt and mix thoroughly.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until no dry bits of flour remain. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour.
Once fully chilled, preheat the oven to 300℉. Roll the dough into 16 balls, each one approximately weighing 30 grams. You should end up with 16 dough balls.
Space the dough balls out on 2 parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. The edges of the sable should be just barely starting to brown.
Cool for 5 minutes on the sheet trays, then remove the cookies from their trays and finish cooling on the counter until they’re no longer warm to the touch.

Grape Parfait

This recipe is simple, yet delicious. It delivers a lot with a little, and is a go to for me on hot days. This recipe makes 3-4 servings

2 cups rinsed red grapes

1/2 cup full fat greek yogurt

2 tbsp maple syrup

1/3 cup toasted roughly chopped pecans or walnuts

2 4-finger pinches of brown sugar

Pinch of salt

Mix the yogurt with the maple syrup, salt and nuts
Add the grapes to the yogurt mixture
garnish with the brown sugar, only on top to preserve its texture

White cheddar biscuits with Calabrian chili butter

2 cups/ 300 g all-purpose flour

1 tbsp/ 14 g sugar

2 tsp/ 12 g kosher salt

2 1/2 tsp/ 8 g baking powder

1/2 tsp/ 4 g baking soda

1/2 cup/ 15 g very cold unsalted butter, grated

1 cup/ 80 g shredded aged white cheddar (look for labels that describe it as tasting similar to parmesan)

1 stick softened, unsalted butter

1 large head of roasted garlic (about 8 decent sized cloves)

2 tsp chopped Calabrian chilis (use 1 tsp if you don’t want it as spicy)

zest of 1 grapefruit (or 2 lemons)

a 4-finger pinch of flaky salt

Combine all of the dry ingredients with the butter and cheese and mix thoroughly. Stir in 1 cup of cold buttermilk and mix until no dry spots remain.
Wrap the dough in plastic and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. After this time, lightly flour your clean countertop and roll out the dough until it is 1/2 inch thick. Fold like a triple-folded pamphlet and roll out again the same way, folding the same way at the end. Try to keep the edges as squared away as possible.
Cover and rest the dough for 15 minutes. Then cut into 8 even squares/ rectangles. Place on a sheet tray with a finger width of space between each one.
Brush with the egg wash and bake at 400℉ for 10- 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top and bottom.
Make your compound butter. Wrap in plastic to chill. Once solid, cut into square pieces to place inside of your warm, sliced biscuits.

Twigs in a Blanket

24 asparagus spears

multipurpose dough (1 batch of dough can make 8 Twigs in a Blanket)

1 stick of butter, melted

2 tsp dried sage

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp mace (optional)

2 tbsp freshly ground Black pepper

Preheat your oven to 400℉
Roll out some dough (about 1/8th of the recipe) without flour until about 1/2″ thick and wrap around 3 asparagus spears. Be sure to press the dough together once wrapped to keep them sealed.
Once you’ve rolled up all the asparagus, brush the asparagus with half of your melted butter.
Mix together your ground spices and sprinkle onto the buttered asparagus.
Proof your twigs in a blanket under a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap until the dough slowly bounces back after a gentle poke, approximately 30 minutes.
Bake at 400℉ for 20 mins, or until nicely browned all around.
Brush the dough with the remaining butter and sprinkle on some flaky salt. Cool under a clean kitchen towel once baked to keep them soft.