Sweet Potato Sabotage

I had my first cooking failure. Now usually I treat cooking like abstract art—turning mistakes into masterpieces, leaving nothing unsalvageable, but this was pretty unsalvageable. Consisting of pork chops, sauteed spinach, and sweet potato latkes, all drizzled with a sherry and garlic reduction, my envisioned meal sounded delicious. Paired with a bottle of 2008 Eos Estate Private Reserve Chardonnay, my veins pumped with anticipation.

Finding a recipe out of How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman for Sauteed Pork Chops 8 ways (http://www.howtocookeverything.tv/recipe.php%3Fnid=68.html) , I wasn’t really concerned with the pork chops falling flat. This recipe is straight forward and easy to follow. (The link above, does not include the sherry and garlic sauce, but in step three, instead of adding butter, add 1 table spoon of garlic, and a 1/2 cup of not-to-dry sherry—I used cream sherry. Let the sauce reduce until it reaches a syrupy consistency and add the parsley, olive oil, and lemon juice.)

Then came the Sweet Potato Latkes. Now I’ve said multiple times, that when it comes to online recipes, make sure you use the ones that have high ratings, and good reviews. Not taking my own advice, I found this shady website: http://bullets-and-beer.com/recipes/SweetPotato.html. With a simple layout, no room for comments or reviews, and a sweet potato pancake recipe, followed by a sweet potato latke recipe, I really don’t know what I was thinking. But I read over the recipe, and it sounded simple enough, so I didn’t give it a second thought.

Luckily my smoke detector is hiding, because man was I producing a lot of smoke. Browning pork chops on the stove top requires hot oil and a hot pan. Once the chops were down, the kitchen was flooded with sizzling, searing, and smoking. Keeping my cool, I tried to be patient with the chops, allowing them to brown, which keeps all of those valuable juices inside, but in the back of my mind, thoughts of fire trucks zipping to my building looped indefinitely. Living in a high rise, its hard not to feel like big brother is watching some times.

Once the chops were set to simmer, I moved on to the sweet potatoes. Preparing everything ahead of time, all I had to do was take the potato mixture out of the fridge and begin frying. Now here is where things started to go awry. After heating some vegetable oil in a skillet I started with two small latkes. Giving them some time to brown, I went ahead and tried to flip them, but guess what, they fell apart in the pan. So scrapping the first round, I thought about what to do with the rest of the mixture. I asked Michael if adding some more flour, or another egg would help keep the mixture hold together better, and after a bit of research we decided that an egg might do the trick.

While mixing the egg, I turned to the skillet, only to notice yet more smoke, billowing out of the left over bits of sweet potato in the pan. Yanking the pan off the heat, the fire trucks started screaming in my head again, but I took a deep breathe and continued on. After cleaning out the pan, I heated some more oil, and placed one latke in the skillet. Noticing some brown edges I crossed my fingers, and went to flip. Success (although short lived). With the residual oil left in the skillet flaked with darkening bits of sweet potato I was faced with a dilemma. Should I spend time starting with fresh oil for every latke, or should I try to cook the sweet potato mixture into hash browns? With the pork chops almost done, I opted for the hash, only to discover that with out frying, the amount of lemon juice made the potatoes taste like pine-sol. Fed up with the ordeal, I popped a fresh sweet potato in the microwave, and sent the hash to the trash.

With the reduction sauce coming together beautifully, and the spinach perfectly sauteed, I shook off the sabotaging sweet potatoes, and plated as I had envisioned, sans the latkes. Pouring a glass of wine, I was ready to relax and enjoy.

Swirling the greenish-gold Chardonnay, I noticed the legs coat the glass like corn syrup, indicative of the very high alcohol content. Lowering my nose to smell, I was met with light floral aromas with an underlying warmth of caramel and citrus. Coating every crevasse of my mouth, the wine lay heavy on my palate with an oaky presence, but did not lack in acidity. Taking my first swallow, I wasn’t left with a lingering bitterness, but a soft finish with a slight caramel overtone.

Diving into the chop, I stabbed a good hunk of pork coated with the reduction, and some spinach. Presenting my palate with a flavor over load, the reduction was sweet and salty, while the pork provided a base, and the spinach some bitterness. Having the added freshness from the sweet potato provided a contrasting spectrum of flavors, and helped the pork avoid monotony. While it probably would have been better with the latkes, the sweet potato served its purpose, and was healthier than the oil soaked alternative.

Completing the tasting, I took another mouthful of wine. With caramelly features, the wine was able to bring out the layers of flavor in the reduction, while standing up to the fattiness of the meat. Bringing out the lighter floral overtones, the sweet potato enhanced the Chardonnay with its contrasting flavors. Leaving me with an overall warmth and comfort, the kitchen catastrophe was soon just a memory.

I’ll probably try sweet potato laktes again in the future, but the task will not be done without trepidation. But with so many recipes out there, there is bound to be a better one. Any suggestions? All in all, the meal ended with ease, and was yet another perfect pair.

Battle Ham: Part 1

Crock Pot Ham with 2008 Castle Rock Pinot Noir: 5/5

For the holidays my family tends to keep it traditional—turkey for Thanksgiving, ham for Christmas. But since my family resides from mid-Wisconsin, to lower Illinois, the holidays are usually held on a day that is most convenient for everyone. That happens to be tomorrow.

So as I was debating dinner for Michael and I’s Christmas, I was struck with an idea. Since my mom was making ham, why don’t I make a ham as well, and compare the two! Too much ham you say? When it comes to Christmas, you can never have enough ham.

Lo-and-behold, with the few remaining hams in the grocery store on Christmas Eve, I was able to score a $20 ham for $8. With some sides in mind I grabbed a bottle of wine, and headed home to tackle the hunk of meat.

Most likely, my mom will prepare her ham in the oven, or a roaster pan. She’s been known to buy a spiral cut ham, which makes perfect slices, and usually comes with a glaze packet, so I wanted to do the opposite. A ham in the Crock pot is as easy as any other meat in the crock-pot, all you have to do is let it cook for 8 hours.

With the meat simmering away, Michael and I spent the day making doughnuts, candy cane cookies, and a souffle so Rachel, my veggie friend, would have something substantial to eat when it came time for dinner. Following Mark Bittman’s spinach and cheese souffle recipe, my souffle did not fall! Needless to say, for my first souffle, I was very thrilled. (Julia Child’s Recipe is very similar and can be found at, http://www.bigoven.com/160575-Spinach-and-Cheese-Souffle-recipe.html)

About 3 hours into the cooking of the ham, the smell was already unbearably intoxicating. The smell of salty ham and cloves combined with baking cookies, and A Christmas Story on repeat, filled our apartment with yule tide merriment.

When it came time to glaze the turkey, I looked for a recipe a bit out of the ordinary. While most recipes called for corn syrup and brown sugar, I found one that called for coffee and apple cider vinegar http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/11/Brown_Sugar_Ham_Glaze1602.shtml. Since the meat was so tender and falling apart, I decided to modify the glaze into more of a jus, so that the meat could soak up the flavor.

Now ham is technically a red meat, which traditionally is paired with red wines. But concerned that a Cabernet would over power the delicate flavors of the souffle and the sweetness of the sweet potatoes, I opted for a lighter red. Rachel is originally from Sanoma County, California, so when I found a bottle of 2008 Castle Rock Pinot Noir, out of Mendocino County, a hop jump and a skip away from Sanoma County, I thought it was fitting.

With an alcohol content of 13.8% the Pinot would have a nice medium body. Described as having notes of raspberry and strawberry, I thought the lighter flavors would pick up on the smokiness of the ham, the savory souflee, and the sweet, sweet potatoes. Although a young red, the wine would have just that bit of tannin to compete with the fat content of the ham.

To keep the integrity of the souffle I decided to serve everything family style. Which was fitting with it being Christmas and all. The three of us sat, new, hungry, friends, and the feast was complete, except for the sweet potatoes, which joined the party after a bit of a marshmallow catastrophe.

Soaking up the smoky flavor of the cloves, and just a hint of bitterness from the coffee, the ham was divine. Of course, since it was not spiral cut, Michael and I ravaged over chunks of meat, but we didn’t mind. The meat was juicy and tender, retaining it’s juices from the crock pot. Mixed with the souffle the effect was almost that of a ham cheese and spinach omelet, a pleasant and unexpected surprise.

The wine had a wonderful medium body, and was a gem to sniff. The rich fruity flavors, contrasted nicely with such a wintery meal. Coating my palate the wine felt like silk, sloshing over my tongue and sliding down my throat. The effect was everything I wanted it to be, the ham did not over power the wine, nor the wine the meat or the souffle.

I don’t know if my mom’s ham will be able to compete with mine, but to her benefit she will have the added effect of family, love, and that magic that comes from mom’s cooking. But for now, I am going to choose my ham and wine as the perfect pair.

Meaty, Meaty Meatloaf

Meatloaf and 2006 Oxford Landing Cabernet and Shriaz Blend: 4/5

American classics—grilled cheese, green bean casserole, pot roast, apple pie. Recipes that came from cupboards and freezers, combinations of miscellaneous odds and ends in a post depression America. In my mind, one recipe screams classic more than any other, a simple combination of ground meat, bread crumbs, some seasoning, and usually ketchup—meatloaf.

Meatloaf, as with many classic american comfort food recipes, is a product of the middle class. Nothing in the dish is rare, exotic, or hard to find. No ingredients are too expensive, and it is able to feed a family of four with some left over. But, classic recipes, usually are lacking in flavor.

Growing up we only had meatloaf a hand full of times. I don’t know if it was my mom’s recipe, or my dad’s distaste for ketchup, but no one really cared for the gelatinous brown mass, blood red, from its tomatoey bath.

But after receiving a call from Michael telling me he got an invitation to go see the Flaming Lips, I wasn’t feeling very motivated to go to the grocery store to make something for myself. So I opened the fridge, the pantry, then the freezer, and then Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, which is now on my christmas list. With a pound of ground beef in the fridge, along with some veggies, ground venison in the freezer, and panko in the pantry, it was looking like meatloaf was for dinner. http://springpadit.com/ketherian/recipe/bittmansmeatloaf

Of all the meatloafs I’ve had in my life, none have included fresh herbs or minced carrot, and they all were basted in ketchup, so I was a little anxious to taste the final product of this recipe. Would it be better than mom’s? To spice mine up a bit, I added some Worcestershire sauce, some various spices from my cupboard, and what they hey, I had it my fridge, so I minced a rib of celery as well.

For you vegetarians out there, meatloaf is not the prettiest thing to watch while it is cooking. As the outside browns, fat is cooked out of the loaf, seeping onto the baking dish, some coagulating around the meat. Maybe that’s why my mom didn’t like to cook meat loaf. While you can cook meat loaf in a loaf pan, it retains it shape, so you can also make a loaf shape on a baking dish, which is what I did.

Since there was no shopping involved in this recipe, I was left pairing with a wine from my collection. I knew I wanted a red wine. Although the ground beef and venison I used were lean, they were still red meat, and were going to need some tannin to cut through all that meatiness. Now a heavier bodied merlot or a cabernet, would probably outweigh the herbs and spices in the meatloaf, and unfortunately most of my red collection is just that. But, continuing my search, I found something promising.

A blend of Cabernet and Shiraz, the 2006 Oxford Landing blend from south Australia, could fit the bill, not the most expensive wine, but I wasn’t making the most expensive meal, so it seemed perfect. With a description of blackberry and plum, and an alcohol content of 13.5%, the blend would have the perfect body to pair with the lean red meat.

To accompany the meatloaf, I decided on a baked sweet potato and some veggies. For those of you who have not had a baked sweet potato, I strongly suggest giving it a shot. In my opinion, sweet potatoes just have more flavor than traditional russets, while still lending themselves to a variety of toppings. While I like mine with sour cream or butter, you can also top them with brown sugar, cinnamon, candied walnuts, or even maple syrup, perfect to warm you up in the winter. Sweet potatoes are also healthier for you. Lower in empty starches, high in beta carotene, vitamin A, C, and B6, its something you can feel good about eating.

As the loaf made its way out of the oven, sweet smells of parsley, onion, and celery swept the space around me. On multiple occasions now, Michael and I’s neighbors have stopped us on the way to the elevator, and asked if we were the ones doing all of the good smelling cooking. What can I say? I am thinking of buying a dry erase board for our door and post the evening’s pairing.

Staring at the mass of meat, I studied the specks of green and orange. It just looked better than my mom’s. Worried that the loaf would crumble under the weight of my knife I started my first slice. To my surprise everything held together, and was cooked completely through. Examining the cross section, the various specks of other ingredients were perfectly suspended throughout the loaf like little flavor pockets waiting to be popped.

Swirling and sniffing, the wine smelled very oaky and acidic, but after a second swirl I could pick out some blackberry notes. Having aged a couple of years, the wine was darker in color, and had noticeable legs, but did not coat the glass like syrup. Upon first taste, I was over powered by the strong acidity, burning my throat on the way down. I began to worry that the meatloaf didn’t stand a chance.

Segmenting a small bite, I brought the meatloaf to my mouth. I was overpowered by the rich herby flavor of the parsley, with fresh compliments of carrot and celery. Even with wine on my palate the bold zest of the meatloaf was able to withstand the acidity of the wine. With the sweet flavor of the sweet potato, and the cruchiness of steamed veggies, I was in a 1950s dining room, complete with mom in pearls.

As I sat alone at my dining room table, I made the realization that food is best when shared. Not only is it the wine and food being paired, it’s also the company. But solitude aside, it was a perfect pair.