Gumbo

"A good gumbo does for the soul what a pretty woman does for the heart, if it’s that good, its gotta be bad." unknown

There are as many theories about the origins of gumbo as there are recipes but one thing is certain, whether its Cajun or Creole, spicy or not, vegetarian (z’herbes) or venison fish or fowl gumbo is king and the crown belongs to America for gumbo is truly an American Classic as elegant and robust as it is delicate and home spun.

Gumbo Filé is a thinner, darker gumbo than its country cousin Okra Gumbo and the difference may be a clue to the origin and ultimate evolution of this iconic one pot meal.


The word gumbo, likely a variation on the Bantu word for okra (kingombo), would have described the natural thickening okra imparts to any dish. Okra, common in Africa, was not native in the Americas so early settlers learning from local peoples used the sassafras tree, found only in North America and Asia to thicken their stews. The powdered leaf or filé is added after cooking and gives Gumbo Filé its slightly “stringy” texture.

As successive waves of French Canadians, French, Spanish, West Indians and Africans merged along the deltas of Louisiana their rich blend of heritage cooking became synonymous with good food, good times and good people.

Shrimp and a shellfish alternative
1 Package extra firm tofu
1 Tbs Old Bay Seasoning
Drain the tofu then place on a clean paper towel in the bottom of a strainer. Place a small pan on top of the tofu filling it with water to act as a weight and let stand for 30 minutes to press excess water from the tofu. Cut the tofu into wedges.
Add Old Bay Seasoning to 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add the cut pieces of tofu reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes, set aside. Reserve the seasoning water.
Add 2 Tbls of butter to a heavy skillet set over a medium high flame add the tofu pieces and sauté until lightly browned. Return seasoned boiling broth to pan and cover. Continue cooking on low for 15 minutes or until broth is evaporated. Set aside.


Browned sausage, beef cubes or chicken
Using the same heavy skillet crusty pieces and all, add sliced sausage (andouille is a favored Louisiana style sausage), pieces of lean beef or chicken cut into 1 inch cubes and sauté until lightly browned...or, this is gumbo - why not add all three.


Alternatively seafood gumbo suggests an equally rich variety of shellfish, ocean and fresh water fish combinations.
(Most grocers now carry a variety of non meat alternatives to traditional beef, sausage pork and fowl for vegetarians who want to indulge their gumbo ya-ya)


The “Trinity”
I/2 cup each of onion, celery and green bell pepper chopped coarsely, set aside.

Roux:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1/2 cup cold water

Again, using the same heavy skillet, crusty parts and all, heat oil over a high flame and add the flour; now you need a wooden spoon. turn the flame down to medium and stirring constantly let the mixture turn a dark chocolate brown, about 15-20 minutes.


Various shades of browning determine the flavor of the roux; the longer you cook and stir the darker the roux becomes and richer. A white to nutmeg color is great for country cooking with chicken and turkey. A darker cinnamon color works well with pork and a darker roux compliments beef dishes. The darker the color the thinner the roux will be until it’s almost a broth consistency and then with a little onion and good merlot you have a great base for French Onion Soup.


Gumbo servi style Cajun 

Now for the flavor and goodness - hence the name, add the “Trinity” mix to the bubbling roux, turn down the flame and continue cooking up to an hour.

Once the flavor is in add the browned meat and continue cooking on low heat covered for another thirty to forty-five minutes adding water if it becomes too dry.

Serve over rice with a little filé powder to season. Never add filé to the cooking pot, it will turn bitter over constant heat.

Got Key Lime Pie

Living in Florida is its own reward, sun and surf, beautiful sunsets, bikinis and, as if that weren't enough, now and then a delight for the palate. I'm speaking, of course, about Key Lime Pie that rare combination of citrus from tiny, tart Key limes and the silk-smooth, creamy richness of sweetened condensed milk.

Each year hoards of tourists arrive in Florida and devour hundreds of tons of this amazingly simple but oh so tropical dessert. The dessert is made easily, by combining a couple of cans of sweetened condensed milk with eggs and the juice of a dozen or so Key limes. Pour into a graham cracker crust and refrigerate for several hours. Serve with mounds of sweet whipped cream.

So we set about to create a traditional yet vegan Key Lime Pie

Turns out the question arises, what is sweetened condensed milk and moreover why does it exist? Useful, of course, for many desserts sweetened condensed milk doesn't seem to have any other purpose. So we did a little digging.

In 1856 Gail Borden a tinkerer and inventor submitted his patent for Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk. By extracting the water from whole milk and replacing it with sugar Borden was able to preserve canned milk and thus make it portable in a world without refrigeration. Milk spoils in hours left unrefrigerated and "milk disease" in the mid 1800s was a serious public health issue. With Borden's invention mothers could now send canned milk to school with their children and city folk could count on safe milk for their meals far away from the source, the dairy farm.

Diseases and illness related to milk products are historically so prolific that whole societies have created laws to govern the consumption of milk. Kosher law strictly forbids serving milk and dairy together or even sharing food vessels and utensils for fear of cross contamination.

Lactose intolerance is considered by many as the single most widespread allergy in the world today. Many countries have banned the use of recombinant bovine growth hormone or rBGH, which is used in cows to accelerate their growth, citing insufficient research concerning the impact on human consumers.

Finally, in the early 21st century milk has come under suspicion by UK researchers as a likely vector for Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (MAP) bacteria the principle causal element in Crohn's disease, the human equivalent of "Mad Cow."

Wild, fresh and kind salmon

This recipe blends classic eastern flavors, wild rice and native northwestern salmon equally suited for either the grill or stove top.

When native Americans first combined wild rice collected from marsh lands in what is now the boarder between Minnesota, Canada and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with fresh salmon from the cold waters of the Northwest the pairing was a perfect combination of delicate textures and strong flavors.

We've recreated that simple, fresh and wild combination with a simple, surprisingly flavorful twist; we've substituted grilled tofu for the salmon. Easy and quick, this recipe makes a perfect first night meal for family or friends who share a taste for freshness and a compassion for all things living wild.

Ingredients

The Rice:
1/2 cup wild rice 3/4 ounce (about 20 medium) dried shiitake caps
2-3 scallions, thinly sliced (keep white and green parts separate)
1 cup short-grain brown rice 2 to 3 teaspoons Japanese soy sauce (shoyu or tamari)

The Vegetables:
1 cup fresh broccoli florets
2 large carrots washed, sliced diagonally
1 medium onion quartered
2 stalks celery sliced diagonally

For the Salmon:
8 ounces extra firm tofu sliced into 4 steaks
2-inch chunk fresh ginger, peeled and cut into eighths
2 large cloves garlic
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce (shoyu or tamari), plus more to pass at the table
1 teaspoon molasses
Peanut oil, for frying
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon “Old Bay Seasoning”

Method

Finely chop the ginger, garlic and scallion whites. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, molasses, Old Bay and blend well to create a marinade. Drench the tofu slices with the marinade cover and refrigerate one hour.

Bake or grill the marinated tofu salmon at 350º Fahrenheit for 30 minutes turning once, set aside. Reserve the marinade.

Soak dried shiitake in water until the shitake are soft, about 15 minutes. Cut the caps into strips 1/4-inch thick and return them to the soaking water.

To prepare the rice: Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot. Add wild rice and cook at a gentle boil, uncovered, until the rice is tender and some of the grains have burst open and curled, 45 to 60 minutes. Drain well and set aside.

10 minutes before serving add 2 tablespoons of water to a hot skillet, sauté the carrot, onion, celery and broccoli 3-4 minutes covered. Add the mushrooms, soaking liquid and reserved marinade; continue to sauté another minute, remove from heat.

Heat 1 teaspoon of peanut oil in a large skillet over high heat until sizzling. Spread ½ of the reserved marinade (glaze) onto one side of each steak. Set the steaks, glazed-side down, in the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook uncovered for 1-1/2 minutes. Spread remaining glaze on the top side of each steak, and flip over. Turn the heat to medium-low and continue cooking an additional minute.

Serve on a bed of wild rice sprinkled with additional marinade. Garnish with slivered scallion greens.

A 2006 California Sauvignon Blanc from Kendal Jackson is the perfect pairing with this dish. The creaminess and sweetness of the sun soaked grapes highlight the sweetness of the glaze while its tang stands well with the eastern spices and woody flavors of the mushrooms and vegetables.

Serves 4

Here’s cooking at you kid, Rick

As American as apple pie, burgers and Napa Valley

Build a Better Burger

Wine, vino, the word "wine" likely derives from early Germanic *winam, borrowing from the Latin vinum, "wine" or "(grape) vine", has been a constant companion to agricultural man for 8000 years and a staple of economic man for nearly as long.

One of the few renewable sources of wealth wine, for centuries the currency of trade from Asia to Africa, Europe and the Americas, today is estimated to contribute more than $111 billion dollars* annually to the wealth and most likely the health of the world’s economies, including developing nations.

As part of our “Classics” recipes we eventually had to pay homage to wine as a natural pairing with food from every corner of the globe; and lucky us, just such a pairing is taking place next week end in Napa Valley and you’re all invited.

Whether grilling outdoors or adding those classic grill marks to your favorite burger on your stove top grill you’ll want to check in with Sutter Home Wines' ‘Build a Better Burger’ contest next weekend and collect some grill tips from the masters and maybe get the winning recipe in time for your next grilling event as well as a few good wine recommendations while you’re at it.

Whether grilling outdoors or adding those classic grill marks to your favorite burger on your stove top grill you’ll want to check in with Sutter Home Wine’s ‘Build a Better Burger’ contest next weekend and collect some grill tips from the masters and maybe get the winning recipe in time for your next grilling event as well as a few good wine recommendations while you’re at it.

This is Sutter Homes 17th annual ‘Build a Better Burger’ contest and promises to be the best ever with finalists from six regions covering the U.S., competing for a $50,000 grand prize.

The final event is Saturday the 29th and you can catch all the sights and sounds if not the aromas on their web site now at SutterHome.com

Burgers are as American as apple pie, and for that matter what goes better with a backyard grilled masterpiece with all the fixin’s than apple pie or perhaps an Apple Pie Martini. Sutter Home’s bbbblog editor Colleen LeMasters says that she’ll be following the day’s events closely, eager to see what great wines their 6 finalists will be pairing with their final entries. Colleen will be blogging live during the event so be sure to check out her coverage Saturday at the Build-a-Better-Burger-Blog.

We’d like to join in the fun too, so if you didn’t have a chance to enter your own classic in this year’s Build a Better Burger contest send your favorite burger recipe to Burgers at Rick’s Place and we’ll post it along with this year’s winners.

To get things started we thought we’d bring out our Here’s Cooking at You “classic” American Burger, a chopped sirloin grill with onion, cheddar and all the smoky goodness of a meal on a bun as only backyard grillers can cook it up.

Ingredients:

• ½ pound chopped sirloin season to taste (we like a pinch of Cajun or Creole spice mix)
  
• ¼ cup of fresh, sliced mushrooms. varietals
  
• 1 ½ inch thick slice Vidalia onion
  
• ½ ounce extra sharp cheddar cheese
  
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
  
• 1 fresh French baked onion roll

Method:

Sauté sliced mushrooms and onion in vegetable oil with a pinch of Cajun seasoning, about 5 minutes on medium high heat, remove and set aside covered.

Grill the sirloin burger over medium coals until desired degree of 'done', flipping once; only once mind you.

Top burger with cheddar cheese, and cover until cheese melts slightly.

Split the roll and set cut sides down on the grill to slightly toast.

Build the burger and top with fix’ns to taste; we like Romaine lettuce, sour cream and Dijon mustard with more Cajun spice.

Serve with a side of gumbo and rice sprinkled with fresh file and a cold Apple Pie Martini.


Apple Pie Martini

Apple pie is a drink for hot evenings and slow rhythms. Simply close your eyes and drink in the delicate fragrance of apples and the last of summer with a cold apple pie and a hot burger.

• 3 oz Stolichnaya® Vanilla vodka
  
• 1/2 oz Calvados® brandy
  
• 1/2 oz dry vermouth

Pour the vanilla vodka, Calvados brandy and dry vermouth into a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes. Shake well, and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a thin slice of apple, and serve.

And remember, hope to see you next weekend at Sutter Homes Wines' Build a Better Burger finals in Napa Valley.