Happy New Year!

So, it's been almost a year since I last posted on this blog. That's a shame. Since I apparently can't manage to post on two blogs, I'm paring it down to one. This is simple, because my other blog has kind of an "anything goes" format, whereas this one is fairly specific (food). As I explain in this post over there, I'm just going to not post what I would normally not post here over on The Rather Eclectic Blog.

See you over there!

Bean soup with Smoked Turkey and Collard Greens

The other day, I ate at Trafficjam and Snug---a wonderful restaurant in Midtown Detroit---with some friends. While there, I had this soup, and decided that I would try to copy it. This is my current iteration; I think it's pretty close, but I would have to go back and have a bowl at the restaurant to compare.


Smoked Turkey Soup with Great Northern Beans and Collard Greens

• Soak one pound of great northern beans overnight.
• Dice two onions, two stalks celery, and one green bell pepper. Sweat in olive oil in a large pot until soft and golden brown.
• Add two smoked turkey legs, and about three quarts of water
  
• Add two teaspoons dry thyme, a tablespoon dry parsley, a teaspoon or two of crushed red pepper, two bay leaves, and plenty of black pepper.
• Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for about three hours, until the broth has some flavor and the meat is starting to fall off the bones. Pull out the turkey legs and add the beans.
• Disassemble the turkey legs. They have a lot of little bones and bits of cartelidge in them, so this can be somewhat painstaking, but if you cooked it long enough the meat pretty much slides right off the bones. Anyway, pull off the meat, discard the smaller bones, put the large bones from the center back in the soup, cut up the meat, and add it back as well.
• Cook for another hour to hour and a half, until the beans are soft.
• Wash one bunch of collard greens. Cut out the stems in the middle, and stack and roughly cut the leaves into 1/2 inch wide strips crosswise. Add to the soup.
• Cook for twenty minutes or so, season with salt, pepper, and plenty of Tobasco sauce, and serve.
  

Puy Lentils with sherry vinaigrette and poached egg

So I ate this before I managed to get a picture of it. Anyway, it was tasty. I was wondering what to eat for lunch yesterday, and it was already 1:30 or so, so I looked in the pantry and found some French Lentilles du Puy. These are lovely little dark green lentils flecked with grey, have a wonderful firm texture, and hold their shape well, in addition to having a wonderful earthy flavor.

Figuring I could do something with them for lunch, I rinsed off half a cup, put them in a small saucepan, covered them with water and turned on the heat, then wandered back to Facebook for the next twenty minutes or so.

Returning to the kitchen, I found eggs, dijon mustard, some nice sherry vinegar, white wine vinegar, and olive oil. I made a quick vinaigrette (spot of dijon, a splash each of the vinegars, some salt and pepper, whisk until combined, drizzle in olive oil while whisking until it's thick and creamy) and dressed the lentils with about half of it. At the same time, I was heating up water with salt and vinegar to poach an egg.

I slipped the egg out of its teacup into the swirling, gently boiling water, watching the whites gather around the yolk. Giving it another gentle stir to keep the mass moving around the pot and glancing at the clock, I turned my attention back to the lentils. Tasting them, I added a bit more salt and pepper, gave them a final stir, and dumped them onto my plate. By this time, the egg had been simmering away for about three minutes, so I carefully fished it out of the water, drained it on a paper towel, and placed it in the center of its lentil nest, before drizzling it with the rest of the vinaigrette, and topping it with salt and pepper.

Simple, delicious, and I didn't have to go out and buy any ingredients. That's a win in my book. Next time, I think I'll throw a bay leaf and some chopped shallot in with the lentils.

Introducing Tiny Kitchen in Dearborn

Since finishing college and starting to live on my own, I really haven't done very much cooking beyond meeting my basic need for sustenance. This is unfortunate, because I used to love cooking. I think a big part of the enjoyment I received from cooking came from having housemates to cook for; without someone with whom to share the food I make, I lose much of the enjoyment of the process.

Hopefully by starting this blog, I can share a meal or two with you every week. This is mainly selfish, because the main goal here is to make a couple of post-worthy meals every week; I'm going to be the one eating those meals, but I will post photographs and recipes so that you, my dear reader, can try them and join me in enjoying a delicious meal.