Grouse Fried Rice and More

                                         You could do this with grouse or pheasant or chicken. Lucky me I am 1 for zero on grouse this yr because my brown lab pup brought me home a grouse the other day. Good dog. It reminds me of my grouse hunting days back in the late 60's at Many Point Scout Camp in NW Mn when I got a triple on grouse once. Two hours for a limit of six was not uncommon.
                                         Jim Kadlec and I were hiking a logging trail up to the Beaver Lakes for ducks on opener.. Grouse were flushing like cazy.  The law said you couldn't shoot anything till noon.  Finally we said to hell with the law because we weren't shooting ducks early which was the point of the law and 5 grouse got up in front of us and I shot one just off the ground and the second about 10 feet up and to the right. Another lighted high in a popple tree to the left of the trail.I was yelling to Jim, " he's in the tree, he's in the tree" and Jim was hip shooting into the woods. I reloaded my JC Penney 12 gauge and shot him out of that tree. A triple on grouse. Best I've ever done.
                                However you get your grouse, one of the best ways to eat it is in a stir fry w/ brown rice and veggies - onions, sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, crushed red pepper, garlic, sage and parsley. Stir a couple of eggs into it. It will remind you of one of your best hunting days ever.  

Duck Soup with Lentils and Root Vegetables

                              Lentils and root vegetables are the perfect accompaniment to this luscious and wild duck soup. See previous post for marinade and cooking of duck. Saute onions, carrots, celery,add water, a beef and a chicken bouillion cube, garlic,bayleaf, sage,mint and simmer a half hr until vegetables are tender. Add finely diced cooked duck breast,frozen garden tomatoes and get hot.  Serve w/ artisan bread for dunking. Cabernet on the side. Yaas.                           

Knives. Stainless is Bling. Game is Not.

         
                    So now that you're getting your annual game, you are cutting it up, cooking it, carving and serving it. A quality appropriately shaped utilitarian knife is essential. You can spend hundreds of dollars acquiring chef branded and/or endorsed famous brand named stainless steel ones, or you can get on ebay or better yet check out local antique shops and get vintage OLD HICKORY high carbon steel knives at a fraction of the cost. Like $12.00 total for these 3 - an 8" chef's, an 8" butcher/carver and a 6 "boning knife. With a hanging wooden display board as well( not necessary).
                 Ontario Knife Company made these" Tru-Edge"  knives for many years( made in the USA). The 1050 high carbon steel knives are easy to put an edge on with a diamond dust steel and hold their edge exceptionally well. Keep them clean and unstained with soap and water and a scotch brite pad. Don't soak them in dishwater or put them in your dishwasher.Dry them with a towel after washing as they will rust if left wet. 30 seconds cleaning is all it takes after use. Far superior all around to any stainless knife that I have found or used in 40 yrs of professional knife use.
               Stainless is bling. Game is not.    

Duck Breast Pate w/ Homemade Crackers

              A wild duck tastes like everything it ever did or ever ate. That is exciting. If you are lucky enough to get one or more, you should bone it out and soak it/them in a marinade involving red wine, balsamic vinegar, onions, garlic, olive oil, herbs de Provence and crushed red pepper, worcestershire and mustard. That is complex, but so is a northern mallard. A perfect match. You could soak them for a day to a week in the fridge ,and then saute them gently in butter till done. Chill.
             Finely dice duck meat, add 1/3 cream cheese and a little milk to get a soft consistency.Shape in a round and top with jalapeno jelly. Chill. Serve with homemade crackers.
                

Chili, Scrambled Eggs and Cheese

                                             Make your favorite chili recipe and serve it over scrambled eggs with fresh grated colby jack cheese and whole wheat toast. Top with sour cream.

Meatloaf

     Make your favorite meatloaf recipe and serve it with potato pancakes.

Potato Pancakes

                     Back in the 70's I was a cook at the Black Forest Inn in South Minneapolis. It was a renowned German restaurant, famous for many of it's authentic old world recipes. Soups, sauces and gravies were made from in house stock from beef and chicken bones that were skillet browned and simmered for 24 hours. Fat from sides of beef was ground and bagged and frozen and rendered into deep fat frier oil once a month. House cut french fries were fried in this fat.
                   As were potato pancakes.Grated boiled potatoes, onions, eggs, flour, marjoram,nutmeg.browned like hashbrowns and served with applesauce and sour cream. 
                        

Zucchini Bread

My mom was not much of a cook but I loved what she cooked because I didn't know any better. In hindsight I can say that she nailed about a half dozen plus a few more recipes.Her strength, really, was language and love.
    Her Dad was 2 yrs old in 1881 when he emigrated to the US. Her grandfather Eric Engson was the 1st practising medical doctor in Kittson County in NW Minnesota. Twenty years later he was granted a license. He had been an apprentice doctor in Sweden where he and his doctor/ mentor had specialised in bone fractures in a logging area of Sweden. Logs, axes, loggers, consequent fractures and necesary repair.
       Mom spoke only Swedish when she attended 1st grade. English came quickly and years later she would teach English, French, German and Spanish in Secondary school in Minnetonka,Mn.
       Mom was a single parent to the 3 of us kids after twin brother Jim and I(John) were in 1st grade. Sister Karen was 4 yrs older. Dad had early success as a teacher, principal and coach but booze did him in and he lost his job and his marriage.
        Mom made great banana nut bread.Warm from the oven and spread with fresh butter there was nothing better.

Zucchini Bread - adapted from several sources including Mom and me and Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

                   3 eggs
                   1 cup olive and veg oil or combo
                   1 cup brown sugar
                   1/2 cup maple syrup
                   2 cups grated zucchini or summer squash or combo
                   1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
                   1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
                   1/2 cup oatmeal
                   3 tsp cinnamon
                   1/4 tsp nutmeg
                   1 tsp baking soda
                   1/2 tsp baking powder
                   1 tsp salt
                   1 cup chopped walnuts
                   1 cup chocolate chips

                   Method:
                               Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 8 inch cake pans.
                               Beat eggs, oil and sugar and maple syrup with a whisk, add zucchini.
                              Incorporate  flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and
                               add to egg mixture. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.

                              Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cut like a pie and serve warm with butter.




                  
                





    

Elk Burger Redux And More.

Ross and I cut and hauled and handsplit about 2 cords of wood these last 2 exquisite fall days. We ate meatloaf style elk burgers this time( moist and tender, more flavor than straight elk), breaded zucchini sticks fried in olive oil, sauteed largemouth bass and bluegill topped with with garden fresh pesto and tomatoes , drank Cabernet and Pinot Noir and talked of old times. It was all good.  I'm a chef. He's a winemaker. A shared history of good food, wine and memorable times. We were boy scout camp counselors at Many Point Scout Camp NE of Detroit Lakes, Mn  back in the 60's.
         Prior to that as a scout I had flunked cooking merit badge three times, once after frying pork chops in vaseline because I had forgot to bring cooking oil on the canoe trip. I thought that vaseline would work because it was slippery like cooking oil. It didn't.
        A yr or two later in Detroit Lakes, I would meet and hang out with Jessica Lange the actress,before she was Jessica Lange if you know what I mean, although she did have the same
 name. She was smart, somewhat affected(as if she knew what her future would be; also naive - she did not yet know how to inhale the smoke of a cigarette but did it unknowingly with great style), and strikingly beautiful. The big screen never did her looks justice.

        Cut your zucchini into 3 inch by 1/4 inch strips and dip in eggwash and seasoned flour and place in a half inch of med hot oil. Cook till golden and turn, cooking till golden on the flip side. Drain on paper towels. Season with sea salt, granulated garlic and ground cayenne pepper. Eat. The zucchini is so moist that you do not need a dipping sauce, but if you must you can use red sauce, ranch dressing or pesto( my favorite).

       Dredge your fish filets in seasoned flour and saute' in olive oil for a couple of minutes till golden, turn over, add cherry tomatoes cut in half, spoon pesto on top of filets, add 1/2 cup white wine to pan, cook about 2 minutes till done. Plate filets and pour sauce and tomatoes over filets. The tomatoes( garden fresh) and pesto add a depth, richness and complexity to the fish that doesn't overwhelm the natural freshwater flavor of the fish.

      Elk burgers done meatloaf style - with the addition of eggs, breadcrumbs and seasonings - salt, pepper, garlic, cayenne, worcestershire - produce a burger that is moist and tender . Caramelized onions and a sauce of 2/3  ketchup and 1/3 mustard and tabasco to taste complete this perfect venison burger.    



    

                

Elk Burgers

Gotta love it when your son in law drops off last yrs excess inventory of assorted pkgs of venison sausages and elk burger in anticipation of this yrs take. They've got plenty. They're gonna get more. They know it. They've done it for yrs. It's a done deal. They are cleaning out the freezer.
Lucky me.
It is nearly 2 weeks into September and the sky and the light has changed; today's wind blustry, thrashing the pines and oaks, leaves and branches left on the yard.  A week ago the wild rice tendrills were green with purple tops as I knocked a few into the canoe. A meager yield this season due to to early heavy rains and later strong winds. What was left was laying half down and it was a one side of the canoe half harvest of a quarter crop. Not a lot. Like hobby ricing.
I fried the elk burgers, seasoned w/ salt, pepper, garlic in a black cast iron pan, along with carmelized onions and plenty of garlic,  and at the end added worcestershire sauce and smoked cheddar cheese.
We ate them on whole grain bread w/ketchup and mustard and tabasco to taste.
Luscious, assertive and wild.
October on the palate.   

Summer's Bounty

A simple saute in olive oil of the late summer vegetables of zucchini,summer squash, cherry tomatoes, squash blossoms as well as fresh basil, mint, chives, garlic and wood fire Weber grilled and shaved chicken(optional) served in an alfredo sauce w/grated Italian cheeses over angel hair pasta. Hallelujah!

Garden Pizza

      \        
             Another Olympics watching snack - pizza made from frozen whole wheat bread dough and jarred marinara sauce. Add halved cherry tomatoes, diced summer squash and fresh basil from the garden. Season w/ crushed red pepper, and garlic. Drizzle with olive oil. Top with assorted Italian cheeses.Eat your pizza, drink your wine or beer, enjoy the games, the athletes, their accomplishments.

Egg Salad Garden Style

                A simple lunch of egg salad w/ just harvested cherry tomatoes and basil from the garden. A glass of  V8 juice on the side. Add a tablespoon of vinegar to the water that you boil your eggs in. It makes them easier to peel. Serve the egg salad open faced on whole wheat toast.

Nachos From The Garden, Olympic Style

                  Olympics watching nachos with pinto beans in chili sauce, carmelized onions, jalapeno peppers, garden tomatoes, summer squash blossoms,jack cheese, garlic, parsley, cilantro, mint and fresh squeezed lime juice.
               The perfect accompaniment along with a cold beer or a margarita on a luscious summer night while watching the greatest of games.

Bruschetta w/ Garden Tomatoes, Basil and Parmesan Cheese

             When you have Olympic fever and it is a hot summer eve and you are intrigued and inspired by the summer games and the astonishing performances of the athletes,you want to have a platter of assorted bruschettas and a glass of wine as an accompaniment  The traditional bruschetta topping involves chopped tomatoes, garlic, basil and parmesan cheese on toasted artisanal bread.
             Another is diced onions and diced mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, seasoned with garlic, sage and butter.
             Enjoy the games.Savor your bruschettas. Quaff your wine. Celebrate the surprises and successes of the Olympic athletes. This is heaven. I think of youth and desire and faith and belief and hard work in pursuit of goals.And as always I think of fresh food well prepared.
                          

Fresh Berries and Yoghurt, Summertime Treat

          Summertime berries, plain yoghurt seasoned w/ vanilla extract; all drizzled with honey and garnished with fresh mint.As breakfast, snack or a dessert. It is delicious and good for you, too.
       

Cook With Wood in Your Weber

       Every food magazine in summer does a piece about outdoor grilling. For good reason . There is nothing better than grilled meats and vegetables slathered with herbed and spiced olive oil and grilled outdoors over coals or subdued flame. The smoke adds a dimension of flavor that you get no where else.
       The debate is always gas vs charcoal. Which is better.
        Neither, really. I would choose charcoal over gas, but charcoal does require an expertise born of experience. If you are doing a dinner party or a picnic and you are not proficient on your weber with charcoal, by all means use the gas grill. I am in awe of those who have learned the indirect grilling technique for large cuts of meat like ribs and turkeys or chickens with charcoal on their weber. That is an art. Cooking it without burning it and getting it fork tender yet moist.Nothing better than that kind of slow cooking.
       But here's the rub. Just about anywhere you live, there is an abundance of local hardwoods. Either on your land or a friends or by a local wood purveyor.Wood is a lot cheaper than charcoal, and why in the world would you pay someone to burn wood to make charcoal when you can put real wood in your weber and burn it yourself till it is coals and then cook over it.Even softwoods work if you are grilling. Hard for longer indirect roasting.
      . Charcoal is expensive and has poisonous additives. Use local wood cut small and start your fire with paper, cardboard or birchbark and kindling.Cook as you would over charcoal. Enjoy the best meal of your life.
        Begin of course with quality ingredients,such as these jalapeno cheddar brats from Thielens Meats in Pierz, onions, sweet peppers and potatoes. The ethereal alchemy of burnt wood and food.

Grilled Muenster, Herbed Tomato Soup and Garden Green Beans

           Upgrade the standard grilled cheese w/ tomato soup by using whole wheat bread incorporated with  muenster cheese, garden tomatoes and fresh basil. You can make a fast upscale tomato soup by adding milk and herbs(basil and chives) to a store bought jarred marinara sauce. Do garden green beans on the side, boiled till tender, drained, sauteed w/ olive oil, garlic, crushed red pepper.
          A great and easy lunch that tastes way better than the usual fare and is better for you, too.

Bluegill w/ Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

         Pan fried bluegill with just harvested from the garden cherry tomatoes, basil, and chives, finished off with white wine and butter. This is about a month early for garden tomatoes in Minnesota.Love this hot weather with plenty of sun and rain.
         Green beans are ready too, as are squash blossoms and broccoli and hot peppers. Considering planting a second crop of beans.

July - All in the Family

Ninety five degrees in a commercial kitchen is a good and and tolerable temperature. A hundred to a hundred five is not unusual yet acceptable because you get used to it and because you come to work hydrated and you drink V-8 juice ( salt and potassium and vitamin K) and continue to drink watered down cranberry juice with soda( carbonated water) with slices of lemon and lime as you go These provide needed electrolytes.
         You can die in your kitchen if you do not get it right when it spikes to 110 or 120 degrees. At that point you need a icewater cold wet towel around your neck , and on your head and you have to duck into the walkin cooler now and then to drop your body temperature.You need salt tablets before that point. I understand that these days they make ice pack vests you can wear. Your blood pressure is rising. You are dizzy. You are at risk of a stroke.
        You have to keep your body temperature down and at the same time you have to get the food out to your customers in an orderly and timely manner, and the food has to be good or your guests will not be satified and you will lose business and then you will go out of business and your life and family's life will go to hell.
        All those years.
        It was a pleasure today to assemble a cold platter of smoked chicken, red grapes, watermelon, and cheese to feed me and my daughter on the patio . 90 degrees - no problem . No restaurant- no problem. Just the 2 of us.
        A green tea elixer for Nati- my 15 yr old daughter. A glass of Pinot Noir for me.  A breeze off the lake thru soft white pines, birch, black walnut and basswood trees like a prayer. What an evening. Soft thunder, far off, like drums from Johnny boy.I think of my boys and girls and grandsons.
        Make a dipping sauce for the smoked chicken of 3 parts ketchup to 1 part mustard and tabasco to taste.      

A Chili Dog And A Chili Burger

Practising for the 4th of July. Carmelized onions, sweet red and green peppers, garlic, heat to taste, pinto beans in chili sauce. And of course the dog.


Or the burger.


Mustard on the dog.

Ketchup and mustard on the burger.


Sweet corn on the cob and potato salad on the side.

Watermelon.

Happy 4th!




Midsommarsdag

 

These are photos of the annual mid summers day feast and celebration at cousin Tim and Beth's at Upper Lake St Croix in NW Wisconsin.

Assorted cheeses,deviled eggs, pickled beets, pickled cucumbers, potato/herring salad, pickled herring in cream sauce and mustard, grill smoked sockeye salmon, swedish meatballs, assorted breads and crackers, boiled dilled  red potatoes,
grilled shell on shrimp,rice pudding, fresh melons and berries and more.

A wine and beer bar. Aquavit. Scotch tasting. Music, dancing around the "stang", Kub competitions, boat rides. What a day.

Swedish meatballs w/ chokecherry jam/jelly was one of my favorites.

Lake Country Journal - Chicken Beurre Blanc

This is chicken beurre blanc in the pan after adding wine and butter and herbs - parsley and tarragon. Does anything look more delicious? Little cutlets of chicken perfectly bronzed and sauced.

Thank God for French cooking. It has kept me alive, interested and well fed.

This is one of more than a few recipes/pieces that I have done for one of Mn best lifestyle magazines - one that covers central and north country Mn - professionally produced and published by a talented staff, notably Jodi Schwen as editor. A pleasure to work with/for them and her and to be paid accordingly. Thanks Jodi and staff.

A great magazine. A very successful niche publication. Huzza!

Bittersweet Beignets

My15 yr old daughter Nati got back from visiting her Aunt Julie and Uncle Mark in New Orleans and she bought gifts for friends and family to the tune of two hundred bucks courtesy of Dad and she said Dad it wasn't nearly enough money.

I got a box of Cafe' Du Monde Beignet Mix ( french doughnuts) and cooked them up tonight as a late night snack for me and 11 yr old grandson Jackson. I usually make them from scratch. Not tonight. I used the mix.

I had no powered sugar or granulated sugar  - which I usually pulse till powder in the coffe bean grinder, so I made a chocolate sauce involving melted butter and semi sweet chocolate chips and milk to the right consistency. I poured some over the beignets and used the rest for dipping. Exquisite, and not too sweet, maybe better than the traditional powdered sugar as a late night snack.

Jackson accompanied his with a tall glass of milk, me and mine with a glass of cabernet. Sweet dreams.

Birthday Bash

Just at dark the skies lit up and we got pounded with thunder and hard rain. It was brief , not like the lingering after taste of this birthday soup comprised of equal amounts of onions, carrots, celery, sweet bell peppers and mushrooms, plus the addition of our local meat market's pepperjack brats. Bayleaf ,garlic, parsley, sage, crushed red pepper to taste as seasonings made a memorable soup. All in a chicken broth with black beans and herbal and aromatic brown basmati rice.

Saute all the vegetables together in olive oil till hot, add rice, toss, add broth to triple cover the vegetables, simmer till rice and vegetables are tender - 20- 30 minutes - add canned beans and already cooked and browned cut up brats and get hot. Serve with buttered rustic bread.

Nothing like a diverse, earthy, hearty, healthy soup on your birthday, especially when you share it with your 15 yr old daughter,who said dad you should make this more often it is awesome.

A great day.All my kids called, all 5. From San Diego to Naples Italy to St Cloud and Delano, Mn . I feel blessed.  And you know what  - they all eat well and understand and appreciate it. They grew up in the family restaurant business and they all know you have to work your ass off no matter what your business is. And they are all successful.

What a day, what a life.

This is a ring of Swedish Potato Sausage - finely ground pork, onions, and potatoes. A distinctly bland sausage w/o herbs or spice except maybe nutmeg or sage. I parboiled it on the stove top in a cast iron pan, poured off the water and finished it off in a 425 degree oven to brown it.

Sauteed onions and mushrooms with parsley and sage are the centerpiece. I usually eat it with yellow mustard.

Last night's epiphany suggested that I accompany the potato sausage with a raspberry jalapeno jam that I got at a local farmer's market. It was the perfect counterpoint to the subtle , harmonious flavors of the pork, potato and onion. Like adding fireworks to a Mn 4th of July. Illegal and delicious.

Put a dollup of sour cream on the mushrooms. Spiced up lingonberries would work, too.

A Tex/Mex Hotdog

If you don't have a hotdog bun, but you do have a flour tortilla, adapt your hotdog recipe to include sautee'd onions, sweet red peppers and black beans. Season with garlic and cilantro and some heat if you wish. Lay it all on a warm flour tortilla and add yellow mustard. It is a good dog. Accompany with your favorite beer.

Blue Gill Tacos on the Patio

After you eat your taco or burrito w/ blackened bluegill, brown or wild rice w/ lime juice and cilantro, black beans, sauteed onions and peppers, avocado and salsa, sour cream, all rolled up in a corn or flour shell, you should sip your after supper brandy on the patio with ice and fresh mint leaves from your herb garden.

 Then take a walk to the mail box with your young brown lab( mostly, tho' he howls instead of barks and he also jumps in a full rotation of joy - a mixed breed for sure w/ diverse responses to various stimuli). He chases, points, bays,catches, flushes.

On your way back from the mail box, peruse the field for the first of the early wild strawberries. Eat those tiny succulent berries and rejoice in the early harvest - 2 or 3 wks early this year. You do not get enough but that makes it even better. Sweetness, a burst of flavor, hope, the promise in blooms and nubbins, of more. I can't wait, but I will because I have no choice.

It is a pleasure to deal with food in this way because I spent so many years making it happen and serving "false foods" from the food purveyors -  the national foodservice distribution companies - while I was in the high volume restaurant business.

The fish bite when they bite, the raspberries are ripe when they are ripe.

 

It is fishing opener and everyone is fishing for walleye but I am fishing for and catching bluegill on a flyrod. They came into the shallows today and the big ones, all males, are biting like crazy. Largemouth bass, too.This is fun. This is great. I caught so many I stopped, feeling guilty.

Fileted and panfried in olive oil, plated,  finished off with white wine, reduced by half, added parsley and tarragon and 3 or 4 pats of cold butter, swirled, poured on filets. Exquisite. 

Fishing Opener's Eve

This is what you want to eat on the night before fishing openers. Jalapeno cheddar brats( from Thielen's in Pierz, Mn,) onions, sweet bell peppers, mushrooms( any kind) and potatoes braised in olive oil and seasoned with salt, black pepper, garlic and sage.Add olive oil to cover bottom of your pan, add all ingredients at once so they all touch the bottom of the pan.

Get your pan and food sizzling hot on the stovetop and finish in the oven . I use a black cast iron pan. A half hour cooking time at 400 degrees will get everything done simultaneously. You can add some beer or white wine to the pan for the final few minutes. Turn the broiler on to brown if necessary. It should be browned and golden and looking good. Wine or beer - not too much ( 1/2 cup) should be reduced to a glaze. You are doing this for an added richness and depth of flavor.

Food has to look good before it tastes good. Strew all with parsley. Put that earnest, masculine repast on the table and serve family style with rustic bread and butter and mustard .

A simple one pan meal which will not take time from equally important considerations - rigging up for tomorrow's opener, plans, strategy, as well as the remembrance and resultant discourse on a lifetime of fishing openers. Don't stay up too late, or do. You only get this day once a year.

Good food, good fishing, family, close friends, a shared history. It doesn't get any better than that.   

Cold Cuts And A Hot Thunderstorm.

Forgive me as I learn the new simplified blogger. Just when you learn how to do it one way, they change it.

This is a plate of cold cut meats -all beef Italian salami, and jalapeno cheddar summer sausage from Thielen's Meat Market in Pierz, Mn - goat cheese, assorted crackers and a halved avocado  seasoned with olive oil, fresh ground black pepper and lemon juice.

A great light lunch or snack on warm spring day on the patio when you don't want to cook. Serve with a glass of wine, your favorite beer, or an apple juice and green tea elixer.

Knockout Sockeye Salmon

It is way too dang cold on this 10th of April, but I grilled salmon outdoors anyway on my little Weber. Copper River Red wild caught sockeye - it was clean and pure looking in its vacuumpak at Thielen's Market in Pierz. A lb and a quarter at 10 bucks a pound. Not bad if it is good. Last years catch, obviously. They are not in season yet. Based on looks and price I bought it.

Salmon is one of those love it or hate it foods. Even for me, a salmon lover. The identical product bought at Meat On Mille Lacs was strong tasting( fishy). Stick with Thielen's or Kenny's self caught sockeye at Lakes Meat and Market in Hillman(10 mi west of Onamia on #27), if you can get it. Call ahead. You will be lucky if you get Kenny's. I eat his seasoned and raw. It is so good you don't have to cook it. 

I didn't even take the skin off.I marinated it in olive oil, lemon juice, black and red pepper, garlic. balsamic vinegar, and worcestershire sauce. For a half hour.

I grilled it on the weber over oakwood coals.Use real wood if you can. It is cheaper, imparts distinctive flavor and is better for you than charcoal. You can use almost any real wood

, such as oak or maple, ash,or elm, or even birch or popple.

I served it with what I call a  Norwegian hollandaise sauce - courtesy of cousin Beth - chopped hard boiled eggs in melted butter, lemon juice, plenty of dillweed, cayenne pepper and garlic.

If your 15 yr old daughter and your 10 yr old grandson like it, it is a winner.They did.

A rule of thumb in cooking fish is 7 minutes per inch of thickness of fish for well done.You want to cook salmon to medium done. Do the math. Flesh side down on grill for 3 minutes( to mark and flavor it); flip to skin side down for 2 minutes. Cover with weber lid 1 min or as necessary each side to reduce flames and provide smokey flavor.You want a nice balance of wood and smoke flavors. The skin will stay on the grill as you remove and plate the filet.

Stay with it and tend it, sip your wine, lift the filet up gently in the middle with a broad spatula to determine degree of doneness.You want this to be perfect. Most importantly, don't overcook it.  

Chocolate Chip Cookies, Adapted, and Red wine

It is midnight on the lake. The loons are singing and the moon is almost full. I am having a glass of red wine and 2 chocolate chip cookies. I love it when it is spring and you get to do what you want.

Use the tollhouse recipe on the bag of chocolate chips, but use half whole wheat flour and half organic white flour and 1/4 the sugar( or honey); add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder along with the half tsp baking soda. The baking powder makes the cookie more like a scone. Add walnuts and cinnamon as well as the vanilla. This cookie is great with a glass of red wine. Whole grain, dark chocolate, walnuts, red wine. Wow.Is it any wonder that the loons are singing.

What a great spring.

Pizza Pie and Lonesome

I miss my daughter who has been with friends and family the last 4 days. We had some 15 yr old issues. I wish she was here to share this pizza. We so enjoy eating together.

Thinking of her I made a pizza like this.

Dough:
3 cups organic, unbleached, unbromated white flour- Bob's Red Mill
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tblsp organic white cane sugar
1 cup warm water
2 tbl olive oil
Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add water and oil, stir till moistened, knead for about 10 minutes. Form into a ball, wet with additional olive oil, cover and let rise in a warm place till dble in size- 1 to 2 hrs. Halve and flatten and spread dough onto oiled pizza pan or cookie sheet. Prick dough copiously with a fork. Spread more olive oil thinly on top of dough.Save and refrigerate the other half of the dough for tomorrow.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Topping:

1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 cup chopped baby bella mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped sweet bell peppers, red, green, yellow or any
1/2 cup diced tomatoes and green chilies, canned
1 cup finely shredded parmesan or Italian mix cheeses
garlic and basil to taste

Method:
Saute' onions, mushrooms, peppers in additional olive oil until soft , about 10 min over med heat. Strew evenly over pizza dough.

Distribute tomatoes and chilies, garlic and basil over pizza. Top with cheese. Place on lower rack in 450 degree oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is bronze or brown as desired.I like it a little burnt.

Serve with sour cream as desired.

If my daughter could smell this from 75 mi away perhaps she would come home.

Chicken Salad w/ Curry and Grapes and Yoghurt on Flatbread

In appreciation of this springlike day w/ warm sun and melting snow I ate lunch on the patio today.

The chicken salad included red grapes and green onions and sweet red bell pepper seasoned with garlic, curry powder and some heat. I used half mayonaisse and half unsweetened plain yoghurt as the moistening agent. A tiny bit of honey. I incorporated chopped salad greens( eg., spring mix)into the chicken salad rather than using it as a bed.

I ate it on torn pieces of pita or flat bread that I made with frozen whole wheat dough that I rolled out thin, pricked w/ a fork and baked.

You could do this of course with any fowl - chicken, turkey, pheasant or grouse. When you are eating on the patio it is outdoor food.

I had a glass of wine. My dog chased squirrels.The snow diminished. It was a window of sensory opportunity . Bring it on.

Sunset Squash, Acorn, on Leap Day

Cut your squash in half, lengthwise and scrape and remove the seed network with a spoon. Place face down on a cookie sheet pan and bake at 350 degrees until you smell squash, about 45 minutes, depending on the size of the squash and your nose.

If the skin feels soft it is done. Remove from oven, flip over to sunnyside up, add butter, brown sugar( or honey or maple syrup) and ginger. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. Eat alone as a late winter snowstorm treat, or along with a venison or grouse ragout or as a 1st course in a many course meal.

A little cayenne pepper will make the squash sweet and hot, which is irresistible even to a Mn palate.

Oatmeal Cookies w/ Chocolate Chips and Walnuts

Use the recipe from the Quaker Oatmeal cylinder, but use half olive oil and butter, and half honey and brown sugar and chocolate chips if your daughter does not like raisins, and use half whole wheat flour and white flour( organic, in my case) and a cup of walnuts and they are deep and rich and religious and they are good for you. Earthy,nutty and complete. You don't have to feel guilty when you eat them.

Baked Beans and Cornbread

Make your cornbread with whole grain cornmeal and half whole wheat and white flour. If you need quick use canned baked beans of your choice. A great combo for a snack or a meal or as part of a shore lunch.

Use the cornbread recipe on the bag or box, but add garlic and any cheese and jalapeno or cayenne pepper. Add onions and hot peppers to your beans, too.

Shore Lunch

You can do this in the fish house or in your kitchen during winter. It involves the same recipe and methodology as a traditional shore lunch on the shore of your favorite Mn or Canadian lake. I like to keep it simple. Fish, fried potatoes, baked beans.

Season( Lawry's, or cajun seasoning, etc) and flour your filets and pan fry in oil that is half the depth of your fish. You do not need to deep fry.Add oil as necessary.

Add onions, garlic and hot peppers of your choice to taste to the potatoes, as well as salt and black pepper.

Add browned onions and jalapeno or cayenne peppers to taste to the baked beans.

I like to know that I am eating when I am eating. You will, too. Spice it up.

A whole wheat soft shell tortilla which can be used as a taco or burrito. Basmati rice w/ lime and cilantro, cajun seasoned julienned chicken breast, avocado, salsa and grated jack cheese.Add sour cream and some heat to taste.

You can do this with pheasant or grouse, too.

.Do yourself a favor tomorrow and watch various Whitney Houston tributes on the day of her funeral. Enjoy and appreciate her gift of song as you do the gift of food.

She was so good and I am so sad.

Bluegills All Over Again

You don't just have to have it panfried. You can poach it in a broth involving onions, garlic, sweet peppers, tomatoes, white wine, olive oil, and herbs de Provence. Plus a little v-8 juice.Toasted french bread in or on the side.

Mn Bouillabaisse

Three successive days of bluegill, this the French soup version.

Valentine's Day

A hug and a quiche for you on this Valentine's Day, cupcake!

The girls - 3 14 yr olds - made cupcakes for the Grammys the other night.

Chocolate cupcakes annointed with whipped cream, tiny dark chocolate chips and creamy caramel.

Need I say more?

After Nap Snack

If you wake up from a nap and crave something sweet yet somewhat substantial have a saltine cracker with natural chunky peanut butter and orange marmalade. Have two or three or more. Good tasting and good for you.

Egg Rolls Gone Wild

Egg rolls can be labor intensive but it is a labor of love and it is worth it. The end result is a perfect testimony to the symphonic harmony of fresh vegetables and fowl all rolled into one simple finger food.You can use duck, pheasant, grouse, chicken, or others. Or you can use ground beef, pork or venison or any combination thereof.

You can shortcut the the hand and knife work by using a food processor.

You can serve them with a half dozen or more asian style sauces that you can buy ready made or you can make your own. I served mine with a sweet and sour sauce using balsamic vinegar, garlic, ginger and orange marmalade, as well as with a Chinese hot mustard involving only Tabasco sauce stirred into cheap yellow mustard.

Ingredients:
3 c shredded cabbage
1 c finely chopped celery
1 c grated carrot
1 c grated mushrooms of your choice
1 c finely julienned red and green sweet peppers
3/4 c julienned green onions
1 1/2 c already cooked julienned fowl, wild or domestic
1 large clove minced garlic
1 tsp powdered ginger or 1 tbls fresh grated ginger
soy sauce to taste
1 egg and 1/4 c water stirred for eggwash
8 egg roll skins
1 1/2 to 3 c veg oil depending on the size of your pan, to deep fry egg rolls
Method:
1) Chop, shred, julienne, mince all ingredients as appropriate. Preheat a large frying pan with enough oil to just cover the bottom to med heat, add vegetables and cook over med heat, stirring occasionally till vegetables are tender - about 10 minutes.

2) Add garlic, ginger and meat to pan and cook and toss until hot - a minute or 2.
3)Empty ingredients from pan into a strainer and let drain a couple of minutes.
4)Place ingredients into a large flat bowl and add soy sauce to taste, stir and let cool till just warm.

5) Place an egg roll skin on counter top like like a diamond shape - as on a compass N would be the top corner, S the bottom corner pointing at your stomach, right and left corners would be E and W. With a brush or your finger put egg wash around the edges of the skin. Add 2 tablespoons of filling mixture on the bottom half of the skin and fold S over the filling, then E and W and roll it up to cover N.Place on a dry dish towel and continue rolling others.
6) Fry 2 or 3 at a time in med(325 degrees - one number less than med on my electric burner) hot oil until golden brown - 2 or 3 min per side. You need only enough oil for the egg rolls to float. The smaller the pan, the less oil you will need. I used a 1 1/2 inch deep by 8 inches diameter pan and 1 1/2 c oil. You only need to turn them over once. When they are golden on both sides remove from pan with tongs and drain on paper towels.

7) Serve with various sauces.

Meatball Soup

Every recipe has a story and every memory a taste. It was back in the day in the late 60's when my twin brother hopped a train in Mpls, Mn and rode it out to Seattle in a cadillac.

My brother Jim had worked briefly for Burlington Northern Railway via our good friend Ira. He did not last.Ira did, and retired from the railroad just last year after 30 plus years of employment.

Jim never lasted any where not even on this earth, but he lasted long enough at BN to learn the ins and outs of hopping trains. Cars were stacked two deep on flatcar after flatcar and Jim chose the upper level. He turned on the tunes in that Cadillac and laid back and listened to Jim Morrison and the Door's "Light My Fire," the long version, and Cream, and Strawberry Fields and more as the big farmland of Mn and eastern ND became the exquisite endless prairie and high plateau of western ND and eastern Montana. And then the mountains. Wow. It was the trip of a lifetime. He ate venison summer sausage and drank cokes.

Pheasant first and whitetail deer and then antelope and mule deer and then all over again depending on the terrain as he rode that Cadillac. He thought of hunting with his brother and his Dad and how he got his first whitetail on ancestral property in N Mn in Gowan and how he had to gut and drag it out by himself because his twin was so inspired and motivated to get one too from the same tree that he never thought to help his brother.

He shot others too after falling asleep in a tree and waking to the snap of a twig or because he was usually in the right place at the right time, magically. His twin was a student of the woods and the whitetail but it took him several years to get his first. He tried too hard. Jim took it as it came; he let the woods and the deer come to him.

If you have leftover meatballs you can make them into meatball soup. Saute' equal amounts of onions,carrots, celery and cabbage in olive or veg oil till half done, add enough flour to absorb the oil,add garlic, Herbs de Provence, bayleaf, red wine, water, and a bouillion cube or two to taste( beef) and a little worcestershire, and red pepper to taste. Add precooked swedish or any meatballs and simmer till vegetebles are tender and meatballs are hot.

Serve as is or over mashed potatoes.

.

Eyes Wide Shut

Back in the 30's during the great depression my great uncle Otto from Finland would help his neighbors around Gowan,Mn( near Floodwood) to get food to eat by shooting deer for them because he was a generous man and because he was good at it.

He would do it after dark with a miner's light on his head which would light up the deer's eyes. You had to shoot between the eyes because that's all you could see.

Martti was a neighbor and needed meat for his family. Otto consented. They were in his back forty after dark with the gun and the light when Martti said there one is shoot him. Otto said I think his eyes are too far apart to be a deer but Martti said no the cow is in the barn that's a deer shoot him so Otto did right between the eyes and it turned out to be Martti's only milk cow.

Whole Wheat Pancakes

It is very cold outdoors and a good day to stay indoors and eat pancakes. If you make them with whole wheat flour and plain yoghurt you will not be eating the empty calories of white flour pancakes. Add oatmeal, walnuts, and apple to the batter and it is even better.

If you raise your kids eating pancakes like these it may be the beginning of lifelong healthy eating habits for them. A great way to start a day and a life.

Sometimes I use all whole wheat flour, other times 1/3 white to 2/3 whole wheat. If you are cooking for those who have never eaten all whole wheat, start them off with the blend.

Here's how I did them today.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 c white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon sugar, br sugar, or honey
1 egg
1 cup water
1/2 c yoghurt - unsweetened plain
1 tblsp oil
Method:
1) Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl.
2) Add wet ingredients and whisk together.
3) Ladle batter into preheated med heat lightly oiled frying pan or griddle. You know the rest.

Notes: Add rolled or steel cut oats, chopped walnuts, minced apple to the batter, as well as cinnamon for a special treat. Or any fruit of your choice. If it was July I would be adding wild raspberries.

Serve w/ butter, maple syrup or preserves of your choice or all.Adjust consistency of the batter to preference by adding more liquid( water or milk, apple juice, etc). For example, I like thin pancakes like Swedish style, others I know prefer fluffy ones - add another teaspoon of baking powder if you like fluffy.