eG Foodblog: Pierogi (2011) - Rollin' the bon temps on the Left Co

[Genkinaonna]

What are your plans for the nigella seed? I use it on turkish-type pastries, it cuts right through the richness of all the cheese...

So you didn't come home decked out in 23 k jewelry? Or perhaps fancy schmancy new collars for your little furry companions?

[Pierogi]

Great pix! Is that you in one of them?

Thanks gfweb !! Yes, tragically, that is my reflection in the window of the sari shop. Picture Manager didn't have a way to edit *that* out, unfortunately....

[Pierogi]

Hope you enjoyed Little India. *I* certainly did.

Loving this blog Roberta thanks!

Shucks, thanks Jon. Good to know another local thinks I'm doin' right by our town.

[Pierogi]

What are your plans for the nigella seed? I use it on turkish-type pastries, it cuts right through the richness of all the cheese...

So you didn't come home decked out in 23 k jewelry? Or perhaps fancy schmancy new collars for your little furry companions?

I'll have to do some cookbook research on that as well as on the dal. I *do* remember seeing recipes I've used in the past that needed it, so it went into the memory file cabinet of "buy if you ever see it". I do know I've had naan made with it sprinkled on top, so that may be a good starting spot.

I like the idea with the cheese. Pioneer Cash & Carry had loads of fresh paneer. Good excuse for another trip back.

I also, somehow, and *this* is a minor miracle, managed to remember that nigella seeds were also called "kalonji". I asked a couple of people in the store, and they all said, "no, that's kalonji". I was like (goodness gracious I hate that term, but it fits)..."I can see it's labeled kalonji, is it the same as nigella seeds?" But, I figured it was cheap enough, and it looked like what I'd seen called nigella seeds, so I took a flyer. Turns out I made the right bet !

Yeah. 23k ain't happenin' in ANY of our lives right now. I think it's one of those things where, if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it !

Edited March 10, 2011 by Pierogi (log)

[Jon Savage]

Hope you enjoyed Little India. *I* certainly did.

Loving this blog Roberta thanks!

Shucks, thanks Jon. Good to know another local thinks I'm doin' right by our town.

I'm happy that you represent our town.

[Pierogi]

So, after a brief interlude for an adult beverage, cooking and eating dinner, and watching "Top Chef" (NOT happy with the ending, not at all, nope, not one little bit), here's the wrap-up of the day.

Adult beverage time. Tonight was a "built" Margarita, with Sauza gold tequila, Citronage orange liqueur and fresh lime juice. A tiny pinch of kosher salt on the ice, and away we go:

The source for tonight's meal:

One of my Top 10 cookbooks. So many great recipes, fresh corn polenta with tomatoes (slurp), chipotle roasted pork shoulder, roasted fresh tomato sauce, frozen lemon curd and creme fraiche sandwiches, on and on and on. I really love this book, and I recommend it to everyone I can.

But tonight, this is the cast of characters:

Just a bit more, ummmm, *basic* than the last few days, eh?

From this short list of ingredients, trust me, we'll make magic.

And...

One of my favorite meals, and definitely one that proves, sometimes, simpler is better.

Start with the sausage. That's 2 hot and 2 sweet Italian sausages. While the oven is preheating to 500°, put the sausages in a saucepan, cover with water, and parboil for a bit to help get rid of some of the grease.

Put the potatoes in a pot, unpeeled, and cover with water. Bring that up to a boil, too.

I'm also gunna have a small side salad. I cheated and used bagged greens:

And bottled dressing. I'm not worthy (tired, but not worthy.... ).

But I give me points for tarting up the bagged greens with some chopped red onion and chow mein noodles:

Meanwhile, the sausages are done, and need to be pulled and drained.

Take a roasting pan, and put on a burner, with some buttah (ok, *I'm* seein' a trend here this week...butter, sausage, sausage, butter, oy.) Melt the butter in the pan, and then toss in the grapes, and stir them around to get them nice and coated with butter. Then, nestle the sausages in the grapes. You don't want them on top only, so they don't burn.

Into the raging hot oven they go for about 25 minutes. Turn the sausages about halfway through:

See how nice the grapes are cooking down? There's yummy stuff happenin' in that oven. After the rest of the time, pull the grapes and sausages, and using a slotted spoon, put them on a plate, leaving behind all the lover-ly grapey, porky, buttery juices. Cover the plate with foil and let rest while you finish the potatoes and the sauce.

Look at those sausages. That's some good looking browning...

There's my food resting again, instead of me. Gotta work on that.

Meanwhile, put some balsamic vinegar in the roasting pan with the juices, and put it back on a burner over high heat. Boil to reduce to a thin syrup. Oh, look. The potatoes are done, too. Let's get them ready.

Drain them, and then mash them roughly with your Grandma's potato masher. Or two large forks. Or *your* potato masher, but don't rice them. We want chunks.

Add some heavy cream (another trend this week, methinks) and, wait, is that BUTTER? No, it couldn't be......*I* never use, (gasp) butter !

Stir that in, until it's nicely combined, but still chunky.

And look at that lovely sauce:

Pour it over the grapes and sausages:

Plate and enjoy:

[Pierogi]

Wednesday odds/ends and wrap-up and Thursday preview ! (whoo-hooo, don't all applaud at once.... )

The sausage and grapes dish is soooooo good and sooooo easy. It's a great weeknight dish for when you're working. It has that perfect balance of what the Italians call "agrodolce", the balance of the sourness from the vinegar and the sweetness of the grape juice. Throw in the sausage juices and it's heaven on a plate. Mark Bittman also has a version of it in his "Minimalist Cooks At Home" book, that's done all on the stove top. That was where I initially found the concept of Italian sausage and grapes. Both are good. It was a nice, low-test dish after a hugely busy week and busy day. Gave me a chance to get my feet back under me. Plus it was good.

Brunch-y stuff was another of my hummus/olive spread/tabboule "tartines" on my bread. Oh, and a couple of these...

Trader Joe's dark chocolate nonpareils. Good stuff.....

Added to the leftover list, 2 Italian sausages (one sweet, one hot). Probably destined for a pizza. Or maybe sauteed with the pierogies (THERE'S an idea....).

Dishwasher load was only "Normal/Heated Wash" tonight, instead of "Heavy Load/Heated Wash". YIPEEEE !

The girls had this...

for dinner tonight. OK. Fine. Maybe a bit of sweet sausage too. Just a bit. Really. A tiny bit.

Tomorrow, more field trips ! We *may* go back to the Asian store I tried to hit this afternoon when I was camera-less. If not, we'll go on Friday.

For sure, tomorrow we're going to the farm ! Yep, a farm. With chickens even.

And we'll have a guilty junk food outing. A very, very tasty junk food outing.

Thanks for playing along ! You guys, and your comments, are making this so fun, and so fulfilling, I can't even begin to tell you. Have a great night/morning, and I'll see you on the other side.

[Pierogi]

I'm happy that you represent our town.

[baroness]

Great minds DO think alike; here on the opposite coast, I made chicken-parsley-cheese sausages with red grapes this week. I opted for olive oil, though.

I'm really enjoying your slice of California and all the photos!

[lancastermike]

What a wonderful effort! This blog brings back the original soul of the blogs. A look at the everyday life an cooking and eating of a member who invites us into their life for a brief period.

[blue_dolphin]

I'm really enjoying your blog - your photos and breezy comments make me feel like I'm right there in the kitchen with you!

I'm in awe of your delicious dinners. The big projects are certainly more than I'm up to after work but the roasted sausage & grapes are a treat!

So, you said "farm".....will we be seeing your CSA? I'm very keen to hear your thoughts on doing a CSA share as a single cooker. I haven't tried it - thought I might be overwhelmed with produce. The recent LA Times article pointed me to the Underwood Family Farms CSA which has a drop off quite close to my house and I'm thinking of giving them a try. Looking forward to your insights.

Thanks for taking this on!

[Shelby]

just a pic to tease Shelby- 80 degrees and had to stop at a bar 4 of 5 miles home on my bike .

(have I mentioned that LB is pretty darned bike friendly?)

Behold my commute! Long Beach is a nifty place to live.

*SWOON*

Boy, what a gorgeous view. If I squint just right, I can picture myself with some kind of fruity cocktail lounging on the beach.

[Shelby]

OMG I have that cookbook and I've looked at that recipe at least 26 times because it looks so interesting!!! I'm always scared to try recipes that involve sweet and meat together. It looks soooooo good! I think I'll have to try it.

Loved all the pics from today.

[JTravel]

What a wonderful effort! This blog brings back the original soul of the blogs. A look at the everyday life an cooking and eating of a member who invites us into their life for a brief period.

Well said, while I adore the "foreign" one I also love the slice of life in another kitchen ones. Well done.

[johnnyd]

Saw the roasted grapes n' sausages and had to stop and read the whole blog.

Loving your cooking, forages, local pics and 'tude, P! I know how one amps up the cooking during foodblog week too, but the sense of mass-sharing with the eG tribe for a week is a great feeling. I've picked up a LOT of tips from your play-by-plays which I really appreciate, and it's about time for a pot of short ribs - sure would take the chill off a late winter Maine weekend.

[Kim Shook]

What a wonderful, delicious and so very readable blog! I haven't responded much this week (sneaking in to do so from work today - can't do that much), but I've read every word and savored every picture and description! Can't wait for MORE!!!

[Pierogi]

Back from the morning road trip, with a very, very full tummy from our deliciously guilty junk food hit.

I had thought for a bit about making an "In 'N' Out" pilgrimage during my blog week. But then I got to thinking about it more, and realized that while it's stil my personal burger Nirvana, it doesn't have quite the cachet it did when it was only in Southern California. I don't begrudge them their expansion and success, and to my taste, the quality hasn't suffered (which is so often the case, sadly), but well it's not something that only *I* have access too any longer. Besides, I think everyone's seen what a DoubleDouble looks like. It's a burger. With cheese.

So I decided to go to a local joint, in one of the strip malls in my 'hood. This one is across the street from the high school I went to (shout out to R.A. Millikan class of '73 !).

I give you...John's Hamburgers

The building is actually the remains of a McDonald's that I spent many a senior year lunch hour at. *I* was one of the cool kids. *I* had an off-campus lunch pass. School was very very different in the '70's wasn't it? John's took it over probably about 20 years ago, at first just using the building as it was. They tore down most of it about a year ago, and did a big remodel/upgrade. Thankfully the food stayed just as good when they reopened.

...and the glory that is a John's breakfast burrito:

Because I care for you guys so much, I took one for the team and had one of these bad boys. Just for the cause of the blog, of course. I'd certainly never consider eating this otherwise. How did I know about them, you ask..... Um, someone told me about it. Yeah. That's it.

So what's actually in a John's breakfast burrito?

That'd be a lovely mix of shredded, grilled hash browns, salsa, egg, cheese and your choice of bacon, ham or sausage. Again, strictly for the sake of the blog, I had both bacon and sausage. And, again, *someone* told me they were best that way. I had no personal knowledge of that....

Oh man is that a delightful little tummy bomb. The contrast of the salsa, and the crispy bacon and the juicy sausage (wait, that's the FOURTH instance of sausage in this blog, good thing I had my cholesterol checked LAST week ) and the little crunchy bits from the hash browns, and melty cheese.

Oh. Yeah. Good stuff.

I will definitely not need to have anything else to eat before dinner time.

[Pierogi]

Great minds DO think alike; here on the opposite coast, I made chicken-parsley-cheese sausages with red grapes this week. I opted for olive oil, though.

I'm really enjoying your slice of California and all the photos!

Thanks, baroness ! Glad you've come along for the tour.

[Pierogi]

I'm really enjoying your blog - your photos and breezy comments make me feel like I'm right there in the kitchen with you!

I'm in awe of your delicious dinners. The big projects are certainly more than I'm up to after work but the roasted sausage & grapes are a treat!

So, you said "farm".....will we be seeing your CSA? I'm very keen to hear your thoughts on doing a CSA share as a single cooker. I haven't tried it - thought I might be overwhelmed with produce. The recent LA Times article pointed me to the Underwood Family Farms CSA which has a drop off quite close to my house and I'm thinking of giving them a try. Looking forward to your insights.

Thanks for taking this on!

Thanks, blue dolphin ! Believe me, when I was working, *I* didn't cook like every day either. I made gumbo for an office pot luck a few years back, and even though I'd left work at like 2 p.m. to get home and cook, it was still close to midnight by the time I was out of the kitchen. I'd save stuff like that for the weekends, for sure. The sausage and grapes were a stand-by in my working days. Under an hour start to finish. Can't beat that.

Yes, we will be seeing the CSA. I have a pickup today, so I'll take my trusty camera (and extra batteries, just in case).

I had the same quandry about joining a CSA. For now, and we'll see what happens moving into spring and summer crops, I've been able to get through everything in the share before it either rots or its time for my next pickup. That said, I only get a small share, every two weeks. And the produce has been, because it's winter, mostly hardy stuff like sturdy greens and winter squashes that are going store a while without too much damage.

It did take me a couple of times to get into the swing of planning meals to use the veggies. As you can probably tell from the assortment of cookbooks I've used this week, I'm not a tremendously intuitive cook. I do better using recipes. And I tend to plan out my entire week or week and a half of menus before I go to the store, so I avoid those "oh crap, I need XXXX for this recipe and I'm out/don't have it/can't find it" moments. I had been in the habit of going to the grocery store early in the week, and my pickup day is Thursday. That sort of messed up my schedule until I waited to see what the CSA brought me, then went shopping around what was in my share.

All in all, it's been a really worthwhile experience. I've been very pleased with the quality of the produce I get, and it is REMARKABLY clean. With all the hardy greens and salad greens I've been getting, I've found only one, little tiny slug when I was washing them. And very little dirt. They do a good job preparing the harvest for the members.

[Pierogi]

OMG I have that cookbook and I've looked at that recipe at least 26 times because it looks so interesting!!! I'm always scared to try recipes that involve sweet and meat together. It looks soooooo good! I think I'll have to try it.

Loved all the pics from today.

Thanks, Shelby ! Yes, do give that recipe a try. You do need to use both the sweet & hot sausages, that helps with the balance as well. And that touch of balsamic vinegar really takes it out of the "sweet cloying" arena, and into where it works for savory.

[Pierogi]

What a wonderful effort! This blog brings back the original soul of the blogs. A look at the everyday life an cooking and eating of a member who invites us into their life for a brief period.

Well said, while I adore the "foreign" one I also love the slice of life in another kitchen ones. Well done.

You guys are gonna make me cry !

[Pierogi]

Saw the roasted grapes n' sausages and had to stop and read the whole blog.

Loving your cooking, forages, local pics and 'tude, P! I know how one amps up the cooking during foodblog week too, but the sense of mass-sharing with the eG tribe for a week is a great feeling. I've picked up a LOT of tips from your play-by-plays which I really appreciate, and it's about time for a pot of short ribs - sure would take the chill off a late winter Maine weekend.

back at 'ya johhnyd. Glad the sausages pulled you in. Short ribs are certainly good for what ail's ya.

[Pierogi]

What a wonderful, delicious and so very readable blog! I haven't responded much this week (sneaking in to do so from work today - can't do that much), but I've read every word and savored every picture and description! Can't wait for MORE!!!

Thanks, Kim ! All ya'll's feedback has given me a swelled head ! And a very warm heart.

[Pierogi]

Just back from the day's second set of field trips, and its tipme to unpack and start dinner. I'll be back after dinner, cleanup and the usual adult beverage interlude. LOTS to see today, some may have to wait until tomorrow...

Don't touch that dial !

Edited March 10, 2011 by Pierogi (log)

[andiesenji]

I have so enjoyed following your blog. It has given me some ideas of how to spend my time on my next trip to the southwest environs of the greater L.A. area. And it is time for another pilgrimage to Acres of Books, assuming they are still there, with a possible jaunt to Planet Books, although I can usually waste spend most of a day at AoB.

I love the sausage with fruit idea. One of my favorites from my brief time in Wisconsin in the mid 50s is bratwurst and chunks of apples, fried and braised with onions and a generous dusting of sage.

Beautiful photos, in spite of the camera battery disaster.

Am looking forward to the "grand" finale, however I can't imagine how it can get any better.