Dancing Spoon

How Hot Is that Grill?

Basics Grilling

by J. Michael Wheeler
Heat & Fuel
Cooking on an open fire goes all the way back to prehistoric Barbecue-Man. And while he probably wasn't clutching a can of Budweiser in one hand and a can of charcoal starter in the other, the basics of cooking over an open fire remain the same. And it doesn't get more basic than burning stuff and how hot it needs to get.

If you use a gas grill for your outdoor cooking your selection of fuels is, well, gas. But for those of us who prefer to cook on real fire, there are more choices. Here are some of them:

Lump Charcoal Usually made from softwood. It comes in a variety of sizes. Easy to light, but quick burning.

Charcoal Briquettes Slow burning, easy to find. Some claim they give food an unpleasant taste.

Self-igniting Charcoal Briquettes or lump charcoal treated with a flammable substance. Easy to light. Let all of that flammable substance burn away before cooking.

Wood Hardwoods like oak and olive burn slowly and the aromatic smoke imparts a great taste to the food. Wood fires must be tended carefully to keep an even and steady heat.

How Hot is Hot Enough?
"Heat your grill to medium-high and place the . . ." How do you determine the temperature of your grill? While some grills have built-in temperature gauges, and there are even infrared heat seekers to tell you how hot your grill is, you've got a couple of built-in thermometers yourself: your hands.

Place your hand, palm facing down, just above the grill where you'll be cooking. (Please don't wear long, loose-fitting clothing while grilling.) Without being too macho about it, hold your hand over that spot and count how many seconds it takes before you say "ouch" and have to take your hand away from the grill.

Here's a chart to help you determine your grill's temperature. If you can hold your hand above the grill for this long, the grill is that hot:

· Two seconds is high heat
· Three seconds is medium-high heat
· Four seconds is medium heat
· Five seconds is medium-low heat
· Six seconds is low heat
· Seven seconds or more means you have time to open another beer

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Farm to Fork New England

Very Local Eating

by J. Michael Wheeler
Know Your Farmer
You never know where you might eat that eight-course meal; it might be in a barn, a pasture, a micro-creamery, an heirloom apple orchard or even at a dairy. What you will be assured of, at a New England Farm 2 Fork Project, is that Chef Sebastian Carosi and his band of roving rural culinary visionaries will wow you with their on farm dinners, luncheons, brunches, and other culinary events throughout the different New England seasons.

The New England Farm 2 Fork Project is an eco-gastronomic organization that supports a biodiverse, sustainable food supply, local producers, heritage food-ways, and the pleasures that surround the American kitchen and table. They work closely with farmers and producers to raise local food supply awareness, and to support sustainable agriculture and economic development throughout the Northeast.

Our destiny and mission is to serve the best local, sustainably produced artisan ingredients and to treat them with respect and simplicity in our cuisine...This means using as much of a products resources as possible, be it the greens from garden grown organic heirloom beets, or the livers and gizzards of pastured barnyard heritage chickens...Our deep-rooted regional influences have shaped and continue to shape New England Farm Cuisine and inspire our cooking and food on a daily basis. — Chef Sebastian Carosi

The project is the brainchild of Chef Sebastian Carosi, an admitted local foods junkie, turophile, and Slow Food  practitioner. Chef Carosi wholeheartedly supports responsible agricultural methods, exposes diners to local food resources, and is cultivating a more conscientious food culture throughout New England.

What the Indians Ate Dinner, on May 29th & 30th, is the next New England Farm 2 Fork Project event. Here’s what’s on the menu:

Heirloom appaloosa bean, smokehouse ham hock and American snapping turtle soup, shagbark hickory cured steelhead with red alder smoked sea salt and crushed wild ramps, ossipee mountain cherry wood smoked trout cakes with misickquatash, air dried Maine raised red deer with Perkins Cove juniper berries, corn smut honey, fried parsnips and foraged wild greens, smoked squash and wild maine moose meat pie, indian fry bread ‘taco’ with braised black bear, shaved lettuce, smoked pepper sauce and pickled sunflower seeds, sinzibukwud cured magret duck breast with suppawn, crushed heirloom crane-berries and swamp cabbage.

And for desert? Abenaki Indian pudding with heirloom local rhubarb jam. Of course.

Wow.
Upcoming Events: A Shaker Supper in the Orchard, A Gravenstein cider press & dinner, and National Moldy Cheese Day & A Made in New England Cheese Social. Keep up on their Schedule. 

The New England Farm 2 Fork Project

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Vignole and Fresh Pasta

Italy Delicious

by Ashley Bartner
Vignole ~ Spring Vegetables with Fresh Pasta
This dish is a great way to incorporate all the fresh vegetables of spring from wild asparagus to roman artichokes & sweet fava. The dish originated in Rome, they called it vignarola or vignole but it can be found here as well in Le Marche. It's a versatile dish that you can make as a primo or pasta dish or as a stew/soup by adding more vegetable stock (and a good hunk of crusty bread).

Jason swears it really is a simple dish to make, just lots of ingredients to clean! During the spring this is his "go to" pasta for hungry guests & everyone has loved it! The longest part is the shelling of all the fava. (For the vegetarians out there, sadly, just omit the prosciutto.)

We use spaghetti alla chitarra or tagliatelle (local pastas), but if you can't find those types just try regular spaghetti, linguine or fettuccine. We ask just one thing of you: Please, please use fresh pasta in this dish - it will make it much softer and worth the effort or cost - you will taste the difference!

Vignole con Spaghetti alla Chitarra
Spring Vegetables (Artichokes, Asparagus, Fava & Peas) with Fresh Pasta

Ingredients
Serves 6

12-16 oz. of fresh pasta
4-5 small artichokes
sea salt & pepper
1 leek, outer leaves removed, cut into 3-inch lengths, washed
1/2 lb. chard (or other nice leafy greens)
extra virgin olive oil
1 small white onion, chopped
3/4 cup of vegetable stock (add another 3/4 cup if you are making into a stew) - use the water you will using to blanch the veggies in.
12 oz. fresh shelled peas
12 oz. of fresh shelled fava (or half a grocery bag full of the beans)
one bunch of asparagus
4 thick slices of prosciutto
small bunch fresh mint & parsley

Directions

1. Put Put artichokes into a pot of cold, salted water & bring to a boil. Boil for about 10 minutes or until tender (you can check by inserting a knife into the heart) and drain. (Tip: Jason puts a plate on top of the boiling water of artichokes so they don't pop out & stay under water!) Allow to cool, then peel off the outer leaves until you find the pale tender ones, remove the choke (fuzzy white parts) using a spoon. Cut the hearts into quarters.
2. Fill the pot with new water, add salt & bring to a boil. Blanch the fava beans for a minute, remove from water with a slotted spoon. Blanch the leeks for 3-4 minutes, until tender, and the chard until just wilted.
3. Heat a large saucepan, big enough to hold all the ingredients, and add a good splash of oil. Cook the onion, low and slow for about 10 minutes until soft. Cut the tough parts of the asparagus off the bottom and discard, cut into quarter inch pieces. Saute for 2-3 minutes with onion.
4. Add vegetable stock (the water used to blanch the fava, leeks, and chard) and the peas, bring to a boil. Cut the prosciutto into bits and add in — simmer for about 10 minutes, until the peas are cooked and soft and the prosciutto has flavored it all nicely.
5. Chop leeks into strips, run a knife through the chard & stir into the pan. Add the artichoke hearts & fava beans and let simmer for a few minutes.
6. Finish with salt & pepper to taste a small bunch of chopped fresh mint & parsley. Add a few glugs of olive oil.
7. Toss with pasta & drizzle with a bit more olive oil for the bright flavors & colors of spring! Sprinkle with fresh grated parmesan or grana padano.Note If the dish looks too dry add a few spoonfuls of pasta water.

Tutti a tavola — everyone to the table!

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Ashley Bartner is living the foodie dream in Italy. Together with her Chef-husband Jason, they own and run La Tavola Marche  an organic farm, inn and cooking school in Central Italy's region of Le Marche.

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Warm Pasta Eggplant Salad

Tips Tasty

by Anna Tourkakis
The Wonder of Eggplants
Check out the menu in just about any Italian, Greek, or Middle Eastern restaurant and an eggplant dish is sure to be on it. Eggplants are an Old World vegetable and belong to the nightshade family. Its characteristic purple colored skin is rich in the antioxidant anthocyanin. It is low in calories, just 20 calories per cup, making it ideal for today’s lighter way of cooking. Given its spongy interior when fried, however, it quickly becomes soaked with oil and negates its low calorie virtues. Salting the slices of eggplants helps reduce the absorption of oil by collapsing the air pockets that give eggplants their spongy quality. Traditionally, salting has been done to draw out some of the bitterness that this vegetable may have. Another way to limit the absorption of oil is to cook it slightly in the microwave before frying.     

Another virtue of eggplants is that they can retain their shape when baked, as in the baked casseroles of eggplant parmigiana and  Moussaka. They also provide a creamy basis as in the baba ghanoush dip. They are ideal to use in spreads, warm salads, grilled or roasted by themselves. Available year round eggplants are at their peak in late summer.

Warm Pasta Salad Tossed with Eggplant, Tomatoes and Feta Cheese 
Ingredients
Serves 4

½ lb penne pasta (rotini, rigatoni)
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups eggplant, peeled and diced, in ½ inch cubes
3 small zucchini, diced in ½ inch cubes, about 3 cups
10 basil leaves, chopped
2 sprigs fresh oregano, minced or ¼ tsp dry
½ cup feta, crumbled
1 garlic clove
1- 14 oz can tomatoes, diced
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil, in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add eggplant
and zucchini cover and cook for 15 minutes, or until tender, stirring frequently. Transfer cooked eggplant and zucchini to a large bowl and season with 1-tablespoon oil, basil, oregano, salt & pepper. Set aside.
2. Cook Cook pasta al dente, drain. Combine pasta and vegetables. Add feta cheese and mix gently.
3. Heat Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in the nonstick pan over medium heat and brown garlic; add canned tomatoes and sauté on high heat for 5 minutes, season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour over pasta and vegetables. Toss gently.

Serve warm or cold with a little Parmesan cheese if desired.
TIP The eggplant and zucchini can be prepared up to 1day ahead. The tomato sauce can also be prepared ahead and just reheat when needed.

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Anna Q. Tourkakis, DTR, MPA is a nutritional counselor. She teaches nutrition to food service professionals at North Shore Community College and does cooking demonstrations and healthy eating related presentations. Anna Q. Tourkakis, DTR, MPA is a nutritional counselor. She teaches nutrition to food service professionals at North Shore Community College and does cooking demonstrations and healthy eating related presentations.

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Top 5 Restaurant Complaints

Out Eating

by J. Michael Wheeler
What's Your Gripe?
Sylvia Rector reports in the Detroit Free Press (Check it out, guys: The Top 5 restaurant gripes, 5/13/10) that it's not slow service, poorly cooked food, or even mixed up orders. In her survey of 100 diners who responded to questions about restaurant pet peeves, it's "the little things that drive people up the wall."

The Top Five Gripes
No. 1 by far, was a surprise: Significant numbers of diners of both sexes detest being addressed as "you guys" -- as in "How are you guys?" or "Are you guys ready to order?"

No. 2 Servers might take home bigger tips if they didn't ask, "Do you need change?" when they pick up a guest's check with cash. Diners considered it presumptuous or thought it was an effort to get an extra-large tip -- so they left less in protest. Most servers will tell you they're only trying to avoid an unnecessary trip back to the table.

No. 3 Checks brought too soon irk many readers; most interpret it as a sign the restaurant wants them to leave quickly. The comments of Liz Simmons of Mt. Clemens were typical: "I truly hate when the server slaps the bill down on the table while I'm still eating. ... What if I decide I want dessert? What if I want a cup of coffee to wind down my evening? ... I don't very often have a night out in my budget anymore and would love to savor it a bit," she said.

No. 4 Wiping down tabletops and chair seats with the same dirty cloth all over the dining room is a serious turnoff -- and it must be common, because so many diners described the same scene: "They take a rag that sits on a counter or shelf and fling all the residue and crumbs off the edge (of the table). Naturally a large portion falls on the chairs. ... What do we do? Yes, we use the same rag to wipe the seats. We then put the rag back ... for its next table wipe. Yuck," wrote Gene and Sylvia Oakie of Warren. And Alan Schebil of Auburn Hills calls the practice "repulsive" and adds, "I've gotten so paranoid I refuse to allow my silverware to sit directly on the table."

No. 5 Dining room noise, especially loud music. "My No. 1 pet peeve in a restaurant is the music," wrote Sharon Rugh of Shelby Township. "It annoys me beyond reason when the music ceases to become background music." Said Lorelei Christy of Farmington Hills: "People ... going to a restaurant for a nice meal and conversation with friends ... should not have to shout to be heard."

Read the full article at Detroit Free Press online Freep.com

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