Roasted Garlic

We have a fancy little terracotta garlic roaster that we seem to use about once every never.  We love garlic and making roasted garlic couldn't be simpler so you'd think it would get used more often.  But the problem with our roaster is that it's not very big and almost impossible to roast more than one head of garlic at a time.  So the garlic roaster has been replaced by a left over pie-crust tin.

The obvious question here is, 'why hold on to a garlic roaster that we will probably never use?'  We keep it because it serves as a beacon.  A sign.  When we are rummaging through our cramped cabinets looking for a rolling pin, we will occasionally see Mr. Terracotta hiding behind the waffle maker shouting "Don't forget that you love roasted garlic!".  And to be honest, in our normal busy day to day, we really don't think about garlic that much... so it is a welcome reminder. 

Roasting garlic is inexpensive, easy, makes the house smell great and above all else... tastes fantastic.  The roasting process removes the bite that fresh garlic has and leaves almost a nutty flavor and a smooth texture.  All you need from the store is a loaf of fresh bread and a few heads of garlic.  When selecting your garlic avoid heads where you can see cloves that have started to go bad.  You will see black or dark areas under the papery skin that will indicate this.  A quick look at the bottom will ensure you have fresh garlic to roast.

Preheat your oven to 400.  Remove as much of the paper from the garlic that you can while leaving enough to let the head maintain its form.  I normally cut about the top 1/4 off the head to get good exposure to the garlic cloves.  Put the heads of garlic in a baking dish or on a cookie sheet (I use an old pie-crust tin) and drizzle the tops with olive oil and add a little black pepper and sea-salt.  Adding about 1/4 cup of water to the dish will help keep them from sticking and from drying out.  Cover with a little foil and bake for 45-60 minutes. 

When they are done roasting let rest until they are cool enough to handle.  The roasted garlic should just pop out of the head with a little squeeze.  Put two or three cloves on a slice of fresh bread and break up and spread with a fork.  Sprinkle a pinch of sea-salt on top and enjoy!   Nothing better.

Cuppa Joe

I think if I had to put the blame for my neurosis squarely on one person's shoulders it would have to be my sister.  My sister and her damned espresso.  After living throughout Europe for many years she developed a fond affection for her simple espresso maker.  It wasn't much more than an Art Deco-esque hunk of metal that reminded me of a Dalek.  After making her espresso on the stovetop she would froth the milk manually in a small container. 

Way too rudimentary for her high-tech brother. 

And thus the world's easiest Christmas present idea was dropped in my lap.  I'd get her a fancy espresso machine with all the bells and whistles and brass and steam vents and all the latest technology for making a high-tech cup of coffee.  But alas... she wanted to stick with the dark ages Dalek.

"Fine", I thought, "If I can't make your coffee maker better, I'll make your coffee better." 

And I took my first step down the Hard Way road. 

After considerable research I had located a relatively inexpensive coffee roaster and a good source for raw beans.  I purchased the roaster with a few pounds beans from random places around the globe and was good to go for Christmas.  It was a big hit on Christmas day and after all my research I think I was more excited for her to try it than she was.  She eventually got around to roasting some beans and the coffee was delicious.  It's amazing the difference fresh coffee makes. 

A few weeks later I purchased a roaster for myself.  It was larger and programmable and more high-tech which suited me just fine.  I found a great little coffee shop online that was run by a really nice couple who always had time to answer my questions and always included a personal note in every order.  I was ready to hone my skills.

Roasting coffee is actually about as easy as it gets.  Once you have your roaster programmed the way you like you really just have to measure your beans and let the roaster do the work.  The beans will smoke a lot during the roast so you'll want to be outside.  Ambient temperature has a pretty significant impact on your roast so keep an eye on it.  Warm weather will speed the roast up considerably and conversely, cold weather will slow things down.  Beans can go from a mid roast to a dark roast quickly so paying attention to color is important.  After a few tries you'll know just when to start the cooling process to halt the roast and get your beans just the way you like them.  The entire roasting process takes about 8-12 minutes plus about 5 minutes for cooling the beans.  Set up to clean up is about 20 minutes total... yielding about a cup of roasted beans or enough for two pots of fresh coffee.

I've enjoyed coffee from all over the world... heirloom beans from Yemen and coffee grown on the side of an extinct volcano in Australia.  Although when I buy in bulk it's always Kenyan AA.  Large beans that hold up great to a darker roast... and only $6-$8 a pound.  Last year I was lucky enough to find a sale on estate grown Kona and enjoyed fine coffee all winter long.

I share a lot of the coffee I roast and without fault the same thing happens when I give someone beans for the first time.  They inevitably ask "How do I prepare it?" as if I had just handed them a grass fed Kobe tenderloin.  It's coffee.  Make it like you always make coffee.  The only difference between my coffee and your coffee is that mine is freshly roasted (well... and the beans single origin).  Roasted coffee will start to go stale within a weeks time and within 24 hours once ground.  So don't ration it and don't save it for a special occasion.  Just enjoy it... fresh.  I'll roast more.

Sadly, cold weather is here which limits how much I can roast outside.  But the silver lining is that it's getting into prime beer brewing weather.  But that's a story for another day.

For more information on coffee brewing and purchasing equipment and beans online, please visit The Captains Coffee or Sweet Marias.  I've found both to be excellent resources/retailers.

Food the hard way

I'm not sure if it started with beer brewing or roasting coffee but somewhere along the way I developed an unhealthy penchant for doing things the hard way... frequently just to see if I could actually do it.  While making pasta from scratch with my three year old (she makes pasta with her play-doh so this was a logical progression in my brain) it occured to me that with all the crazy things I try, I should probably be cataloging my cooking adventures in some fashion.  So this is for me, but please feel free to tag along.  Perhaps we'll both learn something along the way.

I'm no chef... in fact I learned how to section a rabbit from youtube.  Nor am I a food snob... Cup Noodles are my guilty pleasure. 

But I am a big fan of the process. 

Many years ago I was asked why I brewed my own beer and roasted my own coffee, my response still rings true today and probably gives a glimpse into why I like to cook food - the hard way.

I roast my own coffee beans... not because it's so much better and cheaper (although it is) but because there are so many things in between raw beans and a cup of coffee that you just don't experience when you walk into Starbucks. The same goes with brewing beer... you get a great sense of satifaction after you finish cleaning up after a day of brewing, seeing your live beer bubble away as the yeast does it job, after tasting a new beer barely a week in the bottle just to see how it's progressing, and when your batch finally starts to hit it's peak, having a fridge full of great beer that you can recollect with each beer the entire process that you controlled over a period of six weeks. Yeah, I could go buy a case of good beer and enjoy it, but it will never be as good as a beer I remember starting as a handful of dry grain.

I grow my hops, own a cheese cave and even had a rather successful crawfish boil just because it sounded interesting to try.  Thankfully I'm not alone in my madness... my wife shares my interest in trying new things and whereas I tend to keep to more traditional paths, her curiosity knows no bounds.  We were recently at the Jean George Steakhouse at the Aria in Las Vegas and while my curious palate eyed the Black Truffle and Comte fritters, my wife wanted to know all about the Roasted Bone Marrow with Gremolata.  Grema-what-a??  I was horrified but our server assured us it was the best side on the menu.  I stuck with my fritters but my wife opted for the bone marrow.  It was amazing.  We had more than a few curious looks from the French table next to us but we didn't care, we were enjoying cullinary excellence.  So... like I said earlier, I'm glad she's onboard... I'd certainly miss out on a lot of things without her.

Oh, and we currently have five pounds of marrow bones in the fridge waiting for something to happen.