If you've watched shows like Top Chef or Iron Chef America, you've undoubtedly heard the term confit, but there's nothing new about this preparation. Confit one of the oldest methods of preserving food.  The food is immersed in a substance that enhances flavor and provides preserving properties.  A good example is duck confit, where duck meat, usually legs, is cooked slowly by submerging it in rendered duck fat.  Allowed to cool, the fat offers great preservation properties, and the meat can be refrigerated in the fat for weeks without compromising safety or flavor. The same can be done with fruit, using a sugar solution instead of rendered fat, but we'll save that for another recipe. We aren't worried about preservation at this point though, so why else would we cook something confit style?

For me, a lot of what I like about confit is the melding of flavors, the richness and the soft textures of the cooked items.  Slow cooking methods help develop intense flavors, and like braising, the fat component becomes both a flavor enhancer and a flavor vehicle.  So when I got to the market this week, I found a vendor who had a bevy of the most beautiful eggplants I've seen yet.  Italian, Japanese, albino white, and these cute little fairy eggplants(look for those later). I selected a pair of flawless purples and went home thinking about what I could possibly do with em.  

I love grilled eggplant, but I wanted to try something different.  That night, I was watching Iron Chef and Mario Batali made a tomato confit.  That made me think, why not an eggplant confit?  Sounds good, but what an eggplant, roasted red pepper and tomato confit?  Why not?  And how good will that go with the awesome pork chops I'd gotten? Perfectly.

I know I say this all the time, but really this is easy to make.  The confit should be made the night before and left to cool in the fridge overnight, though really an hour will get those flavors melding just fine.  The confit can work as either a side dish or as a stand alone appetizer. The other aspect to this dish is brining the pork chops.  All the rage with turkeys lately, this technique works great with pork too, and only takes an hour instead of the 12-16 hours needed for a big bird. Enjoy

Ingredients we used from Farmers Market vendors in this recipe:

• Pork Chops: Hannish Farms
• Eggplant: Linda's Garden
• Yellow Tomatoes: Linda's Garden
• Red Bell Peppers: Lefler Gardens
• Artisan baguette: Cider Hill Farms

Grilled Pork Chops & Eggplant Confit

Confit
2 red bell peppers
2 medium eggplants, p
1 yellow tomato
8 cloves garlic
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
pinch of kosher salt


Pork Chops
4 pork chops
2 cups water
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp + 4 tsp honey
4 Tbsp dijon mustard

pinch of kosher salt

pinch of white pepper

1.)  Roast peppers on grill or under broiler until skins are black and blistered.  Turn so all sides are blackened.  Place peppers into a paper shopping bag until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes.  The steam will help loosen the skins.  Remove from bag, deseed and peel off skins.  Roughly chop into pieces approximately 1 inch square.


2.)  Dice tomatoes into 1 inch squares.  Peel eggplant and dice into 1 inch squares.


3.)  Preheat oven to 375.  Smash garlic cloves and combine with red peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, olive oil and salt in a, oven proof baking dish.  Toss until all vegetables are well coated and roast until eggplant is tender, but not falling apart, about 45 minutes.


4.)  When eggplant is tender, remove from heat and allow to cool.  Stir in fresh basil and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  For best results, make the night before.  Return to room temperature and serve with thin slices of baguette.


5.)  Brine:  Combine water, brown sugar and salt in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Stir until salt and sugar are dissolved.  Remove from heat and stir in 2 tsp honey and soy sauce.  Add ice and stir until cool.  Pour brine into a zip lock bag or drip proof container with pork chops and refrigerate for 1 hour.


6.)  Remove pork chops from brine and pat dry with paper towels.  Place on grill and cook until both sides are browned and pork is cooked through.  Remove from grill and allow to rest 5 minutes.


7.)  In a small bowl, combine mustard, 2 Tbsp honey, salt and white pepper.  Place a spoonful on each pork chop.  Serve with eggplant confit and fresh bread.

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On a rainy, crappy Saturday, all I really wanted to do was stay in bed.  But since I'd been absent from the markets for a few weeks due to illness, I decided I was going to brave the rain and check things out.  The vendors weren't staying home, so why should I?  I was just hoping I'd find something special that would inspire me.  I wasn't disappointed.

Over the last few years I've developed quite a taste for lamb, so when I discovered the Hannish Farms had started bringing meat to the Sioux Empire Farmers Market, I was delighted.  Last summer I bought all my eggs from the Hannishes, and we discussed their desire to start bringing lamb as well.  They're now setup and ready to roll, distributing a number of meats, but I only had eyes for the lamb...succulent, locally raised lamb.  Here was my inspiration, now what to pair with it?  How about baby carrots and baby zucchini?

So how to prepare these luscious chops I had waited a year for? How about a crust of Dijon mustard and a pomegranate sauce? I know what you're thinking: mustard and pomegranate? I was thinking the same thing, even as I was cooking it.  I second guessed myself so much, that I almost left the sauce off.  If you look at the picture, you'll see that the sauce is absent.  That's because as I was about to sauce the lamb, I balked and decided this wasn't going to work, so I switched things up and threw on an arugula salad to offset the mustard. Then I felt bad because the sauce did turn out great, so I changed my mind again decided to try it and served on the side. It didn't stay on the side for long.  I was absolutely shocked at how well the sauce counterpointed the mustard.  The arugula turned out to be a great addition in its own right, adding a nutty, peppery flavor that went great with all the other components of the dish.

So how was the lamb?  Everything I'd hoped it would be.  Tender and with a wonderful flavor, yet it lacked the gaminess you sometimes find with mass produced or imported lamb. Just as locally grown produce is superior to what you get at the supermarket, so was this lamb.  While this dish is a little complex to prepare, the actual cooking is pretty easy.  All you have to do is make sure you don't overcook the lamb. Nice and pink, that's the key. Do that an everything else will fall into place.

Ingredients we used from Farmers Market vendors in this recipe:

• Lamb Chops: Hannish Farms
• Baby Carrots: Linda's Garden
• Baby Zucchini: Linda's Garden

Mustard Crusted Lamb Chops with Pomegranate Sauce, Argula Salad and Roasted Baby Vegetables

Lamb Chops
4 lamb chops (aprox. 1lb.)
2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp dried thyme leaves
3 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 cup baby arugula
1 tsp. pomegranate infused olive oil(substitute regular olive oil if need be)

Vegetables
1/2 lb. baby carrots
1/2 lb. baby zucchini
3 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. olive oil

Pomegranate Sauce
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup beef stock
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 tbsp. fresh chives chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme

1.)  In a small sauce pan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil and saute shallots until tender. Add garlic, thyme and chives and saute 1 minute more.  Add beef stock and pomegranate juice and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to hard simmer and let stock reduce until thick and syrupy, about 45-60 minutes.

2.)  In a small bowl, whisk together honey and 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar.  While whisking, drizzle in 1 tbsp. olive oil.  Toss carrots in half of this glaze in a small roasting dish.  Roast in oven at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

3.)  Slice zucchini in half lengthwise.  When carrots have roasted for 25 minutes, remove from oven.  Toss zucchini in the rest of the honey balsamic glaze and add to roasting pan with the carrots.  Roast in oven for an additional 20 minutes.

4.)  In a small bowl, whisk together dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp dried thyme and Tabasco sauce.

5.)  Season lamb chops with salt, pepper and remaining dried thyme.  In a 12" saute pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium high heat.  When oil is hot, add lamb chops and quickly sear both sides until browned, about 3 minutes per side.  Remove and place into a roasting dish.

6.)  Cover each chop with a thin coasting of mustard sauce.  Place in the oven with the vegetables and roast for 15 minutes.  Remove promptly, and let rest for 5 minutes.  Do not let the lamb over cook.

7.)  Strain sauce through a fine mesh strainer to remove shallots and herbs.

8.)  Lightly dress arugula in olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar.  Do not over dress the salad.

9.)  Place a pool of pomegranate sauce on place and place 2 lamb chops on top of sauce.  Place half the arugula salad on top of the chops.  Add vegetables and serve.

(Serves 2)

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So I was lucky enough to score some beautiful butternut squash at the last Farmers Market, and I wanted to do something fun with them when my in-laws come for dinner.  My first though was Butternut Squash Ravioli, one of my favorites.  Then my father-in-law threw me a curve ball: no heavy butter or cream sauces this go around.  Well, squash doesn't exactly scream red sauce, so I was stumped.  I figured fine, we'll just do them en brodo, or in broth.  Then I noticed the wonton wrappers left over from my Fingerling Radish Spring Rolls. 

So, how about a wonton soup?  Sounds good, but how to make it mine.  As the wheels started spinning, I remembered that I'd been lucky enough to find dried cayenne pepper pods at one of the vendors in the Marker.  That gave me the a crazy idea: let's play with fusing Asian and Creole flavors.  I dearly love creole cuisine and I have a great recipe I use for Bourbon Truffled Sweet Potatoes that I thought that would be great with butternut squash.  So what if we did a simple Asian broth soup, but gave it a Creole twist.  The result was surprising and delicious.
The broth is simple and spicy, serving to accentuate the complexity of the butternut squash filling of the wonton.  When broken in the broth, the wonton filling had the effect of creaming the soup and creating a wonderfully complex flavor.  The biggest complaint I had was that the bowls were too small.  So good was the soup that it completely over shadowed the rack of lamb I had carefully roasted for our main course. 

Don't let the ingredient list scare you, this dish tastes way more difficult to make than it is. Note that for this dish, I was lucky enough to get dried cayenne pepper pods from one of the vendors, though you can certainly use pre-ground cayenne.

Ingredients we used from Farmers Market vendors in this recipe:

• Butternut Squash: Leffler Gardens
• Leeks: Klassen Farms
• Cayenne Peppers: Leffler Gardens

Creole Butternut Squash Wonton Soup

1 medium butternut squash
2 Tbsp Bourbon
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp Truffle Oil
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
12 wonton wrappers
4 cups Chicken Broth
1 large leek (white & pale green part only chopped into half moons approximately 1/8" thick)
kosher salt
cayenne pepper

1.) Split the squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds.  cover the flesh with 1 Tbsp butter, season with salt, and place flesh side down on a baking sheet.  Roast in oven at 400 degrees until fork tender, about 45 minutes or so.

2.) Heat olive oil in a 5 quart sauce part and saute leeks until tender and translucent.  Add garlic and saute 1 minute more. Add chicken broth, thyme and season with salt and Cayenne pepper.  You can adjust the level of spiciness by the amount of cayenne you add until you reach your preferred level of heat.  Reduce heat to low and simmer 30-45 minutes.

3.) Scoop the squash flesh out of the skins into a large mixing bowl and mash with potato masher.  (Hint:  Use a towels to hold the squash so as to not burn your hand.)

4.)  Add butter, brown sugar, bourbon and truffle oil to squash and whisk until smooth.  Alternatively you can use a hand mixer or stick blender, but be careful not to over-blend the puree or it will liquify.

5.)  Place approximately 1 tbsp of the mixture into the center of the wonton wrapper.  Wet edges slightly and fold the wrapper into a triangle, pressing firmly to seal the edges.

6.)  Drop wontons into 4 quarts of GENTLY boiling salted water.  If the water is at a full boil, the wontons will break apart.  When the wontons float to the surface, they are done.  Remove them and place 3 in each bowl.

7.)  Ladle 1 cup of broth and onions into each bowl.  Garnish with fresh parsley or chopped fennel fronds.

Note: Extra Squash puree can be refrigerated or frozen and served later as a side dish.  Simply bake in a 350 degree oven until warmed through and serve.  Though the squash can be reheated by microwave, baking will add another layer of depth to the flavor as bourbon and truffle oil heat up and infuse the squash with flavor.

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It's Farmer's Market time again!  As always in the early spring the stalls are dominated by garden starts and flowers, but we were able to come across a few little gems this go around.  One was some gorgeous little fingerling radishes.  They have a great peppery flavor, and I wanted to figure out something different to do with them, other than simply eat them raw.  When I saw the wonton wrappers in our fridge, I thought, what about a spring roll?

I served these with a Thai Peanut Sauce.  I've included a quick recipe for one at the end, but this would go well with sweet and sour or ponzu sauce as well.

Ingredients we used from Farmers Market vendors in this recipe:

• Fingerling Radishes: Linda's Garden
• Mild Yellow Onions: Warner's Produce
• Spinach : Linda's Garden

Fingerling Radish Mini Spring Rolls

Spring Rolls
1/2 cup fingerling radishes (cut into 1" matchsticks)
1/2 cup bean sprouts (cut into 1" matchsticks)
1/2 cup carrots (cut into 1" matchsticks)
1/2 cup yellow onion (cut into 1" matchsticks)
1/2 cup spinach (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger (minced)
24 wonton wrappers or 12 spring rolls wrappers(halved)
Canola oil for frying

Thai Peanut Sauce
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced and crushed
3 tbsp rice vinegar

1.)  Combine all ingredients for the peanut sauce in a small bowl and whisk until combined.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours to allow flavors to combine.

2.)  In a wok, large pot or electric fryer, heat canola oil to 360 degrees.

3.)  Lay out four wrappers.  Working in batches of four will keep the fryer from becoming overloaded, and keep spring rolls from getting soggy.

4.) In the center each wrapper, place 4 pieces each of carrot, radish, onion, spinach and bean sprout. Add a pinch each of minced garlic and minced ginger. Be sure to leave at least 1/2" of wrapper on each side.  Drizzle a small amount of soy sauce over vegetables.

5.) Wet edges of wrapper with a touch of water.  Fold left and right end over the vegetables and press at ends to seal.  now starting with the edge closest to you, roll the wrapper around vegetables and press to seal.

6.) Transfer finished spring rolls directly to the hot oil and fry until golden brown.  Remove from oil and place on plate lined with paper towels to drain.  Season lightly with kosher salt.

7.) Warm peanut sauce (if desired) and serve immediately.

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This weekend Team Aluminum Chef took on Baconfest, a fundraiser to help the Sioux Falls Roller Dolz cover expenses for road trips and the like. We had a great time and got great response to our offering: The Chocolate & Bacon Cannoli.

I know what you're thinking, but trust me, this rocked! Cannolis aren't too hard to make, once you get the shells made. Even these aren't too involved. You'll need a set of Cannoli molds, available at most kitchen specialty stores for a minimal price. Basically these are just tubes around which you wrap the dough to fry them, but they are cheap enough that I wouldn't try to improvise with homemade forms. It is possible to buy premade cannoli shells if you don't want to make your own, and this is certainly a way to make these great dessert treats even easier.

So be adventurous and enjoy the Chocolate & Bacon Cannoli. Thanks to the Rollerdolz and to everyone who participated in Baconfest.

Chocolate and Bacon Cannoli

SHELL:
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tbsp. cocoa
1 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. shortening
1/2 c. Merlot wine

FILLING:
8 oz. ricotta cheese
8 oz. marscapone cheese
2 tbsp. rum
4 tbsp. mini chocolate chips
1 pound finely chopped applewood smoked bacon
2 tbsp. sugar
1 egg white

CHOCOLATE TOPPING:
1/4 c. heavy cream
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

To Make Shells:

Sift all dry ingredients together. Cut shortening into small pieces and add to dry ingredients. Blend together adding wine in small amounts. Knead dough until well blended, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Roll dough out to 1/16" thickness. Cut into 5" rounds. roll the round a bit to make it into an oval. Wrap around cannoli molds so that the edges overlap just about 1/2'' and seal with egg white.

Drop cannoli, mold and all, into the fryer and fry at 350 degrees until crispy, about 90 seconds.

Allow to cool and carefully remove from mold.

To Make Filling:

Fry bacon until crisp, then chop in food processor until finely chopped.

Reserve 1/3 of the bacon and 2 tbsp. of mini chocolate chips for topping.

In in stand mixer(or mixing bowl with hand mixer), combine ricotta, marscapone, rum, vanilla, sugar 2 tbsp. mini chocolate chips and 2/3rd's of the bacon and whip until well combined and creamy.

Add mixture to piping bag with a very large tip. Fill cannoli shells, letting a little come out the ends of the shell.

Mix reserved bacon and mini chips and dip ends of the filled cannolis.

Melt semisweet chocolate chips in a double boiler with heavy cream, and drizzle over cannolis.

Optionally, you can then top cannolis with more bacon and powdered sugar.

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