The Whole Dish: Southern Oregon Food Blog

Think of grilling, and most of us probably think of those American standbys — hamburgers, steaks and even chicken — before we think of pork.

Bacon, sausage and ham constitute much of pork’s appeal, owing to their fatty makeup. And the tougher cuts, like the ribs and shoulder, become tender and succulent with long, low-temperature cooking.

But purchasing half of a very lean pig raised by friends earlier this year got me thinking about lighter preparations for pork. The boneless chops made for great stir-frying when I cut them into strips.

Inspired by the mangoes ripening on the counter, I devised a tropical relish or salsa of sorts to pair with a jerk-spiced pork and coconut rice. It was such a satisfying combination that I made it more than once.

The pork strips started in a marinade of traditional jerk spices, including cinnamon, cloves and allspice, minced fresh garlic and chopped roasted chilies. The basmati rice simply simmered in a barely diluted can of coconut milk with a whole bay leaf and cloves, finished with chopped cilantro. The peeled and diced mango was dressed up with more cilantro, lime juice and scallions from the garden.

It took just three minutes or so in a hot pan to cook the pork through, followed by another minute or so of deglazing with apple-cider vinegar. The resulting dish was sweetly spicy with a richness from the coconut milk rather than the meat, itself. The second time I made it, I finished it with toasted cashews.         

A similar concept is this Caribbean-influenced recipe from “Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction,” by Bobby Flay with Stephanie Banyas and Sally Jackson. It uses lean pork tenderloin, marinated in coconut milk before grilling.   

Coconut-Marinated Pork Tenderloin With Green Onions and Peanuts

1 (14-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk

Grated zest of 2 limes

Juice of 2 limes

1 heaping tablespoon mild curry powder

2 teaspoons mild Spanish paprika

6 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

3 tablespoons peeled and grated, fresh ginger

1 Scotch bonnet chili, chopped, or 2 tablespoons Scotch bonnet hot sauce

1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

2 pork tenderloins, 1 pound each, trimmed of excess fat

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 green onions, halved lengthwise and finely chopped

1/2 cup coarsely chopped, roasted, unsalted peanuts

2 tablespoons finely chopped, fresh cilantro leaves

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Hot sauce, for serving

Combine the coconut milk, lime zest, lime juice, curry powder, paprika, garlic, ginger, chili and black pepper in a bowl. Add the pork; turn to coat in marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 8 hours.

Heat your grill to high for indirect grilling. Remove pork from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking; pat dry with paper towels.

Brush pork with the oil; season with 1/4 teaspoon salt or more to taste. Put pork directly over heat; grill, turning as needed, until charred on all sides, for about 8 minutes. Remove to cooler part of grill (indirect heat); cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 150 F, for about 12 minutes.

Transfer pork to a platter; tent loosely with foil. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Combine the green onions, peanuts, cilantro and allspice in a bowl; season with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste.

Slice pork across the grain into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Sprinkle with green onion-peanut topping; serve with hot sauce.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

As the season for grilling accelerates, this week’s food section acknowledges that good steaks need a good sear.

But chicken constitutes most backyard cooks’ trial by fire. It’s unfortunate when the well-meaning grillmeister marinates chicken for more than a few hours in hopes of it becoming tenderer and remaining juicy. In reality, long marinating times break down muscle tissue, rendering chicken — boneless/skinless breasts in particular — hopelessly mealy.

In addition, chicken often is grilled too hot or for too long because people are “terrified” it will be undercooked, says Cheryl Jamison, co-author with her husband, Bill, of “100 Grilling Recipes You Can’t Live Without.” Grill chicken over medium heat or run the risk getting “a charred surface and chicken sushi inside,” she adds.

Here are 10 more tips recently rounded up by the Chicago Tribune from the country’s foremost grilling experts, plus a recipe for the Jamisons’ “foolproof” barbecued chicken, which starts by pounding the boneless/skinless breasts to a uniform thickness, so all portions are done at the same time.

1. Read or reread the owner’s manual for your grill, says Leslie Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, a trade association based in Arlington, Va. Pay particular attention to the manufacturer’s safety hints.

2. Give the grill a thorough inspection and cleaning. “Make sure the legs are sturdy, that things haven’t rusted out, the vents are working properly and the burners are clean,” Wheeler says. With gas grills, make sure there are no holes or leaks in any hoses, that the hoses are properly hooked up and all connections work properly.

3. Use care in positioning the grill. “Lots of people put the grill outside the back door but, really, is that the best place?” Wheeler asks. Grills need to be out of high-traffic areas so children and pets won’t bump into them. Ideally, the grill should be at least 10 feet away from the house to reduce fire risk. If you live in a condominium or apartment building, make sure grilling is permitted and know what type of grills are allowed.

4. Pay attention lighting the grill. Open the hood before igniting a gas grill to vent any fumes that may be gathering there, Wheeler says. Don’t pour additional lighter fluid on coals after they’re lit; you risk a big flare-up.

5. Stay focused: “We get frustrated when we see people not sticking with the food,” Bill Jamison says. “They’re going away, getting a beer, drinking a beer, while the food cooks without them paying any attention to the time or the temperature.”

6. Don’t move the food about. Put it on the grill, let it get a good sear on both sides, then move the food to more moderate heat to cook through, say the Jamisons. Searing eliminates the risk of food sticking to the grill, Cheryl Jamison says.

7. Don’t squash the burgers onto the grill. “All the juices will run out,” Cheryl Jamison says.

8. Never sauce too soon. “Most sauces on the market are ketchup based, and there’s sugar in them,” says Myron Mixon, author of “Everyday Barbecue” and a judge on the reality television series “BBQ Pitmasters.” “The sugars caramelize and start burning.” He recommends applying sauce to food at the end of the grilling time or serving the sauce in a bowl at the table. If you want to dab something on the food as it cooks, Mixon, who loves in Unadilla, Ga., recommends an old Southern trick, a mop made of vinegar, salt and red pepper flakes. “Use it for basting, for flavor and for keeping the food from burning,” he says.

9. Practice, practice, practice. Mixon says you should try out any unfamiliar grill recipe a few times before adding it to your party lineup. Don’t sweat it if the dish doesn’t debut on Fourth of July; there’s always Labor Day fast approaching.

10. Clean the grill while it’s still hot. The work will go faster, Wheeler says. Use a sturdy brush to get any food residue off the grill rack. Make sure the gas is turned off before closing the grill lid. Close the grill vents so a charcoal fire dies out quickly; you should be able to reuse some of the coals next time, she says.

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Bodacious Barbecued Chicken Breasts

Barbecue sauce: 1 cup ketchup

1⁄4 cup molasses

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

1 1⁄2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons yellow mustard

1 teaspoon onion powder

1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt or coarse sea salt

1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1⁄4 teaspoon chili powder

3 to 4 tablespoons bourbon

Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 to 7 ounces each), pounded to 1⁄2 inch thick

1⁄2 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt or coarse sea salt

Combine the ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, butter, 11⁄2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, mustard, onion powder, salt, pepper, chili powder and 1⁄2 cup water in a medium saucepan; heat to a boil. Reduce heat to a bare simmer and cook, until thickened lightly, for 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the bourbon and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; set aside about half of sauce to serve at the table.

Place the chicken in a zipper-top plastic bag; pour the 1⁄2 cup Worcestershire sauce over it. Add the oil and salt; seal bag. Toss back and forth to coat chicken evenly. Let sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.

Fire up the grill, bringing temperature to medium. (You can hold your hand over grill for 4 to 5 seconds.)

Drain chicken, discarding marinade; blot any moisture on surface with a paper towel. Grill, uncovered, for 10 to 12 minutes total. Turn 3 times, rotating breasts a half turn each time for crisscross grill marks. After each side of chicken has faced fire once, begin brushing sauce over breasts.

Chicken is ready when it is white throughout but still juicy and sauce is a bit chewy and caramelized in spots. If you wish, leave chicken on grill an extra minute or so to get a slightly crusty surface. Serve chicken breasts whole or thickly sliced and mounded on a platter. Pass reserved sauce on the side.

Makes 4 servings.

While this blog lay fallow for the past couple of months, my garden compelled me to get cooking. Stories slated for the newspaper’s food section provided some of the seasonal inspiration.

It started in April with rhubarb for compote and a crostata with store-bought puff pastry that was supremely simple but far enough off my usual course to impress my husband. I’m still trying to find the time to make the Salted Caramel-Rhubarb Pie, a truly unique recipe that ran in A la Carte.

Most recently, the cauliflower demanded our attention. The six plants, a “cheddar” varietal installed in March, all produced  luscious, golden heads, about 9 inches in diameter, within a few days of each other. I craved the curry-roasted cauliflower that ran in A la Carte’s May 22 edition. But because I didn’t have a main course planned after one of my first days back in the office, I turned it into one with the tried-and-true concept of quinoa pilaf.

I started by streamlining the recipe that accompanied McClatchy News Service’s story. I omitted the onions and, after prepping the cauliflower, just drizzled it with grapeseed oil, sprinkled it with curry powder and salt and tossed the florets until they were coated in the mixture.

I roasted it at about 400 degrees and, during the last 10 minutes or so of cooking, added the coriander seeds we saved from last year’s garden cilantro. I actually forgot the cumin seeds but should have added them with the coriander. Then, rather than applying vinegar on the front end, I deglazed the roasting pan with a few tablespoons of apple-cider vinegar before removing it from the oven.

The resulting spicy vinaigrette became the sauce for my pilaf. I just scraped the contents of the roasting pan into a cast-iron skillet, where I’d sautéed some garlic scapes from the garden, then spooned in a couple of cups of cooked quinoa. Sliced, fresh scallions from the garden finished it off, along with dollops of sour cream and homemade peach chutney.

No mere hip health food, quinoa translates to all manner of cuisines, in this case Indian-inspired. A few days later, I used the leftover plain, steamed grain for “fried rice.” The dish made use of my fresh garden snow peas, more garlic scapes and highlighted the texture of scrambled egg even better than rice does.

As the season for fresh, local produce picks up speed, quinoa can be the go-to vehicle for a tasty, healthful  meal. This recipe from the Los Angeles Times is one place to start. Gather more inspiration by browsing 26 recipes using quinoa in our online Recipe Box.

Note that quinoa always should be rinsed before cooking to remove a bitter coating on the seed’s exterior. If you think you don’t care for quinoa, and you haven’t been rinsing it, give it another shot.

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Quinoa and Kale Salad

1 1⁄4 cups quinoa, well rinsed under running water

1⁄2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

3⁄4 cup drained canned garbanzo beans

1 tablespoon plus 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cumin

Kosher salt, as needed

1 cup kale (preferably dinosaur or lacinato), stemmed and cut in ribbons

1⁄2 cup chopped celery

1⁄3 cup currants

1⁄4 cup cut jarred piquillo peppers, drained and cut into strips

3 tablespoons chopped green onions

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the quinoa until tender, for about 15 minutes. Drain well, fluff on a rimmed baking sheet and set aside to cool.

In a saute pan heated over medium-high heat until hot, add the 2 tablespoons olive oil and the garbanzo beans, sprinkling over the ground cumin and a pinch of the kosher salt. Saute until beans are lightly colored and aromatic. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, toss cooked quinoa with cooked beans, the kale, celery, currants, piquillo peppers, green onions, parsley and lemon zest.

To make dressing, whisk together remaining 1⁄2 cup olive oil, the vinegar and juice from zested lemon, 3⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste, and the black pepper.

Add dressing to salad, a few tablespoons at a time, tossing to coat. You may not use all dressing. Taste and season if desired.

 Makes about 5 1⁄2 cups salad, 4 to 6 servings.  

— Recipe from Gayle’s Bakery & Rosticceria, Capitola, Calif.

This blog, for the past seven years and more than 650 entries, has been an extension of the Mail Tribune’s weekly food section.

Blogging also has provided coverage of local food news and events that don’t make it in A la Carte, whether for issues of space, timing or newsworthiness. It’s been a platform for some writing I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise, including blogging while on a food-centric vacation in the Mediterranean several years ago.

Most readers recognize that while not updated every day, The Whole Dish is updated regularly: at least weekly but, more often than not, several times per week. That’s about to change for a few months while I’m on family leave. The break hopefully will nurture my household with more time in the kitchen and garden.

In the meantime, I encourage you to use The Whole Dish as a resource, particularly for finding and preparing seasonal ingredients. Within these hundreds of posts are hundreds of recipes easily searchable by specific words entered in the field at the upper-righthand corner of this page. The archives are organized by month and year a bit lower down.

Last year’s April and May entries included recipes for asparagus, rhubarb, fava beans, a make-ahead Mothers Day breakfast, even soft cheese. Previous years’ spring entries featured recipes for lamb, homemade salad dressings and chocolate-dipped strawberries. On the more esoteric end, there’s a guide to natural sweeteners and ideas for using fiddleheads and green garlic, as well as making the most of trips to local farmers markets where these are found.

The area’s weekly farmers markets are on my family’s list for springtime outings. We hope to see you there!

To go with the deviled-egg recipes circulating in food publications and on websites around Easter, egg-salad recipes abound. It’s so predictable you’d think this holiday was the only time anyone hard-boiled eggs.

Of course, there are people (my husband being one) put off by what they perceive as the sulfurous smell of hard-boiled eggs. And then there are egg lovers like me who boil a batch about every week. I love them sliced in green salads, as a sandwich filling or all on their own as a snack. In fact, there are few foods so inexpensive, nutritious, satisfying or portable as a hard-boiled in its shell.

Speaking of eggshells, a recent Los Angeles Times piece confirmed what I already suspected and advocated in last week’s story for A la Carte. Chilling eggs — if need be in an ice-water bath — is key to peeling them easily. LA Times food writer Russ Parsons also tried cooking eggs in salted water and water with baking soda to see if those methods made peeling easier (they didn’t, he reported).

For really fresh eggs, which are hardest to peel, crack the shells first by rolling them around in the pan used to cook them after the water’s been drained off. When the shells are lightly crackled all over, transfer them to an ice-water bath.

Even if they don’t get cracked first, Parsons says that because eggshells are porous, ice water will seep into the egg given enough time. He let them soak for about 45 minutes and reported that peeling them was about as easy as when they were cracked.

But back to what to do with hard-boiled eggs. Almost peerless versatility is an attribute of eggs, of which I often take advantage. When it comes to my egg-salad sandwiches, though, I’m a traditionalist, using Best Foods mayonnaise, just a squirt of French’s mustard (more for color than flavor) and, depending on how I’m feeling and the season, a rotating cast of simple seasonings: usually granulated garlic, Old Bay, cayenne and curry powder but also dill and, this time of year, fresh chives.

I also like these ideas from the “Cowgirl Chef” Ellise Pierce, who writes for McClatchy News Service. The first would be ideal with a fresh-baked baguette. And the egg-salad tostada is one that never would have crossed my mind but perhaps could tempt even my husband.

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Egg Salad Frenchy

6 large eggs

10 French cornichons, chopped

1 heaping tablespoon Best Foods mayonnaise

1⁄2 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Pinch piment d’Espelette (optional; see note)

Sea salt and pepper, to taste

1 baguette, sliced

Put the eggs in a saucepan, cover with water by 2 inches, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When water boils, cover, reduce heat to a simmer and time for 10 minutes. Carefully pour off hot water, then run cold water run over eggs until they’re cool enough to peel. Roughly chop eggs and put them in a bowl.

Add the cornichons, mayonnaise, mustard, piment d’Espelette and salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving on toasted baguette with an additional sprinkle of piment d’Espelette for color.

Makes enough for 2 large or 4 regular-size sandwiches.

NOTE: Piment d’Espelette is a chili pepper from the Southwest of France, milder than cayenne and without the smokiness of chipotle or Spanish paprika. It can be found in specialty stores. As there is not an American equivalent, if you can’t find it, simply leave it out, and the egg salad still will be delicious.

Egg Salad Texy-Mexy

6 eggs

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped

Small handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped (plus additional for serving)

1 chipotle chili (in adobo), finely chopped

Sea salt, to taste

4 corn tortillas

1 lime, cut into wedges (for serving)

Put the eggs in a saucepan, cover with water by 2 inches, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When water boils, cover, reduce heat to a simmer and time for 10 minutes. Carefully pour off hot water, then run cold water run over eggs until they’re cool enough to peel. Roughly chop eggs and put them in a bowl.

Add the avocado, cilantro, chopped chipotle and salt to taste. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

To serve, preheat oven to broil. When hot, toast the tortillas by putting them directly on oven rack, making sure to flip them to other side after about a minute. Be sure to watch them carefully so they don’t burn. Spoon a quarter of egg salad on each tortilla and sprinkle with a little more cilantro. Serve with the lime wedges.

Makes enough for 4 tostadas.

Egg Salad Mediterraneo

6 eggs

6 cherry tomatoes, chopped

10 artichoke heart quarters (in oil), chopped

6 fresh basil leaves, chopped (with additional for serving)

8 Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

1 heaping tablespoon Best Foods mayonnaise

Sea salt and pepper, to taste

Put the eggs in a saucepan, cover with water by 2 inches, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When water boils, cover, reduce heat to a simmer and time for 10 minutes. Carefully pour off hot water, then run cold water run over eggs until they’re cool enough to peel. Roughly chop eggs and put them in a bowl.

Add the cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts, basil, olives, mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving, preferably on toasted, grainy bread, open-faced, with a bit more chopped basil on top.

Makes enough for 4 sandwiches.

Egg Salad Fancy-Schmancy

6 eggs

Small handful fresh dill, chopped (plus more for serving)

1 tablespoon capers, chopped

1 heaping tablespoon Best Foods mayonnaise

Sea salt and pepper, to taste

1 (5.29-ounce) box of tiny toasts

3.5 ounces smoked salmon, sliced into small pieces

Put the eggs in a saucepan, cover with water by 2 inches, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When water boils, cover, reduce heat to a simmer and time for 10 minutes. Carefully pour off hot water, then run cold water run over eggs until they’re cool enough to peel. Grate eggs and put them in a bowl.

Add the dill, capers, mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

When ready to serve, spoon egg salad on the toasts, top with a piece of the salmon and sprinkle a bit more dill on top.

Makes enough for about 2 dozen hors d’oeuvres-sized toasts.

It’s been a couple of years since this blog tackled the old lamb-or-ham-for-the-holiday question.

I’m confident it’s a common enough quandary as a co-worker cooking her first Easter brunch for family asked my opinion this week.

A staunch advocate of lamb, I had to hedge and admit that because she had so many other dishes to make, a ham that’s already fully cooked upon purchasing — basically requiring reheating in the oven — is easier. Plus, ham is a more forgiving meat that, even overcooked, goes over well with the majority of guests.

Make one misstep with lamb, and you’ve earned it another lifelong avoider. Despite some diners’ close-held aversion to lamb, the only thing that causes a bad odor or flavor in good-quality lamb is cooking it too hot or too long, as columnist Jan Roberts-Dominguez pointed out in this week’s A Fresh Approach.

But as my parents found out last week, cooking lamb can be catastrophic once an odd butchering mistake has been made. After her freezer went on the fritz, ruining about 30 pounds of Rogue Valley-raised lamb, my mom resorted to purchasing shanks from New Zealand. She said she thought the meat smelled sour — “skunky” — when she opened the vacauum-sealed package. But the meat’s appearance seemed fine.

So she started braising the shanks for dinner. As the hours wore on, a horrific stench filled the house, causing the cats to yowl in protest and my parents to escape onto the deck.

My dad’s theory, which seems likely, is that the animal’s scent gland was penetrated during butchering and spilled onto the meat, souring it past the point of consumption. With no hope of its salvage, even for cat food, the lamb went into the trash.

With the abundance of lambs raised right here in the Rogue Valley, there should be no reason to purchase imported lamb, which is deceivingly cheaper because the cuts are smaller. New Zealand sheep are about half the size of American counterparts, according to a recent Newsday story. Australian lambs can vary in size, from a little larger than New Zealand to almost as large as American. An American leg of lamb weighs about 10 pounds; Australian legs top out at around 8 pounds.

The biggest difference between domestic and imported lamb is flavor, directly related to the animals’ diet. Once sheep are weaned, they are set out to pasture. For the last two months of their 12- to 14-month lives, many American sheep are “finished” on grain to fatten them up like American cattle. In Australia and New Zealand, sheep graze exclusively, which lends their meat a distinctive, gamey taste and a leaner texture.

Many Rogue Valley ranchers, though, raise their lambs solely on pasture, producing a meat I personally find more tender and so mild that unsuspecting guests at my house often mistake it for beef. Unfortunately, my typical source for a whole lamb sold out this winter before I could claim one. So with only an entire, bone-in leg in the freezer (far too much meat to justify cooking for fewer than 10 people) and the half pig we purchased from friends still in the butcher’s meat locker, the lamb-or-ham debate is moot for this year’s holiday.

Yet I’ve learned after ordering several lambs over the years that the whole, bone-in leg is an undesirable cut unless you’re planning to spit-roast it outside a la “My Big, Fat Greek Wedding.” Now, I request half legs from my butcher.

Newsday sources concur, pointing out that the hip bone is big, irregularly shaped and nearly impossible to carve neatly around. A semiboned leg, in which the hip bone has been removed, but the lower shank bone has not, still makes for a dramatic presentation.

To carve a semiboned leg, cut the top (boneless) section crosswise (perpendicular to the shank bone) into 1⁄2-inch slices. When you reach the shank bone, cut along its length and then carefully cut the meat away from the bone, like removing a whole breast from a turkey or chicken. Cut the now-boneless meat crosswise into 1⁄2-inch slices.

Like Jan, Newsday writers also recommend a butterflied leg for broiling or grilling flat like a flank steak. Although a leg that’s been rolled and tied looks like a neat trick, it wreaks havoc with the meat’s natural grain, making it difficult to get uniformly tender slices.

For tenderness, of course, the rib chops can’t be beat. That’s why this cut is the most expensive, which can be mitigated a bit by buying a full rack of lamb and cutting the ribs apart. Pounding the meat flat ensures quick cooking in this recipe adapted by Newsday from “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking” by Marcella Hazan.

Pan-Fried Parmesan-Crusted Rib Chops

12 to 16 small single-rib lamb chops (about 2 pounds)

3⁄4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, spread onto a plate

2 large eggs, beaten lightly in a large, shallow bowl

3⁄4 cup fine, dry, unflavored breadcrumbs, spread onto a plate

Vegetable oil, as needed

Salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste

With a meat pounder or small, heavy pot, gently pound meat of the chops so it doubles in area and is between 1⁄4 and 1⁄2 inch thick.

Dredge chops on both sides through the grated Parmesan, pressing cheese into chop so it adheres. Tap chops against plate to shake off excess cheese. Dip them into the egg, letting excess drip off. Then dredge chops through the breadcrumbs, coating both sides and tapping again to shake off excess.

Coat bottom of a large skillet over medium-high heat with some of the oil. When oil is hot, place as many chops into pan as will fit without crowding. It should take between 60 and 90 seconds for bottoms to form a nice, golden crust. When they do, sprinkle with the salt and pepper, turn chops and season other sides. As soon as second sides have formed a crust, transfer to a warm platter. Repeat with remaining chops. When all chops are done, serve promptly.

Makes 4 servings.

Every newspaper story about the genesis of that candy turned pop-culture phenomenon — Peeps — relate that the first marshmallow chicks were piped out by hand.

While it’s hard to imagine how that feat was ever accomplished on a commercial scale (even to meet 1950s levels of demand), piping a few marshmallow chicks in the home kitchen could constitute a fun springtime tradition. Pair that activity with our Peeps photo contest for an entry that is sure to stand out: Peeps piping more Peeps? See the photos already submitted. The deadline to enter is today.

Now that I’ve experimented with homemade marshmallows and deemed them very doable, I feel confident enough to try my hand at piping the mixture. Of course, cookie cutters also can be used with this recipe from the Los Angeles Times to produce Easter-themed shapes.

And making yellow Peeps at home would be the ideal occasion to try flavoring them with the lemon extract I just received as a sample from McCormick. With a taste of citrus redeeming the chicks, their piping could be less than perfect.

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Homemade Marshmallow Candies

2 (.25-ounce) packages plain gelatin

2 cups colored sugar

Butter for greasing baking sheet, if cutting out shapes

2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1⁄2 cup chocolate chips

In bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, sprinkle the gelatin over 1⁄4 cup water and let stand until gelatin is softened. If piping chick-shaped candies, fit a piping bag with a large, round tip (preferably 1⁄2-inch) and place the colored sugar in a bowl. If cutting out shapes, butter a baking sheet and line with parchment paper, then butter parchment paper.

In a large saucepan, combine 1⁄2 cup water with the sugar and corn syrup; cook until sugar reaches 245 F using a candy thermometer. Remove from heat.

With mixer running on low speed, slowly pour sugar syrup down side of mixer so it doesn’t splash against whisk. Slowly increase mixer speed to high and beat until marshmallow lightens in color, for about 6 minutes, then beat in the vanilla. For piped marshmallows, continue beating on high speed until marshmallow firms and stiffens in texture (similar to a stiff meringue); marshmallow should not be overly stringy and will have lost some of its sheen, and marshmallow should break off as beater is removed, after 10 to 16 minutes. For cut marshmallows, continue beating until marshmallow is fluffy and doubled in volume, for 8 to 10 minutes.

To pipe marshmallow chicks, start by piping the body: Hold piping bag over colored sugar and begin piping marshmallow out onto sugar so it is about 1 inch in diameter and approximately 1⁄2 inch thick. Continue piping body so it is about 21⁄2 inches in length, then slowly release tip from marshmallow, pushing marshmallow up to form a tail. To form chest and head, pipe on top of body, starting from front of body and piping over half of back. Continue piping, but reversing direction, to form head, slowly releasing tip to form beak. Spoon colored sugar over formed marshmallow to coat completely. Remove marshmallow to a parchment-lined baking sheet.

To form cuttable marshmallows, using a lightly greased, offset spatula, immediately spread mixture onto buttered parchment-lined sheet, spreading marshmallow so it covers pan in an even layer. Set aside, uncovered, for 2 to 4 hours to set. When marshmallow is set, cut out shapes using lightly greased cutters. Gently press marshmallows in colored sugar to evenly coat.

To form eyes, place the chocolate chips in a glass measuring cup or bowl and microwave in 10-second increments, stirring occasionally, until melted. Use a toothpick to dot melted chocolate over marshmallow candies to form eyes (and noses, for marshmallow bunnies).

Makes about 3 dozen candies, depending on size.

You don’t have to be kosher or celebrating Passover this week to have reason for trying recipes that could compose a traditional Jewish Seder.

Almonds, both ground as meal and slivered and toasted for garnish, are the main ingredient in several flourless, kosher desserts touted by food writers over the past week. Almonds, of course, also are a common ingredient in gluten-free desserts, which contain no wheat flour.

Cookbook author Pati Jinich describes the taste and texture of this cake “like a fluffy, smooth, tasty piece of marzipan that has turned into a cake to become a bigger, lighter and a longer lasting version of itself.” The combination of almonds and apricots gives this a particularly European flavor, too. Serve it as dessert topped with whipped cream or for breakfast with berries.

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Flourless Almond and Port Cake

2 cups slivered almonds

3⁄4 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1⁄2 cup butter or shortening, at room temperature

1 tablespoon port (optional; may substitute a sweet kosher-for-Passover wine)

1⁄4 cup apricot preserves

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1⁄4 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted

Whipped cream (optional)

Grease a round 9- to 10-inch springform pan; cover bottom with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 F.

Place the slivered almonds and sugar in a food processor; pulse until finely ground. Crack the eggs on top of mixture. Stir in the vanilla and port. Drop in the butter or shortening in chunks; process until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Place on a rack in middle of preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes. Top will be nicely tanned, cake will feel springy to the touch and a toothpick should come out clean when inserted in cake. Note: It is a thin cake.

Remove cake from oven and let cake cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Run tip of a knife around edges of pan; release and remove sides of pan. Place a platter over cake and carefully invert cake onto platter. Remove pan’s bottom and parchment paper. Invert cake again onto another platter to have top of cake right-side up.

Mix the apricot preserves with the lime juice in a small saucepan. Set over medium heat and simmer until fully dissolved and liquid for 2 to 3 minutes. With a brush, spread apricot glaze on outer circumference of cake, a band about 1 to 2 inches wide. You also can add some in center. Sprinkle glazed area with the toasted, sliced almonds. Serve with the whipped cream on the side or on top of cake.

Makes 12 to 15 servings.

Asian greens, touted in Joy magazine’s March Season to Taste column, are among the first items of produce at local farmers markets.

Fresh vegetables are scarce, of course, because local farmers are relying on crops hardy enough to either overwinter in the fields or keep in cold storage. At least one farm, however, has less to sell after fermenting almost all of its cabbage for kraut and kimchi.

Whistling Duck’s Mary Alionis got turned onto fermentation from fellow Applegater Kirsten Shockey of Mellonia Farm, which was stocking Alionis’ farm stand with fermented foods for about a year. Alionis took a class and started experimenting to keep fermented foods at the fore when Shockey decided to scale back her production. Now Whistling Duck has jars of probiotic-rich, lacto-fermented veggies for $5 per half-pint, $8 per pint.

“I’m excited to have something new on the table,” says Alionis of her stall at Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Markets and the new farmers market in Grants Pass.

“A lot more people know what it is now.”

In fact, fermentation is returning to the mainstream with advocates no less influential than first lady Michelle Obama, who released a recipe for the first White House kimchi. Restaurant trend magazine “Plate,” based in Chicago, recently devoted a whole issue to fermentation, acknowledging that chefs are looking to fermentation to preserve seasonally purchased foods and to produce uniquely flavored menu items.

The new, best-selling “The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes From Around the World,” by Sandor Katz notes that fermented foods — which include beer, olives, cheese, pickles, miso, yogurt, cured meats and sourdough bread — are nothing new or radical. In fact, they represent some of the highest achievements and oldest food traditions of their respective cultures.

Fairly new, however, is the notion that these foods are supposed to be made in a factory rather than our own homes. And, of course, many novices fear fermentation in the home kitchen because it doesn’t fit into widespread food-safety paradigms, such as never storing foods rich in microflora and fauna between 40 and 140 degrees. But as Katz notes, most fermented foods were developed precisely to stay safe at those temperatures.

“It was only 100 years ago that people even began to have the ability to keep food under 40 degrees,” he told the Chicago Tribune.

I’ve previously posted a recipe for traditional kimchi, but Katz’s is a looser approach to fermenting cabbage and other vegetables with whatever seasoning the cook desires, hence the hint of irreverence in its name.

MCT photo

Kraut-Chi

Per quart:

2 pounds green and/or red cabbage (and/or other vegetables; process is very versatile)

Salt, as needed

Garlic, ginger, chili pepper, caraway, juniper berries and/or other seasonings (optional)

Chop the vegetables finely or coarsely, however you like it. Place in a large bowl. Lightly sprinkle with the salt as you go. Squeeze mixture with your hands until it releases its liquid. Taste and add more salt as necessary. If you are unable to squeeze vegetables or cannot get enough juice out of them, add a little dechlorinated water.

Stuff mixture a bit at a time into a large, wide-mouth jar, packing it down hard as you go. Make sure vegetables are submerged under liquid and leave space at top of jar for expansion. Close lid on jar.

Leave jar on counter or somewhere you will see it every day. Fermentation may take two days to four weeks. Pressure from carbon dioxide will build in jar, so unscrew top each day (for first several days) to release pressure; press down on layer that floats to top, in order to submerge it.

Taste kraut every day or every few days. Remove any surface growth that forms at top where vegetables might be exposed to air.

Depending on ambient temperature in your home, kraut will start to become tangy after a few days. Ferment until it tastes how you like. You can then store all of it in fridge in sealed jars or just scoop out a portion for refrigeration and let remaining continue to ferment.

Today’s Tempo dining review acknowledged that sushi is one of the fastest-growing restaurant genres in the Rogue Valley, likely mirroring a nationwide trend.

Diversity in dining options is never a bad thing, but it is too bad that local sushi establishments seem to be going the way of Chinese and Mexican eateries — all offering very similar menus of Americanized dishes. Traditional sushi’s focus on the freshest, highest-quality fish served simply but expertly is lost in most restaurants’ supersized maki rolls that apparently are even more appealing if deep-fried and slathered in thick sauces.

It doesn’t help that the fish itself may not be as purported, with the country’s sushi restaurants the biggest offenders, according to a February story that ran in the paper’s Sunday lifestyles section. Some specimens, including “red snapper” that is in fact tilapia farmed outside the United States, shouldn’t be considered suitable for raw consumption, sources say.

In addition to these seafood shenanigans, a lot of newcomers to Japanese fare have no idea what sushi actually is, one reader recently opined. His email to the paper echoed my own take on the topic, so I’m sharing these tips from the Dallas Morning News for enjoying sushi the way the Japanese do.

The first, appropriately, is don’t order “crazy rolls.” Start by asking the chef what’s great for sashimi (raw, sliced fish) that day and order some based on the reply. I’ll add my two cents here about patronizing sushi restaurants that do a brisk business, turning over their fish quicker, meaning it’s fresher. 

Continue your meal with nigiri (raw, sliced fish atop rice), then order a roll. Note that hand rolls not only are delicious but mark you as a pro. 

Here are more sushi pointers:

1. If sitting at the sushi bar, don’t order a slew of items at once. In Japan and Los Angeles (home to many of the world’s best sushi bars outside of Japan), it’s customary to order sushi one at a time. At its best, sushi is meant to be eaten immediately as it is prepared.

2. Know savvier seafood choices, like Spanish mackerel, uni, shad and abalone. If you have any sort of environmental consciousness, say no to bluefin tuna or bluefin toro. Most tuna served in U.S. sushi bars is bigeye tuna. Or go for Kumamoto oysters, a real treat and among the “greenest” seafood options, which I discussed in a previous post.

3. Ask for fresh wasabi. The best sushi bars offer paste from the actual horseradish root for an extra charge, about $2 to $6, but it’s well worth it. Whether or not you’ve ordered it fresh, the sushi chef should be putting a dab of wasabi inside the nigiri sushi, when appropriate. If you’d like more, put a dab of wasabi (using chopsticks) directly on top of the fish. Or you can mix a little in the soy.

4. Don’t fill that little dish with soy sauce. Just put in a little, enough to make a puddle about the size of a nickle or quarter. At the best sushi bars, the sushi chef will tell you which sushi items need sauce — he’ll be saucing many of them himself. If you do dip, do it upside down, seasoning the fish, never the rice.

5. Using your fingers is fine. In Japan, some people eat sushi with chopsticks; many others eat it with their fingers. In any sushi bar in that country, you’re given a hot towel once you’re seated, a custom followed by finer restaurants in the States. Note that sashimi, however, does require chopsticks.