Squid-o-Rama

This post is really inspired by two trips I took this year. The first was to Jungle Jim's, the amazing grocery store outside of Cincinnati, where I had a great time grabbing new food. The second was my August trip to San Francisco. And while I did visit the Zuni Cafe (basis of my recent cookbook foray), I have to say that the most memorable meal was in Oakland at Oliveto.

The common thread in both these trips? Squid-I picked up a bunch of frozen squid at Jungle Jim's (although the stuff is pretty much everywhere now), and the best part of the Oliveto meal was the red-wine braised squid dish.

The Zuni Cafe Cookbook has a pretty similar looking recipe, so I decide to give it a try. Pretty basic stuff-squid sauteed quickly, then slowly cooked with red wine, mirepoix, and plenty of roasted peppers. The results, while different from the meal at Oliveto, were outstanding:

Because I had some extra squid left over, I might as well make my wife happy and fry up some calamari. Of course, if I've gone to the trouble (and mess) of deep-frying, it can't hurt to make some pomme frites (that's fries to the great unwashed):

Deep fryer? I don't need no stinkin' deep fryer, my cast iron dutch oven works just fine, thank you:

All in all a good, hearty meal. If you haven't given squid a try, I hope you will-squid are cheap, delicious, and you can even eat them guilt free.

Beer and Beef

Apparently I'm an alchemist at heart, because I'm always attracted to recipes that take humble ingredients and transform them (usually through low heat and lots of time) into something sublime.

My most recent foray into The Zuni Cafe Cookbook is just such a recipe: beer braised short ribs. The recipe is nothing more than browning short ribs (after they've been seasoned a couple of days ahead of time, a common strategy in this book), then, with the addition of thickly sliced onions, braised in beer and chicken stock until tender.

Not much more difficult than this, and with some buttermilk mashed potatoes, an immensely satisfying meal:

Like I said, a few ingredients, a bit of time, and some low heat can be magical.

Roast Chicken, Zuni Cafe Style

Among other things, Zuni Cafe is famous for its roast chicken (which requires a 45 minute wait). When I went in August, I didn't give it a try, so with the cookbook in hand, I figured I'd better make amends.

I'm not a huge fan of chicken in general, but roast chicken in something that, when done well, is one of the most satisfying things to partake of. Deceptively simple, it is often the measure of a cook since there isn't anything fancy to hide behind; sort of the culinary version of the agony and the ecstasy, I guess.

But I digress; I've had plenty of luck with Alton Brown's version of roast chicken, something to stack up again the recipe from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook.

The recipe for looks very simple, a plus in its favor. It does require that you season the bird and stuff a few herbs under the skin a couple of days in advanced, but that's not a big deal.

The bird gets roasted in a preheated cast iron skillet (always a plus in my book) in a 475 degree oven:

Flip it on its breast after 20 minutes, then on its back again for another 15, and voila, its ready to eat (after a nice rest, of course):

Apparently the chicken is paired with a savory bread salad of sorts, but its getting to be neigh-on Thanksgiving around these parts, and we are awash with sweet potatoes. Thus, I decide to give the book's sweet potato hash recipe a spin; they tasted great, but looked pretty awful.

We've also got plenty of apples, so I also made up the apple tart recipe in the book, which has one of the easiest pastry recipes I've tried. It too tasted better than it looked, but here's a picture for posterity's sake:

Bottom line is the chicken was abosolutely declicious, so I've now got another roast chicken recipe in the repertoire, which is never a bad thing.