Two more things

A few things I forgot to mention in my earlier post.

1) Marxfoods is having another contest. This time it is photography related, so all you budding (or professional) photographers out there that have blogs, here is a great opportunity to stock up your pantry with delicious vanilla beans right in time for the holiday baking season. What more could you ask for? Read the details at their blog Marxfood.com

2) I just contributed to this new magazine based out of Brooklyn Remedy Quarterly. There are various incentives for contributing, and I love the vintage look and illustrations they feature on their site. Get involved and help them meet their financial goal!

Another chance

Now it's my chance to win a contest. Head over to Marxfood.com to vote for my Green Garlic Stringozzi topped with Foie Gras Duck Sausage and Rhubarb Confit
previously posted on my blog.

Here is a quick reminder of how delicious it looks




Now get over to Marx foods and vote!

Winner!

I'm happy to announce a fellow Minnesotan as the winner of the Better than Christmas Giveaway. Soon Amy Rea will have a big ole box of goodies on her doorstep!


Thanks to Marxfoods.com for sponsoring the give away and an even bigger thank you to all of you who entered, tweeted and facebooked about it. If you didn't win this time, fortunately you can BUY all of those wonderful products and follow their blog to find out about their own fun and special giveaways.

Better than Christmas: A Give Away

I'm happy to announce Les Petites Images second and most delicious give away to date.
The amazing Marxfoods has graciously provided me with the goods to give to one of my very lucky readers.

When the box arrived here I was in awe. It's simply ridiculous how many great things there are. It seemed like I just kept digging and digging as though it was Mary Poppins handbag. Though sample sized, these goodies could keep you busy in the kitchen for six months and will certainly spark some creativity.

The sweeteners alone are enough to make any sweet-tooth's mouth water...

Granulated Honey


Demerara Sugar


Vanilla Sugar


All of them together looking pretty


And then there were the salts: a plethora of specialty, rare, beautiful and oh-so-different types of salt. Salt you can use to make an extra special margarita, or add a spicy crunch to the top of a fabulous appetizer, or even as an addition to a fabulous home made truffle.

A "palette" of different flavors and colors



Hawaiian Red Sea Salt


Espresso Salt


Smoked Sea Salt


Lime Salt


Gray Sea Salt


Szechuan Pepper Salt


Hawaiian Black Sea Salt


Habanero Salt



That's quite a good give away isn't it? Salt and sugar? I guess spice would be an appropriate addition. So why not add, say, eleven types of dried chiles from around the world? Sure, no problem.


Clockwise from far left: New Mexican Chiles, Japones Chiles, Organic Aji Cereza Chiles, Ancho Chiles, Aji Panca Chiles, Habanero Chiles, Puya Chiles, Chipotle Chiles

and a few more...

Top to bottom: Ghost chiles, Smoked Serrano Chiles, Pasilla Negro Chiles


And then... (can you believe there is more?)

Finally there are the mushrooms. We all need a little umami in our lives right?

Shiitake


Maitake


Oyster


Porcini


Black Trumpet


Lobster


Chanterelle


Matsutake



And that people, is the greatest giveaway this blog has ever seen. Granted it's only the second giveaway I've done around here, it's still totally boss!

To qualify:
Leave a comment telling me which of the above products you are most excited to try in your kitchen and how you would use it.

Comments will close at 12pm central time on Friday October 9th. The winner will then be selected at random using the random integer generator at random.org to select one person by their comment number. If you blog, tweet, tumble or facebook (or any other form of social media for all I care) about this give away, leave a comment linking to your shout-out and enter to win up to 3 times!

Good luck!

Promo

It's time once again for me to shout the praises of Marx foods. No, they don't pay me money to say nice things about them or use their products, but they DO send me sample. If you're a blogger they'll send you samples too, with the simple request that you blog about whatever it is they send you. Right now they are giving away some dried mushrooms for you to review AND today is the last day to enter the 10# kobe burger give away.

I still have a line up of things from Marxfoods I need to try out (they've been MORE than generous) but I realized I never posted anything about the lastest item to arrive on my door step, ec0-friendly palm leaf plates. We've had a crazy busy summer and haven't really had anyone over for a barbeque (epic fail). I've been I'm eating on the run more than I'd ever care to admit (I think Slow Food would disapprove) but this is a great alternative to using another paper towel, and a good way to avoid finding fiestaware in your car. Breakfast sandwiches are my in-car meal of choice




And when you're done, you throw it in your compost bin and poof, zero impact disposable dishes! We'll be ordering a plethora of these for the upcoming Sommers' Summer's Over 1st Annual Pig Roast at the end of August (details to be announced soon). All of the fabulous folks at Marxfoods are invited!

Vote!

The Polls are open! Head over to Marxfood.com and for Les Petites Images. If I win you'll be invited over to enjoy the winnings!

VOTE HERE!

(a quick reminder of how delicious this looks)

Marx Food Challenge: Sausages

As I've previously alluded to, I love me some giveaways. Most Internet giveaways require some type of work. Commenting on a blog post to be one of 20,000 possible winners of a Kitchen Aid mixer, or signing up for something that requires a bit of your time. I have on occasion responded to The Pioneer Woman's giveaways, because who couldn't use another Wusthof Knife? I know I could! But Marx Foods giveaways are more like giveaway CHALLENGES, and the only thing I like more than a giveaway is a challenge.






Last time the challenge was to create an original recipe using dried morels and to receive the most reader votes to the question, which would you be most likely to order in a restaurant. Well, I got my ass kicked, but it was fun, and getting a big bag of free food at my doorstep gives meaning to my life. This time it's sausages. Exotic game sausages at that. Yes I am German, and yes, I am from Milwaukee. You'd better believe I have some passion about sausage. I told Marx Foods I was in! Send me anything, I will cook with reckless abandon!

And what did I get? Only the best (in my opinion) option they offer.



So, now what? I wanted to saute these up immediately, eat them with my fingers until I had duck fat running down my chin and never look back. But wait! What other great contests will Marx Foods be offering in the future that I could miss out on? Patience is a deep virtue, of which I have little. Fortunately I had committed myself to a night with Kyle on Saturday with no other social obligations. A perfect set up to make a good meal and enjoy some great wine right along with it (I believe many people call this a date).


My first inclination was to try to make a "Spring Cassoulet" using local fresh ingredients and the whole yada yada. Are you sick of me talking about Local food yet? Hang on tight, because Minnesota hasn't even BEGUN to provide us with the bounty of summer. Rhubarb, sprouts and asparagus are great but make for a pretty gross sounding cassoulet. When my favas come to life we'll chat. Until then I decided simple was best. To you loyal reader, I unveil:

Green Garlic Stringozzi topped with Foie Gras Duck Sausage and Rhubarb Confit



Serves 2 (with leftovers)

Ingredients:
4 Marx Foods duck sausages with foie gras and sauterene
1 1/2 c semolina flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch green garlic
1 stalk rhubarb
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Sauternes

Slice rhubarb into 1 inch pieces. Toss with 1/4 cup sugar and a good dash of pepper.



Allow to macerate for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 300F. Toss rhubarb in the water that has collected at the bottom of the dish, and place in a baking pan, covered tightly with aluminum foil. Bake until very tender, about 30 minutes and set aside.


Stringozzi: Combine semolina, salt, eggs water and oil in a stand mixer using dough hook attachment.



Mix until dough is stiff, plus an additional 10 minutes of kneading until the dough is elastic.



Add one stalk of green garlic chopped until well incorporated. Cover dough with saran wrap or a wet towel to rest for 20 minutes.



Slice sausages on the bias and add to a large pre-heated heavy bottomed saute pan over medium heat. Cook until slightly browned.



Add two stalks of chopped green garlic until the garlic is wilted.





Deglaze pan with 1/4c Sauternes or comparable wine, scraping up remnants with a wooden spoon until wine has dissolved. Remove from heat.



Bring a pot of liberally salted water to a boil. On a floured surface roll out dough until 1/16th of an inch thick (or until you just don't feel like rolling any more).



Roll the dough into a long tube and cut as thinly as possible. Add pasta and cook until tender (about 4 minutes).



Toss pasta with sausage and garlic mixture along with a good drizzle of olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with rhubarb, being careful as they are very delicate.

Update: Vote here!

Damn me and my connections

Another Marx foods give away (damn, I love these people)




I trust Justin and the rest of the Marx Foods gang won't be biased in ANY of their recipe making and selecting, so hopefully I can still be in the running for their dried and subsequently fresh morel giveaway, but I totally understand if it just can't be.

My idea is to make homemade brioche, toast it and serve with a wild mushroom cream sauce with home made sausage stuffed morels.

Have a morel recipe idea? Submit it to www.marxfood.com

Szechuan Chicken with Forbidden Rice

I get into major food ruts during the week. My schedule doesn't provide me with a lot of time for home cooking, so a lot of times my dinners during the week consist of a little of this, a little of that... pretty often just cheese and crackers. It's pretty pathetic. We did buy over 2 pounds of hummus at Costco the other day (which is really fabulously smooth hummus... it reminds me of what Holy Land hummus was before it was so mass marketed it's available at gas stations) so that's been keeping me somewhat sated.

Anyway, I was desperate for a real meal that didn't come from a restaurant. The rice and now spices from Marx foods have been sitting on the kitchen counter, staring up at me, taunting me.

"Be creative! Try something new! Find the perfect recipe!"

We settled on Szechuan chicken which I figured would be easily accompanied by the Chinese black rice prepared according to the instructions on the bag.

I dug out my micro lens (which I use so rarely) to get some cool pictures of the goodies Marxfoods sent us





We found a recipe on chowhound that sounded tasty and easy, and got to work making and putting on the rub right when I got home with the chicken

Szechuan peppers are mild and fragrant, not terribly spicy, and aren't actually related to peppercorns (though look fairly similar).



We heated up equal parts of peppers and salt in a saute pan until the salt turned golden. Then into the mortar and pestle for a good whirl.




Using only about half of the rub we made, we marinated the chicken for only about an hour. It would have been longer if we weren't both so insanely hungry.



Then into the steamer with cilantro, scallions and ginger. It smelled absolutely amazing. And took all of ten minutes since we just used chicken breast. We don't have a Chinese steamer, so Calphlon would have to do.


The rice was cooked according to the label. From MarxFoods website:
Rinse Chinese Forbidden Rice well before cooking. If cooking along with other ingredients that you do not want colored, rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Boil two cups of water for every one cup of rice used. Once the water has boiled, cover the pot and simmer the rice on low for 25 minutes. After simmering, remove from the heat and let sit (covered) for ten minutes before serving. Each cup of dry Chinese black rice yields about 2 ¼ cups when cooked. Boil the rice in.

It came out nicely; nutty and al dente.

The chicken was awesome. It had a really mild flavor from the peppers, but was brightly flavored by the ginger green onions and cilantro and was incredibly tender.




Recipe

1 package chicken breast or tenders

3 tbsp Szechuan peppercorns (available at Chinese Grocers), or en masse at Marx foods

2 tbsp kosher salt

1/2 cup cilantro leaves loosely packed
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 scallions, chopped

1. Prepare a rub by toasting peppercorns and salt in a small skillet over med-high heat until salt turns beige or golden. You can double or treble recipe and save for future uses.
2. When cool enough to handle, grind salt-peppercorn mixture in very clean coffee grinder, with a mortar and pestle
3. Coat chicken with peppercorn mixture. You'll have some rub left over for pork or beef next time. Put chicken in non-reactive plate or bowl, cover with plastic wrap, leave to marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours or, ideally, a day.
4. Place chicken in a steaming basket, sprinkle with ginger, garlic scallions and cilantro. Steam until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
5. Serve atop forbidden rice.