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Turkeys roasting over an open fire

Ok ok, I know, it's been too long, and for what this blog entry isabout...WAY TOO LONG... but what the hell,gotta get on with it at some point. No, this entry is devoted to my favorite food, and my favorite was of cooking it: Turkey roasted over an open fire.

Now for me, this whole tradition started during a project for the California Biennial of 2008 we did in our backyard with Bay Area artist Julio Cesar Morales and his collaborator Max La Riviere-Hedrick. For the project Julio and Max made a video about the last 8 hours of when California was still Mexico.. all of which took place over a dinner in Sonoma - so NorCal!

Anyway, we ended up roasting an 80lb steamship round of a Wagyu Beef to make Tacos....decadent and then some. Anyway, this got me interested in rustic forms of cooking, and as a result Max & the gang helped meput on a Thanksgiving dinner at our home for 30 members of the Bay Area art community. We all sat at one table, lit by candles, drank wine, and ate the most fabulous fire-roasted turkey the world has ever known!"ROASTED OVER AN OPEN FIRE!" you say, "But won't that make a dry bird even worse?!?!?!" The answer is no no no...there's magic in the whole technique and it comes in the form of brine!

Brine is a relatively easy task:

• 1 gallon water or vegetable broth
• 1 cup sea salt
• 2 tablespoon crushed dried rosemary
• 1 tablespoon dried sage
• 2 tablespoon dried thyme
• 3 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 
  

Bring everything to a boil, turn off the heat, and let it steep until it's cool... or cool enough it wouldn't harm a baby bathing in it... cause that's exactly what this Turkey is and what it's going to do. Next you'll place your turkey - cleaned of course - in a brine bag ( or clear and sterile heavy duty trash bag ) and pour your brine in. Squeeze as much air out of the bag as possible, tie it up and keep this bird-in-a-bag cool.... I do this by putting it in a cooler with some ice on the bottom and leave it outside. Be sure you secure the top or the neighborhood cats are going to have a way better Thanksgiving than you will. The math is 1lb = 1 hour of soaking time... more time if you want your turkey a little saltier.

The next day you'll have to prepare your bird. Since th

is is an outdoor adventure, I use the garden hose to clean off the surface of the bird. Now for the magic: Trussing! This is a bit of a trick, but there are plenty of books and online tutorials that will show you how to do this. There are 3 secrets to this when doing this for open fire cooking:

1) Use natural rope. Natural rope is naturally flame resistant, and it won't release any nasty chemicals on your bird like nylon would.... I haven't tried nylon, and I pity the gut of the person who has.

2) Make sure you have an area both at the neck and at the rump where you'll be able to hook into the hanging chain. You're going to need to flip this bird half way through.

3) Make that Bird chill! No seriously, bend that birds wings behind its neck like it's hanging on Baker Beach. This will allow for a more even roast when you put it over the fire.

My Boy Chris Fitzpatrick layin down the law with the wood!

Gear!: You will need a couple things to accomplish this feat successfully.

1) A good fire pit. In the past we've always used Kiln brick. However, you could use regular brick, but it's more likely to break down at a faster rate than your fire brick, and i'm not sure it will insulate and radiate heat as well. Here's a picture of the foundation for the cooking pit I built with my buddy the-soon-to-be-legendary Art Historian Samuel Johnson. He may sit around Harvard and whine about Sartre, but give that boy a trowel and he can lay some brick!

2) A roasting rack. Ironically my buddy Bird helped me by welding up a sweet rack to roast...well..my bird. This was a simple cross beam structure with a loop at the bottom to secure chain. I've use fancier and more ghetto versions.... your call, but might as well make it fancy... it gives you something to talk about while your drinking by the fire

3) A cast-iron pot. This is extremely important for two reasons a) it will catch all the drippings and prevent a flame up under your turkey and there by scorching the skin, and b) this will evenly radiate heat upwards as conduction will be good in this bit, but radiation will certainly be essential. This doesn't have to be too fancy of a pot since it's going to take a real beating... but if you've got an extra Le Creuset to throw in a fire why not? It'll be a lot easier to clean up afterwards.

4) A meat thermometer: I've used an analog one in the past, but for the price, you really should use digital.

5) and perhaps most importantly... WOOD! Wood is going to be a choice decision that will largely be determined by location. In the Bay Area we were blessed with a plethora of options ( surprise surprise ) but kept away from anything overly aromatic i.e. Eucalyptus. We used almond because of it's ability to impart a "sweet" flavor to the meat, and in Banff, Canada, we used Spruce. Both woods had their issues: Almond was nice, but didn't seem to throw a nice heat / Spruce gave off way too much flame and would just burn up so that I was feeding the fire constantly. The Cadillac of woods was found in Far West Texas: MESQUITE! Mesquite cooks like a dream: hot coals that burn forever, a beautiful scent, and of course the most amazing smoke flavor you could ever impart on the skin of a turkey. In the end, try to get a hard wood, and one that's going to taste good.

The rest is relatively simple. Use a couple of bricks in the center to create a base for your pot. Build a good fire over them, and once they're down to a solid bed of coals, place your pot over them. String up your turkey on the rack and hang it to a height over the fire that you can hold your hand over for about 5 seconds. Of course, you're going to keep an eye on this bird, and you can raise it up or down depending on how quickly or slowly it's browning. Because this isn't a rotisserie you're going to have to flip this bird half way through. A 14 lb bird takes about 6 hours to roast, so 3 hours in, take the bird off, lay it on a clean surface, and re-tie it on the other side. Roast that bird until it's about 170ºF or 76ºC and then pull it off the fire.

VOILA!

Now we've done this several times: Bay Area, Banff, Marfa, but it has always been a pot-luck for artists. Our Than

ksgiving in Banff was especially productive as we did a ceramics workshop for the dinner. Participants in the Polymath Breakthrough residency - led by none other than the illustrious Joseph Del Pesco - were invited to make their own diner ware for the feast. ( The lovely Kristina Lee Podesva fashions the cup for her Thanksgiving dinner.)

(Ceramic plate with roasted yams made by one of the participants)

In many ways I feel that the art community I find myself in has been some of the most supportive family I could have ever imagined, and I cherish every moment I have with them. As a result, I can think of no better holiday to re-appropriate than the one that let's me tell the ones I love how thankful I am to have them in my life with food!

NOW FOR SOME PICTURES!

The roasting set up at our former home in the Bay Area

Turkey roasting in front of the Salt Kiln in Banff

Dinner in the Bay Area

Dinner in Banff, Canada at the Banff Center

Heading to the Headlands

Last weekend I decided to visit some of my good friends in the Bay Area for a weekend of eating, drinking, surfing, and of course... cooking!

I met up with my good pal, curator Joseph Del Pesco and his wife Helena Keefe, at the Headlands where Helena has just finished up a residency with her collaborative project Alula Editions.

Joseph and I woke up early last Saturday to catch some surf in Bolinas bay, and after two choice rides on a long board over the course of three hours, I decided it was time to call it a day. On the way back to the headlands we noticed a little roadside farm stand know as the Gospel Flat Farm Stand.



The produce was amazing! We picked up a large bunch of the most beautiful squash blossoms i'd ever seen, a giant bunch of fresh beets with greens, basil, fresh sage,a sack of baby artichokes, and an immense red onion with the stalk still on. The produce spoke to me and it said:

"Stuffed squash blossoms with a roasted garlic cream sauce served with baby artichokes roasted in balsamic vinegar, followed by beet gnocchi with butter sage sauce served with beet greens sautéd with shallots"

Joseph and I picked up a bottle of Sancerre and a bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and off we went. What a pleasure it was to cook in the Headlands kitchen designed by artist Ann Hamilton!

The Squash blossoms are a relatively easy procedure:

Ingredients:
16 oz. Ricotta
1/2 cup Pecorino Cheese ( I prefer Toscano, but often have to settle for Romano)
1/4 finely chopped Basil
1 egg
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients and put into a pastry bag. Extrude the mixture into the center of the flowers without ripping the petals.

Batter:

1 cup flour
2 Eggs.

Beat the eggs and dip your stuffed flowers into them. Roll your egged flower in the flour ( ha ha! ) and repeat. Gently lay you battered flour into your hot oil ( I used canola at about 375 degrees f) Wait till the batter is lightly browned, and then remove the flower and place on a paper towel to rest.

The cream sauce is also very simple as well:

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Flour
4 Tbsp Butter
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
10 roasted garlic cloves
Salt and pepper to taste

Make a roux with the butter and flour. Whisk in your roasted garlic cloves and add your cream. Reduce until thickened and season to taste.





















The beet gnocchi were a cinch!

Ingredients:

3 medium beets
16oz ricotta cheese
1 egg
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups flour


Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wrap beets in foil and roast until tender, about 1 hour.
Cool 15 minutes. Slip skin off beets; discard skins. Coarsely grate beets. Place 3/4 cup grated beets in large bowl. Stir in ricotta, egg, 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Mix in 1 cup flour. The Gnocchi dough should be similar to play-dough, and shouldn't be too sticky. Add flour as needed, but don't let the mixture get dry.

Lightly dust a rolling surface with flour. Pinch off racket ball sized mounds of dough and roll out into 1/4" to 1/2" coils. Cut off 3/4" lumps and flick up the back of a fork or a gnocchi board to make the little dumplings.

Place them in boiling water and cook for about 2 minutes, or until they float. Remember, your gnocchi are already technically cooked... you're just cooking the egg acting as a binder, so don't over cook them or they'll get mushy! For these we used a butter sage sauce, which is basically just butter lightly browned with fresh sage cooked in it, but a nutmeg cream sauce would also be fantastic. For that sauce just do the same as the garlic sauce above, but instead of adding garlic, use 2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg.



It was an amazing dinner to celebrate not only good friends, but the launch of a really great project, Alula editions. If you haven't checked it out yet, go to: http://www.alulaeditions.com/

and check out the really great work that Helena, Amber and Kristin are doing. Cheers ladies!

Naughty Little Tartlets

It’s starting to get hot and sweaty out here in Far West Texas; and when it gets sultry, I get in the mood for citrus. And while I prefer the tang of a good lime, Texas is certainly the place for some big juicy ruby red grapefruits. Being that I tend to lean towards the experimental type in the kitchen, I thought I would whip up something sweet, tangy, and creamy for this evening’s delight. Most of the desserts that came to mind tonight seemed boring, and didn’t offer the promise of much pleasure under the pressure of my rolling pin. But soon my mind wondered to the memory of my younger years, and my days of trying anything I could pick up on the street. I soon found myself craving the sticky sweet topping of a sinful Sunday tart in Florence. Now I’ve had my share of tarts, but never made one myself. So I mixed and matched some recipes from Saveur, Chow, and Betty Crocker, and this is my rendition of a naughty little tart:

Fresh Berry Tart with Grapefruit Custard

Ingredients:

Crust:

¾ c chilled butter

¼ c sugar

2 c flour

pinch of salt

ice water to mix

Filling:

¾ c fresh squeezed grapefruit

2 Tbsp grapefruit zest

½ c sugar

4 egg yolks

3 eggs

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1⁄2" pieces and chilled

Directions

Custard:

1. Whisk together the sugar, grapefruit zest, egg yolks, and eggs in a 4-qt. saucepan.

2. Whisk in the grapefruit juice and cook, stirring, over medium heat, until the mixture begins to simmer and thicken.

3. Remove from heat; whisk in the butter 1 piece at a time until incorporated.

4. Strain the curd through a sieve set over a large bowl; press plastic wrap onto surface. Chill before using.

Crust:

1. In a mixer combine all dry ingredients and set speed to low

2. Add butter and mix until a crumbly mixture

3. Add water a little at a time until the dough is moist (YOU DON’T WANT IT STICKY!)

4. Hand knead into a ball, wrap in plastic, and let chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Assembly:

1. Divide crust into four equal balls.

2. Roll out crust and slump into oblong ramekins.

3. Bake at 375° for 15min or until edges are golden

4. Let crust chill on the counter until warm to the touch

5. Pour even amounts of custard into ramekins

6. Top with fresh berries (You can toss them in a bowl with honey before topping if you’d like)

7. Refrigerate until cool and ready to serve.

As evidenced by the photo, these little tarts turned out scrumptious. The grapefruit was pleasingly crisp and refreshing in the warm evening, and the butter crust just melted in my mouth. Nailed it!

Coozy for my Cock Sauce

I can't believe how long it has been since my last post! A lot has been happening... totally re-landscaped my back yard, built a small guest house from scratch, and of course... a whole lotta' cook'n! Of that cooking, a lot of it has been with the foodie favorite Sriracha... or as the gourmets like to call it "Cock Sauce."

The other day we went to the U.S. Border Patrol open house in Marfa, and while there were no T-shirts with "Run For The Border" printed on them, I was delighted to get a coozy with "Protected by U.S. Border Patrol." I thought it would be kind of funny to have a Thai hot sauce protected by U.S. Border Patrol coozy meant to keep things cold... but that's just sort of my inside kitchen joke.

I have a confession to make.... I had never had the stuff until 2 months ago, but better late than never, right? I've been putting it on pizza, falafel, curry, and with lime, salt, and a shot of Mezcal..... electrifying... literally. But of everything we've done with this amazing red ambrosia, nothing has been as gratifying as our Thai peanut dressing.

1/2 C peanut butter
1 lime, juiced and half of the peel zested
2 1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp honey
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro (stems and all)
1/2 C Canola oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2-3 tsp sriracha sauce
2-4 Tbsp water

We tossed a little of this sauce in with fresh greens and topped it with jicama, mangos, black sesame seeds and some Teriyaki grilled shrimp.... AWESOME! This sauce is also amazing on a steak sandwich... but feel free to throw on a little more cock sauce for extra flavor if you need to.

Never Mind The Doughnuts, Here Come The Crêpes!

I would have never suspected that tonight I would discover one of the best dishes - nay - best experiences I’ve ever had! After a day of working in the studio, I came home hungry but unenthused to cook. A glance in the fridge didn’t reveal much, and the local Pizza place -The Pizza Foundation…Amazing!- was unfortunately closed. I dug deep into my soul and found what creativity I had left to make something of what was available. I decided that a batch of buckwheat crêpe batter leftover from the weekend would be sufficient. We found the recipe on David Lebovitz’ blog, and it goes a ‘lil something like this:

"Buckwheat Crêpes

18-20 crêpes

It's best to let the batter chill overnight, but let it come to room temperature prior to frying them up. And keep stirring the batter as you go while frying since the flour tends to sink to the bottom.

2 cups (500 ml) whole milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons (80 gr) butter, salted or unsalted, melted
1/2 cup (70 gr) buckwheat flour
3/4 cup (105 gr) all-purpose flour (In France, I use type 65)
3 large eggs

In a blender, or with a whisk, mix together all the ingredients until smooth. Cover and chill overnight.

To fry the crêpes, remove the batter from the refrigerator about an hour before frying. Stir it briskly; it should be the consistency of heavy cream. (If not, you can add a tablespoon of milk.)

Heat a 8- to 9-inch skillet on the stovetop. You can use a real crêpe pan that's been seasoned, but I use a Tefal non-stick skillet which works great.

Drop a tiny piece of butter or neutral oil in the hot pan and wipe it around with a paper towel. (I only do this for the first crêpe.)

Lift the pan and pour 1/4 cup of the batter in the middle of the hot skillet, swirling the pan to distribute the batter quickly and evenly. The pan shouldn't be too hot or too cold: the batter should start cooking within a few seconds, giving you just enough time to swirl it. It may take a couple of crêpes for you to get your rhythm.

After about a minute, run a non-stick spatula around the underside of the rim of the crêpe, then flip the crepe over. I grasp the crepe with my fingers, but you're not me (...consider yourself lucky!) and I'm not you. So use the spatula if you wish.

Let the crêpe cook on the flip side for about 30 seconds, then slide it out onto a dinner plate. Repeat, cooking the crepes with the remaining batter, stirring the batter every so often as you go.

Crêpes should be served warm. To rewarm the crêpes for serving, fold the crepes and put them in a baking dish covered with foil. Heat them in a moderate oven until warmed through."

So I made some savory crepes with manchengo, oyster mushrooms, bell peppers deglazed in sake…..not bad. But then the magic happened. Over the weekend Emily introduced me to the Lemon and sugar method, where by one sprinkles lemon juice and sugar on the crêpe just before serving. This technique gives a swift kick of summer in winter’s ass…it’s fantastic. But looking around the kitchen this evening I realized we had used all the lemons. However, we had two Citron Vert (pretentious French for lime) and I figured I’d try the substitute. My god!.....nothing has ever been more magical. The sensation is beyond words, and my only reaction was to begin jumping up and down singing…ask Emily, it was a hilarious act for her. I refused to settle at my discovery, and decided to push the limits of possibilities. I took a bottle of our homemade vanilla extract and sprinkled a few drops on the surface with the limejuice just before removing it from the iron pan. The result was nothing short of one of the most incredibly experiences I have ever had…I kid you not, this transcended transplendent!

If you are reading this get up and do this now….now I say! Life is too short to miss out on this!

Fresh linguini tossed with butter beans, caramelized shallots, and basil, served in a pool of garlic pea sauce.

Maybe I’m in a green phase because I feel a bit like Andy Warhol right now for making all these bright green dishes. Perhaps I was channeling Warhol from the dead - or someone else for that matter - because I have no idea where this meal came from, I only know that it was fantastic!

So here’s what we did:

Make fresh pasta. I love making fresh pasta, and with our Kitchen Aid mixer it’s sooo easy. We use a version of the Kitchen Aid recipe that we’ve tweaked:

5 medium eggs

3 Tbsp water

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 ½ cups semolina four

1 tsp. fine sea salt

Place ingredients in this order into your mixing bowl: flour, salt, eggs, water and oil. Use your paddle attachment until you have a consistent mix. If the dough mix still looks dry, add a little bit of oil or water, but be careful to not overwet the mix. We’re going for a consistency just like PlayDough. Once you have a good consistency, switch to the dough hook and work into a ball for about 2 minutes. Break up this ball into 8 smaller balls, and that’s what you’re going to roll. We rolled our sheets to a 5 before cutting them.

The sauce. This sauce is simple:

6oz of frozen or fresh peas

1 Tbsp of butter

3 cloves of garlic

1 cup Half & Half

Salt and pepper to taste

Sautée the peas in butter until they are tender. Then add your garlic and stir to prevent burning for about 2 minutes. Adding the garlic second assures you won’t burn it and will give it a stronger taste in your sauce. Then add your Half & Half. Stir and bring to a light simmer. Remove from heat and use a stick blender or a food processor to purée the sauce to a desired consistency (I liked ours a little chunky). Add salt and pepper to taste.

The Beans:

I have no idea where I got the idea to use Butter Beans, other than that they came to me in a vision and I was guided to them in our local grocery store. I used canned Butter Beans, but I’m sure fresh ones are even better. You’ll need:

1 Shallot

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 can of Butter Beans

1 sprig of Fresh Basil chopped or hand torn

Sautée the Shallot in olive oil until it begins to turn translucent. Add your butter beans and sautée for a couple of minutes. When the skin of the beans begin to wrinkle or slightly brown, remove them from the heat and add your basil. Done.

Here’s how I assembled the dish. Boil your pasta for about a minute…just until it’s tender…remember it will continue to cook a bit from the trapped heat once you strain it. Place it in a mixing bowl and add your bean mix. Mix well adding olive oil, as needed, to coat all the noodles. Ladle your sauce onto place and with a set of tongs place your pasta on top. Grate fresh Parmesan on top and serve warm. Serves 2 - 4