#MadeWithLocalRoots: Pangritata aka "Poor Man's Parmesan"

Pangritata is known as “poor-man’s Parmesan” because it is a low-cost sprinkle condiment you can add to anything like pasta or pizza for a spicy, satisfying and crunchy bite. Even better, it is a sustainable way to use up bread crumbs or bread that you may not be able to eat right away. This works really well with the soft inside of a bread loaf. Use the hard outside crust in a bread pudding or as croutons.

Things you'll need:
2 cups soft bread insides 1 clove garlic, 2 if you're sassy 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes	1 tablespoon dried herb like thyme, rosemary, basil or oregano ¼ cup vegetable oil Zest of 1 lemon Salt

Break the bread up into rough crumbs with your fingers, making sure not to squish them. Spread them flat on a baking sheet and dehydrate for an hour at 170 degrees F. Alternatively, toast them in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Turn off the oven, crack it open with a wooden spoon and let it cool completely. You can also leave them in the closed oven overnight.

Before drying.

After frying, now draining on a paper towel.

The breadcrumbs should be flinty and hard, no sign of moisture whatsoever.

In a large frying pan, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and toss to coat. Add the garlic, pepper, and herbs. Continue to saute for 5 minutes until the garlic is browned and the crumbs are crispy. Turn off the heat and add the lemon zest.

Drain the crumbs on a pan lined with paper towels. When the pangritata is completely cooled, store in an airtight container at room temperature for one week. 

I'm sprinkling this stuff on everything! Cheese, pasta, scrambled eggs.

What do you use it for? Tell me by tweeting to @Randwiches.

#MadeWithLocalRoots: Sumac Onigiri

Rice balls are an easy, simple snack for any time of the day. Add Local Roots' "Sumac'In Me Crazy" spice mix for a lemony bite and a cool twist on a Japanese favorite.

Things you'll need:
2 cups Nishiki white rice 4 cups water 4 square sheets of nori, halved	2 tablespoons sumac mix 1 teaspoon sesame seeds 1 tablespoon salt

Cook the rice with the water in a rice cooker. Meanwhile, combine the sumac, sesame seeds and salt in a small dish.

When the rice is finished, take off the lid to let some steam out for 5 minutes. “Slice” through the rice with a wooden spoon to break it up without squishing it too much.

Fill an onigiri mold with rice and press it to make a ball. If you don’t have a mold, rub your hands with a little of the sumac and salt mix and form a ball or triangle with your hands. If you don’t want to use your hands, sprinkle a little sumac in the center of a sheet of plastic wrap. Scoop a little rice over the seasoning and gather the plastic up around it. Twist and mold it into whatever shape you want.

Dip the rice ball edges into more sumac mix and wrap with a half sheet of nori.

If you will not be eating the rice balls right away, wrap them in plastic wrap and keep the nori separate until ready to serve. You can also freeze the rice balls, just keep them in another plastic zipper bag to shield them against frost. Steam or microwave to warm up again.

Did you make rice balls? I want to see them! Send me photos on Instagram @randwiches.

#MadeWithLocalRoots: Wedges of Ginger Carrot Salad

Inspired by large iceberg wedges salads, piled with bacon and chunky blue cheese dressing; I thought about making a more delicate and handheld type of salad. If your guests are keen and the wedges of lettuce aren't too big, encourage them to pick it up and eat it like a taco. If not, serve with a knife and fork. The individual wedges sit so elegantly on salad plates!

Things you'll need:
1 head soft lettuce 1 carrot, julienned 1” knob ginger, peeled and grated 1 clove garlic	1 teaspoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon miso 1 teaspoon rice vinegar ½ teaspoon black pepper ¼ cup pistachios, chopped

Whip the wet ingredients in a bowl until combined, add a splash of water if it is not pourable. Taste for seasoning. If you want more salt, add a little more soy sauce. Fold the carrots into the dressing and set aside until ready to serve.

Split the lettuce into quarters and arrange on a plate, refrigerate until you are ready to eat. To finish the salad, spoon a bit of carrot and dressing onto the center of each lettuce chunk. Sprinkle the pistachios over them for crunch.

#MadeWithLocalRoots: Charcuterie and Cheese Snack Jar

Do you have leftover charcuterie and cheese from a party? Elongate the life of your snacks by marinating them in olive oil. After you’re done eating the contents of this jar, use the olive oil marinade to fry eggs or drizzle on pizza.

Things you'll need:
1 cup of cured meat like chorizo or salami, cubed 1 cup semisoft or hard cheese, cubed 1 cup olives	1 bulb of garlic 2 cups of olive oil 1 sprig of rosemary or thyme 1 teaspoon red pepper flake

Here, I used soppressata a firm camembert, Spanish black olives and garlic stuffed olives from Sahadi's.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Break the garlic bulb into cloves and discard the outermost paper. Toss the whole garlic cloves in a tablespoon of olive oil and roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Shake the pan to turn the garlic and continue to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until the garlic is softened. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. 

Peel the garlic and combine with the rest of the ingredients in a clean, quart jar. Seal with a lid and shake to combine. Keep refrigerated for up to a month.

Here are charcuterie combinations that I recommend:

• Chorizo, manchego, black Spanish cured olives
• Soppressata, pecorino, garlic stuffed olives
• Finocchiona, tiny mozzarella balls, castelvetrano olives

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Show me your jar! Tag @Randwiches on Instagram or Twitter.

#MadewithLocalRoots: Food & Finance High School Gala | Food Scrap Strata with Kale Stem Pesto

As part of the Food & Finance High School gala and innovation lab, I teamed up with my CSA Local Roots to educate guests about food scraps you can eat. Thanks to Orwashers for the bread and a generous bushel of leftover produce, I was able to create a no-waste food scrap strata.

• Vegetable peels, mushroom stems and cheese rinds can be used to make an easy broth in a slow cooker overnight.
• We took day-old bread and dried it even further so it would soak up our eggs and rich mushroom broth.
• The rest of the vegetable odds and ends were chopped up for our strata.
• Kale stems went into an umami-packed pesto with leftover cheese and miso.
• The eggshells are currently soaking in water (a trick I learned from Claire Matern!) and used to water plants. Eggshells still have protective nutrients to give!

Here are the scaled down recipes if you'd like to try it at home.

FOOD SCRAP STRATA

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Things you'll need:
3 cups cubed bread 2 cups broth or milk* 2 cups veggie scraps, chopped 1/4 cup butter, softened	6 eggs, slightly beaten 2 tablespoons any seasoning 1 teaspoon salt Fresh ground pepper

Preheat your own to the lowest setting. Spread the bread out in a single layer on a baking sheet. Dry the bread in the oven with the door cracked or held open with a wooden spoon for 2 to 4 hours, until the bread is completely dry.

Combine the beaten eggs with the broth in a large bowl. Fold in the chopped vegetables. Soak the cubed bread in the broth mixture for at least 15 minutes. If you prefer a moist strata, store it covered in the refrigerator overnight.

Generously butter an oven-safe pan or pot with a lid. Pour the strata mixture in the pan and pack it down with a spoon or spatula. Salt the top of the strata and dot the top with cubes of butter.

Bake at 400 degree for 40 minutes covered with a lid or tented with foil.  Remove the cover and bake for another 10 more minutes to brown the top. Let the strata rest for 10 minutes before serving. Finish with kale stem pesto and course ground pepper.

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KALE STEM PESTO 

Makes 1 pint

             

Things you'll need:
1 cup kale stems or leafy greens ¼ lb leftover cheese (save rinds for broth) 1 teaspoon miso	1 garlic clove 1 cup olive oil ½ teaspoon salt

In a food processor, combine the kale stems, cheese, miso, and garlic. Pulse a few times to break them up into small pieces. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides and continue to blend. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt, blend one more time and taste if you like it. Transfer the pesto to a clean container and top with a light layer of more olive oil if you don’t intend to use it right away.

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And we were so excited to meet and feed gala host Tom Colicchio! We're so glad to be on the same page about sustainability and using food to its fullest potential.

How do you use up your food waste? I want to hear about it! Tweet me: @Randwiches.

All Pretty Lettuces Deserve this Yummy Yuzu Dressing

As seen on FeedFeed! 

I still think about Bodhi Tree Farm and am so sad they aren't coming to Grow NYC markets anymore. However, many other farms provide super cute baby lettuces and you can use this dressing to enjoy any of them.

Things you'll need:
1 lb baby lettuces 1 ripe heirloom tomato, sliced thin 1/2 cucumber, sliced into thin rounds 1/4 lb of snow peas, ends trimmed	2 tbl yuzu juice 1 tbl tahini 1 tbl miso water

Serves 4

If you can't find yuzu, try Filipino calamansi. And if you can't find either of those, mix 2 parts lemon juice with 1 part tangerine. It's not the same but I like that combination.

Whisk the miso, tahini and citrus to combine. Add water gradually to thin it out into a creamy dressing.

Divide the vegetables onto four salad plates. Drizzle the dressing before serving. Do not pre-toss if you are not serving right away. Dressing will keep for a week, covered.

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Like the recipe? Let me know how else you enjoy this dressing!

Twitter or tag @Randwiches on Instagram.

#MadewithLocalRoots: ‘Nduja Compound Butter

‘Nduja is a spreadable Calabrian style salumi. It’s got roasted peppers and meats from the pig’s head, off cuts and parts of the skin. It’s sort of like a soft chorizo. Even though it is cured already, you can stretch it even further by making it into a compound butter. Enjoy it on toast with radishes or fry up an egg with it!

Things you'll need:
1 cup of butter, softened 1/4 lb of 'Nduja	Parchment paper Optional: twine plastic wrap

Break the ‘nduja up in a bowl with a spatula. Add the softened butter and “slice” through it to incorporate. You can keep it chunky or whip it further to make it smooth.

Transfer to a piece of parchment paper in as much of a log form as you can. Roll it up halfway, start twisting one end of the paper to pack it like a sausage, tighten and twist the other side before completely rolling the rest of the paper over the log.

Refrigerate for one hour until it is solid. Slice into rounds for serving or wrap the whole parchment log tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.

Ever tried 'Nduja? Let me know what you think of it!

A Vegetarian Table: Caramelized Onion and Stilton Galette

My trick for caramelized onions is to cut them up and throw them into a slow cooker overnight with a stick of butter. You get a bunch of broth out of it, too! Once drained, I was able to make the filling for this galette with dots of blue cheese.

Using a store-bought pie crust, I rolled it out onto a large, floured cutting board. Then I spread the cooled onion across the whole thing.  Fold 2" sections of the edges toward the center. I brushed the crust with a beaten egg before popping it into a 450 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes..

I’m still not very good with pastry, so the folds cracked and it was pretty hard to transfer between baking sheet and plate but it tasted great with a dollop of pickled mustard seeds. If only I had some creme fraiche!

Do you have pastry secrets that will help me avoid disaster next time? Let me know by tweeting to @Randwiches.

This dish is from my "A Vegetarian Table" menu.

A Competitor's Guide to The Takedowns

Saying that I'm competitive is an understatement. I friggin' thrive on eating people alive in culinary combat. There's something so alluring and addicting about the potential of winning a contest. Trust me, I've had my share of losses. I have much to celebrate in the recipes that I created and the friends that I've made. What happens after winning?

The Takedowns are a Brooklyn-based cooking competition series that celebrates home cooks and amateur chefs.  Each edition focuses on a specific ingredient like bacon, lobster and lamb or format like chili, fondue, meatball, ice cream, cookies and, even homebrew beer. Alumni have had different paths after graduating from this circuit. Theo Peck opened a restaurant, Linda Sarris travels the world as a private chef, Nicole Taylor wrote The Up South Cookbook, Cathy Erway has a James Beard-nominated podcast, and I wrote Showdown—a book about my experiences in these contests. Many people who participate have other jobs and enter for the hell of it!

Lucky for me, I have the opportunity to judge The Takedowns sometimes. It's so wonderful to see brand new cooks jump in, head-first, into battle. Here are a few things that I've learned over the past ten years of competing and judging.

The Rules

• Matt Timms insists that there are no rules. That means you can make anything as long as it uses the featured ingredient or format.
• You do not need experience to enter. In fact, we highly encourage home cooks and amateur chefs to join. There is no fee to participate.
• You can spend as much or as little money as you want on your entry. It just hurts when you spend money on porcinis, only to lose in the end. Sometimes an ingredient may be provided for you.
• Make enough food. For chili, the recommended amount is 2 gallons. Other categories recommend 200 to 250 bites. Remember, they're bites, not full portions. Attendees and judges are eating up to 30 entries.
• There are two types of prizes: people's choice and judge's. Ticket holders for the event will vote on their favorites and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place are awarded. 3 to 4 judges will also be tasting and will award 1st, 2nd, 3rd and honorable mentions.
• You can invite your friends, but it's not cool to tell them to vote for you. Give everyone a fair shot and encourage your friends to try everything.

Serving

• Matt asks everyone to arrive 30 to 45 minutes before the doors open. 1 hour doesn't hurt either!
• Ensure that you can travel with your dish. You don't want to be like me, lugging a vat of chili without a lid into a NYC cab. Try using a cooler and always double wrap anything liquidy.
• For hot dishes, you will get a large sterno foil tray with water in it. You nest the second provided tray in it to create a steam bath. Bring foil if you need your dish to be covered throughout the afternoon.
• You will be provided with enough sample cups to serve your dish. Bring any ladles, spoons or tools you need to get the food into the cups.
• Sharpie! Always have a sharpie. You will need to label your plastic cups when you arrive so that guests will know to vote for you.
• Hundreds of people will be walking by to taste your food, prepare a quick sentence that describes your dish. Signage is not required but helps people with allergies identify if they can eat your food or not.

Afterward

• You will be asked to get up on the stage and announce which dish and number entry you had.
• When the winners are announced, don't be nervous. You are great for making it this far!
• Showboating and heckling are a pet peeves of mine, it's unsportsmanlike. Be a team player and celebrate other people's dishes. You're allowed to enjoy your win but don't jump on any tables like Bobby Flay did against Iron Chef Morimoto.
• Reduce food waste by bringing plasticware or zipper bags to keep any leftovers.
• Write your recipe! Scale it down to dinner-time size and save it. You can share it on a blog or social media, too. Whether you won or not, you made something that was yours! Who knows? You might write a book about it.

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Head to TheTakedowns.com to find out when you can compete!

Did this guide help you? Let me know!

Get Jiggy for St. Patrick's Day Brunch

Stay in and cook up a storm today or prep a hangover brunch for your post-St. Patrick's Day binge. This menu I put together is all comfort to warm your heart and leave fat glistening on your lips. Pick and choose a few items to make for yourself or have a potluck and assign dishes to your friends.

• Kale salad with lomo chips
• Beet relish
• Duck fat colcannon
• Tomato confit
• Shortcut corned beef
• DIY Shamrock Shakes
• Green gradient cookies