Rock & Roll Cookbook- The Doors L.A WOMAN

Notes from the Rock and Roll Cook Book: The Manifesto

It’s time for a revolution. American cooking culture has become stagnant. Two camps like political parties sit out on opposite sides of the fence. On one side we have the foodies, whose knowledge and know-how has descended from passion into snobbery. On the opposite end we have the 30-minute meal camp, where quick and healthful usualy means taking tried and true favorites and trying not to shake things up too much. It’s high time for a revolution.

Cooking and eating a meal should be a joy, one that challenges and excites us, and brings us out on a culinary ledge. But it should also be something that one can do in an evening. that’s not to say there isn’t a place for a lazy Sunday and a complicated, time-consuming dish. I’m just saying it isn’t Wednesday.

So where does this leave a twenty-something Brooklynite? The Rock And Roll cookbook. The idea was simple, born out of a love of rebellious music and a rejection of the two camps of thinking. Take inspiration from the music that I love and apply that free-spirited, but at it’s base, technically simple world and apply it to food and drink. Choose an album and use the inspiration to make a meal. It’s already been shown that listening to music can effect the way your brain processes taste in a recent paper published by the  British Journal of Psychology so why not take that idea one step further. Dust off your vinyl, put on your Doc Martins and follow me. It’s gonna be fun, we’re going to make some mistakes, we’re gonna get messy, and there might just be a sweet jam or two.

Episode One: L.A Woman by The Doors

Inspired by Jim Morrison’s post record release flight to Paris, France, where he ultimately died a few months later, I’ve chosen a Pinot Noir wine and a chevre chicken combo that swirls like an acid trip. It’s a quick and easy dinner to prepare, with a few new “twists” that make it interesting. Though this may seem like a tame meal by Doors standards keep in mind that they had to fire their producer because he called the classic song Riders on the Storm “cocktail music.” Sometimes you have to cool it down to make things hot.

The Food

Tripped Out Chicken

-Thinly sliced chicken breast fillets
-Chopped Scallions
-Chevre or Soft Goat Cheese

Each roll up will consist of one fillet, two table spoons of chevre, and two tablespoons of scallions. You will probably want two roll ups per person.

Lay out a chicken fillet and place 2 tablespoons of chevre in a line down the middle. Then sprinkle the scallions. Starting from the wider end of the chicken, roll the fillet up like a sleeping bag, then place a toothpick to the middle to ensure that it stays closed during the cooking proccess. Spinkle the roll-ups with salt. Grease a frying pan with olive oil and head it on medum. Place your chicken in the pan. Brown each side and then cover the pan and put it on medium-loe allowing it to cook for around ten minutes.

Bay Scented Quinoa

Makes 4 Servings
-1 cup dry quinoa
-1 ½ cup water
-3 Bay Leaves
-1/4  tsp salt

The ancient Greeks believed that chewing Bay could give you prophetic dreams, something Jim Morrison would heartily endorse. The quinoa grain is a staple of the indigenous South American diet, and since Jim thought he was the reincarnated spirit of a Native American shaman, this meshes nicely with our theme.

While your chicken is being prepared boil up 1 ½ cups of water. Add three bay leaves and ¼ tsp salt. When this comes to a boil, and you’ve put your chicken in the pan, add one cup pf quinoa to the boiling water. Boil for 15-20 minutes

Lemony Haricot Verts

-1/2 a pound Haricot Verts
Haricot Verts or French Green Beans are a simple and cheap staple of France and round out our healthy meal with a vitamin dense vegetable.

Clean and snap off the stems.
Boil for 10 minutes or steam for 15 minutes
Squeeze  fresh lemon over the hot green beans
Salt to taste

Wine
Les Volcans
This French wine is not only spicy with high notes at the end of the bouquet but has a full palate with a crisp finish. Though the Pinot Noir is known for it’s gentleness and its susceptibility to bottle shock there is a certain rawness and heat and underlying power that gives lends this red it’s name. Just like a certain lead singer.


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UPDATE 7/10/12
The Lex Wine blog is totally down :(
So I've reposted these articles here.
Thankfully I retained the rights to this project

The Rock & Roll Cookbook: RUSH!

The Lex Wine blog is totally down :(
So I've reposted these articles here.
Thankfully I retained the rights to this project
______


The Rock and Roll Cookbook
Episode 2 - RUSH

THE ALBUM:

There are few bands that divide devoted metalheads in the way that Rush does. Simultaneously self-serious and silly, these gods of the progressive rock camp are known for their technical proficiency as well as their devoted fan base. There’s something inherently nerdy about Rush. The Led Zeppelin obsession, the ringing “astoundingly high” tenor, with sci-fi tinged lyrics, and a set of synthesizers that would make Thomas Dolby blush.

I have to admit that I came to appreciate this band only in the last year. It’s fitting that I was exposed to them in the basement studio of a bass player friend of mine. Sitting around after a long drive back into Brooklyn, the synth player demanded that we listened to Rush. Previously only known to me as “the band with the girl who wails” I found myself actually kind of digging the sound, and deeply amused at the raucous abandonment in which my friends enjoyed the music. Still though, I rolled my eyes. The next day though, when Rush came on the radio, I actually payed attention. A few days later I had bought this album and found myself thoroughly enjoying it. When I caught myself perking up my ears to the opening synth riff of Tom Sawyer and getting into my “ready to rock” stance I knew I was hooked. It’s with that slow realization in mind that I came up with a dinner menu based on their most popular album Moving Pictures.

THE MEAL:

A nod to Rush’s Canadian heritage the protein aspect of this meal is a pan-seared Salmon that juxtaposes sea-salt and honey. It’s named in honor of Geddy Lee’s Order of Canada citation recognizing his humanitarian work.

Favorite Canadian Son Salmon

Needed
-One 6oz Salmon Fillet per person
-2 tbs Olive Oil
-Sea Salt & Black Pepper to taste
-1 tbs Clover Honey per fillet

Heat the 2 tbs olive oil in the pan on medium heat for around 2 minutes.
Take your Salmon fillets and sprinkle the sea salt on the fish.
Place in the pan heated oil and cook for around 4 minutes, flip the fish and let it cook for another 3 minutes. Then spoon the honey over the fillet, the heat will help to liquefy the honey.
Try to get an even coat on the salmon and cook for another minute before removing from heat and dusting with black pepper to taste.

The Real Tom Sawyer’s Collard Greens

It’s funny that a Canadian band would write about something as American as Tom Sawyer. Though the lyrics to this song are cryptic, the recipe based on them is straightforward. Taught to my by my High School boyfriend’s southern mother, these collard greens are comfort food to many.
-One bunch fresh Collard Greens
-4 Cloves of garlic
-2 tbs olive oil
-Red Wine Vinegar
-1/2 tbs table salt


Come Around Mashed Turnips

There are few vegetables that are as divisive as the turnip. A “gross food” to many kids, turnips have a rep for being lame when they truly do not deserve it. Slightly tangy and with way more psrsonality than a potato, the turnip needs a second chance later in life to be really appreciated. Does this remind you of anything dear reader? A certain rock band in my life perhaps?

-FUN FACT!-Did you know that before people carved pumpkins into Jack-O-Lanterns they carved turnips into the crooked smiling lamps for Halloween celebrations?

-ANOTHER FUN FACT!-Turnips were a staple food for the First Peoples of Canada!

-4 fist sized turnips
-2 quarts water
-1 1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 tablespoon sugar
-2 tablespoons butter
-1/4 cup whole milk
-Salt to taste
-1/2 Tsp ground Celery root

Peel and cube the four turnips, it should produce about 6 cups.
On the stove boil the two quarts of water, add in the salt and sugar.
When the water comes to a boil add the turnips and boil them just a little past soft, about 20 minutes.
Drain the turnips and then either put them back in the pot, the flat bottom of the pot makes them easier to mash. Add in the butter, whole milk, and ground celery root, and mash with a potato mashing tool.
Alternatively you can use a table top mixer to mash the turnips. Or some other method. Everybody mashes things in their own way. Do what you want man. It’s the rock & roll cookbook. Add salt to taste and serve.

Rock & Roll Cookbook! Billy Joel & Pizza

Head on over to Lex Wine Blog where you can learn to make pizza from scratch and discover some surprising facts about everybody's favorite Piano Man.

UPDATE 7/10/12
The Lex Wine blog is totally down :(
So I've reposted these articles here.
Thankfully I retained the rights to this project


___________

            A long time ago Billy Joel was better known for crafting tight, melodic piano ballads than for driving his car into things. Repeatedly. Given the cultural appetite for the  lurid details of our hero’s lives, it’s easy to lose sight of his remarkable talent. In this installment of the Rock & Roll Cookbook we are going to explore his 1977 album The Stranger and make a delicious pizza from scratch.

Born in the Bronx in 1949 to a German father and an English mother, music was always a part of Billy Joel’s life.  His father was an accomplished classical pianist and the young Joel took his lessons from a woman who also taught ballet in her studio. This led to much teasing in his early years. So much so that he took up boxing, eventually fighting on the Golden Gloves circuit.

 Billy Joel went into the world determined to make it as a musician come hell or high water. Upon leaving school he commented “...To hell with it. If I'm not going to Columbia University, I'm going to Columbia Records and you don't need a high school diploma over there." Within six years he was, in fact, signed to Columbia Records. Tenacity and dedication served him well. Though he didn’t officially graduate High School when he left, he returned 25 years later to finish his last English course and collect his diploma.

The Stranger is perhaps one of Billy Joel’s best known albums, impeccably produced by Phil Ramone. A violin prodigy who went on to produce acts as diverse as Luciano Pavoratti and Clay Aiken, this was the first team up between the two. They went on to work on all of Joel’s albums up until 1989 together. (This partnership lasted longer than any of Joel’s marriages to date.) The interplay between Joel’s songwriting and Ramone’s producing is thought to be the root of the power of these early Joel albums. Four of the nine songs on The Stranger were Billboard Top 25 hits, and the first track Moving Out eventually spawned a Broadway musical with choreography by Twyla Tharp.

Upon entering the studio though Billy had more rough ideas than completed songs. In fact the iconic whistling on the title track was originally intended to be a wind instrument, but Phil Ramone advised him that the whistling “was the Stranger.” Perhaps one of his most iconic songs, Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, was originally three separate songs. Inspired by the second side of Abby Road, the three songs merged into the 7 minute 37 second epic that spawned a thousand waiter’s opening of “Bottle of white, bottle of red? Or perhaps a rose’ instead?” In case you’re wondering, the Italian restaurant in question is loosely based on Fontana di Trevi across from Carnagie Hall. Though Only the Good Die young was met with some concerns over it’s perceived anti-Catholic content, Joel is always quick to point out that in the end the girl refuses the proposition in question. Though he hasn’t released any new pop music since 1993 Billy is constantly touring and has premiered a few of his classical pieces in concert.

Onto the food!

            Though making pizza dough from scratch can seem intimidating, it’s actually a fairly easy process. However sometimes we don’t have a day in advance and in those cases pizza dough is usually available in your grocer’s cold case. There are also the pre-baked crusts but I have always found those to be inferior to starting with dough.

Pizza Dough

3/4 cup warm water about 10 degrees above body temperature

1 envelope active dry yeast

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

In a small mixing bowl combine the water and yeast, letting the mixture stand for about 5 or so minutes.

Combine all of the dry ingredients together and then slowly add the yeast mixtures and the olive oil

The dough should form a slightly sticky ball.

Take the dought and move it to a flourerd surface, perhaps a larger bowl that gives the dough room to rise

Knead the dough until it is smooth. If the dough is super sticky feel free to add a little more flour.

Lightly coat the ball in olive oil and cover the bowl. Allow the dough to rise for and hour and then punch it down in the center.

The dough is now ready to be made into pizza.

preparati

Hackensack Heart Attack(ack ack ack ack) Pizza

Being born in the town of Hackensack, NJ and raised in the state I have a particular affection for this song about “every kid trying to make it in America.” This pizza harkens back to those evenings with my family all around the table. You may notice that there aren’t exact measurements and ratios for the pizza toppings. If you love arugula, pile it on. Can’t stomach prosciutto? What’s wrong with you?! I mean, just leave it out...I guess. You’ll also note that I am not suggesting you cook a pizza sauce persay but simply to use canned tomato. The intention here is to let the natural flavors of the tomato ring through rather than to over sweeten by the inevitable carmelization that occurs when one cooks a sauce and then bakes it in the oven.

You’ll need:

-Pizza Dough

-Prosciutto

-Arugula

-One Can of Crushed or Diced Tomatoes

-Fresh Mozzarella Cheese

-One can Quartered Artichoke Hearts

-Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees.

Spread out your dough on a oiled baking sheet or a pizza stone if you have one.

Spoon on the tomato sauce, adding by the tablespoon full until you get the coverage you desire. You may notice that it is a little chunkier than your traditional pizza sauce, this is a call back to the more traditional pizzas I ate growing up. Try not to put on too much sauce, just a thin covering, other wise your crust will be soggy.

Sprinkle on a thin covering of mozzarella cheese over the pizza.

Add the prosciutto in slices across the pizza, then evenly distribute the artichokes.

Layer on the arugula, but keep in mind that it will wilt and shrink significantly in the oven.

Add the fresh cracked black pepper over the arugula.

If you desire add just the slightest sprinkling on mozzarella over the arugula.

WINE

Though Billy is a little more liberal with his wine pairings than I am I might go in the direction of a red wine for this meal. A Tempranillo, with it’s black plum flavors pairs well with the pork and the notes of black pepper will create a taste bridge from the food to the wine itself.

-Christa Pagliei