IPA Steamed Red Cabbage and Fujis with IPA Boiled Brats, and a Fuji-Sage Dijon

Ahhhh Fall!  The sound of wind through crisp autumnal leaves, hot totties, ghords, squash, pumpkins, and motha f****** apple picking!  If you live even remotely close to an apple orchard, which you should if you live in America, go there right now and pick some motha f****** apples!  Have you ever picked an apple, rubbed the dirt off on your shoulder, and eaten it straight from the tree?  If you haven’t let me tell you… its f****** awesome and f****** delicious!! And its cliche… but cliche in a fashion that allows hipsters to partake in the fun festivities as well.

I know, I know. Apple picking is complex, and can be stressful if not done properly.  Allow me to provide you a brief tutorial:

Step 1: Upon arriving at the orchard or farm, walk directly to the Fuji apple section.  To be frank, Fuji apples are the best and I am not sure why anyone would eat anything else… just ask Colleen and Zoe, I’m kind of obsessed.

Step 2: Inspect the Apples

Step 3: Continue to inspect the apple from different vantage points.

Step 4: If the apple has no apparent worm holes, no lesions, and looks all around good… place it in the bin.

Step 5: There are only four steps.

Alright, enough funny business.. it is time to cook!  After picking my apples at Homestead Farm in Poolesville, MD, I moseyed over to the pseudo farmers market and got some other goodies.  I saw a beautiful red cabbage and immediately decided to steam cabbage with apples, and go with bratwurst for the protein.  It would need a condiment, so mustard was rather obvious.  And a nice IPA is always nice in the fall, so lets put as much IPA into this as possible.

Ingredients

1 head of red cabbage
3 shallots
6 fuji apples, skins removed
1-2 tbsp dijon
6-10 sage leaves
1 IPA for steaming
1-2 tbsp apple-cider vinegar
Bratwurst
Enough IPA to cover the bratwurst

Preparation

1) Remove the skins from three fuji apples, remove the core and cut into small pieces. Cook down in a few tbsp of butter and sage.  Once the apples are tender to the center, remove from heat and put into food processor with sage.  Puree until mixed through.  Place mixture into strainer, and push mixture through strainer (This can be labor intensive, and take a few minutes but it is worth it.  This keeps the mixture smooth and without chunks).  Mix in dijon gradually until you get the flavor you want.

2) Cut red cabbage into small pieces.  Remove skin of three remaining fuji apples, remove core and cut into small pieces. Cut shallots into thing but long pieces. Steam mixture with one beer and a splash of apple-cider vinegar. Add salt and seasoning for flavor.  Steaming should take more then ten minutes, and cabbage should be tender but not mushy.

3) Bring remaining IPA to boil.  Put bratwurst into boiling IPA, and cook for 10 minutes.  Remove from IPA.  If you have a grill, throw it on there for additional texture and flavor.

4) Plate it and enjoy!!

Hummus

Lets get something straight… this is not Hummus, this is Hummus (sounds like chu-moose).

Next thing we want to remember… Read and Follow the directions!  I learned the hard way.  Let me explain…

I love hummus.  Always have, always will.  The hummus in the United States is much different than the hummus you get in Israel.  I have attempted several times to replicate the amazingness that is Israeli hummus, and have come fairly close… but it is never quite as rich, creamy, fluffy, and amazing.  I asked friends, read some recipes, and finally decided it was time to peel the skins from each garbanzo bean, which would reduce the mealy texture of most American hummus (I almost think the plural form of hummus should be hummuses).

After googling some recipes to see if I could find some technique tips, I decided to pick a fairly average recipe and just go with it.  I soaked the dried garbanzos for 24 hours, ignored the baking soda step (why would I need baking soda?), boiled the garbanzos and started peeling.  Well, the peeling wasn’t as easy as I had thought.  I imagine shucking peas from a pod, but this was taking way too much time.  I put the garbanzo beans in a microwave safe bowl, splashed them in water, and zapped them in the microwave for 60 seconds.  Things got a little easier, but it was still a labor intensive project.  Nonetheless, I turned on the tube to catch up on Boardwalk Empire, and take the skins off some garbanzo beans.  Before I knew it, three hours had passed and it was thirty minutes passed midnight.  I finally finished removing the skins from each individual garbanzo bean, added some tahini, lemon juice, zataar and salt, and BOOM!  I had done it, and boy was it worth the work!

I went straight to bed feeling the satisfaction of eating great hummus, just like I had just returned from Shuk HaCarmel in Tel Aviv for 13 shek hummus.  The next day I brought in the hummus for lunch, and it was practically coming out of my ears by the afternoon.  It was good, but I was still perplexed on the time.  So I went back to google, and put in a different entry this time: “easy ways to peel garbanzo beans”.  I clicked enter, and there it was glaring at me… “baking soda”.  My jaw dropped to the floor!  I should have followed directions!  I clicked on a youtube video (what is even more embarrassing is I own the cookbook referenced in the video) that had popped up, and quickly learned about how the baking soda forms an alkaline solution with the pectin in the bean’s skin and blah blah blah.  I was dumbfounded!  Needless to say, I learned my lesson… stick to the recipe, and don’t wait three hours to google it!

Ingredients

3 cups dry garbanzo beans, soaked overnight fully submerged in water
1/2-1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup tahini
2-3 lemons
1 large clove garlic
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp zataar

Garnish
Garbanzo beans, olive oil, tahini, zataar, pickles, onions and hard boiled egg

Preparation

1) Rinse the garbanzo beans and place in a pot.  Fill with enough water to cover at least 1 inch.  Add baking soda.  Bring to a boil and then simmer over medium hear until the beans are very soft, 1-2 hours.

2) Drain the beans from hot water, and place in cold water bath.  Agitate the beans rigorously, and replace water to maintain a colder temperature.  The skins will gradually fall off, and they should separate easily.  If not, manually remove skins.

3) Put the beans into a food processor, saving some whole beans for garnish.  Add the remaining ingredients, and blend until smooth.  Add more olive oil or water to make thinner, add more tahini to make richer, and season to taste.

4) Put hummus in a bowl, and garnish with desired ingredients.

5) Serve with warm/toasted pita, and/or julienne vegetables.

5) Enjoy!

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P.S. Sorry for not posting in a while!  I have been rather busy, doing some traveling, and have not had much time to cook.

P.P.S.  On that note, I will likely be cooking tomorrow (10/8) or Thursday (10/9)… message me if you want to be a guinea pig!  We will have having cracked pepper gnocchi, with a brown-butter sage sauce, with some prosciutto and truffled pecorino!  Space will be limited, so get at me!