Archive for January, 2010

Is this turning into a habit? or a tradition?

They had the cutest fingerling potatoes at Whole Foods. So, I put them into a sauté pan with salted water for about 10 minutes.

Then, after being covered, I dump the water, and add some butter. More salt, pepper, and then after 5 minutes in the butter, I add 5 cloves of roughly-chopped garlic. To finish, I squeeze on a little lemon and herbs. Herbs tonight were dried thyme and fresh lemon thyme.

The chicken this time got a little massage in EVOO, then salted and peppered. I continued my tradition of 1 half lemon in the cavity, quartered. Tied up, I cooked it for the first 20 minutes at 450 degrees upside down. Then, I flipped it and cooked it for 30 minutes more right-side up. Checked for temperature, it was “just” under in in the thigh area (by 4 degrees) and a little over in another… time to let it come out and rest.

Perfect doneness… it was still moist and cooked through.

The sauce gets started with melted butter.

Then add Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and a little lemon juice, and finally, your favorite herbs.

So, the sauce then goes over the carved pieces.

And for fans of the vegetable shot: Ina Garten’s brussels sprouts recipe with golden raisins. Simple, but genius.

They got cooked in a little bacon fat before being cooked-off for 15 minutes, covered, in the oven.

To finalize this grand meal, I whipped up a little bread pudding using left-over Panettone from the holidays, with a healthy dose of vanilla to the eggy/cream custard mixture. To guild the lilly, so to speak, I added some dark and white chocolate to the pudding. Outstanding comfort food.

Tonight I made a simple salad featuring good tomatoes (at least what I can get in January), and a winter-inspired soup. Yes, it was 58 degrees here today. But whatever.

The salad used a mustardy vinaigrette and simple sea salt with both heirloom greens and heirloom tomatoes. The sourdough baguette was excellent, procured from the Fresh Market.

The soup was a spur of the moment creation, made from freshly made chicken stock.

Recipe, for 2.

• Render the fat from lardons, Applewood-smoked (2 strips bacon)
• Sautée both a sweet and purple onion in the bacon fat until they take on color (15 minutes)
• Add 2 diced Yukon Gold potatoes, stir in the hot fat.
• Add 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika, stir.
• Add broth for two portions (around 5 cups)
• Cook for 20-35 minutes on a low simmer.
• Blend half of the soup in a blender, adding grated Asiago cheese and a heaping spoonful of crème fraîche. Blend, return to pot to heat and integrate until service.
• Garnish soup with bacon crisps, taste for seasoning of salt/pepper.

I had set out to make a potato/leek soup, but I couldn’t find leeks today.

Last night I set out once again to attempt an even better recipe for roasted chicken. What I’m looking for is something moist, but flavorful and satisfying. Chicken approaching comfort food.

There are several things at play: flavors in the meat, salt, texture, and juiciness. I started once again with what I consider the Thomas Keller master recipe. To summarize, he roasts a chicken that would feed 2-3 people simply. Moderately high heat (450 degrees), little prep other than salt and pepper, but the kicker is at the end: he sauces his chicken.

So, I have to improvise because that’s what I do.

I like his technique for making the skin crisp and brown: high heat. But how do we ensure moisture inside? And flavor? I take one half lemon, cut it into four pieces, and then stuff the cavity of the bird with it. I tie up the chicken, salt and pepper it liberally, and that’s it.

I used a 450-degree oven. One hour. I probably could have gone for 10 minutes less time last night; I’ve got to work out the timing just right with the weight. I tried my best to keep the oven at 450 degrees, using a digital thermometer.

I put the chicken on top of two large, thick slices of onion, in a roasting pan. The onion carmelized and later added flavor to the fat and lemon drippings in the pan when the bird was removed to rest.

For the sauce, I took good-quality butter and melted it; I added to that the drippings, more fresh lemon juice, and a good amount of Dijon-style mustard. I also added a large amount of fresh lemon thyme.

This sauce gets draped over the cut chicken pieces once the chicken is carved. You can use a spoon, or as you eat, dip your piece of chicken into this magic sauce as the evening wears on. It’s most delicious, something exquisitely flavorful, yet all the while pretty simple.

What was left of the carcass last night has been transformed into a stock today, with the addition of shaved carrot slices (using a peeler), pepper, and a handful of chopped onion. I’m turning it into a bacon-potato soup. The bird was around $9.50; it was organic, and for me, worth its weight in gold.

The Café du Parc is located in the Willard Hotel Intercontinental in Washington, D.C., and presents itself as a “French bistro.”

I had an egg first course listed on their Burgundy menu, which was outstanding. Great bread to sop-up the juices, sauce, and egg yolks. Mushrooms, pearl onions, and just yummy earthiness. Delicious.

The entrée was less successful: pork belly. First, the portion of protein was way too much… it was enough protein for a threesome. The plate featured a small salad on the side, which yes, it typical of bistro cuisine. But the salad was more like a garnish: it was improperly dressed with a good vinaigrette.

Their baguette and butter at CdP is excellent.

I enjoyed the meal, but the protein sizes were extreme. The monkfish entrée was likewise large. The desserts weren’t over the top, which you wouldn’t expect at a bistro anyhow… profiteroles, spice cake, sorbets, and a giant chocolate macaron. This is the type of thing you’d never likely see in Paris, but it certainly makes reference to it.

Good food, decent prices for dinner. I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t sending back as much on my plate and left feeling overstuffed. Visit their website.

Since reading about the Julie and Julia Project, since reading My Life in France, and since watching the movie, I haven’t made it to Julia Child’s kitchen at the Smithsonian in Washington. That is, until today.

This was a powerful place. First, I got to the museum early on Sunday morning, shortly after it opened, and it seemed “empty” until I found the Julia exhibit on the first floor. Whoa. A crowd of people.

For some reason, I had the emotional baggage of Julie Powell with me, I was a bit overwhelmed with it all. I’ve been watching Julia’s shows on DVD lately with Jacques Pepin, and to see the kitchen up close, in person, was an intense experience.

By the time I made it around to all of the accompanying stuff around the outside of the kitchen (mementos, kitchen tools, and videos with interviews and her shows), I heard some folks talking… people were sharing their stories about coming to love cooking from this woman. It was a bit too much to take…

I stepped back out, into the main hallway, where you can see the exhibit through glass. Here was a bunch of Americans who had a connection to this woman, paying their respects, if you will, on a cold Sunday morning in the nation’s capital city. There’s the constitution to see, there’s artifacts from our founding fathers, but here they are, to see a glimpse into the domestic world of a famous American cook and TV personality. Julia Child.

I wish I could have met the woman. Better yet, as someone tweeted me today after I posted a picture of her Le Cordon Bleu diploma, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a meal with her?”

I think this woman’s success is directly related to her passion. She wasn’t a particuarly gifted speaker on television (her mistakes and such are great, however, because they reveal the authenticity of the shows). She was a messy cook, at least in front of a camera. Yet, her passion carried out to all these people. I wonder how many visit per year, to see her kitchen?

I, or any of us for that matter, should be so lucky that we make a mark on the world with our passions that folks come to see something we leave behind.

I had a great day.

Julia Child’s kitchen is located at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, on the mall, in Washington, D.C. Yes, even her E. Dehillerin pans.