Archive for the In the Kitchen Category

We had a delicious weekend. Some highlights.

I was served this snack at the Inn at Little Washington, and it’s in one of O’Connell’s cookbooks. It made for a nice finger food.

Blue cheese? Delicious! Smoked blue cheese? Mmmmm.

From the Bistro Croix Rouge in Paris comes a Norwegian (read: smoked salmon) tartine:

Simple: bread, butter, salmon, capers, and lemon juice.

Sorry for the next one being so dark. This was inspired by Dorie Greenspan, short ribs (my own recipe), a purée of celery root and potato, and green beans. The beans were flavored with morels, garlic, and truffled balsamic vinegar.

Here’s a little bean documentation after they were blanched but before they went for their final warm in the oven:

Also from Greenspan’s book Around my French Table is this chocolate mousse cake à la Michel Rostag:

I’m looking forward to being fed by someone else soon. As true to my name, it was a messy affair.

Since my parents have been visiting, I handed my mom Keller’s Bouchon cookbook and asked her “to pick something for dinner.” When I returned, she picked two classics.

To those I added a third “course,” a little recipe of my own invention. My dad bought white asparagus at the supermarket. He does not eat any asparagus. So, I had to come up with a way to cook it (not my favorite, as it snaps easily and requires peeling). So first, we had this salad.

On top of herbed greens, I placed cooked, and “pickled” white asparagus. After cooking in salted water, I let them rest (without an ice bath) in a lemony vinegar. It soaks it up, making a quick pickle of the vegetable.

The greens were tossed with a dijon-based dressing made with some bacon fat. Bacon lardons covered everything, along with some sautéed mushrooms. Topped with chives.

The onion soup by Keller takes a long time; you cook down your onions until they are very dark brown, like weak coffee.

I went all out and made the mornay sauce and used the fried egg on top to make a croque madame.

Inside I amped the fat level by using Saint André cheese instead of plain swiss.

This Thanksgiving I was in charge once again and decided to skip the turkey. I am not the biggest fan of this bird, nor all the “tricks” one has to do to add moisture or flavor. So I came up with what I think was a more satisfying menu for our day of thanks.

Lunch Course

We started just past noon with a soup, butternut squash soup with garlicky shrimp.

This recipe was based on several I’d made in the past; it included:

• 2-way cooked butternut squash (1/2 roasted, 1/2 cubed and sautéed with the vegetables)
• 1 leek
• 1 onion
• 1 apple
• sage
• 2 carrots
• homemade chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• brown butter (swirled in at the end)
• shrimp, sautéed in butter and garlic
• freshly ground nutmeg
• salt/pepper

The key here is the texture of soup; I like to blend it once it is cooked through (45 minutes after the broth is added), and then through a fine-keyed strainer (I didn’t use the plunger but simply a large wooden spoon). Instead of adding fried sage leaves, I added sage a few minutes before blending. The sage and brown-butter additions were learned from my flirtation with Thomas Keller’s version from Bouchon.

Dessert

One of my most memorable editions of Gourmet was their 2006 Thanksgiving edition from November. It had so many good recipes; one I had never made was the one for the macadamia nut and coconut tart. You can find it in the Epicurious app for iOS.

First step was to make a pie crust. I used a a 70/30 mixture of butter and shortening, as per their recipe. I used the food processor which makes it easy. It goes into a 10-inch tart shell pan with removable bottom.

The filling is not unlike pecan pie; roughly chopped, toasted macadamia nuts join coconut and brown sugar and eggs. It puffs up slightly, then falls when it comes out.

Beef, not Turkey

I have found in Richmond the best source for prime beef is Belmont Butchery, where we obtained a 2 rib, 6 pound prime ribs of beef roast.

Okay, it weighed more, but I figure it was 6 pounds with the bones. I salted and peppered it, in addition to studding the fat side with garlic before roasting.

I roasted it to about 125-127 degrees and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Three Sides

• Green Beans with Orange-Ginger Glaze
• Brussels Sprouts with Mushrooms and Crispy Shallots
• Yam-Yukon Gold Potato Gratin with Smoked Paprika and Cayenne

Among my favorites was the brussels sprout dish, too from the 2006 November Gourmet. Thyme and garlic scents the dish, and for mine, I used a pair of horn mushrooms and chantarelles.

The green beans use orange zest, ginger, and orange juice, and butter. Simple. Salt and pepper.

The gratin came from a recipe from Food 52. At first, I saw this recipe for a more classic pommel dauphinoise, but then since my dad likes sweet potatoes, I went for this one instead. It was good.

In all the meal was successful. Here are two more highlight photos:

and the dessert,

Happy Thanksgiving!

It wasn’t too long ago that I added Bouchon to my cookbook collection - named after Thomas Keller’s interpretation of a French bistro. The original is in Yountville, down the street from the French Laundry (in one direction) and Ad Hoc (in the other).

The recipes are simpler than those in The French Laundry, and tonight I made

• Butternut Squash Soup and
• Frisée aux Lardons Salad with Egg

Nothing extraordinary, except the little extra touches that make Keller’s recipes sublime.

Vinegary shallots made the salad great; the brown butter swirled into the soup was the right touch, along with the scent and aroma of sage leaves and fresh nutmeg-spiced crème fraïche in the center of the soup.

A friend today inspired me to eat healthy for dinner; she shared the fact that she’s been eating salads for dinner, with chicken. So, this was born. I am not sure I took every precaution to make this low-calorie.

We roasted a chicken last night, and I used the two-fork method to shred the remaining chicken which took the top of the salad. A bag of mixed salad greens with a balsamic-Dijon mustard quick dressing set the stage for other favorites:

• homemade garlic croutons
• roasted red pepper
• Hanover tomato
• beets
• blue cheese
• asparagus

I definitely liked the result. The addition of protein and a those crunchy, garlicky croutons make this a substantial meal.

That didn’t mean that I didn’t get the later temptation to dig-into my “Salty caramel” ice cream from Jeni’s Splendid.