Eric Ripert's New Year appetizers

Le Bernardin in New York is a three-star restaurant where the specialty is fish. Maguy Le Coze and Eric Ripert are solidly at the helm and, under their direction, their team faultlessly deliver their passengers to Cythère. I first went to it when it was in the Paris street, which gave the restaurant its name. Itself derived from the convent, which stood there before the Revolution. The ruins have since been beautifully restored. Maggie’s brother was the chef before his untimely death. Then as now, the cuisine was memorable and the service impeccable. The New York successor is much bigger but the quality is unchanged. The menu offers four courses including a dessert. There are also two more extensive tasting menus. The categories you choose from are “almost raw”, “barely touched” and “lightly cooked”. There can be no clearer indication of the philosophy at work: the ingredient is foremost and the cuisine is at its service. Le Bernardin does not serve Chilean sea bass or any other endangered specie.
On a recent visit, I asked for one and received two recipes of my choice. The first one is the almost raw tuna, which uses foie gras au torchon (see December 11th ) on a baguette with raw tuna layered on top. The second is the barely touched scallop, another subtly enhanced savor. In both cases the magic comes from the just combination of a few notes. The recipes serve 4. I cannot think of a better start for the year 2010.

Le Bernardin Tuna (Layers of thinly pounded yellowfish tuna, foie gras and toasted baguette, shaved chives and extra virgin olive oil)
(Easy, Assemblage time: 5 minutes, Expensive)
Ingredients
¼ recipe torchon foie gras
8 oz (250g) yellowfish tuna
½ baguette
Fine sea salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
Extra virgin olive oil
Shallots minced
Chives snipped
Lemon halves
Material:
Meat slicer on #3 setting
Rolling pin
Plastic film
Brush
Cut the tuna in 8 pieces of 1 oz each respecting the grain of the fish. Place each piece between two larger layers of plastic film. Pound with the rolling pin until the tuna is as thin as smoked salmon. Reserve in the fridge until ready to assemble.
Slice thinly the foie gras.
Halve the baguette half for another usage and slice each quarter lengthwise. You should get 8 thin pieces of bread.
To assemble, place the foie gras slices on the bread. Place the bread in the center of the plate. Remove the top plastic layer from the tuna and place the tuna over the foie gras. Season with salt and pepper. Brush the tuna with olive oil. Sprinkle a few shallots and chives over it. Squeeze lemon juice at the last minute.

Le Bernardin scallop (ultra rare scorched scallop, garlic chive goat milk butter emulsion)
(Easy, Preparation time:20 minutes, Reasonable)
Ingredients:
1-Emulsion
¼ lb (113g) garlic chives bud
Kosher salt
6 oz (177g) goat’s milk butter cubed
Fine sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
2- Relish and garnish
¼ lb (113g) garlic chives buds
4 teaspoons olive oil
zest of 1 lemon
fine sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
16 pieces (113g) hen of the woods mushrooms
1 tablespoon canola oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon cut in half
3-Scallops
¾ lb (340g) sea scallops (8 large)
2 teaspoons olive oil
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Material:
Medium stockpot
Strainer
Salad bowl with ice cubes
Blender
Small saucepan
Eggbeater
Iron pan or griddle

Gently pull off the muscles off the scallops and discard. Season the scallops with olive oil, salt and pepper. (This operation can be done as soon as you purchase the scallops.)

1- Bring salted water to a boil in the stockpot. Cut the garlic chive buds into 1-inch pieces and blanch for about two minutes. Strain and place the strainer in the salad bowl filled with ice cubes. Blend the chives with a couple of ice cubes and purée. Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl and reserve.
Bring two tablespoons of water to a simmer in a small saucepan and whisk in the goat’s milk butter, 1 tablespoon at a time until fully incorporated with an eggbeater. Beat in about 4 tablespoons of the garlic chive bud purée and season to taste with salt and pepper
2- Trim the tough stems off the remaining garlic chive buds. Place them in a salad bowl and season them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Set the iron pan or griddle on the gas at the high setting. When it is very hot, add the chives and cook until they are tender and lightly charred. Transfer to the cutting board and set aside 8 garlic chive buds. Chop the rest. Transfer back to the salad bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Reserve.
Heat a sauté pan in which a little bit of canola oil has been added over medium high. Sauté the hen of the woods mushrooms until golden brown and tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3- Heat the cast iron griddle until very hot. Remove the scallops from the marinade and sear quickly on both sides about 1 minute. The scallops must remain rare.

To assemble, spoon a line of relish down the center of the plate, slice the scallops in half and place the rare side face up. Garnish each scallop with a charred chive bud, add 4 pieces of mushrooms over and around the sliced scallops. Squeeze a drop of lemon juice over the scallops and spoon the emulsion over and around. Serve immediately

Festive beef filet two ways

Meat has become for me a special occasion meal. Among the variety offered, beef filet retains its cachet. I propose two cooking methods, boiled or baked. Both will treat the special cut appropriately, leaving the meat rare. I suggested to the Japanese guests who tasted the first version that it was a French rendering of Shabu Shabu. The buttery béarnaise, which accompanies the minimally processed vegetables and meat, turns it into a richer although still light fare. Foie gras plays the same role for the second recipe. Both are appropriate for a sophisticated Christmas or New Year’s dinner depending on the number of your guests. I like to cook the string filet for 6 people. When accommodating a larger number, 8 as the recipe is written, beef Wellington is the way to go. Everything can be prepared in advance. Finishing the dish takes 20 unattended minutes, once all the guests have arrived. The side dish of boiled string beans can be prepared at the same time. As a bonus, I am suggesting my baked fries. They can also be prepared in advance and warmed up during the last 20 minutes. With foie gras or smoked salmon toasts as a starter and a Christmas log at the end, the festive meal can be enjoyed by all, including the hostess.

String filet*
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 45 minutes, A little pricey)
Ingredients:
1 lbs ½ beef filet
4 cups of chicken broth
4 medium carrots
4 leeks
1 Chinese cabbage
1 lbs (500g) turnip
1 bouquet garni
4 tablespoons coarse salt
Sauce:
2 yolks
¼ cup (70 ml) wine vinegar
¼ cup (70 ml) white wine
Pepper
1 shallot
1 stick (130g) butter
Material:
Plastic bag
Peeler
4-quart pot
Small saucepan
Strainer
Paper towel
Eggbeater

2 hours prior to cooking place the filet in a plastic bag with the salt. Refrigerate for two hours.
Peel the carrots and turnips. Keep the whites of the leeks and clean them. Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage and cut it into four. Clean it.
Bring the chicken stock to a boil. Plunge all the vegetables in the broth and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the meat and cook for another 10 minutes.
Prepare the sauce during the cooking of the meat and vegetables. Start by cooking the butter. When it has melted, place the towel over the strainer and dispose it over a measuring pitcher. Strain the butter to obtain clarified butter.
Use the same saucepan to sauté the shallots. Add the minced shallots, the pepper, white wine and wine vinegar and reduce by half. Bring to room temperature. Reserve in a bowl.
Beat the two yolks in the same saucepan. Place the strainer over and filter the cold reduction.
On a very slow gas, beat the content of the saucepan constantly until it foams and doubles. Remove from the gas and beat in the butter. Add salt and minced chives.
*The string in the name comes from the kitchen tie around the roast which can be attached to the handle of the saucepan to help remove the meat after its 10 minutes soak. I prefer using a set of tongues.
Beef Wellington
(A little delicate, Preparation and cooking time:1 hour and 1/2, Expensive)
Ingredients:
2 thick slices foie gras
½ lbs (250g) Paris mushrooms
4 lbs (2 kg) beef filet
Salt and pepper
1 pastry sheet (unfrozen)
1 egg beaten
Material:
Rolling pin
Frying pan
Ovenproof dish
Brush
Parchment paper on a baking sheet

Preheat the oven to 400F (200C).
Place the beef filet on the ovenproof dish. Salt and pepper the meat.
Wash the mushrooms and clip the extremities. Slice them finely. Season them with salt and pepper. Set the frying pan on the lowest setting of the gas, melt one tablespoon of butter and sauté the mushrooms for 5 minutes. Strain the mushrooms and reserve.
Bake the filet for 25 minutes. When the 25 minutes are past, remove the filet and bring it to room temperature. Lower the oven to 360F (180C)
Roll out the pastry sheet so that it is wide enough to wrap around the meat. Place it on the baking sheet covered with parchment. Sprinkle the mushrooms and pieces of foie gras on the pastry. Place the cooled meat in the center and fold the pastry sheet over the meat. Seal the pastry well and brush the exterior with the beaten egg.
Bake for twenty minutes.
Serve with buttered string beans.

Baked fries
(Easy, Preparation and baking time: 30 minutes plus waiting time, Cheap)
Ingredients:
2 lbs (1kg) Idaho potatoes
4 tablespoons duck fat
1garlic clove unpeeled
1 tablespoon butter at room temperature
2 yolks
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon minced parsley
Material:
Peeler
Towel
4-quart stock saucepan and cover
Set of tongues
Strainer
Ovenproof dish

Peel the potatoes and cut each in eight long and fat pieces. Immerge in water. Strain and pat dry with the towel.
Place the duck fat in the saucepan. When it starts smoking, add the garlic clove and the potatoes. Lower the gas. Turn over each potato until all faces are golden. Cook for another 15 minutes covered. Strain the potatoes. Put them back in the pan and sprinkle the butter on top. Make sure that the butter coats each fry.
Beat the yolks and mix the yolks and the fries with your hands. Place in the ovenproof dish. Add the salt and parsley.
Place the ovenproof dish in the oven preheated at 360F (180C) until ready to serve.

Christmas Log: a French tradition made in America

Before a clever 19th century pastry chef created the now mandatory christmas cake, the Christmas Log burnt brightly in every French fireplace. When Santa Claus took to passing through the chimney to offer his wares, the log jumped from its normal place to the table for everybody’s pleasure. It is one of the few French holiday traditions. Germany is responsible for Christmas pine trees, Great Britain for the bank holiday and the subsequent extra money as well as the stockings that it goes into. The Scandinavian nations brought the reindeers and the elves. But who is counting? What’s important is that we end up with a smorgasbord of international customs: to everyone, her favorite. I was extremely happy to find this French treat in Wainscott. Brad produces a realist and tasty chocolate raspberry log at Bradzilla. He graciously provided me with the following recipe, which I adapted for home cooking.

Chocolate Christmas log
(A little delicate, Preparation and cooking time: 60 minutes, Waiting time: 60 minutes, Cheap)
Ingredients:
1-Chocolate sponge base
¼ cup (60g) sugar
6 eggs
¾ tsp cream of tartar
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate melted
2-Raspberry mousse filling
1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)
¼ cup (60g) fine sugar
3-Frosting
8 oz. (237 g) bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup (158g) heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
½ stick (60g) cold butter
Material:
Whip
2 salad bowls
Saucepan
Eggbeater
Silicone spoon
Silicone brush
Cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
Toothpick

1-Preheat oven at 300F Crack and separate the eggs in two salad bowls. Mix the sugar with the yolks until light and fluffy. Set aside. Melt the chocolate with a tablespoon of water over low heat. Mix well and cool down. Whip whites until soft peaks form. Add cream of tartar and chocolate into yolks. Gently fold whites into yolks. Spread evenly on prepared sheet pan with the silicone spoon. Bake at 300F (150C) degrees for 16 minutes, rotating at half term.
2-Heat in a pan at medium range the raspberries and sugar till juicy and bubbling. Cook while mixing until you obtain a paste. Cool completely.
3-Boil the cream until it bubbles. Remove from the stove and add the chocolate broken in small pieces. Add the cold butter cut in small pieces and the vanilla. Blend and chill to proper consistency.
Wait until everything is cool before assembling.
Spread the raspberry filling on the sponge and carefully roll up the cake. Place it on the serving plate. Cut one slice and position it on top of the cake about 2/3 of the length, to simulate a stump. Brush the frosting over the cake. The brush will naturally create texture over the log. Using a toothpick create pretend bark and circles on the stump. Sprinkle the confectioner sugar through a fine strainer to create a snow effect.

Foie gras:the best pâté

Foie gras is a favorite starter for Christmas or New Year festivities. It is not new: geese are represented while force-fed in Egyptian tomb frescoes. The current polemic about whether it constitutes animal cruelty is old news as well: Alexandre Dumas under the entry “foie gras” in his Great cooking dictionary of 1870 recalls the petition written by a French gourmet but virtuous aristocrat in defense of the rights of geese. It was presented to the chamber of Lords with no effect whatsoever. The production method is ingenuous. By constantly over nourishing ducks or geese, their liver is enlarged to 10 times its normal size and reaches a fat content of 50 to 65%. It is the dispersion of the fat within the liver cells, which creates the incomparably rich taste of the transformed organ. Very little remains to be done to finish this walking pâté. A well-grown liver is pale pink and uniform in color. When poked with a finger it will give but retain its imprint. There are two ways to prepare it: you either sauté thick slices of liver in a hot pan or you cook the whole liver and refrigerate it for a few days before eating it cold and sliced on pieces of bread. The second technique has my preference. To cook a liver you have again several choices. They have to do with flavorings and shape. If you want round slices, you will prefer to make a torchon of foie gras simmered in stock. If you like terrines and want to add your own flavorings you will marinate the duck liver in a terrine with some cognac and spices and bake it in a water bath inside the oven. Whatever you choose, you will need a thermometer to monitor closely the temperatures. The secret of a good pâté is to minimize fat loss. To attain the best result you need to raise progressively the internal temperature from 110F (45C) to 160F (70C).
Start your preparation three days before you intend to serve it. The taste of the foie gras will then have had time to develop. Buy the best possible ingredient from a mail order company (D’Artagnan or Hudson valley foie gras) and use one of the three following recipes. which will provide roughly for 15 people.

Basic preparation
(Easy, Time: 15 or 3 hours unattended, 10 minutes preparation, Expensive)
Ingredients:
1.6 to 2 lbs foie gras
Material:
Large salad bowl

Place the foie gras overnight in salted ice water in the refrigerator. If you are short on time, you may place it for 3 hours in a temperate salted bath.
The next day, remove the foie gras from the water and bring to room temperature for 3 hours. The whole process is needed to expose the veins. Pull the exposed veins out. The foie gras will part into its two lobes.


Torchon foie gras (courtesy of Eric Ripert executive chef of Le Bernardin)*
(Easy, Preparation and cooking: 35 minutes, resting time: 24 to 48 hours, Expensive)
Ingredients:
Foie gras from basic preparation
10 to 12 g. of salt
3 g white pepper
2 cups (500 m) chicken stock
Material:
Plastic film
Wet cheesecloth
Kitchen twine
Large stockpot
Large ovenproof dish
Thermometer
Perforated sheet over a baking sheet.

Weigh the foie gras and season it on both sides (60% on the rough side, the rest on the smooth.) The right proportion is 12 g per 2 lbs (1 kg). Let the foie gras cure for 24 hours in the refrigerator.
Roll the foie gras in saran wrap to get proper shape and remove air bubles. Each roll should be approximately 3 to 4 inches wide and 11 inches long.
Place the roll in the middle of a wet cheeseclothe. Remove the plastic film and roll again in shape. First tie the shorter side and continue to roll tightly before securing the other side.
Preheat the oven to 300F (150C)
Bring the chicken stock to a boil, transfer to the rectangular ovenproof and allow to cool to 160F (70C) and add foie gras rolls to the stock. Place the large ovenproof dish in the oven and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the internal foie gras temperature of 90F ( 30C) is reached. Let them cool and drain in the fridge by placing the rolls on a grill over a baking sheet.
When cool, remove the cheesecloth, roll again in saran wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.
*This recipe is part of the subtle Tuna recipe Eric gave me to share as a New Year’s Eve recipe, which will be featured in my blog on December 25th.
Two variants for a foie gras terrine
1-Bain-marie (Easy, Preparation and cooking:60 minutes, refrigeration:2 days, Expensive)
Material:
Foie gras from basic preparation
10 to 12 g. fine salt
3g white pepper
2oz(60ml) Cognac
1 teaspoon sugar
Material
Ovenproof terrine with a cover
Larger ovenproof dish
Thermometer
Place the 2 lobes on the large dish. Sprinkle the salt sugar and white pepper on both sides and pour the Cognac over them.
Marinate in the refrigerator for 12 hours, turning them over at half time.
The day after, one hour prior to cooking, remove the liver from the refrigerator. Place them in the terrine, keeping the curves on the outsides. Clean the large ovenproof dish and fill it with water
Preheat the oven at 300F (150C) place the ovenproof dish in the oven and bring the water temperature to 160F (70C). Check with a thermometer. Place the uncovered terrine in the bain-marie and bake for 40 minutes.
Remove the terrine from the bain-marie, cover it and let it cooled naturally for 2 hours. Refrigerate for at least one night before serving with toasted country bread.

2- Baked (Easy, Preparation and baking time: 2 hours, Refrigeration :2 days, Expensive)
Ingredients:
Foie gras from basic preparation
10 to 12 g fine salt
3 g white pepper
Material:
Plastic film
Paper towel
1 cookie sheet
1 terrine
1 lbs (500g) flour or sugar package to use as a weight
Weigh the foie gras and season it on both sides (60% on the rough side, the rest on the smooth.) The right proportion is 12 g per 2 lbs (1 kg). Cover with a plastic film and let the foie gras cure for 24 hours in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven at 160F (70C) and bake until the center of the livers reaches 113F (45C) approximately 1hour and 50 minutes.
Pat the two lobes dry and place in the terrine, curves on the outside. Place a plastic film loosely on top and use the flour or sugar package on top to weigh down the pâté. Refrigerate for 2 days before serving.

Quick Food

     In the few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas I like to plan my festive menus. In the mean time, overfed by my imagination, I aspire to eat well without fuss. While I shall share soon potential Christmas dinner tips - anticipate foie gras, beef Wellington, a lovely filet béarnaise and a Christmas log - my topic today is quick food. I mean to reach for easily available ingredients, preferably already stocked in my pantry, refrigerator or freezer. High on the list are anything with eggs, and pasta sauce to go along with my reserve of dried goods. Quick food does not compromise health and is nurtured by memory. It is the easiest and simplest of meals: one that a neophyte can put together with no fear of blunder.

      The first suggestion, cream baked egg, was a favorite first course at my grandmother’s table. Unlike the omelet, which requires lighting the stove, a forbidden task at 4 years old, baked egg only needs a turn of the oven dial. And then of course the magical transformation of the white turning opalescent happens just in front of attentive eyes in a very attractive television like format. The second recipe is the most basic. My husband insists that it is the pasta to order when testing an Italian restaurant. For the improvised and improvident cook, it is the easiest to put together, as it relies only on dried goods. For the third, the inspiration comes from my college years in Paris. I was living rue de la Collégiale, and there was a Japanese restaurant with a very cheap daily menu. They served a bowl of rice on which luxuriated a fan of red tuna slices with a few scallions. I had never eaten raw fish, and when I tried to emulate the rich oily taste of the dish, I ruined it all by using lemon on top. My version takes into account people who dislike raw fish. The salmon is barely cooked using the technique Mrs. Pic’s anis coastal fish utilized. To complete the meal, add a salad for the first two and some steamed frozen vegetables. The measures are good for one serving.

Cream baked egg

Ingredients:

1 egg per person

1 teaspoon snipped chives

1 tablespoon cream or cream cheese

Smidge of butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Material:

Individual soufflé dish

     Preheat the toaster oven at 360F (180C).

     Butter the soufflé dish.

     Crack the egg carefully inside. Add the chives and cream. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top.

     Bake for 10 minutes or until the white solidifies.

     Eat immediately with a little bread and butter.

Simplest spaghettis

Ingredients:

A small ring worth of dry whole-wheat spaghettis

A few drops of lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves

1 pinch red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese grated

Material:

1 4-quart saucepan

Pair of tongues

Colander

       Fill the 4-quart saucepan with water about half way. Add 1 tablespoon of oil, the lemon juice and the salt. Bring to a strong boil.

       Drop the pasta in the pot and cook for about 10 minutes once the boil resumes. Turn the pasta at the beginning using the set of tongues. When you reach the end of the cooking time, taste one strand. It should be firm but cooked.

       Strain, but reserve about one spoonful of the cooking water.

       Chop the garlic. Lower the gas and place the pot back on the burner. Add the oil and the garlic. Do not let the garlic color. After about three minutes, add the cooked spaghettis. Season with the pepper flakes.

      Serve immediately with the grated Parmesan cheese.

Low temperature sashimi on rice

Ingredients:

4 oz wild salmon

1 tablespoon Ponzu sauce

1 teaspoon Wasabi

1 fresh ginger slice

½ cup sushi rice

Sesame and sea vegetable seasonings

Material

Rice cooker

Ovenproof dish

       Preheat the oven at 160F (65C)

       Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Place in the rice cooker. Add ¾ of a cup water and select the Sushi program. It runs for 45 minutes.

       Ten minutes before the end of the rice cooker cycle, place the wild salmon in the ovenproof dish. Pour the teaspoon Wasabi in the Ponzu sauce and sprinkle over the fish. Grate the ginger on top and bake for 7 minutes. Remove from the oven. Following the grain of the fish cut the salmon in sushi like slices.

Place on top of a bowl of rice sprinkled with the Japanese seasonings. Add some Ponzu sauce to taste.

About pasta

Pasta starts with the same basic elements flour and water as bread: only the proportions differ, bread is 60% water, pasta 40%. It originated in two countries, China and Italy that used the different characteristics of their wheat production to best advantage. Italians manufacture dry, long conservation products capitalizing on the high-gluten durum of their wheat, whereas China uses its soft low-gluten wheat for fresh last-minute pasta and wrappers. Now is as good a time as any to refute the story of Marco Polo bringing back from his travels the art of making pasta. Chinese noodles and dumpling production date back as far as the 3rd century before Christ. Around the Mediterranean Sea, pasta presence is documented as early as the 6th century after Christ. Couscous merits a special mention, as knead-free pasta invented by the Berber people around the 11th century. Due to its dry climate, Naples became the center of the Italian pasta industry: in the 18th century ambulatory pasta vendors crowded the streets of the city. Many clients preferring their food cooked rapidly, the al dente pasta (an expression used after WWI) was born. Shanghai’s noodles are still a tourists’ show. Chinese cooks start with a thick rope of dough they tease acrobatically into a thinner longer thread before folding it together to obtain two lengths. They repeat the process 11 times to end with the magic number: 4096 noodles.
To cook pasta, a large quantity of boiling water is needed to insure both the absorption of liquid by the dough and the dissolution of the excess starch. Because tap water tends to be alkaline, the addition of a little lemon juice will reduce the stickiness of pasta, as will a tablespoon of olive oil. Stir the pasta to coat them with the oil. Once cooked the pasta will once again stick together because of the starch rising to the surface. To prevent this phenomenon, you either rinse the pasta, or coat them with sauce and continue the cooking in this new medium. It will have the added advantage to maintain their temperature longer: according to the first principle of thermodynamics, two bodies put in contact tend to reach the same temperature!
Making lasagna from scratch can seem daunting at first and if you don’t feel like it, you can buy the ready made kind. If you decide to take on the challenge the following four tricks should help: cut your dough once you have kneaded it in more parts than is usually advised, keep on flouring all surfaces and roll the parts with a rolling pin before stretching the dough with the pasta rollers. Finally follow carefully the resting time in between the different operations.

Green egg pasta dough (1 lb= 500 g)*
(Delicate, Preparation time: 60 minutes, resting time: 30 and then 20 minutes, Cheap)
Ingredients:
2½ cups (390 g) all purpose flour, quite a bit more flour for dusting
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 cup (250 g) washed, dried and shredded chards
Material:
Food processor with the pastry blade attachment and then with the lasagna rolling attachment well floured
Parchment paper
Rolling pin

Place 2 cups of flour in the food processor. Add the chard. Crack the eggs into the food processor. Add the olive oil. Process until a ball forms. Add flour if it is too sticky.
Flour the parchment paper and place the dough in the center.
Knead the dough for about 1 minute, alternating using your palm and folding.
Shape it into a ball and cover it up with a transparent salad bowl for at least 30 minutes or until it relaxes.
Separate the dough in four sections. Change the attachment of the food processor from the hook to the lasagna rollers.
Place the dial on the first position and run the machine at low speed to roll out the first ball. Then fold it three times and roll it out again. Repeat several times until the dough is smooth and shiny. Repeat with the other balls. Use dusted flour as needed.
Using the cranks 2 to 5, roll progressively the dough into sheets and form long bands. Measure the length of the ovenproof dish and cut the lasagna to fit two long sheets at a time. Insert paper towels in between layers and let the sheets dry for 20 minutes. If you wait any longer before boiling the lasagna, refrigerate the sheets in the fridge.
*This dough is good for lasagna, ravioli and fettuccini
Fall vegetable lasagna
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 2 hours, Cheap)
1 cup basic tomato sauce unfrozen (9/18/07)
1 cup béchamel (8/14/09)
½ cup Parmesan cheese
1 lb (500g) spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup (250g) ricotta
1 butternut squash
2 eggs
Juice of a lemon
Material
Colander
Large stockpot
Wok
Set of tongues
Paper towels
Ovenproof rectangular dish 9 x 13 inches (23 x 33) buttered

Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C)
Halve the squash. Scoop out the seeds and bake in the oven for an hour.
Wash and dry the spinach. Stir-fry in a little olive oil. Drain well and place in the food processor with the blade attachment on. Add the ricotta cheese, a teaspoon of salt and blend well.
When the squash is soft, scoop out the flesh and place in the bowl of the food processor, blade attachment on. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and crack the two eggs in. Mix well.
Bring a large quantity of water to boil. Add the lemon juice, 2 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Plunge two sheets at a time. Wait until the boil resumes and cook for another minute. Place in a colander under running cold water. Place the cooled lasagna onto paper towels. Repeat until you are out of lasagna sheets.
Place two overlapping sheets at the bottom of the buttered ovenproof dish. Pour 1/2 of the tomato sauce on top. Add ½ of the pumpkin purée. Cover with two sheets 1/3 of the béchamel ½ of the spinach purée. Repeat the process twice, ending with the final two sheets. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese mixed with the last 1/3 of béchamel.
Bake the lasagna for 40 minutes, covering the top with aluminum foil for the 20 last minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before cutting it.
Serves 8 with a salad as a main course

The bread of life

Bread is a mainstay of our occidental culture. Besides figuring prominently in Christian liturgies, it is the essential component of a meal: before plates became the rule, a slice of bread was a good substitute. Pâté was originally meat enclosed in bread. A brief analysis of the words derived from “bread” and “loaf” in our language indicates how crucial its role is in society: lord (Anglo-Saxon hlaford) means the master who supplies the loaf and lady (hlaefdige) the person who kneads the loaf. Company comes from the Latin companio, those who share bread (pane). In ancient times villages were built around a communal exterior oven, a well and a church.
Bread (especially leavened) is one of the wonders of the kitchen. Its transformative powers appear almost magical. The flour mixed with water when left outside for a couple of day will double in volume and cook to a crusty outside and crumbly internal structure. What is responsible for the metamorphosis is the addition of water causing the two components of flour, gluten proteins and starch granules, to react and become alive. The first recipe given to me by my friend Karen, builds on this slow rising process. It requires patience, as the leavening time takes 24 hours. Incidentally a version of the same recipe appeared in a recent New York Magazine issue under the name Pane Integrale. There are several advantages to the usage of this technique: no kneading is necessary, less yeast is used and the bread is very digestible and tasty. To encourage the final rise during the first 10 minutes of the 35 it takes to bake the bread, it helps to add some steam. To do so, just add ice cubes in the oven along with the bread.
Kugloff, (this is the Alsatian form, one of many spellings) is a form of bread favored in Central Europe. I like the savory kind rather than the sweet brioche. It is traditionally cooked in the turban like mold we call bund in the United States. I like to think its shape alludes to its Turkish origins : the Ottoman Empire was barely stopped in its progression in front of Vienna. It is a great addition to a buffet table.
Karen’s bread (Easy, Rising and prep: 24 hours, Cooking time : 35 minutes, Cheap)
Ingredients:
3 cups flour (2 cups ¼ unbleached bread flour ¾ cup whole wheat)
¼ teaspoon Instant dry yeast
1¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups water
Ice cubes

Material
Wooden spoon
Salad bowl
Clean towel
Ovenproof container
Cookie sheet

Place the flour in the salad bowl. Add the salt and dry yeast. Pour the water and mix until moistened and shaggy looking. The dough should be on the wet side: if not add a little water. Cover with a clean towel.
Forget for 24 hours. The bread should have doubled in volume. Place the towel on the counter and sprinkle with flour.
Briefly knead the bread and shape into a round country loaf. Fold loosely with the towel and let rise for the second time for another 1 to 2 hours.
Preheat the oven at 450F (220C) with the cookie sheet positioned in its lower tier for 30 minutes. When the temperature of the oven has reached the set heat, add the ice cubes in an ovenproof container and the bread on a parchment paper on to the cookie sheet.
Bake for 35 minutes.

Savory Kugloff
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 3 hours partly unattended, Cheap)
Ingredients:
4 cups (500g) flour
1 envelope fast rising yeast or 1 cube fresh yeast
2/3 cup (100g) softened butter
2-3 tablespoons (30 g) sugar
1 cup (225ml) milk boiled and then cooled
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 whole eggs
1/2 pound (250g) smoked bacon, chopped
3 tablespoons chestnuts, coarsely chopped

Material:
Food processor with the dough hook on
Sillicone spoon
Bund cake pan
Ice cubes in an ovenproof container

Put the flour in your food processor and add the eggs and the yeast. Mix them quickly with the flour and let it rest for ten minutes.
Add the salt and the milk, and mix well. Beat in the softened butter. Add the chopped bacon and chopped chestnuts. Beat with the dough hook or with a wooden spoon for about five minutes. Cover the bowl and let it rise for about twenty minutes.
Butter the cake pan extremely well, being careful not to miss the deep grooves in any of the flutings. Spoon the dough into the mold, even out the top, and allow to rise for about an hour and a half, or until even with the top of the mold.
Preheat the oven to 400° F (220C).
Bake the loaf along with the ice cube container in the center of the oven for approximately 40 minutes. When done, remove and cool in its mold for 15-20 minutes before turning out on a rack to cool.
Serve slightly warm as an appetizer or snack with wine.

Thanksgiving to the pumpkin

Born in France, I first encountered pumpkin in soups. Brought to our shores by the Portuguese in the Sixteenth century, it was not fully integrated in the French culture except in this form. As no romantic link to Cinderella was made obvious at the time - there was no such nicety as serving it in the skin of the pumpkin- it left me at best indifferent. The skill of the cook or the type of squash might have been the culprit. For my pumpkin-apple soup as in my previous December 13th 2008 pumpkin soup, I prefer to use an acorn of the pumpkin (cucurbita pepo) family associated to a butternut squash (cucurbita moschata). The latter’s flesh firm, sweet and tasty is the only one I would use in a pie. My second encounter with a pumpkin concoction in its native land was much more satisfactory. I however object to the canned purée with which it most often starts. I like a little chew in my sweets. Keeping the fruit and vegetable cubed and caramelizing them together, tatin style, is the solution. The savory dish was the inspiration behind the sweet one. Apples and squashes combine well and provide just the right sweetness in both recipes. Cinnamon is the spice most often associated with apples and is featured in the pie as in the soup. Ginger provides the tart with the tang cayenne pepper gave to the starter. The pumpkin seeds offer crunch in one case, the walnuts in the other.
The soup serves 4, the pie 8.

Pumpkin-Apple soup
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 40 minutes, cheap)
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 butternut squash
1 acorn squash
1 onion
1 apple
1 pinch ground cinnamon
2 pinch red pepper flakes or Cayenne

Material:
4-quart saucepan
Wooden saucepan
Potato peeler
Grapefruit spoon
Blender

Peel the onion and slice it thinly. Pour the olive oil in the saucepan. Set it over low gas and soften the onion for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Peel the butternut and the acorn squash. Cut in halves and remove the seeds with a grapefruit spoon. Wash the seeds separated from any pumpkin flesh in a strainer. Leave to dry.
Add the pumpkin flesh cubed to the onions, cover with a cup of water (220 ml) and simmer for twenty minutes. Add the peeled and cored apple and the spices after 10 minutes.
Blend well until the soup is smooth and creamy. Return the soup to the saucepan and bring to a low simmer before serving.
Stir-fry the seeds with a pinch of red pepper flakes in a frying pan for a couple of minutes. Serve on top of the soup.

Pumpkin-Apple pie
(Easy, preparation and cooking time: 75 minutes largely unattended, Cheap)
Ingredients
2 recipes for sweet pastry dough (February 27th, 2009) unfrozen in the refrigerator 12 hours ahead and additional flour to roll out the pastry
2 small butternut squashes
1 large Fuji apples
½ cup (118g) walnuts broken in pieces
½ cup sugar (118g) plus additional sugar to sprinkle on top of the pastry
2 tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter plus one (50g) melted tablespoon to brush on the topcoat of the pastry
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Material
1 9-inch (30 cm) pie mold
1 large non-stick skillet
Wooden spoon
Potato peeler
Grapefruit spoon
Parchment paper
Rolling pin

Peel and core the apples and pumpkin. Cut them in small 1-inch cube. Place them in a salad bowl and sprinkle the crystallized sugar on top. Toss well to coat evenly. Save the pumpkin seeds to toast them. Place the walnut in a plastic bag and run the rolling pan over the closed bag to break them.
Place the non-stick skillet over the low-range of the gas. Add the butter. When it is melted, add the sugarcoated apple and pumpkin cubes. Cook stirring until the cubes are tender and lightly caramelized. Add the spices. Return the fruit to the salad bowl to cool.
Preheat the oven at 425F (215C)
Butter and flour the mold
Divide out the dough in two portions, one slightly larger than the other one. Roll them out separately on a sheet of parchment paper sprinkled with flour.
Place the larger pastry sheet in the buttered mold. Pour the fruit walnut on top. Add the fruit. Set the second pastry sheet on top, closing the two pastry sheets together by pinching the sides. Create a few slits with a knife and paint the melted butter on top. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 10 minutes and then lower the temperature to 350F (180C) and cook for another 30 minutes.
Serve warm a la mode.

Comfort food: from Potée to Apfelstruedel

With the cold weather, the need for comfort food returns. The oldest one (another Middle Ages staple) is cabbage soup. All the regions of France have a variant of it. It starts with the vegetables – onions, cabbages, carrots, dry beans – which resisted winter well in pre refrigerator times, and continued with salted meats for the same reason. Today the dish is a great way to entertain a crowd with minimal time spent in the kitchen thanks to the slow cooker. My version uses chicken and duck breasts whereas the traditional one is limited to pork in different guises. One can forego pork entirely and substitute fowls instead if so desired. Because of the conservation techniques of the meat, no additional salt is required. In fact the soaking is needed to attenuate the salty taste.
To complete the meal and make use of the abundance of seasonal apples, I made an Austrian apple pie for dessert. I still remember an obscure Eastern Europe movie of 25 years ago, which before Julie/Julia showed to my utter fascination the confection of the pastry. It took the 4 women of the family to pull the sheet of pastry over a clean towel to paper transparency. The towel, gripped firmly by expert hands served to guide safely the pastry over the apple filling. As 4 hands are much better than 2, Apfelstruedel is great couple therapy (or not). By preparing the dough some time ahead and freezing it, it is rendered more pliable to the rolling pin once unfrozen. As I mastered the art of obtaining a very thin pastry sheet, I decided to use the leftover potée to create a savory cabbage struedel. Prepare 1 dough recipe and a half at a time. Another use for my new found expertise is Beef Wellington, which I shall feature in a next issue.
The first two recipes serve 8 generously, the last one 4.
Potée (Cabbage and smoked meat stew)
Easy, Preparation: 15 minutes, Cooking time: 6 hours largely unattended, Reasonable)

Ingredients:
3 garlic sausages
6 oz bacon
1½ lbs (750 g) smoked pork chops
2 smoked chicken breasts
2 smoked duck breasts
1 smoked ham hock
2 onions
3 garlic cloves in their skin
1 cup (237 g) great northern beans
1½ cabbages
6 carrots
6 potatoes
1 bouquet garni
Material:
Saucepan
Strainer
Slow cooker

The day before:
Soak the beans overnight in cold water.
Place all smoked meats in cold water for 12 hours, changing the water twice.
The day of the meal:
Cut the bottom of the cabbages, remove the outer leaves if needed and quarter them. Blanch the quarters in boiling water for 5 minutes with the garlic cloves in their skin.
Strain the meats and discard the water. Cut the smoked bacon in small pieces.
Peel and slice the onions. Stir-fry them in the saucepan. Add the bacon bits and cook for another 5 minutes.
Place the onion slices and bacon in the inset of the slow cooker. Add all the meats and the bouquet garni. Cover with water and cook for three hours on the low setting of the slow cooker. After three hours, add the cabbage quarters, the garlic, the carrots, and the northern beans. Cook for another 2 hours and ½. During the last half hour, add the garlic sausages in the slow cooker. Set the halved potatoes in cold water in a saucepan over the stove. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes.
Serve each guest a mixture of strained vegetables and all the kinds of meat. Propose a variety of mustards on the side. Keep the broth for the next day and serve it hot over slices of bread.

Austrian apple pie (Apfelstruedel)
Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 60 minutes, Cheap

Ingredients:
Dough:
3 cups flour (710g) plus extra flour to dust the clean towel
1 egg
½ stick (60g) butter cut in small pieces
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (237ml) cold water

Filling 1
¾ cups (170g) coarse white bread crumbs
½ cup (113 ml) melted unsalted butter

Filling 2
4 cooking apples peeled, cored and roughly sliced.
1/3 cup (80g) granulated sugar
¾ cup raisins (170g) soaked in orange juice
¾ cup (170g) coarsely crushed nuts
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest


Material:
Food processor
Toaster
Frying pan
Towel
Brush
Parchment paper lined pastry sheet

The day before:
Place all the ingredients of the dough except the water in the food processor fitted with the dough blade. Start mixing and add the water while the machine is running. When the ball is formed, stop the machine. Wrap in a plastic sheet and freeze.
The day of the meal:
Preheat the oven at 375F (190C)
Remove the dough from the freezer and bring to room temperature.
Pour ½ of the melted butter in a pan. Place the pan on the medium range of the gas and cook the breadcrumbs until light brown. Reserve
Mix all the ingredients of the second filling together in a salad bowl.
Roll out the dough as thinly as possible on a clean towel to obtain a rectangle roughly 11 inches by 13. Brush the dough with the melted butter. Place the apple filling in a roll shape along the longest edge of the dough closest to you. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the remainder of the dough. Using the cloth, lift the dough on the side of the filling to roll it over the crumb side. Seal the log on all three sides and roll seam side down onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush the strudel with the last of the melted butter.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
When it has cooled, sprinkle with powdered sugar*, slice and serve at room temperature.
*To spread out evenly the sugar use a strainer and shake the strainer over the surface you want covered.

Cabbage Struedel
Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 45 minutes, Cheap

Ingredients
Dough:
1½ (350g) cups flour plus extra flour to dust the clean towel
1 egg
¼ stick (60g) butter cut in small pieces
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (113g) cold water

Filling
¼ cup (60 ml) melted butter
Leftover cabbage
Leftover garlic sausage

Material
Food processor
Strainer
Clean towel dusted with flour
Rolling pin
Parchment paper lined pastry sheet
Brush

Prepare the dough the day before. Freeze. The following day, unfreeze for at least 8 hours in the refrigerator. Follow the technique described in the previous recipe to roll out the pastry.
Peel and cut the garlic sausage in cubes. Strain the cabbage. Mix the two together. Place in a link on the pastry side closest to you and brush with butter the exposed band of pastry. Using the towel roll the pastry sheet until it meets the other side. Brush the outside of the roll with butter. Place on a pastry sheet lined up with parchment paper and bake at 375 F (190C) in a preheated oven for 40 minutes.
Serve as a light lunch with a green salad.

Fall Vegetables

Fall is coming, with its cortege of amber colors and burnt wood smells. Under the mild climate of the eastern shore the days are often sunny but there is crispness in the air, which signals a change of season. My vegetable garden is still going strong and the green beans, beets, leeks, carrots, cardoons, kales, broccolis, cauliflower, cabbages and Brussels sprouts pile up on my kitchen table. In fact vegetables and salads are at their best in slightly colder weather. I am inspired by this fresh display to eat mainly vegetarian. As I have replanted the herbs inside, I have plenty of aromatics to play with. The following recipes, as often in a working kitchen are variations on themes already visited. Blinis, béchamel and my fondness for Moroccan savors and French cuisine are familiar by now. The vegetables showcased in the recipes are not the only ones, which can benefit from the techniques described: any large leaf plants can be substituted for cardoon or Swiss chard, for example salad or cabbage. A Greek version of the Syrian stuffed cardoon even uses grape leaves albeit marinated. Leaves are not all similar however and a tough plant such as kale needs a longer cooking time to become palatable. Béchamel and cheese will transform most vegetables into a gratin: instead of cauliflower, broccoli, endive, cabbage and even cucumber will do. When marketing, it is more important to select the freshest product than to buy the precise ingredients the recipes call for.
All recipes serve 4, except for the first. Suggested quantities will provide about 30 blinis.

Green blinis
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes, Cheap)
Ingredients:
Bouquet of cardoon leaves
Bouquet of parsley
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
4 cups flour
3 cups milk
3 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup cooking oil

Material
Food processor with the blade attachment on
Blender
Salad bowl
Frying-pan

Wash and dry the cardoon leaves and the parsley. Mince in the food processor. Peel the onion and garlic. Add to the content of the food processor and mince finely. Reserve in a salad bowl.
Place the eggs, milk and flour in the blender and mix well.
Pour into the salad bowl and mix everything.
Pour the oil in the frying pan and place on the medium range of the gas. When the oil is hot, pour 4 times ¼ cup worth of batter. Make sure each mound is kept separate. When the batter bubbles, flip the pancake over. Repeat until you run out of batter
Serve hot with a salad.
Moroccan beets
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 40 minutes, Cheap)
Ingredients:
4 cups beets
1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon mild pepper (from Espelette) powder
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoon orange water
The juice of a lemon

Material:
1 4-quart saucepan
Salad bowl

Remove and discard the leaves of the beets and wash the roots carefully.
Place them in the saucepan. Cover them with water and set the saucepan over low gas. Cook 20 to 30 minutes after the water boils. The beets are cooked when they can be easily pierced with a knife. Keep ½ cup of the cooking liquid. Strain and peel the beets.
Slice the beets. Place them in the salad bowl. Sprinkle them with the cinnamon, cumin, mild pepper and sugar. Pour the ½ cup reserved cooking liquid, the orange water and lemon juice on top and mix well.

Syrian stuffed cardoons
(Easy, Prepartion and cooking time: 1 hour, Cheap)
Ingredients:
16 leaves of Swiss chard
3 lemons
4 tablespoons of olive oil
Stuffing:
1-cup ½ Arborio rice
1 cup chickpeas
2 bouquets parsley
1 bouquet mint
2 onions
½ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Salt and pepper

Material:
1 food processor, blade attachment on
1 saucepan and cover
1 salad bowl
Paper towels
Set of tongues

For the stuffing, clean and strain the rice and place in a salad bowl. Clean and dry all the herbs and mince them in the food processor. Add the peeled onions and mince again. Add the rinsed and drained chickpeas, the oil, salt, pepper and cinnamon. Mix well.
Separate the leaves from the ribs of the cardoons.
Fill the saucepan with water. Bring to a boil and plunge the cardoon leaves in the water one at a time for 3 minutes. Retrieve from the water and drain on paper towels.
Layer the ribs at the bottom of the saucepan.
Roll each leaf around a cylinder of stuffing. Place each stuffed leaf over the ribs, which will prevent the stuffed leaves from sticking to the pot. Repeat until you run out of leaves and stuffing.
Pour water to reach the level of the stuffed leaves. Add the juice of the lemons and 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Cover and cook at low heat for forty minutes.
Serve lukewarm or cold.

Cauliflower gratin
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 40 minutes, Cheap)
Ingredients:
1 cauliflower head
1 cup béchamel
¼ cup grated Gruyere

Material:
4 quart saucepan
Ovenproof dish

Cut the bottom of the cauliflower and remove any leaves.
Place a pan of water over the medium range of the gas and bring to a boil. Blanch the cauliflower for about 5 minutes.
Drain. Cut the cauliflower in florets.
Butter the ovenproof dish and place the florets in it. Pour the béchamel on top. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 30 minutes.
Serve with a green salad.

The not so bitter endive

Endive descends from wild chicory (cichorium intybus) and as all salads, is a medicinal herb. A 100 g will fill 20% of our daily selenium need. Its culture, notably the blanching process is described as early as 1600 in Olivier de Serres’ Agricultural Theater. It is in 1850 in the Brussels Botanical Garden that the first modern endive is produced, forever associating it with Belgium cuisine. It is a versatile plant: it can be used whole, sliced or, one leaf at a time. It can be consumed raw, dressed in oil and vinegar or cooked. In the first stage, it is a mild and crunchy herb. In the second some precaution must be taken to insure that it is not too bitter, UNLESS the cook wants to use the bitterness to her advantage. Our taste being conditioned by the five receptors in our tongue - sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami or savory – it is important to identify where each meal component stands to better build a complex savor. The braised endive recipe could be a perfect companion to a caramelized duck magret or to a Vietnamese slightly sweet fish. In general endive benefits from the slight addition of sugar whether in its pure (cane) form or fruit (fructose). As a result, to remove unpleasant bitterness in the endive and ham gratin recipe, I advise blanching the endive in water to which a tablespoon of sugar is added. The boat shape of its leaves inspires us to use it instead of bread for a calorie-less appetizer. Consider the following list as the beginning of your own repertoire.
All other recipes serve 4

Endive appetizer*
(Easy, Preparation time: 10 minutes, Reasonable)
Ingredients:
4 endives
¼ pound (113 g) smoked salmon
1 lemon
½ cup (118 ml) crème fraîche
¼ pound (113 g) salmon eggs
1 tablespoon chives
Material:
Paring knife and board

Fill the sink with cold water, plunge the endives in the sink.
Remove the endives, cut the bottom tip and separate the leaves. Dry them.
Lay them on to a tray.
Mix the crème with the chives.
Wash and slice finely the lemon. Cut each slice in 8.
Spoon the crème mixture in the center of each leave. Add either a salmon piece or a spoonful of salmon eggs. Top with an eighth of lemon slice.
Serve immediately with a dry white wine.
*Other endive topping suggestions:
A mixture of blue cheese and butter crowned by a quarter slice of apple
Tuna tartare crowned by an eighth of a slice of lemon
A mixture of crabmeat and avocado
Etc…

Endive Salad
(Easy, Preparation time: 15 minutes, Cheap0
Ingredients:
3 endives
2 oranges
The juice of a lemon
10 walnuts cracked
5 tablespoon walnut oil
1 tablespoon chive
Salt and pepper
Material:
Paring knife and board
Grapefruit spoon
Salad bowl

Halve the oranges and, with the grapefruit spoon, remove and place carefully in the salad bowl the orange segments. Add the oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add the cracked walnuts cut in 4 pieces.
Remove the outside leaves of the endives if needed. Wash and dry the endives and slice them thinly. Mix them to the content of the salad bowl. Sprinkle with chives and serve.

Endive and ham gratin
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 50 minutes, cheap)
Ingredients:
4 endives
1 tablespoon of sugar
4 ham slices
1 cup (225 ml) béchamel
½ cup (118 g) parmesan cheese grated
Material:
1 4-quart pan
1 set of tongues
1 strainer
1 ovenproof dish

Preheat the oven at 380F (195C).
Plunge the endives in a sink full of water. Cut a thin slice off the bottom, and keep each endive whole.
Set enough water to cover the endives and the tablespoon of sugar in a pan to boil. When the water boils, blanch the endives for 10 minutes.
Remove with a set of tongues and place in the strainer to drain.
Heat the cup of béchamel. Add the Parmesan cheese to melt.
Roll a slice of ham around each endive and place the 4 rolls in the ovenproof dish. Pour the béchamel on top and cook for 30 to 40 minutes.
Serve hot.

Braised endives
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 70 minutes, Cheap)
Ingredients:
4 endives
1 lemon
2 onions
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Material:
Saucepan and cover
Wash the endives and leave them whole.
Peel and slice the onions.
Oil the saucepan and layer the onion slices first and then the endives.
Cover the saucepan and place on the lower setting of the gas range for 30 minutes.
Add the lemon juice and the sugar and cook for another 30 minutes, turning them every ten minutes.

Veal classics: blanquette

The French have their own national veal dish: the blanquette, literally something white. Like the pot-au-feu and any preparation involving simmering, it probably dates back to the sixteenth century. I was disappointed not to see any reference to it in Alexandre Dumas or in Julia Childs. She writes of Normandy’s veal rib, which shares with blanquette a generous usage of cream but utilizes a fatter and tastier part of the animal than the latter does. When cooking a rib of veal, whether sautéing or baking it, one capitalizes on the natural caramelizing reaction that occurs during cooking. With the blanquette, however, there is no Maillard effect. As the meat is blanched and consequently scrubbed of taste, the cook disposes of the equivalent of a blank page. Her art is to impart flavor to blandness. That’s where the cream, lemon, mushrooms and onions come into play. The other challenge is to turn a lean cut of meat into a tender piece. To achieve this goal, a long simmering time is all that’s required.
My recipe follows the traditional method and serves 4. Variants involve using a béchamel (August 14th), before adding the cream and the yolks, and sautéing the blanched cubes of veal in butter.

Veal Blanquette
(Easy, Preparation time: 30 minutes, Cooking time: 6 hours unattended, A little pricey)

Ingredients:
1 lbs and ½ (800g) veal from the shoulder cut in 1-inch cubes
1 carrot peeled and diced
1 small onion frozen, peeled and diced
1 bouquet garni
1 garlic clove peeled and smashed
20 tiny onions blanched and peeled once cool or fresh in season
½ pound (250g) white mushrooms washed divided into heads sliced and bottom cubed
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups vegetable stock
Juice of ½ lemon
1 cup (250ml) heavy cream
2 yolks
Salt and pepper
Material
1 large saucepan and its cover or a slow cooker
2 salad bowls
1 strainer
1 small saucepan

Place the veal cubes in a saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. After 30 seconds, strain the veal pieces and rinse them under cold water.
Place the meat in the slow cooker. Cover with the stock. Add the carrot and onion cubes, the garlic paste, the bouquet garni and the mushroom bottoms. Simmer on the low range of the slow cooker from 6 to 8 hours. Set the slow cooker on the warm setting. Strain the meat and reserve the broth in a salad bowl. Place the veal pieces back into the slow cooker.
Put the butter in a small saucepan and melt it over the low setting of the gas. Add the peeled onions, a pinch of salt, some ground pepper ½ the sugar and enough water to cover the onions. After six minutes, strain and add the onions to the meat in the slow cooker.
Repeat the same sequence for the mushrooms. Add to the veal and onions.
Put the strained broth in the same saucepan. Over medium gas, bring to a boil and let it reduce until you have a cup (200 ml) left.
In a salad bowl, whip the cream and the lemon.
In another salad bowl whip the yolks.
Add the content of the first bowl to the boiling broth. When the boiling resumes, cook the cream for another three minutes. Remove from the gas. Add the yolks while whipping constantly. Add salt and pepper and taste. Strain the sauce over the meat. Serve immediately, or add to the content of the slow cooker and keep on the warm setting until ready to serve. Garnish with white rice and be generous with the sauce.

Veal classics: osso buco

Veal is a festive dish, which has a long pedigree and benefits from the use of vegetable stock and tomato sauce stored in the freezer. It was customarily served at European aristocratic tables along with fowls as a way to assert status: the commoners would hesitate to sacrifice a young animal and hunting was a sport reserved to the nobles. Because of its youth when slaughtered a calf has very little fat. The sauce has to offset the leanness and becomes the star of the dish.
Italians own veal, although the French who love their Blanquette beg to differ (more about the latter next week). From the scaloppini thinly cut by butchers in the ham machine to the thick shanks filled with opulent marrow, a whole scale of taste is explored. The Freudian slip that the eponymous hero of the Osso buco, (literally empty bone) is, says it all: marrow is what gets eaten first. For me it was love at first taste…at Cipriani in New York, the most Italian of cities outside the Peninsula. Ever since, I have tried to duplicate the melting flavor of the meat enriched by the saffron infused tomato sauce. The savor of the dish is further enhanced by the hot/cold brought by the minced lemony herbed addition, the gremolata, at the very last minute.
As any dish, which benefits from a long simmering time, it is easy to adapt to the slow cooking method.
My recipe takes some liberty with the original. Traditionally it is served with saffron risotto, the creamy sauce of which clashes to my taste with the delicate broth. I prefer to substitute pasta and integrate the saffron thread to the meat preparation. For the sake of lightness, I forgo the dredging of the meat with flour prior to the browning first phase. Gremolata is a blend of garlic, parsley and lemon zest. I personally find fresh uncooked garlic too strong for the dish. Omitting it allows the saffron to join the perfume symphony and enrich the base citrus note.

Osso buco
(Easy, Preparation: 15 minutes, Cooking time: 3 hours largely unattended, A little pricey)

Ingredients
4 veal shanks tied with kitchen twine
Salt and freshly ground pepper
¼ cup olive oil
1 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 cup dry white wine with one pinch Saffron
1 carrot cubed
1 slice celery root or a branch of celery peeled and diced
1 cup frozen tomato sauce defrosted
Gremolata:
1 bunch flat parsley
The zest of a lemon

Material:
Slow cooker or large saucepan and cover
Set of tongues
Wood spoon
Food processor

Pour the olive oil in the aluminum inset of the slow cooker, or the saucepan and place on the low flame of the gas. Sprinkle salt and pepper generously on the shanks before stir-frying the meat. Cook until well browned on both sides for about 5 minutes. Remove the meat from the inset with the tongues and set aside.
Add the onions, garlic, cubes of carrots and celery and cook for five minutes, stirring all the time. Add the saffron wine and bring to a boil. Add the tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Remove from the gas.
Add the reserved meat to the content of the slow cooker inset, place inside the slow cooker and cook for three hours on the high setting.
Just before serving, place all the ingredients of the gremolata in the food processor and mince. Sprinkle on top of the meat and propose a side dish of fresh linguine pasta. Serve with the sauce.

Glass Appetizer

Small glasses, called “verrine” in France, have recently been used to serve “compliments of the chef,” or hors-d’oeuvres. The technique can easily translate to the home. The investment is minimal. You can purchase a few shot glasses and tiny spoons or recycle votive glasses and use them to transform leftovers or store-bought dips into elegant and colorful appetizers with a little imagination and a few fresh ingredients. It is a lovely addition to a buffet, and is a truly clean finger food. Everything can be prepared ahead; the assemblage takes place at the last minute and can be thought of as the final decorative touch.
An added advantage is that glass unlike finger food is breadless and quite often, at least in the examples I favor, vegetarian. Virtually any starters can be turned into an appetizer. Besides the four recipes detailed below, here are a few suggestions:
Cold ratatouille (August 7th). Strain the juices and spoon the vegetables into the glasses. Sprinkle a few chives on top and a few drops of flavored olive oil.
Summer Gazpacho (May 23rd), no spoon needed.
Eggplant caviar (July 31st) Wedge a slice of toasted garlic bread.
Veggie fries. Place a dip (hummus) at the bottom of the glass and plant a bouquet of carrots and celery sliced longitudinally in it.
As the weather turns, hot soup can replace cold suggestions.
Red: Cherry tomato appetizer
Ingredients
2 cups cherry tomatoes washed
10 basil leaves washed and dried
1 cup tapenade (Friday March 20th)
1 buffalo mozzarella cut in cubes

Material:
10 mini glasses

Divide the cherry tomatoes in 10 glasses. Top with a few cubes of mozzarella, a teaspoon of tapenade and a chiffonnade (see lobster salad September 4th) of basil leaves.

Green and red: Guacamole
Ingredients:
3 ripe avocadoes
1 hot pepper
1 coriander bunch
1 shallot peeled
2 limes
1 tomato peeled and seeded
Salt and pepper
Corn chips

Material:
Food processor
Juicer
Plastic container
10 glasses

Halve the avocadoes. Remove the skin and discard. Remove the pits and place in the plastic container. Put the avocado flesh in the food processor.
Juice the limes and pour the limejuice in the food processor. Add the tomato and shallot.
Clean the coriander bunch under running water and dry. Divide roughly the leaves from the stems. Place the leaves in the food processor.
Clean the pepper. Open it and remove as many as the seeds, which contain the hot taste, as you want. Add to the food processor.
Pulse according to your taste. (I like my Guacamole chunky). To store the guacamole until ready to serve, place in a closed plastic container with the avocado pits.
Divide the guacamole in 10 glasses. Place a chip in each glass. Lay a bowl of chips in the middle of the coffee table where you are going to serve drinks and the appetizers

Green: zucchini
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of olive oil
3 zucchini washed and cut in cubes
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Parmesan flakes
Material:
Saucepan or wok
10 glasses

Place the oil in a saucepan over low gas. Add the zucchinis and the spices. Stir-fry for 3 to 5 minutes. When cool enough, divide the zucchinis into 10 glasses. Top each glass with a few Parmesan flakes.

White: Mercedes’ ceviche

Ingredients:
6 medium tomatoes
1 small onion peeled
1 bunch cilantro washed and dried
The juice of 4 limes
1 lbs (500g) uncooked shrimps
5 raw scallops
Salt and pepper to taste
3 to 4 drops of Tabasco
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Material:
Food processor
Saucepan
10 glasses

Cut the tomatoes and onions in quarter. Put them in the food processor with the cilantro and run for two minutes. Reserve.
Blanch the shrimps and the scallops in boiling water for one or two minutes. Let them cool at room temperature.
Mix shrimps, scallops and the reserved sauce together. Add the limejuice, Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.
It will keep in the fridge for a week. Spoon out the ceviche in the shot glasses.

Alsatian classic: choucroute

As a fan of easy entertaining, I am always looking for recipes, which do not require too many pots and pan or last minute preparations but that can still feed a crowd. Old world gastronomic classics offer a wealth of inspiration: their only drawback is that they demand long simmering time. Using a slow cooker, which has become a popular commodity in department stores all over the USA makes simmering easier, as the dish can be programmed and left unattended. Choucroute or braised sauerkraut a popular bistro fare from the north east of France fits the bill with very little adjustment. And Americans have already developed a taste for it: when you eat a hot dog with sauerkraut, you are enjoying a mini choucroute on the go. Choucroute has also star power and its own people anecdote: it came to characterize Brigitte Bardot’s puffy hairstyle. While shooting Le Mépris, Jean-Luc Godard enticed her to let her hair down. To convincer her he did not go down on his knees but instead walked several feet on his hands.
The traditional recipe is described in Alexandre Dumas’ Great Cooking Dictionary first published in 1873. It calls for sauerkraut, the fermented cabbage dear to the German and extolled for its digestive and anti-inflammatory properties, to be first rinsed several times and then cooked in white wine and stock along with preserved (smoked) meats such as bacon, hot dogs and salami. The rinsing will remove any lingering sour taste. My version takes advantage of my frozen resources, the summer vegetable stock featured in my previous post, and uses duck legs and their fatty skin along with smoked sausage and marinated pork. It feeds at least 10 people and only requires half an hour real preparation time. Beer or a white Alsatian wine, which has slightly sweet overtones, is the traditional companion but red Burgundy is acceptable as well. Be sure to serve an array of mustards. Any traditional bistro dessert, floating islands or chocolate cake is a festive ending to the meal especially in the winter. A colder lighter lemon soufflé garnished with seasonal raspberries has my preference in the fall.

Choucroute garnie (Braised Sauerkraut)
(Easy, Preparation time: 30 minutes, dry brining one day ahead, cooking time: 3 hours and 1/2, Cheap)
Ingredients:
4 generously cut pork ribs (5 lbs)
4 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons of canola oil
2 lbs (1kg) smoked sausages (kielbasa or garlic cooked sausage)
8 duck legs
6 lbs (3kg)sauerkraut in plastic bags
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
30 juniper berries
3 large bay leaves
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
11/2 cups(375ml) white wine
2 cups (500ml)defrosted frozen summer vegetable stock
5 large potatoes peeled and cubed

Material:
1 plastic bag
1 frying pan
1 colander
1 blender
2 6-quart slow cookers or 2 large saucepans
1 saucepan
Cutting board and paring knife
1 pair of tongues

The day before, place the pork ribs in a plastic bag with the salt and sugar. Close the plastic bag, shake well and store in the fridge. *
The day of the meal, clean the pork chops and dry them. Place the frying pan over the medium setting of the stove. Fry the pork on each side until browned. Sauté the duck thighs until nicely colored.
Remove the cooked meats and place them and the sausage at the bottom of the slow cooker’s pot. Do not wash the frying pan. Keep about 1 tablespoon of the fat released by the searing of the meats.
Rinse the sauerkraut under running water. Wring the water out of the wet sauerkraut by pressing it against the colander.
Peel the onion and garlic cloves. Mince them in the food processor.
Set the frying pan on the medium setting of the gas. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until soft and lightly colored, stirring continuously. Add the sauerkraut seasoned with the juniper bays, the caraway seeds and the bay leaves, and pour in the wine and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil. Transfer the content of the frying pan to the slow cooker’s pan. Cover and set the slow cooker on the highest setting for three hours and a half.
Thirty minutes prior to serving, set the potatoes in a pan, cover with cold water and cook until easily pierced with a knife, about 20 minutes after the boiling point is reached. In the mean time, fish the meat and sausages with the tongues. Set them on a cutting board, discard the pork bones and slice the pork, the duck legs and the sausages in several smaller morsels. Return the meats to the slow cooker set on the warm setting. Add the drained potatoes.
Serve directly from the slow cooker to keep the content warm for the second serving.
*It is a dry brine and as its wet equivalent tenderizes the meat.
Room temperature lemon soufflé
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time:1 and 1/2 hours, Cheap)
Ingredients:
1 stick butter (113g) at room temperature
1 cup (250 g) sugar
6 large eggs separated at room temperature
4 large lemons juiced, 1 teaspoon grated zest
2/3 cup (160 g) flour sifted
Pinch of salt
1½ cups (375ml) skim milk
1¼ cups(310ml) of heavy cream
2 cups (500g) raspberries
2 sprigs of mint

Material:
10 Martini glasses
1 food processor fitted with the eggbeater attachment
1 salad bowl
Whip
Rubber spatula
1 soufflé dish (8.7 inch or 22 cm) in diameter
1 oven proof dish large enough to contain comfortably the soufflé dish

Preheat the oven at 350 F (180C), with the rack in the lower middle position.
Place the sugar and butter in the bowl of the food processor and beat until homogeneous. Add the yolk one at a time, beating in between. Add lemon zest, juice, flour and salt and beat until well combined. Pour the content of the mixer in the salad bowl. Wash and dry the mixer bowl and whip. Reassemble the food processor.
Add to the content of the salad bowl the cream and milk and whip until homogeneous.
Place the egg whites and the cream of tartar in the bowl of the mixer and beat until they firm and peaks form.
Mix carefully the content of the two bowls using the spatula to lift the whites.
Pour the batter in the soufflé dish. Pour boiling water in the large rectangular dish and carefully settle the soufflé dish in the middle.
Bake for 45 minutes. When done (the soufflé will hardly have risen and the top will be brown) remove the soufflé dish from the other and let cool at room temperature for at least 2 hours.
To serve, cut wedges and place in a Martini glass. Top with strawberries and a chiffonnade (lobster salad in September 4th post) of washed and dried mint leaves.

Saving summer bounty

Among the many somewhat neurotic Greek gods Demeter has always been a favorite of mine. Her devotion to her daughter forced her to tread inconsolably the earth barren by her anguish, while Persephone abducted by Hades sojourned in the Inferno. Eventually the situation resolves when Zeus intervenes and divides Persephone’s year in two: one half to be spent on earth with her mother and the other six months to reign with her terrible husband over the realm of Shadows. As fall approaches, one cannot help but recall the goddess of agriculture and seasons. When the garden (whether yours or the farmer markets) produces its last summer firework, it is cost effective to save the results of its labor to consume in winter. Tomatoes and cherry tomatoes finally fruit abundantly. There is a cornucopia of raspberries, string beans and herbs. The last zucchinis and eggplants show off. To retain a little of the summer warmth and do away with the tasteless greenhouse tomatoes, using the freezer is less time consuming than preserving. It is also more true to the product, as it does not require the addition of preservatives. Laziness becomes a virtue. I simply lay raspberries on a cookie sheet, which I then place in the freezer. A couple of hours later, I bag them and return the labeled bags to the freezer. Herbs and string beans are another good candidates for freezing. With minimal care, frozen summer vegetable stock and tomato sauce line up to enrich my future winter meals.

Summer vegetable stock
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time:30 minutes)
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion frozen for 10 minutes
3 garlic cloves
1 leek
2 carrots
Any vegetable available (zucchini, eggplant)
4 cups (1000ml) water

Material
8-quart saucepan
Peeler
Paring knife and board
Strainer

Peel the onion and slice finely. Peel and crush the
garlic cloves.
Slice off the bottom of the leek. Keep the white part and ¼ of the green tops. Slice finely and wash in cold water to remove all the earth. Save a full clean leave for the bouquet garni of the frozen tomato sauce.
Peel and slice the carrots. Wash the zucchini and eggplant.
Pour the olive oil in the saucepan and set on the low range of the gas. Add the onion and garlic. Stir-fry for about three minutes. Add the sliced leek, carrots, zucchini and eggplant and cook for another 5 minutes. Pour the 4 cups of water and simmer for another 20 minutes.
Strain the stock, keeping the vegetables for a salad and to thicken the frozen tomato sauce.
Pour a cup of stock in as many containers as needed. Wait until it is cold to freeze. Label each container with date and content.

Frozen tomato sauce
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
2 lbs (1 kg) tomatoes or cherry tomatoes*
1 bouquet garni (leek leave, a sprig of thyme, sage and laurel leaves, oregano and parsley and any other herbs available)
1 cup cooked vegetables leftovers from the previous recipe

Material:
1 4-quart pot
1 paring knife
1 blender
Plastic containers of 1-cup capacity

Place the onion in the freezer for about ten minutes.
Wash a leek leave, a thyme branch, a sage and a laurel leave, Roll the leek around the other elements and secure by knotting the leek ends together for a twine-free bouquet garni.
Peel and slice the onions.
Place the flat blade of a knife over a garlic clove, and hit it with the other hand. Peel off the skin. Repeat with the other cloves.
Pour the oil in the pan and set the pan on the low range of the gas. Stir-fry the onions and garlic until slightly colored.
Cut the tomatoes in quarter and remove the seeds. If using cherry tomatoes, remove the stems and leave whole.
Add the tomatoes and the bouquet garni.
Cook for about 20 minutes. Retrieve and discard the bouquet garni.
Place in the blender, add a cup of the summer vegetables from the stock and mix.
Pour a cup into as many plastic containers as needed and bring to room temperature prior to freezing.
Label with the date and a description of the content.
* If the tomatoes are slightly acid, add a tablespoon of sugar

Frozen herbs
(Easy, preparation time: 10 minutes)
Ingredients:
A bouquet of basil
A bouquet of mint
A bouquet of chives
A bouquet of dill

Material:
Scissors
Salad spinner
Paper towels
Blender
Plastic bags
Labels

Wash the bouquets separately, gather the leaves and spin in the salad spinner.
For the mint and basil leaves, the technique is the same: align the leaves on top of each other, roll into a tight cigarette and cut into thin bands. Gather a spoonful worth of herb per package, label, date and freeze.
For the chives: clean and dry the chives and snip off the end. Gather a spoonful worth of herb and proceed as highlighted above.
For the dill, place the cleaned leaves in a blender and pulse. Place a tablespoon of the minced herbs into a bag and continue as above.

Frozen string beans
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time:10 minutes, Cheap)
Ingredients:
String beans

Material
Saucepan
Plastic bags and labels

Snip off both end of the string beans.
Pour water in a saucepan and bring to a high boil. Drop the string beans in the water and wait until the boiling resumes.
Strain and refresh the string beans under cool water.
Bag and freeze.