Friday, January 30, 2009

Silver Gin Fizz

Recipe: Silver Fizz
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Published: October 31, 2007

Adapted from David Wondrich

Time: 5 minutes Fizzes, particularly the Silver Fizz, with the added nutritional boost of an egg white, often served as breakfast for the 19th-century drinking man.

1/2 tablespoon superfine sugar

1/2 ounce lemon juice

2 ounces gin, preferably Plymouth

1 egg white

2 ounces seltzer.

Dump two or three handfuls of cracked or shaved ice into a cocktail shaker and add everything but the seltzer. Shake energetically for a minute or more, then strain into a 6- to 8-ounce highball glass. Add seltzer and stir gently.

Yield: One drink.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Renaissance winter Greens tart

Information

  • Course: hot appetizer, main course
  • Total time: under 2 hours
  • Skill level: Moderate
  • Cost: Inexpensive
  • Yield: Serves 4 as a main course or 6 as appetizers

Notes

This tart draws on the recipes from early English cookbooks in which dried fruits often adorned savory dishes. To this day, sweet raisins and currants are often mixed with bitter spinach or greens in dishes from many European cultures, including French Provence and Scandinavia.

Ingredients

  • 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
  • 1 large bunch fresh spinach (about 10 ounces, weighed with stems)
  • 1 large bunch kale (about 10 ounces)
  • 1 cup whole-milk cottage cheese
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 tablespoons whole milk
  • 3 tablespoons dried currants
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Place the rack in lowest position in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Roll out the puff pastry and place it in a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.

Roll a rolling pin over the tart pan to trim the puff pastry. Place parchment paper over the pastry in the bottom of the tart pan and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Partially bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the pie weights and parchment and bake for 5 to 10 minutes more until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and cool on wire rack while you prepare the filling. Maintain the oven temperature at 400°F.

Remove the stems from the spinach, place the leaves in a sink filled with water and allow the dirt to fall to the bottom. Carefully remove from the water and repeat. Drain in a colander.

Remove the tough spines and thick stems of the kale. Wash in the same manner as the spinach and drain. Steam the kale until wilted, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove to the colander to drain again.

Steam the spinach until wilted, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove to the colander to drain again.

Press on the spinach and kale to remove most of the moisture. Coarsely chop the spinach and kale and place in a large mixing bowl.

In a food processor, combine the cottage cheese, eggs, and milk. Puree until you have a smooth custard with barely noticeable pips of cottage cheese.

Pour the custard over the greens.

Stir in the currants, salt, nutmeg, and pepper. Pour the filling into the prepared pie shell. Pat and smooth the filling until compact, smooth, and flat across the top. Bake until the filling is set, about 25 minutes.

Cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Shopping List Mohawk

Mon: Pasta
Tues: Siam Square
Wed: Warm Hearty Quinoa Salad
Thurs: Pesto Vegetable Shephard's Pie (Marianade next recipe!)
Fri: One-Pan Sage-and-Onion Chicken and Sausage
Sat: Butternut Squash Soup with Gruyere Pesto


MEAT
2 cans tuna
12oz tofu
8oz bacon
4lb chicken
12 sausages (Engish Butcher, Italian sausage)

PRODUCE
2lbs baking potatoes
4 medium zucchini
1 red bell pepper
corn kernels
3 lemons
frozen peas
6 scallions
1 bunch parsley
1 red onion
1 large onion
2 medium butternut squash
2 medium leeks


SPICES
1/2 cup + 2tblsp pine nuts
1/4 cup basil leaves
1 tblsp dried sage

OTHER
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup + 1tbslp parmesan cheese
1/4 cup gruyere cheese
butter
store-bought pesto (basil leaves?)
1 cup quinoa
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup white wine

Butternut Squash Soup with Gruyere Pesto


Information

  • Course: hot appetizer
  • Total time: under 4 hours
  • Skill level: Easy
  • Cost: Inexpensive
  • Yield: Serves 4 to 6

Notes

The generic recipe for winter squash soup or puree typically begins by calling for a scary amount of the squash "peeled, seeded, and cubed," and then steamed or boiled. Have you ever tried to peel, let alone cut, even one of these hard winter squashes? There may be no easier way to cut yourself in the kitchen. And why bother boiling or steaming a vegetable, which makes it watery, when you can roast it and concentrate the flavor?

My favorite way to cook winter squash is to cut it in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds (or not they're even easier to scoop out and discard after the squash is cooked), and bake it, cut side down, on a sheet pan in the oven. Now caramelized, it is delicious straight up. But puree it and add other ingredients and it can go anywhere.

My Gruyère pesto isn't really a classic pesto. I added some Gruyère to the standard recipe, left out the oil, and did not puree the mixture. But whatever you call it, my "pesto" adds a nice crunch and a fresh final touch.

This is a satisfying soup that freezes well. You can concoct alternative versions of it by flavoring it with fresh ginger and lime or garnishing it with sautéed apple, crispy bacon, and Cheddar or with crumbled blue cheese and toasted walnuts.

Ingredients

  • 2 medium butternut squash
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 medium leeks, white parts only, thinly sliced
  • 1 quart chicken stock, preferably homemade, plus more as needed for thinning
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • ¼ cup coarsely grated Gruyere cheese
  • 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts, coarsely chopped
  • ¼ cup packed fresh basil leaves, shredded
  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

To prepare the soup, preheat the oven to 375°F. Halve the squash lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, and arrange cut side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake until very tender, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool to room temperature. When cool enough to handle, scrape out the pulp. You should have about 6 cups.

Heat the butter in a large soup pot or kettle over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the squash and 1 quart of the chicken stock, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-high and simmer, stirring often, until the leeks are tender, about 10 minutes. Working in batches, puree the soup in a food processor or blender until smooth. Thin with additional stock as needed to reach the desired consistency. Return to the soup pot and season with salt and pepper.

To prepare the pesto, combine the Gruyère, pine nuts, basil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Serve the soup in warmed bowls. Garnish with a spoonful of the pesto just before serving.

Pesto Vegetable Shepard’s Pie


Information

  • Course: main course
  • Total time: under 1 hour
  • Skill level: Easy
  • Cost: Inexpensive
  • Yield: 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

Notes

Mashed potato–topped shepherd's pie is usually made from ground meat, but it's the topping that gets my attention. Who doesn't love mashed potatoes, especially when slathered over pesto-coated sautéed vegetables?

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds baking potatoes, such as Burbank or russet
  • 4 medium zucchini, well scrubbed
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • ½ cup sour cream, at room temperature
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups fresh or thawed frozen corn kernels
  • 3 tablespoons store-bought pesto
  • 1 cup (4 ounces) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

PREP: Peel potatoes and cut into 1-inch chunks. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise, then into half-moons. Cut out and discard seeds and ribs from red pepper; cut into ½-inch dice.

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Place potatoes in large saucepan and add enough lightly salted water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and return to pot. Add sour cream and mash with potato masher or handheld electric mixer. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

2. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons butter in very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add zucchini and red pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 12 minutes. Stir in corn and pesto. Season with salt and pepper. Spread vegetables in baking dish. Spread with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with cheese. Cut remaining 1 tablespoon butter into small cubes and sprinkle over potatoes.

3. Bake until topping is tinged with brown and cheese melts, about 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Variation

Add 2 finely chopped garlic cloves to the skillet with the zucchini and red pepper.

One-Pan Sage-and-Onion Chicken and Sausage

Information

  • Course: main course
  • Total time: half-day
  • Skill level: Easy
  • Cost: Moderate
  • Yield: Serves 6

Notes

I took it into my head one day that I wanted to marinate and cook some chicken with the flavors of a traditional sage-and-onion stuffing. So onion, mustard, sage and lemon infuse the cut-up bird, and sausages are cooked alongside the pieces in one big pan. I started off with English butcher's sausages but this works just as well with Italian sausages (no bread, so good for carb-avoiders) and also, though taking on a different character, with spicy Spanish chorizo.

As you can imagine, it is hardly any work, and if you haven't got time to give a proper night's marinating in the fridge, then leave everything, bar the sausages, to steep in the roasting pan for a couple of hours or so at room temperature. And even if you leave the sausages in, it won't matter.

Ingredients

  • 1 large onion or 2 small onions
  • ½ cup olive oil (not extra virgin)
  • 2 teaspoons English mustard
  • 1 tablespoon dried sage
  • ground pepper
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 4lb chicken, cut into 10 pieces
  • 12 sausages
  • 2 tablespoons chopped sage leaves

Directions

Peel and cut the onion into eighths, and put into a freezer bag with the oil, mustard, dried sage, a good grinding of pepper, the lemon juice, the squeezed-out rinds cut into eighths, and the Worcestershire sauce. Squidge everything around to mix (the mustard needs help to combine) and then add the chicken pieces. Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight, or for up to two days.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Allow the chicken to come to room temperature in its marinade.

Arrange the chicken pieces in a roasting pan, skin-side up, with the marinade, including all the bits and pieces, and tuck the sausages around them. Sprinkle the fresh sage leaves over the chicken and sausages and then put the pan into the oven to cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the sausages over halfway through to color them evenly.

Arrange the chicken and sausages on a large platter.


Cornbread-Topped Chilli Con Carne

Information

  • Course: main course
  • Total time: under 4 hours
  • Skill level: Moderate
  • Cost: Moderate
  • Yield: Serves up to 20

Notes

There are few more welcome sights than a big vat of chilli. The cornbread topping is a glorious golden touch, that everyone can crumble into the spiced meat as they eat, for ballast and crunchy contrast.

It makes your life easier and the chilli better if you make the meat up in advance, adding the topping and baking the lot just before you serve it.

Ingredients

  • 4 onions
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • ¼ cup/4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons dried or crushed chillies, or to taste
  • 2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 5 cardamom pods, bruised
  • 2 red bell peppers
  • 3lbs 4oz ground beef
  • 7 cups canned chopped tomatoes ½ cup/8 tablespoons tomato ketchup
  • ½ cup/8 tablespoons tomato purée
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
  • 3½ cups red kidney beans
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • 4 cups cornmeal
  • ¼ cup/4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 6 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 3 cups buttermilk
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons honey flour
  • ¼ cup/4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 cups Cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
  • 4 ripe avocados
  • 4 scallions
  • juice of 2 limes
  • ¼ cup chopped cilantro
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • paprika to dust over
  • 3¾ cups Cheddar cheese, grated

Directions

Peel and finely chop the onions; you might want to use the processor here, and if so, add the peeled garlic or mince it by hand. Heat the oil in a very large pan – it has to take every-thing later – and fry the onion and garlic until they begin to soften. Add the chilli, coriander, cumin and crushed cardamom pods and stir well.

Deseed and finely dice the red peppers, and tip into the spicy onion. Break up the ground beef into the pan and, using a fork, keep turning it to separate it as the meat browns. It's hard to brown quite so much meat, so just do the best you can.

Add the chopped tomatoes, kidney beans, ketchup, purée and water, stirring to make a rich red sauce. When the chilli starts to boil, sprinkle over the cocoa and stir it in. Simmer partially covered for 1½ hours. At this point you can cool and freeze the chilli, or just keep it in the fridge – or a cool place – overnight.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Tip the chilli into a large, wide dish or keep in the pan that is ovenproof.

Combine the salt, cornmeal, flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a bowl. Whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, honey and oil in a glass measuring cup, and then stir into the dry ingredients, mixing to make a vivid yellow batter.

Pour the cornmeal topping over the chilli con carne, or blob it over to cover the top as evenly as possible. Don't worry if some of the chilli seeps through as this won't matter one tiny bit.

Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the cornbread and then bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the cornbread topping is risen and golden and the chilli underneath is bubbling. How long this precisely takes depends on how cold or hot the chilli was when it went into the oven. Since it's such a huge vat, you may find it simpler to reheat it on the stove in its pan, before it gets its topping, to start with.

Let the chilli stand for about 5 minutes once out of the oven before cutting the top into squares or slices to serve with a helping of chilli underneath.

And alongside this chilli, as with the vegetarian chilli overleaf, you should dollop out an un-chillied guacamole, some cool sour cream and a mounded pile of strong grated Cheddar. So, mash the ripe avocados with the finely chopped scallions and add the lime juice and some salt to taste. Stir in most of the chopped cilantro and turn into two bowls, sprinkling each with the remaining cilantro.

Divide the sour cream into another two bowls, and dust with a little paprika and, into yet another pair of bowls, grate the Cheddar so that people can take clumps and add the tangy cheese to their plates of guacamole and sour-cream splodged chilli.


Monday, January 19, 2009

Shopping List Beautiful

Tues: Yats Red Beans and Rice p69
Wed: Chicken Grand-mere Francine
Thu: White Bean and Escarole Soup
Fri: Broiled Fish w/Herb Butter
Sat: Pasta

MEAT
One 3lb chicken
2oz slab bacon (short thin strips)
4 6oz fish fillets (flounder, sole, trout, tilapia)
6oz pancetta (big pieces)

PRODUCE
12 cipollini onions
4 shallots
2 heads garlic
Thyme
4 small Yukon Gold potatoes
2 celery roots
1 lg bell pepper
1 onion
oregano
1 bunch parsley
basil
chives
rosemary
sage
1 head escarole

MISC
1lb dried red kidney beans
8oz canned diced tomatoes
6oz tomato paste
1lb sausage (opt. - for red beans and rice)
2 cups dried white beans
3 qts chicken broth

Friday, January 16, 2009

Re: Salmon en croûte with tarragon butter and wilted spinach

Flaky pastry      pastry
no chef         Serves 6-8

Preparation time over 2 hours

Cooking time no cooking required
    
Add to recipe binder
    

Ingredients
225g/8oz plain flour
pinch of salt
80g/3oz lard
80g/3oz butter

Method
1. Mix the flour with the salt and rub in half of the lard. Add enough cold water to bring the flour to a soft dough.
2. Mix together the rest of the lard and the butter.
3. Roll out the dough to make a rectangle 12.5 x 25cm/5 x 10in.
4. Dot one third of the butter/lard mixture over two-thirds of the rectangle. Fold the third without any fat on it over the middle third of the pastry. Bring the other third on top. Seal the edges with a rolling pin and turn the dough 90 degrees. Chill for 10 minutes.
5. Repeat stage 4 with half of the rest of the fat and then repeat one more time with the remaining fat. Chill for 10 minutes after each folding.
6. Roll and fold one more time without any fat and then chill for 30 minutes.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Shopping List Babar

Tuesday: Pasta
Wednesday: Butternut Risotto
Thursday: Kabouchi Squash Soup
Friday: Chicken Tikka (p 44, sunrise)
Saturday: Meal

PRODUCE
2 ounces quartered Brussels sprouts
2 white onions
1 red onion
celery
thyme
1 sage leaf
ginger
3 lemons

SPICES
2 cloves
coriander

MISC
Butter
Balsamic vineger
Veggie/canola oil
2 Tablespoon shelled and halved pecans 
7 ounces aborio rice 
1 pint hot chicken stock 
1 qt chicken stock
1/4 cup plain yogurt

MEAT
3 ounces diced pancetta 
1lb boneless skinless chicken breast

CHEESE
2 ounces mascarpone cheese