Liqueur di Marmellata di Pompelmo

I tried making scorched orange halves in sugar over the BBQ and forgot about them, leaving the sugar to caramelize very darkly and mercilessly stick the fruit to the pan. I figured I'd dissolve it by adding vodka, and a day later they'd come free. I let them settle and the taste was great: citrusy, dark, complex, amaro-like.  It tasted like an old fashioned liqueur you'd find in Italy, so I've come to think of it as "nona's liqueur".  I've also made it, the same way, with lemon and had the same tasty results.

This time, I'm trying on the stovetop with grapefruit, measuring the quantities to see if I can reproduce it reliably.

450 g Grapefruit (1 whole), halved, sliced
100 g Sugar
750 ml Vodka, clean tasting (I used Frïs here)

Sprinkle half the Sugar in a cast iron pan.
Lay in the sliced Grapefruit.
Add the remaining Sugar.
Let sit to absorb Sugar and draw out the juice.
Heat high and cook down, and begin to caramelize the syrup.
Continue, turning Grapefruit until it gets as dark as you can stand, it will start smoking.
Take off heat and cool.
Pour on Vodka.
Let sit to dissolve baked-on caramel.
Pour into jar and let mellow until your curiosity persuades you to drink it over an ice cube.

Pomme Anna: elegant and buttery

Potatoes au gratin, scalloped potatoes, and Pommes Anna: all variations on thinly sliced potatoes cooked with plenty of rich dairy. The classic gratin has cream and cheese, the scalloped has cream but no cheese, and the Pommes Anna uses only butter. Since we were serving this with creamed spinach, I went with the cream-less Pommes Anna; they make for a stunning presentation.

Some recipes suggest a cast iron skillet and that seems smart for developing a deep crust, but ours was too big for this quantity. We used a heavy black steel pan, maybe 25cm (10 inch) diameter and it worked beautifully, and the spuds didn't even think of sticking. It needs to be oven safe since you're going to bake it hot (no Teflon: nonsticks can release toxic fumes at very high temperatures).

What the hell are "Yellow" potatoes? In the UK you see bin after bin of named varieties; in the US, they're too generic. I don't think what we used were Yukon Golds, but they weren't Russet or "Baking" potatoes either. You're looking for something not waxy and not fluffy. Next time I'd seek out the named Yukon Golds for some repeatability.

Serves 4 as a side

Pommes Anna, after inverting from the skillet

50 g (3 Tbs)   Butter, unsalted
               Black Pepper
               Salt
Pinch          Nutmeg, grated on microplane
700 g (1.5 Lb) "Yellow" Potatoes, peeled

Melt the butter and add the spices to the skillet, swirl around to coat all surfaces. Pour out into a bowl you can dip into it later.

Slice the potatoes thin, at most 1mm (1/16th inch), a mandolin is helpful here;  without rinsing (it removes the starch), layer the slices, slightly overlapping, into the buttered skillet.

Drizzle on some of the melted, seasoned Butter.

Add another layer, repeat with butter and layers until you've used up all the potatoes; I had about five layers, but 3-4 is probably fine.

Drizzle a bit more butter on top, cover with aluminum foil, add a lid to press down, and weight it down to compress a bit.

Sizzle over heat a few minutes to brown the bottom layer.

Place with foiled, weighted, covered skillet in a 220C (425F) oven for about 20 minutes to cook through.

Remove the pan, remove the weights, lid and foil, and return to oven to finish cooking, dry out and brown, about 30 minutes.

After the uncovered baking, nice and browned, and pulling away from the sides of the skillet. 

Test with fork: it should pierce easily.

Loosen if needed with thin spatula run around the side of the pan; turn out onto a plate to invert, it should look gorgeously browned with an attractive rosette pattern from the layers.

Slice carefully so as not to separate the layers, and serve.

Our layers adhered OK to each other but not as coherently as I'd like; I want something that won't separate as I'm cutting it for service. Maybe next time I'd back out the butter between the layers a bit so the starches will gel a bit more. Possibly cook longer and a bit lower with the foil off. 

Creamed Spinach: good and easy

Most of the creamed spinach recipes tell you to boil the spinach, then laboriously squeeze out the water. Or they use a roux or Béchamel sauce. Or they add creamed cheese. Nonsense: this is too much work and masks the flavors. We don't waste time nor flavor here. The spinach below sounds like a lot but it's not once it's cooked down. Serves 2 as a hearty side.

30 g (2 Tbs) Butter, unsalted
2            Scallions, diced
             Salt
             Black Pepper
1 pinch      Hot Chili flakes, if you're feeling frisky
570 g (20 z) Baby Spinach (an entire bag when we buy it)
120 ml (4 z) Heavy Cream

Saute the Shallots in Butter with the Salt, Pepper, Chili until soft.
Add the Spinach in batches; you don't even need to chop it up since it's baby spinach; cover and cook down, stir, add more Spinach, and continue until you've used all of it.
Pour in the Cream and stir well to mix.
Keep the heat on, uncovered: the Spinach will exude more liquid, and this will mix with the Cream, and you want to evaporate that and thicken everything, capturing the Spinach liquid flavor in the Cream.
Continue heating, stirring whenever you think about it, until the Spinach and Cream have reached the unctuous, moist, rich state you want -- 10-20 minutes depending on how aggressive your fire is.

Reducing the cream with the spinach

It doesn't suck with a nicely seared flank steak.

Gumbo

We've been making variations on this gumbo for years based on a recipe from chef Paul Prudhomme. The stock, proteins and even the okra can be swapped out based on your tastes and what you have on hand. I used to make the roux in a deep pot over fierce heat, but this time, I used a large shallow pan and lower heat, and this made for a more relaxed preparation -- the roux darkened nicely while I was prepping the trinity of vegetables.

 120 ml Oil
 100 g  Flour
 160 g  Celery (4 stalks?), sliced
 160 g  Bell Pepper (1), diced
 170 g  Onion (1), diced
 280 g  Andouille Sausage, sliced
 170 g  Okra, sliced
  15 g  Salt
   3    Bay leaves
   2 g  White Pepper
   3 g  Black Pepper
  20 g  Garlic, minced
  15 ml Tabasco Sauce
1500 ml Stock (about 6 cups)
   4    Boiled Eggs, whole, peeled
  10    Shrimp, shelled

Heat the Oil in a large pan big enough to hold the assembled gumbo, and add the Flour. Whisk periodically and allow it to brown to a deep mahogany color -- the darker the roux is, the more flavor you'll get, so don't be timid.
While the roux is cooking, cut up the trinity of vegetables, Celery, Bell Pepper, and Onion.
In a separate pan, brown the Andouille Sausage, remove to a plate, leaving the fat in the pan;
add the Okra and saute a little in the sausage fat, remove to the sausage plate.
Add the stock to the same pot to deglaze and heat.

Once the roux is dark enough, add the trinity of Celery, Onion, Peppers and cook in the hot roux for a few minutes.
Add the seasonings: Salt, Bay, White and Black Pepper, Garlic, and Tabasco; cook a few minutes more.
Add the Stock and mix well so the roux dissolves.
Add the Sausage and Okra.
Cook for a while until the flavors marry, about 30 minutes.
Add the Boiled Eggs to heat through and color the surface.
Just before serving, add the Shrimp and cook until just done.

Serve over rice, topped with a boiled egg sliced in half to expose the yolk.

Barley Cooked like Paella

The toothsome texture of properly cooked barley is fun and appealing, but preparations are frequently bland. We tried cooking it exactly like paella and it came out great, and we even got a good socarrat crust. If fideuà is a thing, why not a barley "paella"?

The finished barley "paella"

We followed the same recipe we've been using recently to work on developing a proper crust at the bottom, the socarrat. It did take all the stock we'd normally use for Bomba rice, 5 Cups, instead of the 3 Cups you'd use to prepare barley the conventional way.

We sauteed the sofrito ingredients (shallots, peppers, tomato, garlic) in the veal fat, removed and sauteed the ham, removed then sauteed the barley a bit just like we'd do for rice.

First addition of veal stock to sautéed ingredients

We wanted an earthy flavor for the cold weather so went with veal fat instead of oil, a veal stock to cook the barley, with ham, roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts.  We added the veal stock at successive times, each time waiting for it to evaporate and build up the crust a bit. We ended up adding maybe a cup of water to finish off the barley, which took about 45 minutes to cook through sufficiently.

Add toppings: roasted peppers, artichoke hearts

The veal stock made it a bit too rich, a bit "sticky" so next time I'd probably use about 3 Cups veal stock and 2 Cups water. The barley came out with a pleasant and playful chew, almost a bounce. All the grains were distinct, like the rice in a good paella. 

Adding some water to finish cooking until toothsome

Pierogi #2: cake, all purpose flour comparison

After complaining that my previous attempt was too chewy, too tough, someone told me that Eastern European flour is softer (less protein) than our US flour. This time, we made two batches: one with just cake flour, the other with half cake, half all purpose. Both used butter, egg, and sour cream in the dough -- all will make for more tender dough. We stuffed them with mushroom/onion duxelles that we finely chopped in a food processor and cooked down.

We cooked all the pierogi identically but couldn't really tell the difference in dough texture, but I think they were more tender than the all-AP flour we did previously.

Served with sautéed onions and crunchy breadcrumbs

The recipe came from King Arthur Flour, which we use all the time; both our AP and Cake flours were KA. I like their recipe because it uses metric, which makes measuring fast.

241g King Arthur Cake Flour (for other batch, 120g Cake + 120g All-Purpose)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
113g sour cream
57g butter, melted

Combine all ingredients in food processor and pulse until it comes together.
Wrap in cling film and let rest 10 hours or so.

Roll out on a floured counter but don't flour the top or it makes it hard to seal the dough, so I used cling film on top so the rolling pin doesn't stick.

Note my super-clever rolling pin with O-Rings to give me consistent thickness

Cut out circles, and place in little pierogi / ravioli thing (white device in top right of photo), fill, and close to seal; you can fold by hand then crimp with a fork but we had the filler thing, it was cheap. We found the dough contracted a bit after cutting, making the rounds a bit small for the form; the contraction surprised us as the dough had rested a long time.

Simmer in salted water until the dough is tender and cooked; don't boil hard because it may break the soft dough.

Left is cake+AP, right is cake-only

We didn't fry these this time because we wanted to evaluate the dough alone;
next time, we will sauté in butter.
Serve with sautéed onions, and untraditional but tasty fried and seasoned breadcrumbs.

We froze the extras, and a week later, thawed them out and fried in a little butter. They were really quite good this way, much better than the floppy soft texture of the only-boiled. The skin had a slight crust and the dough was tender. This treatment redeemed the pierogi, and we'll definitely do them again this way -- boil then fry.

Pierogi lightly fried in butter, with fried shallots. Much better.

vegan chili

The Best Vegetarian Bean Chili Recipe
J. Kenji López-Alt

A 100% vegan chili recipe that has all of the deep chili flavor, textural contrast, and rib-sticking richness that the best chili should have.

Yield:Makes about 3 quarts, serving 6
Active time: 30 minutes
Total time:2 hours
Ingredients
    •    3 whole SWEET dried chilies like Costeño, New Mexico, or Choricero, stems and seeds removed
    •    2 small HOT dried chilies like Arbol or Cascabel, stems and seeds removed (optional)
    •    3 whole rich FRUITY dried chilies like Ancho, Mulatto, Negro, or Pasilla, stems and seeds removed
    •    1 quart water
    •    2 whole chipotle chilies in adobo sauce with 2 tablespoons sauce from can
    •    2 (14-ounce) cans chickpeas
    •    1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes packed in juice
    •    2 tablespoons vegetable oil
    •    1 large onion, finely diced
    •    3 cloves garlic, grated on a microplane grater
    •    1 1/2 tablespoons cumin
    •    2 teaspoons dried oregano
    •    1 tablespoon soy sauce
    •    1 teaspoon marmite or vegemite
    •    2 (14-ounce) cans dark red kidney beans, drained, liquid reserved separately
    •    2 tablespoons vodka or bourbon
    •    Kosher salt
   
NOTE:  If using presoaked and cooked dried chickpeas and beans, use 4 cups of each, filling the voids in the measure with retained cooking liquid or water.  it’s hard to gauge how much raw beans to use when the required measures are by volume of cooked product.
Directions
    1    Place dried chilies on a microwave-safe plate and microwave on high power in 10 -second increments until pliable and toasted-smelling, about 30 seconds total. Transfer to a 2-quart microwave-safe liquid measuring cup or bowl. Add water and chipotle chilies, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave on high power until gently simmering, about 5 minutes. Remove from microwave and set aside. Transfer chilies and liquid to blender and blend, starting on the lowest possible setting and gradually increasing speed to high (make sure to hold the lid down with a clean kitchen towel or a potholder to prevent it from blowing out). Blend until smooth, about 1 minute.
    2.    Drain chickpeas, reserving liquid from can. Transfer chickpeas to a food processor and pulse until just roughly chopped, about three 1-second pulses. Set aside.
    3.    Roughly squeeze tomatoes trough your fingers into approximate 1/4-inch pieces. Add to chickpea water along with any juices.
    4.    Heat oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onions and cook, stirring frequently, until softened but not browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and dried oregano and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add pureed chilies, soy sauce, and marmite and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add reserved chickpea/tomato water mixture and stir to combine. Add chopped chickpeas and kidney beans. Stir to combine.
    5.    If beans are sticking out of the top, add reserved kidney bean liquid until just barely submerged. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce to a bare simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until thick and rich, about 1 1/2 hours, adding more reserved kidney bean liquid as necessary if chili becomes too thick or sticks to the bottom of the pan.
    6.    When cooked, add vodka or bourbon and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt. For best results, allow chili to cool and refrigerate for at least one night and up to a week. Reheat to serve.
    7.    Serve, garnished with cilantro, scallions, avocado, lime wedges, and warm tortillas as desired.

Pasta Variations: Semolina, Whole Wheat, Mix

I wanted to see how taste and texture changed depending on the wheat so I made three variations: all semolina, all whole wheat, and half of each.  Spoiler: the whole wheat was the least favorite.

For each pasta dough, I used the classic ratio of 1 whole egg to 100 g of the flour: first 100 g semolina, second 100 g whole wheat, last 50 g semolina plus 50 g whole wheat.  Whiz the egg in a food processor, while spinning add the flour, and process until it comes together in a ball.  The semolina came together quickly, and was quite wet.  The half-n-half took some more processing but came together. I had to add a couple teaspoons of water to get the whole wheat batch to come together. Shape each by and into a tight ball, cover with film, and let sit in a fridge for an hour to hydrate thoroughly.

Roll each dough ball into sheets with a  manual Mercato Pasta Machine to thickness #7 (of #9), dust with flour to prevent sticking; I had to add quite a bit of flour to the pure semolina dough to keep it from sticking. Run each sheet through the fettuccine cutter.

Whole wheat, mix, semolina

Boil each in salted water until toothsome, drain, and taste.

 

You can see the color differences; left-to-right: whole wheat, mix, semolina

The semolina pasta was light and delicate, and the egg flavor may have come through a bit.  The semolina/whole wheat was more toothsome. The pure whole wheat was more toothsome but a bit like cardboard in texture; it also reminded us in taste of everything we hate about "health food".  I preferred the combo for its body, but Irene preferred the semolina for it's delicacy. Served naked, it also became painfully obvious which was boiled in properly salted water (the mix, in this case; the others were under-salted).

You can still see the color differences, semolina's the lightest, whole wheat the darkest

We served each in separate nests, topped with a sauce we made from tomatoes, some chili, and baby octopus that had been hiding in our freezer. Not too shabby. Our favorites remained unchanged with the sauce.

Sauced with spicy baby octopus and tomato sauce

Pão de queijo: Brazilian Cheese Bread

These "cheesy poofs" are fun and addictive. The first recipe may not be a traditional technique but it's so much easier than the second that we make them more often.

Easy method in mini muffin tins, fresh from the oven

Easy non-traditional method

This recipe is insanely easy, no boiling the liquid and burning out motors blending in the tapioca starch. The surface doesn't come out quite as crusty as the naked-baked ones below but it's so easy you can do it in 30 minutes, start-to-finish, without using the stovetop. You only need a blender, and a couple mini-muffin tins, and an oven. 

The starch is Cassava or Tapioca flour, both made from the cassava/manioc/yucca plant root, but tapioca's a bit more processed and has little fiber; "sour" cassava flour is the norm, but not vital. Traditionally the cheese is similar to a queso fresco but we find this a bit bland so use something more intensely flavored -- a different cheese or mix in something like parmesan. We sometimes add a bit of powdered chili or pimenton to the batter or as a dusting to finish.

 60 g       1        egg, large
 95 ml    1/3 cup    olive oil
190 ml    2/3 cup    milk
170 g   1 1/2 cups   tapioca flour / manioc starch
 66 g     1/2 cup    cheese, grated (packed by cup)
  5 g       1 tsp    salt

  3 g       1 tsp    pimenton dulce (optional)

Preheat oven to 200C/400F (190C/375F convection).
Grease two 12-cell mini-muffin tins (about 4 cm or 1 1/2 inch diameter holes);
if you don't do this, they will stick mercilessly, even in "nonstick" tins.
Blend all ingredients in a blender.
Pour into muffin tins.
Bake 15-20 minutes until golden to golden brown.

The center should be slightly gummy, not completely dry, similar to a
pop-over or gougere.

About to go into the oven

Gratuitous manioc starburst pattern

Traditional way

Using a Kitchen-Aide stand mixer makes the mixing/kneading process easy.  Since Manioc has no gluten, extended kneading won't cause it to get tough or chewy like bread dough.

Cooling the mixture before adding Eggs prevents them from setting up.
The dough is very wet, almost batter-like; chilling should help in forming the balls, but we ended up dolloping with a disher -- they puffed up into beautiful rounds.

The commercial ones are a bit gooey in the center.  My first ones (350F for 20 minutes) came out crispy on the outside and partly hollow in the center. After chilling, I baked in a convection oven at 350F, but you could use conventional at 375F or 400F.

1 1/2 cup Milk
1/2 cup Butter (1 stick, 8 Tbs, 1/4 pound)
1 1/2 tsp Salt
3 cup Manioc Starch, sour
2 1/4 cup Grated Cheese (mixture of Parmesan, Mozzarella, Mexican farmer)
3 whole Eggs, beaten

Bring Milk, Butter, Salt to boil.
Pour mixture into Kitchen Aide mixer bowl with paddle.
Slowly mix in Manioc Starch, increase speed and mix thoroughly.
Allow to cool.
Mix in Cheese, Eggs; knead until smooth.
Chill to make it easier to form into balls.

Preheat oven to convection 375F convection or or 400F conventional.
Grease or line baking sheets with silpats.

Use a #70 disher or tablespoon to scoop out ball or dollops.
Place balls or drop dollops onto nonstick sheetpan.
Bake about 20 minutes, until golden brown.
Serve hot immediately.

Ottolenghi's Gnudi

We've clarified Ottolenghi's recipe and fixed some things that didn't work. They're a bit of a fuss to make, but not hard.

Sauteed Gnudi with Fried Lemon Zest

250 g Ricotta Cheese
30 g Pine Nuts, toasted
2 Eggs, plus 1 extra Egg white
½ tsp finely grated Nutmeg
¼ tsp Baking Powder
50 g Parmesan, finely grated

50 g fine Semolina

½ tsp Salt
¼ tsp White Pepper

Two dishes with more Semolina for forming

40 g unsalted butter
1½ tbsp olive oil
3 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Zest of 1 whole Lemon, cut into thin match sticks
1 tsp Lemon Juice
½ tsp Aleppo chili flakes

Drain the Ricotta in cheesecloth over night; you should end up with about 180 g of cheese.

Blitz the Pine Nuts until finely ground but don't turn it into nut butter.

Combine Ricotta, Nuts, Eggs, Nutmeg, Baking Powder, Parmesan, 50 g Semolina, Salt and Pepper; mix well and chill at least an hour.

Use a #70 disher to scoop out rough balls (smaller than a golf ball) and drop into bowl with Semolina;

the dough will be quite soft.

Gently shape into balls, trying to keep the Semolina on the outside; place on another Semolina-coated dish.

Chill at least another hour.

Bring Oil to 350F and fry Garlic slices until golden and crisp; drain on paper towel.

Repeat with Lemon Zest strips.

Melt the Butter in the remaining Oil and add the Lemon Juice.

Frying the garlic slices

Fried garlic slices

Fried lemon zest

Bring water to a very gentle simmer.

Boil Gnudi balls until the rise to the surface, then for another 3 minutes more;

they are fragile so be gentle.

Remove with slotted spoon, dab on towel to remove water from spoon, and place balls on serving dish.

Plate, drizzle with Butter/Oil, garnish with Garlic and Lemon, sprinkle with Aleppo flakes.

If you chill the cooked Gnudi, they will have enough structure that you can gently saute; 

this gives an attractive brown and slight crisp crust. Garnish as above.

Gnudi with garlic and lemon, served with our friends' roasted lamb

Whole Roast Chicken: Brined and Blasted

This chicken comes out moist and juicy, is fairly hands off, and we're starting to get good browning on the outside.

Roast chicken can be a challenge, getting the leg meat cooked without drying out the breast. This approach is pretty simple: brine it overnight, roast covered to cook through with steam, then blast on an elevated rack to brown. You can even marinade the chicken from frozen (just remove any giblets from the cavity before cooking). We've used a 3 pound bird and a 4 1/2 pound bird, both came out well. Get a good quality one, preferably organic since it's all about the chicken flavor.

This technique came from Greg Vernick's recipe in Food & Wine February 2019.

You can cook the chicken in the pot on top of veggies like potatoes and cabbage, but they will not be sufficiently cooked when the bird comes out of the pot. You can brown the bird on a rack over a baking sheet, and finish the veggies in the hot pot on the stove, with the rendered juices and anything else you like.

Brine

12 C Water

1/2 C Apple Cider (optional, could substitute orange mojo criollo etc)

1/3 C Kosher Salt

1/4 C Soy Sauce

2 Tbs Light Brown Sugar

5 large Garlic Cloves, halved

1 8x3-inch Kombu (seaweed, for umami), toasted

10 sprigs Thyme

2 sprigs Rosemary

1 leaf Fresh Bay

Boil all ingredients in 6 C of the Water to dissolve the Sugar and Salt. Add remaining 6 C Water to cool it, or add ice cubes to bring total volume to about 13 C. Cool completely.

Chicken

3 pound Chicken, whole, organic

1 Tbs Kosher Salt

2 sprigs Thyme

2 sprigs Rosemary

1 Lemon, halved, plus more for serving

2 Tbs Butter, unsalted, plus more for greasing

Cooking Spray

Remove giblets from Chicken; place in food grade bucket or Dutch Oven, cover with cooled brine; weigh it down with a plate so it stays submerged. Cover and chill 8 hours or overnight

Preheat oven to 275F Convection or 300F without.

Remove Chicken from brine, discard brine.

Season Chicken outside and in with 1 Tbs Salt.

Stuff cavity with Thyme, Rosemary, Lemons, 2 Tbs Butter.

Tie legs together, and tuck wing tips under.

Place Chicken in a Dutch oven breast side up, insert cooking thermometer in thickest part of leg or thigh, and cover with a tight fitting lid; alternately, place in cast iron pan, butter some foil and spritz with Cooking Spray, press foil down around Chicken and form a tight seal to the pan.

Bake in preheated oven until Chicken barely registers 150F, about 1 hour 50 minutes.

Remove Chicken from oven and turn oven up to it's highest temperature, with convection if you've got it. 

Place chicken on ventilated rack breast side up, and put rack over roasting pan, Dutch oven or sheet pan to catch drips; adjust oven shelves to accommodate. 

Once oven is up to temperature, return Chicken on rack to oven and blast it to brown evenly. (You may want to start breast side down, then flip it to finish it breast side up, but be careful not to tear the skin.)

Finishing and Pan Sauce

2 Tbs Butter, unsalted, for finishing

1 ounce Shallot, finely chopped (about 2 Tbs)

1 Tbs Parsley, fresh, flat-leaf, finely chopped

1 Tbs Thyme Leaves, fresh, finely chopped

1 Tbs Lemon Juice, fresh 

3/4 tsp Kosher Salt

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

Remove Chicken from pan, place on grooved cutting board, and let rest 10 minutes; internal temperature should rise to 165F.

Over medium heat, cook Shallot in remaining 2 Tbs Butter until butter begins to brown and Shallot is tender.

Remove from heat, add Parsley, Thyme, Lemon Juice, Pepper, remaining Salt; taste and adjust seasonings.

Carve Chicken and serve with pan sauce and uncooked Lemon slices.

Paella: In Search of Socarrat

Socarrat is the crunchy rice at the bottom of a well-made paella. While we've been happy with our paellas, we've never gotten the socarrat. Here we attempt to create that elusive texture.

Paella with snails, peas and yellow bell peppers; note crust around edges

This technique comes from the 2018 book Catalan Food: Culture and Flavors from the Mediterranean by Daniel Olivella. The main difference from what I normally do is that he adds the stock in three additions, around the edge, and watches for the crusty bits forming there to indicate the development of the socarrat; he also uses a bit more stock. We're doing this indoors rather than our usually BBQ technique so we can concentrate on that crunchy bit. I'm changing the sequencing a little from Daniel's recipe, since I think the saffron gets lost if added too early.

The flavors are up to you: you can use fish stock with shrimps and fin fish, or chicken stock with snails and rabbit, etc. You can top with red peppers or peas.  Just make sure the proteins and vegetables are cooked enough: brown things like chicken or sausage first, top with bell peppers in the middle, and add delicate shrimp near the end so they don't overcook.

This recipe, for a 10-inch diameter paella pan, serves two generously as a main course, or four as an appetizer.

5 C Stock
2 pinches Saffron, crumbled (about 1/4 tsp)

1 ounce Onion
1 ounce Green Pepper, preferably long, sweet and mild (not hot); Bell will work
2 cloves Garlic
1 ounce Tomato, grated
6 Tbs Parsley Leaves, fresh, minced

1 Tbs Kosher Salt

3 Tbs Olive Oil

4 ounces Squid, Chicken, Rabbit, Pork, Sausage or other firm protein which needs cooking
1 C Bomba Rice (this is important, but Arborio risotto rice works in a pinch)
1/2 tsp Pimenton (smoked Paprika)
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
4 ounces Shrimp, Fish, Clams, Mussels, or canned Snails which need minimal cooking
1/4 C Frozen Peas
1/2 Red Bell Pepper, sliced into 8 strips
4 wedges Lemon

Warm the Stock and add the crushed Saffron to flavor it.

In a 10-11 inch diameter Paella Pan, saute the sofregit ingredients: Onion, Pepper, Garlic, Tomato, Parsley and Salt in Olive Oil until soft. Remove and reserve for a moment.

Saute any firm proteins in a bit more Olive Oil until mostly cooked, a couple minutes.

Add the Bomba Rice, and with high heat, stir until rice is shiny with oil. Add Pimenton, Black Pepper and the reserved Sofregit.

Add about 3 C of the Stock with Saffron around the edge of the paella pan, shake the pan to settle the rice as the stock begins to boil. Do not shake or stir later or the rice will become sticky and may prevent the formation of the socarrat.

First addition of stock

Turn heat to medium and simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed; it should take about 10 minutes, and if it takes longer, crank up the heat. The rice should just begin to sizzle a bit "almost as if it is asking you for another drink". This indicates the socarrat is beginning to form. Add 1 C more Stock around the edges again so it seeps from edge to center.

Arrange delicate proteins like Shrimp, Shellfish or Snails around the edge, burying slightly in the rice. Simmer until the liquid is mostly absorbed and the rice starts to sizzle again, about 5 more minutes (adjust heat if needed).

Snails, peas and peppers added

Drizzle the final 1 C Stock around the edge. Scatter the peas and arrange the Pepper strips in spokes on top of the rice. Simmer until rice is just beginning to become tender, about 5 minutes more. Shrimp should be pink, peas warmed through, any clams or mussels should be open. Test the rice: it should be plump and tender but with a slightly firm center.

The edge of the paella pan should now have a dark rim of oily starch, indicating a crispy socarrat has forming below. To test, use a spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan: it shouldn't slide but push against rice crust which is starting to form. When the socarrat has begun, rotate the pan for even browning.

"The rice will talk to you as it cooks; the crackle will get faster as the rice dries out, then it will go silent when the socarrat is finished forming. Your nose will tell you if it's beginning to burn; just add a spoonful of stock to the scorching spot if so."

Serve the paella in its pan at the center of the table with spoons for guests to serve themselves, with lemon wedges.

Chocolate Truffles with Lime and Ginger

These turned out well and aren't too hard to make. I used different chocolates for the ganache center and the coating, but it's not necessary.

Truffles with ginger sugar coating

When forming, a #70 disher is a good size. Don't use frozen fresh ginger for the coating: the moisture that comes out as it thaws will combine with the sugar and turn it into clumps -- use fresh or replace with more powdered ginger. A tiny bit of chili in the coating adds a punch to the ginger

1/2 cup Heavy Cream
2 Tbl     Butter, unsalted
1 tsp Light Corn Syrup
8 oz Chocolate, Valrhona 70%, semi-sweet (chips or chopped)

2 tsp Lime Zest, finely grated (use a Microplane, 2 limes)

6 oz chocolate, chopped, for dipping (TJ + Valrhona Guanaja)
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1       pinch   Cayenne pepper or chili flakes
1 1/2  tsp Ginger, fresh, grated

Mix the cream, butter and corn syrup together in a saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a full boil. Turn off heat.  Add 8 ounces of the chopped chocolate, and gently swirl the pan.  Do not stir. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes, add the lime zest and whisk slowly to combine.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and refrigerate for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. In the meantime, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  After 45 minutes, the mixture will start to thicken quickly, keep refrigerated another 11 to 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

Using a disher, mini ice cream scoop or two spoons, form the mixture into 1-inch balls and place on the prepared sheets.  Chill until firm, about 10-15 minutes. 

While the balls are chilling, melt the remaining 6 ounces of chocolate [in a double boiler]. After it is completely melted, allow to cool slightly before continuing.

Whiz the gingers, chili and sugar in a spice grinder until sugar is powdered. Remove the balls from the refrigerator. Using a toothpick or fork, dip the each ball into the melted chocolate. Roll it around, allow the excess to drip back into the bowl.  Place the truffle in the sugar. With another fork, cover the truffle with sugar.  Lift it out and place on the lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining truffles.

Place back in the refrigerator for 5-8 minutes to set. May be stored up to one week in an airtight container.

Kabocha squash gnocchi

We got an orange Kabocha squash at the farmers market, roasted it, then turned it into gnocchi served with pesto. It came out rather well.

Sauced with pesto and served

The Kabocha's like a small pumpkin which comes in deep green and orange varieties; ours was orange, which they say is the sweetest, akin to sweet potatoes. We cut it into wedges (with a heavy cleaver), seasoned with EVOO, grated ginger, a touch of cayenne and a little salt, and roasted until it was tender. It would have been a fine side dish -- just like that -- but we decided to push our luck and make gnocchi.

Now, the best gnocchi I ever made was after a night of carousing: when I came home, more than a little tipsy and famished, I riced a microwaved potato, added an egg and just the right amount of flour to make the lightest, most silky gnocchi we've had at home -- sadly, I've never been able to repeat that level of excellence.  We've also made gnocchi with squash, but most varieties are so wet you have to add a lot of flour to get them to cohere and they turn out leaden. What could go wrong this time? Happily, it worked well.

The proportions here were dictated by how much squash pulp I had after running it through the food mill; I added flour at a 1/3rd ratio, then added more until it barely held together. This amount made 4 dinner portions.

450 g      Roasted Kabocha squash (roast first, mill, measure)
1          Egg, beaten
150-200 g  Flour, start at the low end, add until it holds

Run the roasted Kabocha through a food mill. The skin is thin, so don't bother peeling, the mill will shred it finely enough.
Add the Egg and combine well.
Add the lower amount of the Flour in stages so you don't make it too stiff and it combines well.
If it's still very soft, add more Flour but keep it as loose as you can.

Take about a quarter of it, roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a snake about 1cm diameter.

Roll out a snake using just enough flour so it doesn't stick; note the butter pat on the left

Realize that pasta will expand quite a bit as it cooks; our thicker snakes resulted in gnocchi that were a bit larger than I'd have liked.
Cut into about 2cm segments.
Roll each with the tines of a fork to create groves; we have an ancient wooden grooved butter pat that acts like an actual gnocchi board.

Rolled and shaped with the grooved butter pat

Cook in salted water until the inside is no longer floury; most recipes say "until they float" but if your gnocchi are large like ours were, the insides may not be done yet. We needed about 5-6 minutes.

First batch (2 servings) boiling, second batch waiting

Toss in heated sauce. The classic is browned butter and sage, but we used a pesto made from arugula we grew.

Toss gently with warmed sauce, serve

1000 Layer Duck Fat Potatoes

Irene found this and suggested I'd like it because it seemed even more fussy than Hasselback Potatoes or even Francis Mallmann's Potato Dominoes. The recipe in Food and Wine magazine didn't match the photos accurately, but their video helped.

Fine crackly outer shell, creamy insides

We chose Yukon Gold potatoes for their creaminess, rather than the dry floury russet or waxy red varieties. We had a bunch of beautiful clear duck fat we rendered when making duck confit sous vide; it was already well-seasoned from the confit and smelled great, so we didn't add salt later. We probably could have used less fat if we'd cut our slices thicker, since there would be less surface area. We didn't have an 8x8-inch pan, so we used a bread loaf pan that's a bit larger then 8x4-inch, and dropped the potato amount to fit.

1360 g   3 pounds  Yukon Gold Potatoes
 120 ml  1/2 C     Duck Fat, slightly warmed so it's liquid
         1 Tbs     Salt (if your fat isn't pre-seasoned)
                   Oil for frying

Line the pan with a parchment sling so you can remove the potatoes, and extend the paper over the sides enough to cover the top.
Peel the potatoes.
Slice thinly on a mandolin: the recipe's desired 1/8th inch was too thick for their photos, but we probably cut ours too thin -- we really could read a newspaper through them when coated in duck fat.

Slice thin: ours were too thin, 1mm is probably about right

Mix thoroughly with the Duck Fat, coating both sides.

Coat all surfaces in liquid duck fat

Layer the sliced Potatoes into the pan on the parchment; this was tedious with our super thin slices.
Top with any remaining, now-starchy duck fat.

Layering was tedious with such thin slices

Wrap the extended parchment over the top, cover with foil and press it onto the surface.

Bake at 150C/300F for 2-3 hours, until a wooden skewer pierces them easily (remove the foil to test).

Remove foil and add a same-sized pan, press down and add weights to compress the potatoes.

Refrigerate overnight compressed like this.

Weight the top to compress the layers

Remove top parchment, turn out, remove remaining parchment.
Cut into 3cm or 1-inch towers: I used a 4x8 grid since that's the approximate dimension of our pan.

Put pieces on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover with cling film and freeze overnight.

Potato towers waiting for the freezer

Maybe not 1000 layers, but it's a lot!

Deep fry the still-frozen towers in 190C/375F oil about 5 minutes until deep golden to brown and crunchy outside; don't crowd the oil or the temperature will drop too much -- 10 seems about right; try to prevent the towers from sticking together, but don't break them apart.
Place on paper or paper towel, sprinkle with coarse salt.
Serve immediately.

Served with brined, roasted chicken, end-of-season cauliflower

The crunchy exterior was delightful, the interior very creamy from the Yukon Golds.

Next time: slice the potatoes a bit thicker, 1mm sounds right; this will allow us to use less duck fat, and speed assembly, but hopefully give a more textured outer crunch. Decrease the oil temperature a bit so they don't darken quite so quickly.