Baccalà alla Vicentina

Irene found the site of a "brotherhood" dedicated to one dish, based on dried cod. I love bacalao/baccalà so this was like catnip to me. Dried (or salted) cod is re-hydrated, dusted with flour and parmesan, cooked in milk with oil, onions, and anchovies for quite a long time. It looks rich, and is served with polenta.

There's a recipe ("an edible mummy?") and helpful video; this alternate edit of the video provides more detail. The chef is using whole sides of dried fish, dusting the insides which he first bashes to tenderize on a log.  We can easily find smaller portions of "salt cod" rather than the air dried "stockfish", and both are frequently used in this dish. We'll use a more simple technique of layering, taken from another recipe, since our fish portions and dinner size is smaller. 

For two:

150 g      Onion (1 medium), chopped medium

120 ml     Olive Oil, enough to cover Onions generously

  4 clove  Garlic, sliced

 22 g      Sardines/Anchovies, chopped fine, desalinated if dried

350 g      Baccalà, desalinated boneless filets (skinless)

dusting    Flour

 20 g      Parmesan Cheese, fine grate

sprig      Parsley, fine chop

           Salt

           Pepper

450 ml     Whole Milk, hot (probably a bit much)

glug       Olive Oil

Cook the Onions, Garlic, Sardines/Anchovies until the onions are softened but not browned.

While that's cooking, you can preheat the oven (120C/250F) and prep the fish.

Dust the Bacalà with the Parmesan, Flour, Parsley, Salt, and Pepper.

Layer into the baking dish that has the cooked Onions.

Cover with Milk, and add a glug of Olive Oil on top.

Cover and cook very low, 120C/250F for 3 hours, without stirring;

the fish will probably break apart but we don't want a mush.

Serve with polenta, we like ours firm-set then grilled to brown a bit.

Cacio e Pepe with a stick blender

I like Cacio e Pepe because of it's minimalism: pecorino cheese and black pepper. But it can be difficult to make, requiring careful temperature control to prevent it from seizing. This technique uses a stick blender to begin the emulsion, which I believe stabilizes the cheese and makes it easier to turn into a simple sauce. It's quick and easy to make; check the YouTube video to see the paste-like texture you're aiming form.

Cacio e Pepe served with cooked radicchio 

The following proportions were generous for two as a main course, served with a tasty salad. The pepper is quite assertive, but it's supposed to be. 

225 g     8 oz    Spaghetti, uncooked

100 g   3.5 oz    Pecorino Romano cheese, grated very fine

  5 g     1 Tbs?  Black Pepper, coarse grind

 90 ml  3/8 C     Cold Water (approx, adjust as you go)

Cook the Spaghetti in just enough boiling salted water to cover it (we want to use the starch which will be in the water to help emulsify the sauce).

In the 10 minutes or so it takes to cook, prepare the sauce.

Blend the Cheese and Pepper in a tall vessel with a stick blender, adding about half the water, then gradually more until you get a paste-like consistency; avoid letting it get to the thinness of a batter.

Transfer the cooked Spaghetti to a warm bowl, it's fine if there's water clinging to the pasta.

Add the sauce paste and stir well, it's probably too thick to become a sauce.

Add a little hot starchy cooking water to the bowl and stir vigorously to coat the pasta; add more water if it seems too thick. 

Serve with a bit more grated Pecorino as a garnish.

Next time...

I like to minimize prep bowls: if I blended in a bowl, I could reuse it to combine the sauce and spaghetti; this might require a larger batch to have enough substance for the stick blender.

Make a double (or larger) batch of the paste and freeze portions in tubs or ice cube trays; thaw, then add to cooked pasta with hot water to serve.

The blended pepper made the sauce a little gray: try blending the cheese with the cold water, then stirring in the ground pepper into the paste.

Passion Fruit Crémeux

The flavor of Passion Fruit (Maracuya) is intense, and this makes for a zingy dessert. 

The pulp is easy to find in the frozen section of Latin markets. The first we tried was too firm to eat in this presentation. The second (originally mango) is more intense but still a bit firm so we’re cutting back on the Gelatin from 14g to 7g. This makes enough for 4 desserts, topped with the mascarpone.

7 g 1 envelope Knox Gelatin
270 g 9-10 fl oz Passion Fruit Pulp
100 g 2 whole Eggs
90 g 1/2 C Sugar
30 g 2 Tbs Butter

Bloom gelatin in a little of the cool melted Passion Fruit Pulp juice

Heat Passion Fruit Pulp to 190F/90C

Beat 2 eggs with Sugar, add to pan, heat whisking to 190F/90C until thickened

Remove from heat, cool to 180F/82C, add bloomed Gelatin, whisk or stick blend

Add frozen Butter chunks, stir to melt

Mix with stick blender

Pour into mold (Sundae dishes, martini glass, etc), tap to release air bubbles

Chill to set

Irene thinks we should drop the gelatin even more. Maybe what she really wants is a maracuya mousse. Chris thinks it'd be fancy to have a layered dessert with both, especially if it can be unmoulded.

Ravioli Filled with Runny Egg Yolk

This is a decadent dish, and we're delighted the yolk remained runny and unctuous. The goal is to cook the pasta enough without hard-boiling the egg. We topped them with brown butter and sage. This was an experiment: for dinner, probably 3 per person is enough.

We made a pasta without egg whites on the theory that the whites expand when cooking, making the cooked pasta loose and sloppy in appearance. Perhaps, we're not sure, but these were fairly shapely; we need some more experimentation, but we'd make this again. 

This pasta was different than our normal AP + Semolina dough, using 00 and some Rye flour. This was an experiment in dough for another project, so we used only a little of the finished dough for these. (You can make an Angel Food Cake with the Egg Whites you produce). 

180 g Italian 00 Flour (we have this for pizza)

 20 g Rye Flour

  5   Egg Yolks

      Water

      Ricotta Cheese

  3   Egg Yolks

      Butter

      Sage Leaves

In a food processor, whisk the Flours together; while spinning, drop the Yolks in one at a time; we're trying to barely get the dough to come together.

Ours did not, so we drizzled in Water until a ball formed, then we processed some more to knead it.

Wrap in cling film or a ziptop bag and let hydrate an hour or overnight.

Roll out the dough in a Pasta machine; most of this dough was for Tagliatelle, so we went down to #7.

We only need a little for these two (plus one) ravioli, so we cut off about 9-inches, then rolled out to the thinnest setting, #9 on our machine; this gave us about a 12-inch length of 6-inch wide dough.

Cut out circles big enough to hold the Ricotta containing a Yolk;

we cut two smaller ones, and two larger ones to cover with a dome.

Lay out a "doughnut" or nest of Ricotta on the smaller disk, and set the Yolk in the center.

Top with the larger disk of dough, and press down to seal the edges and tighten the dough against the filling. 

Left is filled, right needs the top layer of pasta

I took the scraps and rolled out another sheet, filled likewise, and simply folded it over for a half-moon; it cooked up well too.

The scrap-pasta was fine, not tough, and easy to fill and form

In a small pot, brown some Butter, and add Sage leaves.

Cook the ravioli in salted water for about three minutes: you want the pasta barely done, but do not want the yolks to cook.

Plate and top with brown butter sauce.

Next time, add some seasoning to the Ricotta: at least salt and pepper. Parmesan and Black Pepper would be good. Some finely diced ham or cooked bacon would be a riff on bacon and eggs. If you don't have fresh Sage for the sauce, capers would be tasty.

Brisket: dry rub, sous vide 3 days

We dry rubbed an uncured brisket, then cooked it sous vide for 3 days: it had a great texture, pink interior, and rich taste. The long time turned the tough meat into ribeye steak-like tenderness, while the low temperature kept the meat pink and avoided drying it out. We'll definitely do this again: it was easy to make -- the hardest part was measuring out the dry rub, and that's pretty flexible!

Brisket with jus, served with asparagus and scalloped potatoes

  24 g                Worchester Sauce Powder

   1 g                Chili Japon pod (2 chilis), deseeded

  40 g                Black Pepper

  20 g                Corriander Seed

  10 g                Smoked Paprika

  15 g                Salt

1600 g   3.5 pound    Brisket, flat cut, uncured

  30 g     2 Tbs      Butter, cold, cut into cubes

Grind the coarse spices and combine with the powders.

Lay a large sheet of cling film on the counter and place the Brisket on it.

Spread the dry rub generously over top, bottom, and edges of the meat; I had some dry rub left over.

Wrap tightly in the cling film.

Slide it into a sous vide bag, evacuate and seal; you can leave it like this in the fridge or cook it right away.

Cook in a 57C/135F sous vide bath for 3 days.

Remove brisket from bag, discard cling film.

Drain off the jus from the bag and strain it into a pot.

Put the brisket back in the bag and keep it warm by carefully setting it back in the bath; don't let water get in.

Reduce the jus over high heat; when reduced by about half, whisk in the butter, one cube at a time; you're trying to create an emulsion but it won't be stable.

Slice the brisket thinly across the grain and serve on warmed plates; top with enriched jus.

This was enough for 4 dinners for two. Put the rest of the brisket in the bag, let cool, then put in the fridge. The next day, it will be firm enough to cut into neat slices. It retains its attractive pink color.

Biscuits: flaky

This recipe from King Arthur Flour uses cold butter for a flaky texture; this is what enticed me: "Using cold butter and working it into the flour until the mixture is unevenly crumbly, on the other hand, will result in higher-rising biscuits that are 'layered' and flaky". There are lots of other good technique tips and suggestions in that article.

Starting to flake inside, easy to split with a fork

360 g   3 C    All-Purpose Flour
        1 tsp  Salt
        1 Tbs  Baking Powder

 85 g   6 Tbs  Butter, cold
230 g   1 C    Milk, cold (more as needed)

Preheat oven to 425F or 400F convection.

Line a baking sheet with parchment.

Whisk together the dry ingredients.

Cut in the Butter with a fork, pastry cutter, or food processor to get an uneven crumbly mixture like breadcrumbs.

Drizzle in the Milk and mix gently and quickly until it becomes cohesive; if it's too dry, add more Milk, but don't knead it or it will become tough.

Turn it out onto a floured counter.

Roll it into a rectangle 2cm / 3/4-inch thick;

fold in thirds like an envelope and repeat the roll.

Cut into 12 squares or rectangles; cutting circles will require re-rolling which will toughen the biscuits.

Place on parchment-lined sheet pan, brush with butter or milk, and bake 15-20 minutes until light brown.

Didn't rise as much as I expected

2021-02-07 Used food processor, didn't get breadcrumb texture, perhaps it's too aggressive. Didn't rise much. Took > 20 minutes with 400F convection. Interior was very slightly gummy. Doh! I used 1 tsp instead of 1 Tbs Baking Powder, 1/3 what I needed! Next time use the correct amount of (fresh) Baking Powder; consider cutting in butter by hand.

Attempt #2 with proper amount of baking powder

2021-02-14 This time I used 3 Tbs baking powder, but they still didn't rise enough, certainly not like the King Arthur photos; Irene said she could taste the levener. What am I doing wrong? The baking powder expired almost a year ago, but it was a can I just opened today, and it's worked for Irene's baking.  This time I also did an extra fold and roll to even the edges; was it overworked? I didn't add the Sugar the original recipe requested, but I don't believe the chemical reaction needs it. Again, I didn't brush with Milk or Butter. And this time too I used the food processor and did not get the "breadcrumb" texture. 

 

Next time: make the dough by hand, cutting in the butter with a pastry cutter. Add the Sugar. Brush with Milk or Butter. Use 425F non-convection.