Chicken Sous Vide with Miso, Mushrooms, Aubergine Sail (a la Restaurant Jules Verne)

We're trying to recreate Irene's favorite dish from Restaurant Jules Verne in the Eiffel Tower, but without doing a lot of research or going to too much trouble: just improvise, we can tweak later. It was a little fussy but not difficult; the Aubergine Sail was the most finicky part. I think we'll make it again with some improvements described below. 

Chicken, mushrooms, miso, aubergine sail; with roast potatoes

The restaurant dish was called "La Volaille Fermière: Pochée au Miso, Champignons, Aubergine et Jus gras": free-range chicken poached in miso, mushrooms, aubergine, and "jus gras". Jus gras is a traditional fat-enriched, stock-based sauce, reduced to intensify and emulsify; it had a few tiny mushrooms in the pooled sauce, hidden under the "aubergine caviar" sail.  The dark sauce was miso-based, rich, and quite salty. The chicken was cut with dramatic angles, and set down on the intersection of the two sauces. In the photo, the chicken seems to be coated with the jus gras, glossy.

Restaurant Jules Verne is more refined; dark miso sauce, tan jus gras; the sail hides the mushrooms

I made up the chicken and sauces from what we had on hand, plus seasonal mushrooms from La Boqueria. Irene did a lot of research for the sail in our Modernist Cuisine books. The marinading is overnight; the sous vide cooking, making the sauces, and final prep is about 2 hours. Quantities below aren't critical. 

Serves two.

230  g    Chicken Breast, boneless, skinless, almost frozen

100  g    Miso paste, white

100 ml    Chicken Stock, frozen

 75  g    Cooked Aubergine Puree (see below)

  1       Egg White, beaten

          Salt

100  g    Rossinyol Mushrooms (girolle, chanterelle), cleaned

100  g    Butter

200 ml    Chicken Stock

The day before

Cut the Chicken into 4 pieces while still a little frozen in order to get distinct edges;  add to a sous vide bag.

Add Miso Paste and frozen Chicken Stock to the bag.

Vacuum and seal. 

Freezing the Chicken preserves the shape (but see below), while freezing the Stock prevents it from being sucked into the machine.

Let marinade in the fridge overnight, massaging once or twice to ensure the Miso and Stock are well distributed. This ruined the well-defined shape of the Chicken, but it's just visual.

The day of the meal...

Sous Vide the Chicken at 60C/140F for 1.5 hours.

At this temperature, the Chicken is gently firm and not at all stringy, a texture that's unusual with traditional techniques; higher temperatures will create a more stringy, conventionally-textured chicken.

While it's cooking, prepare the Aubergine sail and Mushroom sauce.

The Aubergine (eggplant) we got was a striped reddish variety, probably Rosa Bianca, not the usual deep purple Globe/American or Italian Eggplant. When cut, the inside was pure white, not yellowish and spongy like the deep purple ones we usually get.

Cut the Aubergine in half and pressure cook with steam 5 minutes.

Puree with stick blender: with skin on because this variety can't really be peeled.

This variety blended very smooth, despite the skin and seeds it didn't need to be sieved.

The result was very wet.

Combine 75 g of the puree with the beaten Egg White.

Add a bit of Salt.

Use an offset spatula to spread as thinly as possible on a Silpat nonstick baking sheet.

Microwave 5 times at full power for 1 minute to try and dry out.

This didn't work terribly well, so Irene placed it in the sun, and later finished baking in a hot oven (200C) until it started to crisp up and become toasty color.

This was a very delicate crisp.

While that's cooking,  clean the Mushrooms. 

We used Rossinyols because they're in season here, and had an attractive color; Irene chose small ones from the market.

Sauté slowly in Butter to soften.

Add the Chicken Stock, warm through so the Butter is released from the Mushrooms into the Stock, then remove the Mushrooms for later so they don't overcook.

Reduce the sauce, whisking occasionally to emulsify the Butter in the Stock; it should thicken a bit and turn a little sticky, but not as dense as a glaze.

Hold on very low heat for service.

Just before serving...

Add the Mushrooms to the reduced Stock sauce to warm through.

Remove the Chicken from the sous vide bag, and squeeze out the Miso/Stock juices and paste into a bowl.

Wipe off any paste from the Chicken into the bowl, and return the Chicken to the bag and place in the sous vide bath to keep warm for service.

Press the Miso sauce through a small sieve into a pan to get a smooth sauce; heat and reduce a little to thicken. 

Plating...

Spoon out the Miso sauce onto two plates.

Add the Chicken pieces.

We had a lot more mushrooms than the restaurant, so we couldn't put the chicken on top; just spoon it out next to the Chicken.

Top with a piece broken off the Aubergine sail.

The result

The Chicken was an excellent texture, firm and moist, not at all stringy. But it lost its well-defined edges so wasn't as dramatic as hoped. The Miso sauce was intense, salty, and felt rich; the amount was about right. The Stock/Butter Sauce barely coated the amount of Mushrooms we had, so it doesn't really qualify as a sauce, but it tasted good -- ours was more about the mushrooms. We didn't sauce the Chicken with the Butter/Stock sauce like the restaurant, so the Chicken looked a little naked.

The Aubergine Sail wouldn't dry and crisp in some areas, soft and a bit gummy in others. It required much too much effort to dry and crisp.

Everything on the plate was the same color palate, it needed some color

Next time

Don't cut the breast into 4 pieces, only 2; it may not be necessary to cut almost frozen to get clean edges.

The vacuum of the sous vide bag deformed the edges of the chicken. If we want to preserve the sharp edges, seal the Chicken with Stock and Miso in a bag without vacuuming; sous vide as normal, but ensure the chicken is submerged for good heat transfer. Or just poach in a lot more Chicken Stock conventionally, at the same temperature, until cooked. Or cook the entire breast sous vide, then carefully slice at a dramatic angle. Or don't worry about the shape and just use the sous vide!

The speckled aubergine we used didn't have a lot of flavor; use a conventional fat purple one.

Use red miso instead of white, for color contrast. Will this color the chicken? No problem if we nap it with the jus gras sauce.

To better approximate the restaurant, use just a few mushrooms and use more sauce so we can coat the chicken. We enjoyed the mushrooms, so maybe just make more Stock/Butter sauce, coat the chicken and serve the Mushrooms next to it.

For the Sail, don't beat the Egg White. Use a drier Aubergine, like the usual dark purple variety. Make individual schmears so we don't have to break a monolithic sheet.

Serve with something a contrasting color instead of the same-color roasted potatoes.

Variations

The Stock/Butter sauce approximated the restaurant's "jus gras". The Modernist Cuisine books synthesizes a "cream" sauce from stock (71%) and chicken fat (29%), emulsified and reduced. This sounds like a fun thing to try and should be ridiculously flavorful.

We could make the same but with a firm fish (sous vide at a lower temperature and time), with miso and fish stock, enoki mushrooms, and a toasted sushi nori sheets.

Turbot with Creamy Leek Sauce a la Restaurant Le Jules Verne

My favorite dish at Restaurant Le Jules Verne (in the Eiffel Tower, Paris) was a Turbot with creamy leek sauce that was a bit fluffy: it was completely smooth and my photo hints it might have used an iSi whipper to get the light texture. It tasted distinctly of leeks and was topped by a couple charred stems of what looked like baby leeks which exuded a beckoning allium aroma. 

Merluza with Leek Sauce, charred Garlic shoots; served with Mashed Potatoes

I'm trying to reverse-enginerr this and expect it will take a few tries. This turned out pretty well, a tasty dish, good enough to serve to friends, but not an accurate recreation. It's worth trying again with some minor tweaks, but -- happily -- the sauce texture was rather good without resorting to an iSi and hydrocolloids; to pursue nerdiness for finesse and fluff, see below the recipe for leads.

Jules Verne had more green, finesse; and no side dish

I'm starting with proportions from Martha Stewart (who discards half of her batch and uses chicken stock), Charlotte Puckette (whose recipe is straight forward, adding parsley perhaps for color), and Food.com (which adds Lemon Juice instead of wine). 

David Lebovitz says to cook the leeks long and slow in butter with a bit of oil to prevent the butter from browning, and the comments say that letting them brown brings out bitter tastes. The Guardian (and others) says not to waste the green part as it has more flavor but should be cooked longer; it also suggests slicing the dark green parts thinly and then frying until crispy which seems like a good garnish.

For 2 portions:

250 g   1 giant  Leek, white to light green, cut in thin rings

 30 g       2 T  Butter

 15 ml      1 T  Olive Oil

 pinch           Salt

 60 ml    1/4 C  Dry White Wine

120 ml    1/2 C  Heavy Cream

  ?              Lime Juice (half of one lime, not all used)

  2 whole        Garlic Shoots [these have a Catalan name]

340 g            Turbot steaks (I used Merluza because I had it)

                 Olive Oil

Trim Leek root and ragged ends.

Slice from white part to green to quarter but leave bulb end intact; wash any sand, then slice thinly crosswise.

Sautée Leeks in Butter and Oil on low heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until quite soft, about 20 minutes. 

Add Wine, increase heat, and reduce until evaporated.

Add Cream and simmer 5 minutes.

Transfer to blender and whiz until it won't get any smoother.

I had to add another 90 ml Wine because it was too thick to blend well.

The result was fairly fluffy -- not as airy as Jules Verne's, but good enough for serving.

Strain through a medium sieve: I had 350 g before, 290 g after sieving.

Trim the Garlic Shoots, slice carefully lengthwise, and cook on a heavy pan to brown. Use a filim of oil since we're trying to char and crisp, not sautée. Cover and weigh down; I used a chunk of granite kitchen counter top sample. Cook on medium, carefully turning to brown both sides. Try and brown the stems too.

The restaurant menu said "cuit au naturel", which we believe translates as steam or poach. My interpretation is they don't want to give the fish any color or flavor from browning you'd get from a sautée.

This didn't occur to me, this time, so I filmed a pan with Olive Oil, and cooked the Merluza (Hake) fairly slowly, covered, to avoid browning. Season with Salt and flip when about half done. Flip once more and check the fish to see if it flakes readily.

While the fish cooks, heat the Leek Sauce; if it sags, fluff with a whisk.

To serve, put a layer of sauce on the plate, add the fish, and top with more sauce.

Garnish with the browed Garlic Shoots.

Served with golden mashed potatoes, too similar in color.

Tasting

This is good, but not leek-y enough. And not green enough. Not what I was aiming for -- a faithful rendition of a Michelin-starred restaurant dish --  but I'd be happy to serve this to friends, even fancy foodie friends. I'd like more leek-taste and Irene wanted less butter.

The Merluza/Hake had a good texture, large firm flakes when cooked gently to 57C/135F or a bit above.

Next time...

Use one 150g Leek, not a 250g behemouth. 

Use dark green leek bits to get more flavor and the deeper color that Jules Verne had. 

Blanch and shock the green parts first so they don't turn grey when cooking.

Less butter: there was plenty for the 250g leek, so cut the butter at least in half.

Since I had to add Wine to thin it enough to blend, why add the Wine to the pan and reduce it away? Instead, add to blender, then cook off after blended and strained, so we can get the saucy texture we want.

Use Turbot, since that's what Jules Verne used. Or not: the Merluza/Hake was good for this -- firm with large flakes.

Cook the fish sous vide from frozen ("naturale" on the menu suggests steamed or poached).

Fry some green leek rings, or rings from the garlic shoots.

When charring the garlic shoots, use a minuscule film of oil: we want the char.

There was no color contrast when served with mashed potatoes. There wasn't much contrast between the Merluza and the Leek Sauce either. Try and get a more intensely green sauce. Serve a side dish of a very different color: arroz negro, sepia ink pasta,...,  something more dramatic. Or use Salmon for the fish: we don't have to use Turbot or anything similar.

To get a really fluffy/airy texture, try the iSi Whipper with Agar Agar fluid gel. It'll be a lot more work but it's "'playing with your food". 

iSi Whipper for Fluffy "Espuma"

TL;DR: after reading the below, I'd try the following:

After the first medium sieve,  I'd run it through a fine sieve to prevent clogging the iSi. Then add back to the pan, add 0.6-1.0% by weight of Agar, bring to simmer for 5 minutes, then chill until gelled. Whiz to make a fluid gel, heat to serving temperature, 65C/150F, then put in the iSi. Charge with an N2O cylinder and hold at serving temperature in a water bath.

Below are links to techniques and materials:

How can I use an iSi whipper to make a hot foamy sauce, an "espuma"? In my research for Bacalao Espuma, I found Xanthan and Agar Agar didn't gel well, and ended up using potato for the starch.

Cuisine Technology points out "milk holds bubbles better while hot, and cream does better when it’s cold", and "starches is that they work in either hot or cold" but we want to avoid it getting too thick. Also "Lecithin works (and dissolves) in both hot and cold water", and that Agar, once set, will stabilize up to 185F/85C so fine for a hot foam, but the procedure is a bit complicated in that you have to make a "fluid gel".

Amazing Food Made Easy talks about fluid gel foams, amongst others. 

There are pointers to lots of inventive preparations on Molecular Recipes. This one for an clam chowder espuma doesn't use anything to bolster the cream before going into an iSi whipper -- like I used in this first attempt for leek cream sauce. 

Goose Egg Cheese Soufflé

A friend has goose eggs in the spring, and a single one makes enough soufflé for two people. Plagiarized from Serious Eats which uses 4 hen yolks and 5 whites; the goose eggs have a much higher proportion of yolk to white than hen eggs, but this still cooked up tall and proud, and was very tasty. Our goose egg was 160g, about 3x the weight of a hen's egg, and this filled two individual ramekins plus a little one, so we use 2+1. 

In the photos for this prep, I chopped grape tomatoes and cooked them in the bechamel butter to intensify their flavor before adding the Flour; their sweetness worked well with the Manchego cheese.

Soufflés just out of the oven

               Hard cheese (Parmigiano, Grana Padano), finely grated

 15 g   1 Tbs  Butter, softened to grease the ramekins

 45 g   3 Tbs  Unsalted Butter

 30 g   1 oz   Flour

235 ml  1 C    Whole Milk

               Kosher Salt

               Pepper

  1 pinch      Dry spicy chili like Arbol or Cayenne flakes

  1 whole      Goose Egg (160 g), cold

  2    1/2 t   Cream of tartar (optional; see note) 

 85 g    3 oz  Semi-firm cheese like Cheddar, Gruyère, Manchego

Grease the 3 ramekins with soft butter, then dust with finely grated hard cheese.

Hold chilled in fridge.

Melt butter then add Flour and cook to a paste, then drizzle in milk to make a bechamel.

Stir and cook until it bubbles then cook a few minutes more to thicken.

Scoop into large mixing bowl to cool a while.

Separate Goose Egg into white and yolk.

Whip the Whites with the Cream of Tartar  in a very clean bowl with clean beaters until you have firm glossy peaks, takes a few minutes (I use a cheap 1970s electric hand beater).

Add the Yolk to the cooled Bechamel and combine with the beaters -- it's OK if white gets in yolk, but not the other way around.

Goose egg on tomato bechamel, that's actually a large spoon

Add 1/4 of the whites and stir well to loosen the mixture.

Add in the grated semi-firm cheese and stir to combine.

Add the remaining whipped Whites and gently fold to combine minimally.

Manchego, whipped whites, tomato bechamel with yolk, parmesan-dusted ramekins

Pour into chilled cheesy ramekins.

I did need the extra small ramekin (front)

Bake 30 minutes at 400F until browned on top.

Serve immediately, they fall quickly.

2021-05-26 Spinach

We replaced the cheese with 200 g cooked and well-drained, finely-chopped Spinach; it worked well.

2021-09-12 Free range chicken eggs

A friend is growing chickens in her backyard, beautiful birds producing delicious eggs. We used 2 eggs, each 60 g, and cut the rest of the ingredients by 2/3.  We baked them in two large ramekins instead of two plus a third small. This worked really well.

Julia Child's Pastry Dough: Pate Brisée

Irene's adaptation from Julia Child´s "The Way to Cook", using the food processor, converted to metric. Makes 2 9-inch crusts (our Pyrex pie dish says 23 cm). Julia uses 1 tsp Salt and 2 Tbs Sugar for sweet pies but Irene uses salt only so extra dough can be frozen and used for savory pies later.

210 g   1 1/2 C    All Purpose Flour
 70 g     1/2 C    Cake Flour
  6 g       1 tsp  Kosher Salt
170 g       6 oz   Butter, chilled, cut into chunks
 56 g       2 oz   Lard or more Butter
120 ml    1/2 C    Ice Water

Whiz Flours, Salt, Fats in food processor.
While running, drizzle in Water.
Form into ball on counter, dusting with flour if needed.
Wrap in cling film and chill for 2 hours.

Jurassic Chicken with Mushrooms and Cream

This is a hearty cool weather dish from Jura France, with an intriguing fragrance from the mushrooms -- and if you can afford it, the nutty vin jaune. We typically use a tough old bird because it has more flavor than a young hen. Based on Art of Eating #72, November 2006.

Garnished with chicken skin cracklings, served over dumplings

I couldn't justify the cost of wines from Jura to cook with -- it's pricey in the States but not too bad in France; a friend once brought to drink: it's an unusual earthy wine with a distinct "rancio" aroma reminiscent of rancid walnuts.  I substituted for the requested Jura sous-voile and vin jaune wines with an unoaked, slightly buttery Chardonnay, and added a bit of sherry at the end to give the suggestion of nuttiness. Morel mushrooms are traditional, but porcini work too; don't use shitake as their flavor is too distinct. Even these dried mushrooms are about $20 for 100 grams, so here we use a mix of dried porcini and fresh cremini mushrooms.

The crisp skin condiment is my own twist on this as I don't enjoy soggy skin.  Although it's not traditional, we have served this with Spätzle which worked very well.

42 gram Dried Morel or Porcini Mushrooms
500 gram   Cremini mushrooms, fresh, sliced
1 whole Chicken (we've used an old 5# gallina)
Salt
Pepper
1-2 Tbs Flour, just enough to dust
2 ounce Butter
1 cup White Wine (e.g., unoaked, slightly buttery Chardonnay)
2 cup Chicken Stock (or mushroom hydration water)
1/4 cup Vin Jaune Wine (I used the same Chardonnay)
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 splash Lemon Juice
3 Tbs Sherry
Parsley, finely diced for condiment

Re-hydrate the Dried Mushrooms in cool water for 30 minutes.
Cut up the chicken into 8 pieces: drumsticks, thighs, breasts, wings;  remove and reserve skin.
Season with Salt, Pepper, and dust lightly with Flour.
Saute Chicken pieces in Butter in a wide pan so they lie in one layer, cooking until the flour is cooked; do not brown.

Slowly saute lightly floured pieces until barely cooked

Add 1 C Wine and Chicken Stock, cover and cook slowly so the chicken doesn't color, turning as needed.
The breasts should be done in about 15 minutes or less, remove; the others parts should take another 15 minutes or so, remove.
An giant old Gallina will take a lot longer, perhaps an hour.
Skim excessive fat if you have any.
Reduce until it's nearly a glaze.

Meanwhile...

Crisp the reserved skin from the Chicken by placing flat in a non-stick skillet, top with a pot lid or other object to keep it flat, and cook on low, turning over occasionally. It should eventually come out like crispy thin-cut bacon. Cut into shards.

Chicken skin cracklings are sooooo good

Remove the Chicken Meat from the bones and shred into bite-sized pieces.

Saute the Cremini mushrooms in some Chicken fat from above.
Slice the rehydrated Mushrooms, cutting out any woody stems, and add them to the saute.

Add 1/4 C vin jaune or other Wine, Cream, Mushrooms, and reduced Chicken liquid.
Cook and reduce until it just coats a spoon.
If you need to add moisture, strain some Mushroom liquid.

Reducing the cream with the mushrooms

Add the chicken meat and heat through.
Just before serving add the Sherry and mix through.
Add a splash of Lemon Juice if it taste a bit flat, just a touch.
Taste and adjust seasoning.

Serve with dumplings or over Spätzle, garnish with Parsley and Chicken Skin cracklings.

Dumplings cook covered on top of the finished dish

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. 

Chou Farci: stuffed cabbage

This was enjoyably meticulous to make and turned out really well. It would be a fine component of an Alsace meal. The recipe came from Art of Eating magazine number 88 in 2011. It serves 4 generously, and can be cut in half as we've done in the photos below.

Served with L’Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien, Swiss country beer

I think it could use a higher cabbage-to-meat ratio, as it's pretty rich; we've sometimes added a little chili and lemon zest to brighten it up a bit. Don't bake in a high-sided dish or it will take forever to cook.

700     g       Pork Shoulder (1/4 fat to 3/4 lean), very cold
12      g       Salt
                Black Pepper
        hint    Nutmeg
1       clove   Garlic, finely chopped

Grind together the Pork, Salt, Black Pepper, Nutmeg, Garlic. Chill. If you're lazy, you can use prepared sausage, without the skin.

2               Onions, finely chopped (about 250g)
                Lard or fresh-tasting Olive Oil
1       head    Savoy Cabbage (about 1Kg)
2       large   Eggs, very cold
125     gr      White Breadcrumbs
large   handful Chopped Parsley
                Salt
                Pepper
6       slices  Pork Belly or Bacon
500     ml      Chicken Stock
1-2             Ripe Tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chipped

Sweat onions in a little fat until translucent but uncolored.

Discard tough outer leaves of cabbage; remove and discard central core.
Remove 12-15 outer leaves, carefully keeping them intact.

Carefully separate the leaves

Place each face down and carefully cut away the protruding portion of the rib to make it flush with the rest of the leaf.
Blanch in salted water until tender, 4-5 minutes; plunge into cold water and drain well.
Slice remaining cabbage into narrow strips; blanch, cool, drain.

 

Combine onions, sausage meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, parsley in large bowl.
Season with salt and pepper. Knead well until mixed.

Of the 15 leaves, reserve the 4 smallest.
Lay the rest flat with concave side up.
Take half the stuffing and divide it among the large leaves, placing on each, according to its size, an approximately plum-sized piece. Pat out stuffing until it reaches within about an inch of the edges of the leaves.

Pork mixture added to leaves before spreading
Squeeze the water from the blanched cabbage strips and mix with the other half of the stuffing. Grease the bottom of an approximately foot-wide baking dish and place the smallest remaining leaf in the center, concave side up. On it place the stuffing-cabbage mixture and shape into a grapefruit-sized ball. Re-create the shape and appearance of the cabbage by first covering the ball with the remaining 4 small plain leaves, making sure the ribs rise from the bottom.

Add the stuffed leaves, one by one, starting with the smallest, distributing them evenly all around the ball's surface, stuffing-side in, and pressing firmly into place.

Place bacon or pork belly slices onto cabbage, radiating from the center down the sides like spokes of a wheel.
Pour Chicken Stock around cabbage to a depth of about 1/2 inch (1 cm)

Everything's better with Irene's bacon

Bake stuffed cabbage in a 325F (165C) oven until center reaches about 165F (73C), about 45-60 minutes. If the liquid evaporates below 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) add more stock (or water) to pan. Baste the cabbage once or twice toward the end of cooking.

Just out of the oven

Transfer the cooked cabbage to a warm serving dish. Pour the jus from the cooking vessel into saucepan, deglazing with a little water if necessary. Add tomato and boil briefly until reduced to thin but not watery sauce. Taste and season with salt, strain.

At the table, cut the cabbage into pie-shaped slices and spoon sauce over them. 

Radiccio and Prepared Chorizo variation

One evening, we threw together a variation of this with what we had in the house, a big head of red Radiccio, and four pieces of Mexican Chorizo; instead of stock, we used a can of industrial lager someone left in our fridge. And you know, it came out really well!  The weights of the ingredients were cut about in half. 

So if you're in a rush, give it a go!

Salmon en Papillote

Salmon with Lime en Papillote (aka: Salmon in Paper Bag) is something I've made since the early 80's, from a recipe in Cuisine Magazine.  I made this last night for Valentines Day as a reprise of the first fancy meal I cooked for Irene when we met, about 25 years ago. For these photos, we used Red Snapper because it was fresh at the fish market, and it worked beautifully; we garnished it with salmon roe which is attractive and has a great popping texture.

The combination of rich butter/cream and lime on perfectly cooked moist fish is an indulgence. This is a needlessly fussy recipe but can be made fairly quickly. I need to rewrite it to simplify, but this'll do for now. 

Red Snapper with lime/cream/butter sauce, served with mashed potatoes

Serves 4.

1 1/4 # salmon fillet (about 1 inch thick), skinned, in one piece
5 T unsalted butter
2 t unsalted butter
1 small lime
1 small piece ginger, pared
1/4 c shallot, minced
1/2 c port, preferably white
1/2 c heavy cream
1/2 t lime juice, fresh (reserved from lime above)
  cooking parchment paper (paper bags work just fine)
  salt
  black pepper, freshly ground
  cayenne pepper

FISH

Cut parchment so that fish will lay on it, then parchment will be
sufficient to fold over and enclose fish with about 1-2 inches extra
all around to make a seal.
Brush with melted butter.

Remove zest from lime in long, thin strips, leaving pith behind.
Cut into julienne strips.
Blanch in small heavy saucepan of boiling water for 3 minutes.
Drain; refresh under cold running water, and drain again.
Reserve, covered, in a small bowl.
Remove pith from lime; carefully cut 4 lime sections away from membranes.
Reserve sections in second small bowl.
Reserve remaining lime for later use.

About 20 minutes before serving, heat oven to 550F (or highest setting).

Trim salmon; remove tiny bones, if necessary, with tweazers.
Cut salmon on shallow angle into four equal scallops, each about 4 ounces.
Place each piece salmon on parchment to the side of the centerline.
Salt and pepper fish; sprinkle lightly with cayenne.
Grate finely about 1/8t ginger over each.
Reserve pinch ginger for sauce.
Place 1 reserved lime section on top of each piece of salmon.
Strew 4-6 strands lime zest on top.

Fish topped with lime zest, lime supremes, spices on buttered parchment

Seal parchment packets.
Fold over and even up edges.
Roll and fold edges/flaps, then staple to make an airtight seal.

Fish sealed in parchment packets; the staples aren't classy, but they're easy

Place packets on rimmed baking sheet.
Bake until parchment is puffed (about 5 minutes for fillets, 10 minutes for
thicker steaks); salmon should just be cooked.

Baked at 500F for 7 minutes, paper is puffed and scorched, but fish is fine

SAUCE

Melt 2 T butter in small heavy saucepanb over medium-high heat.
When foam subsides, add shallot; saute, stirring frequently, until softened but
not browned, about 3 minutes.
Add port; increase heat to high.
Heat to boiling.
Cook, uncovered, until liquid is reduced by half, about 2-3 minutes.
Squeeze reserved lime to obtain 1/2t juice; add, along with cream, to reduced
liquid.
Heat to boiling, then reduce heat to very low.
Add the pinch of grated ginger.
Whisk in remaining 3T butter, half at a time, waiting until first piece is
almost incorporated before adding second.
Remove from heat; season with salt, black pepper, cayenne.
You should have about 2/3c sauce.

ASSEMBLY

Open parchment packets.
Transfer fish to plates.
Spoon sauce on and around each serving.

Parchment packets opened up, perfectly cooked fish

NOTES:

1. You may want to get a start on the sauce before putting the salmon in the
   oven, since the salmon doesn't take much time to bake.

2. I usually use salmon steaks, but bake longer to accommodate the thickness.

3. This recipe seems to be needlessly fussy, as if made for bored housewives.
   You can have great success without being so anal (see Note 4).
   Separating the lime segments from the membrane is an almost impossible task
   so don't worry about it too much.

4. In college, I once did a "student-version" of this to see how much I could get away
   with. I substituted salmon from a can, paper sandwich bags sprayed with Pam,
   instant minced onion, and probably `Real Lemon' juice and milk. It came out
   very nicely, in about 10 minutes total.

French Apple Tart

This came from Cooks Illustrated 131 and looked fussy but impressive. The pastry crust is super easy; the puree plus apple rosette topping is a bit of work but worth it. Active time is about three hours, most of it on prepping and cooking the apples -- the crust and filling are pretty quick. It is fancy as a dessert, and indulgent as breakfast. We made it a couple times and it's a hit. We've updated the quantities and some procedure for what worked for us. You can double the recipe but will need to have plenty of big skillets.

Baked in a 9-inch tart pan

For simplicity, use the same variety of apples for the puree as for the topping because different varieties cook at different rates; if you want some contrast make sure you cook the puree apples separately from the topping apples. Varieties like Muntaner and Braeburn work well, they stay firm; surprisingly, Granny Smiths turn mushy very quickly when cooking.

Ingredients below are for one 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom, but you can also use a 9-inch disposable aluminum pie tin or Pyrex pie pan. I recently made this in a 10x3-inch spring-form pan (so it would be easier to transport to a friend's house), and scaled up the ingredients by 25% to accommodate the larger volume.

Crust

The big innovation Cooks contributes here, IMHO, is the super-easy pastry crust using melted butter: it comes together quickly and doesn't bubble or shrink. If you're not using a tart pan, you might want to increase the quantity so you have enough to run up the sides.

10-inch 9-inch  9-inch pan

228 g   185 g   6 1/2 ounce (1 1/3 cup)  Flour, all purpose
 80 g    65 g   2 1/4 ounce (5 Tbs)      Sugar
  6 g     5 g     1/2 tsp                Salt
185 g   150 g  10     Tbs                Butter, unsalted, melted

Preheat oven to 180C/350F or 165C/325F convection.
Whisk together the dry ingredients, then pour in the melted butter and combine until you get a smooth play-dough-like consistency.

Press into the tart pan, bottom and sides; I cover with cellophane and smooth with the bottom of a measuring cup.
Bake 30-35 minutes until deep golden brown; set aside until ready to fill.

Filling

You might want to add one more apple to your mix but we needed less than Cooks 5 pounds (2250 g). In Barcelona with a 10-inch spring form pan, I used 880 g sweet apples for the base and 1040 g tart apples for the top (total of 1920 g, 8 large apples), and had some topping apples left over.

1400 g     3 pounds Apples, flavorful, firm, peeled and cored
  45 g     3 Tbs    Butter, unsalted
  15 ml    1 Tbs    Water (use some from holding the apples)
                    Lemon Juice
 120 ml  1/2 Cup    Apricot Preserves
   2 g   1/4 tsp    Salt

Peel and core the apples; hold them in a bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon to prevent then from turning brown. If you don't have an apple corer (we don't, it's a "uni-tasker"), you can cut the apples in half after peeling then use a melon baller to remove the tough center.

Cut the halves into 6-8 wedges each, you want to preserve the wedge shape of the apple for presentation. Hold the cored wedges in the acidulated water until you're finished with prepping the apples.

If you're doing a single recipe, you probably can do topping and puree apples in two separate large skillets, or use one large skillet and do the topping and puree sequentially. If you're doubling the batch, you probably won't have enough giant skillets.

Cook a bit less than half the apples (by weight is easiest to measure), the best looking wedges, in half the butter and some of the water from the holding bowl until they're pliant but not soft and mushy. Stir gently to make sure all the wedges get fairly evenly cooked. If some break, it's OK, you can use them for the puree, but try to be careful.  It took about 10 minutes for our apples, but every variety will be different. Reserve to a large plate; I used cookie sheet lined with a nonstick mat.

While the apples are cooking, add a bit of water to the Apricot Preserves and heat in microwave to thin, strain to collect thin syrup in a bowl for finishing, and retain solids for the puree.

Cook the other half of the apples for the puree the same way, but cook longer until they're a bit softer. If you need to make up some presentation wedges for the topping, pull them out early and put them with the previous cooked wedges.  Put these puree wedges into a food processor with the Apricot Preserves solids and process until very smooth.  Put the puree back into the skillet and cook to concentrate flavor and texture -- I was looking for an almost custard-like texture rather than loose applesauce. Remove from heat.

Fill the baked crust to the top with the puree but don't go over the edge; if you're a bit short, that's fine.

Start laying out the attractive wedges around the outside, starting with the largest wedges, overlapping each one. Continue to the center, pressing each slightly into the puree, being mindful that you want to end up in the dead center and not wander off.  When you are almost done, select the smallest and most thin pliable wedges to curl and nestle snugly into the center void.

Bake at 180C/350F or 165C/325F convection for 30 minutes on a wire rack above a sheet pan to catch any drips but let the bottom of the tart pan to get some heat.
Remove tart from oven and turn on the broiler, with a rack about 3-4 inches below the top element.
If the retained Apricot Preserve syrup is thick, reheat in the microwave briefly to thin.
Brush the syrup over the tops of the apple wedges to gloss, drizzling it between the wedges to cover all surfaces; avoid getting it on the tart pan else it will make releasing difficult.
Return to broiler and broil 30 seconds to a few minutes, just until you develop attractive highlights in the glaze; you may need to rotate the tart pan to get even browning.
Remove and let cool.

Works fine in a disposable 9-inch aluminum pan

Scaled up for a 10-inch spring form pan

Cassoulet

We've been making Cassoulet since 1996 with various complicated French recipes, and even took a class at L'Academie de Cuisine. It's a great, rich, hearty, cold-weather bean and meat stew from southern France. We've even made a pilgrimage to Castelnaudry which claims to have invented the dish; indeed, the fields all around the town are planted with the white beans that comprise the base. Now we're not so fussy, especially after seeing L'Academie's chef-owner wasn't even following his own recipe. We always used to start with a 2-pound bag of white beans, but it makes a ton of rich stew; here, we're cutting back to 1 pound dried beans to start: it still makes 6-8 portions.

The basic idea is to cook the rehydrated beans in a rich, flavorful stock, then combine with garlic-y sausage and duck confit; some recipes have you layer them, others have you combine at service; it's OK to just combine when you're finishing in the oven.  Most recipes suggest adding breadcrumbs and fat while finishing in the oven and this gives a wonderfully crunchy crust.

We make duck confit with a simple sous vide technique; it's so easy there's no reason not to have this simple luxury.

Ingredients

• 1 pound Beans, dry, white, northern or flageolets (2 Cups)
• 4 Cup Stock
• 1/2 pound Bacon, slab
• 1 Carrot, cut into thirds
• 1 Onion, halved, stuck with the Clove
• 1 Clove
• 1 Bouquet Garni
• 1 Tbs Salt
• 2 piece Duck Confit (legs), prepared earlier
• 1 Sausage, garlic or lamb, cut into coins
• 2 Onions, finely chopped
• 3 clove Garlic, chopped
• 1 Tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped bean-size (or 2 Cups canned)
• 1/2 Cup Breadcrumbs
• 1/4 Cup Duck Fat from the Confit

Beans

Soak Beans in 3x amount of cold water for 12 hours. If after 6 hours water is cloudy, change it. Drain. Rinse the Beans and place in large heavy-bottomed pan. Cover with cold water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain. Return Beans to the pot and add 4 Cups Stock. Add Salt, Bacon, Carrot, Clove-studded Onion, and Bouquet Garni. Bring to boil and simmer for about 1 hour, until beans are almost tender. Do not stir while cooking.

Meat and Veg

Meanwhile...

In saute pan, brown the Sausage; you can also brown the Duck, skin side down, or pull the skin and crisp it separately, adding the cooked Duck Confit in later. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. In the same pan, sweat the finely chopped Onions in butter until soft and translucent. Add the chopped garlic, tomatoes, and 1/2 C of the cooking liquid from beans. Cook covered for 5 minutes; if drying out, add some stock.

Assembly

When the beans are almost tender, remove Carrot, Onion, Bacon, Bouquet Garni; Beans should be still quite wet, lots of liquid remains; this is necessary. 

Add the Onion/Tomato mixture, Sausage, Duck meat pulled from the bones. 

Check the seasoning of the Beans; some cooking liquid should remain.

In a large oven-proof casserole, layer or simply combine the meats and beans with their liquid. Sprinkle with Breadcrumbs and pour 1/2 Cup Duck Fat over the crumbs. Bake covered at 325F for 2 hours. Uncover 20 minutes before done to brown the Breadcrumbs.

2012-02-26 Dry Beans

We didn't have hydrated or soaked beans so use a pressure cooker to expedite the cooking -- we wanted cassoulet tonight, dammit! We used 2 pounds dry Great Northern Beans (about 5 Cups), 15 Cups water, 6 Tbs Oil (to prevent foaming), and included Bacon Rind, Carrot, Onion. Pressure cooked at 15 PSI for 20 minutes, and the beans came out done -- done enough to eat, but a little too done for further cooking. Since our beans were wet and finished, we cut back from 8 Cup Stock to 5 Cups. We baked uncovered so we didn't cook any more than necessary. Here too we used duck confit made directly by sous vide method. Next time, for 2 pounds (5 cups), cut back to 12 cups water and 15 minutes pressure cooking.