redacted recipes

Stacked Watermelon and Heirloom Tomato Salad

This is it. This is the perfect summer salad. Refreshing, juicy, sweet, and a little salty, the combination of heirloom tomatoes and watermelon will make your mouth sing.

Don't you just love it when you can layer simple fresh ingredients together and the outcome looks elaborate and fancy? I do.

To make the salad, alternate rounds of watermelon (you can use a biscuit cutter) with slices of ripe heirloom tomatoes and top the stack with basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. A sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper and little fleur de sel adds contrast to the sweetness of the melon and tomatoes. Serve it with a medallion of goat cheese on the side (or in the stack, if you like, though it isn't as pretty that way).

Julienne Darblay (Creamed Leek and Potato Soup with Julienned Vegetables)

Welcome to another Whisk Wednesday and to our latest challenge! This week's assignment was Julienne Darblay (but shouldn't that be D'Arblay?) from Le Cordon Bleu at Home. According to The Wordsworth Dictionary of Culinary and Menu Terms, the word darblay comes from the French and is "a potato soup with finely chopped vegetables," which seems to make julienne a bit redundant, too. But never mind.

This is not a terribly complicated recipe, in that the ingredients are very basic and familiar, but it's not a recipe you can make at the last minute, either. Like so many classic French dishes, it assumes your kitchen has homemade stock on hand and it requires a fair amount of prep work (the word julienne in the title probably gave that away, no?). So when I read over the recipe on Sunday and noted that the very first item on the ingredients list was chicken stock and a reference to another recipe for preparing it, I was quite perturbed with myself for not having bought a chicken at our local Farmer's Market the day before. Another trip to the Greenmarket and a day of simmering later, and I was ready to roll.

Once the leeks, potatoes and bouquet garni were cooking in the chicken broth, the kitchen started to smell seriously fabulous.

I actually enjoy chopping vegetables, so I didn't mind creating these piles of julienned leeks, carrots and turnips, which were then blanched in salted water very briefly.

The cooked potatoes and leeks were pureed and then strained to remove every tiny bit of leek and potato pieces for a smooth velvety base. The base was reheated gently, combined with creme fraiche, and then poured over the julienned vegetables.

In taste it is very similar to vichyssoise, which is hardly surprising, given that the only real difference here is the addition of the julienned vegetables and that the soup is served warm.

Bacon-Wrapped Scallops

Seriously, is there anything better than bacon-wrapped scallops? I mean what's not to like?

 

The combination of thick, juicy bacon and succulent sea scallops topped with a little smoked salt is pure perfection.

Make a salad with some roasted beets and goat cheese and open a bottle of crisp white wine. Just do it. You'll thank me.

Bacon-Wrapped Scallops

Buy some sea scallops. If your scallops are large, as ours were, you will need one strip of bacon per scallop. If they are smaller, you can probably use half a strip of bacon per scallop.

Partially cook the slices of bacon (you want the bacon to be flexible and nowhere near crispy) and then wrap each scallop secure with a toothpick or on skewers. The bacon should overlap a little.

Broil the bacon-wrapped scallops, turning once, until the bacon is crispy and the scallops are opaque. Sprinkle with just a little sea salt. We like smoked salt on ours.

Oh, Where Have You Been, Billy Bi, Billy Bi?

Welcome to Whisk Wednesdays! I've joined Shari of Whisk: a food blog   and a bunch of other intrepid bloggers in the weekly adventure of working our way through a classical cooking curriculum from Le Cordon Bleu at Home.

This week's lesson was to prepare Billy Bi, a soup made with mussels, onions, wine, cream and seasonings. Though there are several stories of the soup's origin, the most popular is that Maxim's chef Louis Barthe named it after a regular patron who particularly loved the soup, American tin tycoon William B. (Billy B.) Leeds.

As I made this soup I found myself wondering if it's a bisque or a velouté-based soup. The nice thing about cooking along with a group is that you can send out an email with these sorts of questions. Shari came up with a great response: 

"Is it a bechamel or a velouté base? Béchamel is similar to velouté, but the liquid that's added is milk not stock. This soup has both stock and cream with a roux. I would say that it starts with a velouté since that's the order the ingredients are worked in..."

Billy Bi is surprisingly easy to make, given its rich and complex flavor. The ingredients list is short and sweet, consisting of butter, shallots, celery, white wine, water, mussels, black pepper, heavy cream and chives. The recipe did not call for any salt, but I added a pinch when I tasted it before serving. Preparing the soup was a breeze and consisted of these three basic steps:

1) Make the initial broth by cooking the shallots in a little butter before adding water, wine and some celery... and then steam mussels (in their shells) in the broth.   Collect the cooked mussels and set aside. Strain the broth to remove any sand, as well as the shallots and celery.

2) Shell the mussels and divide them into two portions. Put the strained broth back in the pot along with half of the mussels and cook until reduced by about a third. Strain the broth a second time, mashing up the mussels to extract all of their briny goodness, and then discard the poor dear things (kitchen culture can be so brutal).

3) Make a roux, and whisk in the strained broth. Let it simmer for a bit to develop it's full mussel-y flavor, and then add heavy cream and the remaining mussels. Sprinkle with chives.

Simple, right? The recipe called for a new pot with each step, a concept I immediately rejected. I found it simpler to just strain the broth into a bowl set aside for that purpose and then to re-use the same pot I'd started with. Even so, I had a shocking amount of washing up to do later. 

Were all those dishes worth it? Decidedly so! I would never have tried making this soup if it hadn't been assigned to me and I'd have missed out on a really wonderful experience. Billy Bi tastes like pure essence of mussels, or perhaps like mussels in their Platonic ideal form. Indeed, Jack paid me the highest compliment, remarking, "This is of restaurant quality, and I don't mean just any restaurant, I mean a good restaurant." 

Next Week: Julienne Darblay (Creamed Leek and Potato Soup with Julienned Vegetables) page 133-134

Gotta Try That! Bourbon-Maple Seared Scallops

Thanks heavens for Food Gawker, RecipeMuncher and FP Daily... who stepped in while Tastespotting was on hiatus. If it weren't for their generosity in giving us more places to drool over beautiful food I would never have seen the very fabulous photo of Bourbon Maple Scallops taken by Meryl of Inspired Bites. And if I hadn't seen it and followed the link to her recipe my daughter Sophie would still be ignorant of her new-found love of scallops.

Seriously, people, try this recipe. It's easy and it's spectacular.

Bourbon-Maple Scallops

1 pound of fresh sea scallops
1/4 cup Bourbon
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Tbs olive oil
salt
pepper

Lightly score the tops and bottoms of the scallops with a crosshatch pattern, making sure your knife doesn't slice too deeply.

Whisk the liquids and seasonings together and pour over the scallops, letting them marinate for 15-30 minutes. Saute on a medium-high flame for 2-3 minute per side. Plate them up and drizzle the pan juices over the top.

This post goes out to Bookmarked Recipes, a weekly event hosted by Ruth's Kitchen Experiments.

Pancakes on Parade: Pajeon or Korean Fish and Vegetable Cakes

 

"Flapjacks, crêpes, pajeon, dosa, blini, tortillas, crespelle, jian bing, pikelets, ataif, blintzes, bánh cuốn, palačinka, injera …the varieties are as endless as the cooks who prepare them and the countries they hail from."

So wrote Susan, of The Well-Seasoned Cook, in her Pancakes on Parade announcement. A call for pancakes, any kind of pancakes, is hard to resist and so was deciding what sort of pancakes to make.

I was able to rule out traditional American breakfast pancakes right away, having been traumatized by sogginess as a child. I still won't eat them, and I shy away from syrup, as well (syrup + big thick pancake = soggy), though I do love a nice crispy waffle with jam on top. I could go on about my childhood trauma, but I'll spare you and just get to pancakes I do like.

I love savory pancakes of all sorts and particularly Korean jeon (or jun). Jeon are pancake-like dishes made from a sturdy batter of flour, eggs, water and a little oil. Different fillings result in different dishes, and include scallions, shellfish, white fish, meats and all sorts of vegetables.  Even though the name of the dish changes with each type of filling used, most people just call any Korean pancake pa jun (or pajeon) which is actually the well-known version made with scallions.

Pajeon are large pancakes made in a skillet, requiring cooking on both sides. Although the batter is very sturdy, they can be a little tricky to flip if you've really loaded them up with filling. You can watch Mark Bittman prepare them here, and see the recipe I adapted here.

Korean Fish and Vegetable Pancakes
adapted from Mark Bittman in The New York Times
Serves 4 - 6 as an appetizer and 3 for a main meal

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon canola or other neutral oil, more as needed
1 1/2 cups water
5 scallions, green parts only, cut into 3-inch lengths and sliced lengthwise
20 chives or 5 chopped scallions
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 small yellow or green squash, trimmed and julienned
1/2 pound firm white fish, cooked and flaked
1 tablespoon rice or white vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon hot pepper oil
3 - 4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, eggs and oil with the water until a smooth batter is formed. Stir in the scallion greens, chives, carrots, squash and fish.

Heat the oil in an 8- inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Ladle in about a quarter of the batter and spread it out evenly into a circle. If the batter seems too thick you can thin it with a little more water for the next ones. Turn the heat down to medium and cook until the bottom is browned, about 3 minutes, then flip and cook for another 2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter.  As the pancakes are finished you can drain the on paper towels, and place in a warm oven to keep hot.

Make the dipping sauce by mixing together the vinegar, sesame oil, hot pepper oil, soy sauce and sugar.

Cut pancakes into small triangles and serve with dipping sauce.

Goat Cheese Terrine

The wonderful Susan of Food Blogga is hosting an event for the month of May called Beautiful Bones, Susan wants us to remember that all women run the risk of developing osteoporosis and encourages us to take steps to protect our bones at every age.

Creamy-style goat cheeses, such as chevre, have 20% fewer calories than cow's milk cream cheeses, while offering the same amount of protein and twice the amount of calcium. Goat cheese is also easier to digest than many other cheeses, because of the structure of its component fats, which are generally small molecules, made up of short-chain fatty acids. Their small size makes them easier to break down and digest than the larger-chain fats of cow's milk and cheese.

This calcium-rich and delicious terrine is perfect with good bread and wine. It's also pretty, easy to make ahead of time, and freezes well. You can wow guests by serving slices on a plate for a first course, or just by setting the whole terrine out with other cocktail nibbles.

Goat Cheese Terrine

1/4 cup homemade or prepared basil pesto
1/4 cup finely chopped roasted red peppers
3 tablespoons tapenade
20 oz soft mild goat cheese, softened to room temperature (2 cups)
Fresh basil leaves, for garnishing

Special equipment: a 2 1/4-cup loaf pan (5 3/4 by 3 1/2 by 2 1/4 inches)

Drain the pesto in a small fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl 15 minutes, reserve the excess oil.

Line the pan with parchment paper, by cutting two rectangles-- 1 long piece to line the bottom and the narrow ends and another piece to line the bottom and wide ends, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides.

Spread about one fourth of the chevre evenly over bottom of the pan and top with the pesto, spreading it gently and evenly. Drop another 1/2 cup of chevre by tablespoons over the pesto and spread gently to completely cover the pesto layer. Add the roasted peppers and  another 1/2 cup chevre, in the same manner. Then add the tapanade and the remaining chevre.

Fold the overhanging parchment paper over the top of the chevre and then wrap the pan in plastic and chill overnight, or for at least 8 hours.

When you're ready to serve, remove the plastic wrap and unfold the parchment paper. Invert the terrine onto a serving plate, and then peel off the parchment strips. Let the terrine stand at room temperature 20 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh basil leaves and then, if you're feeling fancy, a swirl of the reserved pesto oil on the plate. Serve with good bread and crackers.

 

Gotta Try That! Savory Palmiers

Our adopted blog, Equal Opportunity Kitchen, has a lot of great recipes waiting to be tried. We've had their Grilled Skirt Steak with Moroccan Spice Paste and Saffron Yogurt on our list for weeks and still mean to get to it soon. But last night Jack and I had various bits of cheese to use up, and some bread too nice to let go stale, so I thought I'd try making these Pesto Palmiers to munch on as well. This is a double "Gotta Try That!" because Equal Opportunity Kitchen felt the same way and got the recipe from Confections of a Foodie Bride. Thanks to both blogs for the great idea and recipe!

I changed it up a little, making a quick parsley pesto, as I needed to rescue a bunch that was threatening to go over to the dark side.

Pamiers are ridiculously easy to make and you get a lot of oohing and ahing for minimal effort. Must remember to try other fillings soon!

Savory Parsley Pesto Palmiers

for the pesto:
1 cup de-stemmed Italian parsley
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth.

for the Palmiers:
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1/4 cup Pecorino Romano, finely grated (optional)
1/2-3/4 cup pesto
1 egg
1 tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sprinkle grated cheese onto parchment paper. Roll out the puff pastry on the parchment paper (on top of the cheese) Using an offset spatula, spread the pesto within 1/2 inch of each side of the pastry (you might use more or less than 1/2 cup).

Using your spatula, make three indentions on the top edge of the dough at 3 inches, 6 inches, 9 inches to divide the sheet into quarters.

Fold the left and right edges of the puff pastry halfway to the center of the dough (to the closest quarter-mark indention). Fold the sides to the middle again until they’re almost touching. Fold the two halves together like a book (if you're having trouble visualizing this, both Equal Opportunity Kitchen and Confessions of a Foodie Bride have photos you can reference).

Cut into 1/2 inch slices and place onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Whisk egg and water together and brush over the palmiers. Bake for 8 minutes, flip, and bake for an additional 6-8 minutes. Palmiers are best the day of baking.

Gruyère Gougères

One of my goals this year is to master choux pastry so that I can make religieuses. I'm starting with gougères, as they are also made with choux pastry. These were made to go with a supper of Carrot Cumin Soup and a simple salad.

Aside from the fact that they were a bit on the large side (I know to make them about half the size next time), they were as good as any I've ever had. In fact, having had them at both The French Laundry and at Per Se, I'm pleased to say that mine tasted just like theirs do (not surprisingly, given that I used the recipe from The French Laundry Cookbook). So, yay me! You can see the recipe here.

Thomas Keller's Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese Crisps with Goat Cheese Mousse

From The French Laundry Cookbook

What. A. Pain.

The recipe looks decptively simple. Making the mousse was a breeze. The results tasted great. Forming the parmesan into little cups to hold the mousse was a nightmare. Three tries later I ended up with something vaguely resembling Mr. Keller's creation (you can find the recipe at the link). All I can say is, plan to spend some time getting the crisps figured out.