April 2008

A SPRING DINNER WITH FRIENDS

Planning and anticipating a dinner party is just as exciting as having one.

Spring is the season for fresh fava beans, California artichokes, salmon, lamb, morel mushrooms, and strawberries.

An array of amuse-bouches to invigorate the appetite: Bruchette with Fava Bean Puree' and Peccorino, a hearty appertizer from Martha Stewart's Hors d'oeuvres , Stewed Artichoke Hearts, the artichokes were make from scratch, it took 2 hours to prepare them and consumed in record time of five minutes, and Roasted Almonds.

Salmon en Papiotte on bed of spring onions and celery. This first course salmon is baked in the oven with a slice of fried pork belly in a paper pouch.

Rare Roasted Leg of Lamb with Saute' Morel. Fresh morels are a seasonal treat and only available fresh in the Spring. Sadly, they were rather soggy at the market so I used dried morel with button mushrooms. The perfume was unstakenly morel but the texture was not near the luxury of the fresh morel.

Fresh Strawberries Soup. Three simple ingredients made one of the most memorable desserts: strawberry, sugar, and orange juice. This recipe came from the French Master La cuisine de Joel Robuchon. The soup can be topped with candied lemon peels.

This light dessert was followed by Lemon Clove Cookies, a recipe from Alice Water's Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook. I used organic country butter, organic sugar, and whole wheat flour.

SPRING DINNERS

Bun Rieu Vietnamese Shrimp and egg noodle soup. This is a cheater's version. The real recipe - Crab/Shrimp Noodle Soup (Bun Rieu)
is much richer and more time involved.

Mache/Parsley Salad with Peppered Goat Cheese. Eat more leafy plants.






Around this time, juicey and fatter asparagus are beginning to appear. Asparagus and Hollandaise is a match made in a heavenly Spring.






This Coq au Vin** is vastly improved with the use of Poulet Rouge
Fermier du Piedmont, a selected free range breed grown on a farm in North Carolina...or a Whole Foods near you.
According to Larousse Gastronomique, the real coq au vin is first browned with butter, bacon and a bouquet garni, flambe' with cognac, then braised for 1 1/2 hours with red wine(a Chambertine or a Macon) and mushrooms. Afterward the cooking liquid is reduced and then monte' with kneaded butter. This rich version I have not tried. With mine, I skipped the bacon, cognac and butter at the end, but instead relied on the flavor the dry porcini/cepes.



Eggs Benedict with Kale*. This version substitutes Canadian Bacon with healthier organic kale. Michael Pollan, the guru of micronutrients and the author of many nutrition books, notably a recent New York Times article, Unhappy Meals, has come up with the new eating mantra: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." The kale is great with this version of Eggs Benedict.




Spring Lamb Quenelles with Spinach Mold. The ground lamb is combined with bread crumbs, eggs, and spice; shaped into little foodball shape balls; and baked in the oven. The spinach is saute'ed with garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. Prep and cooking time about 45 minutes.

Pate* with Asparagus and Hollandaise Sauce. This pate version
is an improvement from last time (see version in March). I did not add any egg or
flour to the concoction. The result is a more firm pate and more flavorful.

Water Cress and Eggs Salad*/ Asparagus and Crab Soup. Exotic Vietnamese dishes that may have their fuzzy origin in the colonial French era. Water cress and asparagus are not native plants to Southeast Asia.

March 2008

WINTER/SPRING

Spinach Napoleon with Moroccan Chicken in Filo. The inspiration for this meal came from Moroccan Modern by Hassan M'souli (2005). The chicken breast is stuffed with artichoke, tomato, preserved lemon and harissa(a Moroccan peppery spice - recipe #113468.). The chicken is then wrapped in filo dough and baked. Buttering between the filo sheets was very time consuming. Prep time is about one (1) hour.

















Coq au Vin with Pan Fried Potatoes* This dish works better with dark meat and the boneless thighs helped reduced the prep time. The dried porcini is added directly into the stew and cooked for about 30 minutes. Poached Pear with Ginger* The ginger gives a surprising lift to an otherwise hum-drum course.


























Country Pork Terrine with Cornicons. This pate is made with pork and chicken liver. Liver is getting a bad rap, but it is actually loaded with Vitamin B's. Drinking alcohol and wine destroys Vitamin B's, and so eating liver keeps the micronutrients in balance. On a recent advice from The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, a 2006 non-fiction book by Michael Pollan, don't eat anything your grandparents would not reconize as food. Agnolloti(Priest Hats) in fresh tomato sauce and Asparagus.



















Roast Chicken with Sweet Potato/ Fennel and Asparagus. End of winter is the time for fresh asparagus. The bigger they are the better they taste. Pencil thin asparagus are from older plants that have lost their vigor and produced more fibrous stalks.







Spring is coming, Spring is coming. It's time to enjoy eating out on the terrace. Salmon and Tofu Hotpot with Brown Rice and Salad.
























Fresh strawberries dipped in dark and white chocolate. Strawberry is now in season. White chocolate in fact has no cacao, just milk solids and sugar. It separates very easily at high temperature. I prefer working with the dark chocolate.







Vietnamese Chicken Cole Slaw with brown rice soup and shrimp chips. This is one of the easiest and most refreshing Viet salads. The cabbage can be easy julienned then tossed with boiled chicken, onion, jalapeño, cilantro, and Nuoc Mam(fish sauce). The broth from the boiled chicken is frugally used to cook a light rice soup. This salad and soup combination is an old eating tradition that my grand parents would recognize. They would not recognize the Spanish Bierzo however, but it was fabulous nonetheless. For more details, Goi Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Salad) , this link has the full recipe.


Boiled chicken breast with Sauce Bearnaise and Asparagus. The Bearnaise and other egg based sauces start from the mother sauce, Hollandaise. Bearnaise is a basically a Hollandaise favored with reduced white wine, shallots, and tarragon.