Smoked Duck Breast

Bottom of the Barrel



Several months back I ordered some duck legs to make confit from Hudson Valley Foie Gras and they tossed in a whole breast, gratis. Woo hoo! But I was focused on the confit so I tossed them in the freezer and promptly forgot about them. Then the economic downturn hit some of my clients (and me), food prices continued to rise, and tax time hit. I've been scraping the bottom of my larder and what should I find? Duck breast.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love what I do for a (cough) living? I never have any money and I work all the time. But I wrote off the duck legs as an expense because they were part of two articles and when duck breasts are scraping the bottom of your larder you must be doing something right. So what to do with them?

When duck breasts are scraping the bottom of your larder you must be doing something right.

I happened to be working on a review of the Cameron Stove Top Smoker and smoking them seemed like a great idea. I'd previously smoked a duck breast, but in that case I was working from a recipe for preserving them. They were really good, but too potent for a main course, much more suited to an antipasto or flavoring in some other dish. This time I planned to eat them straight up.

As I had the previous time, I made a brine but kept it simple and didn't include the sodium nitrate. After 24 hours in the brine I smoked the breast halves to 160F using oak sawdust. Served with a steamed artichoke it was delightful.

Smoked Duck Breast
Serves 4.

2 whole duck breasts (12 - 16 oz each)
Brine:
2 c apple cider + 1 c water
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic — smashed
6 pepper corns
8 juniper berries — crushed
1/4 c kosher salt

Place all brine ingredients except salt in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in salt until dissolved. Cool brine to room temp. Place breasts in a ziplock bag, add brine, and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Prepare smoker and place over heat. Score the skin of the duck breasts, cutting almost all the way through to the flesh, in a crosshatch pattern.

Insert a digital probe thermometer in one of the breasts and cook to 160F. Set on a platter, cover with foil, and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | duck | smoked duck | main dish

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Chicken Parmigiano

How Did I Miss It?



Wednesday night I taught a class on cooking fish. The class was packed — 22 students — and as usual, great fun. I began with sautéed jerked shrimp, moved on to broiled tilapia with arugula pesto, did salmon in parchment, grilled tuna and topped it with Romesco sauce, and ended with poached tilapia with a lemon/cream sauce. The only significant technique I didn't cover was frying fish and there was simply no way to fry at that venue for that many people. All together I cooked served 16 pounds of fish.

I was standing behind the counter after serving the last dish, trying a bite of it and listening to the "hmms" running around the room and couldn't resist saying, "You know, I get to eat like this all the time." And you know, I do and that's the point.

I was surprised a week ago to realize I'd never made Chicken Parmesan — in fact, somehow I'd never even eaten this Italian restaurant staple.

The underlying theme that links all of my classes, the articles I write, and even the food I prepare for my personal chef clients is simplicity. Like Rachel Ray and Sandra Lee I'm sensitive to the demands of schedules, the lack of good kitchen training, and the desire for bold flavors. Unlike them, I think you can cook such meals without taking shortcuts. At the Pasta and Herbs class I did a couple of weeks ago the students kept noting how easy the dishes were and yet full of flavor: "I could come home from work and make this."

So I was surprised a week ago to realize I'd never made Chicken Parmesan — in fact, somehow I'd never even eaten this Italian restaurant staple. I did some research and came up with this recipe, which is largely based on a recipe from **Cooks Illustrated. The egg dip enables lots of cheese to adhere to the chicken and produces a wonderfully crisp crust.

Chicken Parmigiano
Serves 4.

4 chicken breasts — pounded to 1/2" thick
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs — whisked
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 cup grated parmigiano
1 tsp. dried thyme
Marinara sauce

Heat oven to 225F. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Place 1/4 cup flour in a pie pan. Put egg in a pie pan. Combine 2 tablespoons flour, Parmigiano, and thyme in a pie pan.

Season breasts with salt and pepper. Coat 2 breasts in flour and shake off excess. Dip in egg and coat thoroughly. Dip in Parmigiano and coat thoroughly. Cook two breasts for about 4 minutes per side until lightly browned. Transfer to an oven proof-plate and keep warm in the oven. Repeat for other breasts.

Serve, topped with warm marinara sauce.

This version is boldly but simply flavored. Each element from chicken to cheese to sauce works in harmony. An Oregon Pinot Grigio would be a perfect wine.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | main dish | chicken | italian

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Paisano: Rack of Lamb with Caramelized Onions

Bi-Polar Weather



Spring arrived here in Knoxville this past weekend. I was out running errands two days ago (Before Spring) and it was rainy and chilly. The lawns were still rather brown and although the daffodils, hydrangeas, and Bradford pear trees were blooming and a few trees had a green haze, it was clear spring hadn't quite sprung. Today when I went out the temperature was 73 and it was bright and sunny. The tulips were in full bloom, lawns were dark green, the dogwoods and redbud are almost in full bloom, and the trees with the green haze were almost covered with leaves. It's amazing how much difference a weekend makes.

I love this time of year, it completely makes up for the ugliness of a Tennessee winter, just as fall makes up for the heat and humidity of a Tennessee summer.

I love this time of year, it completely makes up for the ugliness of a Tennessee winter.

When I lived in Oregon there were two seasons, raining and not raining. When I lived in New Hampshire there were four seasons, but instead of spring they had mud (fall was nice, though). Central Califonia had dry-and-too-hot and somewhat-rainy for its two seasons. So although Tennessee has its drawbacks, the four distinct seasons are an advantage (even though winter is now much more like Oregon's rainy season than a proper winter).

While I was at the grocery (Before Spring) I found a half rack of lamb at a good price and, being the lamb lover I am, bought it. Today I found fresh asparagus from Georgia (meaning it was much fresher than the stuff from California) so I bought a pound of it and tonight I had a spring feast of roast lamb, steamed asparagus, and a green salad with a sherry vinaigrette.

Rack of Lamb with Caramelized Onions
Serves 4.

1 rack of lamb
1 lg. clove garlic — crushed
Salt and pepper to taste
1 - 2 tsp.ground rosemary
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 lg. yellow onions
1/4 cup red wine (I used Zinfindel)
2 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Remove lamb from refrigerator and rub with crushed garlic. Season generously with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Allow to warm on the counter for at least an hour.

In the meantime, heat butter in a sauté pan over low heat. Cut onions in half, peel, and cut into thin half-round slices. Add onions to sauté pan, sprinkle with salt and sugar and toss to coat. Cover pan and cook gently until a rich mahogany brown, stirring as needed to prevent burning.

Heat oven to 350F.

Add wine and rosemary to onions and increase heat to medium-high. Cook until the wine has almost completely evaporated. Set aside and keep warm or reheat in a microwave just before using.

Heat olive oil in a heavy oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Brown rack on all sides except the bone side. Turn bone-side down in skillet and place in center of oven. Cook until an instant-read thermometer reads 130 in center of rack. Remove from oven and tent with foil for 15 minutes. Slice into individual ribs and serve topped with caramelized onions.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | lamb | main dish | paisano

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Salmon l'Orange

Evolution



I stopped by the fish market the other day and they had some gorgeous salmon, so I bought a couple of filets. I didn't have a particular dish in mind, but I was planning to get some asparagus and thought the salmon would be great with it. Unfortunately I couldn't find any decent asparagus (at this time of year I can sometimes get asparagus from Georgia and had bought some last week).

At any rate, as I drove about doing errands I thought about what I might do with the salmon. Thanks to a recent change in the fire code, grilling over a fire is no longer an option for me but broiling was a possibility as was stove-top smoking. The first thing that occurred to me was brushing the fillet with maple syrup and then sprinkling on some Spanish paprika.

I ended up mixing the Triple Sec, some soy sauce, and the paprika

I was pretty happy with this idea until I got home and, as I unpacked my groceries, I noticed the bottle of Triple Sec. I'd bought the Triple Sec for a class where I used it to flavor a yogurt "icing" for a Greek orange cake. Hmmm…

So I ended up mixing the Triple Sec, some soy sauce, and the paprika and marinating the salmon in that. It turned out very well, except that the fish should have marinated for two hours and I only gave it an hour.

Salmon l'Orange
Serves 2.

2 6-oz. salmon fillets
1/2 cup Triple Sec
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
3/4 tsp. hot Spanish paprika; separated

Whisk together the Triple Sec, soy sauce, and 1/2 teaspoon of paprika. Pour a small amount in a plate and set fillets, flesh-side down, in the plate. Marinate for two hours in the refrigerator.

Heat broiler.

In a small sauce pan, reduce remaining marinade to a thin syrup. Place fillets on a foil-covered baking sheet, brush with reduced marinade, and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon of paprika. Cook on second rack from top for 7 to 10 minutes until browned and salmon just flakes.

Serve drizzled with any remaining marinade.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | seafood | fish | salmon

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Paisano: Schnitzel

Forgotten Tastes




About a month ago I purchased American Classics by the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine. The book is a good modern reference to such traditional favorites as Chicken Pot Pie, Parker House Rolls, and Yellow Layer Cake done in the magazine's inimitable style of setting a goal and the experimenting until they achieve it. I don't always like their recipes, but I trust them and the investigation behind them.

One of the recipes I browsed was Crisp Pork Cutlets — something I haven't fixed in ages. So the other night I pulled a boneless pork loin chop out of the freezer and thawed it. I didn't follow the book recipe (although I'm sure I remembered parts of what I'd read) but instead followed my own instincts. The result was juicy, tender, and the essence of pork flavor.

Pork Cutlets

6 oz. boneless pork loin chop
1 egg — beaten in pie plate
1/4 c all purpose flour
sage, paprika, salt, black pepper
1/4 c sourdough bread crumbs — seasoned with sage, paprika, salt, & pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Pound chop to about 1/4" thick and season generously with sage, paprika, salt, & pepper (I'm particularly fond of freshly-ground Lamphong black pepper which is both spicy and highly aromatic). Dredge the chop in the flour, coat with egg, and thoroughly coat with bread crumbs. (Note: seasoning the pork directly is much more effective than seasoning the flour and or seasoning the bread crumbs alone.) Set chop aside.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add oil. Fry chop on each side until golden and crisp (about 2 minutes per side). Serve immediately.

I sauteed some frozen turnip greens in oil seasoned with curry powder to go with it. A great meal.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | paisano | pork

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Review: Hawaiian Yellowtailfrom Kona Blue

Unadulterated Delight



A week or so ago I got an email from someone commenting on SG and wondering if I was interested in receiving some free fish: "I’d be happy to send you Kona Kampachi and invite you to prepare it any way you like. If you’d like to share about the fish with your readers, great, but if not, don’t worry about it – it’s completely up to you." I happen to be a great believer in getting free stuff I'm interested in with no strings attached, so after checking out Kona Blue's Web site I told her to send it along. I'd try it and might or might not write about it and I might or might not be positive about the experience.

I'm here to say, "Wow!"

Yesterday (as I write this) I received a large, heavy package from the company. I was expecting it having received notification that it had been picked up by Fed-Ex two days earlier. I opened the box and found a huge plastic bag. I opened the bag and found an aluminized thermal blanket. I opened the blanket and found about a dozen frozen freezer packs. I dug through them and found a smaller plastic bag. I opened it and found two fresh (not frozen) fillets weighing about a pound each wrapped in plastic. I stuck my nose in the bag and sniffed — pure ocean. Supper had arrived.

Kona Blue raises Hawaiian Yellowtail (also known as Almaco Jack and trademarked as Kona Kampachi) commercially in deep-water farms near Hawaii. The company claims their methods are sustainable and minimize environmental impact. I read about this type of ocean farming several years ago and from what I recall, if done properly it can meet both claims.

The fish I received had been harvested on Sunday. It then went into an iced brine which killed it. On Tuesday it was gutted, cleaned, and shipped. Kona only harvests enough fish at a time to serve that week's orders so the fish is always as fresh as they can make it, but most of their sales are wholesale and for whole fish to restaurants. The company's retail presence is limited.

It's not cheap. The two fillets I received retail for $17.00 each and shipping is another $33.00. Nevertheless, I could have easily fed six for that $67.00, about the cost of a good steak dinner at home. And as I said above, "Wow!" This was certainly in the top 10 of fish I've ever eaten. They say it's sushi grade so I tried a bit raw and it certainly is. But I elected to cook it.

I cut a fillet into thirds and brushed two of the thirds with olive oil, sprinkled sweet Spanish paprika on them along with a bit of salt, and then broiled it until barely cooked through. It was like eating butter. My plan had been to eat only one third and use the other cooked third in a salad for lunch today. Not possible. The fish was just too good and I ate it last night as well. I still have the third third and will do something with it this evening.

I also understand why the company was so laissez faire about whether I wrote them up or not. They knew that no real foodie could resist singing the praises of this fish once he or she had tasted it. It really gripes me to be so predictable, and I wish I could think of something negative to say to at least give the appearance objectivity, but the truth is saying something negative wouldn't be objective. The fish is just that good.

Hmmm, perhaps I should have held out for a press junket to Hawaii...

Technorati: Food | review | kevin d weeks | seriously good | seafood | hawaiian yellowtail | Kona+Kampachi

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Paisano: Cassoulet

Paisano: Cassoulet



I got a call from the Paisano about a week ago. He was in Sonoma (California) visiting a friend who raises sheep and had been bragging about my lamb sausage: my lamb sausage. I was flabbergasted because as a rule, while the old bastard admits I can cook, he refuses to admit I can do anything better than he can. In this case his friend was trying to empty his reefer (walk in freezer) of what was left of last year's lamb and asked Paisano for suggestions: bless his heart, Paisano suggested my sausage.

The trip at that point had taken months, largely on foot, and his baby sister died on the way.

This acknowledgment was pretty cool on it's own, but a few days later I got another call from Paisano and I gained a bit more insight into his past - something far harder to come by than a complement. Specifically he called to tell me about the cassoulet he'd made using my lamb sausage.

The cassoulet with lamb sausage had brought back memories of a cassoulet he'd had when he was in his early teens and fleeing a communist crackdown. As best I could tell, the journey was in the decade following World War II and his mother, older brother, he, and his sisters were trying to get to Bordeaux where they had family. Shortly after reaching France they were briefly taken in by a family in Toulouse. The trip at that point had taken months, largely on foot, and his baby sister died on the way. The rest of them were near starvation by the time they reached the city.

That night they feasted on cassoulet: white beans with pork, duck, and in this case lamb sausage. The meal was too rich for their stomachs and they were all sick after eating it. But they had more the next day and this time kept it down. They stayed a few days longer, recovering their strength and the French family managed to arrange transportation for them all the way to Bordeaux. Paisano's luck had changed 50 years ago in Toulouse and the cassoulet he'd just made in Sonoma with lamb sausage brought back the memory of that time when life had once again confounded expectations by being good when pain was expected.

I've thought about that phone conversation since then to figure out more about him than he admits to. And I suspect the Paisano is Romano - a Gypsy. I suspect this because the family wasn't simply fleeing enemies in their homeland, but feared enemies all along the way. They might have been Jewish, but Paisano is too off-the-edge for that to ring true to me and his features don't seem to have come from that ethnic group. And, well, look at the way he lives, always on the road despite his home base at Lake Tahoe.

I may never know the Paisano's complete story. I'd love to, but I also enjoy, perhaps even more, playing by his rules and trying to figure it out on my own. And whatever his origins, he's certainly right about how good cassoulet is with lamb sausage, even when you're not starving.

Cassoulet
Serves 8.

1 pound dried cannellini beans (great northern beans or navy beans may be used)
1 celery stalk, broken in half
1 carrot, broken in half
2 large yellow onions, 1 peeled and cut in half, the other peeled and diced
4 ounces pancetta
10-12 sprigs of thyme, tied in a bundle
2 bay leaves
2 quarts duck stock (or chicken stock)
2 tablespoons salt
2 country-style pork ribs (about 12 ounces)
5 tablespoons duck fat (or olive oil)
2 links (1/2 pound) lamb garlic sausage or any other fresh link sausage
4 tablespoons minced garlic, separated
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 duck legs confit (about 12 ounces with bone in), you can use fresh duck or chicken if confit is unavailable
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup bread crumbs

Pick over beans and add to a large pot along with carrot, celery, the onion cut in half, pancetta, thyme and bay leaves. Add stock and bring just to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 3 hours. Top up liquid with water as needed to keep all ingredients covered.

Cool beans then pick out vegetables and herbs and discard. Cut up pancetta and return to pot.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Season pork ribs with salt and pepper and brown on all sides in a tablespoon of duck fat in a cast iron skillet. Cover skillet with aluminum foil, place in oven and cook until the beans are done -- about 3 hours. Allow to cool.

Place sausages and two tablespoons of duck fat in a skillet with 1/2 inch of water. Simmer for 4 minutes, turn sausage over, and simmer until all water is gone. Brown sausages and set aside.

Add another tablespoon of duck fat (if needed) to sausage skillet and add diced onions. Sautee over medium heat for 4 minutes, stirring as needed to prevent burning. Stir in 3 tablespoons minced garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Mix onions into beans along with diced tomatoes and their juice.

Add last tablespoon of duck fat to skillet and toss in breadcrumbs and remaining tablespoon of minced garlic. Cook until lightly browned. Reserve.

If you're using fresh duck or chicken, season it generously with salt and pepper and brown it in the skillet with a tablespoon of oil or fat.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients except breadcrumbs in a deep casserole or Dutch oven, but make sure beans cover all the meat to keep it from drying out. You may need to add a bit of liquid, just enough to bring the level slightly below the top. Water works, but so does either red or white wine and wine adds more flavor. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs to form a crust.

Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour. Remove from oven, cool and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Remove meat from bones and slice sausage into rounds then stir back in along with the crust. Cook for 1 hour and serve.

I like a red wine with this dish, but white is fine. A green salad with vinaigrette is the perfect side dish.

Note: Paisano is a fictitious character developed for Gather.com.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | cassoulet | beans | french

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Kitchen Window: Of Grits, Polenta, & Indian Pudding

I was in the third grade when my recipe collection began to grow — from one to two. I had mastered peanut butter candy the year before and now I was moving on to Indian pudding.

It was just before Thanksgiving, and my class was studying American Indians. We were given a recipe for traditional Indian pudding, which I brought home and got my mother to help me make. My early interest in cooking was, I suppose, a clue that I'd become a chef. My discovery of Indian pudding was certainly my awakening to the wonders of cornmeal.

Read the complete article at Kitchen Window.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | kitchen window | cornmeal| grits| polenta

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Sirloin Pork Roast

Take it Easy



There's something odd about buying meat off the back of a truck in vacant supermarket parking lot. The setting makes me feel as though I'm engaged in something unsavory — like buying porn — nevertheless, I do it on most Fridays. West Wind Farms, which is located up on the Cumberland Plateau, makes three regular stops in Knoxville, including the grocery store parking lot, on Fridays to sell chicken, beef, pork, and turkey as well as a collection of specialty products they make such as summer sausage, corned beef, and salami.

The couple who own West Wind are nice folks and if I remember correctly they're both environmental scientists by training who decided to get into organic ranching. At any rate, on this day I'd been planning on getting a pork butt to make a pork daube. They didn't have a shoulder but they did have a pork sirloin roast.

My thinking was this approach would minimize the contraction of the muscle fibers and so avoid toughening the meat and driving the juices out.

This is a cut from the opposite end of the pig and is also largely opposite in character. Where the butt has multiple muscles running in different directions with layers of fat separating the muscles, the sirloin is only two primary muscles with relatively little internal fat. The character they have in common is that both cuts tend to be tough which means they're best cooked low and slow. But because of the lack of fat and connective tissue (both of which melt and produce a tender pork butt when braised or barbequed) the sirloin has a tendency to dry out. So I decided to roast it at 225F — very low and slow.

My thinking was this approach would minimize the contraction of the muscle fibers and so avoid toughening the meat and driving the juices out. I was right. I pulled the roast from the oven at 145F and after resting for 15 minutes slicing into it did no more than moisten the cutting board — the juices were all still inside and the roast was a perfect medium from about 1/4 of an inch inside to the center. And although not as tender as a loin roast, it certainly wasn't tough.

Roast Pork

3 lb. pork roast
3 lg. garlic clove &mdash smashed
Salt and pepper
Ground dried rosemary
1 small onion — diced
1 carrot — diced
1 stalk celery — diced
2 Tbsp. olive oil, separated
2 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
~3/4 cup red wine, separated

Heat oven to 225F.

Rub pork with one of the smashed garlic cloves. Sprinkle lightly on all sides with ground rosemary then season generously with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil in a large, oven-poof skillet over medium-high heat. Brown roast on all sides then transfer to a plate.

Add onions, carrot, and celery to skillet along with additional oil if needed and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to brown. Add garlic and thyme and cook a minute longer. Deglaze skillet with 1/2 cup of wine.

Place roast on top of vegetables and place skillet in center of oven. Cook until an instant read thermometer show the internal temperature reaches 145F (about 2 hours). Remove from oven from tent roast with foil.

Transfer 1 1/2 cups of vegetables from the skillet to a sauce pan and add enough additional wine to completely cover. Bring to a soft boil and cook about 15 minutes. Puree vegetable mixture in a blender or food processor. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve over sliced pork.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | main dish | pork | pork roast

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Teriyaki Turkey Burgers

Seriously Healthy



A few months back I wrote an article on burgers for NPR's Kitchen Window and the editor, Bonny North, balked when I wanted to include my Bacon/Parmesan Pork Burger because it seemed so gratuitously high in fat and calories. She was partially correct, it is high in fat and calories, but not gratuitously — that's purely a side-effect of producing an extraordinarily flavorful meat patty.

I offered a compromise: If I could keep the pork burger I'd develop a turkey burger to balance it out. That task proved more difficult than I'd anticipated. In my world "healthy" is never a substitute for "good."

"Viola," I had a low-fat, low-cal burger with plenty of flavor

I began with plain ground turkey to which I added an egg for binding because I knew before I started it would be inclined to fall apart. Even with salt and pepper it was bland and dry. I decided to move on to ingredients that emulated roast turkey by adding cornbread crumbs for additional binding, sage, and other typical turkey dinner seasonings. No joy. Edible, but by no means seriously good. Tweaking didn't help.

I tried a couple of other ideas that were equally bad and then remembered a dish I make for clients on occasion — teriyaki-marinated turkey breasts. I'd already learned with my Marinated Greek Burgers that actually marinating the meat and then grinding it didn't work. So I adjusted the marinade ingredients to make a seasoning to mix into the ground turkey. It was still a tad dry, so I added some zucchini for additional moisture, and, "viola," I had a low-fat, low-cal burger with plenty of flavor. I found that onion rolls made a great bun (to keep the amount of bread reasonable I sliced out the middle third of the roll and saved it to make croutons).

Teriyaki Turkey Burger
Serves 4.

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1/4 cup grated zucchini
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons frozen orange juice concentrate, melted
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons five-spice powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 egg

Thoroughly combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Form into 4 patties about 1/2-inch thick. Place patties on a baking sheet or plate, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour to allow burgers to set so they'll hold together while cooking.

Cook in a non-stick pan over medium high heat.

Note: Even with the bread crumbs and egg for binding, these burgers tend to fall apart on a grill, so I recommend cooking them in a non-stick pan with a little bit of oil.

I'd still pick a Bacon/Parmesan Pork Burger, Greek Burger, or Lamb Burger Stuffed with Blue Cheese over this one if given a choice, but it's not bad at all, in fact it's actually good. But seriously good, according to my tastes, it's not.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | burger | sandwich | turkey

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Osso Bucco

Hole in the Bone



In the past three years I've seen veal shanks at the supermarket exactly once, last week. So of course I had to buy them.

It's been at least 20 years since I last made or had osso bucco, literally "hole bone." The name refers to the circlet of bone in the center of each section of cross-cut shank. After cooking, the marrow in the center of the bone falls out or is scooped out leaving a circlet of bone — a bone with a hole.

In the past three years I've seen veal shanks at the supermarket exactly once.

Historically the dish is from Milan and was veal braised with white wine, cinnamon, allspice, and bay (called in bianco) then served on rissotto alla Milanese and garnished with gremolata (a mixture of parsley, lemon zest, and garlic). These days the recipes are often less traditional. The "sweet" spices are skipped and tomato is added in some form. This modern version, which includes tomatoes from the New World, is most often served on polenta, made of corn from the New World.

I decided to go a step further and rather than using polenta, I made grits that I flavored with Parmegiano and Fontanella cheese and freshly ground black pepper. This is a wonderful meal on a cold rainy night.

Osso Bucco
Serves 2.

1 lb. veal shank (ideally one section, 3/4 to 1 inch thick)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 oz. pancetta &mdash diced
1/2 md. onion — finely diced
1 sm. carrot — finely diced
1 clove garlic — finely diced
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh sage
1/2 cup veal stock
1/2 cup vermouth or white wine
1 Tbsp. tomato paste

Tie veal with twine to keep is from falling apart, season veal with salt and pepper, and then dredge in flour. Tie rosemary, sage, and bay leaf in a square of cheesecloth (a bouquet garni).

Sauté pancetta in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat until browned. Remove to a plate with a slotted spoon. Increase heat to medium-high and brown lamb shank on both sides. Add to plate with pancetta.

Reduce heat to medium and sauté onions and carrots for five minutes until onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook one minute longer. Add vermouth (or white wine) and deglaze pan. Return veal and pancetta to pan, add veal stock, bouquet garni, and tomato paste to pan.

Reduce heat to low and partially cover pan. Barely simmer for one hour then serve.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | osso bucco | veal | main dish | italian | paisano

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Death by Sandwich: II

Three Birds, One Stone



Am I a genius? Perhaps not. But I'm certainly a master of efficiency and killing figurative birds with figurative stones.

Some of you may recall my January post, "Kill Ed Levine: Death by Sandwich." Ed, a Serious Eats muckety-muck and sandwich fiend, had made a New Year's resolution to lose weight. I have a sincere aversion to New Year's resolutions and, in addition, the site's obvious attempt to pirate my readers by emulating this blog's name is a sad testament to Ed's lack of imagination.

I decided to set out on a year-long quest to sabotage Ed's diet by offering an array of tantalizing sandwiches.

As a consequence, I decided to set out on a year-long quest to sabotage Ed's diet by offering an array of tantalizing sandwiches. Not wishing to kill myself in the process of doing away with Ed I've elected to pursue the project over the course of a year, offering a tantalizing sandwich each month. And so we come to month two.

I've been pondering the February sandwich but was having problems coming up with something suitably fiendish until yesterday morning when the stars were aligned, the birds were in a row, and I had a handy rock: A pancake sandwich.

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, which in some areas is celebrated by eating pancakes and, so, also known as Pancake Tuesday. It's also Super Tuesday when folks around the country to select the politicians they think will provide the most pork. Pancakes? Pork? Killing Ed Ed? Three birds with one stone.

So I dug up my favorite cornmeal pancake recipe, thawed out a few slices of Benton's bacon, and made a sandwich. I particularly enjoyed imagining Ed's envy of my ready access to Benton's ham, bacon, and sausage. (Benton's actual smokehouse is 40 minutes away from here.)

Cornmeal Pancakes
Makes 8 pancakes.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup corn meal
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cups milk
1 egg
3 Tbsp. butter

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk together milk, egg, and butter. Whisk liquid ingredients into dry ingredients.

Meanwhile, lightly oil a skillet or griddle and warm over high, medium heat. When the griddle's hot, make pancakes, allowing bubbles to form before turning over.

This recipe is a take on the Southern hoecake, which is often made only with cornmeal. I find true hoecakes rather heavy, but love the texture cornmeal adds to these cakes. In the photos above, you can see the aforementioned Benson's smoked bacon peaking out, and they're doused in another Southern favorite: sorghum. Eat your heart out, Ed.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | pancakes | breakfast

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Curried Chicken

Just Like Mum's



I like curried dishes in most forms and fix them often. But my favorite remains the curry my mother made when I was growing up. I think what appealed most to me were the toppings that she'd place in bowls on a Lazy Susan. I've never run across a recipe calling for assorted toppings and so I suspect it's not traditional. Nevertheless, the mèlange of individual and easily distinguishable flavors and textures set against the curry background is, to me, irresistible. I find the the sweet flavors of fruit are particularly good.

This particular recipe is adapted from Living Lean and Loving It by Eve Lowry and Carla Mulligan Ennis (Mosby/Forman 1988) and is named Mum's Chicken Curry. According to the book, "Mum" is Analeen Stork who was raised in Ceylon. Although the recipe doesn't include toppings, the basic dish is very similar to what my "Mum" used to make.

Mum's Chicken Curry
Serves 6.

3 lbs chicken thighs — skinned
2 tbsps peanut oil
1 oz fresh ginger — sliced thin
1 ea jalapeno pepper — seeded and minced
1 ea onion — diced
3 ea garlic cloves — minced
1/2 c water
2 tbsps vinegar
1 c coconut milk
Spice Mixture:
2 ea cinnamon sticks — crumbled
10 ea cloves
2 tbsps curry powder
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
2 ea bay leaves
6 ea cardamom pods
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Toppings:
1 c banana — 1/2" dice
1 c pineapple — 1/2" dice
1 c scallions — 1/2" dice
1/2 c coconut flakes
1/2 c orange marmalade
1/2 c bacon — 1/2" dice
1/2 c raisins
1/2 c peanuts
1/2 c mango chutney

Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat until it begins to smoke. With exhaust fan running, add spice mixture and cook, stirring constantly to prevent burning, for five minutes.

Reduce heat to medium low, add onion, garlic, and jalapeno and continue cooking for two minutes. Add chicken, water, and vinegar, reduce heat to very low, cover, and simmer for 90 minutes. Add coconut milk and heat thoroughly.

Serve over basmati rice with toppings of choice.

Note: I prefer a hot Madras curry powder.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | curry | chicken | indian

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Clam Chowder

It's Chowdah, Baby



If you've read The Once and Future King by T.H. White, a retelling of the Authurian legend, you may recall the Questing Beast. In White's tale the beast was something quested after, not something that went on quests. But I am culinary Questing Beast and in my case I am the pursuer and not the pursued.

In 1995 I began crisscrossing the country, coast-to-coast, spending time in the Pacific Northwest, New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and central California. As a long-time fan of clam chowder I thought these serendipitous, job-related journeys to the coasts would be an exceptional opportunity to find the perfect clam chowder. Specifically, a perfect New England Clam Chowder was the dish I avidly sought.

I failed.

The fragrant aromas of clam juice and milk mingling together still evoke not only the dish itself but the whole experience...

In Serious Pig, John Thorne writes:

"That time lingers in my mind as 'the chowder summer.' It was the start of my life-long love affair with the dish. The fragrant aromas of clam juice and milk mingling together still evoke not only the dish itself but the whole experience: the driftwood I had carried up from the beach and sawn myself, now crackling in the fireplace; the chowder full of clams I had just dug, cleaned, and prepared, and potatoes I had carried back three miles from the store, heating in the big battered pot on the propane stove."

I sought a "chowder summer" or fall, winter, spring. I knew what the perfect chowder would be like and I thought it could be found. Alas, no. The best chowder in Oregon was far too thick. The best in New England was far too thin. And all the others I tried failed in both flavor and consistency. Nevertheless, I learned a lot about what I sought in the quest itself.

The perfect clam chowder, in my mind, tastes more of clams than dairy. It has distinctive notes of pork, but these notes are background. It should be distinctively salty — recalling the sea. Freshly ground black pepper should enliven the flavor. The potatoes should contribute a slightly sweet note and a clear connection to the land. The consistency should about the same as heavy cream (not gravy), but with a less fatty mouth feel.

I still haven’t found perfection, but I come closer. For instance, someone recommended thickening the chowder with ground oyster crackers. Brilliant! The ground crackers add body without changing the consistency (it's still a soup instead of gravy, which using a roux gives you). Bacon (with it's slightly smoky component) is better than fat back. Use lots of clam juice. And choose small waxy potatoes for a slightly sweet note and something to actually chew on.

So here's what I made most recently:

New England Clam Chowder
Serves 6.

5 lb. mahogany clams, scrubbed
2 cups potatoes cut into 1/2" cubes and cooked al dente
4 strips lightly-smoked bacon
1 sm. onion, diced
2 8 oz. jars clam juice
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp. anchovy paste
1 1/2 cups ground oyster crackers (or saltines), ground to powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in a soup pot over medium heat until slightly crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels. Roughly chop.

Cook onions in bacon grease until they begin to brown. Add one jar of clam juice and deglaze pot. Add the rest of the clam juice, cream, milk, and anchovy paste. Bring to a simmer.

Add clams and simmer until they open. Remove clams from broth with a slotted spoon and extract meat.

Add potatoes to pot and simmer for five minutes to warm through. Add clams, ground crackers, and salt and pepper and cook five minutes more. Serve.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | soup | chowder| seafood | clams

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Potato/Carrot Gratin

Orange and White



Back before the World Wide Web my dinner parties began with me sitting down on the living room floor, surrounded by cookbooks and back issues of magazines like Gourmet and Bon Appetit to put together a menu. At that time (the late 80's) my favorite go-to books were the three Silver Palate cookbooks, but I also relied on the magazines as well and I think this recipe came from on of them. As I found interesting recipes I'd jot down the name of the recipe, the book or magazine I found it in, and the page number on a yellow legal pad.

In some ways that old process was more fun and satisfying than what I do now.

Now days I browse the Internet and copy links into a Word document. It's far more efficient and I have far more recipes to choose from, but in some ways that old process was more fun and satisfying than what I do now.

I've long since gotten rid of those old back issues, and I doubt I ever wrote down this recipe — I certainly don't have it now — but I was so pleased with the results and it was so simple that I've made it many times since then. It's best when the first new potatoes appear in the market and you get that incredibly earthy flavor but even in the dead of winter it's a great dish. Be sure to use small waxy potatoes.

Potato/Carrot Gratin
Serves 2.

1/2 lb. sm. waxy potatoes, sliced 1/4" thick
1 med. carrot, peeled and sliced into 1/4" thick rounds
3 oz. Gruyere, shredded
3 Tbsp. minced fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, or parsley)
3 Tbsp. chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 350F. Butter a small baking dish or pair of small ramekins.

Cook potatoes and carrots in boiling water until just barely tender.

Arrange a layer of potatoes and carrots in the baking dish, sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, sprinkle with a tablespoon of herbs, sprinkle with a third of the cheese. Repeat for two more layers. Add chicken broth.

Cover tightly with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and cook another 10 minutes.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | potatoes | carrots | gratin

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Paisano: Duck Rillettes

For years I thought the Paisano was essentially a bum. A charming, well-groomed, erudite bum who could cook like a top chef, but a bum nevertheless. He spent most of his life wandering from place to place, he certainly didn't work for a living, and he seemed to survive largely on the generosity of others (including me). So it was a tremendous surprise when, shortly after moving to California, he invited me to spend Thanksgiving with him in Tahoe. Frankly, knowing he sometimes house-sat for friends, I assumed that was the case here. I had no other plans for T'day and hadn't been to Tahoe before, so I readily agreed.

I drove up on Thanksgiving, a glorious sunny day, forsaking the Interstate and instead taking a blue highway that wound slowly into the mountains. There'd been a couple of snows already, but the roads were clear and it was a delightful drive. I'd bought one of Charles Kuralt's books on tape and his warm baritone, telling of his travels across the country, was the perfect company. After a couple of wrong turns I finally found the place: a medium-sized, 1 1/2-story log cabin some distance out of town on the lake.

The rillettes were a revelation, how could something so simple taste so good?

The cabin had huge great room/dining area/kitchen dominated by a stone fireplace in which a fire was crackling noisily. The mantle featured a huge copper tray that I recognized as Arabic. Beside the chimney were five or six of shelves featuring a huge collection of ceramic and terracotta platters and bowls. The other walls sported a few impressionistic watercolors, which I subsequently learned were originals, not prints. A stairway led up to a loft and the second of two bedrooms.

As you might expect, the kitchen drew my attention. It sported a commercial (genuinely commercial) range, a large work island, a fridge, and a huge soapstone sink. The cabinets were stained green (as was all the trim in the house) and a similarly green door led into what I found was a walk-in pantry — thus sealing my complete envy. It almost goes without saying that the house smelled wonderful.

Paisano was making duck confit, or I should say, he'd just finished making duck confit. There were half a dozen legs cooling on a pan. Also on the counter was a pork loin — our Thanksgiving dinner. We sat and had a couple of glasses of wine and caught up, and that's when I learned the cabin belonged to him.

He told me it stood vacant much of the year, except for a housekeeper who kept an eye on it and dusted and vacuumed as needed. As we chatted I learned he kept the cabin because he needed a place to keep the few things he valued — the paintings (it turned he'd done several of them), his collection of platters and bowls, and a few other things. And also, despite his wanderlust, he found that he needed a home base where he could paint, and cook, and catch his breath. I also learned that my invitation to the cabin was an exceptional honor. It was his private space and he seldom shared it with others.

We started making dinner at about 4:00, the pork loin was browned in a cocotte (as Paisano calls it, a Dutch oven in my terms) and then he added milk and garlic. I steamed some beans to be sautéed with garlic, pancetta, and anchovies. Then I prepped Potatoes Anna while Paisano made Tiramisu for dessert. The last step was duck rillettes for an appetizer. I knew about rillettes but had never made or eaten them.

Rillettes are some kind of meat (rabbit, pork, goose, or in this case, duck) slowly cooked in fat and then pounded into a paste. Rillettes are an old method of preserving meat, very much a peasant dish in origin. It's served spread on bread or crackers.

Duck Rillettes
Serves 6 as an hors d'oeuvres.
Recipe adapted from Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.

8 oz duck confit at room temperature, about 2 legs
2 tbsp duck fat
1/4 c duck gelatin (from duck confit, a friend calls it "duck goo", it's the liquid that settles to the bottom when making confit)
plenty of ground black pepper
some salt, maybe

Place all ingredients in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle blade. Process at high speed until meat is completely shredded, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve on slices of baguette.

The entire meal was delicious, but the rillettes were a revelation. How could something so simple taste so good? Even when you factor in making the confit it's simple and easy. The champagne Paisano opened was perfect for cutting through the fat.

Note: Paisano is a fictious character and events presented may or may not be true.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | paisano | duck | duck rillettes | French | charcuterie

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Kitchen Window:Revitalizing the Dried Bean

Mah'moud was a big man — about 6 feet 3 inches and 250 pounds — so people noticed when he walked down the street leading a turkey by a string around its neck. He was on his way to the backyard of our house in a suburb of Cairo, Egypt, where I lived the year I turned 18 and where he worked as our cook.

You can read the complete article at Kitchen Window.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | kitchen window | beans

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