Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category

Sea Bass, Parsnips, Spinach, & Vanilla-Saffron Sauce

The skin of the fish was very crispy and offered a nice texture change-up to the rest of the dish. The key was ensuring that the skin was bone dry before slapping it down in the saute pan.

And surprisingly the spinach was a strength. I’m not a spinach fan, but it was fantastic cooked the way it was here.

Recipe from The French Laundry Cookbook.

The recipe is too involved to repeat here, but I’ll definitely be making this again. The base sauce was a reduction of the mussel-broth I made yesterday, combined with vanilla bean, saffron, cream and beurre monte (butter whisked constantly during melting to keep it from seperating.) The parsnips were boiled in cream and run through a ricer (I don’t own a tamis.)

The spinach was wilted with orange zest (which was later removed.)

So delicious.

Sweet Potato Agnolotti with Sage Cream & Prosciutto

I received The French Laundry Cookbook for Christmas and I was anxious to try out one of the recipes. The sweet potato agnolotti was one of the first to catch my eye. What could be better on a fall/winter day?

The filling was sweet and delicious, and offset the gentle sourness of the crème fraîche perfectly. Each one was like a little “pillow from heaven.”

This recipe was good in that it afforded me the opportunity work some more on my pasta skills, and to try out one of my new gadgets, a “chinois” (or conical sieve.) It worked like a champ.

For a good description of the recipe, read this blog entry from someone else who tried it. You can look at the rest of my photos of the cooking process here.

In other news, I signed up for a knife-skills class today. Hopefully I’ll come out of the thing with a few tricks to speed up my prep work.

Lovely Bones

I cannot say this strongly or loudly enough: DO NOT use canned stock/broth. Use WATER instead. I repeat. You DO NOT NEED to buy that crappy can of Swanson’s low sodium chicken broth! It will HURT your food. Use water instead. When that recipe says 1 cup of fresh chicken stock (or good quality canned broth), please know that your food, 90 percent of the time, will taste better if you use tap water instead of that “good quality” canned broth. Water is a miracle.

– Thanksgiving: The best time to make stock

White Sangria

1 large orange, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
1/2 cup orange juice
1 large lemon, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
3/4 cup fresh blueberries
3-4 large strawberries, sliced thin
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Triple Sec
2 tablespoons Cointreau
1 (750-ml.) bottle fruity white wine (Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, etc.)

Drop fruit in large pitcher, and sprinkle sugar over top. Add orange juice. Mix with a large spoon.

Add wine, Cointreau, and Triple Sec. Stir well until sugar is disolved. Refrigerate at least a couple of hours. Overnight is best. as the flavor will develop and improve the longer it sits (although I find it hard to wait that long.)

Serve over ice!

This recipe lends itself well to experimentation – so don’t be afraid to add your favorite fruits.

Delicious (really!) Blueberry Scones

I know what you’re thinking. Scones are all dry and tasteless and icky. And they’re just generally all kinds of awful, right? Well guess what? These totally aren’t like that at all. They rock! They’re flakey and delicious, and here’s the recipe. You need to seriously make these RIGHT NOW.

16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), frozen whole.
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface
1/2 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp table salt
1 tsp grated lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and move rack to middle.
2. Remove half of wrapper from each stick of frozen butter. Grate unwrapped ends on large holes of box grater (grate total of 8 tablespoons). Place grated butter in freezer.
3. Melt 2 tablespoons of remaining ungrated butter and set aside. Save remaining 6 tablespoons butter for another use.
4. Place blueberries in freezer until needed.
5. Whisk together milk and sour cream in medium bowl; refrigerate until needed.
6. Whisk flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest in medium bowl.
7. Add frozen butter to flour mixture and toss with fingers until thoroughly coated.
8. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; fold with spatula until just combined. With rubber spatula, transfer dough to liberally floured work surface.
9. Dust surface of dough with flour; with floured hands, knead dough 6 to 8 times, until it just holds together in ragged ball, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking. Dough will definitely be dry at first, but resist the urge to overknead.
10. Roll dough into a 12-inch square. fold dough into thirds like a letter, using scraper or metal spatula to release dough if it sticks to countertop. Lift ends of dough and fold into thirds again to form approximate 4-inch square. Transfer dough to plate lightly dusted with flour and chill in freezer 5 minutes.
11. Transfer dough to floured work surface and roll into approximate 12-inch square again. Sprinkle blueberries evenly over surface of dough, then press down so they are slightly embedded in dough. Using scraper or thin metal spatula, loosen dough from work surface. Roll dough, pressing to form tight log. Lay seam-side down and press log into 12 by 4-inch rectangle. Using sharp, floured knife, cut rectangle crosswise into 4 equal rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally to form 2 triangles and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet.
12. Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake until tops and bottoms are golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Work the dough as little as possible—work quickly and knead and fold the dough only the number of times called for. The butter should be frozen solid before grating. In hot or humid environments, chill the flour mixture and workbowls before use. While the recipe calls for 2 whole sticks of butter, only 10 tablespoons are actually used (see step 1). If fresh berries are unavailable, an equal amount of frozen berries (do not defrost) can be substituted. An equal amount of raspberries, blackberries, or strawberries can be used in place of the blueberries. Cut larger berries into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces before incorporating. Refrigerate or freeze leftover scones, wrapped in foil, in an airtight container. To serve, remove foil and place scones on a baking sheet in a 375-degree oven. Heat until warmed through and recrisped, 8 to 10 minutes if refrigerated, 16 to 20 minutes if frozen.

How do they taste? My daughter came up and gave me a kiss after finishing one…that pretty much says it all.

Recipe via Cooks Illustrated, a fantastic website and magazine. If you’re a geek who loves cooking you’ll thoroughly enjoy Cooks Illustrated.