Merguez and Olive Braised Lamb

When the season gets cold enough, I love to serve braised beasts.  There is no easier (or tastier) way to turn a tougher cut of meat into a juicy, yielding morsel.  And it’s pretty easy.  If you follow the steps for braising, you can apply the technique to any protein and even some vegetables.  It gets even better; if you add more liquid, you’re now stewing, and you’ve mastered two techniques in one fell swoop.  Nice work, you.

Grocery bits.  When you are looking for braising or stewing cuts, look for shoulder, shanks, rumps, butts, leg and thighs, essentially the harder working parts.

While the braise was working, I got a vegetable side going as well; red bliss potatoes cooked in a saffron/garlic/bay broth.  I love this combination of flavors with potatoes.  Especially with fish or lamb, yum!

Step one:  Brown the meat.

Braises and stews are great because you can almost always produce the whole event in one oven-safe (enameled or otherwise) dish.  Get a little oil going in the pot, and bring it to a high temperature.  Lay the seasoned protein in the pot and give it a good sear.  Then turn down the heat and remove the meats.

Step Two:

Sweat the aromatics (here, onion, garlic, and bell pepper), then deglaze with a little wine (enough to just cover the bottom of the pot, let’s say), let that reduce by half.

Get your aromatic garnishes ready.  Hare are kalamata, castelvetrano, and oil cured olives.

Lamb likes a lot of aromatics.  I wrapped all of this up in some cheesecloth and butcher’s twine so that it would be easy to remove when the braise was finished.  A lot easier that picking out little pieces of this and that.

Step Three:

Return the protein to the pot, along with the aromatic garnishes, and cover the meat with additional stock or water by 1/2.  Bring this to a simmer and cover the pot (with lid or foil).

Step Four:

That’s it.  Now pop it in a 350 degree oven and check for doneness every once in a while.  Start after an hour for small pieces or thin pieces.  Then check every thirty minutes.  The protein is well cooked when the meat is very tender (pierces easily with a fork or pairing knife).

Here’s the braised lamb shoulder, tender, and out from the oven.

Step Five:

Check the remaining liquid for consistency.  It may need more body.  It may not.  Either way, remove the protein and get a good look.

This sauce need more body, so I brought it to a boil and whisked in a cornstarch slurry to thicken it.  Then I returned the lamb to the pot, brought it back to a simmer.  I served it out with the saffron potatoes and sauteed zucchinis dusted with a little smoked paprika.

Here’s the recap:

• Step One: Sear
• Step Two: Sweat aromatic vegetables / Deglaze with wine (or not)
• Step Three:  Return meat and aromatic garnish(es) to pot, cover protein by up to 1/2 with liquid / bring to simmer
• Step Four: Pop into 350 degree oven and check for doneness after one hour, then every half hour (or so) until done.
• Step Five: Once protein is tender, check sauce for consistency, and correct body / seasoning / return meat to the pot and serve.

Okay now.  I realize that some of these steps are multi-step-steps.  Don’t hate.  I grouped them this way, because I find natural resting points at each step.  If you need to walk away at any point in this chain of events, these are safe commercial breaks.  And as I mentioned, keep this process in mind, and you can apply the same technique to stewing as well.  There are a lot of classical favorites that fall into this category of cooking, and for good reason.  The technique it not overly complicated, variations are easily employed, and the end results can be really, really delicious eating.

Jump into the fire, my friends!

-Scott

Your First Bread Pudding

#12 Return to the oven until the top is nicely browned, 15-25 minutes.

Think of this as breakfast for dessert.  When I first heard the words ‘bread’ and ‘pudding’ slapped together and offered as a dessert, well, let’s just say I was skeptical.  But after several exploratory samples, I realized that bread pudding is like the best French toast ever.  With whipped cream and booze.  Hello!!!  The picture above is from a pear, tart cherry, and pecan episode I dished out over the holidays.

This is a great and easy recipe that I’ve used over and over.  Get a nice solid enriched bread, like a brioche, challah, or even egg diner rolls.  They will soak up the liquid really well.  Variations on this theme are only as limited as your time, energy, creativity, and pocketbook dictate.  So, feel free to play.

Here’s the master recipe which yields two 10″x6″ bread loaf pans, or two 9″ round pans.  They freeze well if you let them cool and wrap tightly with plastic wrap, so don’t worry about making two at a time.

• 2 pounds of bread (1″ cubes)
• 1 quart cream
• 5 (or 6) eggs
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 TBSP. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. salt
• misc. flavorful ingredients (nuts, fruit, chocolate, etc.) about 2 – 2 1/2 cups total.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Follow the pictures below for the rest, and enjoy!

#1 Cut 1 inch (or so) cubes

#2 Whisk together everything but flavorful ingredients.

#3 (optional, but yummy) 1 cup toasted pecans.

#4 Butter (or spray, but really, butter) the pans.

#5 Mix everything together and let the bread absorb the moisture.

#6 Season if you like (nutmeg, cinnamon, cayenne?).

#7 Test a piece (like French toast) for flavor. Or let it ride.

#8 Fill Pans

#9 Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

#10 Remove foil.

#11 If you want, (and I think you want) pour on a little melted butter and sprinkle some raw sugar, the effect is very nice.

#12 Return to the oven until the top is nicely browned, 15-25 minutes.

Once you take these guys from the oven, let them cool.  Then, get them out of the pan to cool further on a wire rack or something that will let them breathe.  Once they are pretty much room temperature, refrigerate, or wrap and freeze for future use.  If you have a little caramel sauce, and some whipped cream, you better quality assure a piece while your standing there.  Better safe than sorry.

Treat yourself to a little slice of nice -

-Scott

Cooking Notes and Vocabulary (Gnocchi)

I’ve been waiting to make these little treats for the last two days.  Actually, I’ve been looking all over San Francisco for a gnocchi paddle.  Two days, five wasted hours, and an indulgent trip to Kamei Restaurant Supply; still no paddle.  But, a new pasta roller, shinny martini shaker, bread knife, and crazy grooved rice scoop / gnocchi paddle stand-in did make it home with me.  So tonight, the gnocchi!

If you’ve made (or eaten) these guys before, you know they are delicious little chunks of potato fluff.  Most recipes ask for you to boil the potatoes, but I would like to recommend a different approach.  Bake them.  And keep the skins on too.  The potato skin has most of the aroma, and potatoes cooked in their jackets retain more of that aroma in the flesh (in my opinion).  If you think about it, bake them a day (or two!) ahead of time.

Baking the potatoes will yield a less waterlogged flesh than boiling.  And that’s good.  When making the gnocchi, you want to incorporate a little egg, and just enough flour.  With boiled potatoes, I find that I end up adding a lot more flour to get the consistency I’m looking for.  Also, some recipes will ask for you to boil, mill, and then bake the potato flesh.  This seems like a lot of work (and time) just to end up with baked potato flesh.  But I’m open to feedback here

Here’s the recipe that follows below:

Chef Louise’s Parmesan Potato Gnocchi

Yield : About 250 pieces (i.e. sh@tload)

• 6 ea Russet potatoes (baked, peeled, shredded)
• 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour (plus some for shaping)
• 1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
• 3 eggs
• 3 yolks
• Salt and pepper to taste

Here are some important things to remember.  Once the potatoes have cooled and been peeled (I try to wait a few hours, and up to two days), think about this process as a work of pastry.  Try to keep the potato light and fluffy.  Work lightly with just the fingers to incorporate the flour.  Try to get almost all of the little potato bits covered in flour.  You should end up with something that looks a lot like wet sand or the beginning of a biscuit mix.  Incorporate the cheese in the same way.  Add any salt / pepper / dry seasoning (I like a little nutmeg) the same way.  Then incorporate the egg all at once with a fork.  Bring the dough together, and give it a few turns (knead it a few times) to make sure that everything is incorporated and holding together well.  Then proceed with the shaping process.

Gnocchi Basics

Peeled Russet

Shredded Potatoes

Flour, Incorporated

Seasoning

Fork It

Brought Together

Gnocchi Loaf

Start with a small piece of dough on a lightly floured surface.

I find that pulling the dough towards me with one hand keeps everything together and makes a uniform roll.  Once the roll is big enough, I move to both hands.

Roll the piece out to a uniform diameter.  Usually, a half inch is a good size.  If the gnocchi are uniform in size they will cook at the same time.  You don’t have to freak out about this, but you are welcome to.

Cut pieces off that are pretty close to the same size.  I use my thumb joint as a guide.

Put each gnocchi on the grooved surface, with the cut ends parallel to the left-right motion of the thumb.  Some people will use the tines of a fork for this process.

This doesn’t entail several hours looking for a gnocchi paddle, but as my good friend says “To each, they own”.

Fork gnocchi / Paddle gnocchi

Here’s another point of interest.  Cook the gnocchi in simmering, salted water.  They will rise to the top when they are almost done.  Let them simmer for a minute and then remove them.  They will be cooked through and fluffy.  Some recipes ask for you to cook in boiling water.  I prefer to simmer.  Do what you like best.

You can reserve to a perforated tray, or even a resting / wire rack.

If you plan on eating these right away, toss them with oil (to keep from sticking) and keep them in a covered container, or put them into your sauce and serve.  Otherwise, proceed once the gnocchi have cooled a little bit, toss them with oil (olive or neutral), and set them out to cool on some parchment or a clean kitchen towel.  Reserve for your future use.

When you are ready to use the stored gnocchi, you can steam, saute, simmer, (microwave?) and serve with whatever sauce / garnish sounds tasty.

For my treat tonight, I sweated some diced onion, zucchini, and garlic with some chili flakes and rosemary.  Then I threw in some diced tomatoes and kumquats.  It was just what I was looking for.  I used 10 gnocchi for this portion which was a nice (smaller) side dish size.  I snacked on about 15 naked gnocchi while I was making them.  Quality control, of course.

Your first gnocchi may not be picture perfect, but hopefully they taste great.  It takes a little while for some people to get a ‘feeling’ for both the dough and the shaping.  If they look really terrible, just dim the lights, eat them with lots of red sauce and grated cheese, and find an excuse to try making them again soon.

Eat well and Be well!

-Scott

Thomas Keller’s Newest Book

Hey there -   If you read this blog even a little, you know I’m a fan of technique over recipes; ratios over complications.  If that sounds like something you might like to delve into, check out this new book.  The Ad Hoc at Home cook book has just recently been released, and it’s delicious.  Like all of Keller’s books, the photos are sexy, the writing is inspirational, and the mofo is heavy.  But this is a buttoned down T.K.  This is the backyard, crack a brewsky, slip into my yacht loafers T.K.  According to insiders, we can thank Chef Dave Cruz for this accessibility.  He spent months with out a day off in order to work on this book, and he put his heart and soul into it.  Bravo, Chef.

Here’s Chef Keller and me.  Chef Cruz is in the background right.

I had a copy signed for a friend, and the inscription reads “It’s all about family”.

A Quick (One-Handed?) Meal

After work yesterday, I wanted to make a quick meal, so I went for a classic; Stuffed Crepes with Walnut and Cheese Gratin.  For the filling, I browned some chopped up bacon, onion, apple, and currants.  Meanwhile I made the crepes.  I brought all of the sauteed bits together with a couple of eggs, and rolled it up in the crepes.  I covered the crepes with a little shredded cheese and walnut bits and popped into the toaster oven to broil.

Broiling…

And here’s the end result!  Quick, simple, tasty.

 

Okay.  For the non-believers out there, a special treat.  Here’s a video of me making some example crepes; with one hand.  If I didn’t have to hold the camera, it would have taken about half the time.

 

Crepe batter is a really simple ratio – 1:1:1/2   1 part egg, 1 part milk, 1/2 part flour.  A lot of serious recipes (like Alton Brown’s) will ask for you to rest the batter for a length of time, which is fine if you have the time.  If you don’t, or can’t wait (like me), plow right in.  They might not have Top Chef finesse, but they will certainly be tasty.

Bon Appetit !

-Scott