French Fries
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
3 pounds large Keñebec or russet potatoes
Salt to taste
2 pounds venison leg without sinew
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons garlic-parsley compound butter
1 bunch watercress, cleaned
2 lemons, halved
TO START THE FRENCH FRIES, heat 3 inches of the oil in a deep, heavy pot to 300°. Meanwhile, peel and cut the potatoes into sticks ¼ inch square and 3 inches long; keep them in cold water until ready to fry.
TO FRY, drain the potato sticks and pat them dry with a towel. Add as many potato sticks as will fit in the oil without overcrowding. Deep-fry until soft but not colored or crisp, about 5 minutes. Using a wire-mesh skimmer of slotted metal spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Repeat with remaining potatoes. Set aside.
TO PREPARE THE VENISON PAILLARDS, slice the meat against the grain into 4 equal pieces. Brush a large piece of plastic wrap with olive oil, then place the venison in the center and cover, oil side down, with another large piece of plastic wrap that has been brushed with oil. Use a smooth-surfaced meat mallet to pound the meat evenly to a ¼-inch thickness. Repeat with all the pieces. Keep each one in the plastic wrap for easier handling. Set aside.
TO FINISH COOKING THE FRIES, heat the oil to 360° and deep-fry the potato sticks again until golden brown and crispy, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels and season with salt.
TO COOK THE PAILLARDS, heat a grill pan or sauté pan over high heat until very hot. Season each paillard with salt and pepper, then grill for about 1 minute per side.
TO SERVE, divide the French fries among 4 warmed plates. Place a paillard on each plate, half on top of the French fries. Top each paillard with 1 tablespoon compound butter. Arrange the watercress next to the fries with a lemon half.
“Cassoulet” of Quail Confit with Pancetta and Lentils
Serves 4
Quail cooked confit-style in duck fat is meltingly tender and rich tasting. We serve it in a presentation inspired by cassoulet, the slow-cooked French casserole of beans, sausage, and duck or goose confit. In our version, the quail gets topped with pancetta-scented green lentils and garlic bread crumbs and is finished in a hot oven. Many butchers sell rendered duck fat, but it’s usually a special order.
Quail Confit
⅓ cup salt
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 tablespoons sugar
6 bay leaves
5 fresh thyme sprigs
8 cups water
8 bone-in quail
8 cups duck fat
1 head garlic, halved crosswise
Lentils with Pancetta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup ½-inch-diced pancetta
1½ cups ½-inch-diced onion
1 cup ½-inch-diced peeled carrot
½ cup ½-inch-diced celery
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
Pinch of chopped fresh thyme
2 cups green French lentils (lentilles de Puys)
5 cups chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Bread Crumb Crust
1 cup dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
½ teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
TO MAKE THE CONFIT, combine the salt, peppercorns, sugar, bay leaves, thyme, and water in a large stockpot. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set the pot in an ice bath until cold. Add the quail. Put a dish that just fits inside the pot on top of the quail to hold them under the liquid and cure in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or as long as overnight.
Preheat the oven to 325°. Combine the duck fat and the garlic bulb in a large ovenproof saucepan or Dutch oven and heat to 290° on the stove. Remove the quail from the cure and pat dry with paper towels. Add the quail to the duck fat and heat until the oil temperature increases back to 290°. Partially cover to leave a little space for steam to escape. Put in the oven and cook for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the quail are tender. Set aside and keep warm.
TO MAKE THE LENTILS, increase the oven temperature to 350°. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof saucepan or Dutch oven over high heat until hot, and cook the pancetta until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add the vegetables and garlic and sauté until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the thyme, lentils, and stock, and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. Cover, put it in the oven, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the lentils are tender but firm. Set aside.
TO MAKE THE CRUST MIXTURE, combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl.
TO ASSEMBLE AND SERVE, increase the oven temperature to 450°. Drain the quail and transfer to a large baking dish. (Strain, then cool the duck fat. Refrigerate for up to 6 months and use as many times as you like.) Spoon the lentil mixture over the quail. Sprinkle the entire surface with the crust mixture and put in the oven to bake until the crust is golden brown and the liquid starts to bubble, about 5 minutes. (If you are starting with cold ingredients, this will take longer.) Serve in the baking dish, or serve 2 quail with the pancetta and lentils and crust on each of 4 warmed plates.
Daube of Lamb Shoulder and Artichokes
Serves 6 with a little extra
A daube is a slow-cooked French stew, sometimes made in a pot that has been sealed with dough. In the days before home ovens, housewives would bring their daubières to the local baker in the morning after the bread baking was finished. The daube would braise in the still-warm oven all day, to be picked up just before dinnertime. This daube works on a similar principle. Once you get it into the oven, it requires no attention, and a few hours later, you can sit down to a hearty, wonderfully aromatic lamb stew. It’s even better the second day.
1 lamb shoulder with bones (about 10 pounds)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
⅓ cup olive oil
2 onions, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 cup dry white wine
3 quarts chicken stock
3 large ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped (about 3 cups)
2 cups tomato puree
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
1 fresh rosemary sprig
½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1 head garlic, halved crosswise
5 bay leaves
Bread Crumbs
½ cup dry bread crumbs
½ teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons olive oil
8 large artichokes, cooked and quartered
24 oven-dried tomatoes
½ cup kalamata olives
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
6 cups hot fontina cheese polenta
6 to 8 fresh rosemary sprigs
PREHEAT THE OVEN to 350°. Cut the meat from the bone of the lamb shoulder and set aside. Put the bone in a roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Set the bone aside.
TO BRAISE THE LAMB, cut the lamb shoulder meat into 2-inch cubes and season with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof saucepan or Dutch oven large enough to hold 13 quarts over high heat until hot. Add the lamb and brown, in batches if necessary. Remove the lamb and keep warm. Spoon off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the pan, then add the onions and carrots and sauté until browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Return the lamb and bones to the pan and add the wine. Bring to a boil and add the stock, tomatoes, tomato puree, peppercorns, rosemary, mushrooms, garlic, and bay leaves. Return to a boil, decrease the heat to a simmer, and skim off any foam that develops. Season with salt. Cut a circle of parchment paper that just fits inside the pot and a 1-inch hole in the center. Place the paper on the stew to cover, and bake in the oven for 2 to 2½ hours, or until the lamb is tender.
Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the bread crumbs i
n a medium sauté pan or skillet over medium heat and stir until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet pan to cool, then set aside.
Remove the lamb from the oven and discard the bones. Gently take the lamb pieces out, let the liquid settle, and skim off any fat from the top. Transfer the liquid to a blender and puree for 1 minute, working in batches if necessary. Strain through a medium-mesh sieve. Rinse out the pan, then return the sauce and the lamb to the pan. Set aside and keep warm. Or, if making ahead, let cool and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
TO COMPLETE THE DAUBE, add the artichokes, tomatoes, olives, and parsley to the pan with the lamb and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, or until all the ingredients are heated through.
TO SERVE, divide the polenta among 6 to 8 warmed shallow bowls, then spoon the daube over the polenta and sprinkle with the bread crumbs. Insert a rosemary sprig in the center of each serving.
Malfatti with Rabbit and Forest Mushrooms Cacciatore
Malfatti with Rabbit and Forest Mushrooms Cacciatore
Serves 4
You can make these tender rabbit legs, braised “hunter’s-style” in a tomato–white wine sauce with woodsy wild mushrooms, a day ahead of time, but make the malfatti the day you’re serving the dish. Malfatti literally means “badly made” or “mistake,” a reference to their irregular shape. Think of ravioli filling without the pasta. They turn up here and there in the Napa Valley, where Italian families brought them around a hundred years ago. We first tried them at the takeout window of a local liquor store that has been run by an Italian family for the last 30 years. Malfatti are also wonderful on their own, tossed in a slow-cooked tomato sauce or a mushroom sauce and topped with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. You can use chicken thighs for this recipe instead of the rabbit.
6 ounces spinach, cleaned and stemmed
1 egg
1 cup ricotta cheese
Pinch of nutmeg
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup plus ⅓ cup pastry flour
1 cup rice flour
Cacciatore
8 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
½ cup finely diced onion
¼ cup finely diced carrot
¼ cup finely diced celery
¼ teaspoon coarsely chopped fresh oregano
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup tomato puree
6 cups chicken stock
⅓ ounce (about ⅓ cup) dried porcini mushrooms, tied in cheesecloth to make a packet
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 (12-ounce) bone-in rabbit legs
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons minced shallots
6 ounces fresh wild mushrooms such as chanterelles, porcini, oysters, or shiitake, or button or portobello mushrooms, cleaned and cut into ½-inch-thick slices
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
TO MAKE THE MALFATTI, bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Blanch the spinach for a second; as soon as the spinach wilts, remove it and shock in ice water, then drain. Squeeze the spinach to remove any excess water (if you don’t remove all the water in the spinach, it will make the malfatti too soft). The spinach should weigh 2½ ounces, about ⅓ cup. Coarsely chop the spinach and transfer it to a food processor. Beat the egg and measure 1 tablespoon into the food processor; use the remaining egg for something else. Add the ricotta cheese and nutmeg, and process until smooth. Transfer the spinach mixture to a medium bowl and add the Parmesan cheese and pastry flour; mix well. Knead lightly and check the texture—the mixture should feel as firm as your earlobe.
TO FORM THE MALFATTI, dust a flat work surface (wood is perfect) with some rice flour so the malfatti won’t stick. Take a baseball-size piece of the dough and roll it into a rope ⅝ inch in diameter, then cut the rope into 1½-inch pieces. Transfer to a baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper sprinkled with rice flour; cover with a clean towel.
Repeat with the remaining dough. Refrigerate. The malfatti can be made up to one day in advance, or it can be wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for up to one month.
TO PREPARE THE CACCIATORE, preheat the oven to 350°. In an ovenproof saucepan or Dutch oven just large enough to hold the rabbit legs in a single layer, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat and sauté the garlic until lightly browned. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and ⅛ teaspoon of the oregano, and sauté until the vegetables start to brown, about 3 minutes. Add the wine, tomato puree, chicken stock, and dried porcini in cheesecloth. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam that develops, season lightly with salt and pepper, and decrease the heat to a simmer.
Meanwhile, season the rabbit legs with salt and pepper, then dredge in the flour; pat off any excess. Heat the remaining 6 tablespoons olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until hot. Add the rabbit and cook until golden brown, about 2½ minutes per side. Transfer the rabbit to the sauce. Return the sauce to a simmer and skim off any foam that develops. Cut a circle of parchment paper that just fits inside the pot and a 1-inch hole in the center. Place the paper on the cacciatore to cover and bake in the oven, for 45 to 60 minutes, or until the legs are fork tender. Remove the pan from the oven. Transfer the rabbit legs to a dish and keep warm. Remove the porcini mushroom packet and take the mushrooms out of the cheesecloth. Transfer them to a blender with 1 cup of the sauce and puree until smooth, then return the puree to the sauce. Cook over high heat until the sauce is reduced to 5 cups.
Return the rabbit to the sauce and keep warm. To cook the mushrooms, melt the butter in a large sauté pan or skillet over high heat, add the shallots, and sauté until the shallots start to caramelize. Add the mushrooms and sauté for about 2 minutes, or until tender. Season with salt and pepper, transfer to a rimmed baking sheet pan, and spread in a thin layer to cool.
TO COOK THE MALFATTI, being a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the malfatti and cook for about 3 minutes, or until they all float to the surface. Meanwhile, add the mushrooms to the sauce with the rabbit and bring to a boil. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the malfatti to the sauce. Bring back to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Add the remaining ⅛ teaspoon oregano and stir. (Be careful when you stir the malfatti, as they are fragile.) Taste and adjust the seasoning.
TO SERVE, put 1 rabbit leg on each of 4 warmed plates, then divide the malfatti and sauce among the plates, and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
Daube of Oxtail in Cabernet Sauvignon Sauce
Serves 4
We love putting this dish on the menu and hearing customers—almost always men, for some reason—say, “Oxtails! I haven’t had those since I was a little boy and my mother made oxtail soup.” A daube is a classic French dish made by slowly braising meat with red wine and vegetables, and oxtails are a perfect candidate for this style of cooking. As they braise, their flavor intensifies and they release gelatin, which naturally thickens the cooking liquid. Like most braised dishes, this one is even better the day after you make it. If you have any left over, remove the meat from the bone, shred it, and use it to fill ravioli, which you can serve with the strained braising liquid and a little Parmesan cheese.
8 oxtail pieces (8 to 10 ounces each) from the large end of the tail
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
½ cup coarsely chopped carrot
⅓ cup coarsely chopped celery
4 cups Cabernet Sauvignon
1 cup coarsely chopped tomatoes
1 bulb garlic, halved crosswise
8 cups chicken stock
1 fresh thyme sprig
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
Pinch of sugar (optional)
4 cups hot mashed potatoes<
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PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 350°. Season the oxtails with salt and pepper, dredge in flour, and pat off the excess. Heat ¾ cup of the oil in a large, heavy sauté pan or skillet over high heat. Add the oxtails, lower the heat to medium, and sauté until golden brown on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Set aside.
Meanwhile, in a large ovenproof saucepan or Dutch oven large enough to hold the oxtails in a single layer, heat the remaining ¼ cup oil and sauté the onion, carrot, and celery until the onion is golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add all but 2 tablespoons of the wine, the tomatoes, garlic, stock, thyme, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and add the oxtails. Return to a boil and skim off any foam that develops. Lower the heat to a simmer and lightly season with salt and pepper. Cut a circle of parchment paper that just fits inside the pan and a 1-inch hole cut in the center. Place the paper on the oxtail mixture to cover. Put into the oven and bake for 2½ hours, or until the meat is tender.
Remove from the oven and carefully transfer the oxtails to a rimmed baking sheet pan. Set aside and keep warm. Skim any fat off the top of the sauce. Transfer the sauce to a blender, in batches if necessary, and puree for 10 seconds; the sauce is extremely hot, so be careful. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Return the sauce to the pan and cook over high heat until reduced to 3 cups. Return the oxtails back in the sauce and simmer until they are heated through. Add the reserved 2 tablespoons wine, return to a boil, decrease the heat to a simmer, and add the butter. Gently shake the pan to incorporate the butter into the sauce. Taste and adjust the seasonings. If the sauce tastes too acidic, add a pinch of sugar to balance the acid; taste and adjust the seasoning again if necessary.
Terra : Cooking from the Heart of Napa Valley (9780307815323) Page 15
