Fed Up
Page 23
Meg Travis
Ipswich, Massachusetts
Serves 4-6
Salad
Salad greens, approximately 1 head of lettuce for
every 3 people
1 small log of goat cheese, crumbled (Make sure you
buy goat cheese that’s been salted. My favorite is from
Vermont Butter & Cheese Company)
1 package of dried cranberries or Craisins
½ cup pecans, toasted and chopped
Mix together and toss with the maple syrup vinaigrette.
Maple Syrup Vinaigrette
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. grade B maple syrup
1 tsp. dried sweet basil
½ cup olive oil
Whisk together the salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar until the salt dissolves. Stir in mustard, syrup, and basil. Whisk constantly while drizzling in oil: the dressing will form an emulsion and thicken. Refrigerate until ready to use. Bring up to room temperature before serving, since the olive oil will harden in the fridge. Makes roughly ¾ cup.
Polpette (Tuscan Meatballs)
Josh Ziskin, Executive Chef at La Morra
Brookline, Massachusetts
www.lamorra.com
Serves 8-10 as appetizer
½ loaf bread, cut into large cubes
3 cups milk
1½ cups dried porcini mushrooms
5 lbs. ground beef
2 cups Parmesan cheese
¼ lb. prosciutto, thickly sliced and diced
4 eggs
3 cups flour
3 cups white wine
Soak bread in milk until it is fully absorbed. Soak porcini mushrooms in water until hydrated and clean. Remove and chop. Mix the next 4 ingredients, and then add mushrooms and bread. Mix well. Roll into desired-size balls. Flour each ball, and shake off the extra flour. Sear in a pan on all sides until light brown. Add wine until it comes halfway up the side of the meatballs. Put in oven and bake at 400° until cooked through, approximately 15 minutes.
Aroncini (Fried Stuffed Risotto)
Josh Ziskin
Serves 8-10 as an appetizer
1 yellow onion, diced fine
4 tbsp. cooking oil
1 pound Arborio rice
½ cup white wine
1 quart water or chicken stock, warm
4 tbsp. butter
½-¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt to taste
2 oz. Italian meat (salami, capicola, etc.)
6 oz. smoked mozzarella or Fontina cheese
2 eggs
Flour for dredging
2 cups bread crumbs
Oil for frying
Sauté onion in oil until translucent. Add rice and cook for 3 minutes until rice is coated in oil. Add wine and stir until absorbed. Add warm water or chicken stock, 2 cups at a time. Rice should absorb liquid each time before the next amount is added. Repeat until rice is fully cooked through. Add butter, Parmesan cheese, and salt. Stir until fully incorporated.
Lay mixture flat on a sheet pan until fully cooled. While rice mixture is cooling, dice Italian meat and cheese into ¼ “ dice. Beat eggs and place in a bowl. Place flour in a separate bowl. Place bread crumbs in another bowl.
When rice mixture is cooled, moisten hands. Pick up about 2 ounces of rice and create a cup shape in your hands. Add meat and cheese mixture inside cup, and close rice around mixture to form a ball. Once all aroncini are formed, roll each aroncini in flour, then egg, and then bread crumbs. Refrigerate for ½ hour. Deep-fry aroncini in oil until golden brown and warm through.
Warm Pasta Salad
Jessica Conant-Park
Manchester, New Hampshire
Serves 4
1 Ib. pasta, preferably fettuccine
½ small red onion, thintly sliced
1 avocado, cut inton ½ bites
1 container grape or cherry tomatoes, or 2 plum tomates, cut up
½ cup (or good handful ) Calamata olives, pitted and roughly chapped
1 bunch fresh basil, roughly chopped
½-¾ cup good-quality olive oil
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 big squeeze lemon juice Salt and pepper to taste
16-20 Large frozen or fresh sbrimp, peeled and deveined ar 1 lb chicken cutlets Other: olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar, and Parmesan cheese
Start cooking the pasta while you prepare the vegetables.
Mix all the vegetables and basil with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a big squeeze of the lemon. Toss in a good pinch of salt and pepper. When the pasta is ready, mix it with the vegetables and dressing.
Heat a sauté pan with a splash of olive oil over medium-high heat. When the pan is nicely heated, add the shrimp or chicken. If using shrimp, cook for about 45 seconds to 1 minute per side until perfectly pink and cooked through. If using chicken, season both sides of the cutlets with a generous sprinkling of salt, pepper, and sugar. Sear on each side until golden brown. Don’t move the cutlet around too much while it is cooking, because you want the sugar to give a wonderful caramelized crust.
Toss the shrimp or chicken in with the pasta salad and serve with Parmesan cheese. I prefer this dish with lots of dressing, so add more olive oil or balsamic vinegar if you like.
Medallions of Beef with Cognac Wine Sauce
Nancy R. Landman, President and CEO
Great Cooks & Company and Great Cooks at Home
Indianapolis, Indiana
www.greatcooks.biz
Serves 8
Tenderloin
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 beef tenderloin, trimmed
Salt
Fresh pepper
1 cup beef or veal stock
In a skillet, heat the butter and oil until butter sizzles. Sauté the tenderloin on all sides; if the fats aren’t hot enough, the meat won’t sear. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Finish cooking the meat in a 350° oven until desired doneness, approximately 20 to 25 minutes.
Deglaze the skillet with beef or veal stock. Reserve these drippings for sauce.
Cognac Wine Sauce
2 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. chopped shallot
1 cup red wine
2 tbsp. Cognac
1 cup beef or veal stock
Herbs and spices to taste (salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaf)
In a saucepan or skillet, heat 1 tablespoon butter. When hot, add chopped shallot, and sauté. Add red wine, Cognac, stock, herbs, and spices. Reduce mixture to ¼ cup and check seasonings. Add deglazed drippings from tenderloin. Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter bit by bit to finish sauce, whisking continuously.
Turned Vegetables
12 large Idaho potatoes, cut in half crosswise
12 large fresh carrots, cut in half crosswise
¾ cup clarified butter
½-¾ tsp. crushed dried rosemary
Salt and fresh pepper to taste
Prepare turned vegetables: Carve or “turn” the vegetables into 7-sided ovals. Steam the vegetables until three-quarters done. Heat clarified butter with rosemary. Sauté vegetables until done. Finish with salt and pepper.
To serve: Slice beef and serve on warmed plates or platter on top of sauce. Garnish with sprigs of fresh herbs and turned carrots and potatoes.
Champagne-Poached Figs with Heavy Cream
Nancy R. Landman
Serves 8
1 bottle dry champagne or sparkling white wine
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cup sugar
½ vanilla bean
4 3-inch cinnamon sticks
24-32 ripe, fresh figs, preferably purple
Heavy cream for serving
Fig leaves for garnish, optional
In a large saucepan, combine champagne or wine, lemon zest, sugar, vanilla bean, and cinnamon sticks. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Reduce heat.
Ad
d figs and poach over low heat until tender but not shapeless, 20-30 minutes. Transfer the figs to a serving dish.
Reduce poaching liquid to 1½ cups. Remove vanilla bean and cinnamon sticks. Pour sauce over figs. Serve at room temperature with heavy cream. Garnish with fig leaves if desired.
Magret de Canard Barbara
Barbara Seagle
Brookline, Massachusetts
Serves 4
1/3 cup water
2 tbsp. sugar
2-3 navel oranges, sliced
Unsalted butter
Four boneless duck breasts, skin and fat layer intact
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup red wine
Combine the water and sugar in a sauté pan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the liquid comes to a simmer. Add the orange slices and cook over medium-high heat until the oranges are soft and caramelized to a deep brown color. Swirl in the butter at the end of the cooking. Set aside.
Score the fat side of the duck breasts in a crisscross (diamond) pattern right through the fat layer, but not cutting the meat. Salt and pepper the breasts lightly on both sides. Heat a sauté pan over a medium-hot fire and add the duck breasts fat side down. They will sizzle and smoke. An amazing amount of fat will be rendered off. Cook on the first side for about 10-12 minutes. Most of the fat layer will be gone, but some should be left. Turn the breasts and cook another 10 minutes. Timing will vary depending on the size of the breasts, but they should be a nice deep rosy pink. Do not overcook. Remove to a serving platter or plate.
Pour off all the fat from the pan and add the orange mixture and red wine. Cook this mixture down until slightly syrupy. Add the duck breasts and heat through, basting with the sauce.
Slice the breasts across the grain at an angle into thin slices and arrange in a fan on each plate. Place an orange slice or two beside the breast and top with a dribbling of sauce. Voilá!
Mussels Bouillabaisse
Raymond Ost, Chef and Co-owner of Sandrine’s
Cambridge, Massachusetts
www.sandrines.com
Serves 6
6 large tomatoes, quartered
2 green peppers, julienned
2 red peppers, julienned
2 fennel bulbs, julienned
2 Spanih onions, julienned
½ lb butter
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups tomato paste
4 cup white wine
1 gallon fish stock or clam juice
3 lbs PEI mussels
1pinch saffron Salt and pepper to state
Sauté the tomatoes, peppers, fennel, and onions in the butter until tender. Add the garlic, tomato paste, and white wine, and cook for 10 minutes. Add the fish stock or clam juice and simmer for 1 hour. Add the mussels and saffron, and simmer until the mussels open. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Grilled Tuna Served
with Couscous Tabbouleh, Tropical Fruit
Chutney, and Mint Tarragon Dressing
Raymond Ost
Serves 6
Tuna
6 6-oz. center-cut tuna steaks
Olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper
Brush tuna with olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Grill for 2 minutes on each side over medium-high heat for medium-rare doneness.
Tabbouleh
1 box couscous (small grain)
3 plum tomatoes, chopped
2 bunches flat parsley, chopped (not too fine)
1 red onion, chopped
1/2 bunch scallions, chapped
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup olive oil
6 sprigs lemon verbena (optional) for garnish Salt and pepper to taste
Cook couscous as directed on box. Cool completely. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to your liking.
Dressing
1 cup olive oil
Juce of 2 lemons
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 bunch mint, chopped
1 bunch tarragon, leaves only
2 roasted red peppers (seeded and skinned)
Whisk ingredients together and set aside.
Tropical Fruit Chutney
1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and diced
mangoes, diced
red onion, diced
tomatoes, diced
1/2 bunch mint, chopped
1/2 bunch chopped parsley
Juice of 2 lemons
2 tbsp. Honey
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2-1 small babanero pepper, chopped (Note:These peppers are extremely hot. Please wear gloves when handling. Use pepper sparingly.)
Mix all ingredients together and macerate for 24 hours.
To Serve
Make a bed of tabbouleh, place a tuna steak on that, and top with a few tablespoons of the fruit chutney. Drizzle the dish with dressing and add lemon verbena for garnish, if you like.
Celery Root Soup with Foie Gras, Truffle Honey, and Pickled Honeycrisp Apples
Chef Erik Battes, Chef de Cuisine at Perry Street
New York, New York
Serves 6-8
Celery Root Soup
2 large celery roots
6 tbsp. butter
2 shallots, sliced thin
12 oz. chicken stock Salt, to taste
Peel and cut celery root in even, large dice. Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat and sweat the shallots until tender. Add the celery root and the chicken stock and cook until the celery root is completely tender. Puree in a blender and season to taste with salt.
Pickled Honeycrisp Apples
1 cup champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1/2 cup sugar
2 Honeyscrip apples ( or other crisp, juicy apples), peeled and cut into small dice
Combine the champagne vinegar and sugar in a pot. Bring to a boil and then cool down. Cover the diced apples with the vinegar and sugar mixture (pickling solution) and let sit for at least 30 minutes. The pickled apples should hold for about 2 hours.
Glazed Celery Root
1/4 cup butter
3 tbsp. water
Salt, to taste
1 celery root, small dice
Combine butter and water in a pot and cook over high heat until the liquid becomes homogenous and creamy. Season the butter and water with salt to taste. Add the celery root and simmer gently until tender. Remove from heat and reserve.
Seared Foie Gras
Foie gras, 1-oz. piece per serving
Sea salt, coarse
Black pepper, coarsely ground
Heat a dry pan until aggressively hot. Place the foie gras in the pan and cook on one side until it is 85 percent cooked. Then flip the foie gras, cook for 15 seconds, and then remove from the pan. Season immediately with the coarse sea salt and black pepper.
To Serve
Celery leaves, picked from the center of the head Truffle honey or regular honey1
Place a spoonful of the glazed celery root into the center of a bowl. Then top with a seared piece of foie gras. Top the seared foie gras with the pickled apples and some celery leaf. Drizzle the truffle honey all around the bowl. Pour the soup into the bowl table side.
Seared Shrimp with Butternut Squash,
Brown Butter Ginger Vinaigrette,
and Rocket Arugula
Erik Battes
Serves 4-6
Shrimp
20-30 extra-large sbrimp (5 shrimp per person)
1 tsp. chili flakes, ground
5 tsp. star anise, ground