Docsconz- The Blog

Taste of the Week - February 28th-March 6th: 677 Prime's Crispy Egg and Pork

When is a steak house not just a steakhouse? I had never gone to Angelo's 677 Prime in Albany because I always figured that it was just a steakhouse, albeit a very good one. I have nothing against steak or steakhouses. A good steak can be an extremely satisfying meal, but I can and do make a pretty decent steak at home (thanks to my CVap and great local grass-fed beef from Mack Brook, Lewis-Wait and Brookside Farms), so I don't typically go out for steak.

This past Wednesday evening, I attended a fascinating and useful forum on Media 2010: How blogs shape the new conversation sponsored by the Albany Times-Union and The College of Saint Rose. The event was over early enough to get dinner afterward and panel moderator and T-U senior writer and food blogger, Steve Barnes, and I decided to go out for a bite. I have very little experience with Albany restaurants, so Steve suggested sitting at the bar at Angelo's 677 Prime. Trusting his judgment, I said sure.

Angelo's 677 Prime is definitely a steakhouse, but owner Angelo Mazzone has given Executive Chef Jaime Ortiz and Chef de Cuisine Steven Kerzner license to be creative. Dinner overall was excellent, but one dish stood out as being particularly extraordinary - "Crispy Egg with Pork Gelatine." A perfectly poached egg covered with crispy chiffonaded strips fuille de brick and laying in a deeply flavorful pork broth, the dish rocked from every angle. The flavors were complementary and the textures of the soft egg, the liquid stock and the crispy strips contrasted marvelously. The dish was just outstanding and is clearly my taste of the week!

Since dinner was a spontaneous event, I did not have my camera with me. Chefs Ortiz and Kerzner were kind enough to send me a photo and the recipe for this great dish. I need to get back and see what else these two fine chefs have up their sleeves!

Crispy Egg with Pork Gelatine

 

1          qt         water

2          tsp        salt

2          tbl         white vinegar

2                      eggs fresh as possible

4          sheets  fuille de brick or thin spring roll wrappers

2          eggs     beaten

1          cup       flour

½         c          gelatinized pork jus

¼         c          veal demi glaze

1          pinch    chopped parsley

Tt         tt          salt pepper

1          qt         canola oil in a 3 qt tail pot heated to 375 degrees

 

-                      in a 2qt tail pot heat water, vinegar and salt to barely a simmer

-                      crack eggs into small ramekins to ease the sliding of eggs into water

-                      gently slide eggs into water

-                      poach for 4-5 minutes

-                      using a slotted spoon carefully remove egg from water and submerge in cold ice water

-                      remove from ice water when cooled and pat dry gently

-                      roll up the fuille the brick into one long log

-                      using a chefs knife cut thin ¼ inch strands crosswise so that when they unroll you have long strands

-                      season flour with salt and pepper and gently roll the poached egg in the flour

-                      shake off excess flour and dip egg into the beaten egg

-                      unroll the strands of fuille de brick and lay them out on a work surface in small flat clusters

-                      place the egg that has been dipped in beaten egg onto one of the clusters and wrap the egg in the shreds

-                      quickly and carefully place into the fryer oil tailpot and fry until the shreds stop fizzling or barely fizzle

-                      remove from oil onto paper towels to drain

-                      season with salt pepper

-                      heat demiglaze

-                      spoon pork gelatine into center of a bowl

-                      top with the warm egg (the heat from the egg with melt the gelatine)

-                      drizzle with demiglaze and sprinkle parsley onto the egg before serving

 

 

for pork gelatine

 

8          ea         pigs feet

3          lbs        pork bones roasted until dark

12         cloves   garlic whole

1          tbl         cumin seeds

2          tsp        dry oregano leaves

1          ea         bayleaf

1          ea         onion sliced

1          tbl         black peppercorns

                        Water to barely cover

 

-                      combine all ingredients in a stock pot

-                      bring to a boil

-                      simmer for 4 hours

-                      strain through a fine mesh strainer or chinois

-                      season with salt

-                      chill until gelatinized

-                      skim off the top layer of fat that will set at the top and discard

 

 

for the veal demiglaze

 

1          qt         veal stock

1          tsp        tomato paste

½         c          small diced white onion

¼         c          small diced celery

¼         c          small diced carrot

1          sprig     thyme

1          tsp        butter

 

-                      heat butter in a small 2 qt tail pot

-                      add onions, celery and carrot and cook medium heat until very caramelized

-                      add tomato paste and cook until the paste begins to caramelize

-                      add thyme and stock and cook until reduced to 3/4 cup

-                      strain through a fine mesh strainer or chinois and reserve

-                      when ready to use, heat in a sautee pan and reduce to desired consistency

Taste of the Week - February 1st-27th: Bee Pollen

While the glowing health claims are quite dubious and there may be significant risk in eating bee pollen, especially for those with severe allergies to substances like ragweed or bees, bee pollen remains interesting to me from a culinary point of view. It has much of the flavor of honey without honey's overt sweetness and also has an interesting texture. I used some this week to brighten some Greek style whole milk yogurt from The Argyle Cheese Farmer. I purchased both products last week at the Saratoga Farmers Market. I can see it used in any number of applications in which I may desire a honey like flavor without the extra sweetness or calories. Any additional nutritional benefit would be gravy. How have you used or tried bee pollen?

Taste of the Week - February 14th-20th: Cereal

Yes, cereal. Not just any cereal, though. Frankly, I don't care for most cereals on the market. They are generally too high in carbs and simple sugars for my taste and either lack good texture or good taste. However, this cereal, Heritage Heirloom Whole Grains High Fiber from Nature's Path really stands out.

First of all, it is delicious with or without milk and with or without fruit. I like it best with non-homogenized whole milk from the nearby Battenville Creamery. It stays crisp in milk and has great flavor without being too sweet. While it has 24g of total carbohydrates per 30g serving, only 4g are sugars with 6g dietary fiber. The cereal also contains 4g per serving of protein. All in all, not bad for a breakfast cereal. While I believe the term "certified organic" has lost a lot of its meaning, all in all, I still prefer to eat "organic" than not. This is certified organic. The grains this is made from include wheat, spelt, oats, barley, millet and quinoa.

It seems fitting that with the Winter Olympics ongoing in Vancouver BC, my taste of the week would come from Canada. We purchased it, though, in New Hampshire at the Upper Valley Food Co-op while visiting our son for Dartmouth's Winter Carnival Weekend. While we can get other, less satisfying Nature's path cereals locally, for some reason this one isn't carried near us. As a result, we took advantage of the generally excellent Upper Valley Food Co-op and bought 5 bags of the cereal, unsure when we would return. Of course, the cereal was not the only item we purchased there. Their cheese department has a wonderful selection of Vermont and New Hampshire cheeses, many of which are hard to come by elsewhere and they carry a wide selection of my favorite beers - those from Unibroue, especially Fin du Monde. I was both surprised and taken aback at their seafood counter though. They have beautiful product and go so far as to employ a labeling system for their different seafood products as to whether they are considered sustainable, threatened or unsustainable, which I applaud. I was shocked, however, to discover that they actually sell fish that they have labeled as "unsustainable" such as Chilean Sea Bass and others.  I queried the saleswoman about it. her response was that as a member organization, all they could do is educate, thus the labeling system. If members want specific product, they have to sell it! I asked her if they would sell Panda meat if members requested it? She didn't answer. I don't understand why an organization generally devoted " to supporting social and environmental responsibility" as they say on their website doesn't act even more responsibly when it comes to selling fish at risk of extinction or fished by processes destroying ocean ecosystems? What concerns me the most is what kind of chance do these fish or ecosystems have if even the "good guys", the people who are supposed to be doing things responsibly, don't act responsible?

Taste of the Week - February 6th-13th

Sports fans do a lot of little things to show their support and maybe add a little positive mojo for their team. I'm no different. Rooting hard for the New Orleans Saints in last Sunday's Super Bowl, I added a little touch of Louisiana to our dinner – tasso from Savoie's, which had been sent to me by a very good friend in New Orleans. I cooked it along with garlic, supple sun-dried tomatoes (freshly made and purchased at DiPalo's in NYC a few days earlier), parsley, Parmiggiano and cream and tossed it with pasta for a delicious and satisfying dish. The tasso added nice smoke and porkiness to the dish that was balanced by the sweetness and acidity of the tomatoes, the salty umami of the Parmiggiano and the lushness of the cream. That, good wine and a wonderful dessert made by our good friend, Amy, made for a lovely dinner. The dinner, company and the Saints winning made for an exceptional evening. I would like to think that using that tasso mojo had just a little to do with it.

Taste of the Week - January 31st - February 6th: Maple Loch

In a week of incredible dining, that a cocktail should be my taste of the week, has even me shaking my head and asking, "What?!?" I have certainly become a big fan of the cocktail revolution that has slammed the United States over the past five to ten years, but this cocktail was particularly impressive. Created by Mattias Hagglund, wunderkïnd bartender of Elements Restaurant in Princeton, N.J., the drink was original, creative,elegant, perfectly balanced and most of all, delicious. Consisting of Ardbeg 10 year old Islay single malt Scotch, Bliss Maple Syrup, Nux Alpina walnut liqueur, fresh lemon juice and house-made hops bitters. Extremely food friendly, the cocktail was slightly smoky, slightly sweet and slightly bitter. In short it was damn near perfect. Hagglund's other cocktails weren't too shabby either. He is a bartender/mixologist to watch!

I will be writing much more on this extraordinary meal as well as my other meals from last week shortly. Please stay tuned.

Taste of the Week - January 24th-30th: Rocky's Lasagna

Sometimes I think it is a lot easier for non Italian-Americans to appreciate lasagna. For Italian-Americans lasagna is very, very personal, perhaps more so than for any other Italian-American dish. While I can like a lasagna other than that from the Sconzo family recipe, I find few to be exciting. This past week, however, I ate one that, though it was quite different to what I am used to, was delicious and proof that different can be good too, even for something as personally ingrained as lasagna.

The occasion was a pot-luck business meeting for the Slow Food Saratoga Region Executive committee that was held at my home. Everyone brought delicious and remarkable dishes, while I supplied wine and my wife made home-made pumpkin pie entirely from scratch. For me, Rocky's lasagna, which he calls "Two-Day Lasagna," stood out not just because it was so good, but because it was an alternative lasagna that I really, really enjoyed and which opened my mind!

Maybe it was the ground veal from Brookside Farm or the fresh Italian sweet sausage and pancetta from Roma in Saratoga Springs. Maybe it was the combination of cheeses including cow's milk ricotta, feta, mascarpone and Parmesan. Maybe it was his home-made tomato sauce. Maybe it was the home-made hand-rolled, hand-cut pasta made with DP flour, semolina and faro flours. Maybe it was all of the above.  Though Rocky (current SFSR President and occasional DStB contributor Rocco Verrigni) didn't mention any, I could swear that I tasted some roasted red peppers in there too. Perhaps, that is just a chef holding back on his secret ingredient? Whatever the reason, the lasagna was remarkable and quite delicious, possessing deep, rich flavor with plenty of zing and zest.Though this one was freshly made, Rocky generally recommends making it one day and serving it the next reheated, so that the ingredients hold together better, thus his "Two-Day Lasagna" moniker.

Maybe I was able to appreciate this lasagna because it was very different from the Sconzo lasagna. This lasagna was quite compact without an overabundance of any particular ingredient. The Sconzo lasagna uses more ricotta and mozzarella compared to pasta and the sauce has more of a fennel component from either sausage or added fennel seeds. In addition, we generally prefer the lasagna fresh from the oven and appreciate its creamy, runny gooieness. As with so many things that go with personal preference, there is no right nor wrong, nor even an absolute "best" way. It is always good though to be able to expand and appreciate something for its own sake, no matter what name it goes by or what personal associations it may hold.

Taste of the Week - January 17th - 23rd: Banana-Rum Bon Bons

The banana-rum bon bons from The Chocolate Mill were a revelation. Well balanced dark chocolate, banana and rum made these not-too-sweet bon bons really stand out. I love the combination of chocolate and banana and the addition of a hint of rum put the combination over the top. The coconut bon bons, which I also had for the first time were pretty much their equal, but I tried the banana-rums first!

Taste of the Week - January 10th -16th - Laphroaig and Trotters at Max London's

I am no expert on Scotch, but thanks to Nigel Manley and the Slow Food Saratoga Region benefit dinner at Max London's Restaurant in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., I am a little more knowledgeable, a little more experienced and a lot more enthusiastic about the "water of life." Nigel poured three different Scotch whiskeys and one Irish whiskey at the dinner with each whiskey paired with food with the pairings orchestrated by Max London's Chef de Cuisine, Clifton Booth. The first pairing, Auchentoshen from the Scottish Lowlands with a duck terrine with mustard and greens was superb with the relatively mild Lowland Scotch providing just enough body and character to match the terrine. Manley next poured an 8 year old Single Malt from Glen Garioch from the Scottish Highlands. This moderately smoky, malty and slightly sweet Scotch was well received by the attendees and worked very well with Booth's daring Slow Roasted Beef Fatcap on grilled bread. The latter was daring because of the large proportion of beef fat served on the toast. The overall effect was similar to eating marrow on toast and quite delicious. The whiskey proved a fine complement.

My favorite pairing of the evening though showed real synergy to me. Manley brought a ten year old Full Cask strength Laphroaig Single Malt. 110 Proof, this whiskey on its own was a medieval beast, a dragon exhaling fire until tamed by a touch of water in the glass. The smoke of this Islay beauty was enough to make Booth's Stufffed Pig's Trotters with house cured Guanciale and lentils a competitor to Benton's bacon. Both the Scotch and the trotters were great on their own, but together, the effect was sublime. A bite of the crisp trotter skin followed by a sip of the Laphroaig was exactly what one hopes for in a pairing.

For a change of pace, Manley finished with a wonderful ringer, a single malt Irish whiskey from Knappogue Castle, that was served with Wendy London cookies including a sublime rosemary and pinenut shortbread, bodacious bourbon balls and a lovely linzer torte. The Knappogue Castle, all green apples and Jolly Rancher candy on the nose made a lovely dessert in its own right.

With Manley's selections, informative and entertaining commentary and Max London's always excellent food, the evening couldn't have been anything but a great one. An excellent turnout of a great crowd put it over the top. While the entire evening was memorable, the pairing of the Laphroaig and the Trotters really stood out to me as having been particularly exceptional and therefore, is my "taste of the week."

Taste of the Week - January 3rd - 9th - Wild Mallard Duck Breast

I had never had wild mallard duck before, always farm-raised magret. I was recently given some freshly shot and field dressed mallard breasts by my friends Albert and Pat Sheldon. Normally when I cook duck it still has its skin and subcutaneous fat. Since these were field dressed they were skinned rather than plucked. With skin on magret, I score it and cook it skin down in a pan until the fat is rendered and then do a quick sear on the flesh side. This was different though since it had neither skin nor fat. Having sought and received advice on facebook and twitter, I moved ahead and cooked the breasts for an hour at 125ºF in the CVap then did a quick sear of both sides in a little duck fat from the fridge. I served the duck with duck-fat roasted fingerling potatoes (I never make enough of them) and sauteéd shaved brussels sprouts with garlic and raisins. I paired the dish with a 2001 old vines Gevrey-Chambertin from Domaine Bachelet.

The duck was absolutely marvelous. Prior to the CVap, I applied a dry rub of Chinese five spice and sea salt. The duck was not in the least bit gamey. It was tender, rich and delicious. My wife, who is not generally a big fan of duck even enjoyed it and called it "the best duck" she ever had. While I'm not sure that I would go that far, I can't say that I have had much better.

Taste of the Week - December 27th - January 2nd, 2010

Smooth, fruit-rich with plenty of soft tannins, this wonderful wine from Jaboulet was a great wine to welcome in the new year, served with roasted bone-in pork loin, roasted potatoes and brussels sprouts with pesto following a split pea soup. Having been sick towards the end of the year and on-call on NYE, I was particularly looking forward to a nice bottle of wine on New Year's Day. This did quite nicely.

Taste of the Week - December 20th-26th

Ah, Christmas week! Is there a better week for riotous, extravagant eating? Sure, Thanksgiving is wonderful, but that is all about the bird and its fixings and is really centered on that one day. While there may be some latitude with tradition, by and large, tradition keeps that week pretty fixed culinarily.  Meanwhile, for someone such as myself, who enjoys spending time with my family and friends  as much as great eating, Christmas Week, during which tradition is prominent, but ultimately anything goes, is the epitome – at least it usually is.

This week started out promisingly enough with a wonderful Greek dinner party held by that fabulous Greek Goddess herself, Pat Sheldon and her wonderful husband, Albert that featured a succulent Greek style leg of lamb and a number of different “kopitas” amongst other delights. By a certain view, that lamb should probably have been my taste of the week, as it turned out to be the tastiest meal that I actually ate over the course of the week.

You see, by Wednesday, I began to get sick, very sick, with a nasty GI bug. I was supposed to be at work, on-call that night, but though I tried, I couldn't physically do it and had to rely on a generous colleague to cover me. By the next morning, Christmas Eve, I thought I was doing a little better and rather than stay home alone for Christmas (I'm no McCauley Culkin), I made the decision to go with my family to drive to New Jersey, where we would spend Christmas Eve with my family and their Italian based goodies (it was for there that I had ordered cheese, but that is a story for another time – if we are friends on facebook or you follow me on Twitter, you already likely have an idea about this), and Christmas Day with my wife's family, where another fine meal was planned. It was going to be especially convenient this year since both celebrations were in the same town with the homes literally no more than 5 minutes from each other.

When I arrived at my niece's house on Christmas Eve, mistaking the feeling in my tummy for hunger, I started sampling some of the delights including crab, lobster and shrimp cocktails, fresh mozzarella and baked clams. I didn't actually have much of any of them though, as it turned out that my taste was way off. Of the various things I tried, only my brother's shrimp cocktail tasted "right" to me (I don't know if that meant it was good or bad). In addition, I was no longer feeling better, but returning to chills and fever and frequent visits to my namesake. I had no energy and plenty of abdominal cramps as well. It was no fun and I was no fun, so ultimately, I slunk away and rested in a guest bedroom with an adjacent bathroom for the bulk of the evening.

With the help of ES Tylenol and Immodium, I made it through the night with only a few disturbances and I spent the bulk of Christmas Day in bed sleeping, while my family was out at my wife's brother's house for brunch. I managed to join the land of the living for dinner, but while they enjoyed beautiful beef tenderloin, I feasted with orange gatorade. That orange gatorade was my staple all that day and for a good part of Saturday as well. For a long time, it appeared that it would actually be my taste of the week.

Fotunately though, it didn't have to be as I was well enough Saturday night when we arrived home to take nourishment in the form of a goose-stock enriched chicken soup. I like a good chicken soup, but it has been some tiome since a relatively plain broth tasted so good to me or was appreciated so much by me. For that reason, my wife's home-made goose-chicken soup is clearly my Christmas Week Taste of the Week!

As with many things associated with Christmas, the most appreciated items don't always come in the prettiest packages.

Taste of the Week - December 6th-12th

My friend Joe Bavuso never fails to amaze me with his cooking skills, whether he is making something simple or complex. I stayed with him and his family for part of the week and had the opportunity to enjoy his cooking. The Buccatini Carbonara was as good an example of this dish as I have ever had. Joe rendered about 3 ounces of Lewis-Waite Farm bacon and crumbled the cooked bacon, reserving it. He then fried and scrambled the whites of three eggs in the bacon fat. Ten ounces of buccatini were cooked traditionally and added to the egg whites on the stove along with a little pasta water. Once the pasta has finished cooking, he took it off the heat, added the crumbled bacon, 3 egg yolks and a cup of grated Parmiggiano-Reggiano, mixing well. The dish was finished with freshly grated pepper. Simply marvelous. Serves three - scale for more or fewer.

Taste of the Week - November 29th - December 5th

If there was ever a place that looked like a tourist trap, it was the Cameron Trading Post in Cameron, Arizona, a dusty small town located near the eastern entrance to The Grand Canyon National Park. To even get to the restaurant, one had to walk through a shop filled with Indian trade goods of all levels of sophistication and authenticity. Nevertheless, the place was recommended to me by a woman who worked at The El Tovar Hotel in the Park. She said that it was a good trading post and a place to get a lunch on the way back to Phoenix. She described the Navajo Taco and even though it was 6:45 in the morning, just talking about it was making her drool.

She didn't lie. We sat down in a well appointed dining room to friendly serving staff, who immediately asked what we would like to drink. Being that we were in the desert, it was with some trepidation that I asked for water, though when it came, it tasted clean and pure. Before we ordered, we managed to see some plates brought to other diners. They were huge!

 

Navajo Vegetarian Taco

Our waiter was very helpful and accommodating. My wife and son were allowed to split a Vegetarian Navajo Taco, which consisted of Navajo fry bread, topped with "chili beans, mild green chile, cheese, lettuce & tomato." Not wanting to order the same thing, I ordered the Navajo Hot Beef, "Golden Navajo fry bread covered with lean slices of juicy roast beef, homemade gravy, grilled onion and mild green chili." When the plates came out, we were bowled over. It's a good thing my wife and son split the Taco. Each was still served an individual plate with a very ample piece of fry bread topped with all of the ingredients. My own platter was huge as well. The chili advertised as "mild" gave my dish a nice bite to go with the tender and tasty beef, the well-grilled onions and the smooth, beefy gravy. The fry bread was a perfect foil, providing crisp edges for textural contrast while acting as a thirsty sponge for the flavorful gravy. The taco was just as hearty and delicious. Unfortunately, with a lot of driving still in front of us, none of us could completely polish off our plates. Our waiter was even kind enough to give us an additional iced tea for the road.

 

Navajo Hot Beef

My Navajo Hot Beef is my Taste of the Week. A hugely pleasant surprise, it was hearty and delicious, just what one would hope for in a  dish far away from home. It was also quite representative of real local cooking. Between the honestly good food, the reasonable prices and the warm service, I would recommend this place as a stopping point for anyone on the way to The Grand Canyon or to Lake Powell or if one just happened to find oneself in Cameron, Arizona.

Taste of the Week - November 22nd-28th

With Thanksgiving smack in the center of the week, how could this not have been a great week for eating and drinking. It started with my brother's birthday paella and continued shortly thereafter to Scottsdale, Arizona, where we spent Thanksgiving with my three best friends from High School and our families at the home of one of those friends, Armando and his wife, Suzanne. They put out an outstanding Thanksgiving dinner and the following evening we had a great dinner at Noca, one of the finest restaurants in the Southwest, owned by another close friend, Eliot Wexler. I could pick any number of dishes or beverages from those meals, but there simply is too much to choose from. Instead, I will take a different approach to this week.

We had a great time visiting with friends in Phoenix. Our hosts have a wonderful home, one of the most impressive elements of which (to someone from the Northeast anyway) is the wonderful, fresh citrus growing in their yard. They have tangelos, mineolas, meyer lemons and regular lemons, but the most popular citrus amongst everyone staying at the house including the children were the grapefruits. The grapefruits were huge with thick, very bitter rinds. The pulp inside though, was magnificent – juicy and sweet with a beautiful grapefruit flavor. It was a blast to just simply go outside to pick fresh fruit to just peel and eat, juice or use in other ways. My taste of the week is the fresh citrus direct from their yard.

In honor of our hosts, Armando and Suzanne, I concocted some cocktails based on their citrus that I named for them. Unfortunately, without their trees just outside my door, I cannot hope to reproduce these variants of a Margarita just as I made them.

The Mandito

Tequila 200ml

Cointreau 100ml

fresh tangelo juice 200ml

2 sprigs fresh thyme

angostura bitters

muddle thyme and shake all ingredients in cocktail shaker

pour over grapefruit pulp into martini glass and garnish with tangelo peel

Makes two cocktails

The Suzannita

Tequila 200ml

Triple Sec 50ml

G.E. Massenez Créme de Peche 50ml

fresh tangelo juice 100ml

fresh lemonade 100ml

2 leaves fresh sage

angostura bitters

muddle sage and shake all ingredients in cocktail shaker

pour over grapefruit pulp into martini glass and garnish with tangelo peel

Makes two cocktails

Taste of the Week - November 15th-21st

For a number of reasons, I have been on a pumpkin kick of late. While there appears to be a national shortage of canned pumpkin, fortunately there has been no shortage of quality heirloom pumpkins in my neighborhood.Thanks to the work of Sheldon Farms in Salem, N.Y. I have been able to sample a number of different heirloom pumpkin varieties. While working on a dish for TGRWT#20, I made a pumpkin/chicken soup with cardamom and parmigiano-reggiano. The soup was a byproduct of a larger endeavor, most of which, unfortunately, did not work out quite as well as planned. Fortunately, the soup was a nice consolation. I made it by cooking a chicken and pumpkin along with cardamom, Parmigiano (I had been planning on using cheddar, but had unexpectedly run out) and parsley along with a little yogurt in a pressure cooker, Removing the chicken, I took the remaining ingredients and pureed them in the Vita-Mix. While my goal was to make a sauce, at this point, the consistency was decidedly soupy. I took some of the liquid and reduced it to a sauce. The sauce was quite concentrated in flavor. It wasn't bad, but it overwhelmed the food I paired it with - chicken and pumpkin nuggets. I was glad that I kept the remainder of the soup. I re-heated it a few days later and it was delicious! This soup is my Taste of the Week, because it shows that even the biggest disappointments can have their elements of serendipity.

 

The ill-fated dish consisted of chicken nuggets, pumpkin nuggets with a chicken/pumpkin/parmigiano/cardamom sauce and shredded brussels sprouts with chicken and sriracha...mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa! The conception of this dish actually had some merit. It was my execution that fell woefully short other than for the serendipitous pumpkin/chicken soup and the crisped chicken skin with lemongrass and salt. Back to the drawing board...

Taste of the Week - November 1st - 7th

Fresh peanuts from Mississippi, purchased in New Orleans at the Crescent City Farmers Market and brought home to New York, were fried in olive oil and salted per a recipe in The Fanny Farmer Cookbook. These wonderful peanuts, unlike anything in a can or a jar, were a revelation. They made an otherwise very good, home-cooked Pad Thai into an outstanding one and were quite delicious on their own.

Taste of the Week - October 25th-31st

Roasted Pumpkin

In a technique I learned from Alex & Aki of Ideas in Food, this week I roasted two heirloom pumpkins from Sheldon Farms and used the pulp in a variety of dishes and I am not done yet. One of the dishes was a roasted pumpkin soup with roasted Belle de Boskoop apple, cream, chicken broth, lemongrass (from the Crescent City Farmers Market), garlic and toasted pine nuts. I really liked the blend of flavors, especially the pumpkin and lemongrass. In another dish, I mixed some of the pumpkin with some fresh sheep's milk ricotta from Dancing Ewe Farm and some caramelized pumpkin juice from the roasting process. The pumpkin flesh, just by itself, right out of the freshly roasted pumpkin was delicious too.

As for the technique, it couldn't be easier. Take a fresh, clean pumpkin, place it in an oven-safe pan with sides to support the pumpkin, poke holes in the top and roast for two hours at 350ºF. Once it cools enough to handle, simply take of the stem and peel back the skin, take a spoon and scoop out the flesh. Of course, the seeds can be used as well or saved. Using the seeds may require additional roasting to crisp them.

Taste of the Week - October 18-24th

Soft shell crabs - check. Soft shell lobsters- check. Soft shell shrimp - what? I had never even heard of soft-shell shrimp before this past Wednesday evening, my last in New Orleans for this trip. I mean, I am not surprised that there is such an entity as like other crustaceans they grow by shedding their shells and growing into new ones that they secrete around themselves. For a period of time, these shells are quite soft. The phenomenon is most prominently known (at least in the US and in culinary circles) with soft shell blue crabs, a major spring and summer delicacy. I had never before seen soft shell shrimp even discussed as a culinary item, let alone found them on a menu. When I saw them as an appetizer on the menu of the newish Garden District restaurant, Coquette, I had to order them. I was quite glad I did as they were simply sensational.

Eating a shrimp shells not new to me. I have eaten many and in parts of Europe it is even custom to do so. I have also learned to enjoy shrimp heads, the well of great shrimp flavor obtained in most cases by sucking out the juices of said heads. With regular shell on shrimp the heads are difficult to eat as they contain sharp and difficult to eat parts along with said tasty juices. With the soft-shells, however, there are no drawbacks to eating the whole, beautifully delicious shrimp - head and all.

This was a new product for the restaurant, having received them for the first time that day. To their credit, they did not try to do too much with them. They pan-fried them to achieve a little crispness and served them with a not-too sweet bbq sauce and braised pork belly. The combination worked beautifully with the soft and sultry belly providing depth, earthiness and textural contrast to go with the divine shrimp.

I suspect the reason these are not seen more often on menus is that they most likely don't keep or transport too well and deteriorate quickly making absolute freshness a priority. It might also be quite difficult separating them from regular shrimp. I'm not sure how the chef at Coquette came by these, but I'm glad he did. For $10 an order, these were quite a happy discovery and my taste of the week.

Taste of the Week - October 4th-10th

In my house, I use the oven to roast. My wife is the baker in the family. That is something that she has always been good at and I have been quite content to leave to her. This week we had some plums from the farmers market hanging around in the refrigerator. She combined them on the stove with butter, Sicilian pistachio paste and some spices. She filled her pie crust dough and folded them to make little plum-pistachio tarts. They were incredible -tart, sweet and savory all at the same time and some of the best things she has ever baked (that is no small statement). There can be no question that this is my taste of the week.

Perhaps, if anyone is interested, she might add a comment with more detail about her ingredients and technique.

Taste of The Week - September 27th - October 4th

Early in the week, I prepared a Chicken stir-fry with Yuzu, sesame oil, wasabi oil, black garlic, soy sauce, almonds and cilantro. I served it with Chinese Forbidden Rice and and pan-fried shishito peppers. The peppers were more hot than not, providing a good background of heat for the rest of the dish, but the ingredient that made this plate stand out was the fresh yuzu juice that added a brightness along with the distinctive yuzu flavor. The black garlic gave additional depth. While I have enjoyed the flavor of fresh yuzu in many restaurants in recent years, I had never previously had the opportunity to cook with it myself. It was marvelous! I used some more later in the week as part of a marinade with salmon that I cooked in the CVap, but I didn't use enough for it to stand out. In the dish above I did. I would love to find a reliable and accessible source for this wonderful citrus.