IDEAS IN FOOD

Charred Cherrywood Ice Cream

With cherries popping up everywhere it seemed only natural to use some of the tree to make an accompaniment to the fruit.

Strawberry Coffee Cake

It finally stopped raining long enough for the local strawberries to dry out and ripen. We picked up a flat of small, beautiful berries. Strawberries are easily Amaya's favorite fruit and we have to have a good supply of fresh and/or frozen berries in the house at all times.

Even though we happily eat cake for breakfast year round I have got coffee cake on the brain. It is something that brings to mind lazy summer mornings when the air is still cool, the skies are a brilliant blue and the scent of the air is filled with the promise of adventure. There is always and abundance of fresh fruit to cook with. Strawberries are the beginning, soon followed by cherries, apricots, peaches, raspberries... We eat them fresh out of hand, savoring their sweetness and juice. Then we cook with them, folding them into pies and cakes, grilling and roasting them for sweet-savory deliciousness or simply slicing them into salads with crisp vegetables and chopped herbs. The hot weather indicates simplicity (really a fear of of hot sweatiness) and the beautiful, abundant produce makes that possible.

Back to the coffee cake. Alex laughs because I refuse to make coffee cakes that require creaming the butter and sugar first thing in the morning. Of course on the rare occasions that he makes the coffee cake, he breaks out the mixer and bakes the day before, letting the cakes cool overnight so they're ready to serve the next morning. I don't plan that far ahead and I'm fond of a warm cake in the morning, so my coffee cakes tend to be a bit more off the cuff. At most I will clean and cut the fruit the day before, but then again, I'm probably doing that anyway so I have some ready for Amaya.

I prefer not to have to clean the mixer before my first cup of coffee when I'm cooking at home. I like simple cakes that are easily pulled together. Streusel is a necessity because Alex doesn't consider it coffee cake without crumbs on top. Years ago we worked with a breakfast cook/baker who would put a layer of fruit between the cake and streusel and that's been our go-to method ever since. Inspired by this strawberry cake I added some barley flour to my recipe to see how it would taste. Since I tend to be an early bird, it's the only time of day I can be guaranteed of a little solitude; I can get the cake in the oven before anyone else wakes up. The results are fantastic and easily do double duty as dessert when topped with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

 

Strawberry Coffee Cake

You can use 100% all purpose flour or 100% almond flour in this recipe but the combination of barley and AP flour has a wonderful texture and flavor. It's nutty, slightly chewy and yet still amazingly tender. 

1/2 cup (75 g) all purpose flour

1/2 cup (107 g) light brown sugar

small pinch of fine sea salt

freshly grated nutmeg

2 ounces (56 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (75 g) all purpose flour

1/2 cup (70 g/75 g) barley or whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon (3 g) fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon (6 g) baking powder

4 ounces (113 g) unsalted butter

1 cup (200 g) sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon (4 g) vanilla

2 cups strawberries, cut in half vertically

 

Preheat the oven the 350°F/175°C. Butter a 9-inch (23-cm) springform cake pan and put it on a sheet pan.

Combine the 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, pinch of salt and nutmeg in a small bowl. Whisk to blend thoroughly. Add 2 ounces soft butter and use your fingers or a fork to blend the mixture into soft crumbs. Set aside.

Combine 1/2 cup all purpose flour, the barley or whole wheat flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, ground cinnamon and baking powder in a medium bowl and whisk to blend. Cut the butter into sliced and put it in a 1 quart pot and set it over medium heat. When half the butter has melted, 2-3 minutes, remove from heat and swirl the pan until all of the butter has melted, 1-2 minutes. Add the sugar, eggs and vanilla to the pot and stir with a silicone spatula to blend completely. Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and tilt the pan to spread the batter evenly in the bottom. Scatter the strawberries evenly over the top of the cake batter. Cover the streusel topping. Bake for 55-65 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean although there will probably be some jammy strawberry love on it. The cake will looked cooked and firm and the topping will be golden brown. Let cool for 15 minutes on a rack before removing the top. Cool 10 more minutes before slicing.

Our Photography

Take a look around. We have spent a ton of time and effort creating these galleries and not enough time pointing them out. Spend some time looking in each of them as they are different and full of ideas and inspirations.

Celery-Jalapeno Relish

In developing our most recent caviar and ice cream preparation for IDSK-4 we had 2 of the three elements in place. The first was lovage-vanilla ice cream, a variation on our cream of watercress ice cream. The second piece of the puzzle was Steve's wild steelhead roe. In order to bring texture and spice to the dish we looked to lovage's demure cousin celery. To add some heat and spice, jalapeno was added to the mix. The two worked well together but needed a boost and a bridge. A trip to the weed patch provided us with fresh lovage, which we charred, chopped and folded into the diced vegetables. Some salt and lemon olive oil brought the relish together. When we served the dish we blended the roe with the relish and then topped it with a mountain of powdered lovage vanilla ice cream.

Final Menu

May 27, 2011

IDSK-4

Watermelon Gimlet

bluecoat Gin . lemon balm . lime cordial

 

Powdered Lovage Ice Cream

steelhead trout roe, celery-jalapeno relish

Torn Scallops

kimchi, coriander-kosho yoghurt. Asian pear pickles

Morel Mushroom Custard

chinese long beans, sesame dressing

Onion Lobster Soup

grilled cheddar cheese

King Trumpet Mushroom

speck, garlic miso, chicken wing

Broken Foie Gras

cucumber, smoked Worcestershire sauce, honey

Carrot Stew

xo sauce, onsen egg

Sea Urchin Rigatoni

seaweed butter, duck confit, sea urchin bottarga

Country Pate

watermelon, picholine olives, BBQ potato chip gnocchi

Blackened Hiramasa

rhubarb harissa, escabeche vinaigrette

Lamb Belly

peas and parsnips, chorizo soffrito

Skirt Steak

poasted grape and black bean jus, pine nut praline, hobbs bacon

St Agur

toasted strawberries, purslane, sauternes saturated raisins

Drunken Milk Jam Ice Cream

shaved chocolate chip cookies

French Toast

citrus marmalade, lemon-brie ice cream

 

Rough Ideas

Ideas and dishes take shape, evolve, change and become eliminated. Those that have cooked with us in the past know that the menu changes as we get closer to the actual dinner. The questions are often how do we get to the end result? The process is not as refined as you would think. It is a giant game of connecting the dots and the process of elimination. In case you are interested, here is where we stand right now for IDSK-4.

 

Powdered Lovage-Vanilla Ice Cream

steelhead trout roe, celery-jalapeno relish

 

Torn Scallops

kimchi, coriander-kosho yogurt, asian pear pickles

 

Morel Mushroom Custard

asparagus, sesame dressing

 

Onion-Lobster Soup

grilled cheddar cheese

 

King Trumpet Mushroom

speck, grapers, garlic-miso

 

Broken Foie Gras

cucumber, smoked worcestershire sauce, honey

 

Carrot Stew

xo sauce, onsen egg, (puffed octopus)

 

Sea Urchin Rigatoni

seaweed butter, duck confit, sea urchin bottarga

 

Country Pate

picholine olives, BBQ potato chip gnocchi

 

Blackened Mackerel

rhubarb-harrisa, escabeche vinaigrette

 

Lamb Belly

peas and parsnips, chorizo-soffrito,

 

Skirt Steak

roasted grape jus, pine nut praline, Benton’s bacon

 

St. Agur

strawberries, purslane, sauternes saturated raisins

 

Drunken Milk Jam Ice Cream

shaved chocolate chip cookies

 

French Toast

citrus marmalade, lemon-brie ice cream

A Couple of Good Books

As summer approaches, a new wave of cookbooks is hitting the shelves. We've been lucky enough to purchase two winners.The Japanese Grill: From Clasic Yakitori to Steak, Seafood and Vegetables by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat is one of those books. While the recipes may seem deceptively simple, they are full of bold flavor and as you flip through the book your fingers will literally itch to grill. Broiled salt cured salmon served with hot rice was one of my favorite childhood dishes and it made me happy to find a version here. It's a great example of what I love about Japanese home cooking, it can be simple in technique and execution and still somehow both comforting and delicious. The side dish section at the end of the book is really a salad section and this is a good thing because raw vegetables in a variety of rich and acidic dressings are a perfect accompaniment to the deep, smoky flavors of the grill that precede them. There's a wide range of dishes to appeal to any palate from chicken oysters, hearts, livers, and skin grilled yakitori style to garlic and soy marinated porterhouse, lamb shoulder steak with Japanese curry oil to grilled lobster with ponzu-brown butter. It's a pretty wonderful book and I challenge you to read it without getting hungry.

Another great buy was Sugar Baby: Confections, Candies, Cakes & Other Delicious Recipes for Working With Sugar by Gesine Bullock Prado. Yes she's the sister of Sandra Bullock but that has absolutely no bearing on this book. Organized by temperature starting with simple dissolve to hard crack and beyond, it is a clever and beautiful book showcasing a wide range of recipes capitalizing on the diversity of sugar. Sugar is one of those ingredients that seduces and confounds many cooks, including myself, of both the sweet and savory bent. It is endlessly intriguing for it's flexibility and beauty. From spun sugar cotton candy to candy corn, from whoopie pies to French macaroons this book is an odd mixture of old fashioned pleasures and modern sensibilities that manages to be charming in a straight-forward, slightly smart alecky way that I totally appreciate. Buy it if only to encourage the production of cookbooks with actual personality and keep it because there's so much to learn between the front and back covers. Candy cookbooks that cover a wide range of textures and flavors beyond the basic chocolate-caramel-hard candy type treats are few and far between and we should appreciate the ones that appear and enjoy them.

Two Milk Jam

We have blended raw cow milk and goat milk, sugar, baking soda, sugar and salt. The result is the incredible milk jam. The process is slow. The result is worth the patience.

Stuffed Squid and Beans

What are the variables? These are the elements of exploration and refinement.

Beef & Broccoli

These are broccoli stems which we have ground with onions, garlic and crushed red pepper. The stem mixture is cooked down in olive oil and when they are caramelized and tender we added the liquid of braised short ribs and red wine. We cooked the mixture down until it was thick and viscous. The result is a decadent sugo of beef and broccoli. We have used it to dress pasta as well as top polenta. It also pairs well with fish and blended with ricotta as a filling for ravioli.

King Salmon and Herbs

Here the king salmon head cheese is served with charred mitsuba and nasturium parts: flower, leaves, stems, buds.

Bonded Pork Jowl

At first we thought we discovered a new cut of meat. Then we realized we discovered a new constructed cut of meat. The clue was in the label, which said bonded pork jowl. A close look revealed where the meat had been joined together. Contemplating the wonderful combination of pork neck and jowl meat paired with our knowledgeable use of transglutaminase will allow us to replicate this brilliant combination of innovation and technology.

The Beauty of Head Cheese

People tend to shy away from eating heads that resemble anything familiar. My Aunt wouldn't touch anything on the table with a face. The only exception she made was for whole sardines at Christmas time because she grew up on them, they were on of her favorite foods, and the faces in question were so small as to be easily ignored as she gently pulled the golden brown fillets off of their bones. This is a pitty because some of the most tenderful and flavorful meat is hidden in the heads of the fish and animals that we eat. Cheeks have waxed and waned in popularity, partially because they braise into tender succulent pieces of meat and partially because they were once economical and then their wholesale prices rose along with their popularity.

Heads are a lot of work to eat. It takes time to dig out the tender morsels and separate them from cartilage and bone. They are harder to access and messy to obtain. SItting at the table happily rooting through a plate full of fish heads is an unlikely scenario, unless you are eating alone. Animal heads are easier to access but even less approachable for many. Tete du veau is a classic French dish that is parodied endlessly in movies and television as hapless Americans accidentally order half of a head on a plate. We find the idea horrifying but have no issue drinking milk pulled from a cow's udders or eating sausages wrapped in an animals intestinal tract. In this case it's all about the visual appeal.

Head cheese is the great equalizer. Once you've done all of the hard work cooking the head and picking the meat, if you still want to share, you season the meat and press it into a mold. There's enough natural gelatin available that it will usually stick together without any additional help. In fact, the real trick is making sure that everything holds together without getting too firm and rubbery. Good head cheese is tender and flavorful and seems to melt gently on your tongue. Bad head cheese is so firm and chewy that you're halfway done before any flavor hits your tongue. The meat is dry because all of the gelatin is on the outside and your jaw is tired and your palate is coated with nothingness by the time you've swallowed. Great head cheese is a delicacy, with a range of textures and flavors and once you've tried it you will absolutely go back for more.

I hesitate to write this because currently we can get beautiful fish heads for free at our local market and I really don't want that to come to an end. But our piscatory version of head cheese is too good to keep to ourselves. It's simple to make and it melts in your mouth. In this case we had the head from a beautiful wild king salmon. We brined it (5% brine) for 10 minutes. Then we cooked it in the CVap at 50°C for 30 minutes. If you don't have a CVap, cooking in a low 175-200°F (79-93°C) oven or in a very gently simmering steamer for about 20 minutes will work as well. We let the head cool to a manageable temperature before picking the meat. We gently seasoned the meat with white soy sauce, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and just a few drops of white truffle oil. Then we put the salmon in a small container, pressed plastic wrap against the surface and let it set n the refrigerator overnight. The resting period allowed the flavors to meld and the gelatin to set so that the next day we had something pretty amazing. The fish was silky and rich with a savory flavor that, in spite of the various seasonings, spoke deeply of silvery fish and cold waters.

Green Olive Strawberries: the first picked

Charred Jalapeno Noodles

The flavor of charred jalapenos is amazing. We started out by blistering jalapenos in a cast iron skillet. When the outsides were blistered and blackened we pureed them with water. We strained the water and had a wonderful charred chile water. (that is a whole other direction and one we will explore soon.) We used our machine to knead and extrude beautiful noodles. The results were long ribbons of semolina with the smoky, earthy heat of charred jalapeno peppers. They were great with herbs from our garden and lemon olive oil. As we continue to work with them clams and tomatoes will make appearances on separate occasions.  A smoked pork ragout seems like a no brainer and chunks of buttery crab or lobster with fresh chives and a hint of tequila will definitely be prepared. We may even have to break out our charred jalapeno and bacon sauce to dress these noodles and further emphasize the flavors.

Taking a Look Back

May 4, 2005 herbal cocktails (it's not what you think)

May 16, 2005 saying it clearly

May 26, 2005 mouli grated smokeded foie gras in action

May 31, 2008 beet greens

May 21, 2008 brining morels

May 17, 2008 the pleasures and difficluties

May 11, 2008 Eating Noodles in Tokoyo

Green Strawberry Olives

As our strawberries go from flower to fruit we wait. We watch them grow and form their shape. When they are perfectly unripe they will be picked and submerged in some green olive brine we have on hand. Since strawberries achieve unripeness at their own speed, this preservation process is a bit slow and takes patience. Happily we are getting closer every day. Hopefully we will have enough to fill a mason jar soon.

Lime in the Coconut

Here is the coconut-onion soup we served at our Lebec Fin dinner. The soup is made with onions, coconut milk, maple syrup and water. It is finished with lime charcoal in the style of our Meyer lemon charcoal. The spring roll was a a quarter of a softshell crab that had been marinated with mint, cilantro, lime zest, red chile flakes and olive oil. The spring roll wrapper was smoked with cinnamon. The dish itself was a great combination of flavors and textures and allowed us to sing the lime in the coconut song all night long.

Ayu Fish Sauce & Watermelon

YUZUSCO, more than just a hot sauce

Sound familiar? Yes, to us this name is a shameliss riff off of a very famous (and one of our favorite) hot sauces, which shall remain nameless because, frankly, everyone knows exactly who I'm talking about. We saw this Yuzusco at Mitsuwa and simply couldn't resist picking it up. How could it possibly be bad? It is of couse, delicious. It is everything and nothing like the original. How is this possible? Because every hot sauce out there is a combination of salt and heat and acid. Some add a touch of sweetness, a few may add a hint of bitter, usually by charring their peppers, but in the end all hot sauces are all variations on a theme. The key to standing out is to create something special enough to rise above the pack.

 

Sliced Short Ribs

I had a craving for short ribs and so we were off to Miitsuwa to help assuage it. There I found these beautiful (and well marbleed) short ribs. We made a quick marinade with fresh onion, jalapeno, yuzu kosho, mirin, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, garlic chives and a dash of roasted sesame oil. I marinated them for a couple of days and then they were quickly grilled and served with lovage rice, kimchi puree and miso marinated asparagus. Wish I had a picture of that to share but we were starving and dove in to the meal too quickly for photos. Use your imagination and then go forth and make your own. Grilled short ribs are special pleasure in warm weather, they bring new meaning to the phrase finger licking good.

Coconut Husk

I stumbled across this incredible inspiration while walking along the beach. What do you see? What direction can you take it? What now is possible?

Coffee White Chocolate Shortbread

If you've been following our recent dinners you probably know that Alex has a new obsession, shaved shortbread. It's a twist on a classic and it begins with a delicious shortbread cookie. As you read the recipe you'll notice we added a slightly unorthodox twist to the baking method, we cut out the cookies after baking, while they are still warm. I picked up this trick on the King Arthur Flour website. The cutter slices through easily and all of the little odd pieces are already baked and ready for snacking. This appealed to my sense of thrift since I don't mind eating the oddly shaped pieces and the re-rolled dough is never as good, no matter what people may tell you. This coffee white chocolate shortbread recipe makes excellent cookies, but if you want to take things one step further we've included instructions on how to shave the cooked shortbread as some of you have experienced at our recent guest chef dinners. We've also thrown in some ideas for variations because a recipe is only a starting point and it's important to follow the path wherever it leads you.

 

Coffee White Chocolate Shortbread

(all ingredients listed by weight)

 

100 grams blanched slivered almonds (or 100 grams of almond flour)

10 grams organic instant coffee

150 grams all purpose flour

160 grams unsalted butter, soft but not greasy

4 grams fine sea salt

75 grams light brown sugar

100 grams chopped white chocolate

 

Combine the almonds and coffee in a blender or food processor and grind to a powder. Whisk into the flour to blend thoroughly and set aside. Combine the sugar, butter and salt together into the bowl of a standing mixer. Use the paddle attachment to cream them together on medium low speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the white chocolate and mix on low to blend. Stop the mixer, add all of the flour mixture and mix on low to combine.  Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour.

 

Pre-heat the oven to 325°F

 

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper into a rough rectangle, approximately a ¼-inch thick. Transfer the cookie dough, on the parchment paper, to a sheet pan and bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes until they appear golden brown and cooked through.  Immediately cut out shapes, using cookie cutters, and then let the cookies cool to room temperature. Eat when cool or grind into crumbs.

 

To Shave the Shortbread:

1 batch of coffee white chocolate shortbread, ground into crumbs

113 grams unsalted butter

 

Put the butter in a small pan and melt over medium low heat. Once the butter is melted, continue to cook, stirring gently, until the butter solids turn golden brown and release a nutty aroma. Immediately remove from heat. Put the shortbread crumbs into a blender. Drizzle the melted brown butter over the crumbs and puree until smooth. Put the puree into a pint-sized deli container and freeze for at least 4 hours. Remove from the container and use a mandoline to shave the frozen shortbread and create fine shards. Alternatively, freeze the shortbread puree in ice cube trays and shave the frozen cubes using a microplane grater.

 

Variations:

Grind 10 grams of Earl Gray tea with the almonds instead of the coffee or substitute other teas.

Use citrus rinds, fresh, chopped ginger, or spices instead of the coffee.

Change the nuts and the fat: use pistachios and pistachio oil, hazelnuts and hazelnut oil…

Smoke the nuts and/or the butter.

Bud Vase

We use ramps.

Fairy Tale Squash, the return

After Halloween last year we were left with a few squash. We didn't buy headless horsemen pumpkins for our decorations. We bought good eating gourds, Fairy Tale Squash. When the day was done, and thanksgiving passed it was time to get rid of the outdoor artwork. I could not let the last squash go and tucked it into the corner of our garden hoping for something. Just recently amidst the weeds we discovered that our fairy tale was growing.

Artichoke Aligote

twice cooked fingerling potatoes

foil packed artichokes

aligote

 

Lime-Jalapeno Cordial

The great article on raw lime cordial inspired Aki to make a version. Per my request and fetish she added jalapeno instead of ginger. The cordial is an amazing syrup which made our 5th of May celebration all the tastier. Aki took the the juice and zest from the limes, sliced some jalapenos, added some sugar and salt and stirred. Our vacuum sealer helped expedite this last minute addition to our version of a margarita.

When it came time to mix the margaritas I realized that we had no Cointreau or Grand Marnier. Stymied for a moment, when Alex pointed at the Aperol I jumped on it. We used a reposado tequila and a bit of fresh lime to round things out for our Cinco de Mayo Margarita.

 

Lime-Jalapeno Cordial

*Adapted from Toby Cecchino's Lime Cordial

9 limes

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 jalapeno 

Cut the top and bottom off of the limes. Use a sharp vegetable peeler to remove the skin from the limes. Put the sugar and salt in a shallow rectangular pan and juice the limes over the sugar. Crush the peels in your hands and add them to the sugar mixture. Use a mandoline to shave the jalapeno into the mixture. Put the cordial in a vacuum sealer and runs the machine 2-3 times with the cordial inside. Alternatively you could put the mixture in a non-reactive container and refrigerate it for 24 hours. Strain and use immediately.

 

CInco de Mayo Margarita

1 1/2 ounces reposado tequila

1/2 ounce Aperol

1 ounce lime-jalapeno cordial

Salt the rim of your glass as desired. Pour the tequila, aperol and lime cordial over ice. Stir for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is cold and syrupy. Strain over ice and serve immediately.

May 3, 2011

Caramelized White Chocolate, Smoked Steelhead Trout Roe, Melon

 

Charred Squid, White Cocktail Sauce, Dill

 

Braised Whelk, Ramp Hollandaise

 

Bone Marrow, Potato Crust, Thousand Island Dressing

 

Fluke, Chive Blossom, Walnut Oil

 

Morel, Smoked Ricotta, Nasturtium

 

Soft Shell Crab, White Onion-Coconut, Lime CHarcoal

 

Ivory Salmon, Strawberry-Green Olive, Fava Bean Valencay

 

Kasu Cavatelli, XO Bolognaise

 

Duck Fricassee, Peas, Watercress

 

Lamb Shoulder, Artichoke Aligote, Kimchee

 

Sorrel Ice Cream, Rhubarb, Buckwheat Shortbread

Squid, Parsley, Pistachios

Option One

Charred Squid

In this case we took our squid, which is cooked at 59°C for three hours, chilled down and then charred them with our butane torch. The result is wonderful with the tenderness of the slow cooking paired with the flavor of our unilateral burning. Char on one side, tender and smooth on the bottom. The approach works well in both hot and cold preparations. We are still working on what we would call the "it" dish for these squid but the flavor is so good that we know this technique will be a staple in our repertoire.

Charred Lovage

 

Lovage as an herb runs deep in our cooking. Some would call it a fetish. The lovage from our garden survived the winter and returned stronger than ever. Since I am going through a charred phase, (thanks Paul Prudhomme) it was inevitable that herbs would be burnt. A catalyst, Chef John Shields at Townhouse, remarked on a charred lovage oil he was using on asparagus. It only took a pair of scissors and our butane torch to taste the delicious results.