Wicked Haute

Seeing 3 bananas start to get over ripe, I decided that they needed to become ice cream. I've had the idea percolating in the back of my head from various other food blogs.

Roasting the bananas deepens the flavor adding more complexity to the dish.

A quick search turned up ButterSugarFlours post about the recipe from David Lebovitz's A Perfect Scoop.

I slightly modified the recipe to fit what I had in my pantry.

3 ripe bananas

75g Demerara sugar

3/4c skim milk

3/4c heavy cream

fresh juice from 1/2 lemon

1/4 t sea salt

2 t banana liquor (My addition)

Chop the bananas, toss in the sugar, and roast at 400 for 40 mins. Stir through at least once.

Transfer to a blender, and puree with the remaining ingredients. Chill in the fridge and freeze in an ice cream maker.

I finally decided to make my own version of the Bacon explosion for my birthday. In keeping with the excessive nature of this endever, I found a way to take it one step further. The outside is still wrapped with a bacon weave, and for the sausage I made Bratwurst instead of just italian sausage. In the center, I used Fois Gras as an internal garnish as well as a liberal amount of crisply-cooked bacon.

Also, I decided to make everything from scratch.

Working from the outside in, I began with the Bacon. I cured 3 lbs of Pork belly, differing from my normal cure to include more ground ginger and nutmeg. The Bacon cured for one week, and was cold smoked for about 3 hours over Cherry wood.

For the sausage, I made 3 lbs of Bratwurst. I use the exact recipe from Charcuterie. Ruhlman's recipe is incredible, and I have found no reason to alter it yet. The standard bacon explosion recipe calls for Italian sausage, which is pork, pork fat and spices. My bratwurst had pork, veal, pork fat, eggs and cream. An emulsified sausage with a fantastically rich mouth feel and flavor. The only spices in the bratwurst are salt, pepper, ground ginger and nutmeg.

Something this excessive begs to have some Fois gras added to it. I removed veins and cut the fois in to medium sized pieces to go in the center. Seasoned with sea salt, cracked pepper, and some fresh nutmeg, I left the fois raw on the inside.

Assembly was the same as the standard recipe. Fois on the inside, surrounded by the lose bratwurst rolled into a cylinder, wrapped in the bacon weave on the outside. Smoked till just warm in the center so the fois melts a bit into the surrounding sausage.

Slice quite thin and serve to lots of people. It's not that unhealthy if you only eat a little bit.

I eschewed the traditional bbq spice and slathering of bbq sauce, as I felt it was not necessary. Also, I don't agree with the use of generic BBQ sauce on everything that gets smoked. I am a purist for NC style BBQ, but that's another post.

Poached pears are a delight to do, especially if you start with the cute little seckel pears.

I peeled the pairs and covered them with half white wine and half simple syrup. Added to that a few pieces of Star Anise and 1 stick of cinnamon, then slowly simmered these until the pears are almost done. Chill in the poaching liquid, and set aside.

From here there are a lot of possibilities. Slice them and put them in a Puff Pastry tart, Dice them with walnuts in a salad, or cut them into quarters and serve with some delicious Strawberry sorbet. For this meal, I chose option C.

A few scoops of the Strawberry sorbet and several slices of Poached pears, and the dessert was complete. Next time I would make a mint or lemon verbena syrup to serve on top, but simplicity overruled this time.

This is from a Vegan dinner series. To see the other courses click on the links below

First course: Smoked Tofu in Mustard Greens
Second Course: Cured Eggplant and North African Chickpeas
Third Course: Pickled Radishes in Almond Sunchoke Emulsion
Fourth Course: Poached pears and Strawberry Sorbet

Pickled radishes, salted greens and almond sunchoke emulsion

This was inspired by Thomas Keller's dish in Great Chefs Cook Vegan by Linda Long. I flipped through this book at a friend's house and loved the flavor combination.

I saw some beautiful fresh radishes when shopping for this meal and picked up some sunchokes as well.

To pickle the radishes, I brought some water and 8 brix verjus (1:1) up to a boil with 2 pieces of star anise and just a little brown sugar. I Added the quartered radishes and killed the heat. The pepperiness of the radishes works very well with the 8 Brix verjus. It's sweet complexity and slight acidity make the radish taste as if it was dressed with vinegrette from the inside out. They ended up tasting a little like spring garden candy, especially helped with the star anise floral finish.

Preparing the radish greens were the easiest part. I cut off the radishes and washed the leaves thoroughly. Then, salted them with good sea salt, and let them sit in the fridge for about 30 mins while I started the sunchoke emulsion.

The sunchoke almond emulsion was pretty straight forward. I peeled and boiled sunchokes with 2 cloves of garlic, and added some almonds. Once they were just soft, I added some lecithin as a stablizer and blended it till smooth.

To plate, I put the salted greens in a bowl, topped with the pickled radishes, and poured the sunchoke emulsion around them.

This is from a Vegan dinner series. To see the other courses click on the links below

First course: Smoked Tofu in Mustard Greens
Second Course: Cured Eggplant and North African Chickpeas
Third Course: Pickled Radishes in Almond Sunchoke Emulsion
Fourth Course: Poached pears and Strawberry Sorbet

Eggplant is a favorite crutch for chefs cooking vegan. My nagging inferiority complex about my food motivates me to find a way to do better. Not content to merely substitute a hunk of soggy eggplant for meat in any given situation, I sought to feature it for what it is.

This time I took a North African approach to the flavors and style of the dish. I seasoned the eggplant slices with Ras al Hanout and salt, and then vacuum packed them. This gets the salt in to break down the cells and draw the water out, which mixes with the spices and marinates them very quickly.

While those sat for a bit, I prepared some stewed chickpeas. Sautee several cloves of garlic in Argan oil. Add some cloves and a small stick of cinnamon and a can of chickpeas. Since this is vegan, I didn't add any stock, just the liquid from the can. Veggie stock would have been good, but I didn't have any this time.

Seperately, I took several slices of orange, seasoned them with Cumin and cinnamon. I vac packed them for a few minutes, and then cut them into quarters and added them to the chickpeas. The chickpeas were fully cooked, and shouldn't be cooked for more than 20 mins or so out of the can. Otherwise they'll be too soft and fall apart.

Either broil or grill the eggplant and serve it with the chickpeas.

This is from a Vegan dinner series. To see the other courses click on the links below

First course: Smoked Tofu in Mustard Greens
Second Course: Cured Eggplant and North African Chickpeas
Third Course: Pickled Radishes in Almond Sunchoke Emulsion
Fourth Course: Poached pears and Strawberry Sorbet

Normally I write here about food I've prepared. But, the drinks at Drink are worth a mention. A few of us met there for D's birthday.

Located in a sub-street level floor, not quite a basement, is a real cocktail bar. Minimalist design with wood, stone, and subdued lighting, it's got a nice vibe. But the real treasure here are the bartenders. Mixologists, Ice slingers, whatever you want to call them, these ones know their craft.

I have been on a Vesper kick lately, but decided to put myself in their hands. My First drink was a mix of Apple Brandy, rye whiskey, bitters and maybe a few other items I don't remember. Delicious, if a bit sweet for my tastes.

Next, I decided to stay on the rye whiskey theme, and had my first Sazerac. A cocktail with history, as our bartender explained as he made this drink. He started with a sugar cube, Peychaud's bitters, and a little water to dissolve the sugar. He added rye whiskey to that mixture. Then he poured a little absinthe into another glass, swirled it and discarded the extra, and poured my drink into that. The anise smell comes across first, but disappears into the complex flavors of the drink. Quite possibly my new favorite cocktail.

I overheard him telling another patron about a bergamot flavored something, but when I asked about it, he was all out. In its place, he suggested I try an Earl Grey martini.. Earl Grey infused gin, lemon juice, sugar, and an egg white. Shaken vigorously and strained, this was a martini with flavor and body. Another hit.

Well worth the journey across town, on a frigid Monday night. I'll definitely return to see what else they come up with.

One of my pet peeves of vegan or vegetarian cooking is the straight meat-for-tofu swap. Especially when they cut the tofu into the shape of whatever they're substituting it for. Drumstick shaped grilled tofu? No thanks.

I wanted to do this better.

Revisiting the Ham wrapped in mustard greens, I want to sub out the ham. So, I started with the tofu. Seasoned it with salt, pepper, juniper, clove, coriander, and powdered ginger. These are the flavors one usually uses to cure ham. Then, I cold smoked it for about 30 mins.

From there, the technique was the same. Wrap it in mustard greens, sear hard in a very hot pan weighted down. The tofu was remarkably able to stand up to a fair amount of pressure to get a good sear on the mustard greens.

In the end, I might actually prefer this use of tofu to the ham. Possibly because the ham I tried with earlier wasn't anything special. The tofu picked up the spices and the smoke flavors and the texture held up well with the mustard greens. This one gets filed away as a success.

This is from a Vegan dinner series. To see the other courses click on the links below

First course: Smoked Tofu in Mustard Greens
Second Course: Cured Eggplant and North African Chickpeas
Third Course: Pickled Radishes in Almond Sunchoke Emulsion
Fourth Course: Poached pears and Strawberry Sorbet

The title isn't right, but the flavor sure is. This idea came from my friend C.E.

Pave's of Ham, wrapped with Mustard greens, seared in a hot pan.

The good thing about this dish is it's simplicity. The ham doesn't have to be exquisite . Mustard Greens are as common a staple as you can get.

Cut the ham into rectangles. They are already seasoned, so you don't need to add any salt at this point. I didn't add anything extra at this point, but some ideas were a mild mustard, honey, maybe some pineapple preserves. Remove the bulk of the stem from some large mustard green leaves. Wrap the ham pave's completely. I did this while they were still raw, but it's worth trying to blanch them first next time.

Heat some grapeseed oil, or anything with a high smoke point, in a heavy skillet. Sear the packages hard with a weight on top. I used another pan weighted with a box of salt. Cook these hard for 4-5 mins. The mustard greens are tough, and need to be cooked thoroughly. Flip them over, re-weight, and cook for another 3-4 mins.

Serve over some Black-eyed peas and top with some good hot sauce.

This dish was so simple, yet so perfect. We made parmesan couscous cooked with homemade lobster stock as an accompaniment. I found that it needed both more lemon and more salt than the recipe calls for, so be generous...

Roasted Broccoli with Shrimp
(borrowed from The Wednesday Chef)
Serves 4

 

2 pounds broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds (or 1/2 teaspoon ground)
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds (or 1/2 teaspoon ground)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon hot chili powder
1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 1/4 teaspoons lemon zest (from 1 large lemon)
Lemon wedges, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, toss broccoli with 2 tablespoons oil, coriander, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and chili powder. In a separate bowl, combine shrimp, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, lemon zest, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

2. Spread broccoli in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes. Add shrimp to baking sheet and toss with broccoli. Roast, tossing once halfway through, until shrimp are just opaque and broccoli is tender and golden around edges, about 10 minutes more. Serve with lemon wedges, or squeeze lemon juice all over shrimp and broccoli just before serving.

Also known as Spag on the Beach. Delicious picnic pasta. Two key elements make or break this dish. The first, is using very high quality Italian tuna packed in olive oil. The second, is perfectly cooking the pasta. Over cooked, it breaks down too easily and the mouth feel is lost. Under cooked, and you lose attention on the flavors by being distracted by the crunch.

Start the garlic, capers, red pepper flakes, white anchovies and olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan on very low heat. Make sure the pan is big enough to fit both the sauce and all the pasta in the end. Leave on low heat to infuse for as long as possible, at least 20 mins. The garlic should not turn brown, just get a little golden. There is something magical about slowly cooking garlic this way. The anchovy fillets will just melt into the sauce.

After the garlic is cooked, add the basic tomato sauce, chopped olives, and the canned tuna with all the oil. Add half the chopped parsley. Cook a few minutes to combine all the flavors, and then keep warm while the pasta is cooking.

Before the pasta goes in the water, the sauce should be finished.

Start the Spaghetti in plenty of heavily salted water. Cook until about 30 seconds before al dente, drain, and transfer directly to the pan with the sauce. Add the remaining parsley and Parmesan. Toss thoroughly to coat. Serve immediately, or spread out on a sheet pan to cool. Serve at room temperature, preferably on a blanket at the beach.

3T EVO
3 cloves garlic
4 White Anchovy fillets
2 T capers, crushed
1 t red pepper flakes
2 T chopped black olives
1 generous cup Basil Tomato sauce
2 cans Italian canned tuna in EVO
2 T Parsley
2 T grated Parmesan
1 lb Spaghetti

Have you ever asked yourself this question: "I've got a confit goose leg laying around, what can I do with it?"

If not, I suggest putting yourself in that situation. Start with the legs from a good quality goose. Cure them for about a week. rinse off the cure, and cook slowly submerged in rendered goose fat @ 180-200F for about 6 hours. Chill and store in the same fat. You can now ask yourself the above question.

Building a dish around one ingredient is a good exercise in creative thinking. Instead of using the ingredient as the center of the dish, try putting it in other roles. For instance, a garnish.

German potato salad, served warm with a vinegar dressing, just begs for a fatty garnish. Usually bacon works quite well.

Slowly heat the goose leg in a heavy skillet, skin side down first, until browned and crispy on both sides. Then cut the meat off the bone into bite sized pieces, trying to keep some of the skin on each piece. Return these to the pan to crisp them up some more. Meanwhile, boil some fingerling potatoes in salted water until just tender.

Remove the Goose confit and sautee some thinly sliced onions in the same pan. Drain the potatoes and slice into disks while still hot. Not too thinly, you want them to hold their shape. Toss with Pommery Mustard and some vinegar. I used 8 brix and apple cider vinegar. Add the goose confit, onions, and a bunch of fresh chopped dill. Toss to coat, check for seasoning, and serve.

I had planned to make lentil soup, but when I reviewed the contents of my cupboards and fridge, this came out instead. Ras el hanout means "top of the shop" in the Moroccan dialect of Arabic, and denotes the best blend of spices that a spice shop has to offer. The exact ingredients vary from place to place. My ras el hanout, from Savory Spice Shop in Denver, contains nutmeg, sea salt, black pepper, ginger, cardamom, mace, cinnamon, allspice, turmeric, and saffron. I figured it was about time to use some of this unique blend of spices, and lentil stews are traditional to most North African countries, so:

1/4 c olive oil
2 small yellow onions, chopped
1 shallot, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 smoked chipotle (or smoked North African chile, such as you'd use for harissa), chopped 
Zest of 1 small orange (or clementine, or tangerine)
3 T sherry or red wine vinegar
3 T red vermouth or similar sweet red wine
1 lb. dry lentils
2 fresh tomatoes, seeded and chopped, or (since it's winter!) 1 14-oz. can chopped tomatoes
2 or 3 carrots, diced
2 or 3 small potatoes, diced
2 quarts stock (chicken or veggie)
1/2 c cream or half and half
3 or 4 bay leaves
1 tbsp ras el hanout (or more, depending on the strength of your ras el hanout and your fondness for spice)
1 tbsp sugar
Salt, to taste

Sweat onions and shallots in olive oil for a minute or two, then add chile and garlic. Cook for a minute more and add orange zest. Stir and cook for a few minutes over medium heat, then deglaze with wine and vinegar. Add tomatoes and carrots, and saute for a few minutes more. Add lentils, stock, and bay leaves, and bring to a simmer. Add ras el hanout and sugar, and stir well. Cook at a steady simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add cream and potatoes, and stir well to incorporate cream. Cook for 30 more minutes, then check seasoning and adjust. Potatoes and carrots should be cooked through, but still have a bit of "bite" to them. 

Serve with fresh yogurt and a good dark bread (in a strange fusion of New England cuisine with North African food, I served this with anadama bread...and it was pretty good). 

 

An Ice Cream maker has been visiting with me for the last week or so. Naturally, we've become close friends. Here's my second batch.

16 oz Mascarpone cheese
2.25 cups citrus syrup. Made with a mix of 2 limes, 1 lemon, and 1 orange.

Remove the peel and candy it a week or so in advance. If you want to speed it up, julienne the peel, pack it in sugar and vacuum pack it for an hour, then dry in a low oven.

Freeze the sorbet in your new friend, and add the chopped citrus peel in at the end if you want.

This sorbet has the perfect balance between the tang of the mascarpone, the fresh acid of the citrus, and the complimentary sweetness.

An additional step is to make a strong syrup with water, and then add the citrus juice to make up the volume. You will have a clearer taste than cooking the syrup with the juice.

This was directly adapted from The French Laundry. Always a good place to turn.

Recently, I had to make a Christmas pudding in a few hours. Traditionally this takes several days to put together, soak, steam, cool, and steam again. I didn't have that much time.

Delia Smith is widely considered the authority on traditional English recipes. Before I do any tweaking, I like to go to the source and start from there.

Her recipe starts by combining the fat, flour, breadcrumbs, sugar and spices with the dried fruits, nuts and candied peels. She adds the liquids and eggs at this point and lets it sit for 24 hours.

First time tweak. I left out the eggs, and just added the brandy and half beer. I mixed this thoroughly with the paddle attachment on my stand mixer. Then vacuum packed it under the highest setting. This helps the flour to absorb the moisture. After an hour, I emptied the bag into a mixing bowl and mixed in the eggs and other half of the beer.

The pudding is supposed to steam for 8 hours, which I didn't have. 2 hours of steaming in a pressure cooker did the trick.

No trick for flaming the pudding quickly. Besides, who wants to short change themselves of that fun job.

This is a signature dish of mine. The concept came to me while I was thinking about prosciutto ideas for a recipe competition. I think it was around 3 am, I couldn't sleep, and I imagined wrapping sushi in prosciutto instead of nori. The dish put itself together after that.

Since this has very few ingredients, they each must be executed or handled perfectly for the whole dish to come together properly. Rice, as always with sushi, is crucial. I can't do the technique justice by writing it down here, so I won't try.

Start by asking for the prosciutto to be cut slightly thicker than usual. If it's too thinly shaved, then it won't hold up to spreading the rice on it. It also needs to have some tooth to the bite to carry the flavor and hold up texture wise with the rice.

When preparing the sushi rice, season with red wine vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar. Dissolve a little salt and sugar in it before vinegaring the rice.

Cut the smoked mozzarella into 1/4 inch batons. Blanch the asparagus so its cooked but still crisp, and chill immediately to set the color. Prepare the soy balsamic reduction (1:1) by reducing by half and setting aside to cool.

To assemble, lay 3 slices of Prosciutto on a sushi rolling mat so they overlap each other by half. Spread a baseball sized sphere of rice thinly and evenly across the prosciutto. Make sure the edges are even, and leave 1/2 inch of prosciutto bare at the top. 1 inch down from the edge of the rice, put 2 pieces of asparagus, and a double row of smoked mozz across the roll. Use the mat to make a tight and even roll, then slice into 8 pieces. Prosciutto is usually a little wider than standard nori size, so you can get 8 instead of just 6 pieces. It helps to have a very sharp knife to cut the rolls, and get it a little wet so the rice doesn't stick to the blade.


Plate with the balsamic soy reduction and garnish with melon curls.

For my first course, I wanted to start with something very familiar. This isn't going to be a comprehensive recipe of the dish. I'm trying to focus more on the evolution of the concept and some technique tips.



The goal was to concentrate the flavors and elevate the presentation of the dish. Soup became consomme, and the components of the dish were tweaked to highlight and clarify their flavors.

A note on the consomme.
Having some kind of acid in the raft is important. If you just use the ground meat, veggies and egg whites, it will not clarify correctly. I used white wine. Tomato paste also works but will color the consomme. If it doesn't clarify the first time, you can try again with the same liquid. Just chill it down, and re-raft it. However, you lose liquid volume every time you re-clarify it, so take that into account. Never ever ever let it boil. That can't be said enough. Check it constantly while it's slowly coming up to temperature. Once it boils, it's ruined and you have to chill it and start again.

Instead of boiled chicken pieces and flat noodles, I originally decided to combine them into a ravioli. Stuffed pastas are a favorite of mine because you can easily control the flavors and seasoning without affecting the rest of the dish. Eventually this changed to a tortaloni because that offered more height, and kept the chicken skin garnish above the liquid. I also added mushrooms to the stuffing mix for extra flavor.

The traditional vegetables are still in the dish, but cut for unique presentation. Carrots cut into large squares, Celery into horseshoes, leeks into thin rings. They were cooked in seasoned chicken stock, and then plated hot into the soup.

The crispy skin garnish was my favorite part of the dish. Removed from the chicken in one piece, we then sandwiched it between two silpats and two baking sheets to keep it flat. Seasoned liberally with salt and pepper, it was baked off until crispy. It's very important to start with a raw skin, previously roasted skin will never get as crisp again. Also, I garnished it with picked thyme after it was cooked. If you put the thyme on it before cooking it, the leaves will burn before the skin is finished. After it was roasted, it was broken into shards, instead of cut, to get a more natural shape.

Tonight I was looking up my favorite bread recipe for stuffing. It's the first recipe they have listed in the Larousse. Flour, yeast, salt, water, and a little butter. Pour it in a stand mixer and it's good to go. I add Sage and Onions for my stuffing recipe. Left overs are perfect for turkey sandwiches.

But I digress

A few pages later they have a few paragraphs on "Chartreuse." Here is an excerpt that was particularly interesting:

"Chartreuse: A herb liqueur made according to a very ancient recipe by the Carthusian monks at Voiron, near Grenoble.
"The original recipe was probably created by Carthusians established at Vauvert (near Paris), who are thought to have sent it to the monastery of Grande-Chartreuse, near Grenoble, in 1735. Here the apothecary, Jerome Maubec, may have used it to make a medicinal herb elixir. In 1789, the monks were dispersed and the formula for the elixir seemed doomed to disappear. However, by chance, in the time of the First Empire, a copy of the formula reached the Ministry for the Interior. It was intended for the archives, but as no-one understood the document, it was sent back to the now reconstituted monastery at Grande Chartreuse. In 1835, the monks resumed the production of both the elixir and a green liqueur. In 1838, officers visiting the monastery discovered the liqueur and decided to encourage its distribution.

...

"The composition of Chartreuse is a secret, but it is known that it is prepared from various plants and herbs, including balm, hyssop, angelica leave, cinnamon bark, mace and saffron. A computer link between the monastery and distillery means that the monks visit only occasionally. Only three monks know the recipe and they are allowed to speak to each other just once a week."

I love the Larousse.

Recently, I, along with other writers of A la Minute, prepared a tasting menu. This was a fund raising dinner for Amherst Early Music, a charity to which many of us are beholden.

The idea was proposed back in the summer, and I readily accepted. We auctioned off seats to the dinner at the summer festival. Although I thought the seats would sell for more, we still managed to raise some good money after all expenses were covered.

Several months of planning, 4 weeks of testing, 3 days of prep, and 1 final night of service, all culminated in the following menu. Recipes for each course will follow in due time. (as I get to them.)

Photos were taken by the very impressive C.E. Courtney. He made my food look even better than it did in real life.

Here is the menu for the evening:

1st Course
“Chicken Noodle Soup”
Roasted chicken and mushroom tortelloni
Peau de pullet

2nd Course
Italian Sushi
Prosciutto-wrapped smoked mozzarella and asparagus
“Marco Polo” soy/balsamic reduction

3rd Course
Drowned Oysters
Endive, grapefruit, and hearts of palm salad
Caper-parsley champagne gastrique

4th Course
Scallops On Coconut Clouds
Beurre badass
Vietnamese papaya salad

5th Course
Roulé of Grass-Fed New England Beef with Maitake Mushrooms
Truffle honey glazed root vegetables

6th Course
Bananas Foster Fajitas
Crêpes, rum flambé
J.P. Licks vanilla ice cream


Matthew Stein, chef de cuisine
Dan Meyers, sous chef
Cathy Stein and Barbara Hill, servers

Nothing says American classic like a fancy French style sauce.

I start my Mac and Cheese with a basic Bechamel sauce. This becomes the entire structure of the dish. I focus on building all the flavors I want in the final dish right here.

You can start with bacon, but I didn't this time because we had some vegetarians with us. So, instead, make a basic roux, butter and flour, and cook it slowly until its a very pale golden brown. It should start to smell like buttered popcorn. Add in some thinly sliced onion half rounds. Cutting them in half rounds allows them to "melt" into the dish instead of holding their structure. I also add sliced leeks as well at this point, and stir them around in the roux till they start to get soft.

Add about half a cup of vermouth and whisk that into the roux. Once that gets nice and thick again, start incorporating some milk. The cheese we are adding is rich enough that you don't have to use cream, milk is just fine. Once the milk is incorporated, grate in some fresh nutmeg, add a bay leaf, and 2-3 Tbls fresh thyme leaves.

At this point, the pasta water should be boiling, and you can start cooking your pasta. Use macaroni, medium shells, or whatever shape you like. Once the pasta is cooking, start adding your grated cheese mix to the Bechamel. Do this over medium low heat, so the cheese melts without cooling the sauce down too much.

When the pasta is still about 2 mins underdone, drain it, using some of the pasta water to thin out the cheese sauce. Toss the thinner cheese sauce with the pasta and stir to coat evenly. Add 2-4 egg yolks and quickly stir through to avoid scrambling them. Spoon the mac and cheese into a baking dish, top with some fresh breadcrumbs if desired, and bake at 350 until golden brown and bubbly.

2 tbs Butter
1 Tbs flour
1/2 c vermouth
1-2 c milk
1 bay leaf
2 Tbs picked thyme leaves
1/2 onion
1/2 leek white part only
1 c shredded cheddar
1/2 c shredded swiss
1/2 c grated ricotta salata
1/4 c grated reggiano parm
2-4 egg yolks
breadcrumbs
nutmeg for grating

Rabbit is one of my favorite animals to cook. They're environmentally friendly to raise, versatile for cooking, and tasty. They take a little finesse to cook, but that's usually a rewarding attribute. Plus, you can usually buy the whole animal, which is good garde manger experience.

If you have a fairly well stocked pantry, this shouldn't require any extra fancy ingredients required to purchase just for this recipe.

1 Rabbit
2 cloves garlic crushed
Herbs de Provence (see note to follow)
1 cup white wine
2 cups chicken stock (or enough to cover)

Section the rabbit, reserving the giblets. Remove the rear legs, fore legs, and the loin with the rib meat flap from the carcass. Save the bones for stock. Season the rabbit with salt, pepper, and the herbs (reserving some of the herbs to add later). Brown on all sides in a heavy bottomed skillet (in either EVO or Butter) After the rabbit is browned, toss in the garlic to soften. Once the garlic is cooked a little bit, deglaze the pan with the white wine. Reduce the wine by half and then cover with Chicken stock. Remove the loins, and simmer for 35 mins. Return the loins for the last 10 mins to finish cooking, but don't over cook them. Remove the rabbit, add any remaining herbs de provence, and reduce the sauce.

Serve with seasonal side dishes.

The foreshanks can be chilled and kept for other dishes.


Herbs de Provence:
Everyone has their own mix and balance of herbs, but the traditional blend includes rosemary, chives, thyme, parsley, bay leaves, and lavender. Add any bay leaves whole, don't grind them into the mix. For the rest, I start with the lavender flowers in a mortar and pestle, mixing them up to get the fragrence out. Then I add the rest (fresh or dried) and mix a little more just to bruise them a little.