Posts Tagged ‘Appetizers’

« Older Entries

Black Truffle Fritatta

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

This is one of those it’s-so-easy-I’m-embarrassed dishes. The trick is to get great truffles- these came from Markys.com, the “winter” Perigords.

Slice the truffles thinly, then cut into shreds. Melt an excess of butter [editor's note: there is no such thing] in a nonstick pan over medium heat, then dump in the truffles.

While they start to cook, quickly whisk together 6 eggs, a pinch of baking soda, a few grinds of pepper, and a pinch of salt (I left out the salt in this one out of respect for la belle-coeur).

Whisk the eggs

Turn up the heat a bit, pour in the eggs, then give the pan a swirl- it’s all in the wrist; you should swirl hard enough that you get a nice pattern of butter and truffle shreds on top but not so hard that the eggs fly all over the stove with their precious entrained French cargo.

Swirl

Turn the heat to low, cover, then cook for 5 minutes or so until the bottom is slightly brown and the top is barely set. Time to see if your wrist is still skilled; run a spatula around the edge, shake the pan to make sure the fritatta is loose, then flip it like a short order cook. Cover and cook for a minute or so, then slide it onto a cutting board and slice.

At this point, you have a decision to make- should you lie and tell your companion that it’s ruined, then quickly devour it by yourself? Or should you be honest, divide the slices between two plates, garnish with some chopped parsley, and sprinkle a touch of fleur de sel on top?

It’s up to you.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Cooking Techniques, Recipes | No Comments »

Fried Dumplings

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

These are made with glutinous rice flour, which gives them a unique chewy sort of texture. The stuffing can be interpreted with a lot of different ingredients- but do include the bok choy and water chestnuts for texture. Ground pork and chopped bean threads might be a nice alternative to the tofu- and there is a suggestion of duck here.

Filling

5 dried shiitakes, soaked, trimmed, minced
1/2 tsp finely minced ginger
1/2 tsp finely minced garlic
4 oz marinated pressed tofu, minced
4 peeled water chestnuts, chopped finely
1-2 head baby bok choy, shredded
1 scallion, chopped finely
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
pinch of salt
1 tsp dark sesame oil

Wrapper

1 c glutinous (“sweet”) rice flour
1 tbs shortening
100 ml hot water

peanut oil for frying

In a bowl, combine all the filling ingredients, stir well. In another bowl, combine filling ingredients, using your hands to work dough together. It should be rather wet and just on the verge of sticking; adjust with more rice flour or water. Roll into a ball, wrap in plastic, let rest for 1/2 hour.

Lay out about 18″ square of parchment paper. Dust it lightly with rice flour, then shake off the excess. Unwrap the dough, then knead for a minute or two until it becomes very smooth and homogeneous. Divide into 10 pieces. Take each piece and pat and pinch to form a 3″ diameter circle. Lay circles out on the parchment.

For each dumpling, pick up a dough circle, place some filling in the center, then fold over and pinch. The dough may have a tendency to crack- if it does, scavenge a patch from one of the other circles. As you form each dumpling, lay it back down on the parchment paper.

Heat a frying pan over medium to medium high heat. Add some peanut oil, swirl around, then put in the dumplings. Press each one lightly to slightly flatten out its down side. After 2 minutes, it should be light brown on that side; flip and do the other side, again pressing slightly to flatten the down side. Then turn up the heat and fry both sides to a dark brown. The dough will puff in a most appetizing way. Remove to a plate, serve with dipping sauces (I used a pre-prepared Thai sweet chili sauce; a mix of vinegar, light soy, and Guilin chili sauce; and a hot sesame sauce made from Chinese sesame paste, chili-garlic sauce, soy sauce, stock, and scallions).

Click to print this recipe as a PDF.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments »

St-Marcellin au Viron

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

Take a disk of an under-ripe St-Marcellin cheese and slice it across its equator (i.e., make it into two thinner disks). Slice some black truffles (for god’s sake, don’t use preserved ones!) thinly, then place the slices between the two thin disks. Pop the cheese under the broiler for just a few seconds, turn, and heat the other side. Plate, then lightly drizzle with hazelnut oil. This dish has about eight million calories. Serve it with the best Côte-Rôtie you can muster.

Tags: ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments »

Leeks with Chevre

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

This was shamelessly stolen from Molto Mario. Though simple, the flavors meld in a way that’s much more than the sum of the parts.

6 cabbage leaves
6 leeks
6 discs of dryish chevre
olive oil
salt
pepper

Choose large, green cabbage leaves. Blanch them for a minute or so until they are soft enough to roll. Set aside.

Trim and wash the leeks, then halve them lengthwise. Place a leek, opened up, on a cabbage leaf, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, then roll the leek up in the leaf. Do this for all the leeks. Place the rolls into a VERY hot oven or broiler and cook, turning occasionally, until the cabbage leaves are charred on all sides. Peel off the charred cabbage and discard. Arrange the leeks on a serving plate like wagon wheel spokes.

When the leeks are done, heat some olive oil in a saute pan until it’s nearly smoking, then toss in the chevre discs. You want them to crust, not melt (thus, the preference for a dryish chevre). Crust both sides. This should only take a few seconds. Put a chevre disk between each leek spoke. Drizzle the dish with the olive oil you used to fry the cheese. This dish has about four million calories.

Tags: ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments »

Terrina Fonduta

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

This is a dish I had at Locanda San Giorgio in Neviglie (near Alba). During truffle season, Locanda is as close to paradise on Earth as I can imagine. The cooking there is super-simple Italian country cuisine executed perfectly. And as such, the dish is easier to outline than to break into a traditional recipe. This is service for two, but you can scale up if you have more ramekins than me.

First, we make a porcini fonduta. Take 2 or 3 medium porcini (you MUST use fresh here), trim, and cut into 4-5mm thick slices. Mince one or two shallots. Mince three or four cloves of garlic. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, then add the shallots and garlic, stir, then add the porcini. Sautee with lots of flipping and stirring until the porcini start releasing some juice and the pan gets some brown stuff starting to form. Deglaze with a splash of white wine, add a few tablespoons of stock, a pinch of chopped sage, salt and pepper, then reduce slightly. Stir in a couple tablespoons of cream or creme fraiche, remove from the heat, then stir in grated fontina until you get a nice, viscous coating on the mushrooms.

Now, we make the terrina. Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F. Put in a bain marie, then add boiling water to it. Take two 200ml (7 oz) ramekins, grease them (I used Pam and a little EVO), then spoon in some fonduta. Put the ramekins in the bain marie for four minutes.

Remove the ramekins from the bain marie, crack one perfect egg into each of them, then put the ramekins back in the bain marie for about 7 minutes, or until the whites are loose but nearly all-white and the yolk has thickened but not hardened at all.

Remove the ramekins from the bain marie, put 2 or 3 drops of white truffle oil on each, a pinch of fleur du sel, a half pinch of pepper, then serve.

Tags:
Posted in Cooking Techniques, Recipes | No Comments »

« Older Entries