Duck Confit

I've always wanted to do my own confit, but had never really gotten around to it 'til now. Hank Shaw's post on Simply Recipes convinced me to finally do it: perfect confit in only two hours! How could I pass that up? And the best part is, this really was the best duck confit I've ever had. Tender meat, super crispy skin, plenty of fat leftover for future cooking.

You'll need:
duck legs (1-2 per person)
salt
a pin or small sharp knife

Prick the skin on the duck legs all over with a pin or pointy knife. Don't go all the way to the meat-- you just want to make little holes for the fat to escape through the skin. Sprinkle pricked legs with lots of salt and let sit 20-60 minutes.

Place duck skin side up in baking dish that's just large enough. Put in oven at 300 degrees (don't preheat) and let cook slowly for about 90 minutes.

When the skin starts to look crispy, crank up the oven to 375 until it's really crispy-- about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 15 minutes before eating.

If there are leftovers, eat the skin off of them *now* because it'll never be as good again.

Creamy Leek & Potato Gratin

This is easy and quick because the potatoes are parboiled, so you don't have to spend an hour constantly checking the oven. It's based on a recipe posted on Bittman's blog, which I really recommend checking out. You can easily make this vegetarian by using veggie stock in place of chicken stock (or vegan by omitting the cream and using veggie stock instead of milk, but I wouldn't recommend it; in fact, I wouldn't recommend being vegan at all).

I made this alongside a roast chicken. We've pretty much perfected the roast chicken, though it was more the result of years of trying various "recipes" before finding the best one (which, as I should have known from the start, is Alice Waters'). But now I am posting this while eating the leftovers (which are actually what's in the photo above-- we forgot to photograph the fresh gratin) alongside Portugese sardines and an arugula salad. I forgot how good sardines and potatoes are together; perhaps I'll make something involving both soon. There are certainly plenty of both (and leeks, too) for very little money in Paris.

You'll need (serves 4-6):

2 enormous leeks, or 4 medium ones

3 medium yukon gold potatoes

1/4c heavy whipping cream

2c milk (lowfat's fine but nonfat's not)

1T chopped fresh thyme

1T butter

1c chicken stock

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Quarter leeks lengthwise and clean them well. Slice thinly. Melt butter in a large pan. Add leeks, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, peel potatoes and slice thinly (not too thinly-- 1/4 inch at most-- you don't want them falling apart). Put in a small saucepan with milk just to cover. Add salt and dried herbs, if you want (we use French cooking salt that has herbs in it). Simmer gently until just tender. Milk has a tendency to boil over, so be careful.

When the leeks are tender, add chicken stock and raise heat. Boil until almost dry, then add cream and stir until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Turn off heat and let sit 1 minute to thicken. Stir in chopped thyme.

Spread 1/2 leek mixture in a baking dish. Using a slotted spatula or spoon, remove potatoes from milk and spread onto leeks. Top with the rest of the leeks. This shouldn't look dry; if it does, add a little of the milk the potatoes cooked in.

Bake until top is golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Potato and Squash Gratin

Up until I made this, summer squash was one of the three foods I did not like. Now, at least in potato gratin form, I think it's delicious. So, even if you don't like squash, give this recipe a try. It made eating a potato gratin actually feel healthy (regardless of whether or not that's true). It's also really beautiful.

You'll need:

a mix of potatoes-- I used 2 purple potatoes & 8 small Russian Butterballs. Yukon Gold would work as well.

2 large crookneck squash

2-3T butter

1t olive oil

1/4c heavy cream

some hard cheese (I used Gran Padano; Parmesan or Pecorino would work too)

salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel potatoes if desired. Slice very very thinly with a mandoline or food processor (fitted with a slicing blade). Slice squash as well.

Grease a baking dish and toss squash and potato slices on to form a bottom layer. Salt and pepper; dot with butter; grate some cheese on top. Repeat, making at least 2 more layers. Dot top layer with butter and put extra cheese. Pour cream on top.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove foil and bake until potatoes are tender, liquid has evaporated, and top is golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Chicken Chanterelle Stew

I've been waiting for months for the rain and cold to come, and it's finally here so I decided to celebrate. This is the perfect rainy day dish, and it's a one-pot meal.

You'll need (serves 6):

3 1/2lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs

3/4-1lb meaty pork neck bones

5 medium yukon gold potatoes

2 onions

2 carrots

10 cloves garlic

4 anchovies

1T tomato paste

1 bottle dry red wine

4c chicken stock

2c chanterelle mushrooms

1T herbes de provence

1c flour

veggie oil

bouquet garni:

3 bay leaves

2 springs rosemary

4 springs thyme

1 large branch sage

Heat 1T oil in a dutch oven. Brown neck bones well on all sides.

In the meantime, clean the chicken. Remove all the fat you can find. 

When the bones are browned, remove them and set them aside.

Salt and pepper chicken generously and dredge in flour. Heat more oil in the dutch oven, if necessary, and brown the chicken in batches, about 4 minutes per side. Set aside browned chicken.

Chop onions and carrots. Crush and slice garlic. Chop anchovies.

Add more oil if necessary. Saute onions and carrots about 2 minutes; add garlic and anchovies. Saute about 10 minutes until golden brown.

In the meantime, clean the chanterelles. Remove dirt from the gills under running water. Cut off the tough stem ends. 

Move the onion mix to the sides of the pot. Add a little oil in the middle. Add the chanterelles, ripping them into pieces as you add them. When they're all in, mix them with the other vegetables and saute about 4 minutes.

Return the neck bones to the pot. Add the bouquet garni (just tie together all the herbs listed above with a piece of string) and the herbes de provence.

Pour the bottle of wine into the pot. Boil about 20 minutes, until reduced by at least half. You'll end up with about half an inch of liquid in the pot.

While the wine is reducing, peel and quarter the potatoes.

Return the chicken to the pot and add the potatoes. Add broth to cover. Bring to a boil. Stir to make sure everything's fully submerged. Lower to a simmer; cover and cook about 30 minutes, until the chicken is tender and the potatoes are done. Uncover and continue cooking to reduce liquid to desired amount and consistency, or smash a few potatoes to thicken the liquid.

Roasted Chicken on Potatoes

Ben and Suzanne made some lovely chicken and potatoes for Passover Sunday; I had seconds on potatoes for the first time in years, and was inspired to make my own version. I'm using bone-in breasts, which are a great compromise for those white meat lovers; you can remove the skin after cooking, but the skin and bone add an enormous amount of flavor and prevent the meat from drying out-- a common danger for roasted chicken. If you make this with skinless boneless breasts, cook for less time; with thighs, cook a little longer (it's hard to dry out thighs though-- dark meat is much more forgiving).

The chicken was incredibly moist and full of spicy flavors. The potatoes didn't turn out as crispy as I would have liked, but they were very flavorful and had a nice bite. Next time I might skip the blanching step and just roast them, starting them 30 minutes before the chicken to give them time to start cooking and crisping up. I'll post updates if I try this again.

You'll need:

2 split chicken breasts, bone-in, skin on
1T each: cumin, cayenne, coriander, paprika, five spice powder, za'atar & cumin za'atar (or whatever you have on hand)
2-3 large yukon gold potatoes
1 onion, thinly sliced
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2c chicken broth
juice of 1 lemon
1t turmeric

Mix spices (except for turmeric) in a small bowl. Add some salt and adjust seasoning to taste. Remove excess skin & fat from breasts (there's always an extra flap of skin at the tip of the breast). Rub all over with spices and marinate for a few hours or overnight.

Clean potatoes (don't peel, just scrub & dig the eyes out) and slice in 1/4" slices. Cover with salted water; bring to a boil and simmer to cook potatoes briefly (about 5 minutes). Set aside to dry.

Preheat oven to 400.

Heat oil in a large skillet and brown chicken, skin side down, until well browned. Flip and brown the other side for a minute or two. Remove.

Add dried potato slices to oil and saute 5 minutes to absorb spices from the chicken. Push into a flat layer. Top with onion slices and garlic cloves. Stir turmeric into lemon juice & broth; pour over potatoes. Place browned chicken, skin side up, on top. (Can be prepared a few hours ahead up until this point.)


Bake until chicken is done (155 degrees), about 35 minutes. Serve with green beans or a salad.

Passover without Matzah

There is a matzah shortage in Berkeley. This seems true every year: we run around frantically to 6 stores on the day of the first seder looking for the lone remaining box. However, this year I think it's worse, and as a result, I have no matzah. My big plans to post Mina (an amazing meat pie with a matzah crust), matzah pasta (sounds weird but is quite delicious), and other matza-related passover goodies must wait. I still have to eat though, so here's a quick breakfast recipe.

(Excuse the photos-- my camera ran out of batteries and I didn't want my breakfast to get cold so I used a cell phone camera)

You'll need:

1 medium-large Yukon gold potato
1-2 fried eggs
grated cheese


I'm using Elise's fantastic recipe for hash browns as the base for this. Grate your potato and squeeze out all the moisture using a potato ricer. If you don't have a potato ricer, get one. I'm not a fan of extraneous kitchen tools-- I'd be happy with my cast iron skillet and wooden spatula-- but the potato ricer seems to come in handy. Anyways, squeeze out the moisture while you heat some olive oil in a non-stick or cast iron pan. Spread out the potato on the hot oil so that you have a very thin layer (Elise says 1/2 inch; I prefer even thinner). Top with salt & pepper. Cook over medium heat until it begins to brown, then flip the whole thing over by edging a flat spatula underneath. Cook on the other side until brown, 2-3 minutes.

Top with grated cheese (or cheese curds, which melt beautifully) and fried eggs.

Coffee and Chili Braised Short Ribs; Scalloped Potatoes; Acorn Squash Veloute; Broccoli Rabe

This is my third short rib variation. They have all been delicious. This one was especially flavorful. I made scalloped potatoes because the meat didn't have much sauce, and broccoli rabe as a strong-flavored veggie to hold up to the intense chili flavor of the meat. The acorn squash veloute we began with had the delicate flavor of this interesting squash with a zingy cayenne twist.

My excuse this time for the imperfect pictures is that we just plain forgot to take them until we were halfway through eating. Sorry.

We started with a glass of
St George Absinthe

Acorn Squash Veloute

with a swirl of cream

This recipe is from Epicurious.

You'll need (serves 8):

2 large onions, chopped
2 large acorn squash
2T freshly grated ginger
5c chicken broth
2T tomato paste
cayenne pepper to taste

1T cumin seeds
1T mustard seeds

Peel, clean and chop squash into 1" cubes. This is a pain in the ass.

Saute onion 10 minutes. Add squash and ginger, saute 5 minutes. Add 4c broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender, 20-30 minutes. Puree.

Stir in tomato paste and cayenne and simmer 10 more minutes. You can make soup ahead until this point. Add more broth to thin soup when you reheat it.

Saute cumin and mustard seeds in oil about 2 min. Sprinkle on top of soup to serve. (The seeds aren't just decorative-- they add a lot of texture and flavor.)

Coffee and Chili Braised Short Ribs

there was not much left when we
remembered to take a picture...

This is loosely based on a Mark Bittman recipe. You can use whatever kind of chilies you want.

You'll need:

short ribs, either English cut or Flanken cut. You'll need about 1 per person. I normally use English cut; I got Flanken by mistake, but it wasn't a problem. Be sure to cut off all the visible fat; it's unnecessary-- especially the huge layer on Flanken-cut ribs.

1 large onion, diced
1 shallot, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 dried chipotle chilies, seeded and chopped as small as possible
2 dried gaujillo chilies, seeded and chopped as small as possible
1T ancho chili powder
1 1/2c dry red wine
1 1/2c strong coffee (not espresso)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Salt and pepper short ribs. Brown in hot grapeseed oil on all sides. Remove from pot when browned. If necessary, clean out black bits with a paper towel and/or add more oil. Saute onion, shallot, garlic, chilies, and chili powder over medium-low heat, about 20 minutes. Add wine and coffee and reduce by half.

Return browned ribs to sauce. Cover pot and place in oven about 2 hours, turning ribs halfway. There shouldn't be too much liquid left at the end, but make sure the ribs don't dry out while cooking.

Scalloped Potatoes

variation: layer swiss chard leaves between potatoes

You'll need:

3lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, cleaned and sliced into rounds as thin as you possibly can. A mandoline is useful for this; I wish I had one.

1/2 onion, super thinly sliced
2T chopped fresh thyme
2T butter
1/4c parmesan
2 1/2c half & half or cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

each layer should look like this

Place potato rounds in a thin layer in the bottom of a well-buttered gratin dish. Top with salt, pepper, onions, thyme, and a spoonful of cheese. Continue layering until you run out of potatoes. Pour half & half on top. Top with more parmesan and any leftover thyme (not onions). Bake, covered with foil, until potatoes are tender, about 1 1/4 hours. Then uncover and put under broiler, or crank up oven heat, to brown top.

Broccoli Rabe

You'll need:

2 bunches broccoli rabe, or broccoli raab, or rapini (it's all the same thing)
2 shallots, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1T chili flakes
4T olive oil
grated cheese to top-- I can't remember the name of the cheese I used, but it should be hard and nutty, with enough flavor to hold up to the greens.

Clean broccoli rabe-- remove thick stems and wash well. Place in boiling, salted water for 2 minutes. Drain well. At this point, you can put the blanched greens in the fridge 'til you want to serve them.

Just before serving, heat oil and saute shallots, garlic, and chili flakes for 2 minutes. Add broccoli rabe and warm through. Top with grated cheese, salt and pepper to taste.

The Cheese

When I went to the Cheeseboard to buy the cheese for the broccoli rabe, I couldn't help getting an oozingly ripe Chatelain Brie, some Montagnolo (I promise: even if you don't like blue cheese, you'll like this one), and some other one whose name I forget. So we had a cheese course, too.

The Wine

This was the first wine. I thought it
went really well with the soup.

This was the second wine. It is as old as I am.
The cork was disintegrating. It was delicious.
If only women aged like wine.

Thanks for the wines, Mr. Anonymous.

All Offal, All the Time

All Offal, All the Time

February 29, 2008

Our offal dinner-- the somewhat belated Winter Feast of the series Katie & I have been doing-- was held, somewhat appropriately, on Leap Day. I think I can wait til the next Leap Day (or bissextile day) to do this again. It was rather rushed, labor-intensive, and (at least partially) kinda gross (yes, even I can't handle prolonged exposure to gooey, goopy brains as I pull the membrane and veins out...).

I didn't help that our old meat standby, Verbrugge's, completely let us down. We were supposed to pick up the brains and kidneys the morning of the feast (they should be eaten as fresh as possible). Verbrugge's decided to call us that morning to let us know that they couldn't get them. After some very frantic phone calls, I located frozen kidneys at Andronico's (who knew? they also have hearts, tripe, and sweetbreads), and beef brains (we wanted lamb or calf) at Mi Ranchito Bayside Market (Berkeley). But when I went to buy the brains, it turned out that all they had was a frozen 5-lb tub. A little too much for this party. So, a few more calls later, we located pig brains at 99 Ranch (Richmond) and I went off in search (thanks for the company, J). 99 Ranch is a simply fantastic asian market, but they don't really speak English, so trying to get something specific is pretty difficult (I once tried to get seafood stock. Don't even try. They don't have it.). But eventually I found the pig brains, below the tocino and next to the pig uterus and bung (intestines)-- here's a good post on those products, fyi. They were fresh, not frozen, which was a little worrisome, but they were only $2, so we decided to give them a try. We had, after all, promised brains to our delighted guests.

Unfortunately, our recipe depended on lamb or calf brain-- the kind that stays together-- and this poor piggy brain fell apart as soon as it left the container. So, instead of making nice fried slices, we fried the few clumps I'd managed to clean and had them as pre-dinner snack. They were as good as anything deep-fried is, but the brains themselves didn't have much flavor. We'll try again though-- stay posted.

Thanks to Karen for the dessert and photos and to Ridwan for coming early to help (and cleaning too)!

So, the menu:

Chicken Liver Mousse
with pickled red onions


Deviled Kidneys


Braised Tongue with
Caper, Cornichon, and Caperberry Sauce
and
Potato-Chard Gratin


Blood Orange Sorbet
with candied peels
and phyllo crisps

Cooking Pictures (view at your own risk):

The Brains

uncooked, uncleaned

uncooked, cleaned

fried up in tasty clumps

The Tongue

looks like a tongue. feels like a tongue.

bubbling away with aromatics
(notice the brand!)

cooked and sliced, soaking up sauce

The Gratin

This was so pretty uncooked,
topped with chopped chard stems
in red, orange, and yellow

The Dessert

beautiful blood oranges, and a lime

candying the peels

Roasted Salmon with Zesty Relish, French Fingerling Potatoes, and Brussels Sprouts

I am now the proud subscriber of Cook's Illustrated, possibly the best cooking-basics magazine out there. The current issue discusses the roasted salmon dilemma: either you go for crispy outside or soft, silky insides. Their solution gives you both. Here's my take on it (well, the relish is my take-- the recipe is theirs).

You'll need:

1 salmon fillet per person-- skin on, pin bones removed with tweezers
salt
pepper
olive oil

for the relish:

1 lemon
2T capers
6 olives, Greek mix

Preheat oven to 500 degrees with the baking sheet inside that you'll use for the salmon. This is the key to the crispy skin part. In the meantime, wash and dry the fish, remove the bones, and slit the skin diagonally with a sharp pointy knife (about 5 slits, 1 inch apart from each other). Be sure not to cut into the fish itself. Rub the fish all over with oil, and season generously with salt and pepper. Place on heated baking sheet, turn oven down to 275 (this is the key to the silky interior), and put the salmon on the lowest possible oven rack. It'll cook for about 10 minutes. While it's cooking, make the relish.

Chop capers and olives finely. Grate lemon zest, preferably with a microplane. Mix.

Serve salmon topped with relish. I ate my salmon with roasted Fingerlings and balsamic brussels sprouts (as you can see above in the rather crappy picture). Enjoy!

Boeuf Bourguignon with Carrot Crisps and Red Potatoes

NB: These pictures are terrible. I know that. I almost forgot to take pictures at all. I promise to work on my fuzziness...

This recipe is partially my dad's (it was the first thing he cooked for my mom, so it must be pretty good) and partially Julia Child's, because I just got my hands on Mastering the Art of French Cooking. My version has lots of onion and mushroom stewed down to a melty sauce, with the carrots baked on the side (instead of in the stew) for some texture.

You'll need (serves 6):

3lbs beef stewing meat
6 oz bacon (4 thick slices)
5 onions, thinly sliced
1lb button mushrooms, sliced
some flour
some oil
1 bottle red wine
maybe some beef stock, probably not
1T tomato paste
1t fresh thyme
2 crumbled bay leaves (yes, crumbled)
4 cloves garlic, minced to a paste

small red potatoes

This is very easy but a bit time consuming. Prep will take 1-2 hours; unattended cooking, about 3 hours. It's also best to make the night before-- the flavors really develop overnight.

Step One: The bacon

Slice bacon into lardons-- thin (1/4") strips, cut the short way.
Put bacon in 1 1/2 quarts water and bring to a simmer. Simmer 10 minutes.
Drain and dry bacon. Heat a Dutch oven (or any heavy, large pot with a close-fitting lid) and saute bacon in 1T oil over medium heat until it browns and fat is rendered.
Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside

Step Two: Brown the meat

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Rinse meat and dry very well. Salt, pepper, and dredge in flour (shake off excess flour).
Heat rendered fat until very hot. Brown meat on all sides in batches (Do not crowd the pot, or the meat will not brown. It will steam and turn a nasty shade of gray and remind you of mystery meat served in a cafeteria you never even had.). If necessary, add more oil.
Set browned meat aside, with the bacon.

Step Three: Brown the veggies

In the fat left in the pot (add more oil if necessary), saute onions with a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to medium-low so that the onions release their moisture and become coated in the fond (browned bits). When there's no more moisture (and the onions are caramel colored), add the mushrooms and saute until dark, about 10 minutes. The mushrooms should release moisture as well, so you shouldn't have to add any oil. Adding salt will coax the water out.

Step Four: The wine

Put the bacon and meat back into the pot and stir. Add salt, pepper, and 2T flour. Mix and place in oven, uncovered, 4 minutes. Mix again and return to oven, 4 minutes. Remove.
Lower oven temp to 325 degrees.
Return pot to stove; pour in 1 bottle wine. If this doesn't cover the meat, add beef stock until meat is almost submerged. Add tomato paste, thyme, garlic, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil; simmer until alcohol evaporates, about 5 minutes.

Step Five: Cook

Place covered pot in 325 degree oven. If the lid isn't a good fit, place a sheet of aluminum foil into between pot & lid. Cook (check every so often to make sure it's simmering gently) until meat is fork-tender, about 3 hours. About 30 minutes before it's done, mix in the potatoes (which you've scrubbed and cleaned, of course) and let them cook with the stew. Don't overcook them-- the cool thing here is the textural and visual contrast between the firm potatoes that remain white inside and the gooey unctuous brown meat and sauce.

Step Six: Eat!

This is best done the next day but is fine anytime. Mmmmmm.

Oven Caramelized Carrots

Peel carrots if they're not organic. Quarter lengthwise and toss in a bowl with 2T olive oil, 1t coarse salt, 1T pepper, 1t sugar, 1T fresh chopped thyme to coat. Bake on a baking sheet, in one layer, at 425 degrees until brown and caramelized, about 30 minutes.

Cabbage Salad

Thinly slice (julienne) savoy cabbage, savoy lettuce (the purple stuff), a bell pepper, a carrot, fresh mint, and anything else that's tasty and crunchy and colorful. Dress with a vinaigrette of 3T fresh lemon juice (one large juicy lemon), 2T dijon mustard, and enough olive oil to emulsify. Let sit, dressed, at least 1 hour until cabbage wilts slightly and flavor develops.

UnChristmas Dinner with Maria

(serves 4+)

This began, of course, with a snack:

Hours later...

Carrot-Parsnip Soup with Tarragon Cream

You'll need:

5 carrots, roughly chopped
4 parsnips, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
4c chicken broth
1/4c cream

Saute all veggies, with salt and pepper, in butter for 15 minutes over medium heat. Add broth and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Puree using an immersion blender (the blender stick thing) and, right before serving, stir in cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Roast Chicken in a Pot

This was based on Cook's Illustrated's recipe, published online by Marisa McClellen at Slashfood.

You'll need:

a 4-5lb chicken-- preferably free-range
2 onions, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
10 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
1T olive oil
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 bay leaves

Preheat oven to 250F.

Wash chicken. Dry well with paper towels. Season with coarse salt & pepper.

Heat oil in large dutch oven. Brown chicken, breast side down first, then flip. Brown until golden and remove. Add chopped veggies and lower heat. Cook until lightly browned. Return chicken to pot, breast side up, and cook until chicken & veggies are browned.

Cover pot and place in oven. Cook 1 hour, until breast meat is at 160F. Remove from oven. Take chicken out and tent with foil. Puree veggies and cook to reduce by half. Serve chicken with veggie gravy. Mmmmm.

Dirty Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

You'll need:

4 Russet potatoes
2 heads garlic
1/4c milk
2T butter
salt

Slice tops off garlic heads. Wrap in foil, leaving a small opening at the top. Place in 400 degree oven for 1 hour. When done, let sit until cool enough to handle and then squeeze garlic into dish. Reserve.

Scrub potatoes well. Quarter and place in pot with salted water. Bring to a boil; cover (leave the cover slightly off for steam to escape) and simmer until potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. Drain and mash with butter and roasted garlic. With a metal whisk or a wooden spoon, beat in milk until potatoes are desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Brussel Sprouts

You'll need:

Brussel sprouts
1T lemon juice
1T butter
1T olive oil
3T heavy cream

Clean sprouts. Cut them in half, and then slice lengthwise (each half will be cut into 3-4 slices). As you slice, toss with lemon juice. Saute in not non-stick skillet in hot melted butter & olive oil, seasoning with salt and pepper as you cook. Cook until browned. Deglaze pan with wine or vermouth; stir in cream. Serve immediately.

Pavlova with Lemon Curd and Blueberries

We basically followed this recipe for the meringue, but layered it with unsweetened whipped cream and fresh blueberries. It was delicious. And the egg whites get a beautiful shine from the vinegar. Thank you Maria!

Latkes

This is not my picture. I stole it from Marissa McClellan's latest post on Slashfood. (Will I get in trouble for using it? Who knows.) I made latkes two nights in a row; both times, we ate them so quickly I couldn't get a picture in. The following are quasi-recipes for 2 kinds of latkes (the second looked a bit like the picture above).

Potato Latkes

Grate a bunch of potatoes. We made enough for 4 people, and used maybe 5 medium yellow finn potatoes. It's best to use potatoes that are naturally delicious-- yellow finns and yukon golds are particularly sweet and tasty. Most recipes call for russets (or another starchy potato), but I prefer my latkes light and crispy. That way I can eat more of them. Sometimes I think of them as a vehicle for that annual combo of sour cream and applesauce. Mmmm.

So grate a bunch of potatoes and one very large onion (separately). Soak the potatoes if you want, but I don't think it's necessary. Salt them with about 1T kosher salt and let them sit in a colander for a few minutes. Then squeeze them in handfuls; get as much moisture out as you can. Squeeze the onion too, and mix it all together.

Beat an egg until frothy-- this will make your latkes even lighter. Gently mix the potato-onion mixture in with the egg. Here, many people add flour and/or baking soda. I think flour makes the latkes too heavy, but it does help hold things together. Baking soda prevents the potatoes from turning purplish; if you don't mind the color change, don't use it (I think it can be a bit chalky).

Form *small* patties and fry them in 1/4" hot oil (peanut oil or anything with a high smoke point works well. Please don't use olive oil). When you place the latke lump down, press it flat with a slotted spatula. When the edges turn brown, flip and cook the other side. Remove when browned and let drain on paper towels.

Curried Sweet Potato Latkes

Grate orange-fleshed sweet potatoes-- Garnet or Beauregard are the best. (Even the orange-fleshed ones are sweet potatoes, not yams. Watch Alton Brown's Good Eats on this. He finally convinced me.) Grate an onion too-- squeeze out the water and set aside. If this is going to take you a while, keep the grated potatoes in water so they don't change color. Be sure to squeeze them out well before mixing with onion and egg.

Beat 2 eggs until frothy with 1T flour, 2T curry powder, 1t cayenne, 1t brown sugar, salt and pepper. Mix with potatoes and onion. Following cooking directions above for Potato Latkes.

Just a clarification: These should be eaten with applesauce and/or sour cream. Not ketchup.

Potato Omelet Breakfast, or What to do with Leftover Mashed Potatoes

... a problem you might have after Thursday. I promise, it's better than it looks.

As shown above, beat 1 egg (or 1/4c egg substitute) with 1/2c mashed potatoes. Add salt, pepper, and crumbled cheese (use a strong cheese-- parmesan, sharp cheddar, etc. I used prima dona gouda). Mix well and pour into an 8-10" skillet. Cover. When the edges begin to curl, try to flip (as you can see in the first picture, my potato omelet didn't flip very well). Cook until the underside is dry (the omelet should stay together when you shake the pan). Serve hot.

Summer Feast

We began at the Downtown Berkeley Saturday Farmers' Market, where we bought what looked good. Then we hit up the Cheeseboard, Andronico's, and Vintage Berkeley, an excellent wine store on Vine where they helped us make wine pairings with our menu. A full day of cooking later, this was our meal:

First Course

Heirloom tomato salad caprese with Basil and fresh Burrata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrata)

Second Course

Fatted Calf Rabbit Rillettes with Toasts and Daikon Radish Sprout salad, served with Dijon and Stoneground mustards

Baby Yukon Gold potatoes sauteed in rabbit fat, fresh thyme and rosemary, and roasted, served with garlic aioli

Third Course

Grilled pizzetta with eggplant caviar pissalidiere, served with sweet red peppers


Slow cooked okra in Heirloom tomato garlic reduction

Fourth Course

Thai-style grilled white prawns on kale, avocado, and mango salad

Fifth Course

Prosciutto-wrapped Black Mission figs stuffed with Manviso drizzled with Tan Oak honey

Wine

We drank an Uvaggio Vermentino 2006 from Lodi, CA with the first two courses, and a Gargola Tempranillo Blend 2003 from Merida, Spain with the rest of the meal.