Vichyssoise

 This is probably not the most traditional vichssoise you will ever have, but it was pretty good! We served about 1/2 of it to a partof 6 and the rest we just dipped into as and when we felt like it. The major differences are:

• No onions - just leeks
• 1/2 chicken stock and 1/2 water
• Crunchy salt and chives to decorate

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs leeks - white and light green parts only. Washed and cut into small pieces

2 Tbs butter

3 lbs russet potatoes cubed into 3/4 inch pieces

20 oz  chicken stock (we used home made, concentrated)

20 oz water

1/2 t ghost pepper vodka (home made)

Salt

White pepper

12 oz whipping cream

Finely chooped chives

Sea salt crustals to finish

Method

Split the leeks lengthwise and chop across the grain into a salad spinner bowl. Fill the salad spinner with water and swirl. Lift the leeks out. Discard the water and repeat. This is a handy techniquefor getting all of the grit out of the leeks.

Melt the butter in a large pot, and add the leeks and a generous pinch of salt. Cook gently for about 15 minutes withot letting them brown.

Add the potatoes, stock mixture, white pepper, ghost pepper vodka. Bring to a simmer, cover,  and simmer until the potatoes are cooked (about 12 minutes). Note, the iquid should just cover the potatoes

Blend with an immersion blender until very smooth. Adjust the seasoning, rememberig that you will also be using sea salt when serving. Chill the soup and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Just befor seving, stir in the heavy cream. Serve in small bowls with chopped chives and sea salt crystals.

We served this with an Oregaon Pinot noir.

Rhubarb Passionfruit Fool

A fool is an English pudding (dessert for my US friends), consisting mostly of some kind of cooked fruit and whipped cream. A very simple idea. The 2 most common fools are rhubarb and gooseberry.

Rhubarb is incredibly sour and a little bitter, so it needs coaxing along. Also it gets very stringy. It needs to be cooked down with a sweetener of some kind. We have several syrups from Liber and Co. in Austin, so I thought it would be fun to try one of those with the rhubarb. And it was.

Ingredients

2 lbs rhubarb stalks, cut into 1 inch lengths

12 oz Liber passionfruit syrup

pinch of salt

16 oz (US pint) of heavy cream

Finely grated chocolate (any kind) to garnish

Method

Rinse and shake dry the rhubarb and place into a saucepan with a well fitting lid. Some water will stick to the stalks and that is OK. Place the pan over medium heat. Add the syrup, salt and bring the pot to a simmer. Once simmering, lower the heat until the rhubarb is soft to the touch and fully cooked. 

With an immersion blender, blend the mixture until it is completely smooth. Allow to cool completely

Meanwhile, whip the cream to soft peaks. Combine the fruit and cream by gently folding the cream into the fruit. 

Serve in a small bowl with a little grated dark chocolate for contrast.

A Mocktail Summer

 Thos who know me know that Madame teaches in London in the summer. While she is away, I "play in the kitchen" experimenting, riffing on ideas that require time and are sometimes a bit messy. This year is no exception. There is enough research out there that suggests that in general alcohol is not terribly good for us. This is being impressed on us by our excellent physician. However, we do like to have a contemplative drink at the end of the day. Enter the mocktail. The trouble is that most of the exlixirs, bases, and other products that go into mocktails generally don't deliver for us. They are eother too inspid, too light, too sweet, too everything - except tasty.

So with the challenge set for the summer of 2023, I reached out to Mr. all things cocktail and flavor, J.M. Hirsch of Milk Street. A simple request, one might think. Cutting to the chase, he recommended that I at lkeast look at the book, "Zero", by the folks behind the amazing Chicago restaurant called Alinea. I swear they must all own stock in exotic ingredients. I ended up buing angelica root, black cardomom, verjus, lots of (really expensive) vanilla pods, gentian root, dried fruits of all kinds, pineapples - to use the bark, not the flesh, bananas for roasting, chamomile, juniper berries, glycerine, all of the above for making the "back bar" items.

The point of this book is really that when we are making the back bar items, we may want to think like a chef rather than like a bartender. In other words we want to find ways of making the base concoctions taste and feel really good. And then bring expert bar-tending, flavor blending skills to bear on making drinks that use these basic items. Well, suffice it to say, I am no expert, but the blending - once the back bar items were made is definitely a big part of the fun.

For me the key gas been not to attempt to recreate the specific taste of any spirit, but to acquire the feeling. So the "gin" substitute doesn't taste like gin, per-se. But when made into a cocktail with some lime juice and a sugar cube, one ends up with something that feels like a daiquiri.

I was much more interested in just making the back bar items, and then playing mixologist - and learned a few universal truths.

• Balance is critical
• Bitter
• Sweet
• Sour
• Salty
• Deep flavor is critical
• Herbs
• Barks
• Fruits
• Temperature is critical
• The drinks are best served cold
• But allow them to warm gradually to release their full potential
• Serving method is critical
• Shaken with ice, and strained into a coupe - a little dilution helps
• Over ice with a mixer - more refreshing, but with less complexity

I made the following back bar items

• The gin replacement
• The American whiskey replacement
• The tequila replacement
• The orange liqueur replacement
• The bitter amaro replacemnt
• The Jamaican rum replacement
• The sweet vermouth replacement

Many of the items are best prepared sous-vide. The recipes do say what to do if you can't do that for one reason or another.

I have found that sweet/tart fruit juices (pomegranate, lychee, guava) with a squeeze of lemon or lime bring out the flavors of these quite nicely. the bitter amaro is incredibly strong, so it defintely needs to be used sparingly.

All in all, lots of fun being had. I am excited for Madame to return and to experience the science projects.

A "Quick" Vegetable gratin

Vegetable gratins are full of pitfalls. The vegetables cook unevenly, there is too much liquid so they end up sloppy, toppings are uneven..

So to overcome these we need to think about cooking in "layers" or stages. This recipe details the stages and techniques.

Ingredients

1 Medium Italian eggplant (aubergine), peeled in stripes and cut into 1/2" thick rounds

1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil (divided use)

1 Tbs Aleppo pepper

2 Medium yellow onions coarsely diced

1 Red bell pepper cut into 1/2" pieces

1 1/12 lbs cherry tomatoes

1 Russet potato (coarsely grated - lke for hashbrowns)

4 Oz Melty hard chese (Cheddar/Gruyere) grated

Salt/Pepper to taste

Finely chopped chives for garnish/decoration

Method

Preheat the oven to 425F (Fan). Rack in the middle

Microwave the eggplant slices until they are soft and much of the water has been driven off. Meanwhile lighly oil a gratin dish.

Seperately saute the onions and red pepper using a little oil, Aleppo pepper, and salt ad pepper. The onions should become translucent, but not browned.

Place the eggplant slices in a single layer in the bottom of the gratin dish. 

Rinse the grated potatoes to remove the surface starch. Microwave the grated potatoes to mostly cook and dry off as much water as possible. 

Meanwhile, cover the eggplant with the sauteed onions/peppers. Sprinkle the tomatoes over the onions. Place the gratin dish into the oven, uncovered, for about 20 minutes. This will cause the tomatoes to wrinkle and soften.

MIx the grated potatoes with the grated cheese. Salt the gratin and then cover with the grated potato/cheese.

Return to the oven and cook until the internal temperature of the gratin reaches 200F.

Switch the oven to broil, and brown the potato/cheese topping until it is nice and crunchy. Sprinkle the gratin with the chopped chives.

Serve with a crisp dry wine and a side salad

Hassdelback or Hasselhack

Our supper club meets periodically. On this occasion the menu was crab bisque, salad, venison, hasselback potatoes, green beans, cheesecake. And, it was all amazing.

I was voluntold to do the Hasselback potatoes. I had never heard of such a thing, so went off to do research. Once you have finished the cutting they are really easy. But the cutting does require more precision knife work than I am used to. At least it provided the motivation to sharpen my knives.

Ingredients (for 10 people)

10 Medium potatoes. I used Yukon Golds, but tried russets and sweet potatoes while practicing

1 stick butter - I used salted, but if you use unsalted you will need more salt

1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Yes, I know, it's a volume measure, don't hate me)

1 Head of garlic broken into invividual cloves

1 Bunch thyme

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Make a bath of lightly acidulated water (a quart or so with the juice of a lemon). This stops the potatoes browning after they have been cut.

First prepare the potatoes. The trouble with these is that the slices have to be really thin, and you don't want to cut all the way through the potato. The photographs below demonstrate with a russet but I used the same approach with the yukon golds.

You do want to make sure that when you cut the yukon gold in half, you do it lengthwise and keep maximum thickness. This makes the rest of the slicing a whole lot easier.

Cut the potatoes one at a time. Put a potato, cut side directly onto the counter between 2 chopping boards. The longer side of the potato is parallel with the cutting board edges.The chopping boards will act as a gauge to prevent you slicing too far. 

This is the hack mentioned in the title. Most recipes suggest using wooden spoons, but they are too fiddly for me.

Slice the potato crosswise, very thinly - for an average sized Yulon Gold potato, I was getting around 16 slices. Put the potatoes into the acidulated water.

In a microwave safe bowl put the thyme, crushed garlic cloves, butter, oil, salt, pepper. Microwave at 50% power for a couple of inutes, and then leave to infuse.

Set an oven rackto the lower middle. Preheat the oven to 425F while the oil/herb/butter/garlic mixture is steeping.

Place the potatoes, flat side down, onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Reheat the oil/herb/butter/garlic mixture and brush over the potatoes, trying tto get liquid between the slices. At this stage that will be difficult, but as they cook, the potatoes will open up.

Put the baking sheet into the oven and set a 20 minute timer. After 20 minutes, baste the potatoes again with the oil/herb/butter/garlic mixture. This time it is easier to get it between the slices. Turn the oven down to 400F. 

Baste twice more at 15 minute intervals. Again working as much of the oil/herb/butter/garlic mixture into the slits as possible.

If you are baking in a non-fan assisted ovent, you may need to rotate the pan. I would do it after the second oven basting.

Experiments with dough

I have long wondered about what happens when you make really high hydration doughs. Two events inspired me. One was the excellent cold "pizza" sold here in the Dallas area by Popolo Reds - a focaccia style bread with an intense red sauce topping. The other was an episode of Milk Street, where Christopher Kimball mae a "pizza" with a high hydration dough. Because I like to tinker, I though I would mess with some ideas and see what happens.

The key to all of this was using a very wet dough (anything up to 100% hydration) and working the dough hard. Because it almost a batter, rather than a normal bread dough, I decided to use the paddle beater in my stand mixer and not the dough hook.

I found that following the Milk Street version, the tomatoes really didn't cook enough, so I modified that recipe by roasting the cut tomatoes for 15 minutes before topping the dough and baking.

I ended up making 2 different kinds - both of which still need some tweaking for the toppings. But I am very happy with the technique. So thank you to Bob Shema and Christopher Kimball for the inspirations.

Ingredients - Dough

600 gm Bread flour

600 gm Water at room temperature

8 gm Active dry yeast

13 gm salt ( i make this a little saltier than the usual 2%)

30 gm Extra virgin olive oil (divided use) - rough measure

Method - Dough Preparation

Put the flout into the bowl of the stand mixed, with the paddle beater attachment. Activate the yeast by adding to the water. If you use instant or bread yeast, this step is unnecessary - the yeast can be added directly to the flour. Add the salt to the flour and mix thoroughly. Gradually add the water and oil while mixing slowly. Once the water is all added, increase the speed of the mixing to medium. The dough will look awful for a long while (10 + minutes). Then it will start to come together and leave the sides of the bowl. Once it has left the sides, continue mixing for 10 more minutes. It should be smooth by now, and fully kneaded.

Leave the dough in the bowl, and cover to rise. Anything up to 2 hours depending on kitchen temperature. 

Once it has risen, gently degas it by oiling your fingers and running your fingers around the bowl releasing the dough. It will sink.

Once you have degassed the dough, cover again and place the bowl in the refrigerator. Leave the dough in the refrigerator overnight

When you are ready to bake, remove the bowl from the refrigerator. Tip the dough into two oiled 1/4 sheet pans and spread it as best you can into the corners. The dough will shrink back, but that is OK. It will sit in the pan for a while and gradually spread. When working the dough, always oil your fingers. The dough is incredibly sticky. The oil will help prevent sticking.

Ingredients - Topping 1

I of the 1/4 sheet pans of dough (above)

16 oz  (450 gm) Cherry tomatoes (Note the switch to imperial measurements - that's how things are sold in the USA for the most part)

16 oz (450 gm) Sweet seedless black grapes

2 tsp Dried oregano

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 tsp Black pepper (coarse grind, fresh)

2 tsp Aleppo pepper

Oil to drizzle

Method - Topping1

When the dough has warmed to room temperature (an hour or so after coming out of the refrigerator), stud it in rows with the cherry tomatoes and grapes. Push the tomatoes ad grapes into the dough. Preheat the ovent to 450F (with fan assist).

Sprinkle the tomatoes/grapes evenly with the organo, salt, pepper, Apeppo pepper, and some olive oil. Allow the dough to puff up around the tomatoes/grapes. Once the dough has puffed up, put the pan into the preheatedoven. Turn the heat down to 400F and bake for around 30 minutes.

Slide the focaccia out of the ban onto a cutting board and allow to cool for a few minutes before cutting. Eat hot or at room temperature.

Ingredients - Topping 2

1 of the 1/4 sheet pans of dough (above)

16 oz (450 gm) Cherry tomatoes

16 oz (450 gm) mushrooms

12 sprigs Thyme

2Tbs Unsalted butter

2tsp Kosher salt (divided)

1 tsp Black pepper (coarse grind, fresh)

Oil to drizzle

Method - Topping 2

Slice the mushrooms. Microwave for a few minutes to drive off the moisture. Mix the thyme leaves into the mushrooms, add the butter, half the salt. Microwave again until the butter is incorprated.

Decorate the dough with rows of cherrytomatoes and mushrooms (as above).

Proceed withthe baking and serving as above.

Bread with Yudane

 My friend Stev Whorf has been on a bread making trail for several years now. He turned me on to Yudane. Previously Cooks Illustrated had demonstrated Tangzhong. The results sounded so good that I had to try them. And I loved the results. I actually used the Cooks Illustrated Tangzhong methos but with proportions that were closer to Yudane proportions.

The purpose of Tanghzong and Yudane is to allow the flour to absorb more water - resulting in a lighter, softer crumb. But I also wantd to bake this in a pan, and not freeform. Typically when making sandwich loaves, I use a 55% hydration (for every 100gm flour, 55% water). But for this I wanted to go up to about 70% hydration. If I bake a 70% hydration dough in a pan, it becomes too airy and loose.

Yudane is usually a 1:1 ratio of water to flour (100% hydration). Tanghzon is much wetter  often as much as 1 part flour to 4 parts water (400%). So the trick is to figure out the ratios so that the final loaf is at 70%.

The easy way to do that is to weigh out the flour and water into their own containers (at the 70% hydration ratio), and then take the relevant amounts from each to make up the Yudane/Tangzhong. More in the description below.

Ingredients

600 gm Bread flour (divided use)

420 gm Water (room teperature, divided use)

6 gm Active dry yeast

1 tsp sugar (a small rough measure just there to wake up the yeast)

12 gm salt

A little olive oil

Cooking spray to grease the bread pan

10gm Butter, metled

Method

Weigh the flour and water into separate bowls. Into a icrowave safe bowl, take 60 gm of the flour and 120 gm of the water. Whisk these together to make a smooth slurry/paste. Set aside.

Into the rest of the water, dissolve the sugar and add the yeast. This is really only to wake the yeast up, and make sure that it is still active.

Put the flour/water mixture into the microwave and microwave it for 30 seconds. Remove, the mixture, stir/whisk and repeat the microwaving. Do this a couple more times - until the flour has gelled.

Remove the gel from the microwave and allow to cool. 

Add the cooled gel to the flour in your stand mixer. Mix with the dough hook to incorporate the gel into the flour.

Once the gel is incorporated, add the remaining yeast/water/sugar mixture with the mixer still running. Once the water is all added, mix for another 30 seconds or so. Then add the salt and knead the dough for at least 10 minutes. The dough will evetually leave the sides of the bowland become cohesive. 

Once the dough is fully kneaded, scrape down the dough hook and turn the dough ball onto the counter. Knead by hand to form a ball. Oil the bowl with a little olive oil, place the dough back into the bowl, and cover (I use a chopping board as a cover at this stage).

Leave the dough for a couple of hours (give or take depending on kitchen temperatre) until it has about doubled in size. Once it has doubled, degas the dough by running your fingers around the dough ass in the bowl and lifting the edges of the dough.

Cover the bowl (this time I use a shower cap) and place into the fridge overnight.

When you are ready to bake, remove the bowl from the fridge, take out the dough and work it gently into a rectangle, the size of your bread pan. You will want to latten it out to make as thin a layer as possible before roling it into shape. This will help it come up to temperature evenly.

Lighty oil the bread pan nd place the dough into it, gently.

Once it is settled into the pan, cover (the trusty shower cap again) until it has risen sufficiently - almost doubled in height. This will take at least 3 hours - depending on kitchen temperature. Coming out of the fridges the dough is really cold.

At this point turn the oven to 350F to preheat. It doesn't matter if you let the dough rise a bit longer at this stage.

Slit the top of the loaf with a lame or razor blade, brush with the melted butter and bake for 40 minutes in the pan. Remove from the pan and bake another 10 - 15 minutes.

Allow to cool before slicing.

Extras

For one of the loaves, I used a thin cream (aka half and half in the USA) to make the Yudane/Tangzhon. That means that I had to do some elementary school arithmetic. Because I wanted 120 gm of liquid for the paste, I reduced the water to 300 gm. I made the paste in eactly the same way. Yes, I realize that the ratios aren't quite right (the fat in the creak displaces some of the water), but it didn't affect the outcome. I have to admit, I couldn't be bothered with absolute precision at this point. Everything else was the same.

The resultant bread is delicious. The crust was nice and crunchy and a bit better browned. The crumb was really soft and yet tight. Ideal for toast and jam.

 

Cocktail Naming

 I have been making a lot of cocktails lately. Mostly experimental - and some experiments are not as good as others. My inspiration comes from JM Hirsch and his excellent book, "Pour Me Another". Not so much for the specific recipes, but more of the minimalist mindset that Mr. Hirsch applies. And by minimalist, he really wants each componet to pull its own weight in the drink, and for no one flavor to aggressively overshadow the others. For example, citrus zests feauture when making sours, not the really heavy lemon juice acidity.

Since these cocktails were all new creations, or variations on existing drinks, we just had to have a cocktail naming party. 10 people, 4 cocktails to name, followed by dinner.

I batched the cocktails, and we had small tasting pours (followed by refills as necessary ?!

#1 Pucker-Up Kiss

This cocktail is a rum punch variant. It does use the juice of a lime, but the rum is strong enough to carry it. It is definitely a tart drink - very little sweetening involved.

Ingredients

2 Oz Appleton Estate Signature Rum

1 Oz Lime Juice

3/4 Oz Grenadine (Liber)

6 kosher salt crystals

8 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Method

All ingredients into a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Strain into a coupe.

Another way would be to stir into a rocks glass with one large clear-ice cube. Rub edge of the glass with lime zest and serve with a lime twist.

#2 Golden Sophia

This is a (sort of) Negroni variant. Instead of the Campari, I used an Amaro. Orange bitters gave a ice hint, and the dehydrated blood orange was a great garnish/complement.

Ingredients

2 Oz Light Gin - By light I mean one where the Juniper is not too forward. We used Citadelle

1/2 Oz Amaro Vigo

2 Oz Red Vermouth (Dolin in our case)

4 Dashes Orange Bitters

6 Kosher Salt Crystals

All ingredients into a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Strain into a coupe. Garnish with dehydrated blood orange sections.

Another way would be to stir into a rocks glass with one large clear-ice cube.

#3 Pink Pleasure

Yes, I know that this sounds rather obscene. But by this time the group was feeling no pain. It was quite a strong drink . And it has to be shaken

Ingredients

3 Oz Light Gin

1/8 tsp Habanero Vodka (a home made infusion)

1/2 Oz. Grapefruit Cordial

1 Oz Lillet Blanc (White Vermouth)

4 Dashes Peychaud Bitters

1 Egg White

6 Kosher Salt crystals

Method

All ingredients into a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake very vigorously for 30 seconds. Strain into a coupe.

#4 Not Marianne

By now the creativity was in full spate. You really do have to like ginger for this one!

Ingredients

3 Oz Wild Turkey 101 Rye

1/2 tsp. Grated raw Ginger

1 Oz Ginger Liqueur (Domaine de Canton)

1.2 Oz Fiery Ginger Syrup (Liber)

8 Dashes Angostura Bitters

6 Kosher Salt Crystals

Method

All ingredients into a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake very vigorously for 30 seconds. Double strain into a coupe to remove the grated ginger..