This post is highly unethical in the fact i cooked the potato latkes in duck fat. I expect a cease and desist letter from the potato latke council any day now. I have nothing to say for my defense except that 1) i can’t help being French and 2) potato’s best friend is duck fat.. and well…  you have to let these two play together every once in a while. Yes of course you could cook your latkes in clarified butter, or oil or chicken fat but it won’t bring that inimitable ducky flavor to your latkes. If you ever had duck confit you know what i’m talking about. You will be on the right side of the law, though. So the choice is clear. Either you want to take a walk on the wild side with me, or you don’t. No pressure. [wink]

Of course, good Scottish smoked salmon doesn’t hurt either. And a soft-boiled quail egg with a pinch of sel de guerande will make the experience unforgettable. As for the cream of watercress it will certainly make you hit the roof. That’s all. You can trust me, i’ve been compared to a Jewish mama while making latkes before.

I rest my case.

• Potato Latke with Smoked Salmon, Soft-Boiled Quail Egg & Watercress Cream

• Inspired by Daniel Boulud
• Serves 4 to 6
• 

• • For the potato latkes:

  • 3 Idaho potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated
  • 1 medium onion, grated
  • 2 scallions, chopped
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • salt & freshly ground black pepper
  • duck fat, for pan frying

  • To serve:

  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1 bunch watercress, leaves only
  • 8 ounces Scottish smoked salmon
  • 12 quail eggs
  • sel de guerande

  For the potato latkes:

  

  • Squeeze the grated potato in a towel to remove the excess water. Add the grated onion, the chopped scallions, the beaten egg and season with salt & pepper. Mix well.
  • Heat a few tablespoons of duck fat in a large skillet over medium high heat. Form latkes about 2 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick and add them to the pan. Cook until golden brown, about 6 minutes on each side.
  • Reserve on paper towels and keep warm.

  To serve:

  

  • Bring a small saucepan of salted water to a boil. Drop the watercress leaves and blanch for 30 seconds. Drain and place the leaves in ice water to stop cooking. Squeeze the water out. Add the blanched leaves to the cream and bring to a boil, add salt. Blend the mixture until smooth. Reserve.
  • Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Gently put the quail eggs in the water and boil for 2 minutes. Drain and cool under running cold water. Carefully peel the shells and slice in half. Sprinkle some sel de guerande on the soft boiled yolk.
  • Arrange the potato latkes on a platter, top with smoked salmon, place a quail egg half on each portion. Drizzle with the watercress cream. Serve immediately garnished with watercress leaves.

Have you heard of Beet ‘n Squash YOU! ? - It’s a monthly food-fight wherein the stupendous virtues of vegetables are extolled. It’s fun and it’s hosted by Mel of Bouchon for 2 and Leela of She simmers. And guess what my friends… December is battle FENNEL! Are you excited yet?

I couldn’t resist participating because well… i have a crush on this uncanny vegetable. There’s something unequivocally friendly about fennel but beware – behind its friendliness hides a touch of feistiness – which makes it even more sexy to me. I love raw fennel, thinly shaved and lightly dressed but for this contest i thought i would bring it into submission with cream. It is well-known that cream can soften the hardest, baddest of root vegetables. Why not a fennel?

I wanted a dish with a little more complexity so i started by asking myself this simple question: what do fennels like?

It happens that fennels have a special affinity for pastrami. You can trust me on that, i’ve done some research on the subject. Give a fennel some pastrami and they let go of their guards. So imagine what a fennel, fronds and toasted seeds included, would become if cooked in cream with layers of pastrami and yukon gold potatoes..

Yup. It’s fennelicious..

• Fennel-Pastrami Gratin

• • Serves 4 to 6

• • For the fennel-pastrami gratin:

  • 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
  • 4 bulbs fennel (including fronds)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled
  • 8 ounces pastrami, sliced
  • 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • salt & black pepper
  • 1/2 cup parmesan
  • butter
  • 
    

    For the fennel-pastrami gratin:

  • Preheat oven to 425′F.
  • Toast the fennel seeds in a small pan until fragrant. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the seeds coarsely.
  • Trim the fennel, cut the stalks off and chop and reserve the thinner branches. Peel the outer layers of the bulbs that are bruised. Cut the bulbs in half lengthwise and place the halves, cut side down, on a cutting board. Slice the fennel thinly.
  • Toss the fennel in a large bowl with the fronds, the seeds, the olive oil, thyme. Season with 1 1/2 teaspoon salt and black pepper.
  • Slice the potatoes on a mandoline. Toss in a bowl with cream and salt to taste.
  • Add the potato mixture to the fennel and toss well. Check and adjust seasoning.
  • In a buttered gratin dish, arrange one layer of potato, overlapping them slightly. Arrange a layer of fennel on top and ladle some of the cream mixture. Arrange a layer of pastrami and another layer of potatoes.. fennel.. etc. Sprinkle some parmesan over the top of the gratin and finish with little dots of butter.
  • Bake for 45 min and up to 1 hour, until the gratin is golden and slightly crispy on top.

Who needs a cranberry sauce recipe?

I’m know my beloved readers, you are excellent cooks and not the kind to open a can of cranberry sauce to put on the Thanksgiving table [.. right?]. I know you can whip-up a batch of fresh cranberry sauce with your eyes closed and make it taste delicious. I know.. there’s nothing to it.

So why do you post a recipe for cranberry sauce then?

Well, this is my favorite cranberry sauce. The one i make every year. The best cranberry sauce i ever had.

What’s so special about it?

I like to add fun things to it like ginger, vanilla, cinnamon, star anise and orange zest to take it to another level. And believe me, it’s brings some ‘zing’ to the traditional turkey.

What’s in the little yellow packages?

Star anise.. duh! Cuz this blog doesn’t offer dental care.

Now do you trust me, or not?

• Cranberry Sauce

• • Serves 4
• 

• • For the cranberry sauce:

  • 3 cups fresh cranberries
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup water
  • Two 1/4-inch-thick slices peeled ginger
  • 2 star anise
  • 1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
  • 1/2 cinnamon stick
  • 1 strip of orange zest
  • Pinch of salt

  • For the cranberry sauce:

  • Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and cook 10 to 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring, until the cranberries start to lose their shape and most of the liquid has evaporated. Best if made ahead.

Well, i don’t feel inspired to write today. Could a post consist simply of  : Hey, here are some stuffed tomatoes for ya! … No?

I could go on and on about how tomates farcies is a classic home-cooked dish in France and how I find the preparation very satisfying and reminiscent of the slow cooking undertaken on a rainy day. I could tell you how often these would show up at the dinner table when i was a kid and how many times i was caught sticking a Lego inside the stuffing. It seemed very safe for my astronaut to be hiding on a meteorite, inside a tomato. My mom didn’t think so. So i started playing pirate Lego on my iles flottantes instead. She didn’t like that either. Arrrr..

I could also tell you about the hurry i’m in to post this recipe before tomatoes disappear completely (well they never really disappear, do they?) I could write about season change, global warming, penguins and why i am running behind schedule. I could tell you about the dessert involving cherries that i forgot to post and that will have to wait until next summer. I could write about the gargantuan appetite of my computer hardrive and why the more i feed it with photos and recipes, the more i’m convinced someday it’s gonna swallow me whole.

But no. I don’t feel like writing today.

• Tomates Farcies

• • Serves 6

• • For the tomatoes:

  • 6 medium tomatoes
  • salt
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 lb italian sausage, without casing
  • 1/2 lb ground lamb
  • 3 tablespoons bread crumbs
  • 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1/2 sprig rosemary, leaves chopped
  • 1/2 sprig thyme, leaves chopped
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • hot pepper flakes, to taste

  

• Preheat oven to 375′F
• Slice the top off the tomatoes, scoop the inside out (discard the seeds but chop and reserve the pulp). Sprinkle the inside of each tomatoes with salt and place upside down on a small rack to drain.
• Sautee the chopped onions in olive oil until translucent. In a medium bowl combine the onions, the chopped tomato pulp, the sausage, the lamb, the breadcrumbs, the chopped sun-dried tomatoes, the garlic, rosemary, thyme, hot pepper flakes, the olive oil and some salt. Stuff the tomatoes with the mixture and put the tomato top on.
• Place the tomatoes on a tray and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve.

err.. I meant my blog!.. My blog suck! I’m a blog sucker!!.. eh? O..Okay? Don’t review my blog pleaase!

eh… nevermind!

So what exactly is the ratatouille conspiracy?

For the Biyaldi, a pipérade is made of peeled and finely chopped bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic, and herbs. The piperade is spread in a baking dish, then layered on top with thinly-sliced rounds of zucchini, yellow squash, Japanese eggplant, and roma tomatoes, covered in parchment paper, then baked slowly for several hours to steam the vegetables.

A ratatouille has the same basic ingredients but the vegetables are diced and sauteed first individually in olive oil, garlic and herbs then covered with parchment paper and stewed together in an oven at 350′F for about an hour.

The parchment paper is removed from the top of the ‘confit Biyaldi’ so that the vegetables may be roasted. Once it’s done it looks like this…

Once you remove the parchment from the ratatouille it looks like this… Not the same thing, huh? A ratatouille is every bit as delicious but more rustic…

The Biyaldi is then portioned and a balsamic vinaigrette with herbs and piperade is drizzled on the plate around it. That my friends, is the exact dish that leave food critic Anton Ego speechless. SO STOP CALLING IT RATATOUILLE, DAMNED!! I DEMAND THAT THE MOVIE BE RENAMED BIYALDI!!

Both ratatouille and confit biyaldi improve with age so it’s wise to make it a day ahead and let it rest overnight in the refrigerator.

Ahhh, i’m feeling much better after all this ranting. Cheers!

A quick note on wine from our expert Kirstin over at Vin de la Table:

“First, Biyaldi, because elegantly arranged vegetable dishes are the royalty of the summer vegetable world, and instinctively go before loosely tossed peasant dishes. With Biyaldi, I’d go for something fresh, mineral, and high-acidity that would fare well with the layered, clean, summery nature of the dish. A lemony Prosecco or Cava would be perfect, as would a lean Vernaccia from Tuscany. Although Ratatouille would be just as delicious with the aforementioned whites as would Biyaldi, I for some reason want to enjoy it with a red, like a Northern Italian wine that aches for tomatoes, like a Barbera, Lagrein, or a rustic, light Tempranillo. Farewell, and long live Biyaldi, the cellar mouse.”

Don’t forget to visit her blog!

Ricotta gnocchi is the lighter, hipper cousin of the more traditional potato gnocchi found in Northern Italy, he’s kind of the cool kid on the block and the star on our plate today. Ricotta gnocchi are often described as little ‘clouds’ or ‘pillows’ but don’t let the name fool you… those are badass gnocchi my friends! You’ll notice on the pictures I didn’t shape these little nuggets of love to give them rough exterior markings. That’s because they aren’t served in a sauce and will be sauteed to a nice golden brown instead. Crisp on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside. What more does one need?… err..hmm…Okay, whoever answered bacon gets 10 brownie points!

In the role of supporting actor comes Guanciale, bacon second cousin. Ahh, Guanciale is sheer poetry my friends and will give an enormous amount of porkiness to your food. It’s a sort of unsmoked bacon made by drying the meat from a pig’s jowl or cheeks (guancia means cheek in Italian). It can be a bit challenging to find depending on where you live. Try your local salumeria or make your own in your home basement if you have… err.. 45 days to spare!! (Mario Batali makes his own at Babbo by the way, click here for recipe).

If you do find some… Oh my God!.. and I mean… Oh my God! This stuff is ridiculously awesome, if you thought nothing could beat bacon, think again. I guarantee you’ll sing karaoke to “Meat of Kings” after just one bite. Some fellow pork lovers might even want to wear it around their neck… because it’s THAT good! Don’t sweat it if you can’t find it though, just substitute pancetta or good ol’ bacon. It works too.

The rest of the cast is a combination of some beautiful seasonal vegetables, chanterelles sauteed in pork fat, garlic, a handful of fresh herbs like chervil and chives to round-up the flavors. The gnocchi are sauteed until golden brown and tossed with the rest of the ingredients. A touch of reduced balsamic vinegar drizzled on the plate gives the dish just the right balance of sweet-and-sourness. Here you have it friends. Enjoy!

Ricotta Gnocchi w/ Guanciale, Fava Beans, Peas & Chanterelles
(serves 4)

• 2 pounds large boiling potatoes
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for shaping
• 1 tablespoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 8 ounces, guanciale, bacon or pancetta, cut into lardons
• 2 cups mixed fava beans, peas, asparagus tips, cleaned and blanched
• 1 cup chanterelles, cleaned and blanched
• 2 tablespoons mixed herbs, preferably chives and chervil
• 1 tablespoon reduced balsamic vinegar

• Boil the potatoes in their skins until tender. Drain and peel them while hot. Cut the potatoes in quarter, place them on a baking tray. Dry them in a preheated oven to 400′F for 5 minutes and push the potato through a ricer.
• Mix the potato with the flour, sea salt, white pepper, egg, and ricotta cheese. The mixture will be like a soft dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill until firm.
• Bring a large pan of water to a boil (you don’t need to salt the water). Shape the dough into long cigar shapes about 1/2-inch thick and cut into 1 inch ‘pillows’ with the back of a knife. Add the gnocchi to the boiling water and simmer for about 5 minutes. Drain them well and place on a baking sheet to dry.

• Meanwhile, cook the guanciale in a large pan until crisp. Discard most of the fat and add the chanterelles and cook until they start to caramelize on the edges. Add the peas, fava beans and asparagus and garlic. Cook for 30-seconds more and set aside. Check for seasoning.

• Melt the butter in a frying pan and lightly fry the gnocchi until gold brown.
• Toss the gnocchi into the guanciale/mushroom/vegetable mixture and toss well with the fresh herbs.
• Serve with a drizzle of reduced balsamic. Enjoy!

Like risotto, making polenta isn’t for the faint of heart, it takes quick decision making and serious multitasks abilities like being able to reach for your glass of chilled Pouilly-Fuisse with your left hand while stirring the pot with your right hand (Pouilly-Fuisse is not an ingredient in the recipe but if you are the one designated to stand in front of the stove sweating, you might as well do it in style.)

When the ingredients are few, technique is everything, by following this steps you will feel like a Toreador in front of the tamed Bull. The Star is YOU my friend!

Ole and Enjoy!

Soft Polenta w/ Sauteed Wild Mushrooms

For the polenta:

• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup Polenta
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon mascarpone
  
• 4 tablespoon Parmegiano-Reggiano, grated
• Salt to taste
  

For the wild mushrooms:

• 1 1/2 lbs mixed Wild mushrooms (chanterelle, cremini, oyster etc…), cleaned and sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/2 bunch of parsley, washed and chopped
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Parmegiano-reggiano shavings
• White truffle oil (optional)

  __________

1. In a heavy-bottom pot, place the milk and the water and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium low and slowly add the Polenta while whisking constantly.
3. Reduce the heat, switch to a wooden spoon and keep stirring.
4. Stir, Stir, Stir
5. Stir, Stir, Stir
6. Don’t let the bottom scorch now…
7. Stir, Stir, Stir
8. Heat a large sauteed pan over high heat and add the olive oil
9. Stir, Stir, Stir
10. Sautee the mushrooms, work in batches if necessary
11. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper
12. After stirring for 20 minutes the polenta is ready
13. Remove from the heat and add the butter, the mascarpone and the parmegiano
14. Season to taste with salt
15. Stir, Stir Stir
16. Reserve the polenta and cover with plastic wrap to keep it soft
17. Add the garlic to the mushroom and sautee a minute more
18. Add the butter and the parsley and mix well. Remove from heat
19. Serve soft polenta in shallow plates topped with sauteed wild mushrooms
20. Drizzle with hot demi glace reduction if using
21. Top each plate with some parmegiano-reggiano shavings
22. Drizzle each plate with some white truffle oil
23. Serve
24. Lick the plate
25. Do the dishes
26. Write me a thank you note