"Dukkah" Crusted Sea Scallops with parsnips and seasonal mushrooms

Place peeled and largely chopped parsnips in a good quality thick bottomed pan and cover with 40 percent heavy cream, 40 percent milk and 20 percent water.   Cover with parchment lid and cook until soft and process through robot coup.  Use the cooking liquid to get the desired consistency.   Push through chinoise and cool.
for the mushrooms.  Pick out the best looking seasonal mushrooms and clean.  Do not wash.  If they are dirty, use a brush to clean them.
Cut to desired shapes and place aside.   Clean one bunch leeks, using the whites and the light green parts only, slice thin.  About a 6th of an inch.  Wash and dry thoroughly.   Heat some olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan and when hot add the mushrooms.   Season without moving the pan.  Once some of the moisture begins the leave the mushrooms add the leeks and lightly sautee until cooked al dente or your desired consistency.   Drain on paper towels and keep warm.
Plating; heat a small amount if the puree and place we on plate  scallops and mushrooms to follow.  Before placing the scallops on plate, lightly brush with a good olive oil and press them into the nut mixture.  For this recipe keep the Dukkah coarsly ground for texture on the scallops.  Season with fresh thyme leaves and preserved lemon or our meyer puree.
For the scallops;
Clean and lightly score/ season good quality diver sea  scallops.  Preferably u-10's.
Sear on both sides until medium rare and set aside to drain.

Dukkah spice mix

Dukkah is an egyptian blend of different spices.  You can use anything from almonds, pistacio's filberts,  cashew, even pine nuts depending on the dish.  Basic recipe;
Makes 2 and 1/4 cups finished "dukkah".
1 cup nuts.
.5 sessame seed
.5 cumminvseed
.5 coriander seed all toasted lightly just until the oil begins to release.
1.0 tsp sea salt
Fresh black  pepper ( to taste)
once all items are cooled, process them by pulsing in robot coup until desired consistency is accomplished.   Chili flakes,  and anything else creative may be added but the above is the original recipe we stick with.

spices

Peppermint extracts, lavendar, ginger plus an extensive amounts of vinegars. ...

Spices

Spices, seasoning, salts, vinegars, and oils

On my way home last night I stopped at this new kitchen store on north avenue right across from the north avenue apple store to kill some time.  Its amazing what we have to work with these days......

friday food

 Roasted squash soup.  Used 2 different squash, acorn and butternut.  Poured table side with creme fraiche and micro mint.
Roasted the squash in oven 350 degrees with brown sugar, cummin and butter.  Made sure to cut in half with the cut side up.  (if you prefer to keep the Original color you should cover with aluminum foil).
Pan seared loup de mer.  Cauliflower puree and veal demi reduction.  Kind of what I was doing at voltaire but with only filet, not 2.  For the puree, half milk half water and simmer with parchment paper lid.
Seared sea scallops with parsnips and meyer lemon puree/vinaigrette. (Same recipe for lemon puree except much looser and "broken")  Roasted pork belly with peas and crispy bacon
/pomme puffs.  Slow roasted salmon with cauliflower and peas with Mint vinaigrette.  Amuse bouche, cured salmon and dill on brie croutons.

granny apples

Haley brought home some apples for dinner tonight.  We used just a little bit of sugar, cinnamon,  and vanilla bean.
420 degrees for 20 minutes, 340 degrees for another 20 minutes.  Let cool before transfering  from pan.  At least 30 minutes to cool so that the sugars can harden.

recipes cont.

From below in more detail. I've always had the idea for this Group of recipes and wanted to try it out. It makes sense to me to make dressings or even bases/finishings for sauces. As mentioned this is an old one but necessary for the others to come from his process. This is ARTICHOKE. 1/3 lb slab bacon. 3 carrot. 2 spanish onion. 1 head celery. Light chicken stock. Light vegetable stock. White wine/ prefer a mineral/earthy based chardonnay or even better yet something a little sweet, a reisling or pinot gris. But be careful to not use to much of the sweeter wines. 2 fennel bulb. 2 parsnip root peeled. 1 case 24ct Artichokes (peeled and prepped for cooking. This is a very important part of the recipe. One must take the time to turn each choke by hand, remove the bitter seeds, and make sure that all the strands from the base are removed. I use a peeler personally at this point. What ever works best for you. Sweat the bacon and root vegetable until clear. Add some toasted Fennel seed, black peppercorns, bay leaf. Add artichokes and cook 5 minutes. Deglaze with wine. Reduce to sec. Add half and half stocks to cover. Parchment paper lid and cook till desired tenderness. I always pull them 20 minutes before they are done so that I can let them cool in the walkin in their juices. This is preferred if time and space allows. once the artichokes are cooked and chilled remove them from the liquid and use accordingly. For our purposes we want the artichoke broth. Bring back to a boil and strain through a chinois. In a separate clean heavy bottom rondo sweat out some more root vegetables and dry spices accordingly to what flavor your anticipating. Personally im going for straight up artichoke with the background of bacon and wine minerals. Once your vegetables are clear deglaze with white wine and reduce to sec. Add artichoke broth and SLOWLY reduce by half. Make sure to have traditional bouqet with leek leaf and all. Once reduced by half strain through chinois. Cool in ice bath and skim off surface. Bring back to a simmer and add 1/3 total artichoke broth volume of heavy cream. Reduce this by half, again strain, cool, and skim. At this point we should have a very thick jelly like quantity of artichoke and cream reduction. The idea is to use the very minimal amount of cream possible. Its tempting to want to use a whole quart or more to "strech" it out. This is not something that can be streched or short cutted in any way. The end result as you will see is based completly on this theory or process. Whatever you want to call it, ive seen to many guys add 50 percent cream to broth, come out with twice the amount of dressing but wonder why it doesnt taste like artichoke. Very simple, you get what you give. Bring to room temperature and place in vita prep. Slowly emulsify in a good quality olive oil. Use some grape seed or canola oil if your loosing to much flavor. Fresh lemon juice, sea salt and white pepper to taste. Strain through and push through a chinoise into a clean squeeze bottle. "ARTICHOKE DRESSING" is what we have come to. It can be used on any number of dishs as a sauce, we use it on our cold shaved fennel salad as the dressing with the loup de mer in summer time on the coast. Its even been used as a dipping sauce for fried artichokes. (But what a waiste! ) now that we have established this base idea, there are many many directions to go. Its late so we will sleep on it for the night, but this feels like the beginning of something new and unique to use as part of our arsenal in the BOH. Did I mention glazed vegetables???;) .

ideas dressings

Dressings and sauce bases/additions. The idea begins on the artichoke reduction we make when cooking the chokes. Beyond using that reduction for the addition of the mint, ETC for the broth we generally use on the cod dish. It would be taking that broth base and reducing it beyond broth into or around the world of "sec". Letting it cool and then emulsifying with some good quality olive oil and grapeseed oil to control the flavor. Season lots lemon, salt and pepper. The result is a artichoke dressing. Ill try to start a recipe later but where im going with this is a variety of different dressings, but real. Almost anything we braze or even glaze could possibly be an option....

August 2014

So getting back into things there are going to be lots of questions to ask. What kind of kitchen and what direction to go on are the main ones. But also deciding what kind of roll I want to be involved in as well. The next couple weeks will be a lot of recipe's from memory, in fact that's all I hope to be publishing. Recipe's and ideas from memory, post them and then constitute some sort of "menu" or list, of ones to work on or develope. Even if the "ideas" aren't going to be utilized immediatly and they probably won't be, its still good for us to try and remember what dish's we loved and which ones we hoped to love. Keeping things simple, when working with proteins, making sure that once the protein is chossen, before going on to the rest of the plate, deciding how we want to prepare them and how, with what seasonings and what methods. Once that's decided we can figure out what to serve , if with anything at all with them. Example would be ducks. If we are going to be buying whole ducks we will want to figure out the leg and breast prep. Before moving or going to sauces etc, we will get the leg cure together, the breast prep and seasoning together as well. Hoping that by doing this we can keep things simple and get back to basics. Rather than trying to invent absolute new processe's rather try to refine the ones that we have to an absolute. We can leave the new age gastro designing to the other guys, go out and try their food while doing ours. And I'm okay with that.

back to ideas... tomato broth for bass

Tomato/and or saffron broth with white rice seasoned with coconut milk. Also a slow dried tomato on top of the rice that we will re constitute or bring to temp with some of the reduced tomato broth. Did this with black bass filets but maybe we will try something new.

Braised Striped Bass

Original recipe. We have used wild striped bass almost always for this dish. Serves 6ppl. For the broth: 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil  1/2 yellow onion, peeled and sliced  1 small carrot, peeled and sliced  1/2 fennel bulb, cored and sliced  1 celery stalk, sliced  1 shallot, peeled and sliced  Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper  1 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted  1 teaspoon fennel seeds, toasted  1 cup dry white wine  1 cup white wine vinegar  1 quart fumet  3 sprigs fresh thyme  1 bay leaf  3 sprigs fresh tarragon  1 sprig fresh rosemary  For the bass: 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil  Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper  6 6-ounce, skin-on striped bass fillets (about 1 1/4 inches thick)  3 sprigs fresh thyme, plus additional for garnish if desired  PREPARATION: For the broth: Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion, carrot, fennel, celery, and shallot and season with salt and pepper. Sweat the vegetables until they are soft, about 20 minutes. Add the coriander and fennel seeds, wine, and vinegar and simmer until reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add the fumet, 1 cup water, the thyme, bay leaf, tarragon, and rosemary. Simmer until the flavors in the broth blend, about 15 minutes; set aside to cool.  For the bass: Divide the oil between two large skillets and heat over medium. Salt and pepper the fish and add it, skin side down, to the skillet. Add the thyme and cook until the skin is crisp, about 6 minutes. Turn the fish, then ladle two cups of the broth with vegetables into each skillet, reserving the remainder. Bring the broth to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium-low and gently simmer the bass until it is opaque throughout, about 5 minutes more.  To serve: Bring the reserved broth to a simmer, then ladle it into warm shallow bowls. Place a piece of fish in each bowl, garnish with fresh thyme, if desired, and serve. 

upcoming spring menu and ideas for the bistro

Golden raisin puree Garlic puree(confit) Sous vide duck breast with dry spice rub Revisit pork dish Roasted vegetables roulade Glaze for duck? Honey and truffles? Lamb rack setup.

sherry vinaigrettte/gastrique

Using for lamb rack, duck leg confit. Works well with very fatty proteins. 1 cup sugar 1 cup sherry vinegar 2 shallot brunoise 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced Lamb, duck etc stock-3 qts Unsalted butter, 1tb Place sugar in heavy bottom pot and slowly bringa light caramel color. The darker the sugar becomes the more bitter the sauce will be. Once the sugar is ready, add vinegar. Let dissolve and then reduce by 3/4's. Add shallots, garlic and stock. Reduced to desired consistency. Pull off fire and add butter. Cool slightly.

bistro ideas and thoughts for the weekend

Loup de mer, or bronzino as most call it. Nice fish, 1 and 1/4's,we are scalling and filleting all. Sear skin side down, once cooked drained onto paper towels. To plate, we call it the sandwich, its not aall but it is to us. Place one filet skin side down on seving plate. Spread a layer of parsnip puree and then place on top of that the saiuteed brocolli rabe. Finally rhe last fillet skin side up of course. Deglaze pan with fresh lemon, shallot, garlic, white wine, and butter till colored appropriate. Parsley and cummin. We will tru out the pork chops tomorrow service.

apple fritters

2 recipe for apple fritters: Number 1;1 cup cake flour 1 TB sugar 3/4tsp baking powder 1/4tsp salt 1 egg 1/3cup whole milk 4tsp butter, melted 1TB orange juice 2tsp grated orange peel 1/4 tsp vanilla extract if not using beans 3/4 cup chopped peeled tart apple Fryer oil Mix all dry and mix all wet seperatly. Fold together than fold in apples. Fry at 375 degrees. Drain on towel. Number 2: 1 cup ap flour 1/3 cup sugar 1tsp baking powder Pinch salt 1tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp vanilla 1TB melt butter 1 egg 1/3 cup milk plus more if needed 1 and 1/2 cup chopped(diced apple) Heat oil. Meanwhile, mix all dry and wet seperaly. Gently fold together than in the apple. Do not overmix. Fry and let drain on paper towels.

ideas for and about double cut pork chop, sous vide method for bistro saturday eve

Pork. Roast in pan, de glaze with chicken stock, soy sauce and worchestire. Stir in apricot preserves or maybe the figs reconstituted or the fig/sesame. Sous vide double cuts To serve 2ppl: 1 double cut, bone in about 1 and 1/4lb. Kosher salt and fresh pepper 1TB canola or vegetable oil 2TB unsalt butter Sous vide to 135. I'm going to look and see what we are doing the tenderloins at as it should be around the same. 135 is mr, 140 is medium. Cook for minimum 45 minutes, up to 4 hours. Anything after 4 hours and the proteins begin to break down. Not good. Remove from water and either pat dry and season/sear immediatly or place in an ice bath(while still sealed in bag) to cool down quickly. Sear in oil, butter or a mix roughly 4miniutes on each side, even the outer sides. Let meat rest and either serve whole, or slice and serve. We did a pork porter house before, I'm thinking we will use the above method this time though. As for the rest of the plate... Apple fritters? Apple "demi"? Demi is as follows: 4 shallot peeled and slice thin 4 apples, peeled and cut into half moons 1 cup good quality brandy 1 cup good quality apple cider 1 quart medium pork stock 1/2TB veal demi In rondo melt several tablespoons butter. Add the shallots and cook, no color. Add thr apples and cook until warmed through. Add brandy and burn off liquer, and reduce. Add cider, cook down, all down to almost non then add pork jus and reduce to consistency. Demi to finish. Don't think we are going to us the above sauce, going to go with the figs and sesame idea. The fritter? I'm gonna try it. 5small apple, diced(do not put in water) 3 cups flour 3TB baking powder 1tsp salt 1/2 cup sugar 2tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 4 eggs whipped 12 fluid oz buttermilk(I think it says 12, its either 12 fluid oz or 2 so we will go with the 12) 4 fluid oz apple cider Place all dry in bowl. Mix eggs, buttermilk and cider in another bowl. Fold together. Fold in apples. Use dessert spoon or a fork into hot 350 degree oil till golden brown. Remember is they are to thick they will not cook nicely. Original recipe said on the fritter batter be very careful to not overwork.

Mussels classic recipe (french)

Mussels a la Mariniere This is just classic french recipe, excellent for the bistro. Ingredients 3 1/2 to 4 lb. mussels, well scrubbed and debearded 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter 1/4 cup minced shallots 1 small bay leaf 1 Tbs. chopped fresh thyme 1 cup dry white wine 4 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste Crusty French bread for serving Directions Discard any mussels that do not close to the touch. In a large pot or mussel pot over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add the shallots and sauté until translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the bay leaf, thyme and wine, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook for about 2 minutes. If using a regular pot, add the mussels. If using a mussel pot, place the wire grate in the pot and add the mussels. Scatter the parsley over the mussels and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook, shaking the pot once or twice, until the mussels open, about 5 minutes. Discard any mussels that have not opened.

Frisse salad version 1

Salade Frisée aux Lardons Version 2: Ingredients 1 cup cubed coarse country bread (1-inch cubes) 1 1⁄2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste 3⁄4 lb. thick-cut bacon, cut into 1⁄2-inch pieces 2 shallots, finely chopped 5 Tbs. red wine vinegar 1 tsp. white wine vinegar 4 eggs 2 heads frisée, cored and leaves torn into  3-inch pieces Directions Preheat an oven to 350°F. Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet. Sprinkle them with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toast in the oven, turning once or twice, until golden, about 15 minutes. Set aside. In a fry pan over medium-high heat, sauté the bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the shallots and sauté until softened, about 1 minute. Add the red wine vinegar, reduce the heat to medium and simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute more. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside and keep warm. Pour 6 cups water into a large, deep fry pan or wide saucepan and add 1 tsp. salt and the white wine vinegar. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium to maintain a gentle simmer. Break 1 egg into a ramekin and slide it carefully into the simmering water. Working quickly, repeat with the remaining 3 eggs. Carefully spoon the simmering water over the eggs until the whites are just opaque and firm and the yolks are still soft, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the eggs to a plate and set aside. In a large salad bowl, combine the croutons and the frisée. Pour the warm dressing with the bacon pieces over the salad and toss to coat evenly. Divide the salad among shallow individual bowls, making sure there is an equal amount of bacon in each serving. Place a poached egg on top of each salad and serve immediately. Serves 4.

Gougeres recipe's, my new project finding the best

Yields: 36 gougeres Prep time: 30 min Cook time: 20 min Ingredients: 1 cup bread flour* 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, optional 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 large room temperature eggs, beaten 2 room temperature egg whites** 3 1/2 ounces of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 3/4 cup (about 3 ounces) freshly grated Gruyere Cheese 1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano) 1 cup water Egg Glaze (optional) Coarse salt (fleur de sel or kosher salt), to sprinkle on top * Bread flour is a high-protein flour. The high protein gives you more gluten and structure and helps the cream puffs rise. All-purpose flour may be substituted but the results won't be as spectacular.  ** The egg whites help the puffs to be more dry inside. Preparation: Preheat oven to 420 degrees F. Either line a baking sheet with parchment paper or with the non-stick baking mat. NOTE: Do not grease the baking sheet, as the grease will cause the dough to flatten. NOTE: Prepare all your ingredients in advance, as preparation will go quickly once you start cooking. This is called Mise en Place - What Is A Recipe. In a small bowl, combine flour, cayenne pepper, dry mustard, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, add eggs and egg whites; Whisk until mixed together; set aside. Cut up butter into small pieces; set aside. Grate Gruyere and Parmesan cheeses; set aside. In a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the water and butter; bring mixture to a full rolling boil (make sure the butter has all melted). Remove pan from the heat and add flour mixture all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon until blended. NOTE: The flour absorbs the liquid rapidly, and must be mixed thoroughly until there are no lumps left. Reduce heat to medium; return pan to heat and continue stirring until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball, stir approximately 30 seconds to 1 minute to evaporate excess moisture. Remove from heat and transfer the dough to the bowl of an electric mixer. Using your mixer with the paddle attachment, mix at low speed until the dough has cooled slightly. It should be about 140 degrees F. (use your digital thermometer to test the dough). At medium speed, beat the eggs/egg whites mixture in a little at a time. Add no more than a quarter of the eggs at once; wait until eggs are completely absorbed before adding more (at first the eggs will act like they don't want to mix in, but they will). When all the eggs are absorbed, the dough is ready to use. The dough should be soft and a little sticky, but be able to hold its shape. Stir in the grated Gruyere and parmesan cheeses until well incorporated Time to make the gougeres. Following are some of the different techniques that people use to form the balls.  Using two teaspoons: With one spoon, scoop up about 2 to 3 teaspoons for a cocktail-size puff (walnut size). With other spoon, push batter off first spoon and drop in a mound onto prepared baking sheet. Using plastic bag: Place dough into bag. Cut the end off one corner with scissors, to make an opening about 1/4 inch. Squeeze the mixture onto the pans. Cookie scoops: Cookie scoops can also be used. Using pastry bag: Put a 1/4-inch star tip into your pastry bag. Fill the bag with the dough. Squeeze the dough out in a circle motion to create small silver dollar-sized circles. Finger and spoon: This is how I do it. It is easy and goes fast. Leave about 2 inches between each gougères on the baking sheet, as the mixture will spread during baking. Don't worry if they don't look neat, they tend to round out as they rise in the oven. NOTE: to smooth out any parts that stick up when you squeeze out the dough, just wet your finger in water or milk and smooth out. When gougères are ready to bake, sprinkle a few some coarse salt on top of each gougère. Bake for a total of about 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through (switch pans so the top one is on the bottom rack and vice versa). Do not overcook the gougères, they are better when slightly undercooked. Remove from oven, using a thin spatula remove from baking sheet, and let cool slightly before serving. Makes approximately 36 gougères.   NOTES: The dough can be prepared 2 to 3 hours in advance. Make the dough balls, cover, and refrigerate. When ready to bake, remove from refrigerator, and bake them into a pre-heated oven. The dough may be made a day ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. When ready to use, remove from refrigerator, make balls, and then bake in a pre-heated oven. You may also bake and freeze them. Thaw at room temperature and refresh in a 350° F. oven for about 10 minutes. For best results, use puffs with 24 hours, or wrap airtight and freeze. If you're making and baking gougères ahead of time, poke the bottoms after you remove them from the oven, turn upside down, and let dry out on the baking sheet. Gougère are easy to travel with to. You can bring them to a dinner party and re-heat them (5 minutes at 350 degree F.) on a baking sheet when you arrive. Blue Cheese or Cheddar Cheese may be substituted for the Gruyere cheese. Actually any hard cheese may be substituted.