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Here in the US, it’s Thanksgiving day, when we celebrate the dawn of British colonialism in North America.
In that spirit, I nod to the French, who would come to the aid of the American colonists a century and a half later as they rebelled against King George III, ultimately creating what is perhaps the most culinarily diverse nation in the present-day world.
As such, here we have a delightful holiday meal of chicken cordon bleu (wrapped in bacon, because America), green beans with caramelized shallots and hollandaise plus chopped pecan, and potatoes Savoyarde.
That last one is essentially the simplest form of gratin, with whole cheese as opposed to a cream sauce. 1lb Baby gold potatoes thinly sliced on the mandoline, and layered like a lasagna with shredded Gruyère, crushed garlic, and thyme between each course of potato. Add 1/4 cup beef stock to the pan before cooking.
Put the potatoes in first, at 400°. Covered for the first 30 minutes. The bird went in about 20 minutes after, taking 40 minutes to reach 165° internally. So an hour total on the potatoes.
Admittedly, I'd had a few drinks by this time. But the floating lady who spoke in fire did have a point.
So, 1 lb. raw jumbo shrimp. 1 lb ordinary pre-packaged bacon (thinner is better here.) 4 oz herbed goat cheese.
Pre-bake the bacon for about 8-10 minutes at 400° on a wire rack or parchment. Pull it out before it starts to crisp. We're just giving it a head-start here.
Slice off 1/4 of the goat cheese log and stick it back in the fridge. You only need about 3 oz for this recipe. Put the rest on a cutting board to let it warm up.
Peel the shrimp, leaving the tail. Butterfly them quite deeply, until they're almost coming apart. Stuff each one with a bit of cheese, then wrap in a single strip of bacon, starting with the wimpy end of the back just above the tail, using toothpicks (soaked in water) as needed to hold everything together.
At this scale, 1 lb equals 19 shrimp, but only 17 slices of bacon. Wrap the other two in foil, and scream angrily into the heavens that such injustice can exist in an orderly universe.
I'm trying to get back into the gourmet vibe. Re-did an old favorite tonight.
Start with a medium yellow onion diced and into olive oil. Simmer low. Add 6 cloves minced garlic and 1/2 stick of butter. Toss in the 8oz jar of sun-dried tomatoes in oil which you previously minced finely, along with a little bit of the oil.
Simmer.
Boil up a head of cauliflower, chopped coarsely. Drain and into the food processor. Blend it down along with the other half stick of butter, more garlic, and a dash of salt.
Add to the first pan 1/2 cup of vegetable broth and 1.5 cups heavy cream. Once back at a simmer, mix in 6 oz. of fresh parmesan, romano, asiago, or a blend of all. Also sprinkle in a spoonful or two of flour as a thickener. Then some spinach.
Sear the hell out of a salmon fillet in ghee, about 3 minutes per side.
Still in a rich-n-hearty mood this weekend, so, Gnocchi and meatballs.
Started the dish in a slow-cooker. 1 large onion diced, 6 cloves garlic pressed. 1 of the little airline-sized bottles of Chardonnay (187ml), and 1 cup of chicken broth. Set on high.
Meatballs... 1 lb ground turkey, 1 egg, 1 cup breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup parm (ok to use the fake stuff in a bottle), about 1 tsp each Italian seasoning and garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt. Form into smallish *****, and place the finished ***** into the slow cooker.
Let that rock for 4 hours.
Ok, pull out the meatballs and put them onto a baking tray. Gonna broil 'em on high for a few minutes per side, to put a nice finish on them.
At this point, transfer the brew into a soup pot, on the stove at medium. Toss in a full 16-17oz package of gnocchi, and mix well with the onion / wine / broth. Give that about 10 minutes. Then, toss in 3/4 cup heavy cream, 6oz or so of real parmesan / romano / asiago, and a full 8oz jar of sun-dried tomato in olive oil, which you have julienned. Increase heat as needed to get this all back up to a summer, just until the cheese is entirely melted.
Add the meatballs back in. Add salt and / or pepper to taste. Finally, toss in a package of baby spinach leaves, and turn until wilted.
The curry base is thinly-sliced scallions, minced garlic, minced ginger, and bok choy (just the stems at this point.)
I'm not highly experienced with curries, so I worked off a few different recipes. The spice load for this one was mainly store-bought curry powder (I had Badia brand), plus some extra tumeric and paprika. Mixed in a little bit of chicken broth, nearly a full can of coconut milk, and a few tbs of tomato paste.
This was very much a "work slowly, and add as needed" sort of dish. Mixed in a touch of brown sugar towards the finish. And then the green part of the bok choy, having been reserved at the start.
Pan-sear the salmon in ghee. 4 minutes per side, as usual.
Begin with 1lb peeled and de-veined raw shrimp. Toss into a large bowl and top with 1 tbs lemon zest, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 3 cloves crushed garlic, a light dusting of pepper, and then coat with olive oil. Mix thoroughly by hand, then stick it into the fridge to marinate.
Now, slice up one scallion paper-thin (a mandoline is helpful here) and chop finely. Put that into a pan with 3 tbs butter and some olive oil. Add 4 cloves crushed garlic and 1 cup orzo pasta. Mix that around to toast the pasta slightly, then toss in 1 airline bottle (about 200ml or one cup) of chardonnay, and stir until absorbed.
Now, stir in about 2 cups of chicken broth, and get it to a simmer. Keep mixing as the pasta soaks up the liquid. You may need to add some additional water (bring it to boiling first) to get the pasta to a nice, al dente consistency. Toss in some dried parsley, and a couple handfuls of shaved parmesan (the real stuff.). I also added several more tbs of butter. Keep stirring frequently. Salt to taste.
A general note: I always use unsalted butter and low-sodium broth, so that I have the freedom to gradually bring up the level of saltiness to my taste, which seems to be a bit less than that of the average American. Your taste may vary.
Now, in a skillet, heat up... yet more butter. (I went through 1 whole stick over the course of this recipe.) Toss in the shrimp, let them cook for about 2-3 minutes on one side, then flip and about a minute more. This is more about getting them to "done" (fully opaque) without over-cooking them, than about an exact length of time.
That's pretty much it. Plate the orzo, top with the shrimp, and then drizzle with the juice from the skillet.
This is Hungarian comfort food, and eastern-central Europe is hardly a genre with which I am experienced. None the less, I came across a recipe recently, and was intrigued.
As the name implies, Paprika is the dominant flavor here. Many of the recipes online stress that you absolutely must buy some specific imported sweet paprika for $10 per ounce, but I’m not being precious here. “Sweet” in this context mainly means “not smoked,” and thus I’m using the store-brand paprika which I have on the spice rack.
So, to begin, we finely slice-n-dice two medium onions, and set them a’simmer in some butter in a soup pot. Stir every few minutes, and add 5 cloves of minced garlic towards the end.
While that’s happening, I have here 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs (I usually prefer thigh meat to breast meat), and we’re gonna start those cooking two at a time in a lightly oiled skillet on medium-high, 5 minutes on side A, 2 minutes on side B, then set aside into a bowl to rest.
While the thighs are cooking, we’ve been stirring the onions. They’re pretty well reduced now, not quite caramelized. In goes 4 tbs paprika, mix that around well, and then add 2 cups of chicken broth. Raise the heat to get that back up to a simmer.
Meanwhile, dice up the thigh meat, and add it to the pot. Once it’s at a nice simmer, put in about 3 oz of tomato paste, mix well, and let that simmer on very low, covered, for about 20 minutes.
Now comes an odd bit... I’ve got 8oz of full-fat sour cream which has been sitting out on the counter, coming up to room temp for about the past hour. I’m gonna put that into a mixing bowl, add 2 tbs flour, a few ounces of cream (or, as I am wont to do, buttermilk powder and warm water) and mix that up with a fork. Now, start adding some of the simmering mix, a large spoonful at a time, to the cream bowl, mixing well continuously. We’re tempering the cream here, getting it acclimated to the idea of being hot a little bit at a time, so that it does not break or clump.
Once it’s roughly doubled in volume from the added broth, pour it all back into the big soup pot and mix well.
You’ll note that we haven’t done much seasoning to this point. Because it’s such a cream-heavy dish, we need to wait until all the cream is in before gently adding salt and pepper to taste. I also put in another tbs paprika at this point, along with the remainder of the 6oz can of tomato paste.
And that’s it. The ancient prophecies foretell that this shall be served with Nokedli or Spätzle, but I’m trying to go a bit easy on the pasta, so I plated it with rice.
What a very interesting flavor this is. It's not the most exciting dish to look at, but it's absolutely delightful to consume.
Paprikás készítés mamával (Making paprikash with mama)
Photographer unknown, c. 1920
Did you choose your plates based on the fact that they look like a badly abused brake disc?
Hah!
When Nicole and I parted ways in 2016, she left behind a few things at the house. That one lone plate was among them, along with about 90% of a matched set with a red / brown glaze which you've seen in this thread many times.
I think she thought that I didn't own any tableware, when in reality I'd just never unpacked the set of tableware which I did own, said set having been purchased at K-mart when I was in college, and looking the part.
I like that plate for this kind of thing, as it's got that nice dished recess in the middle. It's ideal for when you have a mound of rice or polenta or similar in the middle, with something stewy or saucy surrounding it.
Couscous with a Tunisian spice blend, then pan-cooked onion and cucumber, plus dried apricot, garlic, chickpeas and lemon. Topped with a drizzle of sour cream, lemon juice and garlic, and some crushed red pepper and cilantro.
I wish I'd have thought to pick up a roma tomato. That would have been just divine diced up as a topper.
11-24-2022, 09:12 PM
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