Dinner At Ansill Food and Wine - Part 4

Last of the wonderful dinner at Ansill. Following the just-for-us kidneys was an even better treat of just-for-us sweetbreads served with grilled Brussels sprouts (see first pic of the sweetbreads with the sprouts at the upper left). Tasha gave us some 2005 Sangiovese to go with. The sweetbreads were smooth and rich. I was so focused on them that I forgot to take notes about the sauce. I think that's a good thing. The restaurant was busy by now, but I caught David's eye and said "mmmmm.......sweetbreads" and he just smiled and said "of course." If I could have smiled any bigger than I already was, I would have. I liked the sprouts as a side. They were mixed with some applewood smoked bacon and sliced in half so the open sides browned up from the grill. Phil, who is not a big sprouts fan, thought they were ok, but they didn't convert him to a sprouts-lover.
The next and last main course was, to my mind, an example of about the best breakfast a person could wish for. Egg baked in cream with truffles, served with venison spaetzel. Tasha gave us 2006 Altos de la Hoya to accompany. Honestly there isn't much to say about this because it tasted like one would expect a fresh egg in cream with truffles and homemade spaetzel tossed with venison to be.
The kitchen asked if we wanted dessert before cheese. After so much food already I said only if it's very light and very sublime. Once again, no disappointments! The almond tart we got was served with (I think) small cranberries that (I think) had been marinated or pickled in something just a little acidic and sweet. It was so good I forgot to take a picture until it was almost gone. And very light. Tasha gave us a dry dessert wine, Casa de la Hermita, which we both liked very much and found a nice difference from the sweet wines one normally gets at the end of a meal.
Finally, cheese and chutney served with homemade crackers and toast and some espresso. The cheese was first-rate and fresh with a nice rind; the chutney was slightly warm, which was a nice touch and reflected our feelings as well.

So, it was time to leave. David said goodbye and we vowed to come back hopefully sooner than next year. And then out in the chill for a nice walk back to the B&B and a very good night's sleep.

Chopped Lamb Liver

Yep. I get a feast and all Phil gets is chopped liver.

I ate about a hundred pounds of incredible food this afternoon at a Bulgarian gathering held by my singing group in honor of one of our benefactors. So I come home bloated like a puffer fish and not in any mood for fancy cooking. So just whirled up (Instructions) three medium-boiled eggs (very inside of the yolks still a little runny), a pound of leftover liver, a quarter of a large red onion, 1/4 cup ghee and some salt and pepper, in the food processor. Phil scraped the plate clean and Kitchen Goddess Nadja was angry that he did so, so I guess it was fine.

Dinner At Ansill Food and Wine - Part 3

Almost past the halfway point of our dinner at Ansill. Before I say more about the next course, I'll mention that they offer marinated olives as something to both reset your palate and keep you occupied as you wait between courses (see first post pic). I recommend them. The variety is good and they are just the thing with so much of the food being velvety and a little rich.

The crispy pig trotters (above) with pickled red onions were no exception to this rule. I wasn't sure what to expect; what came was a set of three medallions of pulled or diced meat held together most likely (I didn't ask David so I can't be sure) by the cooked gelatin of the feet themselves. Capturing the combination of fried-comfort-food and meat melange appropriately without making it come across as some sort of high-class version of scrapple or fish sticks has proven elusive, so you'll just have to try them if you find yourself there. They were served with Nottage Hill 2007 Pinot Noir, which we also kept for the next course...

...which was skewered bacon and kidneys served over small lentils. Honestly I thought the kidneys probably could have been pulled off the grill 30 seconds earlier, but this is a small complaint for what was a happy combination. It was a special treat, too, because David had ordered the kidneys specially for us (!) so not only was it off the menu, it was off the ingredients list. Talk about making a guest feel special. I was grinning from ear to ear. (OK, Phil says that was true all night). I liked and will try this on Minizawa (the small Egg) - very simple, just good ingredients quickly grilled. The sauce from the lentils was enough to flavor the skewers or, if we'd wanted to, we could have mixed it all together. But I wanted to enjoy the kidney all by itself.

This weekend: The rest of it all: Brussels sprouts and sweetbreads (yay!); baked egg with truffles served with venison spaetzle; dessert and cheese.

Stuffed Rockfish

Wanted fish and briefly entertained the notion of laterally testing Lane's monkfish but Phil said that would make a pretty boring blog. So got this oddly shaped rockfish fillet, which really was half a full fillet and half a bit of flesh with the skin still on (see pic above). My intention was to stuff the fleshy side and wrap the skin bit over. That wouldn't work and I ended up slicing off the flap and putting it on top as a topper, almost like a tasty fishy crouton.

Recipe:
1 lb or so rockfish fillet
1 clump of watercress, leaves only (save the stems for scrap salad)
2 crimini mushrooms
2 oz (approx.) crab meat
1" piece of ginger
1-1/2T dijon mustard
generous grating black pepper
generous amount of ghee for frying
lard for frying and baking

Cooking Note: I have a sort of policy of not cleaning off my griddle if I'm going to use it the next night, and instead just making something complementary. Last night was the livers with mushrooms deglazed with ghee and cranberry liqueur. There was still a bit of schmutz from that on the griddle, and I left it there. I think it added a bit of sweetness and a depth from the carmelization that happened last night, combined with tonight's cooking.
Instructions: Preheat oven to 450F. Grease the bottom of a baking pan with lard. Heat the griddle.Moderately thinly slice the ginger and mushroom. Add ghee to heated griddle and when melted add mushrooms and ginger. Saute until the mushrooms are just limp. Remove all to bowl and mix in mustard and pepper and crab (I used Japanese tinned, which is very finely flaked. More coarse would be fine, you would just want to mix it up more). Saute greens on griddle until just cooked. Mix in with the other stuffing parts in the bowl.

Melt lard on griddle. Add fish, skin side down and saute 3 min or so until skin is a bit crispy. Cut off the "flap" part. Remove fish and flap from heat. Put fleshy part in the greased baking dish. Slice lengthwise through the middle almost (but not quite - say about 1/4" shy) through.
Spoon in stuffing mixture. Picture above shows it stuffed. Lay flap part on top. Bake (for 1-1/2"- 2" bottom) approx 20 min or until just opaque and fish breaks into large flakes easily. Picture below shows it just out of the oven, after having been sliced in two already (because I incorrectly thought 8 - 10 min would be right).

As shown below, serve with capers and paprika. Or be creative - chutney also would be good with this. Eat hot.
Eating Notes: We won't attempt to say what rockfish "tastes" like, but it is a meaty and slightly fatty but clean-tasting fish so that you're sure it's fish but without noticeable aftertones. We liked how the sauce and greens balanced the fish.

Monkfish and leeks with ginger

It is one ugly fish. But very tasty. I didn't have a whole one, so I stole a picture from wiki. Actually, if I did have a whole one, I would probably be eating it for a month.

I love referring to its other name, a headfish, and as you see, it is basically a tail (the part we eat) with a head. It has often been referred to as 'poor man's lobster' and it does have the texture and taste of lobster, sort of. I probably would never have come up with that analogy without some prompting.

Monkfish and leeks with ginger

Monkfish filet, these normally work well at about 1 per 2 people.
1 leek
1 T minced ginger
3 scallion
1/4 C white wine
1 T butter
salt and pepper
ghee

Season monkfish with salt and pepper. Chop scallion and slice leeks into 2 inch long strips about 1/4 inch wide. Lightly brown each side of the monkfish in a heavy sauté pan in a couple of teaspoons of ghee with 1 t of the ginger. Add white wine and cover. Cook for 10-12 minutes. This is not a fish that you want to eat underdone it will be rubbery in a not good way. Remove fish to a platter, cover and reduce any remaining liquid and any liquid from fish platter. Add scallions, leeks and ginger to pan with butter and wilt over med-low heat scraping up any residue bits. Serve fish with leeks.

I had a side of 'baby' bok choy (this affectation of calling any small/young version of a vegetable 'baby' really gets on my nerves, but I guess it serves both as marketing and descriptor) that were separated into leaves and sautéd in ghee with a little ginger until wilted. Toss with a little soy sauce and sesame oil.

The small version of this cabbage is much milder in flavor and does not stand up to what you would do with the more mature version.

Dinner At Ansill Food and Wine - Part 2

Our next course at Ansill was steak tartare with cognac, which I had and loved on my previous visit. Tasha allowed us to keep our chardonnay with this. Mixed in the quail egg and some of the sauce and spread it on the accompanying homemade toast. I like the cognac taste and am going to try it the next time I make tartare. It gives a side-of-the-mouth sweetness and fills out the tartare.

I suggested to David that the cognac approach would be really good using heart as the meat. He said he couldn't do that at the restaurant - raw hearts would be a bit beyond the comfort zone of the clientele. Too bad! But it doesn't stop me from trying it at home. I have a lamb heart from the latest batch and think I'll try it that way.
Next up was soup and salad and a change of wine that I wrote down the name of so illegibly it is lost in the annals of time. The soup was tomato with escargot. It was served with a bakala (dried salt cod) salad.

Soup first, because that's how we ate it. The tomato and mussel broth. The soup also had a strong carrot flavor from the mirepoix. It was thinner than a bisque but with a good deal of body. The combination of sweet-salty carrot/tomato/mussel broth and earthy snails turned it into high-class comfort food. Deeply satisfying and smooth, punctuated by a few perfectly toasted croutons to add interest.

With its mellow vinegary tones, the bakala was a natural follow-on. David said he soaked the cod for a couple of days and it showed in the subtle meld of flavors. I would make this myself, especially after David reminded me that you can just pick off the amount of salt cod you want for any occasion and leave the rest for later. For some reason I have always just looked at this big dried fish and thought 'how could I possibly use all that?' and let it go. But now I have good reason to try something new at home.

Next up: crispy pig trotters; kidney and bacon skewers served with lentils

Lamb Liver and Leeks

Phil is sick, and I'm (hopefully) fighting something off, so I thought liver would be good for tonight and to balance it a crisp salad of leeks and small tomatoes. Found out Lane is also having leeks tonight, and will be interesting to see what he does with his. But the main dish of the day was liver, this the liver from the lamb I got Tuesday afternoon. Picture above shows the whole of the lamb liver after I've sectioned/sliced it.

The recipes I have call for you to slice liver 1/4" thick, but that seems far too thin to me, and the smallest slices I made were more on the order of 1/2". I'm still new to this crosswise slicing of slimy things endeavor, so my slices tend to be thick in any event because I don't want to lose fingers in the process.

I cooked all of the liver and used a little less than half for dinner; the rest I'll make chopped liver with for tomorrow. Instructions for liver: Preheat griddle on medium heat. Melt approx 2T lard on griddle. When lard is melted and griddle is hot, add thick-ish liver slices and saute 4 min total, flipping to be sure both sides are nicely seared. Remove liver and plate. Melt 1-2T ghee on the griddle. Add a couple of mushrooms, sliced fairly thin. Saute until just starting to get transparent, and add 1/4 c cranberry liqueur or port. Continue sauteing, scraping up bits strenuously, until the liquid is reduced to a medium-thick sauce. Pour mushrooms and sauce over liver. Picture below shows it done and plated. The thin sauce to the right of the liver and musrooms is sauce and a bit of blood, becuase the liver should still be fairly rare in the middle when you pull it off the griddle.
Served here with leek salad. Instructions: Thinly slice a leek (green and light green parts; save the rest for scrap salad) into a bowl. Halve 8 - 10 pearl/cherry/grape tomatoes and add. Halve 4 -6 Japanese pickled onions (rakkyo; they are sweet, not like cocktail onions) and add. Mix 2T lime juice, 1T olive oil, and 1T hot prepared mustard (I used Colmans) and add. Let marinate at least a half hour.

Eating Notes: We don't like liver as much as Kitchen Goddes Nadja (see below with laser eyes) but we sure like it a lot. The mineral notes of the liver are well-balanced by the cranberry liqueur and the whole thing set off well by the salad.

Dinner At Ansill Food and Wine - Part 1

Phil and I took a day last week and went to Philadelphia to visit Ansill Food and Wine, a restaurant I had been to in January 2008 while I was at a conference. I fell in love with the food, with small servings and lots of offal on the menu, and finally dragged Phil up with me.

Before we went, I emailed the restaurant to explain that I intended to come and eat my way through the menu and ask, given that we were planning to stay there for several hours, if it would be better for us to reserve a table or to sit at the bar.

I also asked if he could recommend a B&B. The owner/executive chef, David, personally wrote back to me saying yes, it would be helpful for them if we sat at the bar. He also suggested La Reserve Bed and Breakfast, where one of his cooks works.

A couple of days later I emailed back confirming that we were coming and warning David that I might just ask him to cook "whatever," given that I had just been in heaven the last time I was there. He responded "I will cook until you say stop" and I started really looking forward to the trip.

Dinner did not disappoint, and the B&B was fantastic. Over the next few days I'll be blogging/commenting, a little bit to share, a bit more to plug this great restaurant, and mostly so I don't lose the experience. Today is courses one and two.

As a production note, all the pictures were taken with my cellphone camera and no flash, so excuse the less-than-great quality. I think you get the idea, though.

We went early so as not to stress out the staff during a busy time and were essentially the first people there. So we settled at the bar and Tasha, our amazingly fabulous bartender/waitress, announced us. She came back and asked us to pick some things off the menu, which they would then augment in the back. We picked marrow, steak tartare, pig trotters, grilled Brussels sprouts, and idiazabal (a raw sharp cheese from Spain). Tasha gave us half-glasses (so we didn't get blotto) of appropriate wines to suit. Unfortunately, my wine notes are cryptic and spotty, so all I have is what kind and sometimes a year. I realize this little information is effectively useless and apologize (especially to Lane, who would have done it correctly, I'm sure) in advance. Anyway, Tasha set us up first with a sparkling wine.

The first food that came was house-smoked (I'm pretty sure that's what my notes say) salmon wrapped around dill and little cucumber spears and served with a lobster cream (pic at top of post). My only complaint was that the little fish forks we had were insufficient to the task of picking up the roll. Phil did the smart thing and used a regular fork. I ended up having a bit of a salmon-cucumber salad. But the taste was very good - velvet at the top of the mouth and just tart enough at the sides for balance.
Next up was the bone marrow, served with homemade toast. Pic shows it after we'd split it and piled it on 2 toast pieces. The salad was a salty parsley salad. I didn't ask David how he did the marrow, but it was so perfectly grilled we wonder if he used a torch. The outside was crispy and the inside appropriately unctuous but not melted at all until it went into the mouth. The parsley salad had red onion and what seemed to be hibiscus sea salt on the side. It was quite salty; in other circumstances, too much so, but here it was a perfect foil to the marrow.

Part 2 (stay tuned) - steak tartare; tomato-escargot soup served with a marinated salt cod salad.

Shin Bone with Meat

Tonight I wanted to have some of the "old" lamb, but it's under a sack of 57 pounds of "new" lamb that won't be split out until Lane and I do so on Tuesday. So instead I pulled out a cut of beef dubiously labeled "Shin Bone with Meat." I think you are supposed to feed this to your dog.
If you do, you are a fool (unless, as Phil notes, you really like your dog). A simple, good dinner. First post pic shows the meat (about 1.3 pounds total before cooking) just off being smoked on Mechazawa (the large Egg) with cherry wood for about 45 min and then closed off and sitting until we were ready to eat. Picture above shows 1/2 the meat cut off the bone with the marrow sliced out and sitting on the left of the plate.
Served it (see picture above, which shows plated meal - the marrow, cut in half, is the whitish bit on the left) with a red bell pepper and leek salad. The salad marinated about 40 min in a balsamic mustard vinaigrette with some Harry and David Pepper and Onion Relish (because Phil's mom sent him a Harry and David present for his birthday) thrown in. It was really good.

Eating Notes: This was chewy and flavorful and good. Like amazing stew meat. The red bell pepper salad was a good complement. Having the wonderful chunk of marrow to go with everything put it over the top. Take-away message: do not eschew dog food!

Goat Chops

Serendipitous find today. Bit of a backstory in that the lamb I had been talking about during Obama's inauguration was finally delivered late today. So I have more meat than I can use in several months. OK. Lane and I had lunch and it was my turn to pick, but the first Japanese place I suggested was closed. So I remembered this other Japanese cafe said oh! Let's try it and see. It was fine but nothing worth blogging about, except that it happened to be located right next door to Rockville Gourmet Halal Meat. So I said Oh! Let's go there after lunch! And there was no need to twist my fellow foodie's arm.

Once inside I could let my inner zombie go......"brains....brains" and tongues and tails and a prominent sign that said "lamb's head." I was in heaven. Walked out with veal cheeks and a nice plate of goat chops (see pic above. Bit more backstory. My entire conversation with goat as a food involves "curry" or "stew" right after. So I had to have these). And the guy at Rockville Gourmet Halal Meats (phone is 301.424.4444 if you're in the area) was incredibly sweet and gave me a couple of pounds of liver as lagniappe, partially, I think, because I was so happy at seeing offal on offer.

Back to dinnernoms.

Decided to make the goat on Minizawa-chan (the small egg), high heat short time both sides. Steamed the carrots and made a 3G (ghee/garlic/ginger) glaze. Instructions for Goat: Start the grill and warm it up. Grill the goat 4 min or so on both sides until it has a nice skin on the outside but still is very rare (room temp or so) on the inside. Instructions for Carrots: Steam the carrots for about 7 min. Heat 2T or more ghee until hot and add 1 clove garlic and 1/4" piece ginger (both chopped). Saute until just starting to brown and add a shy 1T of san on tou or 2t of light brown sugar and the carrots. Saute 5 min or so until the carrots are glazed and done to your taste.

Eating Notes: Another ZOMG. The goat chop is the same size as a lamb chop, but it's a grown up animal. The muscle fiber is more chewy (but not gamey, the way goat stew is) and has a somewhat metallic (to Phil) or complex (to me) taste. The fat (thanks, Phil) has a more unctuous taste to it. It's really good. We both liked it better than traditional lamb chops because of the more complex and mature taste. So I'll definitely get them again.

Shad Roe

Woo Hoo. It's shad roe season. We are lucky around here, the Delaware River is still a viable commercial fishery for shad and the Potomac River is being restored (currently, shad is only catch and release on the Potomac) for shad spawning and habit.

The fish monger had sets of shad roe, so I bought two sets for dinner last night. This version of preparation is very simple and bring the texture and flavor with a simple contrast of lemon and parsley. This is also another harbinger of spring; ramps (this is a fun festival), fiddlehead fern and other spring treats will be showing up soon.

Pan fried shad roe with parsley
Shad roe set, I use 1 set for 2 people
bunch parsley
2 lemons
butter
salt and pepper

Chop parsley. Juice 1 lemon, slice the other. Melt 1 T butter in cast iron pan and add a layer of parsley. Place roe on top and add another layer of parley and lemon slices. Cook over med-high heat until the bottom layer of parley starts to crisp a little. Season to taste with salt and a little pepper. Sprinkle with lemon juice and cover. Cook for about 15 minutes. Remove roe and cook parsley and lemon slice a little to remove some liquid. Serve roe with parsley and lemon slices on top. These 'garnishes' are complements to the roe and should not be ignored.

I served this with halves of eggplant that were seasoned with olive oil, garlic and rosemary and broiled with rice.

Serve 2 per roe set.

Intermissive noms report

No posting yesterday - Phil and I were in Philadelphia and having a tremendous dinner at Ansill Food and Wine that I'll say more about later and Lane, who'd promised to blog, ended up getting sick. So, apologies.

Tonight, a really good emergency food dish of cabbage-sausage-kimchi cassserole. Like a standard red sausage casserole, just mixing in about a cup of cabbage kimchi an some black pepper and no other spicing. Really good.

Anyway, tomorrow is rehearsal night so in all likelihood I will start explaining about the amazing dinnernoms that will stay with me always (with pictures!) on Tuesday. Please be patient. Kthxbai.

Curried Mussels

Wanted fish but had "flesh" fish recently, so decided to pick up some mussels, and glad for it! Trolled around for a recipe that could be adapted to fit the contents of my fridge and found a Curried Mussel recipe from my 1973 Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery that I could modify.

Recipe:
(Serves 2)
2 lbs mussels in the shell
1 t salt
1/4 c butter
3 oz shallots
1/2 md green pepper
1/2 c dry sherry
1/4 t dry thyme
2 t curry powder
1/4 c sour cream
Clean and debeard the mussels. Picture above shows the "keepers" versus the ones I needed to dump because of broken shells or questionable life force. Mince the shallots and green pepper.

Put 1" water in a large kettle. Add salt. Bring to a boil, add the mussels and steam 3 min. Drain, reserving the broth. Picture below shows the mussels out of the shell and some of the rest of the mis en place.Remove the mussels from the shells. Blend the curry powder with 1/4 c mussel broth.

In a medium skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the pepper and shallots and saute 3 min. Add sherry and thyme. Add the curry powder/broth mix. Stir and saute 5 min. Add mussels and combine. Picture above shows it in process. Turn off heat. Mix in sour cream. Serve hot.

Eating Notes: The cookbook says to serve over toast, but since I'm avoiding wheat I didn't. We thought it was pretty incredible as is. But it definitely would work with bread. I'd suggest something a bit acidic, like sourdough, to balance the mouth feel of the curry-sour cream mix.

More Pork

No, I'm not going to give a purported analysis of the stimulus bill. So, in keeping with a non-existent food comparison, I cooked pork loin chops last night. Courtney did the classic pair of pork and sauerkraut, I did pork with apples. And ginger and sage. The pork loin chops at the butcher were beautiful, so I couldn't resist. The apples were, too.

Pork chops with apples
2 pork loin chops (this cut is obviously not required, though I prefer using a bone-in cut for this type of dish)
2 apples (honey crisp)
1+ T minced ginger
sage leave, lots
ghee
1 C chicken stock
1/2 C white wine
salt and pepper

Slice apples into wedges. Season chops with salt and pepper. Melt 2 t ghee (butter would work, though the solids are going to cause a burning problem, probably) add some sage leave (I ripped the large ones into thirds) and 1 t ginger. Saute until sage starts to crisp. Add a layer of apples and sear over med heat until brown, turn, and repeat. Remove to platter and deglaze pan with a little wine. Pour onto platter or bowl.

Melt another 2 t ghee, add another bunch of sage and ginger and sear chops. The chops were about 1 1/4 inch thick, so I covered them for a few minutes on each side. When done, transfer to the platter with the remains of the apple deglazing step. Cover the chops. Add 1 t ghee to pan and remaining sage and ginger cook until sage is crispy. Deglaze pan with remaining wine (I ended up with a couple of slices of apple that didn't fit on the plate as I conceived it, so I chopped them up and added to the reduction) add drippings from platter holding resting meat and reduce. Add stock and a little more ghee. And reduce to desired consistency.

I divvied up the chops (ever fair about distributing loin and tenderloin) among three people. There are bones to be chewed on on some meat leftover for a small snack.

Serve with apple slices and sauce over the chops. I had roasted asparagus (tossed in about 2 t melted butter with a little lemon juice and pomegranate molasses) and pasta. Salad was slices of avocado, red pepper and hearts of palm with a vinaigrette.

Pedestrian Dinner and Notes on Fasting

Pic shows tonight's pedestrian dinner of pork chops baked on a bed of sauerkraut. OK, so it was impossibly simple and impossibly good. Nothing but pork, fermented cabbage, and some black pepper over the top. We ate all the fat, all the drippings, everything except for a bit of a tithe around the bones for the kitchen god and goddess.

And this simple feast made me think a lot about the simple famine of a short fast. Yesterday I wasn't that hungry, so I didn't eat. And I think I really gained from that fast.

Bit of back story first. I've always been a morning person. Early to bed, early to rise, and all that (still waiting for the wealth and wisdom, but what can you do). So my mornings are usually very productive, work wise, and then there's a marked drop-off after 2 or so.

But yesterday, I felt productive all day. There was no drop off; if anything, I felt like I was getting more done at 4:30 than I had at 9:30. And today, even though I didn't fast, I just ate when I was hungry. And today's productivity was the same. I was really productive in the afternoon; at least as much so as in the morning.

I don't have enough data yet to form conclusions. But I do know that a lot of times we eat as a social obligation - and why eat if you're not hungry? So I am going to continue to experiment on this front some more. I'm trying to listen to my body and pay attention even if it goes against culture.

Simple Food, Simply Cooked

Woke up this morning not feeling hungry, so fasted until dinnernoms. Then felt like having simple food, simply cooked, so settled on some seared salmon following (mostly) Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home (Amazon link here)and adding pine nuts and a second course of salad with a complimentary dressing. The Salmon follows the Julia and Jacques recipe except that I used ghee instead of butter; added about 1/3 cup pine nuts at the same time as the onion; and cooked the salmon for only 4 minutes. Picture above shows the mis en place. Picture below shows the finished fish with the sauce poured over.Instructions for the salad dressing: For each serving, mix 1T olive oil, 1t horseradish, 1t hot mustard (I used coleman's) 1t dried sage and 1T buttermilk. It is the perfect foil after having had the fish. Sage, mustard, and horseradish are critical. You could substitute yogurt or sour cream for the buttermilk. Picture below shows the salad.

Eating Notes: Phil and I both felt like we could taste each of the components really well and that they blended perfectly. While musical piece traditionally come in three movements, this dinner was in two. The first movement was the salmon, with capers, pine nuts, onion and ghee all contributing distinct notes but coming together cohesively. The mustard-horseradish-buttermilk dressing of the salad provided a direct link back to the first movement of the fish course, but the leafy crunch of the salad left us feeling decisively satisfied at the end.

Courtney's Rule of 4 Liver and Green Beans

Tonight I had a pound of chicken livers to dispose of. Also, some good green beans I was in the mood for. Went through a bunch of recipes and absolutely nothing appealed, so made something up myself I don't mind taking credit for. First post shows the finished dish. Pic above shows the main ingredients - liver, beans, and some onion.

Recipe:
Courtney's Rule of 4 Liver and Green Beans
(Serves 4)

1 lb liver (I used chicken; any would be ok I think)
12 oz fresh green beans
1/2 c chopped onion
1/4 c cranberry liqueur or port
1/2 t dijon or other sharp mustard
1/2 t Worcestershire sauce (I used Lee and Perrins)
1/4 c sour cream (please use full fat)
Salt and pepper to taste
2T fat for frying (I used a combination of lard and lamb heart fat)

Trim the stem ends off the beans and cut into thirds. Blanch by steaming 4 minutes, then rinse in cold water to stop the cooking.

If using chicken livers, in half along the natural divide. If using other livers, cut into approx. 1/3" slices/cubes/pieces/whatever. Heat the fat until melted. Pic below shows the amount of lamb heart trimmings I used, which I supplemented with lard to make about 2T fat total.
Saute the livers for 4 minutes and remove from the pan. Picture above shows the livers after cooking.

Add the onions and the blanched green beans and saute 4 min. Add liqueur/port and stir to deglaze; add mustard, Worcestershire, sour cream and salt and pepper, stir the livers back in, and blend well. Serve hot.

Eating Notes: Another ZOMG. With menneh!11! The beans were cooked but crispy. The sharp/sweet taste of the cranberry liqueur was a perfect foil to the chicken livers, and the livers themselves were just gently cooked and really nice. We only could eat about half, so Mr. Bento gets to enjoy them for lunch tomorrow; we'll see if they also make great leftovers.

No food; consolation kitty porn

Rehearsal for me and Lane's still on his trip, so no new food tonight. As consolation, a small amount of kitty porn, featuring our own Kitchen God Alex looking as disgusted as he is that we're taking pictures instead of doing good things right now for his direct benefit. Enjoy.

Lamb Hearts Tartare

The lamb (sadly) still hasn't come, but (gladly) I still have some left from before. So!! For tonight, lamb hearts tartare. This completes my lamb heart cycle from slow-cooked to quick-cooked to raw. Easy and incredibly good. From the raw heart (shown above):
Instructions:

Mince the heart (above shows it done) with a cleaver. Per heart, add: 1 1/4" slice onion minced fine; 1t Worchestershire; 1/2t English mustard (I used Coleman's), and salt and pepper to taste. Picture below shows everything ready to be mixed. Blend well. Shape into balls and roll in pecan meal.

Picture below shows it plated. Each of us got 6 heart rolls, with a medium-sized caper pressed into the top of each one. I completed the plating with 10 smoked scallops I had left over from before, plus some pecan halves.
Eating Notes: We've now had lamb hearts raw, cooked lightly, and braised for a long time. We have really liked them each way. We (Phil and I) now firmly believe that people who don't like organs grew up in a culture that cooked them like bacon, which is about the only way they can't taste really good.

Also, while there was some difference in texture between the minced lamb and the chicken hearts tartare I did a couple of weeks ago, it wasn't all that pronounced. For a single large heart mincing was easier, and if I did have wild bird I'd probably mince, but if you're doing a large quantity, mincing it through the meat grinder with a 4mm die is fine.

Valentine's Breakfast

First, Happy Birthday, co-contributor Lane! And I'll take your snarks for unashamedly celebrating that other February 14 holiday!
Breakfast was an onion-tomato egg pie with a mixture of herbs. To do the paprika stencil on the top, the easiest way is to put down a biscuit cutter and shake the paprika over. I kind of like it bleeding over, but if you want it "clean" the best way is to make a true stencil. Trace the shape on a piece of parchment big enough to catch the overflow, cut it out, put it on the food and shake the paprika over, and carefully lift the parchment away.

In honor of Lane's day, I used his savory-ish ketchup to make an avocado sauce. Instructions:Halve and pit an avocado. Scoop out each half into a small bowl, retaining the shape. For each half, mix 1T ketchup, 1/2t Worcestershire (I used Lee and Perrins), and 1/2t citrus sauce (I used Japanese sudachi).

Eating Notes: A good use for this sweet ketchup - the citrus juice cuts a lot of the sugar taste and the avocado blends well with it. A success!

No cooking today...

Lane is off on a weekend family trip, and I'm down with some sort of stomach bug, so no cooking today. Instead, a picture of Healing Goddess Nadja, doing her best to make me feel better in time to get her dinner, at least!