Easter. Shhh It's Wabbit season.

 

 

Here's the deal. I have a slightly evil sense of humor. I also really like pushing buttons. Put that together with my culinary sense of adventure and you end up with me doing the kid-hate inducing thing you should never EVER serve at Easter. Unless you're me.
Rabbit used to be common. It still is in the mid-west but just mention it to most Americans and they'll make the ookie face. It's a good lean meat, try it. My version is Italian in origin and uses shallots, dry white wine and lovely fresh herbs. Really easy to do, you'll see.

 

First up, buy a rabbit. I have a source with our butcher at my real job so he brought some in for me. Have him ( or her ) divide it up for you. Point is, rabbit bones are murder on knife edges. I learned that the hard way years ago. Better the butcher's knives get the notches than yours.

 

Mise en Place

One rabbit, divide all pieces into as many smaller pieces as possible. Bone in.

Seasoned flour, salt, black pepper, pinch of Paprika

Finely grated Parmesan

6 large Shallots, quartered

A piece or two of bacon or salt pork, no wrong answers

1 bottle dry white wine. Chardonnay, Fume Blanc...whatever ya got

Bunch of fresh Marjoram

Some Rosemary

Same with Oregano

Also Thyme

Remove leaves but save those stems, tie them together and add those to the pot later. Big fancy Chef word for today is Bouquet garni.

Splash of Olive Oil
Wide ribbon Pasta, pick one.

Start heating up your pan and add your pieces of pork belly, cook those alone for a couple minutes and add a splash of oil

 

Combine the cheese with the seasoned flour. Dredge all pieces 'o' Peter Rabbit and shake off excess.

Start browning off the bunny pieces. Light gold brown

 

For now remove to the side.

 

In the same pan dump in the shallots and start browning those off.

Put the rabbit pieces back add the herbs and dump in the wine to cover. We're braising aren't we? Make sure to scrape up the yummy brown stuff on the bottom of the pan. Check your seasoning ok?

 

 

Thing is rabbit has some tough leg muscle as you might imagine and to make it edible a long cooking time is the order for the day. Bring to a good simmer, cover, and braise until tender. Depending on the size of your egg and jellybean shilling hasenpfeffer this can go anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour.

That's ok, gives us time to par-cook the pasta. Boil, drain..blah blah. Gently add the pasta to the pan. Toss lightly.

 

Plate up and garnish with any herbs you have left over.

Let the kids know what they're eating maybe AFTER they hunt for eggs.

Have a blessed and peaceful Easter

Cooking poor, eating rich

Get your grub on

Ciao

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Surviving Lent with prostitutes and anchovies. Puttanesca

Who said dinner during Lent has to be boring? 

This dish is one of my all-time favorites. It's got a great story behind it. In Italian Puttanesca means "whore" isn't that a scream? The story is that this was prepared afterwards to fortify the "customer" before his journey home to the wife. It's a simple, salty, peppery dish of easy to find items in any Italian kitchen. So easy it takes less than an hour to make. Time is money, for prostitutes and Chefs alike. 

 If you don't like Anchovies you're in big trouble. 

 Chef Nick does Pasta alla Puttanesca

Mise-en-place

1 pound of pasta, any shape you like but I prefer Linguine or another strand type

about 8 or so fresh Tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, smooshed

4 Anchovy fillets 

some chopped up Kalamata Olives
1-2 TB of Capers, chopped.
big pinch of red chili flakes
any appropriate fresh herbs, I like Oregano

First step, de-seeding the Tomatoes. Most recipes don't have this step but I just don't like the look of all those seeds floating around in my sauce, if it doesn't bother you then skip ahead. All you need is to core first then cut in half. Squeeze gently over a wire-mesh strainer to remove seeds. This sounds wacky but it's a trick I learned from my old boss Paul Poblate. The flavor of Tomato is actually in the gel that surrounds the seeds, so whenever you remove seeds, strain out the liquid and add it back in at some point. Brightens the whole dish.

and just assemble the rest of your ingredients. 

Now some friendly words about Anchovies. 

I grew up on Anchovies. It's an Italian thing. The salty-fishy-hairy stuff was always a big treat whenever the family got together. I'll just never-ever understand why it generates so much hate. It's a small fish from the Mediterranean that is then dried in salt and packed in oil. It's terrific and such a big part of this dish you just can't make it without. I eat them right out of the can. I also refuse to order pizza from a place that doesn't have this as an option. Seriously. Please, give them a chance. Sing with me. Anchovies Anchovies, they're so delicious, I loves 'em better than all the other fishes. 


Yes, please cook off the pasta before-hand. This sauce is so quick you'll need it fast.

 Next to your stove you have something that looks like this...

Heat up a large pan. HOT if you can't touch it, it's ready. Add a splash of Olive Oil, then the garlic. 

Toss it around and add the Chili Pepper flakes. Be careful not to burn, just take it the point you start to see some color on the garlic. Then add the Anchovy. It will start to dissolve almost instantly. 

Add all the Tomatoes with a good pinch of Black Pepper and a scant pinch of Salt (you don't need much 'cus, yeah Capers and Anchovy have a ton of salt already)

We are still on high heat, the Tomatoes will start to break down (if you saved your tomato gel, add it now) 

Just watch now, once the Tomato stops looking like just chopped Tomato, add the Capers and Olives and any fresh herbs, again, I used Oregano. Still on high heat. Let that all cook down to remove as much water as you can, turn down heat to low. 

Here's why it's smart to pre-cook the pasta. Unlike Americans, Italians know that you add the pasta to the sauce, all that carry-over heat will force the sauce into the pasta and Italian cooking is all about getting the most out of everything. Another good tip, add a splash of the pasta water into your pan. 

That's it friends. Plate that up. Italians always-always-always have bread on hand. Garnish with some chopped herbs if ya like. Admit it, you'd visit a prostitute if you knew you'd get served this after. 

Cooking poor, eating rich

get your grub on

Ciao

It's Lent. Meatless Fridays. Welsh Rarebit.

I go old-school. I'm a good Catholic boy so on Ash Wednesday I turn my thoughts and heart to a quiet and deep contemplation of what it is to be one of God's creations. That, and I have many-many fond memories of my Dad making this cheesy, savory dish for our meatless Fridays.
 A true gem among all the rubbish that is English cuisine. GOD that hurt to type. I mean really, English??? Yes really. Here's a story.
 The legend is that this dish originated among the servants of the English manor-houses during the 16th and 17th centuries. Day-old bread and dry, sharp English Cheddar were combined with beer, mustard and herbs and here we are today with this lovely plate of scrumptiousness. There is no reason or rhyme to the word "rarebit" it seems to be a dig against the Welsh servants but as to it's meaning I gather nobody knows.
 It's an open-faced grilled-cheese sandwich with a whisk of beer and mustard. I dare you to hate it. I double-dog dare you. I triple-dog....heck, never mind. Here we go.

  Chef Nick Does Welsh Rarebit. No this isn't the promised rabbit dish, that's next month

 Mise-en-place

A loaf of good and crusty day-old bread. Sliced thick on the bias.
1 English beer, 12 oz. The bulk produced American crap just won't do as they are made from gnat piss. Use a micro-brewed Ale or a good English Ale like Newcastle.
1 TB dry mustard
1 1/2 cup of good sharp Cheddar, shredded (for 2 NTYC points, tell me where Cheddar gets it's color from, no google)
3 TB butter
1 TB flour
1/2 cup warm milk
1 splash of Worcestershire (I'm going to abbreviate this as WS for the rest of the day, it's too hard to spell ok?)
1 good pinch of dried ground Paprika
1 good pinch Cayenne Pepper
fresh ground Black-Pepper
1 egg yolk, fresh and lightly whisked
some chopped Parsley about a TB or so
fresh Chives, snipped. That's our garnish

snipped? yessir

and just for us Catholics maybe some smoked Salmon.
To make this more a non-Lenten dish maybe some smoked Ham.

Equipment.
grill pan
sauce pan
brush
whisk

Alongside any cruciferous vegetable like Broccoli, Cauliflower, or just a cold salad of baby-greens or Watercress. Prepare anyway you like. I'm roasting mine in butter. Yes, butter.



This is old territory, we've seen this sauce sorta before. It's a lot like Bechamel but it's beer based. Isn't that wonderful? Also pay attention to the ratio for the Roux.

Melt the butter in a largish deep pot
 once all melted whisk in the flour to make a Roux

 add the spices

Whisk in the milk.



Drop down to medium heat. Add the beer.

Keep whisking and you will notice a gentle thickening. Drop your heat to lower-medium. Take up a small amount of the sauce and whisk it gently into your egg-yolk. This is called tempering. Whisk that back into the rest, this will make a nice shiny and thick base.

Add your cheese and a dash of WS. Once all the cheese is melted add the Parsley.

That's it really.

You got that bread sliced thick right?

Brush both sides with melted butter and place on a hot grill-pan. Flip over and toast the other side and set aside. For a little bit extra I added a small piece of smoked Salmon on top the bread. Eating fish on Fridays during Lent is an old tradition. If you want to hear how that came about just send me a message.















Cover the bread slices with the sauce

and garnish with a sprinkle of Chives. This is a wonderfully satisfying and savory dish wether you're celebrating Lent or not. From prep to plate the whole thing takes maybe an hour. You got that kinda time, I know you do.

cooking poor, eating rich

get your grub on

Ciao

Lactose Intolerance be danged. Mac-n-cheese.

There's a pill for that anyway.

 Here's the thing. I was chattin' away with an old buddy of mine when he let slip that he still likes the instant-crappy evil blue box version of mac-n-cheese. Full of orangey (new word?) toxic death. After some mocking it occurred to me that HECK I make a pretty good mac-n-cheese. Perfect dish for this time of year. On the other hand, I am really really really lactose intolerant. That's a new thing for me, time was I could eat my weight in dairy and then I hit 40 and it all went to heck. I don't care, it hasn't stopped me. The bloating is totally worth it.

 I also got some terrific looking Brussels Sprouts from the market. That's the side for the day.

Sure, this may sound like the fussy-chef version but heck if you want the best, use the best. The cool thing about Mac-n-cheese is how easy and variable it is. You can add or subtract any number of ingredients. As long as the basic formula is met, everything else is fair game.

Today I've got some Tomatoes from the garden, some Chipotle, one Shallot and a head of Roasted Garlic. I'll be using my favorite combination of cheeses, Gruyere and aged White Cheddar. If you've got a favorite combo, then by all means.

First things first though. I trimmed up the Sprouts, tossed with oil, salted and peppered added some fresh Rosemary and garlic powder. Wrapped loosely in foil and threw them on the grill.

the only way to make Brussels Sprouts

Also, sliced the tops off the head of garlic, drizzled with a little oil,

wrapped that up and it joined the Sprouts.





 In a little bit (40 minutes or so at 400) pulled 'em off. Done.

Let the garlic head cool before squeezing out all the love. I didn't and now I've burnt my fingers. I used about 1 TB and reserved the rest for another day.












CHEF NICK'S MAC-N-CHEESE: geesh finally

mise-en-place
 1/2 pound large pasta (I used Cellentani) Par-cooked
2 cups whole milk, heated
1/2 stick butter (yes, butter)
equal amount White Flour
1 cup of shredded cheese. Again I use Gruyere and aged White Cheddar so half-half
big pinch of Black Pepper

in addition
1 minced Shallot
1 chopped up Chipotle
some large diced fresh Tomato
1 TB roasted Garlic

For the top
1 cup bread-crumbs
some grated either Parmesan or Romano cheese
melted butter
mix those together, easy

mmmm butter

Of course we cook the noodles before-hand. I like the ones that look like piggy tails. They hold the sauce beautifully. Drain and set aside.

Here's a thing. The sauce we are about to make is classic Mornay. It's French. Remember that the next time you make fun of France. It starts as Bechamel, we add cheese. Voila. 

Is there anything better than melted Butter? No, not really. 

In a big deep pot, melt the butter over high heat. Drop to medium and add the minced Shallot. 

Toss for a bit and add the Flour. Stir around until it stops smelling starchy. 

That's called a ROUX. Add the milk a little at a time. If you heat the milk like say, in the micro-wave you get less lumps. Use a whisk and keep going. 

    

If you can drag across the back of the spoon with your finger it's good. We call that NAPE. 

Nape

Season with salt and pepper. Add the Chipotle and Garlic. Stir. 

Add the cheese. Stir again. 

Turn off the heat. Keep whisking until everything comes together into a cheesy smooth pot of goodness. Add the noodles.

 Using a spatula toss them together, next add the Tomatoes. let them get to know each other. 

Whisper sweet words into the pot. Say "I love you." and "My Momma loves you." 

 "You know who doesn't love you??? All the jack-hats who think that the crap in that blue box is edible" Sean? 

Put the cover on the pot and put into a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. 

Take out and un-cover. Top with the bread-crumb stuff and put it back in the oven to brown on top (uncovered). This took maybe another 10-15 minutes for me. Keep an eye on it. Pull it out. 

glows like the sun

       

YOU let the people behind the blue box tell you that their orange crap was the real deal.

I'm here to tell you that you can do better. Yes you can. Today we win. 

 Here's the thing. Macaroni and Cheese starts with maybe five ingredients. The blue box folks added 20 on top of that. I call bullshit. 

Cooking poor, eating rich

get your grub on

Ciao