Aubergine Souffles

Souffles can be tricky business. It's such a delicate matter that I resort to tiptoeing and whispering around the oven. Nothing can disrupt the delicate climb! Upon undertaking a souffle, you have made the decision to impress people. Don't let them down.

The most important component of the souffle is the egg white. Despite its whiteness, you should beat it like the redheaded stepchild that it is.

The excitingly difficult part of recipes from LaRousse's Gastronomique is that a lot is expected of you. Instead of holding your hand through the steps and ingredients for making a bechamel, the paragraph of directions simply says (paraphrased) "Puree the eggplant flesh with an equal amount of bechamel sauce." It's exhilarating.

Handling the eggplant was a simpler matter. It simply needed to be roasted, halved, hollowed, and then refilled with the mixture of eggplant puree, bechamel, nutmeg, egg yolks, and meringue.

Then I simply popped them back into the oven for 10 - 12 minutes, until the filling had risen and browned at the top. Meanwhile, Andy cooked up the chicken shawarma.

And then we ate like kings!

Aubergine Souffles
Serves 4.

2 large eggplants
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
3 eggs, white and yolks separated
Salt
Pepper
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
1/4 cup parsley, minced (for garnish)

1. Preheat oven to 400. On a rimmed baking sheet, place eggplants. Roast for 20 minutes, until skin is tender. Let cool for 10 minutes. Keep oven at 400.
2. Meanwhile, make bechamel sauce by melting butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and add flour, whisking in until all lumps are gone. Then slowly pour in milk, whisking vigorously to incorporate until smooth. Return to medium-high heat, bringing to a boil. Let boil for a couple of minutes, until thickened. Then remove from heat and cover with a lid to keep warm.
3. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
3. Halve eggplants lengthwise and scoop out flesh. Puree flesh in food processor, then add bechamel and process again. Next add egg yolks, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Process to combine.
4. Pour mixture into bowl with egg whites and use a rubber spatula to fold in egg whites.
5. Carefully spoon mixture into hollowed out eggplants. Top with grated parmesan. Butter the rimmed baking sheet and return the eggplants. Roast in oven for 10 - 12 minutes. For souffles, you want to be cautious around the oven. Definitely don't check it for the first 3/

Roasted Duck with a Strawberry-Rhubarb Glaze over Polenta

My boyfriend will sometimes tease me for my desire to make things out of scratch. "There's really no reason to make homemade Cheez-Its," he'll insist. But it looks like so much fun!

I also enjoy the quality control that comes out of doing-it-yourself. That and the sense of ownership. "This sauce, this sauce isn't Ragu's," I can boast, possibly while planting a tiny flag in middle of the dish. "It. Is. Mine."

Sometimes, though, it simply comes down to availability. Whaddaya mean you don't carry squash blossoms because they're too delicate to ship? FINE, THEN. I'LL JUST GROW MY OWN SQUASH. (Look for an upcoming blog on tempura squash blossoms!)

With this recipe, I could not readily find the required demi-glace, so why not make it? Essentially it's reduced espagnole sauce combined with stock. Espagnole sauce is one of the five French mother sauces, and I love challenging myself to the complicated balance of French gastronomy.

The sauces weren't difficult. Just involved. I did not have veal stock for the demi-glace, so I went with beef. Forgivable, I hope! For the most part, the success of the sauces comes down to the simmer. They bring themselves to perfection.

Mirepoix. Isn't that a lovely term? It refers to a collection of aromatics--usually the above pictured celery, carrots, and onions--used to add flavor to stocks and sauces.

The cheesecloth for the bouquet garni does not absolutely need to be unrolled in a dramatic fashion. But it does add a certain something to the proceedings.

Before adding the sachet, I brought the sauce to a boil.

Then I added in my bouquet garni and let it simmer. So much fun! I don't know why I don't cheesecloth my sauces more often.

Once the espagnole was created, I added two cups of brown stock and let it boil and then simmer for another twenty minutes.

After which I strained out the mirepoix.

Once the duck was done roasting...

And the radicchio and chard were sauteed...

You can plate it all together!

And drizzle the finished sauce on top.

Much more direction below!

Roasted Duck with a Strawberry-Rhubarb Glaze over Polenta

1 3 - 5 lb. duck, fat removed
1 cup strawberry rhubarb jam (recipe here)
1 teaspoon rosemary
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 lemon, punctured several times
4 sprigs fresh thyme

1/2 cup onions, diced
1/4 cup carrots, diced
1/4 cup celery, diced
1 1/2 tablespoons unbleached flour
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups stock
1/8 cup tomato puree
Bouquet garni: 1 bay leaf, 3 sprigs thyme, 3 - 4 parsley stems

2 cups brown stock

3 bunches rainbow chard, chopped
1 large head of radicchio, chopped into 1-inch wedges
1 small onion, cut into 3/4-inch wedges
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 cup cornmeal
3 cups water
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 375. In a small saucepan, melt the jam until it is syrupy. Rub the duck with olive oil, then season with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Remove innards and replace with punctured lemon and four sprigs of thyme. Put duck in rack of large roasting pan and baste with melted jam. Roast in oven for one hour (basting several times throughout).
2. Meanwhile, melt two tablespoons butter in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Add mirepoix (onions, carrots, and celery) and saute a few minutes until lightly browned. Stir in flour until roux is formed. Lower heat and cook for 4 - 5 minutes until roux is turning golden.
3. Whisk in stock and tomato puree. Pour slowly but whisk vigorously! Eradicate the lumps!
4. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and add the bouquet garni. Simmer for about 45 - 50 minutes. It's probably best to start the espagnole sauce a little before you put the duck in the oven--bringing it to a simmer about fifteen minutes before you start roasting the bird--to get the timing exact.
5. Once the sauce is reduced to a third of its original volume, remove from heat and take out the sachet. Add in two more cups of brown stock and return to heat, bringing to a boil and then simmering again for twenty minutes.
[Now you're changing your just-produced espagnole sauce into a demi-glace! Pat yourself on the back! While pouring yourself a drink! If you can do all this, I'm sure you're capable of growing hands at will.]
6. Heat three cups water in a medium saucepan over high, bringing to a boil. Stir in cornmeal and lower to a simmer. Stirring frequently, cook for twenty minutes, until all water is absorbed. Add in parmesan, stirring to combine.
6. Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet. Add in onions and garlic and sautee until starting to brown.
7. Working in batches, add in bunches of chard and radicchio, cooking until wilted. Once all is wilted, remove from heat and stir in red wine vinegar.
8. Stir in demi-glace to remaining melted jam. Bring to a boil and let thicken for five minutes, then remove from heat.
8. By now, your duck should be done and rested for fifteen minutes. Carve the duck. Then serve over polenta surrounded by a ring of chard and radicchio. Ladle sauce over duck. Enjoy!

Zucchini "Pasta" with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

So excited about this. My grandmother always serves zucchini with tomato sauce, and it's one of my favorite iterations. After selecting zucchini as this week's seasonal item, I wanted to keep those flavors in play while branching out on my own.

I saw online a suggestion to turn the zucchini into quasi-noodles, slicing them into wide, thin ribbons. Pasta without the carbs! So choice.

I just cooked it down a little in a large saucepan with some olive oil, seasoning it with citrus pepper.

Then I whipped up a fairly traditional pesto, and a creamy lemon sauce that was warped a little by my lack of cream, white wine, or broth, but finally brought into the realm of deliciousness. Especially after we pinata-ed open the can of smoked paprika and added it into the mix.

Mixed in both sauces with the "noodles," then topped with slow-roasted tomatoes and a sprig of parsley. Fun new way to serve zucchini!

Zucchini "Pasta" with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes
Serves 2-3.

2 zucchini, sliced into thin, wide ribbons (I used my mandoline!)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons citrus pepper seasoning

6 vine-ripe tomatoes, quartered
Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 oz. pine nuts
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup diced yellow onion
Juice from one lemon
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon dry vermouth
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon butter

Parsley sprigs, for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 300. Spread quartered tomatoes over a rimmed baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper, then drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette. Roast for one hour, or until the skin is wrinkled.
2. In large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add zucchini spices and stir in citrus pepper. Cook until tender and starting to brown.
3. In food processor, combine pine nuts, basil, oil, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, parmesan, and parsley. Process until fully combined. Add more olive oil if needed.
4. Now in a small saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-high. Add diced onion and cook until golden. Then add in lemon juice, milk, and vermouth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium. Stir in garlic powder and smoked paprika. Cook for five minutes. Then remove from heat and add butter, stirring until melted.
5. In a large bowl, mix zucchini, pesto, and lemon sauce. Top with roasted tomatoes and a sprig of parsley.
6. When eating, I recommend crushing up the tomatoes until the pasta. Enjoy!

Spring Supper: Garlic-Braised Chicken and Leek, Morel, and Pancetta Risotto

This recipe is courtesy of both leeks and morels being in season and the rediscovery of my cast-iron cookbook. Happy facts!

My previous experience with leeks consists of a 48-hour cleanse I've completed twice, in which you boil the leeks and reserve the broth. For your meals, you eat a cup of diced leeks tossed in olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Broth is to be imbibed a few times a day. I imagine people have been through more trying experiences, but from the thirtieth hour onward, the repetition and the somewhat bandage-like texture of boiled leeks wore on a girl.

So I wanted to surround the leeks with good flavors, while not totally drowning them out. The French love leeks, and on some of my days (not sure if they're better or worse), I am a Francophile.

I chose a morel, leek, and pancetta risotto. Risotto is so much fun to make, pouring and stirring (and sipping on the remaining wine while you do so.)

It wasn't the easiest to cook this along with the garlic-braised chicken, but I managed.

I first prepared my mise en place.

I could only find dried morels, even though they're supposedly in season! I'm not sure where you'd find them completely fresh, but it was simple enough to reconstitute them, soaking the morels in a bowl of white wine and chicken stock for thirty minutes. I then drained them (reserving the liquid) and diced them up.

Then I seasoned my chicken and browned it in the Dutch oven. I placed the browned pieces on a plate which I covered with foil.

At this point, I added the garlic cloves for the braised chicken and the butter and oil for the risotto.

I was able to brown the onions, leeks, and morels at the same time that the garlic was turning a rich dark brown color. At this point, I added back in the chicken, along with vermouth, stock, cognac and sprigs of oregano (though thyme might have been better!)

While the chicken simmered, I turned my attention back to the much needier risotto, adding the Arborio rice and beginning the process of hydrating and stirring. Here was the perfect occasion to use some of the reserved liquid from the morels! So flavorful.

Once the rice was al dente, I stirred in heavy cream, then took it off heat to add the grated Parmesan. As my luck--or careful/panicky assessment of both recipes--would have it, the chicken was done too! I simply had to remove it from the pot and keep it warm while I let the sauce reduce for a few minutes.

A floral garnish was used for a much-needed pop of color.

Garlic-Braised Chicken
Serves 4 - 6.

2 lbs. chicken breasts
2 tablespoons herbes de Provence
3 tablespoons olive oil
20 cloves garlic
1/2 cup dry vermouth
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/8 cup cognac
2 sprigs oregano (or thyme)

1. Slice chicken into pieces about 3 - 4 inches in length. Season with salt, pepper, and herbes de Provence.
2. Heat up olive oil over medium-high in Dutch oven. Cook chicken in batches, browning on all sides. Reserve on plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
3. Lower heat to medium and add garlic cloves. Saute for 7 - 8 minutes, until hue is a rich dark-brown.
4. Return chicken to pot, along with vermouth, stock, cognac, and fresh herbs. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to medium-low. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Remove chicken from pot and keep warm. Let sauce reduce for 5 minutes. Pour over chicken. Serve!

Leek, Morel, and Pancetta Risotto
Serves 3  - 4.

1 large leek, dark green leaves and root removed, light green section halved and then thinly sliced
3 oz. dried morels, reconstituted (with liquid reserved), then diced
2 oz. pancetta, diced
1/2 cup diced white onion
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
2/3 cup dry white wine
3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan

1. Heat butter and oil in a large saucepan over medium-high. In another saucepan, bring chicken stock to a boil and then lower to simmer.
2. Add pancetta and cook for about 3 - 4 minutes. Add onions and cook for another 4 minutes. Then add leeks and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Finally, add in diced morels and cook for 4 minutes.
3. Add rice, stirring to coat well with mixture. After a couple of minutes, add in white wine. Once the liquid has been absorbed, pour in two ladles of simmering stock.
4. Cook rice, stirring often, until liquid is absorbed again. Then add more, including 1/4 cup of the reserved morel liquid. Continue the process, adding 1/2 cup of liquid each time, until the rice is al dente.
5. Stir in heavy cream, then remove risotto from heat and stir in Parmesan cheese.
6. Enjoy!

Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica: An Eastern-European Supper

On the menu:
Charkhlis chogi (Roasted beets in a tart cherry sauce)
Katmis satsivi (Chicken in walnut sauce)
Pkhali (Spinach and walnut salad)

Here we have a hearty meal--one that took me almost three hours in the kitchen to turn out, but the time passed quickly, filled with glittering aromas of cinnamon, garlic, cherries, and my new spicy friend, fenugreek, among other things!

I'd never even heard of fenugreek before tackling Georgian cuisine (that is, Georgia the country, not the state. No peaches included.) But I was delighted to find that it smelled of roasted sugar, and balanced perfectly with the walnuts used in two of the above dishes.

My personal challenge this week was beets. My main association are the pickled sort from Thanksgiving. Not bad at all, but nothing I'd ever sought out beyond that holiday.

I wanted to do something a bit different, and when I found Saveur's menu for a "Georgian Supra," including Charkhlis chogi--or roasted beets topped with a tart cherry sauce--I rejoiced. Roasting tends to make any vegetable delicious, but I'd be able to put an exotic spin with flavors from an unexplored (culinarily speaking, but also in any other sense) country!

For the other dishes, I was pleased to find some shared ingredients, though the textures and resulting flavors were different enough to be complementary but not repetitive.

After I'd decided on the menu, the main issue was time management. I began with the beets, since their roasting would consume the most amount of time.

Pterodactyl!

About halfway through the beets roasting (at an hour and a half, the skin charred, but the flesh underneath was juicy and perfectly tender), I began cooking the chicken. I would recommend having the sauces for the Katmis satsivi and pkhali ready to go.

Walnut sauce for the chicken

Browning chicken

As the chicken simmered in the sauce, I moved onto the salad.

Then I removed the beets from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes in the freezer so I'd be able to peel and dice them.

After which I made the tart cherry sauce and finished off the walnut sauce by scooping out a ladle, beating it with an egg yolk, and then stirring the mixture back in.

Sprinkled with parsley and cilantro, and voila! Or whatever they say to show off in Georgia!

Lamazi--that means "beautiful."

Georgian Supra (adapted from Saveur)
Serves 3 - 4

Charkhlis Chogi (Roasted Beets in Tart Cherry Sauce)
3 medium beets, scrubbed
1/4 cup olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tbsp. unsalted butter2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup dried tart cherries

1. Preheat oven to 400. Place beets in a small baking dish and drizzle with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper.
2. Cover dish with foil and roast in oven for 1 1/2 hours. Skin will be charred on outside. Place in freezer for five minutes until the beets are no longer too hot to handle.
3. Peel and dice into 1-inch pieces.
4. Prepare tart cherry sauce. Melt butter in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and  cook until golden. Stir in cherries and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and let cook for 10 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Pour over beets and let dish rest until room temperature 

Pkhali (Spinach and Walnut Salad)
1 lb. baby spinach
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup cilantro
1/4 cup parsley
1/2 teaspoon hot paprika
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 small yellow onion, roughly chopped

1. Blanch spinach in large pot of boiling salted water for 1 - 2 minutes, until wilted. Using slotted spoon, add to bowl of ice water to stop cooking. Then drain, squeezing out as much water as possible. Puree in food processor, then set aside.
2. Puree with walnuts with cilantro, parsley, spices, oil, vinegar, garlic, and onion. Combine with pureed spinach.

Katmis Satsivi
1 1/2 cups toasted walnuts, plus 1/4 cup roughly chopped for garnish
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
3/4 cups roughly chopped cilantro
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 jalapeno slices, seeded and finely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 ½" pieces
1 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika
1/2 tsp. hot paprika
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground fenugreek
4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar

1. In food processor, combine walnuts and 1/4 cup stock in food processor and puree until smooth. Then add half of cilantro, garlic, and onion, plus jalapeno, salt and pepper and puree until smooth again.
2. Brown remaining garlic and onion in olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and brown, turning, for 7 - 8 minutes. Add in spices and cook until aromatic. Then add walnut sauce and stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and reduce for 35 minutes.
3. Scoop out one ladle of sauce and beat in a small bowl with an egg yolk. Return to sauce, stirring to combine, and cook for five more minutes. 
4. Garnish with walnuts and cilantro.

Making and Canning Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

[Disclaimer: I am about to ramble. I will clearly mark the end of the ramble. You are welcome to skip my musings!]

With any skill set, you are bound to hit plateaus--long stretches where you worry that you're not doing anything different or more exciting. Where you start to get antsy or tired of this activity to which you've dedicated so much of your time, not because you no longer love the activity, but because you have not provided yourself with new challenges (or scenery, so to speak.)

I adore cooking. I could never have imagined how much it would change and enlighten me when I got the bug a few years ago. It started off as a date night activity with the guy I had just started to see, and now three years later, he's still right here with me, ensuring I don't undercook the chicken and producing plenty of dishes on his own. It might be true that at the start of my journey, I thought "oregano" was how Italians spoke of that state in the Pacific Northwest. Now I must say I'm a bit wiser.

But still I need to continue to grow and shoot for loftier goals, especially because with my packed schedule cooking can seem on the rarest occasions like a chore. I can't let that happen!

I would love to make my own seasoning mixture. Start a garden. Write a cookbook. Increase my originality in the kitchen. Read whole books on the science of cooking and fully understand what exactly I'm doing to these poor animals and vegetables.

For now, though, I did pick up the new techniques of jamming and canning, and I am anxious to push myself more.

END RAMBLE.

So to continue with my seasonal blog adherence--which is now in week 5!--I tackled rhubarb for the first time. It is not just a non-descript foodstuff that might have been mentioned by Laura Ingalls Wilder! It's a vibrant, tangy stalk complemented with sugary perfection by the strawberry.

For the rhubarb, you must be careful to trim it properly. The roots and leaves are poisonous. Do not poison people with your jam. It would leave a bad taste in their mouths. And possibly kill them. Please refrain.

Do not fret about the peel, though! It may come off a little as your dicing, but it is completely safe to cook your jam with rhubarb peel included. It's my understanding that the peel cooks down along with the rhubarb.

The fruit cooks for an hour or so, jamming all the while. (I invited my boyfriend to play guitar during the process. "You can jam while I can jam." I am a delight.)

When the jam was about halfway done, I started preparing my cans. The large pot of water took its sweet time boiling, but I expected nothing less.

Once the cans and lids were sterilized, I set them on a clean dish towel and quickly scooped in the now-done jam. While the timing doesn't have to be right on the nose, you want the jars to still be pretty warm when you add the hot jam.

Then I sealed the jars tightly and added them back into the boiling water.

After which they sadistically needed to cool for 24 hours before we could enjoy.

We bravely translated this setback into breakfast for supper.

Making and Canning Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam
Makes 3 8-oz. jars

1 1/4 lb. rhubarb, trimmed and diced
2 cups strawberries (about 8 oz.), hulled and quartered
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
3 8-oz. canning jars (must have rings and lids)

1. Combine rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook for one hour, stirring occasionally.
2. About thirty minutes in, heat up large pot of water to boil. Unscrew lids from jars and add jars, rings, and lids to boiling water using tongs. Sterilize for ten minutes, then remove all items to a clean dish towel.
3. When jam is done, scoop immediately into still-warm jars. Seal jars and return to pot of boiling water, setting them upright at the bottom of the pot. Boil for 10 minutes. Return jars to clean dish towel and let cool for 24 hours.
4. After 24 hours have passed, test that the jar is sealed by removing the ring (but not the lid). Press down on the top of the lid with your index finger. If the lid springs back, it is not properly sealed. It should appear slightly concave.
5. Give jars clever titles and enjoy wowing your friends with your endless puns.