Friends and Family tasting menu at Bar Tartine

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
Bar Tartine Menu

Bar Tartine’s Friends and Family Menu for December 10, 2013

Bar Tartine, the restaurant offshoot of the bakery that inspired my Kettle Bread, has been getting acclaim for its menus under chefs Nick Balla and Cortney Burns. Balla is from Budapest, and for a while the preps had an Eastern-European tilt (eg lots of sausages and root vegetables) but now they’re more cuisine-neutral.

This week I got to try the Friends and Family tasting menu, an excellent value at $62 considering the amount and diversity of food. Common themes were robust breads, of course (many of the dishes either came with bread or went great with bread) and the absence of external spices so the flavor magic was  provided by reductions, fermentations and combinations of the ingredients themselves. There was also imaginative use of koji, a fermenting agent I’ll be working with in the new year.

Here’s what I ate:

Rainbow Trout

Seared Seared Rainbow Trout with Tatsoi and Turnip, Dashi Broth

Trout Belly on Rye

Trout Belly with Koji Butter on Rye Toast

Crackers and Pistachio Dip

Seeded Crackers with Pistachio Dip and Oven-Dried Laver

Beef Tartare Koji Toast

Beef Tartare with Grilled Onions and Koji Butter on Koji Toast (the kitchen’s most popular dish)

Flounder Nettle Puree

A bonus from the kitchen, flounder on nettle puree

Country Bread Kefir Butter

House Bread with Kefir Butter

Smoked Potatoes Black Garlic

Smoked Potatoes with Black Garlic and Fermented Mustard Green Mayonnaise (my favorite dish)

Kale Rye Berries Yogurt

Kale with Rye Berries and Yogurt

Pork Meatball Trumpet Mushroom

Pork Meatball with Creamed Trumpet Mushroom (another favorite)

Pork Meatball Up Close

A closer look at the succulent, rare interior of the pork meatball

Green Chili Stew with Flounder

Green Chili Stew with Flounder in Dashi Broth

Sweet Potato Salad

Sweet Potato Salad with Blue Cheese, Avocado, Walnuts, Grated Pecorino

Carob Mousse

Carob Mousse (more like a brownie) with Carob Crumbles, Milk Ice, Dried Mint

Parsnip Cake

Parsnip Cake with Honey/Apple Juice Reduction, Sour Cream, Bee Pollen

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Recipe: Chicken with 47 Cloves of Garlic

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
Chicken with 47 cloves of garlic

Chicken with 47 cloves of garlic

This is kind of like stone soup: a gimmick is used to produce a solid basic dish. I prefer Martha Stewart’s approach in which the chicken is cooked at high heat throughout. Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:
1 large healthy chicken
47 cloves of garlic
8 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1 t dried thyme
1/4 c white wine (optional)
2 T butter
salt and pepper

Method: preheat oven to 475 degrees with dutch oven or cast iron skillet inside. Wash chicken then rub exterior with 1 T butter. Sprinkle salt and pepper inside and out. Put 20 cloves of garlic inside chicken cavity along with 1/2 the thyme. Add 1 T butter to the now-hot skillet along with remaining thyme, garlic and optional wine (I like it but feel free to leave out if you don’t have on hand). Add chicken and cook, uncovered, without lowering temperature until it registers 165 degrees internal temperature (about 45 minutes-1 hour).  Allow to rest a a bit then carve. Serve chicken with a few spoonfuls of pan juices and plenty of sourdough bread or mashed potatoes for sopping.

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Recipe: Pita for Jerusalem

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
Pizza for Jerusalem

Pizza Bread for Jerusalem

Ottolenghi’s wonderful Jerusalem: A Cookbook contains lots of recipes for things to go with pita bread, but oddly enough there is no pita bread recipe. If you don’t have ready access to pita bread, or you just want to make your own, try this. Makes 8 pitas.

Ingredients:
2 c all-purpose flour
1 c whole wheat flour
2 t (or one package) active dry yeast
1 ¼ c lukewarm water
1 ½ t salt
1 T honey or sugar
4 T olive oil

Method: proof the yeast with honey or sugar in the lukewarm water for a few minutes, then add flours, salt and 3 T olive oil. Knead with your hands or mix at low speed for 8 minutes until dough is resilient. Put 1 T olive oil in a bowl with ball of dough and turn to coat all sides. Cover and proof 60 minutes or until doubled. Divide into 8 balls; flatten with your hands and use a rolling pin (or more handwork) to roll out to about 6” diameter. Cover with towel or plastic wrap and proof for 20 minutes until slightly puffy. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place the pita rounds directly on the oven rack and bake 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Use tongs when removing from oven.

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Recipe: Ground Lamb Curry with Peas

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
Ground Lamb Curry with Peas

Ground Lamb Curry with Peas.

Ground Lamb Curry with Peas is college student, off-campus apartment food: tasty and quick and easy to prepare. Adapted from Myra Waldo’s classic The Complete Book of Oriental Cooking. With rice, serves 6.

Ingredients:
3 T butter
¾ c chopped onions
1 ½ lb lean ground lean lamb
1 ½ t salt
¾ t turmeric
1 ½ t ground coriander
¼ t dried ground chili peppers
½ c yogurt
1 c green peas (fresh or frozen), shelled
¼ c water

Method: melt the butter in a skillet; sauté the onions until browned. Add the lamb, salt, turmeric, coriander and chili peppers. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until browned. Drain off excess fat if you like. Mix in the yogurt. Cover and cook over low heat 10 minutes. Add the peas and water; cover and stand for a few minutes with heat off till peas are cooked.

NOTE: the best way to get lean ground lamb is to grind your own. With store bought ground lamb you’ll end up with a lot of liquid fat you’ll probably want to pour off before adding the yogurt.

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Recipe: St. Louis Pizza

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
St Louis Style Pizza

St. Louis Pizza

St. Louis pizza is a regional specialty with baking powder used as leavening and a cheese topping made with a unique processed variety. My crew did another prep based on the King Arthur Flour recipe last night and I realized there were enough variations I better post my own version. Makes 2 pizzas to serve about 4-6.

Ingredients:
2 c all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
½ t Kosher salt
½ c or more water
3 T olive oil

2/3 c pizza sauce or marinara sauce for topping (add in a little tomato paste if you like)
2 c grated Provel® OR 1 c grated sharp white cheddar/½ c grated swiss/ ½ c grated smoked provolone OR 1 c grated sharp white cheddar/½ c grated swiss/ ½ c grated provolone/1 t Liquid Smoke
Pepperoni (optional)
Dried oregano

Method: mix dry ingredients thoroughly; add water and olive oil and knead with your hands for a couple of minutes until it forms a smooth ball. Add a little more water if necessary to absorb all the flour. Let rest a few minutes, then divide and roll out on a silicone baking pad (if you don’t have a Silpat, use parchment paper) to approximately 6” x 9 “ and 1/8” thick (very, very thin). Use a dull knife to trim the edges and move the trimmings around so the shape ends up a rectangle.

Top each pizza with 1/3 c sauce and 1 c grated cheese; add slices of pepperoni if you like and finish with a dusting of dried oregano. Move to a half-sheet pan or cookie sheet and bake in preheated 450 degree oven for 25 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the edges of the crust are brown. (It would probably be a good idea to preheat the sheet pans, but I didn’t do this so can’t confirm the results.)

Cut the pizza with scissors into squares for serving in order to create, per the slogan of originator Imo’s, “the square beyond compare.” Thanks to the Dybala Srs. for smuggling the Provel® onto the plane to make this possible.

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Turkey Sandwich

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
Turkey Sandwich

Day after Thanksgiving turkey sandwich

This is my canonical turkey sandwich for day-after-Thanksgiving lunch:
Sourdough bread
Durkee’s dressing (on both pieces of bread)
Cranberry sauce
Turkey
Wilted leftover salad

Stuffing with turkey gravy

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My bread machine and me

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
bread machine and bread

My bread machine and stuffing bread

A bread machine is an amazing thing. It combinse a computer (to manage the programs and timing), a motor (to knead the bread) and a heating unit (to heat up the dough so it will rise). All for around $300 in a top of the line Zojirushi, or $70 in the closeout Breadman I bought from Amazon.

If I did not love the experience of handling the dough with my mitts, I would be using the bread machine all the time. When I do use it, I rely heavily on the recipes in a long out of print but beloved book which is still available on Amazon, Rustic European Breads from Your Bread Machine by a couple of ladies in Ashland, OR.

Here is an example. I started with their “Not Pain Ordinaire” and added poultry spices because I wanted to use it for stuffing my bird.

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Recipe: Bread Machine Bread for Turkey Stuffing

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers

This isn’t meant to be eaten on its own. Rather, it should be cubed or shredded, dried out, and used for turkey stuffing. If you don’t want to do that, then omit the poultry seasoning and sage. Makes 1 2-lb loaf.

Ingredients:
1 1/3 c water
2 T butter
2 t poultry seasoning
1 t powdered sage
2 t salt
3 c all purpose flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1 T active dry yeast

Method: place wet ingredients in bread machine, then dry ingredients, with yeast on top (away from the liquid). Process on basic setting with medium darkness, 2-lb size loaf. (If your bread maker doesn’t handle 2 lbs, then divide in half and make a 1 lb loaf.) If using for stuffing, cut into cubes and allow to dry out thoroughly for a couple of days. (Or dry it in the oven.)

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Taste test: Cranberry sauce

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
Cranberry Sauce Taste Test

Cranberry Sauce Taste Test (winning fresh berry recipe is in the rear)

I love cranberry sauce… on Thanksgiving Day turkey, and on the leftovers. But I’ve been pretty undiscriminating until this year. I’ve generally bought a couple of cans of Ocean Spray whole berry as soon as the price drops. As long as it’s tart and red, I’m good.

But last year the price stayed high, prompting me to want to try the bargain brand from my local store. Wondering if they were actually the same thing (I’ve heard Ocean Spray pretty much has a lock on the cranberry market) I looked at the ingredient lists. There were definite differences but both contained something that surprised me: High Fructose Corn Syrup. WTF!?

So it was time for a taste test comparing those two against a batch made from scratch, faithfully reproducing the no-brainer and HFCS-free recipe on the 12-ounce bag of Ocean Spray fresh berries. The fresh sauce was then pressed into a can so I could truthfully say all three came from a can, and they were put on the table at a neighborhood holiday dinner.

Results: a win by a landslide for the fresh berry sauce. It had a tartness and brightness of flavor that the others lacked. A typical comment: “Red [fresh] was most tart, but just right—tasted most natural”. And “tart + sweet together — full berry.” It didn’t stand up in the bowl like the canned varieties, but nobody dinged it for that.

Second place went to the house brand, from Price Chopper. Two of 9 tasters voted it tops. It had just a bit more flavor and less of a flat “canned” taste, possibly due to the inclusion of salt which was not in the Ocean Spray. The lone voter who preferred the canned Ocean Spray picked it for “texture and taste”.

At this year’s prices the house brand was a dollar, canned Ocean Spray $1.25 (price dropped from $2 the final couple of days) and the fresh preparation cost $2.50 for the berries plus maybe 15 cents worth of sugar. But it made at least 50% more than the cans’ volume, making the price difference fairly insignificant for something you prepare a couple of times a year. I’m going with fresh from now on.

P.S. As a bonus I made Cranberry Relish from the recipe Susan Stamberg reads on NPR, and I strongly recommend it. It really comes to life with a horseradish kick after you follow the odd directions to freeze it then barely defrost for serving. One diner pronounced it her favorite dish of the entire meal.

This post was originally published on November 23, 2012.

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(Don’t) pass (on) the stuffing, please

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers

Thanksgiving stuffing (aka “dressing”) does not seem to be a popular dish these days. I volunteered to make a stuffing recipe in Mrs. Brooks’ third grade class and only two children signed to assist, one of them mine. Then last night I took a double recipe of Pepperidge Farm stuffing to a neighborhood potluck and it was barely touched; another guest’s generous tray of from-scratch stuffing was equally unappreciated.

Underappreciated bread stuffing

Under appreciated Thanksgiving stuffing stuffing

I would no more omit the Thanksgiving stuffing from the meal than the bread from a sandwich. I use it as I expect our forebears did, as a protein extender. When colonial turkeys were lean and scrawny, stuffing in the abdominal cavity could capture cooking juices and turn a few slices of poultry into a filling meal. If additional stuffing is cooked outside the bird it can join the party with a ladle or two of gravy.

But today, I expect that people pass on the stuffing because they don’t want to feel too stuffed. Less stuffing on the plate leaves more room for generous slabs of light and dark meat. That’s just wrong.

If you would like to join me in reversing this trend, here is Mrs. Brooks’ recipe. It is both easy and good, with an excellent balance of spices and flavors. For a non-vegetarian version, use butter and chicken stock in place of margarine and water.

This recipe post was originally published on November 23, 2011.

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