I read cookbooks to relax.  There is no better way for me to unwind than to read a recipe, imagine the finished dish, and consider when I might possibly try my hand at making it.  I go in phases — I rotate between 2-4 cookbooks within a theme for a month or two, then move onto another set of books on a different topic.  For a while I might read about sausage/charcuterie/meat, then move onto indian cooking for a month, then start on simple vegetable preparations for a bit, then head towards bbq for a while, which might then bring me back to sausages and meats.

As of late, my interest has been french cooking.  Old style french cooking, more accurately.  It started after Steven and I went to southern france for a week in late May.  Since then I have been cycling through Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking, Richard Olney’s Simple French Food and The French Menu Cookbook, and Jane Grigson’s Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery, all of which were originally published more than 35 years ago (1960, 1974, 1970, and 1964 respectively).  Simple French Food is emerging as my favorite due to the multitude of not-too-difficult, yet elegant vegetable preparations; with its charcuterie and sausage themes, Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery is coming in a close second.

This delicious chicken preparation, however, is not from any of these four books.  Instead, it is based on a recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking (which I do not own yet… I am waiting to get back to SF and buy it from Omnivore Books).  It’s a lovely preparation, and not too difficult at all.  The sauce couldn’t be simpler, and the only chopping involved is cutting up 2 T. of fresh basil.  The result is a moist, flavorful dish with a rich eggy sauce that looks beautiful on the plate.  I served it alongside a zucchini and chard gratin (recipe coming soon), a simple green salad, a warm sesame-topped roll, and a glass of not-too-sweet Hungarian Riesling that we picked up on a recent trip to Budapest.  A feast!

Do you have any favorite french cookbooks? old, modern, or otherwise?

Poulet Sauté Aux Herbes de Provence
adapted from Julia Child’s recipe at Epicurious

Chicken:
1/2 c. butter (or goose fat, if you have it)
1 3 – 3 1/2 lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces (or an assortment of chicken pieces, all legs etc)
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. dried basil
1/4 t. fennel seeds, ground in a spice grinder
3 unpeeled garlic cloves
1/2 c. dry white vermouth ( or 2/3 c. dry white wine)

Sauce:
2 large egg yolks
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. vermouth or dry white wine
2 T. chopped fresh basil

Chicken:
Melt butter in a large wide pot over medium high heat.  Working in batches, if necessary, add chicken pieces and cook until golden, turning occasionally, about 8 minutes per batch.  Once all chicken has been sauteed, transfer chicken breast pieces to a plate, and return all other pieces to the pot.  Sprinkle about 2/3 to 3/4 of the thyme, basil, and fennel over the chicken in the pot, and the remaining spices over the breast pieces.  Season all pieces with salt and pepper.  Add garlic to the pot.  Cover pot, reduce heat to medium, and cook 8 to 9 minutes.  Return breast pieces to pot, then baste chicken with butter in pot.  Cover and cook until chicken is cooked through, turning and basting occasionally, about 15 minutes.  Transfer chicken to a platter, and cover.

Remove peel from garlic, then mash the cloves in the pot.  Add vermouth or wine, then boil until reduced to about 3/4 c., occasionally scraping the bottom of the pan.  Pour the pan juices into a measuring cup and reserve for sauce.

Sauce:
Off heat, whisk egg yolks in heavy small saucepan until beginning to thicken.  Whisk in lemon juice and vermouth or wine.  Gradually whisk reserved pan juices into eggs, a small bit at a time.  Set sauce over a very low heat and whisk constantly until warm and slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes.  Remove from heat, stir in basil, and season with salt and pepper.  Spoon chicken over sauce and serve.  Enjoy!

I have dined alone quite a lot in my life.  Besides being a bit of a loner by nature, I spent the year after graduating from Wellesley traveling around Europe, during which time, I dined alone a lot.  Sometimes I had an apartment that I could cook in and I would dine alone there; other times my home was a hostel or a hotel or a friend of a friend’s couch, meaning I ate out a lot.  I might even go as far as saying I am a pro at dining alone.  It doesn’t phase me one bit to walk into a restaurant (nice, dive, mid-range, whatever) and ask for a table for one.  One might even say I feel a bit empowered by it.  I even got good at requesting a table for one in many different languages — eine person, bitte; una persona, por favor; une personne, s’il vous plait; sola persona, per favore; een persoon, alsjeblieft…

In the last few years I haven’t dined alone that much.  When I do dine alone, it’s because Steven has to stay late at work or is out of town.  Most nights we eat together, either at the table or on the couch watching Lost or Stargate on one of our laptops…  When I am cooking for both of us, I am fairly adventurous, but tend to stick to the tried and true.  If I am trying something totally new and different for the very first time, I tend to wait for a night when I will be alone because, well, I feel best cooking something entirely new just for myself, you know, just in case…

I picked up some marinated sliced pork belly from the butcher in Bissendorf the other day, along with some entrecote steaks, ground beef, salami, and frankfurters.  Everything but the pork belly went quickly.  Having never cooked pork belly before, I was a little bit at a loss of what to do with it.  One day went by, then two, then three, then four…  today I finally decided that I needed to cook the pork belly or throw it out.  Steven had to stay late at work tonight too, making this the ideal evening to try my hand at pork belly cooking…  Not really knowing what to do, I decided to cut the pork belly slices into large-ish pieces (2 in wide, 2-3 in long, 3/4 in thick or so), and fry it like I would bacon until it was crisp and nicely browned.  Perhaps it’s not the best or most elegant preparation of pork belly, but it is at least a good place to start.So, I fried up the marinated pork belly and served myself a good-sized portion over spicy sauteed zucchini, green onions, shallots, and napa cabbage.  And you know what, it was sooooooo  delicious!  Sort of like…. mega-bacon.  I am pretty sure I lost the nuance of the meat by frying it for so long, but like I said before, at least it was a place to start.  Now I am not so intimidated by the large pieces of skin-on pork belly sold at the butcher….  I am ready to roast.

So one more thought on dining alone — as much as I love dinner company, I also look forward to dining alone.  If you’re at a restaurant, a solo meal gives you time to think.  At home, a solo meal can be a canvas for experimentation (as well as giving you time alone to think).  Do you eat alone often? by choice? do you experiment? cook a comfort meal?

Sundried Tomato and Fennel Sausage

1/3 c. dry packed sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 – 1 T. olive oil
4 T. cold water
2 t. fennel seeds, freshly ground
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 T. fresh thyme, finely minced
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. white pepper
2 lbs pork shoulder, well chilled

Place the sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl, and cover with boiling water.  Allow to soften for 15 minutes, then drain and finely chop.  Place chopped tomatoes in a small bowl, then mix with the olive oil, water, fennel, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper.  Set aside

Cut the pork into smallish cubes, about 3/4 inch or so.  Pass through the coarse plate of a meat grinder.  Place pork in a bowl, then using your hands, mix in the tomato and fennel spice mixture until well combined.  Pass meat mixture through the coarse plate of the meat grinder one more time, then place in a bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight to allow the flavors to blend.

Shape into patties and fry, stuff into casings, or simply saute the loose sausage.   Enjoy!

Alternatively, if you don’t have a meat grinder, if you ask nicely, most butchers will grind the meat for you in their shop.  Or you can simply start with ground pork, adding 1/4 c. or so extra chopped fat from slab bacon or pork belly

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sometimes you find an ingredient that just inspires you.  Usually for me it’s not something that’s exotic or expensive, but rather something that is of such high quality or is so fresh that you want to run home and cook something with it *right now*!

Such were the dried tomatoes I found at a small salumeria in Como, Italy this past weekend.  Steven and I went down for a long weekend and pretty much ate ourselves silly with amazingly delicious Italian food.  The highlight was an under-the-stars dinner on the terrace at Al Giardino (on Via Monte Grappa, if you happen to be in the area) in the outskirts of Como — fresh burrata, handmade pasta with fresh spicy sausage, breaded and fried lamb chops, a chocolate and pear tart, and oh the red wine!

But back to the tomatoes.  These dried tomatoes are perfectly pliable, deep rusty red, and highly aromatic.  Personally, I find more uses for dry packed tomatoes than tomatoes packed in oil, though both have a time and a place.  Once I got back home, I started thinking of ways to use the tomatoes… tomato cream sauce, polenta with dried tomatoes, egg custard with dried tomatoes and herbs… and then my mind drifted to sausage — I do live in Germany, you know :).

Making sausage is really much easier than one would think, especially if you just make patties or use it as bulk sausage.  Most of the time when I buy sausage links, I end up taking it out of the casings anyway, so when making my own, I rarely bother with the stuffing step.  If you don’t have a meat grinder, then things are even easier!  Just ask your butcher to grind whatever meat you purchase there in the shop.  If possible, start with a cut of meat rather than buying pre-ground pork, as you are more likely to get the meat to fat ratio correct with a cut like a picnic shoulder or boston butt.  Then just mix in the seasonings, and you have bulk sausage.

And one last note, definitely don’t skimp on the fat when making sausage — an 85/15 or 80/20 meat to fat ratio is ideal.  Less than that and your sausage will have a grainy, dry texture.  And really, if you’re going to go to the trouble of making sausage from scratch, shouldn’t it be as tasty as possible?  And speaking of the taste of this sausage — it’s fantastic!  Herby with a hint of savory sweetness from the tomatoes, and just the right amount of pepper — delicious at any meal!

Bulk Sausage

Breakfast Patties

I can’t believe how easy it is to make gravlax.  Or let me rephrase that statement –  I can’t believe it’s so easy to make gravlax, and it’s taken me until now to try it!

Like some of my other favorite things — sauerkraut, salt preserved lemons, sun pickles, and sour beets to name a few — the basic procedure to make homemade lox is add salt, wait, eat.  Sure, you can add in some herbs and other seasonings as you desire, but the basic procedure remains the same.

This particular batch of gravlax I made last week as an appetizer for my sister Alisha’s Thanksgiving feast.  To serve, I put a dollop of creme fraiche on some substantial yet neutral tasting crackers, topped with a generous slice of lox and a couple of capers, and topped it all off with a paper thin slice of meyer lemon.  It was amazingly delicious, and within just a few minutes the entire plate was eaten!  It was a total hit!

The basic cure I’ve listed above is clean tasting, and not very salty.  Many recipes I came across had a 1:1 salt/sugar ratio (even as high as 2:1 salt/sugar), but since I was serving to a crowd that is salt-sensitive, I decided to go with a cure that was more like 2:3 salt/sugar.  You can go as high as 1:2 salt/sugar, but I imagine I would find this to be overly sweet.  Anyhow, what all these numbers and ratios should tell you is that the way to go is to experiment with a cure until you find something that works for your taste buds.

If you want a more complexly flavored gravlax, you might consider adding crushed juniper berries, black pepper, fennel seeds or fronds, or even something like crushed coriander seeds — just sprinkle on top of the fish before adding the dill.  And a note about the dill — every single recipe I came across called for dill (in varying amounts), so to make traditional gravlax, it seems the dill is  just about as important as the fish, the salt, and the sugar…  but, if you have tried it without, I’d love to hear from you!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Homemade Gravlax (aka Lox)

2 good quality salmon filets that are roughly the same size, approx 1.5 lbs total (I used wild sockeye) *see note
3 T. sugar
2 T. non-iodized salt
1 bunch dill

Remove all of the pin bones from the two salmon filets using a pair of tweezers. Trim the filets so they are the same size when stacked on top of each other. Place both filets skin side down on a cutting board.

Mix sugar and salt together in a small bowl. Generously sprinkle about 2/3 the mixture over the filets and gently rub in. Flip the filets over and sprinkle skins with the remaining mixture and rub in. Flip the filets again so the skin side is down. Let stand for about 5-8 minutes. Brush off any cure that seems excessive to you.

Trim dill so that it is roughly the same length as the filets. Mound dill on top of one filet in an even layer, then top with other filet so that the flesh is in contact with the dill (think filet & dill sandwich). Wrap the stacked filets tightly in a double or triple layer of plastic wrap. Place in a dish (to catch any juices that should leak out), then refrigerate for 2-3 days, flipping occasionally, and pouring off any juices that might have accumulated.

Once the 2-3 days have passed, unwrap salmon, discard the dill, and rinse the filets with cold water. Remove the skin to make cutting easier, if desired. Slice the gravlax thinly with a sharp knife across the grain to serve. Enjoy!

*Note: though it may seem counter-intuitive, choose fish that has been previously frozen, sushi grade or other. If using fresh fish, you should freeze it for at least 1 week in order kill off bacteria, etc.

Salt and sugar cure on the salmon

Salmon wrapped in plastic, about to go into refrigerator

Salmon after 2 1/2 day cure

Finished product!  Ready to serve!

Homemade Turkey Stock

1 turkey carcass, plus any skin
8 large garlic cloves
4 stalks of celery, broken into 3-4 inch pieces
10 – 20 sprigs parsley
1 onion, cut into quarters or eighths
2 – 3 carrots, cut into 3-4 inch chunks (optional)
cold water

Remove as much meat as you can from the turkey carcass and set aside for another use.  Break up the carcass and pack snugly into a large stock pot (10 qts is an ideal size, though make do with what you have — I used one 5 qt pot and one 2 1/2 qt pot).  Peel the garlic cloves and add to the pot along with the celery, parsley, onion, and carrots if using.   Pour cold, clean water over the mixture to just cover the solids.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a tremulous simmer and cook for no fewer than 4 hours.  Skim white foam and gunk off the top of the stock as it appears.  If liquid level drops below the solids, bring a kettle of water to a boil, then add more water.

Strain mixture into a large bowl, discarding the solids.  Stock will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator, or up to 3 months in the freezer.  Enjoy!

Serving suggestion:  Ladle homemade stock over cooked brown rice and bits of leftover turkey, along with some dried sage.  Heat gently and serve warm.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Somehow I ended up with a large turkey carcass in my refrigerator at the close of yesterday evening.  Funny, since Thanksgiving was not at my house, and I was not in charge of cooking the turkey.  No, Steven and I spent the day at my sister’s place in San Francisco along with my brother in law and his whole family who had flown in from as far away as Hong Kong.  There were twelve of us in all, though two are under three feet tall and prefer juice boxes and toy cars to fine wine and kitchen gadgets.

My sister and I don’t always see eye to eye on food, especially when it comes to vegetable selections.  She always suggests asparagus, and for 11 months of the year, I tell her it is out of season.  She then tells me that it’s asparagus season in South America or somewhere of the sort.  I protest some more.  Then she usually wins.  Actually, I’d say she always wins :).  In fact, it has sort of become the running joke in the family, and the words ‘asparagus’, ‘high horse’, and ’soapbox’ are playfully thrown in my direction.

But anyhow, at the end of the evening after helping with cleanup, Alisha informed me that I was to take the turkey carcass home (along with about 10 pounds of other various leftovers – I’m not exaggerating — 2 1/2 qts of stuffing, 1/2 qt of mashed potatoes, 1/2 quart gravy, 1/2 pint of cranberry sauce, leftover cocktail shrimp, home cured gravlax, a dozen dinner rolls, and at least a pound of sliced turkey breast).  OK, it was more like, “this all is going to get thrown away if you don’t take it home with you”.  I couldn’t in good conscience let all of that delicious and lovingly prepared food go to waste, so I packed up a super-sized dogie bag and headed home with plans for turkey stock and all other sorts of leftover creations.

Making stock is not an exact science, it just takes a while.  If you’re not in a hurry, it’s a great way to spend a lazy weekend morning, and by following a few basic procedures, you will inevitably end up with homemade stock that is far more delicious and much more fresh tasting than anything you buy at the store.  Some stock tips are:

- break the bones into smallish pieces and pack snugly into pot; you will use less liquid and hence have less stock, but it will be more flavorful
- use good quality vegetables in the stock; they needn’t be perfect, but if it’s on it way to slimy, don’t use it as you will taste the rank flavors in the stock
- don’t add any salt until the end of the cooking time, and only add it if necessary.
- skim the stock often, at least every 10 minutes or so at the start of cooking, then less frequently later on
- resist the urge to stir the stock — the end product will be more clear the less the stock is disturbed

Happy stock making!

The menu read someting like ‘Gegrilltes Haxe mit Semmelknödel und Sauerkraut’

I thought I was getting grilled fish.

Instead I got an enormous (ENORMOUS) grilled pork shank.  Imagine my surprise when it came out of the kitchen…

Thankfully, it was delicious, even though unexpected. :)

Hake:  type of fish
(photo from Capfish.co.za)

Haxe:  German word for pork shank, usually 1-2 lbs each
(photo from Wilfriedmayer.com)