The Bearded Ladies

Jamie: Last Meal of 2010

2011-01-07T09:56:00.000-08:00


so pretty

A note: while we haven’t blogged about it yet, and Jo and I made the white bean and escarole soup (and oh the hijinks that ensued). We also were going to attempt the (perhaps too) ambitious recipes for Christmas lunch but only ended making the smashed potatoes from the cook book.

I started writing this post a few days ago, but in the intervening time I realized that the recipe I used for the braised artichokes was not, in fact, the same recipe from Ad Hoc At Home (I had looked it up online. I'll never trust the internet again)! As it turns out, the recipe I used had about a third fewer ingredients and steps that Keller’s. Whoops. And because we couldn’t get halibut at the fish market, we used haddock instead, so my cooking for this week is more Hydrox than Oreo.

And, I made perhaps illegal use of my boyfriend as sous chef, and he took care of the fish so I can’t talk about that too much (although, don’t cut haddock into pieces and expect to be able to flip them over easily. Almost all of the haddock ended up a little shredded and torn up).

The artichokes. I hadn’t dealt with a whole artichoke before, so I was looking forward to getting to know what they were all about. I read in my most trust-worthy cookbooks (except for Ad Hoc at Home... if I had actually looked in that book I would have used the right recipe!) to see how it was done, and later consulted some videos on YouTube to see how to trim artichokes. It was helpful. Not helpful was the insanely dull knives I had to work with (we were in someone else’s kitchen) so getting the choke out was a little difficult.

I braised them in oil, white wine, and what sounded like a Thomas Keller approved sachet (minus the cheese cloth). We also made a version of his smashed potatoes (sans smashing).

Boyfriend-sous chef plated everything and I would say he did a fabulous job:

note ghetto paper towels as napkins

Now that I have fairly successfully trimmed some artichokes, I’m looking forward to make the real braised artichoke recipe...

Johanna: Also Thanksgiving Bread Pudding

2010-12-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

Like Jamie, I could not find a loaf of brioche! In Beverly Hills! I don't know why, but I assumed that in Beverly Hills, they sell everything you could ever possibly need to be a fancy person. And a loaf of brioche is definitely one of those things.*

The bread pudding was super simple to make. The leeks smelled amazing while they were getting all nice and melty on the stove (though mine did brown a lot and I was wondering if that was supposed to happen?).

I did cut the crusts off the bread (wound up using 1.5 loaves of French country white in lieu of the brioche) and just used the soft innards. After toasting the bread in the oven, beating the eggs and mixing all of the fatty dairy, I composed the pudding. I was a bit concerned that I had too much bread. I know that some should be poking out of the custard, but I wondered if using a non-buttery bread could lead to dryness?

And because of this concern about drying out, I pulled the bread pudding out of the oven about a half hour early. It was so puffy and tall right out of the oven and then it imploded (albeit, rather gently). Wah. Nonetheless, K's dad proclaimed it to be the most beautiful bread pudding he'd ever seen (doubt it, but I'll take it) and our fellow Thanksgiving diners seemed to enjoy it thoroughly and offered up their compliments. Though I do think that the top was slightly dry.

* I could find brioche rolls, no problem, but I was not about to buy a million of them at $3 a piece, or however much they cost at Bristol Farms.

Jamie: Thanksgiving Bread Pudding

2010-11-30T09:21:00.000-08:00

When cooking something for the very first time, especially for an audience, I tend to get really stressed out and Gordan Ramsey-ish (minus the cursing: Stop touching my mise en place! No, there is nothing you can do to help! Get out of my kitchen!). So in cooking the leek bread pudding for Thanksgiving, I pleasantly surprised myself when my friend from college arrived two hours early and I had only started getting my ingredients out, and I was not a complete wreck. We chatted, gossiped, I explained what I was doing while I cooked (which: a cooking show/talk show would be really fun. I think Martha* already kind of does that, but there should be a show dedicated to gossiping and cooking. Call me, Food Network!)

1 3/4 cups o' cheese

I started off by grating cheese. For some reason, I had got it into my head that the recipe called for two cups, so I was slightly disappointed when I was just shy of that amount after grating all the Comte. Only later, when I was putting the pudding together did I realize that I needed one cup. I used a cup and a half, anyway, because mmm, cheese.

I haven’t been able to find loaves of brioche since I’ve moved back to the states from Spain (#WhitePeopleProblems), so I got some challah after a co-worker suggested that would be a good substitute. There was no way I was going to cut the crust off of that; I don’t think it made a difference in the end. (Some salt and olive oil is really good on a toasted slice of brioche, by the way.)

crumb catcher

This is Tok** on the left, trying to wedge himself between me and the cutting board. He hovered, greedily, hungrily whenever I was working with the challah. His moment came when I transferred the leeks and bread into the baking dish and some spilled onto the floor.

The finished product! This may have been the first time I had bread pudding, and I think it was a good introduction (and was very straightforward to make). The leeks were nice and fragrant while cooking, and a little sweet after being cooked in all that butter. Especially with the nutmeg, I can see how this version could go for dinner or dessert, but it managed to more than hold its own at the table. It was a big hit among everyone there (including people who knew about our cooking project and those that didn’t). I have a good amount of leftovers to nibble on, though I'm regretting not bringing some in for lunch today...

Happy Thanksgiving!

* We’re on a first name basis, obvs.
** pronounced “toke”, named after a town in Alaska, not after one half of a Ke$ha song.

Jamie: omg

2010-11-20T17:46:00.000-08:00

there's more than one crouton for every
asparagus spear

I was very excited to make this week's recipe: I love asparagus, I love poached eggs (I've been poaching 'em like a fiend lately), I love most forms of cured meats... and croutons are good, too. I thought of making this for brunch Saturday morning, but settled on having it for dinner instead (out of laziness, basically).

I haven't made croutons before, and I was a little cautious having read Veronica and Jo's accounts. But it's only some, oil and garlic, and I'm of the Julia Child school when it comes to butter, so there couldn't be anything to be afraid of, right? The bread did soak up all of the oil and butter pretty quickly.... so I was hoping that the longer I let it fry the less oily it would be.

The instruction to put parchment paper down in a sheet pan before coating the asparagus spears in oil was a good one - no mess! I used plain old olive oil and some lemon-infused oil to jazz up the asparagus a little, and the usual salt and pepper. Once the asparagus was on the stove, I got to poaching the eggs. I'm getting pretty good at it again. A few years ago I researched the best way to do it and kept practicing (oh living in a foreign country with no money)... but until recently I had forgotten how to poach eggs, though I've yet to master poaching two eggs at a time. I'm also not that finicky about how they look at the end: I'm not about trim off excess bits of yolk. Egg number one poached well (and when flipped over, looked pretty good). Egg number two somehow broke while in the pot.

I can't believe I ate the whole thing.

I think next time I make this, I'll skip the croutons. It could be that I made too many for one meal, or used too much oil or butter, but right now I feel so full and ... ugh. I mean, I probably ate two servings' worth of everything, so that may be the problem, but I'm going to ignore that for now and blame the croutons. Before I made this, I was considering grating parmesan over everything, and I must say I'm glad I didn't. It would have been too much.

Johanna: I Love Fried Bread

2010-11-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

After last week's fiasco re: duck legs, it was an absolute joy to be able to find everything for this recipe so easily. Asparagus, check! Country loaf, check! Prosciutto, check (I mean, srsly, my local grocery shop is called Romeo & Cesare's)! And I even got my hands on some of those beautiful blue eggs with the brilliantly yellow yolks that I love so very much. Everything fell into place so nicely this week. No more classed-up Sandra Lee from me.

The trick about the asparagus, as Veronica mentioned in her post, really is quite fantastic. I always just grab my paring knife and chop off what looks like it might be unpalatable. This bending and snapping thing is a much more reliable (and easy!) method.

The asparagus grilled up nicely (though the lack of hood above our oven always causes the kitchen to get uber-smoky when we break out the grill/griddle) while I looked on in glee as the bread got nice and fried. (We've made croutons before, but just with olive oil...so this was a little disconcerting / delicious).

My poached eggs were tasty, but ghosty. I'm really hoping that I'll get better at it. It's just so gross seeing threads of egg white floating around in a pot of vinegared water.

Final verdict: YUM! Kamran and I didn't even bother to take our own portions off of the serving dish. We just dove right in.

Veronica : Adventures in Poaching

2010-11-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

Menu: Grilled asparagus with poached eggs, prosciutto, and torn garlic croutons

I thought that the Grilled Asparagus would be an nice weeknight recipe. Convenient, too, as I happened to have a handsome bunch of asparagus in my refrigerator. I tried really hard this time to get my mise-en-place, but I just couldn't. I have only enough counter space in my kitchen to accommodate my smallish cutting board and one, maybe two, receptacles for recently chopped items. I have no place to put tiny bowls, etc. Apologies to the team.

ANYWAY, skinny asparagus is one of my favorite veges and Mr. Keller mentions a helpful kitchen tip that I've lived by for awhile: slowly bend an asparagus stalk and where it snaps is where you should trim. All stalks will be tender and not at all woody that way. Brills! Next I oiled the little stalks and seasoned with coarse black pepper and kosher salt.

I left them to hang out on the parchment for a bit while I saw to the torn croutons. It all started very promising. I had a nice roll that I tore into

bite sized chunks. I slowly sauteed several garlic cloves to impart their tastiness into some oil. But then. Then I tossed the bread in the oil, ADDED BUTTER, and watched the bread soak it up. Every. Single. Drop. As the croutons slowly browned and eventually crisped, my horror morphed into exhilaration. They looked (and smelled) really good.

The last couple of steps in the process were pretty simple. The asparagus just needed to be grilled for a couple of minutes on each side, which was the perfect amount of time for me to also poach the eggs. When I dropped my first egg into the pot, I was immediately reminded of how I hate poaching eggs. I'm not good at it: They always end up so ugly, the whites all shredded up and ghostly.

all together now

your brain in a measuring cup

With all the parts now prepared, I was able to compose my plate. A little prosciutto here. A couple of piles of asparagus there. Strategically-placed eggs. Croutons everywhere! I ground up a little bit of extra black pepper on top because it always looks nice and I love black pepper. I was supposed to drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top of everything, but the dish did not need the oil and I don't really love balsamic. Also, I forgot. It did feel pretty fatty overall, so maybe some acid would have helped. If I make it again, I'll try not to forget the vinegar.

zero points for plating

All in all, there were a lot of components, but each of them reasonably simple to put together. Tasty, but very (too?) rich. I expect I'll make it again, but probably in a smaller portion as a starter (at a dinner party) or something. It was a little too decadent to have as an entree.

Unrelated Item:

Stars, they're just like Bearded Ladies

While in line at the deli counter to get prosciutto, I was behind SNL alum Rachel Dratch and her new baby. She ordered pancetta. Italian cured meats for all!

Johanna: Semihomemade Confit

2010-11-14T07:32:00.000-08:00

I spent yesterday morning calling every butcher in the area and absolutely no one carried duck legs. Who knew that they were so hard to find? I would up at the grocery shop that carries all sorts of fancypants products and they only had duck breast, duck fat, and pre-confited duck legs. (I mean, really, you carry venison but not duck legs?) Boohoo. So I grab a pre-confited leg and decided to at least make the salad.

The salad was pretty tasty! Crisping the skin to make delicious fatty bits to sprinkle on top was a revelation -- I've never crisped skin myself and always appreciate it at restaurants. It's so easy! As for the rest of the recipe, I don't really have that much to report (um, it's a salad), but it came out nicely. And I opted to top the whole thing with a poached egg (which I overdid a little).

See the crispy skin bits?

Anyway, this was kind of a bummer. I don't even LOVE duck, but I'm really into the whole winter pickling, preserving, etc. thing lately and it would have been fun to move on from vegetables to meat. If I do come across duck legs, I'll buy them and confit and report back here.

Tatiana: lentils > sweet potatoes

2010-11-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

Lentil & Sweet Potato Soup

It's a truth universally acknowledged (er, by me and most people who know me) that I love lentils. I eat them all the time, sometimes in strange, weird combinations. I could subsist pretty happily for weeks on lentils and cheerios. And don’t pretend like you cringed at that combo. Delicious!

On the other hand, I’m sort of meh about sweet potatoes, except in fry form. I realize people write odes to them, but I’m just not a big potato person in general. Gorgeous color, antioxidants blah blah blah – sure. I could take them or leave them, and was in fact tempted to leave them off this recipe altogether. But I wanted to make the soup as Keller intended, so in went 1 1/2 lbs of potatoes

This recipe is pretty substantial. As I chopped the vegetables, I wondered whether I would have soup to last me all Fall (signs point to yes - behold my giant stockpot):

I’d been forewarned after other Bearded Ladies had trouble with the sweet potato chop. Raku's analogy

sweet potatoes : chop

the savage detectives : enjoy

made me laugh and laugh because seriously, how much did that book suck? Answer: SO MUCH.

Anyway, this is why I was especially psyched to come across these:

Does this count as semi-homemade?

Recipe notes:

Both sachets and parchment lids are pretty inspired ideas! Thomas Keller really knows his stuff. I’ll definitely use both again. Going into this, I didn’t even know to look for cheesecloth in the baking supplies aisle. Here’s Larry modeling my first (practice) parchment lid:

Bacon is awesome. I actually substituted non-slab bacon, which as it's less thick needed much less time on the stove (it got crispy way before the allotted time)

I substituted low sodium chicken broth for the chicken stock. This was mostly because I didn’t feel like making stock and because I came across the broth first at the store. It worked well, but I ended up adding extra salt, ha. I also used about a cup more broth than the recipe called for, because I wanted the soup to be more liquidy than stewy.

Spanish pardina lentils were harder to find and more expensive than my regular green lentils, but were a nice change of pace. They're tinier, don't get mushy at all, and taste kind of nutty. I loved them.

Cooking the bacon first (so that you can use the rendered fat for the soup base) is necessary but dangerous – it’s the perfect ready snack while the soup simmers endlessly. Even though I slightly overcrisped it, I had to stop myself midsnack multiple times so that there’d be some left for the soup.

The finished product (I completely forgot to buy cilantro for garnish):

This soup and some fresh crusty bread made really satisfying cold-day meal. I will definitely make it again, though (you guessed it) I'll leave out the potatoes next time.

Johanna: on the joys of bacon

2010-11-04T15:29:00.000-07:00

I made this soup for Halloween and, oh my goodness, our apartment smelled like bacon until Tuesday. How wonderful! The smell of rendering pork is absolutely magnificent. LOVE.

mmmm....pork fat

But, I get ahead of myself. I couldn't find anything other than just regular old green lentils at Bishop's Orchards, the lovely grocery / apple orchard / pumpkin patch not too far from our house (all though we did buy two 24-pound pumpkins at Kamran's insistence), and I'm not sure how much that purchasing the correct lentils would have changed things. I never knew that lentils could be so fancy! But I think that everything turned out nicely despite this pedestrian substitution.

I agree with Raku: sweet potatoes are an absolute pain to chop up. Despite having brand-new fancy knives that I am generally terrified of, I really struggled to handle the potatoes with any level of deftness. My pieces weren't uniform and all I could think about was that if I was on Top Chef, my lack of skills could definitely land me on the bad side of judge's table.

Even though the potato pieces weren't even, they seemed to cook up nicely and were just the right texture in the soup. I had to cook the lentils a bit longer than the recipe indicated, so maybe I should have added a bit more broth? (I did when heating up the last batch of leftovers on Tuesday.)

This soup is definitely something that I will make again. We had some guests over for Halloween lunch and it was a big hit! Even the two-year-old seemed to like it. I totally forgot the cilantro, though (even though I bought some). Ah well, next time.

P.S. The parchment lid was fun to make, too.

Jamie: Election Night soup

2010-11-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

bacon!!

This time ‘round, I went to only three grocery stores (on purpose! and one is more of a convenience store that also sells lentils, beans, and spices...). I was thinking of going to Whole Foods for the bacon, but then decided to stop by Savenor’s instead, since it’s closer to my house-- and I am so glad that I did! I asked the butcher (MY butcher now) if I could get just half a pound of their bacon... and oh, could he slice it up for me, too? He obliged, and while he was doing that I perused their meat selection in the case next to me... Among the sausage, burger patties and steaks, they were also selling rattle snake (!) and turtle meat (boneless, of course).

At home, I got out my equipment and ingredients and set about chopping and slicing the veg and rinsing out the lentils and leeks. I felt like that stupid dog from the ~~Bac’n Bits~~ Beggin' Strips ads while I cut up the bacon into lardons (BACON!!!!!!) - it smelled so good (and our kitchen still smelled of it the morning after).

I ended up buying a different kind of lentils from those in the recipe, which may have affected how much liquid they needed and how long to cook them. I added about another cup of water, and let them go for a little longer than the 40 minutes, and I think they were still a little undercooked. After I added the sweet potatoes and vinegar to taste, I mashed everything up a bit to make it a little smoother (which does not add to its aesthetic appeal!).

The soup - which in my case, isn't quite a soup since the lentils drank up almost all of the liquid - was (is!) quite delish. Unfortunately, I charred the bacon in the final steps, but even without that as a garnish, the soup has a nice smokey, bacon-y flavor. I think next time, I would be a little more adventurous with the vinegar. But all in all, I loved the recipe and I have enough leftovers to last all week!


A hearty fall meal: Lentil & S.Potato soup with some hard cider

Raku: Halloween Soup

2010-10-31T18:17:00.000-07:00

Menu: Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup (+ Mizuna Salad + Bread, Cheese, & Dried Sausage)

On Sunday morning I went to the farmer's market. I was immediately attracted to these awkward-looking carrots that looked like hotdogs. They seemed auspicious.

Also at the market, we picked up some mizuna (my green-of-choice these days), onions, sweet potatoes, bread (horrifyingly, $8/boule), and some wine (a Long Island merlot inaptly named Borghese - the taste was closer to the Sopranos than Italian nobility). Then it was on to Esposito's Pork Store for thick-cut bacon and sausage, and finally the supermarket for the rest of the ingredients.

Back home, I was forced to dwell for long minutes on the beauty of bacon. Is there anything more gorgeous?

Thankfully, I was only making one dish this time, so the recipe seemed blissfully straightforward to me. Oh, except for the sweet potatoes. They were an experience. Here is an analogy pair that describes my interaction with them:

sweet potatoes : chop
as
the savage detectives : enjoy

I almost broke my wrist once and chopped off a thumb and an index finger. Why do they look like regular potatoes on the outside but feel like titanium on the inside? I finally coaxed (ravaged, crushed) them into cubed submission and was able to get on with my life.

I think there are few things more satisfying to make than soup. Throwing meat, vegetable, and spice into a pot and mixing them around fulfills some ideal of cooking that I (and probably many others) have from when I was young, triggering a warm, "this is what cooking is" reaction. This particular soup was very Halloween-y with its festive curry spice and orange potatoes. Maybe it would have been even more so if I had lost a finger.

The soup tasted really good, and, as with many soups and stews, the flavor deepened overnight. I would like to cook it again. And I will need to because one lesson I learned is that it is very, very important to wash your lentils before adding them to, well, anything. Shamefully, I did not do this. We ate the first batch without incident, but the next day, there were some crunchy, sandy bites, probably from the bottom of the pot, that were decidedly disconcerting. Rookie move? Maybe. But as long as I don't mess up next time, I think I can probably say: Fool me once, lentil and sweet potato soup, shame on you...

Veronica: My Friend Farro

2010-10-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

I'm still basking in the buttery afterglow of my meal, but I'll try to tough out my exhaustion and document for posterity's sake. Plus after all that richness, I may not last until morning.

Pretend my necklace isn't in the frame

Menu:

- caramelized sea scallops

- buttered farro

- watercress and herb salad, lemon citronette

Note that I went off book a bit and tossed together a quick salad because (a) I wanted a little green for my plate and (b) I thought the peppery watercress and bright lemon would balance the richness of the other two dishes. I think it was a good call.

Watercress is an underrated green

My fun-sized kitchen was a disaster when I got home from the market and I had to clean up quite a bit before I could get started with the cooking. I'm afraid my organization suffered as a result. I eventually did get it together, though, with help from the zen activity of creating a sachet. Making a sachet is like crafting and cooking at the same time. It's wonderful.

Sachet! Shante!

When I started reading the farro recipe with an eye to actually preparing it, I thought maybe this was too much work for a grain. Happily, I stuck with it and followed every butter-drenched step. I was skeptical about how perceivable the impact of the sachet would be (it's in cloth, after all), but really the flavors were just lovely: nutty, herby, fragrant, buttery, delicious! I could eat this farro every day. Which is a good thing because I have like 20 pounds left over.

I have a death wish & used all the prescribed butter

While the farro was peacefully simmering, I got things rolling for the scallops. As I tend to like things undersalted, the brine made me nervous; I found the amount of salt required unsettling. I followed the directions to the letter, though, and while I think that the brine added depth to the scallops' flavor, I do think I'll fish them out sooner next time. They were just a tiny bit too salty for me.

Here's an embarrassing fact: All my cookware is non-stick. I came this close to buying a new shiny new pan, but thought better of it. I had to just make do with what I had, even knowing that Mr. Keller would not approve.

My apartment still smells like brown butter

As you can see, I was unable to achieve optimal caramelization. However, in the end I think the sear was still very nice and the scallops were tasty. Overall, it was a delicious meal that I'll definitely make again. As soon as I get a new pan.

Week 1 recipes = a big success!

Jamie: A Tale of Four Grocery Stores

2010-10-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

Menu (thanks to Jo for sending me the recipes for the first two! My book is still MIA):

Caramelized SeaScallops
Buttered Farro
Asparagus Coins

Due to a mixture of lack of research (farro is also known as spelt!) and being hell-bent on not spending $3 on a bunch of herbs, I ended up going to four (count ‘em, four!) grocery stores yesterday evening. The first grocery store had spelt (but at the time I didn’t know that that was farro), and I decided at the second to go with orzo instead. The third had thyme, but not chives so I had to head to the slightly smelly Foodmaster (vendor of fine wines like Mommy’s Time Out) for that.

At home I dove right in and gathered my ingredients, tools, bowls, and computer to look up the recipes. It was around this time that I realized (thanks, WIkipedia!) that the orzo of today is not really a grain, but a pasta. Despite that, I thought I could cook it more or less the way the recipe called for, making some adjustments for cooking time.

With my mise en place in, well, place, I made my sachet:

sachet, walk away

Once the orzo was cooking, I started on the asparagus coins. I made the parsley water and chive oil, although, oops, the latter is supposed to sit overnight in the fridge. This is why you thoroughly read a recipe before starting to cook!

asparagus coins mise en place

The timing worked out well here, although while the orzo and asparagus were finishing up, I should have started the brine for the scallops. At any rate, they were easy enough to cook (I didn’t clarify the butter either- I decided when I began cooking that I didn’t have time), and smelled delicious. I used TONGS to flip the scallops and transfer them to a plate.

My roommates really enjoyed the meal-- Danielle said the scallops were the best she had had (!) and Jen said “Oh my god, it’s so good” a few times. And this is when I realized I only kind of like scallops (I think when someone else cooks them I enjoy them more. I’m leery of undercooking them). But! The orzo was good and herb-y (someday I will try it with an actual grain) and the asparagus was delish, too (I would not mind making this as an official Bearded Ladies recipe sometime in the future).

Hopefully my cookbook will be here for next week’s cooking adventure!

(I can't tell if it's just this computer or not, but I apologize if spacing is wonky.)

Johanna: My First Scallop Brine

2010-10-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

Menu: Caramelized sea scallops + buttered farro

Thank you, Veronica, for choosing such a delicious meal! I really enjoyed both the farro and the scallops and was super-relieved that everything turned out more than just ok. The husband pronounced it a major success. (He is really into this whole cookbook club (aka I cook, he eats) thing.

I tried to pay attention to Tomas Keller's edict to "be organized," so I got everything prepped and ready beforehand so I didn't have to scramble hither and thither while I was cooking.

My mise-en-place, with wine

I also cheated and made use of an excellent sous chef.


Arthur really wasn't all that helpful.

After the farro was toasted and was gently simmering, I got to brining the scallops. Um, brining scallops? Who knew? Delicious! Will definitely do it again. And I loved that the scallop recipe was basically like "do not touch the scallops for 3 to 3.5 minutes." I always want to peek, and things are then never are as caramelized as I would like.

Cooking

I was worried about the timing of everything, but it worked out perfectly. (And deliciously!) No cold food. Hurrah!

Unlike Raku, I am not ambitious and did not attempt a third dish. Like Raku, I didn't clarify my scallop butter and I reduced the amount of butter added to the farro.

Psst...sorry for the poor quality photos. From my phone. Couldn't find my camera charger.

Raku: My First Sachet

2010-10-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

Menu: Caramelized sea scallops + buttered farro + melted leeks

First things first: I love sachets. They are pretty, satisfying to construct, and so useful for keeping large bits of herbs out of your mouth. Who knew? I only wish I had discovered them sooner than while making farro today.

Second: Farro = delicious. I admit when I first saw the recipe, I feared the worst, that farro would be like my new STARCH-NEMESIS: QUINOA. But no, it's nothing like that. Not only is it easy to cook with, but it tastes like a chewier, nuttier, more interesting relative of brown rice. Love it love it.

So, the cooking. I think next time I won't attempt to make three new things at the same time. It was a bit overwhelming, and I got really sweaty. Thankfully the recipes were simple in ingredients and process or my head might have exploded. As it was, I kept racing back and forth between the living room, where ad hoc was sitting (god forbid I should get food on such a beautiful book), and the kitchen, where all the food stuff was happening. That gave me a pretty good workout, but I think I need a better system in the future - maybe one involving a pulley and a suspended cookbook holder.

All in all, the food was delicious, which is a credit to the recipes, not me. The combination of scallops, farro, and leeks was pleasing, both flavor-wise and texture-wise. I was told by someone (not naming names) that my "plating could use some work" (not that that stopped him from eating every last bite, the jerk), so maybe I'll work on that next time. Anyway, below you can see the fruits of my labor, imperfect plating and all.

Mods to the recipes:
1. I halved the butter amounts for both the buttered farro and the melted leeks because I don't want to die of heart disease tomorrow. Both were still plenty buttery, and, in fact, I think they would both have tasted just as delicious with even less butter. For both, I added slightly more chicken stock than required to balance the moisture.

2. The farmer's market was out of thyme - and so was I haha - so I didn't add any to the sachet for the quinoa.

3. Out of laziness, and because I got a little sick of working with butter, I did not clarify the butter for the scallops. I don't regret it.

4. I didn't add any salt to the quinoa or the leeks. Depending on taste, the leeks could have used some salt, but I think the quinoa was plenty salty from the chicken stock (unless you're using low sodium broth).

First Recipes!

2010-10-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

We'll begin our challenge the week of 10/24 with the recipes for Caramelized Sea Scallops (p.88) and Buttered Farro (p.219). Thanks to Veronica for suggesting this pairing!

Our First Cookbook

2010-10-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

We're going to kick things off with Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home, winner of the 2010 James Beard Award for "General Cooking."

Recipes TBD.

The Challenge

2010-10-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

Every month, a schedule of recipes (one recipe a week) from the cookbook that we're working our way through will be posted. Blog members must commit to making at least two of these.

After finishing your recipe, write a blog post (include pictures!) chronicling your experience in the kitchen. Don't include the recipe itself in your write-up.

Bon appetit!