IDEAS IN FOOD

Sour Mix with a Twist

300 grams water
100grams lemon juice
100grams lime juice
3 grams salt
6.53grams Methocel F150
0.98grams Xanthan gum
150 grams simple syrup

Combine water, lemon juice, lime juice and salt in a blender. Turn the blender on low and gradually increase the speed to medium. Sprinkle in the Methocel and Xanthan gum and shear in the blender for 30 seconds until the powders are full dispersed. Chill the mixture to 10 degrees Celsius. Stir in the simple syrup. The sour mix can be whipped to soft peaks using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk or an immersion blender with a whisk attachment.

Incorporate the whipped sour mix into your favorite drink recipe.

King Crab: in three services

King Crab Salad
Serves 4

2 avocados
3g salt
10g yuzu juice
1g cayenne

400g picked King Crab meat
100g soft boiled egg
20g olive oil
10g argan oil
25g yuzu juice
3g salt
10g minced chives

30g of cilantro stems cut into 2cm lengths
pinch of salt
2g olive oil
2g yuzu juice


Cut the avocados in half, remove the pit and the skin.  Cut the avocados into large chunks and place in a bowl.  Season them with the salt, yuzu juice, and cayenne.  Take a one twenty centimeter square of plastic wrap and lay it flat on the counter.  Take one fourth of the avocado and place in the center of the plastic.  Top with another sheet of plastic and then using a rolling pin or meat mallet, smash the avocado flat into a 2mm thick sheet.  Place on a sheet pan to keep flat and place in the freezer.  Repeat three more times in order to produce four avocado sheets.

Pick through the crabmeat to make sure there are no shells.  Puree the egg, olive oil, argan oil, yuzu juice and salt in a blender to a smooth puree.  Mix the mixture with the crab to coat evenly.  Fold in the chives.  Divide the crab into four equal parts.  Wrap each part in a piece of plastic wrap, forming a ball of crab salad.

Remove the avocado sheets from the freezer.  Use a large ring mold or bread and butter plate to cut the avocado into a large circle.  Place the avocado in the center of a plate.  Unwrap the crab salad and place in the center of the avocado sheet.  Mix the cilantro stems with the oil, yuzu juice and salt.  Place a pile of stems on top of each crab sphere.


 
King Crab Tail Tempura
Serves 4

Tempura Batter
250g cold club soda
250g flour
18g egg yolk

Whisk the egg yolk and the club soda.  Roughly incorporate the flour.  The mixture may have a few clumps.

King Crab Salad

4 King crab tails
Tempura Batter
One pot filled half way with canola oil for frying
50g kimchee
50g mayonnaise
4 small ripe tomatoes
8 slices of cooked bacon
10g chives
10g minced tarragon
2 heads of frisée

Remove the shell from the crab tails and reserve the meat.  Puree the kimchee and the mayonnaise to make a smooth puree.  Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for ten seconds, then place in an ice bath to cool.  When the tomatoes are cold, remove the stem and peel off the skin.  Season the exterior of the tomatoes with salt and a light dusting of cayenne.  Set aside at room temperature to marinate.  Clean the heads of frisée.  Using a pair of scissors remove the dark green ends of the frisée.  Cut the stem off the frisée and then separate the frisée leaves.  Rinse in ice water and then spin dry in a salad spinner. Chop the cooked bacon into small pieces.  Dip the crab tails in the tempura batter and fry until crispy.  Remove to a cooling wrack lined with paper towels to absorb any extra oil. Mix the bacon with the chives and tarragon.  Dress the frisée with half of the kimchee mayonnaise.  Add the bacon and herb mixture. 

Place a spoonful of the kimchee mayonnaise in the center of each plate.  Place a tomato on top of the puree.  Top with a nest of the frisée salad and then lean the crab tail next to the salad.


 
Surf and Turf
King Crab and Foie Gras


Walnuts

200g Madiera wine
200g dry Sherry wine
200g Port wine
10g soy sauce
10g red wine vinegar
20g agave nectar
100g toasted chopped walnuts

Combine all the ingredients except the walnuts in a pot and slowly simmer to reduce to one fourth its volume.  The mixture will be sticky and syrupy.  Add the walnuts and stir.  The mixture will resemble wet walnuts.

Butternut Squash Puree
250g butternut squash, peeled and cute into chunks
250g butternut squash juice or water
50g maple syrup
10g lime pickle
2g salt

Cook all ingredients together until the squash is tender and falling apart.  Puree in a blender until smooth.  Strain the mixture and reserve.

King Crab and Foie Gras

4 extra large king crab leg sections
4 pieces of nori seaweed
4 pieces of fresh foie gras each weighing 85g
20g minced chives
one fresh lime

Remove the shell and any interior cartilage from the crab leg sections.  Wrap each crab leg in a piece of nori.  Brush the seam end of the nori with water to allow the nori to stick and seal the seam. Trim the nori so that it just covers the crab ends.  Season the foie gras with salt and sear the pieces in a hot dry skillet.  When a crust forms, flip the foie gras and baste the foie with its own fat.  When the foie gras begins to get tender and is still firm to the touch, remove it from the pan and set aside on a warm plate to rest.  Add the nori wrapped crab to the pan and sauté in the rendered foie fat to warm the crabmeat.  When the crabmeat is heated through, remove from the pan.  Place a spoonful of the squash puree in the center of each of four plates.  Place the seared foie gras on the puree and then top with a spoonful of the wet walnuts.  Lay the crab leg next to the foie and sprinkle with the chives.  Squeeze fresh lime juice on both the crab and the foie gras.

Foie Gras Cotton Candy: and a bunch of other flavors too

Foie gras cotton candy

200g isomalt,
50g glucose
3g sucro
2g salt
90g foie fat
3g glice

Combine the isomalt, glucose, sucro and salt in a pot and cook to 160 degrees C.  In a separate pot warm the foie gras fat with the glice to 50 degrees C.  When both liquids are at their appropriate temperatures, whisk the fat slowly into the hot sugar.  Be careful, sputtering will occur.  An emulsion will be created and the result will be a foie gras caramel.  Pour the hot sugar on a silpat to cool.  When the sugar is cold, grind it into a fine powder and sift it to remove large particles.

Use the foie gras sugar in a cotton candy maker or go to Japan and scour the local markets for the cotton candy maker that can use whole chunks of candy.  If you get one of these, there is no need to grind the sugar, just break into chunks large enough to fit in the opening.

This recipe is both an extrapolation and modification of Ferran Adria’s olive oil spiral.  The technique in making the sugar is the same, though he then pulls and coils the sugar rather than letting it cool and grinding it. 

Also, this recipe works with any number of fats from bacon to pistachio oil so let your imagination run wild.

Pistachio Brittle

For the fourth video we decided to go with something sweet. Pistachio brittle is a favorite of ours and hopefully it will become one for you too. In the recipe we use a combination of white and brown sugar, if you prefer, you can easily substitute all white. The flavor will be slightly different and equally delicious.

Pistachio Brittle

1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, diced
1 1/2 cups raw, unsalted pistachios
1 teaspoon baking soda

Combine corn syrup, water, sugar and brown sugar in a heavy sauce pan. Bring to a rolling boil. Turn off the heat and add salt and butter. Over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, cook till the caramel reaches 280 degrees Fahrenheit (soft crack stage). Turn off the heat and add pistachios, stirring to combine with the caramel. Return to medium heat and cook until the candy reaches 305 degrees (hard crack stage). Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda. Pour the hot brittle out on to a sheet tray lined with either a silpat or buttered foil. Let cool to room temperature.

Scones

It's an easy thing to say that scones are my favorite quick bread to bake at home. They are incredibly simple, always delicious and the variations are endless. Scones are also one of my least favorite things to buy because they are so often disappointing. Store bought versions tend to be enormous and strangely dry. They crumble to sawdust on the palate and they are either overly sweet or lacking in any real flavor at all. A home baked scone is an entirely different animal. It requires no advance planning since the majority of the ingredients can be found in your average pantry and it can be easily adapted to a wide range of ingredients, both sweet and savory as the mood desires.

Scones have a long history in Europe with versions found in Scotland, England, Ireland, Germany (schonbrot), and Holland (schoonbrot), long before they crossed the ocean and became popular here in America. The most common and my favorite tale is that scones were created in Scotland and that the word scone is derived from the "Scone (stone) of Destiny", also known as the "Coronation Stone" and the "Stone of Scone" in Scotland. The stone itself has a fascinating history which lends its allure to the humble quick bread. Legend dates the Stone of Destiny back to biblical times and claims that it is the stone which Jacob used as his pillow in Bethel. Jacob's sons may have carried it to Egypt.  Jewish history chronicles that the stone was used as the pedestal for the Ark, a chest which contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments in the temple. Theoretically it moved from Egypt to Spain to Ireland to Scotland. It's Celtic name is Lia Fail or the "Speaking Stone" and it was believed that the stone proclaimed the kings of Scotland and no king could be crowned who had not sat upon the stone. It remained in Scotland until it was forcibly taken by the English King Edward I, the "Hammer of the Scots" and moved to Westminster Abbey in 1296. The stone was built into the coronation chair which has been used to crown every king and queen of England since the coronation of Edward II. The stone was finally removed from the chair and returned to Scotland on November 30, 1996. Of course there are tales of the monks replacing the stone before it was stolen by Edward. In 1950 the stone was abducted from Westmister by the Scottish Nationalists and subsequently returned. Because of these stories there is some controversy as to whether or not the stone which lies in Edinburgh Castle is the actual stone and the mystery and wonder simply enhance the aura surrounding the stone.

The original scones are believed to have been made with oat or barley flours, shaped in a circle, baked on a griddle and cut into pie slices. Eventually they were made using wheat flour and bicarbonate of soda for leavening. Nowadays scones are usually baked in the oven and made with white flour. The best examples are light and moist with a crumbly texture and lightly sweet flavor.

This morning I had a craving for something sweet and warm for breakfast. There was a bit of pistachio praline in the cupboard and a bag white wheat flour in the pantry. The obvious solution was a quick batch of scones. I added a bit of candied ginger and tiny pinch of cinnamon for heat and spice to round out the flavors. By the time the oven hit 375 degrees the scones were ready to bake. We were breaking bread in half an hour.

Pistachio-Candied Ginger Scones
makes 8 reasonably sized scones or 4 giant scones

1 1/2 cups white wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
2 ounces cold butter, 1/4" dice
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons diced candied ginger
1/4 cup coarsely crushed pistachio brittle (substitute pistachios or any other nut if you don't have brittle)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Whisk together flour, salt,  baking soda, baking powder cinnamon and sugar or pulse in a food processor to blend. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Add the milk all at once and gently mix or pulse in food processor until the mixture just comes together as a crumbly dough. Turn the dough out onto the counter and sprinkle with ginger and brittle. Using a bench scraper, fold the ginger and nuts into the dough. Pat the dough into a 6-inch round and cut into eighths with the bench scraper. Place on a foil or silicone lined sheet tray (the sugar will run) and bake 7 minute, rotate and bake for another 7-10 minutes until golden brown. Let rest for five minutes before eating.

Butter Flats

This is a food processor recipe because that's the fastest, easiest way to make these. If you don't have one you could grind the sugar and nuts in your blender and fold the rest of the ingredients together by hand. Do not attempt to move these cookies off the sheet trays until they are entirely cool as they are extremely fragile and will break on you. (if this happens just consider them a chefs snack) This recipe is an adaptation of two recipes:  Mexican Wedding Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum and Russian Tea Cakes by Betty Crocker.  With those two as sources, how could these be anything but delicious?

Butter Flats

1 cup walnut halves
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces cool, diced butter
2 cups AP flour

4 tablespoons powdered sugar for dusting

Pulse the walnuts, 1 cup of powdered sugar and salt in the food processor until the mixture has the texture of fine breadcrumbs. Add the butter and process until smooth and well blended. Add the flour all at once and pulse just until the mixture forms a cohesive dough. Scrape the dough out into a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour and no more than three hours. If you do chill it for longer than three hours, let it sit at room temperature for at least 45 minutes before using.

Form 1.5 inch balls using either your hands or an ice cream scoop and lay them out on a cookie sheet with at least 2 inches between each cookie. I use half sheet trays and can lay them out 3X5 on the tray.  Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8-10 minutes, rotating once until just set and golden around the edges. Dust with powdered sugar and let cool for at least 15 minutes before removing from the trays. Makes approximately 30 2-inch cookies.

They will probably keep for up to a week in a tightly sealed container. I can't say for sure because mine were gone in a matter of days.

Shrimp Chorizo Recipe

As promised...

For those of you without access to Activa, just go without and add an egg white to the shrimp in the food processor and make a fine paste with it. Other than that minor adjustment, the recipe stands as follows. The egg white and/or the Activa are really just a bit of insurance since the shrimp should have enough protein to bind the sausages all by itself. Those of us who do this for a living always like to have that extra insurance policy in our back pockets, just in case.

Shrimp Chorizo

1090g whole, cleaned, raw shrimp
16g microplane grated garlic
8g salt
6.5g smoked paprika
1.8g cayenne
8.42g Activa RM

Roughly chop the shrimp. In a large bowl mix the shrimp with the garlic, salt, paprika and cayenne. Take half of the seasoned shrimp and place in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to form a rough paste.  Fold the processed shrimp mixture into the remaining chopped shrimp and then sprinkle one third of the Activa over the mixture.  Fold the Activa into the shrimp and repeat twice more with remaining Activa to evenly distribute all of it into the shrimp. 

Place the mix in a piping bag and pipe foot long sausages on sheet of plastic wrap.  Roll the plastic wrap tightly around the shrimp and twist the ends securely so that the shrimp resembles a foot long sausage link.  Repeat with the remaining shrimp.  This base makes roughly six links of chorizo.

Refrigerate the shrimp base overnight, then poach the wrapped sausages in a water bath at 52.5 degrees Celsius for forty minutes.  Cool at room temperature for 20 minutes then chill the chorizo in an ice bath.  When the shrimp chorizo is commpletely cold, refrigerate it until you are ready to use it. 

Slice pieces of the chorizo and serve with grilled toast and olive oil.

Pretzel Praline Recipe

The original inspiration for this was the idea of a pretzel praline. Pralines are traditionally made with pecans cooked and set in a soft caramel disk that is enriched with butter and cream. Some recipes call for whole pecans while some stud their confections with chopped nuts, although they are alway tender, creamy mouthfuls of nutty goodness. We had a box of large sourdough pretzels in the house and Alex was struck with idea of making  a pretzel praline for use in various creations. We discussed it over the course of a dog walk and I decided to make something a bit crumblier and crisper, a play off sandy nuts because I thought it would be more versatile than the traditional creamy praline. Besides, one of my favorite ice cream flavors is Pralines and Cream, a vanilla ice cream ribboned with caramel and studded with tender-crisp candied pecans. So those are the nuts that came to my mind when Alex began discussing pralines.

As we all know the first time I made this I didn't measure. I tossed a couple of handfuls of sugar in a heavy bottomed pot with a pinch of salt and several fist fulls of broken pretzel pieces. You could make these with pretzel nuggets but I like the different shapes and textures of the broken pieces. We used sturdy, salted sourdough pretzel pieces and they gave the finished product a nice uneven texture and crunchiness. I turned the heat on high and began to stir. The sugar at the out edges of the pot caramelized quickly and I continued to to turn the pretzels and sugar with a wooden spoon. The caramel was dark amber and sandy and the pretzel bits toasted in the hot sugar. Once everything was coated and caramelized to my satisfaction I added a few bits of butter to loosen things up and add a bit of richness to the blend. Once it melted in and combined with the caramel mixture I turned it all out onto a sheet tray lined with buttered foil and let it cool. It was pretty delicious stuff.

If it seems too hard, I would fold it into some softened vanilla ice cream and let it set up in the freezer for a couple of hours. Or mix it with nuts for a bar snack to die for. Or grind it up and use it as the crust for a dense cheesecake.  Make a coarse crumble to garnish a seared duck breast. Or, well you get the idea. Just have fun with it.

This time I changed things up a bit and started the caramel before adding the pretzels. This turned out well, but it was not as sandy and textural as the first version. It had a much harder, glassier coating than the first version. So if you like  more of a crunchy caramel, melt your sugar before adding your pretzels and if you like it a bit softer and mores sandy, add the pretzels before you turn on the heat. Either way, don't walk away from the pot or you will burn your sugar. It's a very quick process, in just over ten minutes you can be eating the results.

Caramel Pretzels

1cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups broken pretzel pieces
2 tablespoons of cold butter cut in small pieces

Place sugar, salt and pretzel pieces in a heavy bottomed pot over a high flame. Stir the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon to thoroughly coat the pretzels with the melting sugar. Once most of the caramel has turned amber, but still looks sandy, lower the heat and add the butter. Stir well to blend and once the butter has been fully absorbed, turn the pretzels out onto a buttered sheet tray or silpat. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before eating.

Cranberry Tapenade: the Recipe

Cranberry Tapenade

350g fresh washed cranberries
410g assorted pitted olives
100g ketchup
100g maple syrup
60g pickled jalapeno juice
50g sliced pickled jalapeno
50g anchovies in oil

Take all the ingredients and place in a pot.  Simmer over low heat until the berries burst and the mixture becomes thick and sticky.  Let the mixture cool, then pulse in a food processor. 

That is it.  Really a very simple and delicious recipe.  We did end up eating it with a pork roast which we cooked on a bed of brussels sprouts, mushrooms and potatoes.  As I continue to think about what the cranberry tapenade I am also beginning to examine the idea of other fruit and olive combinations which will yield enticing results.

White Chocolate and Yogurt Ice Cream

White chocolate is both sweet and rich.  It requires balance.  When we made our white chocolate consomme last year we tempered it with buttermilk to produce a broth which highlighted balanced decadence.  In some ways I believe white chocolate embodies overindulgence in the sweet world.  It is almost pure fat, actually fat and sugar, and was my favorite chocolate as a child.  These days our use of white chocolate ebbs and flows, mostly ebbing with the passage of time.

This week has been difficult, the guiding light being an autumnal dessert I have been working on.  The ice cream for the dessert needed to be both comforting and bracing.  Here is where I turned to white chocolate.  Yet, as I noted, its richness needed taming.  While buttermilk may have worked in the broth, its thin nature was not what I wanted in an ice cream.  Instead, I turned to non-fat Greek yogurt.  It is pre-drained which results in an extremely thick non-fat yogurt.  I also used a bit of half and half in the base and a pinch of salt to complete the ingredient list.

As for the process, I heated the half and half and salt together to just below a boil and slowly poured it over the chopped white chocolate and then stirred it to melt it and make it into a silken emulsion.  I then folded the drained yogurt into the white chocolate emulsion until it was completely incorporated, strained the mixture and let it chill.  When the mixture was cold I sent it for a spin in our ice cream maker.  While the base is delicious in its chilled state, it takes on a whole different nature when frozen as ice cream.

The ingredients:

250g half and half
4g salt
225g chopped white chocolate
300g non-fat Greek Yogurt

Another Consomme

Harold McGee has just printed another great recipe for a gelatin clarified consomme on his site, curiouscook.com.  This recipe, a pumpkin and brown butter consomme, comes from Chef David Kinch, of Manresa restaurant.  What is truly exciting about this consomme is that it marries the flavor of brown butter, an absolute favorite of mine, with the autumnal touchstone of sweet sugar pie pumpkins.  So, if you are looking for another recipe to wow a few people or just want to catch a bit of inspiration, check it out.

Bulls Blood Beets

Cooked for nine minutes under high pressure. A splash of Banyuls Vinegar and a sprinkle of salt. Sweet, tart, and salty on the palate. Firm, yet tender between your teeth. Beautiful to see upon the plate. Perhaps with some crusty bread and sweet butter on the side. The perfect home cooked meal in under fifteen minutes. Cooked at work of course.

New Beginnings & the Bacon Broth Recipe

Competitive talking. It's a phrase I learned in Napa, at Taste 3, and although I had never heard it before, it made sense immediately. There were so many interesting people there that you had to be somewhat aggressive in seeking out those whom you wished to meet. Alex is pretty good at the meet and greet. On the other hand, it's not something that I do well or comfortably, so it was very welcome when people came to us.  It's a wonderful thing to have your work recognized and appreciated. It's even more special when it's enjoyed by someone who's work you admire in return. We were slightly amazed by the response to this website and it has really motivated us to continue trying to make it better. We met so many interesting people that our brains were practically on overload, churning with new ideas and inspirations from the various conversations that we had. There is a laundry list of new ideas to play with and experiments to carry out over the next few months.

Of course once we left California and began our adventure in Montana, all of my aspirations were quickly smothered by sheer exhaustion. Thankfully I'm finally catching up on sleep and things are starting to gel out here on the ranch. New beginnings are usually difficult but the rewards can be great. Re-opening a seasonal kitchen usual involves a fair amount of cleaning (in our kitchen this was more organizing than actual scrubbing) and cursing (I have a tendency to bang into things in an unfamiliar kitchen) and a lot of  energy and imagination to get things up and running. It's inspiring to look out over an empty dining room and imagine the people who will joining us there. It's equally inspiring to see the empty shelves in the walk-in and map out what to fill them up with.

We're basically starting with a blank slate for our new pantry. As I write this, there is some bacon broth working on the stove. We've found some rather large bottles of a good raspberry vinegar and a basic balsamic vinegar and are reducing them down to syrups. We'll keep some of the reductions separate and combine some for a blended raspberry-balsamic agrodolce type liquid. We've got Meyer lemons, morels, ramps and elf mushrooms to pickle and preserve over the next day or two. We're still debating over what to do with them because while the same old, same old is good, we want to make something better this time. We're definitely open to any suggestions you want to throw out in the comments. We've also got two new cooks working with us for the season and we're eager to see what they come up with as well. We've got quite a few toys in the kitchen to play with. There's an enormous smoker, a serious dehydrater, juicers, a paco jet, a couple of circulators and a beautiful range. We're only limited by our imaginations. We're focusing in on healthier foods and maximizing flavor without heaviness on the palate. The following bacon broth is a good example of how we can use fat in the process for flavor and still basically eliminate it in the end product. As always, feel free to add or subtract whatever flavor elements you wish, the only real must haves are the bacon, the water and the gelatin.

Bacon Broth

2# bacon, sliced into matchsticks
2 large onions, sliced lengthwise
1/2 cup-3/4 cup pickled jalapenos with their brine (to taste)
1 cup of soy sauce
2 gallons of water
gelatin sheets

Render the bacon in a large pot and then slowly let it caramelize in it's own fat. Once it starts to brown, add the onions and cook them together until they are both a rich golden brown. Then add the pickled jalapenos, soy sauce and water. We leave the residual fat in the broth to help infuse flavor. Simmer the broth for 45 minutes-1 hour.  Then strain it, skim the fat, weigh the resulting liquid, calculate 0.5% and add that much sheet gelatin (bloomed first in cold water) to the hot liquid and dissolve it in the broth. Cool the broth in a hotel pan and then freeze it overnight. The next morning pop it out of the pan and put it in a cheesecloth lined perforated hotel pan over a deeper hotel pan. Place it in the refrigerator and let it melt over the next two days. Discard the cheesecloth and it's contents. The liquid in the bottom pan will be a clear bacon broth.

Banana Jam, the recipe

After reading Alex's post yesterday we chatted a bit about my methodology. You see, it's not that I want Alex to wait around to see what develops exactly, it's simply that if I tell him what I'm playing with before I get it in progress, he comes up with a million ways to change what I want to make into something else, before I even get started with the original concept. I'm the first to admit that many of his ideas are good and we've come up with many amazing results through our collaborations. Sometimes though, I want to make what I want to make first. We can change it around together later, if it needs tweaking. Occasionally I just like to see the progression of an idea from start to finish, without any additional input. In every partnership a little space of your own can be a very good thing. It makes you appreciate the teamwork that much more.

This is an incredibly easy recipe, made even more simple by the fact that I used high quality bottled citrus juices. Clearly fresh citrus juice, in a variety of configurations, would be an admirable substitute if you have the time and the citrus at hand.

Banana Jam
1 cup of sugar
2 ounces of yuzu juice
2 ounces of key lime juice
pinch of salt
3 large bananas, thinly sliced

Heat the sugar and juices in a heavy bottomed saucepan, over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add the salt and the bananas and bring back to a slow boil. There will be foam but it will dissipate during the cooking process. There is no need to skim. Cook, stirring constantly, for five minutes. Cool to room temperature and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before serving.

Whipped Yogurt Crisps: the recipe

By popular demand...

Whipped Yogurt Crisps

480g yogurt
270g water

300g water
50g isomalt
25g maltrin 100
5g salt

11.3g Methocel K100
2.26g xanthan gum

Mix the yogurt together with the 270g of water.  Set aside in a large bowl.  Bring the other 300g of water to a simmer in a pot.  Add the isomalt, maltrin and salt and stir till dissolved.  Whisk in the methocel and xanthan gum into the simmering water and when the powders are dispersed, whisk this hot mixture into the yogurt base.  When the two components have come together, place the mixture in its bowl over an ice bath and stir occasionally to facilitate the cooling process.

Take a two quart bain marie and fill the bottom of it with one inch of the yogurt base.  Meanwhile, place a pot of water filled one third on the stove and bring to a bare simmer.  Place the bain marie in the hot water bath and then use a hand blender with a whisk attachment to whip the yogurt in the bain marie over the water bath.  This will take some time, and an increase in heat will not expedite the process.  As the yogurt grows in volume it will slowly become quite similar to a whipped egg white meringue.  The yogurt mixture's volume should increase such that it almost fills the two quart bain marie.  When the mixture is whipped, light, airy and holds stiff peaks, take a spoon and place dollops on a silpat lined sheet tray.  Place the sheet tray in a 200 degree F oven to dry the crisps.  They take between 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the crisps.  The crisps are done when they are completely firm and are dry.  Remove the pan from the oven, let the crisps cool and then store in a ziploc bag.

Smoked Pasta

It may not look smoked but you can't miss the flavor exploding on your tongue.  We recently received some hickory smoke powder from the Terra Spice Company, one of our favorite purveyors of spices and seasonings.  They carry high quality ingredients and this powder was a gorgeous toasty golden color with a smoky, fruity aroma and bitter, smoked flavor. After the initial taste I don't recommend eating the powder straight from the bag, as with many other foods the scent is much more alluring than the actual taste on your palate. On the other hand, its smoldering flavor and slightly edgy bitterness is perfect for blending with other ingredients. Our first creation was this smoked pasta dough.

Easter dinner at our house is always a blend of traditional ingredients and current innovations. This year we were a small group and so we decided to keep things simple. The first course was the smoked pasta paired with buttery, garlic-y shrimp which were splashed with key lime juice and generously showered with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. This was followed by thick lamb T-bones marinated in garlic, tea tree, rosemary, and the crumbling Meyer lemon blossoms from our window sill with a splash of Banyuls vinegar and soy sauce. We broiled these and served them with a salad of papaya, endive, onion and green olives. This was followed by three pies from Briermere Farm out on Long Island, because we're an indecisive lot, and whipped organic cream that was so silky and creamy that it could have been served by itself.

The wine was a Patton Valley Rose, from Oregon. It is the quintessential Easter/spring wine. It has a gorgeous pink color and an aroma that reminds me of cotton candy. The nose was fruity and floral, reminiscent of what we imagine a field of strawberries, raspberries and violets in bloom would smell like. It tasted as good as it smelled.  The rose was dry and surprisingly crisp which balanced out it's more delicate flavor characteristics. To me it actually tastes like spring time in a glass. It's what we refer to as a quaffing wine perfect for sipping on it's own or pairing with food as the mood strikes you.

We hope everyone had a great weekend. We're off to Montana for a very brief couple of days. This means dinner in the Denver airport tonight on our way to Bozeman. That means we'll be treated to a dinner theater of sorts, people watching in the terminal. You never know who or what you'll see. It must be throwback to high school when my friends and I would hang out on walls and park benches picking out the tourists in Manhattan. It's an inexpensive way to entertain yourself, making up background stories about the passers-by. For those of you who will be in your kitchens, here's the pasta recipe to play with.

Smoked Pasta Dough

3 tablespoons hickory smoke powder
1 cup of AP flour
2 cups of semolina flour
10-12 turns of a pepper mill
4 large eggs

Combine all of the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process briefly to blend. Add the four eggs and pulse till the mixture comes together as a cohesive dough. You may need to add a bit of extra flour or water depending upon the size of your eggs. Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead without any additional flour until the dough becomes smooth and silky. Wrap with plastic and let it rest, at room temperature, for at least 30 minutes before rolling out the dough. 

Green Olive Cavatelli

The weather these past few days has been a dull gloomy gray. Although there have been patches of sunlight in the afternoon, the general effect has one of sluggishness and lassitude. It's the perfect time to go out in search of bold flavors to perk up our palates and our general outlook on life.

Alex created the green olive puree which is bright and acidic, complex and flavorful. It makes your mouth water and your fingers itch for flour and water, pasta and dough. Yesterday we made both, it was a celebration of wheat.  We enjoyed every last bite from the toothsome cavatelli to the crisp and tender slices of bread. Slightly tired looking peppers, celery, and a lime were transformed into a succulent crunchy salad to balance the complex marriage of crust and crumb. Paired with silky hummus and red wine this homely repast was feast in and of itself.

The other star of the day was pasta. Chewy green olive cavatelli paired with peeled baby tomatoes, spicy leaves of arugula, and Percorino Crotonese, a haunting sheep's milk cheese scattered in random shards across the composition.  Everything is easily assembled from market and garden, the only item not easily procured is the pasta. The puree, as mentioned yesterday is simply green olives and the citrus of your choice, pressure cooked and pureed to a smooth, spreadable consistency. If I had my druthers I might tart it up with a bit of spice and smoke, perhaps a ground up chipotle pepper or two swirled into the mix. However, this first incarnation was pure olive and yuzu, an elegant combination to form the flavor spine of my dough.  Making pasta is so simple that whether you do it by hand or by machine, you'll know it was worth the effort when you sit down to taste it.

Green Olive Cavatelli
3 cups AP flour
6 tablespoon green olive puree
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
5 ounces of warm water

Pulse the flour, green olive puree and baking powder i the bowl of  food processor. Add the water all at once and process to a soft, firm dough. Turn out onto a an un-floured counter top and knead until silky and cool. Wrap with plastic and let rest for at least 30 minutes before forming into cavatelli. Lay the finished pasta out on a lightly floured sheet tray and cook immediately or freeze. Once frozen, transfer the cavatelli to a ziploc bag and keep frozen until ready to use.

Orange Ginger Cookies

There are moments when nothing but cookies will do. We're fortunate that they come in a range of shapes and sizes, textures and flavors. There really is a cookie for almost any occasion. Simple sugar cookies, fancy tuiles,  hefty slices of shortbread, crumbling biscotti, delicate lace cookies, soft chewy hermits, rich lemon squares and decadent seven layer bars. This list goes on forever.

Today I was feeling a bit unsettled, at loose ends. There are several projects that need my attention, none of which I found inspiring this afternoon. I paced around, circling the computer. As I procrastinated I picked aimlessly at various odds and ends out of the refrigerator. That's one of the dangers of the home office. A vague hunger gnawed at me although I found nothing in the pantry that appealed for a meal. I ate cartons of pudding-like yogurt, creamy and rich with a delicate lemony tang. I slipped pieces of bologna and prosciutto from their wrappings and scarfed them down at odd intervals. A handful of almonds was followed a short time later by a petite frozen Snickers bar. An attempt at something healthy resulted in a bowl full of cereal, an hour later I was back for part of a leftover bacon cheeseburger. I finally decided that the only way to stop eating was to make something delicious that would satisfy my craving for something satisfying.

Clearly I was not wishing for anything remotely good for me. I wanted something relatively quick and easy with a big payoff. Cookies fit the bill admirably. The beauty of cooking at home is that I can revel in imperfection. My cookies could be a myriad of shapes and sizes, there were to be no perfectly uniform treats today. Instead I baked cookies that were loosely formed with soft dough. The edges ran thin and crispy with caramelized butter and sugar, sloping gently upwards to chewy centers of gingery goodness. There were large ones that were almost uniformly chewy and small thin ones that were crisp and delicate.  Some were accidentally perfect circles while other were oblong or geometric in the way that only homemade cookies can be. I baked a full batch knowing that I would have to give most of them away. Three people can only consume so many cookies, no matter how yummy they may be. The abundance pleased me and soothed the restless energy that had been exasperating me all day.

The cookies were intensely satisfying.  The house filled with the scent of citrus and sugar.  Alex claimed they tasted like Fruity Pebbles and I understood completely. The candied ginger gave them a sharp kick of spice to balance out the floral notes of orange and the rich buttery dough. The best part is that they are the easiest of easy drop cookies. You can keep the dough in the refrigerator and bake them off whenever you have a craving.

Orange Ginger Cookies

8 ounces sweet butter at room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon orange oil or the zest of 1 large orange
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup diced candied ginger

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cream butter in a mixer until light. Slowly beat in the sugar, salt and baking soda until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated, scrape down the bowl after each egg is blended into the butter. Add orange oil or zest and vanilla extract and mix until fully incorporated. Add all of the flour and mix slowly until the mixture comes together as a soft dough. Fold in candied ginger.

Dough can be used immediately or refrigerated/frozen until needed.

Bake 8-10 minutes, rotating once until edges are golden brown and the tops are set. 

Pumpernickel Ice Cream

Today we began work on the pumpernickel project: crepes, ice cream, gnocchi, jelly, spaetzle, cavatelli, pudding, broth and whipped.  I began with the two most approachable: ice cream and gnocchi.  Though as I write and the ice cream churns, I might be able to use some of the gnocchi base to make the cavatelli.  We shall see.  So, for those at home with some leftover pumpernickel here is our recipe.

484g half and half
200g heavy cream
150g glucose
100g egg yolk
65g maple syrup
5g salt
200g toasted pumpernickel

Combine the half and half, heavy cream, glucose, salt and maple syrup together in a pot.  Bring the mixture to a simmer and then temper into the egg yolks.  Bring the entire mixture back to 160 degrees F, stirring constantly.  Remove from the heat and strain over the toasted pumpernickel.  Let the toast absorb the mixture, then puree everything in a blender.  Strain the mixture and chill overnight in the refrigerator.  The next day, freeze the ice cream in an ice cream machine.  Serve with..., well for us, we are going to serve it with Steve's smoked sea trout roe and watercress soup.

Squab with Turnips and Vanilla

To make the vanilla salt we take 8 ounces of fleur de sel and one Tahitian vanilla bean.  We cut the bean in half and scrape out the seeds.  We combine the vanilla seeds, the salt and the bean in a bowl and mix together to disperse the seeds.  We then put the vanilla salt in a ziploc bag for several days to let the flavors infuse.  The vanilla bean itself stays with the salt as it will continue to perfume the salt.

Now the squab:

1 Squab
1 large turnip
Zest from one orange
One Tablespoon of minced ginger
One cup of rootbeer
1/2 cup vermouth
1/4cup soy sauce

Vanilla salt

12 nasturtium leaves.

Remove the breasts from one squab.  Remove the skin and season with vanilla salt, then wrap in plastic wrap to seal the