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Archives for June 2011

Chicken Skin Crusted Pot Pie.

22 June 2011 | delicious, food porn, nomnomnomnom, recipe | 10 Responses

Sadly, in my excitement; I only got this one crappy picture of this truly delicious awesomeness before it was descended upon like so much carrion by vultures. In truth, half the pie made it over to Clyde, where it was traded to glassy-eyed bar tenders for artisan cocktails. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself, faithful readers. Let’s set the way back machine to two months ago, right around Pi Day.

The creation of this pie was yet another result of my highly perked job as manager of KitchenCru’s glorious facility. It all started with leaf lard, which I obtained via our high profile clients; Tails & Trotters. They had a bunch of trimmings that they didn’t have the time or inclination to do anything with, so they passed it along to me. After cleaning and rendering I ended up with about six thirty-two ounce deli cups of pure white lard, perfect for a sumptuous and flaky pie crust. Of which, I of course; made way to much. I had pie dough for miles. The first pie I made in celebration of Pi Day, a fig-apple-caramel delight that I believe I also traded a portion of for beverages at my favorite bar. The second pie i wanted to be savory. The day that I decided to do it, happened to be a day that my employer and co-worker had put on a lunch including corn beef sandwiches, knish, and other delicious NY deli items. A by-product of the shmaltz needed to make knish: cooked chicken meat and skin. I had a direction. I started my pie filling with some home made pancetta I had scored from Chef Andrew Garret of High Heat Catering.

Lard Crust

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour chilled
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup diced, frozen lard
1/3 cup ice water

Chicken Skin Crusted Pot Pie

Roll out the pie dough like a boss, line the pie tin and set in the fridge to chill.

Render the pancetta over medium heat, be careful not to brown too much, as it will continue to cook.

Add the shallots and garlic and reduce the heat, sweat ‘em.

Add the carrots, celery, mushrooms, and saute until partially cooked. Add the flour and cook for three minutes

Add the stock and cream and bring to a simmer. Cook at least ten minutes to thicken and cook off flour taste. Add the frozen peas.

Add the cooked chicken and fold together the filling. Allow it to cool to room temp.

Dump the filling into the prepared crust and roll out the top piece of dough like a boss. Fill the pie level to heaping, but don’t over-fill. If you have extra, eat it.

When you’ve got the pie topped and have crimped the edges,  egg wash that bitch. Sprinkle on the chicken skin, making sure every bit is covered. Pat it in a little to make sure it’s secure.

Bake that sucker until the crust is GBD. Cool to room temp before attempting to slice.


White Chocolate Flourless Cake

17 June 2011 | cake, custard, delicious, dessert, plated dessert, recipe, tentop | 17 Responses

If you Google White Chocolate Flourless Cake, you don’t get shit. At least nothing use-able. I mean, almond flour is still a flour of sorts, and any recipe you find seems to use it. I wanted a flourless cake like my dark chocolate recipe;with a rich, fudge-like texture. If you look at my old ratio, it’s quite simple. Chocolate, butter, sugar, eggs, and water. I figured I’d start there. So white chocolate is basically sweetened cocoa butter and milk. Cocoa butter is fat, so I omitted the butter from the the OG recipe. White chocolate is sweet, too sweet for some, so I yanked the sugar. Water? Didn’t feel right. Cream felt right. So I used cream. I put the batter together like the OG, baked like the OG, bottomed it with crunchy layer and glazed it like the OG. What I ended up with; the guests who ate it and I determined, was a baked custard. The texture was like a thick pudding, a decadent “just-set” confection with a coma-inducing richness that left diners with glazed eyes and lolling heads. The plate had raspberry coulis, preserved lemon granita,  and crushed hazelnut brittle.

White Chocolate Flourless Cake

54 oz white chocolate

15 oz eggs

3/4 cup heavy cream

line a 1/4 sheet pan with parchment. Preheat the oven to 250 F.

melt the chocolate over a double boiler.

whisk together the eggs and cream.

when the chocolate is fully melted, whisk in the eggs. Scrape the bowl and whisk again, making sure all is incorporated and homogeneous.

transfer the batter to the prepared pan, and bake until GBD and set, about 45 minutes to an hour. Turn the oven off and let the cake finish inside, Chill thoroughly before glazing and portioning.


Bacon Bread Pudding Egg in the Basket.

14 June 2011 | bacon, faithful readers, plated dessert, tentop | 2 Responses

First and foremost, let’s get something out of the way here, faithful readers. What you see pictured above here in not a version of Toad in the Hole, which is a common misconception. This is a version of Egg in the Basket, or Egg in a Frame as it is sometimes known. Click the link above, Toad in the Hole is something else.

OK, moving on. My use of bread pudding is well documented, as well as my love of eggs. I have been brain storming how to get a poached egg onto a dessert for some time now, or any kind of egg preparation; and here finally achieved it at tentop’s Supfast. The first version had a coffee poached egg, which had an intensely delicious coffee flavor, but looked like a decaying fetus. I plated the pudding and then the poached egg, then covered it with candied nuts. It still looked like hell. The next version omitted the egg, and we rallied in the end with a true Egg in The Basket, as seen above. The finished dish had banana caramel, coffee salt, candied macadamia, and molasses whipped cream. I scored the bread needed for this from my friend Kathy a.k.a. adoxograph who works at Baker & Spice. She is a laminated dough master, and totally hooked me up. The bacon used was of the un-smoked variety from none other than Tails & Trotters.

Bacon Bread Pudding

6 oz soft butter
6 oz bacon fat
14 oz brown sugar

10 eggs

1 1/2 qts heavy cream
1 1/2 qts half & half

1 1/2 lbs bacon fully cooked drained, and diced

Day old croissants, brioche, or challah.


Weigh soft butter, bacon fat and brown sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream light and fluffy.

Add the eggs slowly, scraping three times during the process. Mixture will look broken.

Switch to whip attachment and on medium speed add the heavy cream and half & half.

Chop up day old bread into 2 inch chunks and add to custard. Add enough bread to create a wet, pudding like mass…not too dry. Store in an airtight container overnight.

Next day, add in your bacon.

Prepare a parchment lined, well greased hotel pan or silicon mold and transfer the pudding. Fill mold flush with lip of pan. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake at 300 F until edges are set. Remove foil and bake additional 15-20 minutes, until center is baked and top is golden brown.

Eat warm or chill thoroughly before slicing into clean shapes. 30 seconds in microwave at pick up.


Supfast: Third Course; Biscuits & Gravy

12 June 2011 | breakfast, creative presentation of the week, tentop | No Responses

This was hands down my favorite course at tentop’s Supfast. A play on the old breakfast staple, this was kind of a North African version. I knew from the outset I wanted to do a lamb merguez sausage, because it’s fucking delicious. The biscuits I knew I would make with lard, because I had scored a bunch from Tails & Trotters. We added cornmeal and scallions to make it more savory. The rest of the flavors came into play during discussions with my Sous, Michael. We ended up with a pea and mint salad, bound with yogurt, and a preserved lemon granita. When we were putting this on the plate, I had this moment, this split second where I thought, “Oh, fuck, this is a hot mess; there is way too much shit going on,” but it wasn’t. It was about the most well received dish of the night.

Since this was the entree, I wanted the meat part of it to be more substantial that it would be as just a gravy. To that end I par cooked the sausage in a cryo-vac bag in the combi-oven. I cut out some nice patties and then made the gravy out of all the trim. When the gravy was done I chilled it thoroughly before puree-ing it in one of KitchenCru’s blenders, which I am now convinced have dirtbike engines. Not only did it puree the meaty gravy silky smooth, it heated the cold mass to steaming hot. When we picked up the dish, I browned the patties in a skillet.

Lamb Merguez

4 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, diced

1 pound pork fatback, diced (see note)

3 tablespoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic

1 1/2 cups diced roasted red peppers

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano

1/4 cup red wine, chilled

1/4 cup ice water

20 feet natural sheep or hog casings, soaked in water (optional)

1. Combine lamb, fatback, salt, sugar, red pepper flakes, garlic, roasted red peppers, black pepper, paprika and oregano. Toss to distribute seasonings. Cover and refrigerate until ready to grind.

2. Grind the mixture through a small die into a bowl resting in ice.

3. Add wine and water to the meat mixture. Mix with paddle attachment or a sturdy spoon until the mixture develops a uniform, sticky appearance, about 1 minute.

4. Cook a small portion of the sausage in a sauté pan. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

5. Stuff sausage into casings, and twist into 10-inch links. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate or freeze links until ready to cook. Or, cook the sausage in a pan, then make a gravy or pasta sauce,

6. Sauté, roast or grill the sausages until cooked through.

Lard Biscuits

3 1/2  cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 bunch scallions sliced
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup lard
2 cups buttermilk

1. Cut fat into dry ingredients, add scallions and toss together.

2. Add buttermilk and mix until just combined. Wrap dough and chill thoroughly.  Cut into desired shapes and bake until GBD, about 12 minutes at 375.

Lemon Granita

freshly squeezed juice of 8 lemons
3 3/4 cups of sugar
3 3/4 cups of water
3 tablespoons of grated lemon peel (zest - just the yellow)
diced preserved lemon to taste

Preparation:

Combine the sugar and water in a bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in lemon juice and zest. Pour into large pans or pyrex dishes and place in the freezer. After 20 minutes, take it out of the freezer and, using a fork, scrape the bottom and stir the ice chips with the liquid. Freeze. Repeat every 20 minutes until there is no liquid left, and use the fork to break it up into small chunks.