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

• Measure the salt and flour into a bowl. Cut in the flour until it has a granular appearance.
• Add in water and mix until just barely combined. Wrap the dough and chill at least 1 hour before rolling.

Chicken Skin Crusted Pot Pie

• 1/4 cup diced pancetta
• 1/4 cup sliced shallots
• 3 tblsp sliced garlic
• 1/4 cup sliced mushroom of your choice
• 1/4 cup diced carrot
• 1/4 cup diced celery
• 3 tblsp flour
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
• 2 cups pulled cooked chicken thigh meat
• salt and pepper to taste
• egg wash as needed
• 1 1/2 cups cooked diced chicken skin

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.

Anyone who has eaten with me, or cooked with me for that matter, has more than likely heard me spout off about my love of eggs, specifically warm egg yolk. Faithful readers know that warm egg yolk is hands down my favorite flavor in the whole culinary world. It adds richness, a silky smooth fattiness to almost any dish. I eat sunny side up eggs almost every morning, I have for years. If I have a late night and wake up at two in the afternoon, I still want to eat eggs before anything else that day. In addition to it’s unparalleled flavor, the egg holds a special place in my heart for it’s many useful properties. Thickening, leavening, emulsifying to name a few. Eggs are also one of those ethereal ingredients that you don’t always realize are there, but would know something was missing if they weren’t. The incredible, edible egg also has the the ability to put one in the hospital, if you happen to be my good friend Eric who is allergic.

Anyway, when we set out to create our SupFast menu for tentop, we took great care not to inundate our menu with eggs, which are an integral part of any breakfast as far as I’m concerned. Our solution was an egg trio, using quail eggs; which contain all the deliciousness at a third of the size. We had what we called Huevos Benedictos, a Spanish version of the classic brunch item. I started with a rich brioche recipe from one of my new favorite cookbooks, The Modern Cafe by Francisco Migoya. This dough has so much butter in it, it took almost 30 minutes beating on it with the dough hook before it started to develop any gluten. We topped these toasted rounds with serrano and a sunny side quail egg, then sauce charon made with Viridian Farms espelette powder. The second egg on the plate was a “scotch.” I use quotes because we skipped the whole packing the soft boiled egg in sausage bit, and just breaded and deep fried it. We did this for two reasons. One, the whole idea came for trying this egg from a bi-product of another dish we did for Satan’s Feast. The angry allium dish had fried pepperoni on it, small rounds which we cut from bigger slices. We fried up the trimmings for a snack and found we had made these perfect little pedestals, ideal for cradling a little egg. Secondly, to “lighten” what was shaping up to be a rich dish, and one with a meaty pedestal to boot, we skipped the sausage. Also, after having soft boiled and peeled 24 quail eggs to get 16, I wasn’t about to risk losing more by smooshing meat around ‘em. A little gremolata (under the egg) helped soak up the warm yolk as well as add a nice vegetal note. Lastly, behold the noble omelet. I originally suggested to my co-chef Michael that we do an egg white version, and before I had finished the sentence he had this look on his face that said “fuck that.” And he was right. Egg white omelets are bullshit. So we went in the opposite direction, and used all yolks for these little babies. Inside was Mt. Townsend New Moon Jack cheese and Viridian Farms asparagus. I created a sauce by browning butter, then adding a little salt and champagne vinegar. In my pastry mind’s eye I felt I could give the sauce a little body with a few sheets of gelatin, which worked, kind of. I had to remove almost all of the fat (clarified butter) from the sauce before I noticed any real thickening. It was a smooth, intense sauce. Garnish was for a little crunch, form of…fricco! For the brunch we did a similar dish, minus the “scotch.”

Sauce Charon

2 egg yolks

Juice from 1 lemon

1 1/2 cups clarified butter

1/4 cup tomato paste, warm

Pimente d’Espilette to taste

salt to taste

warm water to adjust consistency

1. Warm clarified butter to body temperature.

2. Whisk egg yolk, lemon juice, and a little warm water until mixture is light and frothy.

3. Using an immersion blender, blend mixture continuously while drizzling in the warm butter. I do this in a six pan or a small bain marie insert. I like to put these above a stove or oven to warm them before I start the sauce.

4. Adjust consistency with warm water through the butter adding process. The sauce should have a loose mayonnaise look.

5. When all the butter is added, add the warm tomato paste, espilette powder, and season with salt to taste. Serve ASAP, keep warm.

Just something I threw together for me and wifey on a Monday night.  I’ve been cooking for her when I can, usually Mondays, and usually chicken.  My lovely better half has a very refined palate; that is to say she won’t eat shit.  So it’s normally chicken I cook, I’ve perfected my fabrication, brining and crispy skin.  This Monday, however, I had breasts. In an attempt to church them up with limited resources, we’ve got this little dish here.  I worked my way through a handful of recipes in J.O.C., and what I realized I wanted was a gratin. Saucy, cheesey crusty, etc.  It’s was a rainy northwest winter day and after a haircut and a Fremer run I was drinking beers and cooking.  My other big goals for the day involved blogging, flogging, and not jogging.

Bacon Fat Biscuits adapted from J.O.C recipe

1 3/4 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

5 bacon fat

1 tbslp butter

3/4 cup half & half

flour for dusting

1. Pre heat oven to 450.  Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer.

2. Measure and freeze the bacon fat and butter. Micro plane it into the dry ingredients.

3. Mix the dough with the paddle attachment on low speed just into a loose wad begins to form.

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a disk with floured hands.

5. Cut desired shapes and bake 12-15 minutes, again G.B.D.

Serve with:

Chicken & Broccoli Gratin

2 brined chicken breasts

2 cups blanched Broccoli

2 oz parmesan

2 oz cheddar grated

1 oz dolloped buitter

1 slice oven dried bread of your choice

1/2 cup candied walnuts

2 tblsp flour, plus more for dredging

1 cup chicken stock

1 tsp chicken demi

2 tsp sherry vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1. Brine the chicken breast and blanch the broccoli if you haven’t already.  Drain and dry the chicken. Hold in the fridge with the blanched broccoli.

2. Pulverize the parm, bread, and walnuts in a food processor, reserve.

3. Dust the chicken with flour and sear it in a hot pan, finish in a 400 degree oven.

4. Remove the chicken from the pan and hold at room temp.  Add the flour to the pan and it’s drippings, cook for two minutes.  Add the stock stock and demi whisk smooth.

5.  Cook the gravy for 5 minutes.

6. Slice the chicken and arrange it and the broccoli in the desired pan.  Spoon on the gravy.  Cover it with the crumbs, grated cheddar and dolloped butter

7. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn on the broiler.  Broil until crust is G.B.D.

Kate hit up Trader Joe’s last week and returned with fish.  She found some frozen Sockeye Salmon, which we had early in the week; and also Mahi-Mahi, aka Dolphin Fish.  I find Dorado tasteless and bland; seeing the frozen filets hinted no different.  They appeared as they probably were going to taste.  Perfect rectangles of an impossible gray that defied metaphor.  I knew they would need a rich sauce, and a spicy side.  I had a deli cup of clarified lobster butter (thanks Chef,) begging for hollandaise. Our sausage guy had hooked me up with some smoked Chorizo awhile back, I stumbled upon that in the freezer searching for fat.  A deli cup of rice pilaf from the fridge smelled good.  Dinner was upon us!!  I sliced the Chorizo and rendered it on a silpat the oven.  Conviently, I had cooked bacon on this same pan for breakfast; I had a ton of delicious grease to cook with.  When the sausage was hot and oozing fat, I removed them form the pan and replaced them with halved pearl onions which then roasted, filling the house with a sweet and spicy smell.  I knew shellfish and chorizo were money together, and figured since mahi doesn’t really taste like anything, the lobster hollandaise and smoked sausage could lift up this lackluster fish.  I knocked together the sauce; volumized yolks, whisked in fat, seasoned with salt, pepper, vinegar.  I heated up the rice in the pot that I warmed the lobster butter in, much to my fiancee’s chagrin.  I reheated my sausage bits with the almost-done onions.  The fish hit a screaming hot pan with a searing sizzle and when flipped hit the oven.  After waiting four minutes I threw in two empty plates.  Steaming food hit warm plates 3 minutes later.  Hollandaise oozed.  Lips smacked.  Hunger: at bay once more.

In an outstanding feat of restaurant leftovers I created a delicious brunch this past Sunday.  Anyone in Portland could tell you how cold it was this day, and a how a lavish, greasy breakfast was in order.  At the restaurant we serve pork belly, naturally.  It’s one of Chef’s greatest dishes. The precise bacon wrapped portions create a bit of side product, which we sometimes use for sliders or staff meal. Sometimes I take home a little package for the freezer; a lazy Sunday.  I rendered off about 4 ounces of meat.  Combined with a bit of fat I had reserved from another project, I had about 3 ounces.  Emulisfing it into one egg yolk, It was just enough for one portion of silky sauce.  Snow drifted down outside, and the smell of fat filled the house, warming us.  I toasted the leftover brioche and poached the eggs.  Spinning the water and dropping the eggs, they simmered lightly just below the boiling point.  I usually use vinegar in this situation but not using any had a pleasant result.  Unseemly as they cooked, most of the whites dispersed into the water.   I ended up with perfectly cooked yolks however, and it’s all about the yolks right?  I loose chopped the pork belly and warmed it in a pan with butter. Everything came together on a warmed plate and smoked black sea salt. A most satisfying of meals, I felt it filled me up nicely.  I wasn’t even hungry until I saw the pulled pork that night at Jaybill’s.