Billy and Kevin invited us to their house for New Years Eve. We said we would bring a few of the courses. We started by making at his house: Spaghetti with Caviar, Scallions and Chopped Egg. The recipe is from The New York Times. This is an outrageously good and easy way to prepare Caviar.
We then served a salad of Shaved Foie Gras from: Chez Panisse Café Cookbook by Alice Waters. This recipe has to be started a week before you eat it! The Foie Gras is packed in salt and cured. It is then sliced over a salad. It is very rich. Definitely not a dish you can eat often!
Finally we baked our traditional holiday cake. Mary Ann’s Fruitcake
From: Craig Claiborne’s The New York Times Cookbook. No cake gets worse press than a Holiday Fruitcake. This cake is not like any of them. It is GOOD! It is also easy to make, although it needs to be made at least a week before you serve it. We love it, and served the leftovers toasted for breakfast. If you are reticent to make a cake try this one, it is full prove and easy.
Billy and Kevin made a beef tenderloin and asparagus and an ultra-rich potato gratin for the main course and served us wonderful wines. Happy New Year!
Spaghetti with Caviar, Scallions and Chopped Egg
New York Times
Coarse sea salt
4 eggs
1 pound spaghetti
5 tablespoons butter
freshly ground black pepper
6 scallions, thinly sliced
8 tablespoons osetra caviar, or more to taste.
1. Fill a large pot with water, season gener¬ously with sea salt and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, fill a small pan with water and bring to a boil. Add eggs to small pan, and reduce to an active simmer. Cook for 9 ½ minutes. Drain. When eggs are cool to the touch, peel and finely chop. Set aside.
2. When large pot of water boils, add spaghetti, and cook until al dente. Drain reserving ½ cup cooking liquid. Add butter and a few tablespoons of cooking water to pot and place over medium high heat. When melted and bubbling, add spaghetti, and toss to coat. Season with salt and a generous amount of pepper.
3. To serve, divide spaghetti among four plates. Sprinkle chopped egg and scallion on top. Spoon caviar in center. Serve immediately; guests will mix spaghetti as they eat.
Yield: 4 servings.
shaved foie gras and rocket salad
from: Chez Panisse Café Cookbook
Alice Waters
Fall is a time when we make delicious composed salads with bits of duck and gizzard confit, pigeon liver toasts, little grilled quails, or duck skin cracklings paired with new-crop nuts and autumn fruits. This is the luxurious extreme of such salads. A fresh duck foie gras is expensive, but a little goes a long way. The recipe makes enough cured foie gras for several meals.
serves 6.
1 fresh duck foie gras, about i po
Salt
1/3 cup hazelnuts
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Pepper
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 large handfuls rocket
Prepare the foie gras several days in advance. Let it soften at room temperature for about an hour. When it is pliable, pull the two lobes apart, grasp the veins and gently pull to remove them. Don't worry about disfiguring the foie gras; it will be pressed later. When all the veins have been removed, lightly season the two lobes with salt and re-shape them into their original form. Cut a 2-foot length of cheese cloth, place the foie gras at one end, and roll up the foie gras in the cloth. After 2 1/2 turns, trim off any remaining cheesecloth and tie the ends firmly, making a tight sausage shape. In an earthenware or glass vessel that is 4 inches taller than the rolled foie gras and at least 2 inches wider, make a 1 1/2-inch layer of salt. Add the foie gras and cover completely with a layer of salt at least 1 inch deep. Place a weight-on top (a full wine bottle works well), and refrigerate foi:3 to 4 days.
In a preheated 400 oven, toast the hazelnuts for about 15 minutes or until golden and aromatic. Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette. In a mortar, mash the garlic to a paste with a little salt. Add the sherry vin¬egar, red wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and freshly milled pepper. Whisk in the olive oil, taste for acid and salt, and adjust. While the nuts are still warm, rub them in a clean kitchen towel to remove their skins. Chop the nuts coarsely. Wash and dry the rocket. Retrieve the foie gras from the salt and remove the cheesecloth. Wrap the foie gras in plastic and keep it very cold while preparing the salad, either in a bowl of ice in the refrigerator, or, briefly, in the freezer. Dress the rocket lightly with the vinaigrette, divide among 6 chilled plates, and sprinkle with the hazelnuts. Use a sharp vegetable peeler to make shavings of the cured foie gras over each salad. Be generous. Fin¬ish with a flourish of the pepper mill. The foie gras left over will keep a week in the refrigerator, well wrapped.
Variation: Serve the cured foie gras with a salad of thinly sliced sweet garden fennel, raw cepes, and tender parsley leaves. Instead of shaving the foie gras, cut it into 1/4-inch-thick slices, and drizzle the salad with a little aged balsamic condimento and fruity extra-virgin olive oil.
Mary Ann’s Fruitcake
From: Craig Claiborne’s
The New York Times Cookbook
1 pound golden seedless raisins
1 pound pecan meats, broken
3 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
6 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon warm water
1/4 cup Grand Marnier
1. Place the butter in the bowl of an electric beater. Start beating and gradually add the sugar. Cream the mixture well and add the egg yolks one at a time, beating constantly. Blend the soda and water and add it, beating. Beat in the Grand Marnier. Pour this mixture into the nut mixture and blend together with the hands.
2. Beat the whites until stiff and fold them in with the hands. Continue folding until the whites are not apparent.
3. Spoon and scrape the mixture into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Bake for 2 to 2x/4 hours, or until the cake is puffed above the pan and nicely browned on top. If the cake starts to brown too soon, cover with aluminum foil. Remove the cake from the pan shortly after it is baked. Tapping the bottom of the cake pan with a heavy knife will help loosen it. Store the cake for at least 10 days. If desired, add an occasional touch of Cognac or rum to the cake as it stands. Keep it closely covered and refrigerated until ready to use.
Yield: 1 10-inch cake.
No comments:
Post a Comment