Roast chicken and bread salad with sour cherries and roasted red onions

We love Zuni Café in San Francisco. Every time we go to San Francisco, I insist we ate at Zuni and order their Roast Chicken for Two. It never changes and it is fantastic. There are several versions of recipes of the dish that have been published and we have over the years tried them all at home. They all require you to roast the chicken outdoors on a grill.

We recently purchased a new cookbook, A Year In My Kitchen by Skye Gyngell, chef at Petersham Nurseries Cafe in London. The book had a recipe for Roast Chicken and Bread Salad with Sour Cherries and Roasted Red Onions that read to us as very much like the Zuni Chicken but with two distinct differences:


1. It is cooked in the oven - rather than on a grill outdoors
2. It has many more layers of flavors


It was like the Zuni Chicken re-imagined and tarted up. We decided to make it. Bottom line: We really liked it and will make it again. It doesn’t have the rustic feeling of the Zuni Chicken but rather has the complexity of its sophisticated big city older brother: more complex, less earthy and exciting. We recommend this dish. It isn’t hard to make but definitely takes a lot of preparation.

Roast Chicken And Bread Salad With Sour Cherries And Roasted Red Onions

A Year In My Kitchen

Skye Gyngell

I love torn bread salads—the trick is to combine the salad while the bread is still warm, so it can absorb and take on all the flavors. Here, a freshly cooked bird with real flavor is essential—last night's roast chicken will not do. You can replace the chicken with finely sliced prosciutto or, for a meat-free version, lace the bread generously with sweet broiled red bell peppers and black olives.

Serves 4 to 6

Roast chicken

1          small organic chicken, about 3 pounds

1          lemon, halved

small bunch of thyme

bay leaves

small bunch of parsley 5 cloves garlic, halved

1          dried red chile, crumbled

olive oil, to drizzle

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salad

2          tbsp dried sour cherries
(or cranberries or raisins)

1          loaf of 1-day-old chewy peasant-style bread

about 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3      cup Roasted Red Onions

1 tbsp salted cappers, rinsed

1          tbsp minced preserved lemon

2          tbsp saba or good-quality balsamic vinegar

large handful of arugula leaves

2 or 3 tbsp Basil Oil

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 425°F (convection oven to 400°F). Rinse the chicken inside and out and remove the little fat deposits just inside the cavity. Pat dry. Put one lemon half into the cavity along with the thyme, bay leaves, parsley, garlic, and dried chile. Squeeze the juice from the other lemon half over the chicken skin, then drizzle with olive oil, massaging it into the skin with your fingers. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Place the chicken in a roasting pan and roast for 15 minutes, then lower the oven setting to 375F (convection oven to 350°F) and roast until cooked through, 35 to 45 minutes. To test, pierce the thickest part of the thigh with a skewer—the juices should run clear. Let rest in a warm place until cool enough to handle. Pour off the fat from the roasting pan, saving the juices. Leave the oven on.

For the salad, soak the sour cherries in warm water to cover for 10 minutes. Cut the loaf in half lengthwise and tear with your hands into pieces, roughly 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inches square. Spread the bread pieces out on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tbsp of the olive oil. Bake in the oven until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.

Tip the bread into a large salad bowl. While it is still warm, drizzle over the remaining olive oil, adjusting the quantity as necessary— the bread should not feel dry. Add the roasted red onions, capers, preserved lemon, and saba or balsamic vinegar. Toss together with your hands. Drain the cherries and pat dry, then add to the salad.

When the chicken is cool enough to handle, tear the flesh off the bones and cut into bite-size pieces. Add to the salad and drizzle over the roasting juices. Toss the chicken through, then add the arugula and toss again. Check the seasoning.

Pile the salad into a serving dish, drizzle over the basil oil, and sprinkle with lemon zest. Serve straight away, while still just warm.

Roasted Red Onions

These beautiful, deep-purple rings lend a superb depth of flavor and color to many cold dishes. Their sharp and sweetness sits somewhere in the middle of the scale.

For the roasted onions

5 medium red onions, peeled

½ cup superfine sugar

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

generous ¾ cup balsamic vinegar

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375°F (convection oven to 350°F). Slice the onions into pinwheels, about 1/8 inch thick, and spread out on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle with the sugar and a generous pinch each of salt and pepper. Pour over the balsamic vinegar and olive oil and mix together lightly with your hands. Roast in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, turning them (with tongs or a wooden spoon) and basting halfway through cooking. When the onions are ready, they should be deep purple in color and glistening, tasting sweet and sharp at the same time.

Basil Oil

This sludgy, verdant sauce lends a vibrancy to many of the dishes that I cook. Its flavor is clean and punchy and it works almost as a cleanser with many dishes, making the ingredients sing. It is definitely a pure, clan note toward the top of the scale.

For the Basil Oil

3 large bunches of basil

1 clove garlic, peeled

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

generous ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

Pull the basil leaves from their stalks and put them in a food processor with the garlic and a good pinch each of salt and pepper.

Process until the basil is minced. With the motor running, slowly trickle in the olive oil through the feed tube and continue to blend until you have a beautiful moss green puree. Let stand for a few minutes, then taste adjust the seasoning.

Pour in a jar, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use. This basil oil will keep well in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Cassoulet

We had lots of extra pork and decided to make a Cassoulet. This heavy French dish is a favorite on a cold winter day. We remember in San Francisco a favorite French Bistro wrote on their blackboard how many days the Cassoulet had been cooking. It was in the thousands. They just kept refreshing it with more pork and beans.

This one we basically winged as to the recipe. We soaked  good beans and cooked till soft. Then we started adding ingredients from the refrigerator. It was kind of general lets throw everything into the pot that we had that was appropriate for the dish. We had some left over pork ribs from a dinner at Mozza. We stripped the meat from the ribs and added it. We also had a Tomato, brown sugar, onion compote from Valerie Confections, in it went.

Lastly we knew the Cassoulet needed sausage. Off I went to McCall’s Meat and Fish to get home made sausage from Nate. I was expecting to get fennel sausage, but Nate convinced me to get spicy Italian Sausage to “Kick up the dish” which can be heavy. He was correct it really made it! One of the great things about McCall’s is that you can discuss recipes and ideas with them. They are accomplished professional chefs.

Finally we topped with lots of toasted breadcrumbs mixed with olive oil.

We started the dinner with our rendition “The Hungry Cat Salad” we have made it many times and really like it. You can find the recipe in our blog of November 21, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

Summon joined us, and it was a delicious dinner with lively talk.

Cuban Pork

Salted Pig

Squash Soup with Peppers and Avocado

The Three Dudes

How do you Succulent?

Perfect!

Nate, at McCall’s Meat and Fish told me he was getting a whole Berkshire Pig. This is fairly rare, they are pigs that are the way pigs used to be before they were bred for the mass market. Think of it as a Single Malt pig. We would never miss an opportunity to cook a Berkshire Pig when it is available. Thanks Nate!

We ordered a 6 pound shoulder and we had to decide what to do with it. We had recently purchased the cookbook: Two Dudes One Pan by Snook and Dotolo and they had a recipe for a Cuban Roast Pig. This recipe is a keeper. It is actually quite easy and absolutely delicious. We are not sure how the pig would be if it were a regular store bought pig and not a Berkshire Pig. We are going to find out soon. I see a repeat in our future. Basically the pig is marinated for a couple of days and then slow roasted in the oven. Couldn’t be easier. One change we will make to the recipe next time is that the pig is placed on sliced onions when it is put in the pan to bake.  We will add a lot more onions to the bottom of the pan in the future because they are delicious when served with the accompanying Rice and Black Beans and Plantains.

Making life easy, we live near a El Cochinito Restaurant Cuban Restaurant, and we simply bought rice, Black Beans and Plantains from them to serve with the Pork.

We invited Robert and Darrel over they brought a delicious Squash Soup that had both Smoked Poblano Peppers and Jalapeño Peppers for a good kick smoothed with an Avocado Topping. A great soup! They also brought homemade Chocolate Flan in keeping with the theme of the night.

Cuban Style Roast Pork

Two Dudes One Pan

Shook and Dotolo

2            cups orange juice (preferably fresh)

1            cup olive oil

½            cup fresh lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)

½            cup fresh lime juice (from about 4 limes)

20            garlic cloves, smashed

4            white onions, halved and very thinly sliced, plus 1 white onion sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rings

3            fresh thyme sprigs

2            bay leaves (preferably fresh not dried)

1            tablespoon ground cumin

1 ½            teaspoons red pepper flakes

4            tablespoons kosher salt
1 6- to 8 pound boneless pork butt (sometimes called a Boston butt), trimmed of excess fat and tied into a roast

5            limes cut into wedges, for serving

Jon:  This roasted pork butt is one of my favorite ways to eat pork. It's so tender and packed with flavor. You could do it up traditionally with rice and black beans, mix it with giant butter beans for a Cuban-style cassoulet, or wrap it in a corn tortilla with pickled red onions for killer pork tacos.

Vinny: We got turned on to Cuban roast pork while living in Miami. Pork butt doesn't set you back financially, plus it can feed a crowd. We like to make the full recipe, even if just cooking for a few friends; we'll portion out the leftovers and pack them into freezer bags to pull out on a rainy day.

WHISK the orange juice, all but 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the lemon juice, lime juice, 15 of the garlic cloves, half of the thinly sliced onions, and the thyme, bay leaves, cumin, red pepper flakes, and 2 tablespoons of the salt in a large bowl. Pour into a large plastic bag (try a small garbage bag) and add the pork. Knot to close and place in a large bowl or in one of your refrigerator's vegetable bins to catch any leak­age. Marinate for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days.

Preheat your oven to 450°F.

Separate the Vi-inch-thick onion rings and place them, along with the remaining 5 garlic cloves, in the bottom of a roasting pan and drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Remove the roast from the bag (discard the marinade), pat it dry, place it on top of the onions and garlic, and rub with the remaining 2 tablespoons of salt.

Reduce the oven temperature to 425 °F and roast the pork for 45 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 250°F, cover the roasting pan with foil, and roast until the meat is falling apart, 4 to 4-1/2 hours longer.

Shred the pork and serve with the remaining thinly sliced onions and lots of lime wedges.

SERVES 12

+ 1 pan: mojo

Mojo is like the ketchup of Cuba. It's a vinegary, pungent tabletop condiment that's used on roasted pork, grilled meats, and pan-seared chicken. Drizzle a little over the pork before serving. It's best served within a hour of making.

Heat 1/2 cup canola or grapeseed oil with 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic in a small saucepan over low heat until the garlic is soft and translucent, 8 to 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and cool until it reaches room temperature, then stir in 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice, 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, and 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt.

Asparagus and Morel Risotto

Asparagus and Morel Risotto is a perfect spring, early summer dish. The seasonal timing is critical, just as morels are starting to be seen in the Hollywood Farmer's Market, asparagus is beginning to fade from its peak.

We took our basic risotto recipe: Risotto con Luganeg, Risotto with Pork Sausage from The Cuisine of Venice & Surrounding Northern Regions by Guisti-Lanham Dodi. We eliminated the pork sausage and replaced with the asparagus and morels. You can read the recipe in our blog of: April 21, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

Once again we used our own Frozen Chicken Broth. Just a reminder, whenever you make a chicken, throw the carcass in a pot, cover with water add some onion, carrot, etc and simmer for a few hours. Strain the liquid and you have great chicken stock to freeze for future use.

Cherry Salad and Corn Pasta

As summer (actually we have June Gloom) approaches in LA, cherries start to appear in the market. There are 22 different varieties of cherries that are sold, and it is fun to taste our way thru the market trying the various cherries. Cathy found a recipe for Mixed Lettuces with Roasted Cherries, Hazelnuts, & Warm Saint-Marcellin Cheese, in The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rodgers

It is unusual (at least for us) to have cherries in a salad, and this salad is delicious. It is a great find and we will make it again. Plus it looks beautiful with the bright cherries nestled in the greens.

Corn is also making its way into the market as summer nears. We made our first Corn Pasta of the year. You can find our recipe in our blog of: August 12, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

Mixed Lettuces with Roasted Cherries, Hazelnuts, & Warm Saint-Marcellin

A handsome salad I like to serve at the end of a meal featuring red meat, pork, or game birds. It is lovely made with tender young red lettuces whose leaves are no more than a few inches long. Mix with a little arugula or frisee if you like. Saint-Marcellin is a rich cow's milk cheese with a slightly yeasty tang and some fruity notes. I've eaten syrupy ripe Saint-Marcellin out of the cup it's sold in with a tiny plastic spoon provided by the affineur (cheese "refiner"}, but this salad wants a fairly firm specimen, with only a bit of downy, white mold on the surface. It should feel like firm custard, as opposed to soft pudding. A young Banon is a good alternative to Saint-Marcellin-it is the same size and has similar character. It is wrapped in chestnut leaves, which are convenient for warming pur­poses. Do check to make sure no gray mold hides beneath these leaves. Although it's usually inoffensive, after heating its flavor may be too strong.

for 4 servings:

About 24 hazelnuts (3/4 ounce, or a scant 1/4 cup} 16 ripe red cherries {about 6 ounces], such as Bing, Van, Larian, or Burlat

About 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

A few splashes of kirsch or grappa (optional)

About i tablespoon red wine vinegar

Salt

2 wheels Saint-Marcellin (about 3 ounces each} at room temperature

4 to 5 ounces mixed young lettuces, such as red oak leaf, red perella, and baby red romaine, carefully washed and dried

4 slices chewy, peasant-style bread

Preheat the oven to 325°

Roast the hazelnuts on a small baking sheet until the skins darken and start to split, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn the oven up to 400°

While the nuts are still hot, bundle them in a towel beanbag-style, then scrunch and massage them to rub off most of their skins. Pick out the nuts and coarsely chop.

Rub the cherries with a few drops of olive oil, and season with a few drops of the optional alcohol and a pinch of salt.

Combine the oil, vinegar, and salt to taste. Add another few drops of kirsch or grappa, if you like, and taste again.

Place the cheeses on squares of parchment paper and place, with the cherries, on a sheet pan {the cherries might roll off a cookie sheet}. Roast until the fruit is near to bursting and the cheese is beginning to slouch, about 6 minutes. If your cheese is riper than described in the headnote, it may begin oozing fairly rapidly and you may need to remove it before it is hot throughout.

Dress the lettuces and hazelnuts very skimpily in the vinaigrette and arrange the leaves on plates, leaving the nuts behind for the moment. Garnish with the warm cherries and nest a half of the warm cheese next to each salad. (If you are using Banon, you can remove the chestnut leaves first.) Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the top of the salads. Offer toasted peasant-style bread.

Copper River Salmon and Morells

Copper River Salmon is the best. It is extremely moist and tender. It is only available in the market for a very limited time. We buy ours at McCall’s Meat and Fish, and Nate only sells it for a short period, providing us with only the best.

We found this recipe in for Oven-Steamed Salmon with Chive Oil in Paula Wolfert’s World of Food cookbook. This is actually quite easy to make an is a delicious dish. I highly recommend that you try this. Nothing is complicated, it is just essential flavors at their peak.

When we were recently in San Francisco we ate twice at Cotogna in San Francisco. It is a wonderful restaurant adjacent to Quince and owned by them. It has a slightly more rustic feel with its wood burning oven. We sat at the bar in front of the oven and watched the chefs. One of the dishes that they made was a Baked Ricotta with Fava Beans and Onions. We asked them how to make it, and it was very easy. They make their own ricotta, we skipped that step and bought the cheese at The Cheese Store of Silverlake. We then whipped some Crema Fresca into it to make it creamier. Because morels were in the market we substituted morels for the Favas. We baked it for a few minutes and it turned into a custard like consistency. We then topped the ricotta with the Sauted Morel Mushrooms and Onions. It was delicious and easy.

Oven-Steamed Salmon with Chive Oil

Paula Wolfert’s World of Food

CHIVE OIL

2 1/2 tablespoons snipped chives

Pinch of salt

¼ cup French peanut oil or high-quality salad oil

1/2 small, firm, unblemished cauliflower, broken into 12 flowerets

1/2 pound turnip greens, collards, or mustard greens, washed and stemmed

1 1/4 pound, center-cut fresh salmon fillet, cut crosswise into four l-inch-thick portions, about 5 ounces each, preferably Atlantic or King salmon

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1 teaspoon snipped chives

1.             Make the chive oil by combining the chives, salt, and the oil in a blender jar and whirling until the mixture is smooth. Pour it into a clean jar, cover tightly, and refrigerate. It keeps up to two weeks. Return the oil to room temperature belore using.

2.             Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the cauliflower and cook it until just tender, about 5 minutes. Remove it from the water, using a slotted spoon, and transfer it to a side dish. Add the greens to the boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes; drain and refresh under cold water. Cook the greens, covered, in a small saucepan with ¼ cup of lightly salted boiling water until they are almost tender, about 10 minutes (less for young leaves). Add the greens to the cauliflower, cover with plastic film, and set aside. (Up to this point the recipe can be prepared in advance.)

3.             Position one rack in the lower third of the oven and a second rack in the upper third. Preheat the oven to 225° F. Carefully place a skillet of boiling water on the lower oven shelf. Arrange the salmon pieces on a metal baking sheet, and place on the upper rack. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the salmon over and cook 1 minute longer. (Note that the color of the salmon will not turn dull and the texture will be very juicy.) Sprinkle it with salt and pepper to taste.

4.             Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt the butter over medium high heat, add the cauliflower and greens, and saute them, tossing, until hot. Correct the seasoning and arrange the vegetables in clumps on a large serving platter. Add 3 tablespoons of water to the skillet and boil quickly to combine it with the buttery juices. Pour them over the vegetables and drizzle about 2 tablespoons of the chive oil over the juices that fall onto the platter. Place the warm salmon in -the center, over the juices, and sprinkle with a mixture of coarse sea salt and chopped fresh chives.

Cathedral of Pizza

The Sacrament

We went to dinner and afterwards decided to drive over and check out Una Pizza Napoletana. Everyone thought since we had just eaten dinner, we would just look at the place, I figured we would also get a pizza, I was correct. This is the most famous pizza in San Francisco. Its proprietor: A. W. Mangieri has a believe that all one needs to do in life is to “Do one thing good”. His one thing is: making the ultimate pizza.


His restaurant was originally in New York but the tattooed Pizza guy moved to San Francisco and reopened in the Mission.


His restaurant is like a church. You walk in and like an alter there is a steel railing, behind which is a marble topped table facing the door. Mangieri stands at the alter paying no attention to the people watching him as he prepares the pizza. He only makes about 80 pizzas a day, and when he runs out of pizza dough he closes up for the night. He will not modify the pizza, you can only select a pizza and he will make it as he desires. There are no appetizers or desserts, no salads or bread. There is only pizza and some liquid refreshments to go with them. Did I say no take out either?


The pizzas are wonderful, but I am sure a large element of the experience is just being in this cathedral to pizza and being among the few to enjoy them.


The following short movie was made at his New York restaurant before he moved to San Francisco.


Watch this 4 minute film to understand his passion.


NATURALLY RISEN from michael evans on Vimeo.

Lamb and a Greek Salad

What is better than Spring Lamb and a Greek Salad? We purchased some beautiful chops at McCall’s Meat and Fish. We then tried a new recipe: Harissa-Rubbed Rack Of Lamb With Mint Yogurt from the cookbook, Two Dudes One Pan by Shook and Dotolo. We like their restaurants: Son of a Gun and Animal and have recently purchased their cookbook.

The recipe is excellent with a strong Harissa sauce whose heat is cut by the Mint Yogurt. A Greek Salad is a natural with lamb, so we started with one, Sliced cucumbers, red onion, pitted black olives and feta cheese. Red Wine Vinegar and olive oil, salt, pepper lots of oregano. We added some pieces of San Panzanella Croccantini for texture.

Perfect spring meal!

Harissa-Rubbed Rack Of Lamb With Mint Yogurt

Two Dudes One Pan

Shook and Dotolo

For the harissa

1            cup canned tomato puree (no added spices or tomato paste)

6            garlic cloves, very finely chopped

2            tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2            teaspoons cayenne pepper

1            teaspoon ground cumin

1            teaspoon ground coriander

3            teaspoons kosher salt

2            1 -pound racks of lamb (about 8 ribs each)

For The Mint Yogurt

2            cups plain yogurt

2            tablespoons finely chopped

fresh mint Pinch of kosher salt

Jon: This is our most-requested lamb dish, and it's perfect for people who are on the fence when it comes to lamb.

Vinny: When we have the option, we'll go for Colorado lamb over New Zealand lamb. Colorado chops are bigger and less intensely gamey, but they're pricier, too. Keep in mind that a small New Zealand rack will cook more quickly than an American one.

Jon: Heads up—the lamb needs to sit with the spice paste overnight before cooking, so plan accordingly.

WHISK the tomato puree, garlic, oil, cayenne, cumin, corian­der, and 1 teaspoon of the salt together in a small bowl. Rub the paste all over the lamb and then tightly seal the racks in plastic wrap. Place on a plate or in a resealable plastic bag and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.

While the meat marinates, stir the yogurt, mint, and salt together in a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrig­erate until serving.

Preheat your oven to 450°F.

Unwrap the lamb, wipe off the excess marinade, and place the racks on their sides in a roasting pan. Sprinkle the racks with the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt. Reduce the oven temperature to 425 °F and roast the lamb until it is browned, turning it over midway through cooking, for a total of 9 to 10 minutes for medium-rare.

Transfer the rack to a cutting board, loosely cover with alu­minum foil, and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing into two-rib chops. Serve with the chilled mint yogurt on the side.

SERVES 4

Delicious Salad

We had eaten dinner at Animal and at their sister restaurant Son of a Gun, both are very good and very casual. We purchased their cookbook: Two Dudes One Pan. The recipes are tasty looking and easy to make. When we ate at Animal we had a delicious salad. So the first recipe from the book we make was this salad: Creamy Tarragon-Dressed Butter Lettuce, Smashed Croutons, and Grana. It is excellent!

Creamy Tarragon-Dressed Butter Lettuce, Smashed Croutons, and Grana

Two Dudes One Pan

Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo

Jon: I feel like I'm always hunting down the croutons in a salad. In this one, we smash them up so you get a little bit of crouton in every bite. It's a bit rustic in a texturally cool kind of way.

VINNY: Butter lettuces, such as Boston and Bibb, stand up really nicely to a creamy dressing, but if you can't find them in your market, iceberg is our second runner-up.

Place the croutons in a resealable plastic bag (make sure that there isn't any trapped air in the bag) and, using the bottom of your mixing bowl, press down on the croutons to smash them into uneven bits. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the mayo, sour cream, lemon juice, tarragon, chives, salt, and pepper. Add 1 to 2 table­spoons water, just enough to thin the dressing to a medium-bodied consistency, like that of a creamy ranch dressing

Place the greens in the bowl and toss gently with your hands to coat with the dressing. Transfer to a serving bowl or indi­vidual plates, top with the cheese and smashed croutons, and serve.

SERVES 4

homemade croutons

Heat your oven to 300°F. Place 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil and 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt in a large bowl. Add 6 cups of 1/2-inch bread cubes (about 1 French baguette) and toss to combine. Transfer the cubes to a rimmed sheet pan and toast until the cubes are just starting to color and get crispy, about 25 minutes, stirring the croutons midway through baking. Set aside to cool, and use imme­diately or store in a plastic bag for up to 1 week.

FOR THE TARRAGON YINAIGRETTE

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

3 tablespoons sour cream

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh tarragon, a few leaves reserved for garnish

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh chives, a pinch reserved for garnish

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground

black pepper

FOR THE SALAD

2 heads of Bibb or Boston lettuce, quartered 1 4-ounce chunk Grana Padana or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler

Creamed Morels on Brioche

Morels have finally arrived at the Hollywood Farmer’’s Market. We purchased some morels and used a recipe from Sunday Supper at Lucques. We toasted brioche from Proof Bakery and poured the mushroom ragout over the crisp toast. This dish is as good as it gets.

ragout of morels with creme fraiche, soft herbs, and toasted brioche – Sunday Supper at Lucques

Suzanne Goin

1         tablespoon tarragon leaves

1         tablespoon chervil sprigs

2         tablespoons flat-leaf parsley leaves

2         tablespoons 1/2-inch-snipped chives

^¾            pound fresh morels, stems trimmed and cleaned

5          tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1         teaspoon thyme leaves

½         cup sliced shallots

1         cup mushroom, vegetable, or chicken broth

Three 3/4-inch-thick slices brioche

½         cup heavy cream

6         tablespoons cremp fraiche

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Morels are to spring what tomatoes are to summer: they epitomize the season. Their spongy texture and funny pine-cone shape give these wild mushrooms unmistakable personality. In order not to mask their delicious earthy flavor, morels are best when prepared simply. In a French kitchen, morels are often cooked with cream. And as with so many traditional pairings, when you taste the combination you understand why it's a classic. Here the morel ragout is bound with a little cream, spooned over toasted slices of brioche, and topped with dollops of creme fraiche. The soft herbs are left whole; when you bite into them you get a big burst of flavor.

Toss the tarragon, chervil, parsley leaves, and chives together in a small bowl and set aside, covered with a damp paper towel in the refrigerator. If the morels are large, cut them in half lengthwise.

Heat a large saute pan over high heat for 2 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons but­ter, and when it foams, scatter the morels into the pan, being careful not to over­crowd them. Saute 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often. Turn down the heat to medium, and add the thyme, % teaspoon kosher salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Let the mushrooms cook another 6 to 8 minutes, until they're crispy on the outside yet still tender. (The amount of cooking time really depends on the mushrooms; some give off more water than others, which will require a longer cooking time in order for the water to evaporate and the morels to crisp.)

Add 1 tablespoon butter, and stir in the shallots. Cook about 2 minutes, until the shallots are translucent and tender. Turn the heat up to high, add the broth, and reduce by half. Immediately remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, lightly butter the brioche on both sides. Heat a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat, and toast the slices on both sides until golden brown.

Cut the brioche slices in half on the diagonal, and place them on a platter.

When the brioche is ready, return the mushrooms to medium heat for a minute or two. Swirl in the cream, and taste for seasoning. Spoon the morels over and around the toasts—not completely covering the bread, and spilling onto the platter.

Dollop each toast with creme fraiche and scatter the herbs over the top.

Jar-B-Que

We hadn’t made Jar-B-Que (our name for Jar Restaurant's fabulous Char Shu Pork Chops). We have always grilled it outside in the Egg or on the Weber. This time we grilled it in the oven, as the recipe calls. Surprisingly (to us) it worked out just fine. I think we will make it like this in the future.  This is a great recipe and I highly recommend it.  You can find it in our blog of: August 22, 2006. Click the date to get the recipe.

We made Rice and Sautéed Baby Bok Choy with Mushrooms to go with the chops. We cut up the left over chops and added it to the rice and bok choy mixture to make Fried Rice. We love leftovers!

Italian-Bangladeshi Dinner

Shuman had returned from his extended travels and we had him over for dinner. We made Asparagus with Browned Butter, Hazelnuts and Burrata Cheese.

For the main course we served Lentil Pasta. This is one of our favorite pasta. It is vegetarian but tastes and feels like it is made with meat. It is delicious.

In the summer when tomatoes were at their best we made several batches of Oven Candied Summer Tomatoes from: The Italian Country Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. We then froze the tomatoes for use in the winter when delicious tomatoes are hard to come by.

We used the frozen tomatles for our main course: Lentil Pasta. The Italian Lentil Pasta from the restaurant Locanda Veneta in Los Angeles is one of the best. It is so rich, you would swear it was made with meat. You can get the recipe from our blog of: July 22, 2008. Click the date to get the recipes for both the pasta and the tomatoes.


The next night we had the pasta with a salad of Burrata Salad, with Tomatoes, Greek Olives, and Toasted Brioche Bread from Proof Bakery in Atwater Village.

The Mother of All Steaks

Nate in all his glory!

Wow! Crispy Oven Potatoes

We went to McCalls Meat and Fish and asked Nate for a BIG Porterhouse Steak! Boy did he cut one for us. 4 ½ pounds! OMG! It was great and we cooked it in the Egg.

Cathy found a fabulous recipe for Oven-Roasted Potatoes. They turned out extremely crispy. They are delicious. I had forgotten about them. They are from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. This is a fabulous recipe. They are easy to make and we HIGHLY recommend them! You can find the recipe in our blog of: April 10, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe.

This was a meat eaters heavenly dinner!  

Fava Bean Pasta

We made one of our favorite pastas: Fava Bean Pasta. We really like the taste of fresh spring favas, bacon (my favorite seasoning), the sage and onion. We have published pictures and the recipe for the pasta many times. You can find it at our blog of: April 30, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

Fava beans have to be peeled twice. With your fingers open the pod and then remove the beans. When all of the pods are empty, boil water and put the beans in for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove the beans from the water, drain, cool with cold water then with your fingers peel the beans slipping the skin off. They are then ready for the sauce.

Interestingly we met two of our friends, Scott and Tom at Silverlake Wine on Monday night and Tom brought a bag of fresh beans from his garden. We simply peeled the favas and ate them like candy they were so sweet. They are also good in salads.

We made a simple Lettuce / Tomato Salad to go with the Fava Bean Pasta.

Robert and Darryl and Sardines

Robert and Darryl came by for dinner. We started with a favorite: Asparagus with Brown Butter, Burrata Cheese and Hazelnuts purchased from Mozza2Go. These are absolutely the best Hazelnuts in the city!

At Palate we had Sardines that were spectacular. They were imported from Spain: Matiz Gallego. They are harvested in Galacia. They are amazing. We asked Palate to sell us some and they sold us 13 cans.

We mentioned this to Robert and Darryl and they said they like Sardines. Cathy found a recipe for Sardine Pasta Sauce and we decided to make it and invite them. We mentioned we were making this sauce to our Tai Chi teacher, Michael, and he went wild discussing this sauce. It is a favorite of his. He said we should add fennel tops, raisins, pine nuts and wine to the sauce. We made it, it was strong and not surprisingly very sardine tasting. I doubt if we will make it again.

We did give the remainder of the sauce to Michael, who wound up loving it, and extending it to 3 more dinners. I am glad it found a home.

For dessert we bought a Lemon Meringue Cake from Proof, a new bakery near it us. We really like the bakery.