From Suq to Shuk

New Year's Goose with Elad

Another yum!  A few days before New Years, a bunch of listened as Gonzalo, a Spaniard visiting Tel Aviv during a break from his studies in Budapest, describe the Spanish tradition of consuming 12 grapes at midnight, one for each gong that rumbled from the church towers across the country and also played on national television.  Leemor decided that we ought to replicate that tradition here.  We went to the Shuk to buy a number of thing, but alas grapes are out of season in Israel.  So we purchased some raisins and I brought them home and after washing them, left them in a jar with some courvoiser and poire williams and a bit of water to infuse.  Rather than 12 grapes at midnight, we would swallow twelve slightly alcoholic raisins each.  Unfortunately no one knew what the intended purpose of the raisins in the jar was and as a result next to none were eaten.  I returned home with 90% of my raisins uneaten and decided to cook them instead.

Several days earlier I had bought some goose legs at the Russian supermarket in the Shuk.  Russians traditionally eat goose on New Years and so the large supply meant cheaper prices than usual.  I defrosted them for 24 hours, render out some fat, fried a few onions in that fat and then combined it all with a bit of duck stock.  I poured the raisins and onions into a pyrex roasting pan and lay the browned goose legs on top.  Left in the oven for about 2.5 hours, the skin was perfectly crispy, the meat incredibly tender, and the combination of alcohol and sugars in the raisins left a perfectly caramelised accompaniment.  Elad came over and we ate some goose, watched some Star Trek and had an excellent New Year's Day dinner. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 lb of golden raisins

1.5 cups of courvoisier (or other brandy)

1/2 cup poire william brandy

water as necessary

2 goose legs, fresh or defrosted

1 spanish onion, sliced radially

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/2 cup duck stock

S+P to taste

Directions:

Combine the raisins with the alcohol in a jar then add enough water to cover the raisins by 1".  Allow to infuse for at least 24 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 350F/175C.  Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium for about 3 minutes.  Add the goose legs, skin side down, into the pan and allow to render fat and brown the skin for 4-5 minutes.  Flip them over and brown the flesh side for a minute or so and remove to a plate.  Enter the onion into pan and lower the head to medium-low.  Sauté for 8 minutes, then add the cinnamon and cloves.  Add the raisins and then immediately add the duck stock.  All to come to a simmer.  Pour mixture into a pyrex roasting pan, place the goose legs skin side up atop the raisins and onions.  Sprinkle S+P genergous over the whole thing then wrap tightly with tin-foil. Place in the oven.  After 1.75 hours remove from the oven, remove tinfoil, return to the oven and lower to 325F/160C.  Remove after 45 minutes. Serve immediately with your favourite mashed potatoes recipe. B'Teavon!

The Carnivores' Club: Braised duck legs in apple cider vinegar, pan roasted duck breast, roasted new potatoes and brussel sprouts and a duck fat aioli - and a fig salad too

Last night I had the pleasure of entertaining Leemor, Kassandra and Yaniv.  At Kassandra's request, I made duck.  The only duck available was a young duck whose weight was slightly lower than I would have liked, but that's all there was.  I broke down the bird separating the legs and breasts from the carcass and then completely removed the skin.  I rendered all of the fat out of the skin and then strained it and left it in a bowl to cool.  I always keep Tom Colicchio in mind when making duck and his trinity of duck, apples and root vegetables.  I decided to stray from all the Asian duck and goose I've been making and go for something good and European (what I made ended up somewhere in between French and Italian... you choose).  I braised the legs in apple cider vinegar with some shallots, garlic and a few herbs and spices.  I decided to add nothing more to the duck breast than salt and pan fried it for about 2 minutes on each side before leaving it in the oven for a few more minutes.  I made an apple-onion-sunchoke purée that went brilliantly with with both types of duck.  I had the great surprise and delight of seeing brussel-sprouts at the Shuk two days ago, and bought a box accordingly.

By the time Kassandra arrived, the purée was near completion, the legs were braised and we went to work on the brussel-sprouts and potatoes which Kassandra sliced in two and I assembled in a baking dish with some olive oil, thyme and rosemary and set in the oven.  While they were roasting, I started to prepare the salad and Kassandra kept staring at the bowl of duck fat on my table.  I had suggested making a sauce for the meal, and joked that I could make a duck fat aioli.  Kassandra took the joke quite seriously and insisted that I make it.  I did.  Heart attack on a spoon but damn is it good - in moderation.  I added a bit of chilli oil to the mix as well as some lime zest and lime juice and it came out both layered and elegantly rich. 

I followed the meal with a fig, lettuce and pine nut salad dressed simply in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  The whole meal was delicious, but the cooking process was painful as it was 90 degrees outside and even hotter with both the burners and my oven on.  After all the guests left, I very happily took a second shower before heading to bed to digest all the duckiness.  The "Carnivore's Club" was Leemor's invention - a comment on the very different nature of the meals I prepare when not forced to cater to all my lovely vegetarian friends.  The Carnivore's Club is not exclusive and welcomes all new members.  Last night's meal was fantastic, and I plan to have many more, whether they be duck, chicken, beef, lamb, veal, goose or other (that's what there is in Israel).  Enjoy folks.

   

Ingredients:

For the duck legs

1 tbls of duck fat

1 tbls of coriander seeds

1 large shallot, cut into rings

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly

2 duck legs, skin removed

3/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

4 sprigs of thyme and 1 sprig of rosemary, tied together with butcher's twine

1 bay leave

S+P

For the purée

40 grams of butter

1 tsp of fennel seed

1 tsp of dill seed

1 large onion, sliced radially

1 pink lady or McIntosh apples, peeled, cored and diced

3 sunchokes, peeled and sliced into rings

For the roasted vegetables

1 lb of brussel sprouts, sliced in half

1.5 lbs of new potatoes, washed and sliced in half

5 sprigs of thyme, the leaves pulled off the stems

2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves pulled off the stems

olive oil to coat

S+P

For the duck breasts

2 duck breasts

1 tbls of grapeseed oil

S+P

For the aioli

1 cup of duck fat at room temperature

1 egg

2 tsp of chilli oil

1 clove of garlic

the zest of half a lime

the juice of one wedge of a lime

1 tsp of salt

For the Salad

1/2 cup of toasted pine nuts

15 figs, quartered

1 head of red lettuce, chopped

1 tbls of olive oil

1/2 tbls of balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 175C/350F.  Heat the duck fat in a Dutch oven over medium and add the coriander seeds.  After three minutes, add the rings of shallots, flip after 2 minutes, then add the garlic.  Move that mixture to one side and place the legs in the pot, brown for about 2-3 minutes on each side then add the apple cider vinegar.  Bring to a simmer and add the salt and pepper as well as the thyme, rosemary and bay leaf.  Cover and place in the oven for 45 minutes.  Remove, flip the legs and return to the oven for another 45.  Remove from the oven, pull the meat off the bones and allow to soak up all the juices.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium and add the fennel seeds and dill seeds.  After two minutes, add the onion, sauté for 6 minutes then add the apple and the sunchoke.  Place the lid on and turn the heat all the way down, leave for ten minutes.  It will get some good caramelisation on the bottom. Remove the lid and add 1/2 cup of water and stir a bit. Return the lid and allow to sit for another 15 minutes, checking every so often to make sure it's not burnt.  Finally, remove from the heat and purée well with an immersion blender, then set aside.

Combine all ingredients for the roasted vegetables in a baking dish and toss well.  Raise the heat on the oven to 190C/375F and leave in the oven for 40 minutes.

Combine the egg, chilli oil, garlic, lime zest, lime juice, salt and 1 tbls of the duck fat in a high rimmed bowl and pulse with an immersion blender moving the wand up and down as you do so.  Once the garlic is fully incorporated, slowly add the rest of the duck fat and continue to pulse moving the wand up and down.  Transfer this mixture to a bowl.

Heat the grape-seed oil in a cast iron skillet and heat over medium.  Dust the duck breasts with S+P.  Once the skillet is hot, add the duck breasts and leave for 2 minutes on either side then transfer the skillet to the oven.  Leave in the oven for five minutes, remove and allow to rest for three minutes before slicing.  Combine all ingredients on the plate and serve.

Combine all ingredients for the salad in a bowl and toss.

B'Teavon!

Seared goose, cherry and greens salad with an Asian peach dressing

Last night the lovely Judith and Kassandra joined Lior and me for a light but intensely satisfying dinner.  Without a doubt, the highlight of the meal was the dressing I concocted that is sure to be a staple of my repertoire in the future.  I had purchased some peaches at the Shuk and unfortunately, having found themselves at the bottom of my bag, they got a bit smushed in transit.  For that reason, I decided to make a sauce out of them and what an excellent idea that was!

As frequent readers know, I have a predilection for meat above all else.  Nonetheless, at times I find the need to tone down the heavy qualities of a pairing with a starch and cooked vegetables, no matter how delicious.  Furthermore, I had purchased only one goose breast to be consumed between four persons.  Last night's dinner of salad provided an excellent combination of freshness, gaminess, sweetness and spice.  

Once again, the dressing I composed was so delectable that I dare it could find uses in a whole variety of applications whether on meat, fish, seafood or greens.  The quantity prepared here was perfect for the amount of salad produced but were one to create a greater quantity it would be an excellent sauce in which to poach shrimp, for example.  I heartily recommend the whole combination, but especially the sauce.  Enjoy!

      

Ingredients:

For the salad

1 head of red Boston lettuce, washed, dried and cut into 3/4" thick strips

about 20 cherries, halved and pitted

about 15 sprigs of cilantro, washed and dried

1 large shallot, cut into thin rings

1 goose breast, fat membrane removed

1 tbls grape-seed oil (or other neutral oil)

salt and ground pink peppercorns (or whatever peppercorn you like except white)

For the dressing

1.5 white peaches, peeled and pitted (our peaches are rather small so if yours are quite large, perhaps only 1 peach)

1 tsp ginger oil

1/4 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp Chinese five-spice

1 x-hot Indian chilli

1.5 tbls mirin

Directions:

Heat the grape-seed oil over medium in a frying pan.  Dust the goose breast in salt and pepper.  Once the pan is hot, add the breast to the pan, 2 minutes on either side.  Remove from the pan and set aside to cool for 15 minutes.  Discard juices (or if you really want, save them for another purpose).  Slice the goose breast into 1/4" slices and place in a bowl.  Combine all other ingredients in a salad bowl then toss.

Combine all ingredients for the dressing in a blender or in a high rimmed bowl and blend well with an immersion blender (about 2 full minutes of blending).  Serve salad into bowls, place atop the 4 slices of goose breast and spoon on dressing as desired.

B'Teavon!

Stuffed roasted quail stuffed, over stewed bell peppers and tomatoes and steamed zucchini with nectarines

The second meal I made in Berlin was a lunch.  It was a much anticipated meal to the point that I had been fantasizing about its main ingredient for months.  One of the principle things that attracted me to KaDeWe was its huge variety of meats available.  There, I purchased some quail from France.  I had not eaten quail since I left Montreal.  I even remember the last time I had eaten perfectly vividly, when I prepared it stuffed with steak at a dinner for my family friends Murray and Marion, a few days before I was completely packed and gone.  My nostalgia for the somewhat rare ingredient obscured my memory of its taste, such that I was disappointed when it tasted so much like chicken.  Maybe the quail in Quebec has more flavour than French quail.  With that in mind, the meal that I created was lovely and so if you can't get quail, make it with chicken and it should still be pretty good.

Because it was Easter, everything was closed in Berlin for 3 of the first 4 days we were there.  After getting some Indian Saturday night, we came across a supermarket open until midnight that would be closed for the next two days so we did some late night grocery shopping.  I must say that I'm rather spoiled with the quality of the produce in Israel and although the variety was quite good at this super market, the quality of the vegetables was quite disappointing.  I bought the best looking specimens of whatever and that largely determined the nature of the dish I made.

  
 

Ingredients:

For the quail

2 quails, feathered, cleaned and organs removed (you may save them or discard them)

2" of galangal, minced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 small red onion, small dice

1 roma tomato, cored, seeded and small dice

the juice of 1 thai lime or 1/4 lime

S+P

flour to coat

2 of olive oil

some kitchen twine for trussing

For the stew

1 tbls of olive oil

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded, ribbed and diced

3 roma tomatoes, cut into 1/8 (once along each axis)

1 shallot, sliced thinly

1/2 large zucchini sliced into thin rings

left over spices from yesterday

2 tsp of chili flakes

1 tsp of apple schnapps (if none available, use white wine)

+

1 nectarine, sliced into 16 radially

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 175C/350F.  With the exception of the flour and olive oil, combine all other ingredient and then stuff inside the quails evenly.  Truss the quail then coat with flour.  Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium.  Brown the quail on all sides then transfer to a baking dish.  Cover with tin-foil and place in the oven for 50 minutes, then remove the tin-foil and allow to roast for another ten minutes.

In a sauce pan, heat the oil over medium.  Add the shallots, after 5 minutes, add the bell peppers.  Add the spice mixture and chili flakes then sauté for another 4 minutes.  Add the apple schnapps, and scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to collect all of the carmelisation on the bottom.  Once the alcohol has evaporate, add the tomatoes and put the lid on.  Turn to medium-low and allow to sit for ten minutes.  Remove the lid and throw tin the zucchini but do not mix in the with the rest of the vegetables, return the lid and leave for another  6 minutes.

Slice the nectarine and serve! B'teavon!