Cook Like a Rock Star (29 page)

Red wine vinegar

1
Season the duck legs generously with salt. Coat a roasting pan lightly with olive oil and lay the duck legs skin side down in a single layer. Put the pan on the stove and bring to medium heat. Cook the legs until the fat slowly begins to melt. This will take 20 to 30 minutes and you don’t want to rush it—this part of the process is worth the effort! When a decent amount of fat has been rendered, about ½ inch, raise the heat and brown the legs on both sides. Once browned, remove them from the pan and reserve. Yum! Doesn’t this smell good?

2
Preheat the oven to 400°F.

3
Add the onions to the fat in the pan, season generously with salt, and stir to coat; cook over medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste to make sure they’re well seasoned and add salt if needed.

4
Return the duck legs to the pan and snuggle them in with all the onions. Add the wine, thyme bundle, and bay leaves and cover the pan with foil.

5
Put the pan in the oven and cook for about 1½ hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so to be sure the onions aren’t burning. When the duck is done it should be incredibly flavorful, tender, and almost falling off the bone.

6
In a large bowl, combine the greens with some red wine vinegar, a bit of salt, a nice drizzle of the warm duck fat from the pan, and some of the caramelized onions. To serve, place a large mound of the dressed dandelion greens on a plate, lay a duck leg on the greens, and top with a few more onions.

That’s just ducky!!!

If you have any lovely duck fat left over, you’ll want to use it to make my killer
Crispy Crunchy Duck Fat Potatoes
.

GETTING COMFY WITH CONFIT!

Confit is a classic way of preserving food, most commonly used with duck. It’s when you cook something in its own fat and then store it in the fat. Confit is SOOOOO good! It’s luscious and rustic; think of it as fancy comfort food.

To make traditional confit you cure the meat overnight with salt and shallots, cook it to render the fat, and then store it in its own fat.

To make my “cheater’s” confit, you render the duck fat low and slow—don’t rush it! You want to melt as much fat off of the duck legs as possible. Then you caramelize lots of onions in the duck fat, toss in a bunch of white wine, thyme, and bay leaves, and braise the duck with the onions and the fat. It’s hugely flavorful and a lot faster than classic confit.

Dry Rubbed Bone-In Rib Eye (Just Good Stuff)

SERVES: 4 • TIME: ABOUT 20 MINUTES ACTIVE TIME AFTER 24 HOURS IN THE RUB

Rib eye is my favorite cut of steak, especially when it’s on the bone. It’s big and fatty and luscious. And when you add a dry rub, it goes from delicious to delicious-PLUS. Enough said.

MISE EN PLACE

2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons packed light or dark brown sugar 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, ground

2 teaspoons pimentón (smoked paprika)

1 teaspoon garlic powder 2 teaspoons cumin seeds,
toasted and ground

2 22- to 24-ounce bone-in rib eye steaks

Big fat finishing oil

I like to give this steak twenty-four hours to really absorb the lovely flavors of the rub, but if you’re in a hurry, even a couple hours will do.

1
In a small bowl, combine the salt, brown sugar, red pepper, pimentón, garlic powder, and cumin. Rub the outside of each steak generously and evenly with the rub (if there’s leftover rub, save it for your next steak). Wrap each rubbed steak in plastic and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

2
Preheat a grill.

3
Remove the steaks from the fridge 20 to 30 minutes before you’re ready to cook to allow them to come to room temperature. Remove the plastic wrap.

4
Place the steaks on the grill and char them well over medium-high heat, 3 to 4 minutes per side, until they’re really nicely browned. Move the steaks to a cooler part of the grill and continue cooking for another 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium rare. Remove the steaks from the grill and let them rest somewhere warm for 8 to 10 minutes.

5
Cut the meat off the bone and slice it on the bias across the grain. Arrange the sliced steak and the bone on a serving plate and drizzle with big fat finishing oil to serve.

I wanna STEAK in that!

Big Brown Braised Short Ribs with Horseradish

SERVES: 6 TO 8 • TIME: ABOUT 3½ HOURS

Historically, short ribs have been a throwaway piece of meat. But in the restaurant business, part of the job is figuring out how to make the most of every ingredient—which means turning a cheap cut of meat into a super-special meal. However, the secret to braising is out, which means short ribs are no longer an inexpensive cut. Still, with my big brown braising technique, they are totally amazing and well worth splurging on.

Be sure to cook these LOW and SLOW—that’s the secret. Take your time getting these lovelies nice and brown, then shoot them in the oven and treat them like a stepchild. Just forget about ’em until they’re tender and crazy delicious!

MISE EN PLACE

6 to 8 bone-in short ribs

Kosher salt

Extra virgin olive oil

2 onions, coarsely chopped

2 carrots, coarsely chopped

2 celery ribs, coarsely chopped

6 to 8 cremini mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned, and coarsely chopped

3 cloves garlic, smashed

1½ cups tomato paste

¼ cup prepared horseradish

2 cups dry red wine

4 bay leaves

1 thyme bundle, tied with butcher’s twine

1 bunch of fresh chives, minced

2 tablespoons freshly grated horseradish

1
Preheat the oven to 375°F.

2
Season the ribs generously with salt. Coat a large wide pan with olive oil and bring to high heat. Add the ribs to the pan and brown very well on all sides—this is an EXTREMELY important step in the development of big brown flavors. It may take up to 20 minutes—don’t rush it!

3
While the ribs are browning, put the onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and garlic in a food processor and purée to a coarse paste; set aside.

4
When the ribs are very brown on all sides, remove them from the pan. Ditch the fat, add a bit of fresh olive oil, and add the puréed veggies to the pan. Season generously with salt and cook over medium-high heat until the veggies are very brown and a crud has formed on the bottom of the pan, 8 to 10 minutes. Scrape the crud and let it reform. Don’t rush this step.

5
Add the tomato paste and prepared horseradish and cook, stirring frequently, until it starts to brown, 1 to 2 minutes.

6
Add the wine, bring it to a boil (BTB), and stir frequently to scrape the crud from the bottom of the pan (this is the big-money flavor). Continue cooking until reduced by half, 3 to 4 minutes.

7
Return the ribs to the pan and add enough water to barely cover the meat. Toss in the bay leaves and thyme bundle, cover the pan with aluminum foil, and cook in the oven for 2½ hours. Check the ribs every 45 minutes to make sure they are still covered in liquid; if the liquid has reduced too much, add more water. Turn the ribs after about 1 hour and continue cooking.

8
Remove the foil during the last 20 minutes of cooking to let things get nice and brown and to let the sauce reduce. When the meat is done it should be very tender but not falling apart. To serve, remove the bay leaves and thyme bundle and spoon the sauce over the ribs and sprinkle with the chives and freshly grated horseradish for an extra kick.

Here’s the beef!