In the Hands of a Chef (12 page)
Read In the Hands of a Chef Online
Authors: Jody Adams
MAKES 4 APPETIZER SERVINGS
2 pounds asparagus
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
VINAIGRETTE
½ teaspoon minced shallot
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced shallots
2 ounces aged Gouda, sliced paper-thin
¼ cup chervil sprigs
1.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2.
If the asparagus are large, snap the fibrous portion off the root end of the stems, then peel the remaining stem. If the asparagus are pencil-thin, simply snap off the ends.
3.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Prepare a large bowl of ice water. Season the boiling water generously with salt, add the asparagus, and cook until bright green and tender (the time will depend on the thickness of the asparagus). Plunge the asparagus into the ice water to stop the cooking. Drain thoroughly.
4.
Toss the asparagus with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange on a sheet pan in a single layer. Roast until hot, 4 to 5 minutes.
5.
Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette: Whisk the shallot, mustard, and sherry vinegar together in a small bowl. Continue whisking while you add the olive oil in a smooth, steady stream until thoroughly incorporated. Season with salt and pepper.
6.
Remove the asparagus from the oven and toss with the vinaigrette and the 1 tablespoon shallots. Divide among four warmed plates. Arrange the cheese on and around the asparagus, sprinkle with the chervil sprigs, and serve.
H
ere are three possible additions, to be used either alone or in combination.
Slice 4 large mushrooms as thin as you can. Toss them in the vinaigrette with the asparagus.
Drizzle
1½
teaspoons truffle oil over each plate of asparagus before adding the Gouda.
After garnishing with chervil, sprinkle 1½ teaspoons edible flowers over each plate.
I particularly like chive flowers because their violet color makes a striking contrast against the green of the asparagus.
D
elicata squash, with its pumpkin-like
flavor, is an ideal candidate for fritters. Delicata rings have the added charm of resembling doughnuts. Unfortunately, their season is limited on the East Coast, and some people find peeling their nubbly skin a pain in the neck, so you may want to use butternut squash instead, more widely available and nearly as tasty.
MAKES 25 TO 30 FRITTERS AS AN APPETIZER
2 to 2½ pounds small delicata squashes or 1 butternut squash of the same weight
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 extra-large egg white, chilled
½ cup cold beer or ice water
4 cups vegetable oil for deep-frying
Kosher salt
1 lime, cut into quarters
1.
Peel the squash. If using delicatas, you may want to use a paring knife instead of a vegetable peeler; don’t worry about getting every bit of skin out of the squashes’ ridged surfaces. Slice the delicatas crosswise ¼ inch thick. Use a paring knife to remove the seeds at the center of each ring. If using a butternut squash, split the squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Cut each half crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices.
2.
Mix the flour, cornstarch, and curry powder in a medium bowl. Beat the egg white with the beer in a small bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until just mixed. If you overheat the batter, the fritter coating will be tough. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
3.
Preheat the oven to 200°F. Line a sheet pan with paper towels and put it in the oven.
4.
Heat the vegetable oil in a deep pot over medium heat to 350°F. Use a deep-fry thermometer to check the temperature. Dip a slice of squash into the batter and then carefully lower it into the hot oil. Repeat until you have 6 slices of squash in the pot. The squashes will bob to the surface of the oil. Fry, turning once, until the batter is crisp and the squash is tender, about 2 minutes per side. As the fritters finish cooking, transfer them to the towel-lined sheet pan in the oven. Continue frying the squash slices in batches until they are all cooked.
5.
Place the fritters on a warm platter, sprinkle with salt, and garnish with the lime wedges. Serve immediately.
B
raising artichokes is easy. The
most demanding aspect of the recipe is trimming them beforehand, and with baby artichokes even that step is made simple because it’s unnecessary to remove the chokes. Hot or cold, braised artichokes make a dramatic appetizer or side dish. This recipe is based on an Italian preparation I was once served by my friend and fellow restaurateur Charlie Robinson. The strong, acidic flavors of lemon and capers balance the artichokes’ natural bitterness. Serve them as a warm accompaniment to Seared Lamb Steaks with Balsamic Vinegar and Red Pepper Marinade (page 278), Roast Leg of Lamb with Mustard Crumbs (page 282), or Braised Veal Shanks with Flageolets and Preserved Lemon (page 266).
An appealing feature of braised artichokes is that the entire dish can be prepared several days in advance, only improving in flavor as the seasonings interact. Allow the artichokes to cool in the cooking liquid, then refrigerate. Any leftovers make a delicious addition to risotto or use them, along with their braising liquid, as the base of a simple sauce for pasta.
MAKES 4 APPETIZER SERVINGS
2 pounds baby artichokes (about 24) or 4 larger artichokes (about ½ pound each)
2 lemons, cut in half, for trimming the artichokes
⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped into ½-inch dice
Kosher salt to taste
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ cup dry white wine
4 anchovies, rinsed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
6 sun-dried tomato halves, sliced into very thin strips
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1.
Following the instructions on page 85, trim the artichokes, placing each one in acidulated water as you finish trimming it. If using larger artichokes, cut them into quarters.
2.
Combine the oil and onion in a large nonreactive sauté pan over medium heat and sauté the onion until translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until it releases its perfume, another minute or so; season with salt.
3.
Drain the trimmed artichokes and add them, along with the remaining ingredients, to the pan. Add enough water to just cover the artichokes, about 1 cup. Season with salt. Cover and simmer until the artichokes are tender when pierced with a knife. Check after 20 minutes; remove the bay leaves and discard. Larger artichokes may take 30 to 40 minutes. Serve the artichokes drizzled with some of the braising juices.
I
remember learning to eat artichokes as a child and thinking it was one of the strangest things I’d ever seen.
You put the leaf in your mouth and scrape the flesh off it with your teeth?!
How bizarre, and what a strange flavor! Of course, as my daughter, Roxanne, demonstrates, dipping each leaf into a bowl of lemon butter is its own reward. When I grew older and learned that it was necessary to prune the crown, snap off the tough leaf ends, and trim the stem at the base of the artichoke before you could actually think about cooking it, the trimming procedure seeming fitting in a Byzantine sort of way. You wouldn’t expect that anything you ate by scraping it across your teeth would be prepared by a simple
peeling,
would you?
Trimming artichokes involves several simple but necessary steps that appear to discard a major portion of the vegetable. Don’t worry. You’re not removing anything edible. The point of trimming an artichoke is to make it easy to reach the edible parts. Baby artichokes, about 1¼ ounces each, require less trimming than larger ones, which range from 8 ounces to well over a pound. Bigger is not necessarily better. Baby artichokes haven’t had time to outgrow their youthful tenderness, and more of the vegetable is edible. The “choke, “ the thistle-like center of the artichoke, is edible in a cooked baby artichoke; in an adult, it must be removed as part of the trimming process.
Artichokes will discolor easily during trimming, from contact with a carbon-steel knife or from prolonged exposure to air. You can remedy this by using a knife with a stainless steel blade and rubbing the cut spots with a lemon half. Cut-and-rub is a habit worth cultivating. If you’re not going to use the trimmed artichokes immediately, keep them covered with acidulated water (water containing lemon juice) until you need them. Two lemons will suffice for trimming 2 pounds of artichokes (3 to 4 medium-sized ones or 24 babies). They’ll yield enough juice for 2 quarts of acidulated water, with enough lemon left over for rubbing the cut surfaces as you trim.
Cooked artichokes can be refrigerated in oil. After several days, the oil will take on the flavor of artichokes, a nice touch for vinaigrettes. Never reach into a jar of oil with your bare fingers to remove an artichoke (or any other vegetable). Bacteria from your skin will rapidly spoil the oil.
TO TRIM LARGE ARTICHOKES
1.
Scrub 2 lemons, then cut them in half. Combine the juice of 1½ of the lemons with 2 quarts cold water in a large bowl. Add the squeezed rinds to the water. Save the remaining lemon half to use during trimming.
2.
One at a time, lay each artichoke on its side. Using a chef’s knife, make a straight cut across the “crown, “ or top of the artichoke. Don’t be shy: The top quarter of the artichoke is mostly prickly leaf ends, and you’re not sacrificing anything by whacking it off. Depending on the size of the artichoke, this can amount to an inch or two. Rub the trimmed leaves with lemon.
3.
Gently snap back the tough upper portion of each outer leaf, leaving the meaty part of the leaf still attached. Continue working around the artichoke until all the tough leaves have been snapped and the remaining leaves are pale green and tender.
4.
Trim the tough skin around the base of the artichoke. Pare the skin off the stem and trim the tip (leave most of the stem intact). Rub the entire artichoke with the lemon.
5.
If the recipe calls for artichoke quarters, cut each artichoke lengthwise into quarters and remove the choke. Rub the quarters all over with the lemon.
6.
As you finish each artichoke, place it in the bowl of lemon water. Trimmed artichokes can be stored, refrigerated, in acidulated water, for 24 hours.
TO TRIM BABY ARTICHOKES
1.
Prepare a bowl of acidulated water with 2 lemons as directed above.
2.
One at a time, trim ½ inch off the crown of each artichoke and snap off any tough or scarred outer leaves, until only pale green leaves remain. Trim away the tip of the stem and peel the stem itself. As you finish each artichoke, rub the cut spots with the lemon half to prevent the flesh from turning brown or cover with acidulated water until ready to use. The choke of a baby artichoke is edible after cooking, so you don’t need to remove it.
