Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (143 page)

FORMING AND BAKING THE PÂTÉ WITHOUT A MOLD

Although the hinged mold is easier to manage, baking a bottom case of dough to act as a mold works very nicely and is not difficult to do. The dough is formed on an upside-down casserole or bread pan, upon which it is baked, just as
upside-down pastry shells
are formed and baked. The
baked case is then lined with fat, filled with the
pâté,
draped with a close-fitting sheet of dough, decorated, and baked as usual.

1)
The bottom case of dough

The
pâté à croustades à l’envers
, Formula 7
, for 20 ounces of flour

A 6-cup mold, such as an oval casserole or bread pan, greased on the outside with lard or shortening

Roll ⅔ of the dough into a circle 2 inches more in diameter than the length of your mold, and 1½ inches thick.
Form a pouch exactly
as thick and exactly as illustrated for the spring-form mold. Press lightly onto mold and trim off excess dough with a knife or pastry wheel. Cover and chill 2 hours or overnight (to relax dough and prevent shrinkage during baking). Set as is, mold still upside down, on a baking sheet in a preheated 425-degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until pastry is starting to color. Turn thermostat down to 350 degrees and bake 10 minutes more, or until pastry just loosens from mold but is not cooked through: it holds its shape but is not browned. Cool 15 minutes on mold, then unmold carefully onto a rack and cool 30 minutes until pastry is firm and set.

2)
Filling the case

Lard or shortening

A baking sheet

Pâté
ingredients listed in preceding recipe, including sheets of pork fat and paper pattern

Grease just the area where pastry case will sit on baking sheet, and set case on sheet. Following directions in preceding recipe, cut pork fat to fit bottom, sides, and top of
pâté,
line the case with the pork fat, and fill with
pâté
mixture, topping with a sheet of pork fat.

3)
The cover, and finishing the pâté

Chilled leftover dough and remaining dough

Egg glaze, pastry brush, pastry cutouts, chimneys, as described in preceding recipe

To discourage a gap from developing between top of meat and crust after baking, roll out a preliminary cover of dough ¼ inch thick, to fit top of pork fat. Set in place on
pâté.
Then roll remaining dough into a sheet ¼ to ⅜ inch thick and large enough to cover top of pastry case and to fall ⅔ the way down the case all around. Paint sides of case with egg glaze and arrange covering sheet of dough over
pâté.
Trim edges all around with scissors, then press dough in place against sides of case. Decorate with cutouts, insert chimneys, glaze, bake, cool, chill, and fill with aspic as described and illustrated in preceding recipe.

CHAPTER SIX
A Choice of Vegetables

W
HEN YOU BUY VEGETABLES FRESH
and cook them lovingly, you may find yourself more renowned for your remarkable zucchini stuffed with almonds than for your spectacular
crêpes Suzette.
And why not, when flaming desserts are becoming status symbols and hand-whittled fresh vegetables more and more of a rarity? Recipes for vegetables consume over 100 pages in Volume I, and describe some of the ways to prepare rice and potatoes as well as almost everything to do with artichokes, asparagus, green beans, and spinach, plus how to braise endive, how to turn a mushroom, and where to peel the chestnut. There are gaps, however, and while the present chapter will fill some of them we are more interested in giving you fresh ideas for old favorites than in completing the vegetable roster. Although we have included a number of classics, like
pommes Anna,
most of the recipes here are new ones that you will not have seen before—the
sautéed broccoli
, for instance, the unusual
purées starting with
gratin de potiron d’Arpajon
, the
spinach with onions
. While some dishes are as elaborate as the
stuffed artichoke bottoms
, others are as fast and simple as the
grated zucchini
. Seldom-honored notables like rutabagas, chard, and pumpkin receive attention, and stuffed whole cabbage gets a revolutionary, new, and fully illustrated treatment. Here, then, are more recipes for fresh vegetables, beginning with broccoli and ending with a splendid dish of cold artichokes.

BROCCOLI

Choux Brocoli–Choux Aspèrges

Although green sprouting broccoli, asparagus broccoli, Italian broccoli,
Brassica oleracea var. italica,
or whatever you wish to call just plain green broccoli has been around for centuries, it was not widely known in this country until the early 1920's. It is now so popular that an average of one pound a year is consumed by every man, woman, and child in America; over sixty thousand tons of fresh broccoli are sold in retail markets; and heaven knows how much goes into frozen TV dinners. Despite its renown here it continues to remain almost unknown in France (where it is spelled with only one “c”); that is their loss, because fresh broccoli, properly prepared, is certainly one of our most attractive vegetables, both visually and gastronomically. With its delicate cabbage flavor, it is more tender in taste and texture than cauliflower as well as being far more colorful. It goes beautifully with such subtleties as fish in fine white sauces, chicken breasts, brains, and sweetbreads; in fact, anything that spinach does to dress up a dish, broccoli does equally well, sometimes better. Thus, whether or not it ever becomes a French vegetable, we shall give broccoli the full treatment
à la française.

BUYING BROCCOLI

Broccoli is in season all year round; although its low months are July and August, its high season is winter, when we are most in need of fresh green vegetables. California is by far the largest producer, but considerable amounts come from other Western states as well as from New York, New Jersey, and Virginia.

When buying broccoli, choose clean, firm, smooth, fresh-smelling dark green or purplish-green bunches with fresh-looking, closely bunched, all-green bud clusters. Over-mature broccoli will have thick, woody stems that are often hollow; the buds will be partially open, yellowish, and have a rather strong odor. Broccoli is perishable, and will become limp and bruised-looking and develop an unpleasant stale-cabbage smell if not properly handled. In markets it should be kept in humidified refrigerator cases and/or frequently iced. Bring it home from the market as soon as possible, refrigerate in a plastic bag immediately, and plan to cook it within 2 to 3 days.

The usual bunch of broccoli, containing several stalks tied together, weighs between 1½ and 2 pounds and will serve 4 to 6 people.

PREPARING BROCCOLI FOR COOKING

When we speak of the delights of fresh broccoli properly prepared, we are talking about peeling the stems and stalks before cooking the broccoli. If
you have subsisted on unpeeled broccoli, you will find that peeled broccoli is an entirely different vegetable which cooks in 5 to 6 minutes, remains fresh and green, and is tender from stalk to tip. In fact we have the same feeling about unpeeled broccoli that we do about unpeeled asparagus—neither is a gastronomical object.

To prepare broccoli for cooking, you may quarter the whole stalks lengthwise from butt to head, and peel each stem of each piece. We, however, prefer smaller pieces for easier handling and more even cooking. We suggest that you begin by discarding the tough leaves, retaining only such small ones that seem as tender as the buds. Then cut off the top 2½ to 3 inches of each head, usually at the point where the branches separate themselves from the central stalk. Halve or quarter the branches lengthwise, depending on their size, to make them all no more than ½ inch in diameter at the base. Using a small knife and starting at the bottom of each branch, peel off the skin in strips, coming almost up to the flower buds. Cut off and discard the tough half inch at the butt of each central stalk and strip off the skin, cutting deeply enough when necessary to expose the tender whitish flesh. (Slightly off-season broccoli that has fresh, tight bud clusters may have very thick central stalks with hollow cores; quartering lengthwise and deep peeling, however, will make the stalks tender and edible.) Cut stalks lengthwise into pieces ½ inch in diameter, and then into bias (diagonal) pieces about 1½ inches long.