A Simon Hopkinson Thanksgiving

The fall season brings a limited variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.  We have been stockpiling winter squash for some time.  Our normal supplier of Brussels sprouts, though, "forgot to harvest them."  There is fennel, apples and pears, spinach, onions, chard, and potatoes.  Local fowl is limited to turkey and chicken, and the occasional duck.  So for Thanksgiving, we returned to d'Artagnan for a pair of squab, and to Schnucks for Brussels sprouts because Julia Child say they were a Thanksgiving tradition. Our cookbook research led us again and again to Simon Hopkinson's Roast Chicken and other Stories, volumes 1 and 2, and in the end, we decided on a Simon Hopkinson Thanksgiving.

For our first course, a delicate fennel soup, which consisted of a couple of fennel bulbs, two onions, garlic, and chicken stock.  The vegetables were simmered only in butter until they were very soft, then cooked in Pernod and wine for a brief simmer, and then with chicken stock.  Thereupon the directions say to puree in a blender until you're too tired to go on.  Our blender bit the small appliance dust a few months ago, and hasn't been replaced, so we tried the stick blender until we were too tired to go on.  And then, the whole mixture is put through a fine sieve, in our case, the chinoise.

Most of the solids -- however fibrous -- stayed in the sieve, and we were left with quite a thin soup.  At the end, it is garnished with "parmesan cream" (cream in which parmesan cheese has been dissolved) and croutons.  The flavor was definitely delicate, one might say anemic.

A similar method for making celery soup uses a potato for thickener -- might be a good idea for this one too.

For the main course, grilled squab.  One begins with spatchcocked squab.  Not having a local butcher to take care of this, per Simon's instructions, R did it himself.  Start with a plump California squab.

Then cut the backbone on both sides with scissors.

Next, with a sharp knife and handy fingers, remove the breastbone, trying not to tear too much flesh.  (In the end, the supremes came off and were sauteed separately with the livers.)

Once the breastbone is out, the ribs on either side remove easily; the wings were also removed, leaving a flat bird with a boneless breast, ready for marinating.

We marinated the birds for a couple of hours in sliced garlic and marsala wine.

Then we went about preparing the other parts of the meal:  a puff paste pastry crust for Hopkinsons's fine apple pie (from the freezer section of Whole Foods); cutting up the squash.

The Brussels sprouts were parboiled, an x cut in their stems (per Julia), and then stewed in butter in the oven.  The squash, cubed, roasted in the 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes.  And the Big Green Egg was fired up, aiming for a temperature of about 450-500 degrees.  A 300 degree oven was prepared indoors.
At the last moment, the squab was removed from its marinade, and grilled outside, 2 minutes skin side down, then turned skin side up for 1 minute.  Put back on a plate, each bird was sprinkled with chopped shallots, hazelnut oil, and sherry vinegar, and placed covered with another plate in the oven for 15 minutes to continue cooking and for the topping to melt into a warm vinaigrette.  Here is the bird served: succulant, crusty on top, and very tender.

The accompaniments were the squash mixed with pomegranate seeds

and the brussels sprouts in butter.

For dessert, we decided on Hopkins's tarte aux pommes fine, "because tarte Tatin is so so overused."  The secret of this one, he says, is to prepare it at the last minute, so the tarte is very fresh.  Start with two rounds of puff paste (for 2 tarts), rolled 8 inches square, and then cut into 7.5 inch disks.  The dough is pricked and chilled.  Next slice a couple of large apples into thin slices, toss with lemon juice.  Arrange the apples on the disks of puff paste, leaving a half-inch margin around the edges, and chill again.  When about ready to eat, brush the edges with melted butter, sprinkle granulated sugar on the apples, and put into a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until the edges are puffed and the apples beginning to brown.  Top with creme chantilly, or a variation thereof - whipped cream mixed with powdered sugar blended with a piece of vanilla bean.

The only problem: no leftover tart!

But there remain two halves of grilled squab, which will be made into squab salad this evening.
Thank you, Simon, but work on that fennel soup recipe, please.

Cavolo Nero Chips

We are back in the full onslaught of fresh fruits and vegetables from our native Urbana Farmers' Market, our CSA from the Moore family farm, and when necessary, the Chicago Green City Market.  We have been rotating our purchases of leafy greens, which have been plentiful this spring and early summer:  turnip greens, beet greens, several types of kale, lettuces, and spinach.  Tonight, we faced the problem, what to do with our lacinato kale (aka cavolo nero, dinosaur kale) from Blue Moon Farms.
The answer: kale chips.
Take one bunch of lacinato kale, about 12 leaves or so.  Strip the leaves from the stems.  Preheat an oven to 250 degrees F.  Toss the leaves in 1 Tbsp olive oil and add salt and pepper.  Place the leaves in a single layer on two cookie sheets and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.
The leaves will wilt, and amazingly, become crisp.
Take out, cool on a cooling rack, and then serve as a side dish or hors d'oeuvre. Crunchy, salty, peppery, kaley.

The picture does not do justice.  These leaves have definite crunch!

Ramps!

The spring open houses have begun at Prairie Fruits Farm, with a new vendor on Saturday morning, Cow Creek Farm, who have brought their spring ramps for sale.  The first day, we bought a pound and made a ramp and cheese quiche to take as a picnic before the opera.

Start with the ramps:

Chop them up, and sauté (with the bulbs) in some butter.
Make a quiche with a pate brisé using 1-1/2 cups flour, and a 9-inch pie pan or tart pan.  Pre-bake the quiche shell and cool slightly.
Mix 2 eggs, 3/4 cup cream, 100 g. grated cheddar cheese, and the ramps.  Pour into the shell and bake at a 350 oven as long as quiches are supposed to go.  When it's done, it's puffy and slighted browned, like this.

This week, we cycled to the Farm to stock up on vegetables, including ramps, goat cheese, and goat milk gelato (vanilla and mint this week).   Here is a more mature pound of ramps.

We figured that the garlicky green flavor would complement potatoes, cream, and cheese, so we prepared a gratin, based on a recipe for ramps and spinach but omitting the spinach.  Again, we sauteed the chopped up ramp bulbs for a bit, then added the chopped leaves until they were wilted.

We sliced a pound of Yukon gold potatoes, layered about half in a one-quart gratin dish (bigger would have been better), amply salted and peppered the layer, then spread the ramps on top. On top of the ramps, 50 grams or so of grated gruyere cheese.  Another layer of potatoes, and then poured over about a cup of warmed heavy cream that had been heated in the ramp pan with two cloves of chopped garlic.  Another handful of gruyere on top of this. More salt and pepper on the ramps and the top layer, and then into the 350 oven, covered with foil, for about 45 minutes, and then without the foil until it is brown and bubbly.  Goes well with ribs cooked on a Big Green Egg.

We've fallen behind in our posting, but stay tuned for Fish and the Big Green Egg.  Here is a down payment, from chilly February:

Sweet Potato Stew

Mark Bittman of the Times offered a selection of vegan dishes to ring in the new year this Sunday.  Having a cache of sweet potatoes, we made a version of his sweet potato stew, and it was delicious.
Take two medium size sweet potatoes (about 1 pound) and cut into 1/2 inch dice.  Cut up a large onion in fine dice.  Sauté the onion in some vegetable oil in a casserole until the onion is pretty soft, then add the sweet potatoes, a large knob of chopped ginger, a couple of sliced serrano peppers (leave the seeds in and it's very hot!), and a heaping teaspoon of curry powder.  Meanwhile, cut an apple into medium dice and reserve.
After the sweet potato and onions and the other ingredients have cooked together for a bit, add some coconut milk thinned with water or stock. (We used duck stock because it was on end -- end of vegan story).  Pour in the liquid so it comes either halfway (Bittman) or almost to cover (us) the sweet potato mixture, and simmer until the sweet potatoes are cooked and soft, stirring from time to time.  Mash up half of the potatoes with a masher, and add the apple.  Warm through.
The original recipe called for a garnish of cilantro and peanuts.  We didn't have peanuts, so stirred in a heaping tablespoon of peanut butter into the sauce, and topped with chopped cilantro.
Excellent!  But no pictures.