Mostly Maine dinner and TC “fundamental” dish”: souflé

We are committed to eating locally and seasonally to the extent our budget allows. It’s simple in summer and a challenge in winter, although the winter market (coordinated by Thirty Acre Farm and Freedom Farm) have made it much easier. When i read about the Belfast Co-ops “eat local challenge” for March, i decided to make an “all Maine” meal; when i scored Sumner Farm eggs at the Portland farmer’s market on Wednesday, i decided to make a souflé (another one of the TC challenge dishes).

An impulse trip to Harbor Fish turned dinner from an all-Maine souflé to a Mostly Maine March Feast. Here we go!

Taste: Damariscotta River Oysters with Allagash Belgian-style Stout. Just fresh, ungarnished oysters served with a glass of stout. We don’t know any beers made with all-Maine ingredients, so decided to serve beer brewed locally.

Starter: Maine crab cakes with red pepper and almond coulis and mixed greens, served with Allagash Triple. The crab cakes were Maine crab, and the (attempted) mayo was made with a Sumner Farm egg, but the only other Maine element in the dish was the cheese on the salad (Ballstown 1791 from Townhouse Farm).  The mayo wasn’t great and the crab cakes sort of disintegrated (but still tasted good).  Will be trying those again.

Main Course: Cheese souflé: Kate’s Homemade Butter; grated Ballstown 1791 to coat the pan; Sumner Farm eggs; local milk; Katahdin Cheddar; a tablespoon or so of flour for thickening; 1/2 t each of salt and mustard powder for flavour…unknown provence Served with the Allagash Grand Cru but actually paired better with the Triple.

Dessert: apple crisp (probably nothing but the butter was from Maine) paired with the Winterport Winery Flying Dutchman (fortified blackberry wine). We ate during the “earth hour” voluntary blackout, a little romance at the table!

Top Chef S4E3

What differentiates fine dining from street food?  Elegant presentation?  Lush ingredients?

My taco plate:  three mini tacos – a bite or two each.  Hand made corn tortilla, grilled to give it some crispiness.  Cuban-marinated pork (garlic and sour orange), grilled and sliced.  A bit of jicama slaw.  One taco topped with cotija cheese and a chipotle sauce, one with fresh guacamole, and one with a spicy, chili-laden salsa fresca.  Lime garnish.  Rectangular plate, slightly overlapping tacos………..i guess that isn’t too “fine” but sounds tasty to me!

Lessons?  Listen to instructions (if the challenge is to make something for fine dining, don’t make street food).  Don’t play down to your audience (some of the people at the block party looked mighty disappointed).

Top Chef “fundamental dishes”: chicken piccata

During the judging of the TC challenge that inspired this madness, Chef Tom said that chicken piccata was cutlets dredged in flour, then washed in egg.  I’ve looked at dozens of recipes for chicken piccata and see no mention of an egg wash.  Chicken piccata is one of my favourite foods – and this is my favourite recipe.  No egg!

Serves two.

1 half chicken breast, butterflied and pounded thin (or make “medalions”)

salt

pepper

3 T flour, seasoned

1 T + 1 T butter, separated

1 T olive oil

3 cloves garlic, smashed

1-2 T minced shallots

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup chicken stock

2 T capers

juice of 1/2 lemon

parsley (optional), chopped

Season chicken.  Dredge in seasoned flour.

Melt 1T butter over medium heat, until it begins to brown.  Add olive oil.  When hot, add garlic to pan and cook until it begins to brown.  Remove garlic.  Add chicken to pan.  Cook 2-3 minutes on each side, depending on thickness, until browned and chicken is cooked through.  Remove from pan (can keep warm in oven - i usually let it rest on the counter).

Add shallots to pan and cook until soft.  Deglaze pan with white wine.  Add chicken stock and bring to a gentle boil.  Reduce liquid by about half.

Reduce heat; stir in capers and lemon juice.  Add chicken juices to pan, if any.   Whisk in remaining 1T butter. 

Plate chicken and serve with sauce over chicken.  Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.

I like to serve this with a rice pilaf to soak up the extra juice and with sauteed greens or steamed broccoli.

 

Top Chef “fundamental dishes”: scampi

The challenge is on!  Because this also happened to be the current test recipe i needed to prepare for Cook’s Illustrated home-testing series, i decided to tackle the scampi first.  The technique involved flavouring the oil first, quickly cooking the shrimp, then building the sauce before combining the pasta, sauce and shrimp.  The recipe (which i can’t reprint here) called for rigatoni, but it would also be great on linguini (i’m addicted to spinach linguini and love it with garlicky sauces).

 Yes – those are Maine shrimp – taking every advantage to eat them before their season ends! 

Salt-roasted Salmon

Salt-roasting was a new technique to me – i’ve seen it on tv but not in a restaurant or tried it at home before.  This was very easy and delicious – cook salmon skin side down in a hot pan (w/oil) until the skin is crispy, mound in salt, and pop in the oven for six minutes.  The fish was cooked medium-rare and had the texture of raw fish with a cooked taste.   The challange to me was removing enough salt – i don’t have a brush, so scraped it gently with a butter knife.  The remaining salt formed a tasty crust. 

Served with broccolini and couscous – quick, easy, healthy, delicious.

Top Chef S4E2

I’m still stunned – utter disbelief - that cooks of this caliber would serve food – in a competition none the less – without tasting it.  Nothing leaves my kitchen until i’ve tasted it and done my best to make it perfect.  I’m not always successful, of course……..and on that note, back to “Cooking Colicchio” tomorrow – salt-roasted salmon – yummy!

Top Chef S4E1

We were sure that deep dish pizza would quickly come in to play on series 4 of Top Chef since it was being filmed in Chicago so it was no surprise that the first Quickfire Challenge was to put ones own twist on the classic pie. If it were me, i’d top my pizza with a tangy tomato sauce, sweet italian sausage, blanched broccorabi, and fontina cheese. 

I thought the elimination challenge was brilliant – testing fundamental cooking skills in head to head competition.  Since i’ve never made at least half of the eight items on the menu, i announced my intentions to work my way down the list. Now we have a household competition underway. Stay tuned!

cheeeeese sauce

Apologies dear reader, I have been neglectful of my kitchen, my plan, and my blog. From the few meals i’ve prepared lately, i have one triumph to report:  cheese sauce.  One of my goals is to be able to cook the things i crave from restaurants, and good cheese sauce on pasta is one. 

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup cream
1 cup Gorgonzola, crumbled 
walnuts, ground (1/2 – 3/4 cup)
salt
pepper

Make a blonde roux; whisk in wine and reduce by half. Whisk in stock and when it begins to reduce, add cream.  Simmer to thicken – just a couple minutes. Stir in cheese and walnuts. Season to taste.  Excellent over mushroom ravioli or tortellini – add a chiffonade of basil or slivers of sundried tomato or roasted red pepper for colour…….

 Terra Cotta Pasta Company (several locations, including South Portland ME) makes a delicious wild mushroom and shallot ravioli that was perfect with this sauce.