Chris Kimball's Sweet and Sour Apple and Fennel Coleslaw

This past Saturday in Washington, DC was rainy and reportedly a record cold day, but that didn't stop me from getting up early and eager to hit the farmers' market after a four week hiatus. Having recently "eaten down the fridge," I had every excuse to replenish my stocks and as unseasonably cold as it was, the slow cooker would be part of the plan. I made a small list and looked up some recipes and found one that I'd made more than a year ago (Carolina pulled pork barbecue) and one that had been on my mind for over a year (three sisters stew).

The three sisters stew (corn, squash, and beans) is something that I will blog about more extensively after preparing the dish, but suffice it to say that I was very glad that so late in the season I was still able to get corn and zucchini. The pork shoulder for Carolina barbecue had to come from my favorite meat purveyor at the market who has actually spoiled me as far as pork products are concerned. Farm raised and succulent, I imagine his pork products taste the storied way pork used to taste before the pork industry decided to lean pork out and market it as "the other white meat." I know that I'll be building my pork and bacon reserves over the next four weeks because once the market finishes for the year the weekend before Thanksgiving, I won't be buying any pork again until the spring. Sniff!

Having spent the long Columbus Day weekend in Asheville, NC and enjoying some really good Carolina and Texas barbecue at Ed Boudroux's, a place in the heart of Asheville recommended by a friend, I was happy to come home and try my hand once more at a very simple slow cooker preparation. This provided an excuse to make my signature hamburger buns and my favorite coleslaw recipe using apples and fennel. Chris Kimball's coleslaw recipe always gets rave reviews because it has some ingredients that people aren't expecting like apples. He has another Asian coleslaw recipe that I also like to make that has a spicy peanut flavored dressing.

Kimball caused a bit of a stink in the food blogosphere recently regarding his take on the demise of Gourmet, which was published in the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times. Personally I've never had a problem with the man, having enjoyed his appearances on morning television and NPR on various occasions, and America's Test Kitchen is an old school PBS stalwart of a cooking show that's all about the technique and not about the glam. But he really dissed the current state of food writing and concluded his piece with a decidedly elitist tone and even had the nerve to presume the views of the deceased Mme. Child after name dropping that he was a neighbor and frequent guest at her home. Since I'm not in the big leagues with my personal little blog space, I can's say that I took offense, but others certainly did and Amateur Gourmet as well as Serious Eats had pretty good rejoinders old guard vs. the new.

Kimball's opinions on the publishing world vs. the blogosphere notwithstanding, his coleslaw recipe is pretty simple and never fails to impress. The technique of using salt to draw out the moisture and wilt the cabbage is one I first saw in Japan in a cooking class I took there. Having made this slaw so many times over the years, I have adapted certain parts of the recipe to make it my own, the most significant being the use of dill instead of tarragon, and the addition of bell pepper, carrots, and radishes, which just makes the slaw more flavorful and visually appealing.

Coleslaw with Apple, Fennel, and Dill
Adapted from Chris Kimball's Sweet and Sour Slaw with Apple and Fennel as demonstrated on Martha Stewart's old TV show

Makes about 10 cups

• 1 pound (about half a medium head) green cabbage, finely shredded [savoy or Chinese cabbage works nicely because they hold the dressing nicely]
• 1 medium head fennel, thinly sliced (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 2 large carrots peeled and thinly sliced in rounds
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped [I used a whole onion]
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons rice-wine vinegar [I used apple cider vinegar]
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1 teaspoon celery seed [my addition]
• 1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch pieces [any firm apple will do and I don't necessarily bother peeling]
• 1 sweet bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow) cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 6 radishes thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh tarragon leaves [replaced by 1/3 cup chopped dill]
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Toss cabbage, with salt in a colander or large mesh strainer set over a medium bowl. [Chris just has you wilt the cabbage with the salt, but I like to also wilt the fennel and carrot at the same time] Let stand until cabbage wilts, 1 to 4 hours. Rinse under cold running water (or in large bowl of ice water if serving slaw immediately). Press, but do not squeeze, to drain; pat dry with paper towels. (Can be stored in a resealable plastic bag and refrigerated overnight.)
2. Stir together honey, vinegar, oil, mustard, and celery seed in a medium bowl and set dressing aside.
3. Toss the cabbage, fennel, carrot, apple, pepper, radishes, and tarragon [I prefer dill] with the dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper. [You probably won't need much salt.] Cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Molly Stevens' Coq au Vin

Today was a snow day up and down most of the east coast--though the DC school's chancellor is loathe to ever call a snow day--so thoughts turned to comfort food. A half finished bottle of cabernet sauvignon meant some sort of wine braised preparation and I knew it would involve my Dutch oven and turning on the oven. I was leaning towards hunter style chicken (either the Italian cacciatore or the French chasseur), chicken stemperata, or coq au vin. Having made and enjoyed boeuf bourguignon a couple of weeks ago, Brian was eager to try chicken cooked in wine, though I was leaning towards Mario Batali's chicken stemperata, which is a delicious chicken braised in wine with all kinds of vegetables and olives that I blogged about last year.

The preparation for the French dishes boeuf Bourguignon and coq au vin couldn't have been more similar, even though for the beef I followed Julia's and Jacques' recipe from Cooking at Home and for the chicken I used a recipe from Molly Stevens' All About Braising. Once again I looked up Julia's recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking and chose to go with Ms. Stevens because the preparation was not only simpler, but also quite similar to Julia's revised Bourguignon technique in J & J Cooking at Home. I barely changed anything except that I cooked the mushrooms and onions together rather than separately in the same way as I did for the Bourguignon. I also did not place the aromatics and herbs into the cheesecloth as J & J describe in Cooking at Home, but in the future that will be my method going forward. Having the bits of chopped onion and carrot in the final sauce was tasty but I liked the smoothness of the Bourguignon sauce vs. the coq au vin sauce. This dish was delicious when first prepared for dinner, but was of course even better the next day for lunch, proving once again that making a braised dish is the perfect justification for serving leftovers to company!

Just a quick word about the "coq" in coq au vin. In France, the dish may be prepared using a rooster (coq = cock) or a stewing hen. American supermarkets are not likely to have either for sale. The stewing hen makes the most sense to me really in that a braise is really a slow cooked dish using a tough cut of meat. As the meat cooks collagen and connective tissue are incorporated into the sauce thickening it naturally with the gelatin that forms. Stewing hens if you find one are most useful for making stock, and as I've never cooked one, I'd just take the easy route and use a roaster, and not the stewing hen, especially if you plan to make and serve the dish in the same evening. The dish will finish quickly and the meat won't be tough. On the other hand if you feel like making the dish in a slow cooker with a stewing hen, let me know how it turns out!

Coq au Vin
Adapted from Molly Stevens' All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking
Serves 4 to 6

4 ounces slab bacon, rind removed and cut into 1/2 inch dice [I used 5 slices of unsmoked bacon]
1 4 to 5 pound chicken cut into 8 pieces, wing tips, back, neck, and giblets (except the liver) reserved [I quartered my chicken and separated the wings from the breast. I did not reserve the other chicken pieces for cooking in the stew as directed. I always reserve those pieces in my freezer for making chicken stock at a later time, which on this day I was making during the day in my slow cooker]
salt and pepper [I used fennel spice rub]
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tablespoon paste
1 bottle of dry, fruity red wine
2 garlic cloves smashed
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
1 cup chicken stock

10 ounces pearl onions, about 15-25, fresh or frozen and thawed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter and/or olive oil
3/4 pound cremini mushrooms [I used 10 ounces of assorted portobello, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms]
course salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons brandy

1 tablespoon butter at room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

1. Prepare the bacon and chicken: In a 6 to 8 quart Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat and then add the bacon, stirring occasionally until the fat is rendered and the bacon pieces have become crisp, about 5 to 7 minutes. While the bacon is cooking, salt and pepper the chicken all over and then dredge in the flour, shaking off the excess. Remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and set aside. Add half the chicken in a single, uncrowded layer skin side down and let brown well on the first side without moving it, about 5 minutes. Check to see that a nice crust has formed, and then turn the pieces over to brown the other side, about another 4 minutes or so. Remove the browned chicken to a platter and repeat with the second batch.
   
2. Prepare the aromatic veggies for the braise: Lower your oven rack to the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Pour off all but two tablespoons of the accumulated fat in the pan and return the pan to medium high heat. Add the onion, carrot, and the garlic cloves and cook until soft and slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook with the vegetables for a minute or two. Deglaze the pan with one third of the bottle of wine, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the rest of the wine and bring to a boil. Add the thyme and bay leaf. [I'm lazy and just tied together 6 thyme sprigs and added to the wine and vegetable mixture. The thyme leaves will come off into the liquid.] Reduce for about 15 minutes to about a cup and a half of liquid. [I confess I started with half a bottle of wine and just skipped the wine reduction to no negative consequences.] Add the cup of stock and bring to a boil. Ladle out about 3/4 cup of the braising liquid and reserve for cooking the mushrooms.
   
3. The braise: Add the bacon and chicken back to the pot, including any accumulated juices on the platter, with the legs and thighs on the bottom and breast on top. The liquid should only come up about half way or so to the level of the chicken but that's OK because braising is about the simmering and the steam that is trapped in the Dutch oven to cook the meat. Cover the meat with a piece of parchment paper larger than the diameter of the pot. Push down on the paper so that it is just above the top of the chicken and cover the pot with its lid (the edges of the paper will overhang the pot). Place this pot into the oven and bask in the aromas of this dish as it simmers away. After 15 minutes, check the pot to make sure that it's not boiling too rapidly. Adjust the oven temperature down or up to maintain a simmer. After another 30 minutes, check the chicken again and stir everything around so that the pieces on top are immersed in the liquid and the pieces immersed are now on top. The total braise should take about 60 and 75 minutes.
   
4. The mushrooms and onions: While the chicken is braising in the oven, prepare the mushrooms and onions. Heat the butter and/or oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms, stirring to coat with the oil and butter. Let cook for 5 minutes undisturbed. Check a mushroom to see if it's browning nicely, and if so stir the mushrooms around and let them cook for 4 more minutes. Meanwhile, if using fresh pearl onions (as I had to), bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Blanch the onions in boiling water for 1 minute and remove to a bowl of ice water. Trim off the ugly part of the onion root, keeping the onion layers in tact as best as you can. Squeeze on the onion skin to pop out the onion pearl. You'll probably have to sacrifice a layer of onion, but it's not worth the frustration to try and peel just the outer layer. Trim the other end if necesary. Set the onions aside on paper towels to dry as you finish the mushrooms. Stir in the pearl onions and season the combination with salt and peppers. Let the onions caramelize and cook with the mushrooms for 8 more minutes, stirring once or twice so that the onions brown evenly. Deglaze the pan with the reserved braising liquid, scraping up all the browned bits and bringing to gentle boil. Stir in the brandy and ignite if you're feeling dramatic, otherwise just cover and reduce to a simmer for 5 more minutes. (Note: NEVER pour the brandy directly from the bottle, especially if cooking over gas as the alcohol could ignite and cause an explosion. Best to pour off the measured amount and add just the amount needed.) Remove the lid, raise the heat and reduce the liquid to a quarter cup or so. Put the mushrooms and onions aside until ready to finish the dish.
5. The finish: Remove the coq au vin from the oven and place the chicken pieces on a plate. When cooled slightly, strain the sauce and vegetables into a fat separator, reserving the vegetables. Or alternatively, strain the vegetables and braising liquid into a bowl using a sieve and skim off some of the fat using a wide flat spoon. Return the de-fatted liquid to the Dutch oven and bring to a boil. You should have about two cups or so. Combine the softened butter with the flour and stir to combine into a beurre manie, making sure there are no flour lumps. Whisk the beurre manie into the liquid and boil for a few minutes, thickening the sauce. Add the chicken, reserved vegetables, mushrooms and onions back to the pot to reheat everything. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings with additional salt and pepper if necessary. Serve the chicken with the onions and mushrooms on your favorite platter, garnished with parsley and pass the sauce on the side.
   

This dish is perfect with a simple starch side like mashed or boiled potatoes. Haricots verts would complete the picture perfect French bistro dinner! Voila!

Valentine's Day Dinner: Boeuf Bourguignon

Last Valentine's Day was memorable to me because my partner cooked for me, which was a pleasant surprise and a lesson for me in letting go of my control freak kitchen tyrant. This year was a different story as we were entertaining my partner's father and his girlfriend over Valentine's Day which happened to be the Saturday of the long Presidents' Day holiday weekend in 2009. Granted spending Valentine's Day with one's parents is not my idea of a romantic evening, but truth be told I place too much emphasis on this day of forced romance. And as I love to cook and entertain family and friends, the day worked out fine as far as I'm concerned. Brian and I still snuck in some romance, believe me! And I got to use up some of the many bottles of wine we got for Christmas this year!

Braising is to winter what grilling is to summer: the best way to prepare meats when you want to capture the essential flavors of the season. As with any cooking technique and the right cookbook (Molly Stevens All About Braising is my bible), you can explore the world and really improve your culinary repertoire. Having made the beef Burgundy (the English name is so much easier to type than the French one) for Valentine's Day this year, I'm contemplating what to make next, perhaps braised ribs or sauerbraten. In fact, I just heard from my beef purveyor, Blue Mountain Beef, and I'll be getting another beef sirloin tip roast and anticipate making ropa vieja or daube de boeuf next.

Three things inspire me to cook: 1) watching cooking shows, especially those on The Food (-porn) Network, 2) learning to appreciate other countries through food culture, and 3) exploring cooking techniques that include the possibility of buying new equipment, such as a grill (gas or charcoal?), an ice cream maker, a Dutch oven (which Le Creuset refers to as a French oven not suprisingly!) etc. My partner bought me my first Le Creuset piece for Christmas years ago, and it is a true work horse in my kitchen helping me to turn out everything from gumbo to fried chicken (better than cast iron), to sauteed collard greens. But this heavy pot really turns out the best oven braised dishes, with its tight fitting lid and enameled cast iron. In fact to avoid scorching my simmering marinara on the stovetop, I've taken to simmering it using the Dutch oven in a 325 degree oven. I use this beloved piece of equipment so frequently that I don't even question how expensive it was ($140 6 or 7 years ago) and in fact owning this piece of cookware has certainly inspired me to explore recipes like pork loin braised in milk, real baked beans, and coq au vin. I even kept a Christmas gift I'd bought for my brother (Two Dudes, One Pan) because leafing through it I found the section on the Dutch oven and wanted to try the recipes myself, especially the braised lamb shanks! (Don't worry though. I did get him a gift that he seemed to love, the Watchmen graphic novel.)

The last time I made beef burgundy, I'm sure I made it in my slow cooker, which is another piece of invaluable kitchen equipment that I'll rhapsodize on someday. I followed the recipe in The Gourment Slow Cooker and consulted Julia Child and Jacques Pepin's version for notes. The dish turned out fine, but I think I may have been at a point of my culinary progression where I didn't fully appreciate the utility of the Dutch oven vs. the slow cooker. I mean it's just easier to make things in the slow cooker compared to the oven, but lately I'm starting to think that my slow cooker only cooks on high and I very much did not want to boil the meat but gently simmer it. Molly Stevens, my braising guru, doesn't even own a slow cooker and doesn't recommend making any of her recipes using one. (The cooking elites eschew convenience which is why you'll never see Ina Garten melt chocolate in a microwave let alone make a dish in a slow cooker! That's what Sandra Lee and Paula Deen are for!)

I was familiar with Julia's and Jacques' beef Burgundy recipe from Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home and recalled that the doyenne had written a recipe sidebar that recommended making the dish over the course of a few days so that it won't seem like so much work. "Simmer the stew the next day while you are eating dinner or playing tennis..." LOL!! However, anyone who's ever made chili knows that it tastes better the next day so I did want to at least cook the meat a day ahead. Plus, the less one has to do on the day the dish is served the more time spent with guests and the less stress all around. We should all strive to be happy in the kitchen, rather than striving to serve the perfect dish.

I also liked how the mushrooms and pearl onions are cooked separately from the meat. Because I knew we'd be out sightseeing all afternoon on Valentine's Day, I was pleased that I was able to saute the onions and mushrooms (as well as make profiteroles for dessert) in the morning and just add them to the pot and put the whole shebang in the fridge to steep and meld all day. Brilliant!

Finally, I'm somewhat surprised at how many foodies are blogging about Julia's boeuf Bourguignon from 1961's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, as if a recipe from 1961 needs no enhancement. I'm sure Julia herself did not always make the dish the same way if she's like anyone else in the kitchen who's always tweaking recipes. I had to search high and low for someone who's following the more contemporary incarnation of this classic recipe found in Julia's and Jacques' collaboration, which is a pretty simple beef braise unlike Ina Garten's update on the classic found in her first cookbook using beef tenderloin (gasp!). I did find one blogger who's way more enthusiastic about the 1999 recipe than the 1961 version (and took great pictures), and he agreed with me after having made the 1961 recipe just once that the extra steps involved do not make the extra effort worthwhile.

I also cut out the step of boiling the salt pork because I started with plain old unsmoked bacon to prepare the lardons. I also used way less than a bottle of wine--perhaps a cup and a half at most--because from reading Molly Stevens and from following the steps in cooking my first ever braised dish the liquid should only come up 1/3 to half as high as the level of the meat so as to cook the meat partly by a gentle a simmer and partly by steam. Next time I might take an additional optional step to reduce a bottle of wine down to a cup and a half or so, but I just used an unfinished bottle of cabernet sauvignon, not the recommended Pinot Noir, but definitely a full-bodied red! I would estimate I added only about three cups of liquid to my Dutch oven, including the liquid from the canned tomatoes.

To keep the steam level no higher than the top of the meat, use a piece of parchment larger in diameter than the Dutch oven (or possibly foil but I wouldn't choose foil because the acid in the sauce can react with the aluminum and leech into your dish) to create a barrier that will collect condensation and drip back onto the meat, basting it as it cooks. Using this technique you'll want to turn the meat so that the parts in the liquid are exchanged with the parts outside the liquid every 45 minutes or so.

One last thing: the cut of meat is obviously very important in this preparation. Though chuck is recommended for its fattiness, connective tissue, and price, I used a beef sirloin tip roast which was recommended by my butcher and I was beyond pleased with the result. Because beef sirloin tip is not fatty and does not have a lot of visible connective tissue, I was quite concerned that my dish would be tough and dried out. Google led me to this chowhound thread that had some good cautionary advice and success stories as well as confirmation that slow cookers may not be the best choice for a braise like this.

As this is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day, I would recommend cooking it in stages, starting the evening before you intend to serve this dish, if not sooner. Without further ado, here is my take on this delicious recipe:

Boeuf Bourguignon
Adapted from Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home
Serves 4 to 6

2 tablespoons olive oil
5 or 6 slices of thick cut bacon (5 ounces), cut into half inch pieces [they recommend salt pork for the lardons which requires a ten minute boil to reduce its saltiness before cutting and sauteeing; see Belm Blog for reference]
One 3 to 4 pound beef sirloin tip or chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat and cut into two inch cubes, approximately 2-3 pieces per person [I used a fairly lean beef sirloin tip roast so I left most of its fat in place and used those pieces to nibble at various stages; packaged stewing meat is NOT recommended]
salt and pepper

1 large onion diced
2 large carrots, cut into 1/4 inch circles [they recommend peeling and dicing but there's no point to that because these veggies and herbs are all discarded]
6 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
3 bay leaves
A handful of parsley stems and leaves
10-12 garlic cloves lightly crushed with skins left on

1 large tomato, cored and chopped [I used a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes]
1 1/2 cups sturdy red wine, pinot noir or chianti recommended [I used cabernet sauvignon]
1 to 2 cups dark stock [I used super dark homemade chicken stock, but beef stock makes the most sense]

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
8 to 12 ounces cremini, button, or shiitake mushrooms (or any combination), halved quartered or whole (uniform size); or all mushrooms sliced thick
20 to 40 pearl onions, thawed and drained if using frozen, otherwise you'll have to blanch and peel fresh ones (step 5 below)
1 teaspoon of sugar [optional IMHO and I did not use]
salt and pepper
3/4 cup braising liquid, stock, or water
1/4 cup brandy [not in J & J's recipe]

2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup red wine [optional IMHO, but frankly I forgot this ingredient]
1/4 cup chopped parsley

1. Optional first step: While browning the bacon and prepping the meat, reduce your wine to 1 1/2 cups in a small saucepan placed over medium high heat. This step is not at all necessary but if you planned to use a full bottle of wine--which I think is twice the volume needed-- you could instead reduce a bottle of wine on the stovetop as you're cooking the bacon and meat. There's nothing wrong with heating the wine in any case because it will come to the boil more quickly when added to the braising pot. To kick it up a notch you could throw in some bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme sprigs, parsley etc., but that really is guilding the lily! (Strain out and discard the herbs before using the wine though!)
   


2. Prepare the meat: In a 6 to 8 quart Dutch oven heat the olive oil over medium high heat and then add the bacon, stirring occasionally until the fat is rendered and the bacon pieces have become crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and set aside. Pour off all but two tablespoons of the accumulated fat in the pan and return the pan to medium high heat. Salt and pepper the cubed meat all over and add half the meat or so in a single, uncrowded layer and let the meat brown well on the first side without moving it, about 5 minutes. Check to see that a nice crust has formed, and then turn the pieces over to brown the other side, about another 4 minutes or so. Remove the browned meat to a platter and repeat with the second batch of meat.
   


3. Prepare the veggies to add to the braise: Lower your oven rack to the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. While the meat is browning, in a large square of cheesecloth, pile the chopped onions and carrots, the smashed garlic cloves, the bay leaves, and the parsley and thyme sprigs. Tie this off by tying the diagonally opposite corners together. I had to unfold my cheese cloth to make a big enough square and as there were gaps in the bundle, I flipped it over onto another piece of cheesecloth the same size and tied it again to ensure no spillage of the veggies. It's important to tie tightly as these veggies will shrink as they cook.


4. The braise: When the second batch of meat is done browning, pour in half of the wine to deglaze the pan. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the rest of the wine and the chopped tomato. (If using canned tomatoes add the tomato liquid as well.) Add the bacon and first batch of beef back to the pot, including any accumulated juices on the platter. Move the meat to one side of the pot and add the vegetable bundle to the pot. Add just enough stock to bring the level of the liquid no higher than halfway up the level of the meat and bring to a simmer. Cover the meat with a piece of parchment paper larger than the diameter of the pot. Push down on the paper so that it touches the top of the meat and cover the pot with its lid (the edges of the paper will overhang the pot). Place this pot into the oven and bask in the aromas of this dish as it simmers away. After 15 minutes, check the pot to make sure that it's not boiling too rapidly, which will toughen the meat. Adjust the oven temperature down or up to maintain a simmer. After another 30 minutes, check the meat again and stir it around so that the pieces on top are immersed in the liquid and the pieces immersed are now on top. The total braise should take between 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Check the meat at an hour and a half to see if it is tender by gently squeezing with your tongs. If you meet resistance, continue cooking another 30 minutes, but if it feels soft, your dish is done. Remove the pot from the oven and let cool to room temperature in its liquid, about two hours. Discard the parchment paper and place the pot into the refrigerator overnight. Check the meat the next day. It will likely have tenderized as it cooled in the liquid. Recall that through the process of osmosis, if the meat is dry, it will absorb liquid--and flavor--as it moistens in the liquid. This is yet another reason to make the dish a day in advance. Theoretically, you could start and finish this dish 3 hours ahead of serving it, but you'd miss out on letting the meat cool and steep in its cooking liquid. Grilled meats certainly benefit by marinating before cooking, and braised meats benefit by marinating after cooking!
   


5. The mushrooms and onions: This step can be performed whenever you feel like it: a day before you do anything else, while the meat is braising in the oven, the next morning (worked best for me), or about half an hour before serving the dish. If using fresh pearl onions (as I had to), bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Blanch the onions in boiling water for 1 minute and remove to a bowl of ice water. Trim off the ugly part of the onion root, keeping the onion layers in tact as best as you can. Squeeze on the onion skin to pop out the onion pearl. You'll probably have to sacrifice a layer of onion, but it's not worth the frustration to try and peel just the outer layer. Trim the other end if necesary. Set the onions aside on paper towels to dry while you prepare the mushrooms. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add the butter and when the foam subsides add the mushrooms, stirring to coat with the oil and butter. Let cook for 5 minutes undisturbed. Check a mushroom to see if it's browning nicely, and if so stir the mushrooms around and let them cook for 3 more minutes. Stir in the pearl onions and season the combination with salt and pepper (and the sugar if using). Let the onions caramelize and cook with the mushrooms for 8 more minutes, stirring once or twice so that the onions brown evenly. Deglaze the pan with the braising liquid, stock, or water, scraping up all the browned bits and bringing to gentle boil. Stir in the brandy and ignite if you're feeling dramatic, otherwise just cover and reduce to a simmer for 5 more minutes. (Note: NEVER pour the brandy directly from the bottle, especially if cooking over gas as the alcohol could ignite and cause an explosion. Best to pour off the measured amount and add just the amount needed.) Remove the lid, raise the heat and reduce the liquid to a quarter cup or so. Put the mushrooms and onions aside or in the refrigerator until ready to finish the dish.


6. The finish: Remove and discard the bundle of veggies from the braising pot, squeezing out as much liquid as possible. Remove the chunks of meat to a dish and bring the leftover liquid to a boil. You should have about two cups or so. Combine the softened butter with the flour and stir to combine into a beurre manie, making sure there are no flour lumps. Whisk the beurre manie into the liquid and boil for a few minutes, thickening the sauce. Add the meat, mushrooms and onions back to the pot to reheat everything. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings with additional salt and pepper if necessary. Because beef Burgundy is a wine-based dish, you may want to splash a quarter cup or so of red wine into the dish right before serving to re-emphasize the wine flavor component. Use whatever wine you'll be having with dinner. Serve the meat with the onions and mushrooms on your favorite platter, garnished with parsley and pass the sauce on the side.
   

This dish is perfect with a simple starch side like mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, or buttered noodles. Haricots verts would complete the picture perfect French bistro dinner! Voila!

Profiteroles with Blood Orange Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

In the winter my dessert focus switches to citrus, chocolate, or nut based desserts from stone fruits and berries of the summer and apples and pumpkins in the fall. It's so great that certain fruits like citrus and kumquats are in season in the winter. And this dessert that I served following a dinner of Molly Stevens' version of Marcella Hazan's rendition of pork loin braised in milk was quite impressive if I do say so myself.

Profiteroles, like crepes and shortcakes, are something that it's just worth it to take the time to make every now and again so that you can freeze some of them for a quick, but impressive dessert for some future occasion--like say when your partner invites a gym buddy over for an impromptu dinner. The profiterole recipe I use is from three different Food Network sources: Emeril, Ina, and the defunct Cookworks plus Julia Child's and Jacques Pepin's Cooking at Home. They vary in the amount of butter, whether milk or water is used as the liquid of choice, and whether to mix the eggs in by hand, using the stand mixer, or in the food processor. It's always nice to have choices. I chose to use skim milk--which is just watery milk anyway--and the whole stick of butter, since we're talking dessert!

The blood orange ice cream is my adaptation of Joanne Weir's from Weir Cooking: Recipes from the Wine Country. I remember watching this PBS series back in the late 1990s and learning to appreciate how Weir used California ingredients to construct a uniquely Mediterranean culinary style. I like to make her ice cream recipe as a seasonal homage to blood oranges, which have become so ubiquitous in the winter. In the winter, I always buy a few every week to add to salads or to make mimosas. Weir's recipe calls for tangerines, which I suppose are abundant in California, but I can't remember the last time I had one since we now eat clementines more than any other citrus in the wintertime.

I love making ice cream because you can always use some seasonal fruit or just good old chocolate. It's also the kind of thing--Iron Chef notwithstanding where someone is always churning out exotic ice creams in under an hour--that has to be made in advance and is therefore ideal for entertaining. Plus ice cream obviously keeps for weeks in the freezer if one is not overly indulgent! The steps are simple and the results sublime! I don't keep the bowl of my ice cream maker in my freezer so that must be frozen at least 36 hours in advance. The custard must be made and chilled, preferably overnight. When cold, it must be poured into the ice cream maker, and the frozen custard must then be placed in the freezer to harden for a few hours. All in all I take two days or so to pull off making ice cream.

When I got my ice cream maker a few summers ago, I went on a tear making different recipes but have now settled on the relative proportions of liquid (milk, half & half, and/or cream) to eggs (yolks vs. whole eggs) to sugar. I follow these proportions no matter what the recipe calls for unless I'm making sherbet or other ice creams that don't call for eggs: 2 cups half and half, 1 cup milk (whatever kind you drink), 6 to 8 egg yolks, 3/4 cup sugar. Part of the reason for using 3 cups of liquid is that I freeze the ice cream in quart containers, and I've learned that starting with just 3 cups of liquid ensures that when the ice cream is made and the volume increases, it will fit into a quart container--with just the right amount of excess to have a taste as soon as it's made! I've tried to make lower fat versions of this ice cream using milk and whole eggs, but the texture is just not creamy enough. Ironically using cream rather than half and half creates a custard that is too fatty when frozen and leaves a fatty residue on the spoon as you're eating the ice cream. Eew!

Profiteroles with Blood Orange Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

Pate a Choux for Making Profiteroles
Adapted from multiple sources, makes 18 to 28 depending on size

Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Combine
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
in a medium sized saucier or saucepan and bring to a boil to completely melt the butter. Reduce the heat to medium low. Using a wooden spoon, mix in
1 cup all-purpose flour
stirring constantly until a ball off dough forms and pulls away from the bottom and sides of the pot, about 2 minutes. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or a food processor fitted with a steel blade) and let cool slightly. Crack
4 eggs
into a bowl, leaving the yolks intact. With the stand mixer on medium, add the eggs to the dough one at a time, fully incorporating the egg into the batter after each addition.

Transfer the dough to a piping bag. Onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat, pipe dough out in 1 to 2 inch mounds (considering the size of your ice cream scoop), leaving at least 1 inch between each because they will expand as they bake. Wet your fingers and push down the top of each mound to smooth out the tip that may have formed when you moved the pastry bag away from the mound. Bake for 20 minutes and rotate the pan. Lower the oven to 350 degrees and continue baking for 15 to 20 minutes more until golden brown. Turn the oven off and let the profiteroles cool (and dry out) in the oven with the door slightly open. When completely cool, store at room temperature in an airtight container or freeze in a ziptop bag until ready to use.

Blood Orange Ice Cream
Adapted from Tangerine Ice Cream recipe from Weir Cooking: Recipes from the Wine Country, makes a generous quart

3 blood oranges
2 cups half and half
1 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar

6 to 8 egg yolks, depending on how rich you want it
Juice from one blood orange, about 3 to 4 tablespoons
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur

Remove the zest from one blood orange and reserve; squeeze the juice from the zested orange and reserve separately. Remove the peel from the other two blood oranges, avoiding the bitter white pith as much as possible. In a saucier (ideal if you have one) or saucepan, combine the orange peel, half and half, milk, salt, and sugar. Scald, stirring to ensure that the sugar is dissolved, and turn off the heat. Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk the egg yolks to a uniform consistency. Scald the milk mixture again. While whisking the egg yolks with one hand, slowly ladle in a half cup or so of the milk mixture using your other hand. Repeat this one more time, whisking the bowl contents constantly while ladling in the milk mixture. This tempering of the egg yolks warms them slowly so that they don't scramble when added to the milk mixture. Add the tempered egg yolk mixture back to the saucepan with the rest of the milk mixture and turn on the heat to medium. Stir constantly in a figure 8 motion with a wooden spoon until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of the spoon (170 degrees). Strain the custard into a 1 quart pyrex measuring cup or bowl. Whisk in the orange zest, orange juice, orange liqueur, and vanilla extract. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard and refrigerate overnight or until well chilled. With the ice cream machine running, pour in the custard and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. When ready, transfer to a quart container and freeze for a few hours until hard.

To serve the dessert, cut the profiteroles in half and scoop on the ice cream. Cover with the top half of the profiterole and drizzle with chocolate sauce. Voila!

The French Take on Beer, Brats, and Sauerkraut: Julia Child's Choucroutre Royale

Isn't it funny how to our ears the French language just sounds so elegant? If you were to tell a friend that you were serving Choucroute Royale for Super Bowl Sunday, no doubt eyebrows would be raised in disbelief! "What kind of haute cuisine is that to serve the beer and pretzels crowd?" "I thought we'd be having chili like last year!" But wouldn't your friend be just as surprised to learn that choucroute (shoo-kroot) is simply French for sauerkraut? The "Royale" part I've no idea, but it could just be Julia's way of making sauerkraut sound even more classy by jazzing it up with more than just plain old sausages. This is all so reminiscent of that conversation in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction between the John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson characters about how the French call the banally named "Quarter Pounder with cheese" "Royale with cheese?" Instant cache! (Mon Dieu! Can I pepper any more French words into this intro?)

I was very happily led to this preparation by searching on the Food Network website for recipes that use juniper berries. I'd bought juniper berries from Penzeys Spices to make Molly Stevens' Sauerbraten, and even though I'd gotten a small container, I still wanted to use them up. I'm still working on that effort two years later, but the folks at Penzeys say that whole spices in the seed form last up to two years unlike the six months to a year for herbs and ground spices, so I've still got this winter for a few more recipes. That same search, incidentally, led me to Emeril's Chicken Simmered in Beer, discussed in an earlier posting.

Based on the success of Emeril's chicken and Julia's sauerkraut I can definitely say that there is an affinity for beer with juniper! I love using beer in cooking chili and other one pot meals, and the choucroute is a dish that cries out to be prepared in the slow cooker. In fact, I started this dish in the afternoon prior to going out bowling with my sister's family thinking we could all come back and enjoy this crowd pleaser together. Unfortunately the big dinner party didn't work out, but Brian and I certainly had a great hearty dinner that was made even better by eating it with Firehook Bakery's hearty dark multigrain bread with Dijon mustard. Needless to say this the kind of preparation that is even better the next day. I also used two other Food Network recipes--one by Emeril and another by Food Network Kitchens that describes a slow cooker preparation. Both had some good ideas including using gin instead of or in addition to the juniper berries, so here is my take, with Julia's recipe as the foundation.

Choucroute Royale (Braised Sauerkraut)

Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child and Simone Beck

One 28 ounce can of a good German brand of sauerkraut

1/2 pound chunk of bacon or 8 slices good turkey bacon (Louis Rich NOT recommended)
1 tablespoon olive oil

3 to 4 pounds of various kinds of browned meat such as:
Roast pork
Pork chops
Smoked pork loin
Ham
Sausages
kielbasa
Duck
Chicken thighs
Smoked turkey

2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
1 large onion sliced thick

The following tied in cheesecloth:
4 sprigs parsley
1 bay leaf
6 sprigs of thyme
6 peppercorns
10 juniper berries lightly crushed (or add 1/4 cup gin to casserole)

1 ½ pounds baby red potatoes
2 cooking apples, cored and cut into eighths.

1 bottle of beer
Enough chicken stock (up to 2 cups) to raise the liquid level to just below the top of the vegetables

Prepare the sauerkraut and bacon. Drain the sauerkraut and soak in cold water for 15 to 20 minutes as you prepare the vegetables and meats to add to your dish. If using chunk bacon, slice into half inch cubes. If using bacon strips, slice into half inch pieces. In a wide sauté pan, cook bacon in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until crisp to render the fat. Remove bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel and reserve.

Brown the meat. Brown any sausage or kielbasa that you are cooking for five minutes on each side until well caramelized but not necessarily cooked through as the meat will finish cooking in the slow cooker. Season any pieces of meat--such as pork chops or chicken thighs--that you want to cook with salt and pepper and brown for about five minutes on each side. Again, you’re not cooking it through just browning it well. At this point you could sweat the onions and sauté the carrot chunks, but I don’t think it’s necessary because, again, they’ll just cook in the slow cooker with everything else and softening them first will only add marginally to the final dish.

Taking the sauerkraut by small handfuls, squeeze out as much water as possible, picking it apart to separate the strands and place in a six quart slow cooker. Mix in the onions, carrots, and baby potatoes and bury the herbs and spices into the veggies. Pour in the beer and enough stock to come just below the level of the sauerkraut. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Layer in the browned meats, sausages, smoked meats, and bacon, and apples. Cover and cook on low for at least four hours. Serve as you get hungry and can no longer resist the siren call of this dish. It's delicious with pumpernickel or some other dark multigrain bread spread with country Dijon mustard.