Hurray!  A new cookbook!  I think Firat has figured out that if he buys me new cookbooks about the types of cuisine he likes, they end up on the table a little more often.  The cuisines.  Not the books.  So I can only assume he’s encouraging more French food with Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table.  I dived into it immediately, marking up more than two dozen recipes I wanted to try, but the one that stood out the most was a simple salad.  Dorie’s bacon and eggs and asparagus salad looked like the perfect place to start.  Of course, being without hazelnuts or hazelnut oil in the house, I had to make a few minor changes.

The biggest surprise was her method of preparing the eggs.  They’re supposed to go straight from the fridge into boiling water.  This seemed contradictory to every recipe for boiled eggs I’ve ever read!  But I went with it, preparing 4 eggs instead of 2 as a safety net, and not a single egg cracked.  (I learned afterward that the salted water though not able to prevent the eggs from cracking, would help the white congeal quickly and help keep the egg whole were there a crack).  The still-soft eggs are finished by being peeled whole, then gently sauteed in the bacon drippings just until they’re warmed through.  The result was as good an egg as I’ve ever encountered.  The white was set, yet tender and the yolk was luscious and velvety.  Truly, I see little reason to ever poach an egg again!

Bacon and Eggs and Asparagus Salad
Adapted and paraphrased from “Around My French Table”
Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side

For the Dressing:
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice (my addition, I like some bright acid to complement the deep, rich sherry vinegar)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (Dorie’s recipe is for 1 tbsp evoo, 1 tbsp hazelnut oil)
pinch of sugar

For the Salad:
4 extremely cold eggs
Half a bunch of asparagus, trimmed
4 large strips of bacon
3 handfuls baby salad greens
1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts or walnuts (optional)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dijon, vinegar, sugar, and lemon juice.  Slowly whisk in the olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, then set aside.

Bring a medium saucepan of well salted water to a low boil.  One by one, gently lower the eggs down with a spoon.  Have your timer ready for 6 minutes, you don’t want them to boil for any longer.  Remove pan from heat and set directly under cold running water in your sink.  Continue running until the pan’s water is completely cold.  Leave them here in the cold water until you’re ready for them.

In a medium skillet, bring salted water to a simmer.  Drop in the asparagus and simmer for 3-4 minutes, depending on the thickness, until they’ve lost their crunch but arn’t mushy.  Remove and pat dry on paper towels.

Dump out the water, place the dry skillet over medium heat and lay in the bacon.  Cook the bacon over medium-low heat, flipping as needed until golden and crisp.  Remove the strips and let drain on paper towels.  Turn the heat off, but leave the skillet on the burner.

To assemble the salad, toss the lettuce in 3/4 of the dressing and place on a platter, topping it with some fresh cracked pepper and salt.  Roll the asparagus in the remaining dressing and layer over top the greens.  Chop the bacon into bits and sprinkle around platter.

When you’re ready to serve, very, very gently peel the eggs.  Take your time with it, as the eggs are soft and delicate.  Rinse off any bits of shell and pat them dry.  Gently spoon them into the bacon drippings skillet over medium heat and gingerly roll them around in the bacon fat until they’re covered and allow them to get just a hit of golden brown on each side.  You don’t want them in the pan for more than 2 minutes.  With a spoon, place them overtop the salad and serve immediately.  Make sure you have some nice flaky sea salt and additional black pepper for your guests to season their eggs as they like.

So there you have it.  We shared a wonderful small steak on the side, and though a lovely Parisian complement to the meal, it was outshined by this salad.  Apologies for not taking some in-progress pictures, but then I didn’t expect the eggs to be such a success on our first try!  That to me proves what an exceptional cookbook this is.  Dorie is precise and thorough with her writing.  Much like Julia Child’s recipes, you’re never left wondering if what you’re doing is right or not.  I really can’t wait to take on another recipe and that just might happen later tonight.

The final post of 2010!  Hopefully everyone has been enjoying their holiday vacation.  We spent a wonderful Christmas back home in Pennsylvania and received some incredibly thoughtful gifts.  The pinnacle of which for me was a vintage set of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volumes 1 and 2.  Based on the publication dates, the books were likely part of the first edition boxed set when Volume 2 was released in 1970.  The books belonged to a dear family friend and I feel truly honored that they have passed into my care.

So of course the first thing I did when I got home was rush out to buy the ingredients to make Julia’s most famous dish, Boeuf Bourguignon.  I made a point of staying as true to the recipe as possible.  As such, rather than posting the recipe myself, here is a link to where Knopf (the publisher) has provided PDF files for the original recipe, as well as for the sauteed mushrooms and braised pearl onion components of the dish.

http://cooking.knopfdoubleday.com/2009/07/13/julia-childs-boeuf-bourguignon-recipe/

Now you may recall, dear reader, that about a year ago I posted a recipe for Beef Burgundy.  So I did have some expectation for how this dish would taste.  But despite the fact that these two recipes have a nearly identical ingredient list, the flavor, texture and elegance of Julia’s version cannot be matched.  It really is worth the time (4+ hours) and mighty stack of dishes in the sink.  This is one of those meals where you won’t even hear your guest’s delighted raves and kind compliments as you’ll be too involved with savoring your own plate.  And on that note, on to the photos!

the nicely browned beef

browning the carrots and onions in the drippings

the beef beginning its long simmer in the wine and stock

browning the non-crowded mushrooms in batches, while the beef is in the oven

the brown-braised onions, also cooked separately

the final dish coming together, after straining and skimming the sauce

for side dishes I provided a wild arugula salad, steamed peas, and crusty french bread

also some lovely parsley coated boiled potatoes

nate's beautifully composed plate (he suggested I copyright it Studio N8)

and one final shot of this heavenly dish! bon appetit!

For those of you that don’t live in SoCal, it’s been raining like the dickens out here.  Like nonstop.  For 5 days.  Basically California was broken.  It was as close to winter as it can get in LA, so I immediately began craving all those warm-you-to-the-core dishes that my mama used to cook for us when I was a young’un.  Black bean soups, beef stews, sweet and sour pork, creamed chipped beef, pot roast… you know, all those amazing wintertime delights that could never taste as good in a restaurant as in your mama’s kitchen.

One such dish is Beef Burgundy, which is basically a simpler, homestyle version of Julia’s Boeuf Bourguignon.  The biggest difference is that the bacon and carrot is removed, and the red wine is often a combo of wine and tomato sauce, or for those on slim budgets, just tomato sauce.  So sans recipe, I decided to whip up a batch of beef burgundy from the recollections of watching my mama make it back in PA combined with a few tricks of my own.  I think she’d agree I did it justice.

Beef Burgundy or Tenderloin Tips and Mushrooms in a Sherry and Red Wine Gravy
Serves 5 -6

2 lbs beef tenderloin tips or beef stew meat
flour to coat, about 1/4 cup
1/2 a sweet onion, medium dice
12 oz white mushrooms, sliced thick
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup good red wine (I like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot for cooking)
3 – 4 cups beef broth
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp heavy cream

Place a large, heavy bottomed saucepan (I use my le creuset for this) over medium-high heat.  Coat the bottom with extra virgin olive oil.  While the pot is getting hot, cube up your beef into uniform 1-inch pieces.  If you can find tenderloin tips, I much prefer the cut to regular stew meat for this dish.  Its a lower fat content, therefore a less greasy gravy.  Not to mention the word tender is in its title, so you don’t have to cook it as long for it to breakdown and become soft.

Season the beef well with salt and pepper, then toss in flour gently to coat.  Brown the meat in two batches in the pan.  You’re looking for really good caramelization and color on the beef, like in the picture below.  If you went for a large cube size, don’t be concerned with cooking the meat through at this point.  Just go for the color on the outside.  And don’t worry about the flour that’s sticking to the pan, we’ll get to that later.

Pull the meat out and brown the second batch, adding more oil if necessary.  When the second batch is done, pull the beef out, set aside, and turn the heat down to medium.  Add the onions and mushrooms to the pan and saute.  As they begin to soften and release moisture, about 7 – 9 minutes, the liquid will pull up some of the browned nums that are stuck to the bottom of the pan.  This is a good thing.  Don’t worry if you don’t get it all now, you’ve got two more steps to scrape that all into the sauce.  When the onions are geting close to finished, add in the garlic and saute together for atleast a minute.  When the mushrooms and onions take on a beautiful golden color, you’re know they’re done.

Now its time to deglaze the pot with our liquors.  Raise the heat to high and add the sherry and red wine.  If you don’t have sherry on hand, feel free to use only wine, but I would recommend adding a few tsps of sugar for balance.  Now make sure you really scrape at the pan to pick up all that caramelized goodness.  It comes off pretty easy at this point.  Allow the liquid to cook off, reduce and thicken, which takes about 3-5 minutes.  That’s right, it’s starting to look a bit more like gravy now.

Alright, everybody in the pool.  Dump that beef back in, along with any juices that might have collected with it, as well as the bay leaf, tomato paste, and then top with the beef broth.  You might not need all 4 cups, but the broth should just cover the beef by about 1/2 inch.  Stir everything to combine and scrape down the sides of the pan.  When the mix comes to a simmer, turn the heat down to low and partially cover the pan, leaving the lid slightly askew.

Simmer over low heat for 45min – 1 hour, depending on the size and cut of your beef.  You’ll want to stir the pot every 15 minutes or so to make sure nothing’s sticking to the bottom.  How will you know its done?  The sauce will have reduced by half, and become deliciously smooth and thick like a good gravy.

Wowie wow!  Look how that sauce reduced.  Right at the end, I like to stir in a tiny bit of cream which I think really brings the sauce together and a nice pinch of fresh chopped parsley to add a bright note for contrast.  Both are totally optional, and totally worth it in my humble opinion.

Serve over buttered egg noodles with lots of delicious, sweet steamed peas.  Oh billy, your tummy will be thanking you.