Tasting of Potatoes with Black Truffles

Wow, I can't believe a month has slipped by since i've last posted.  It's been a busy month.  Christmas, skiing, parties, working (boo!), and some exciting news to come helped December and the first half of January fly by.

Where was I with this dinner thing?  Oh yeah, second course.  Tasting of Potatoes.  It doesn't sound that fancy when you read it - it's basically a recipe for glorified mashed potatoes.  But after making potatoes this way, I never want to go back to plain ol' Thanksgiving mashed potatoes again (notwithstanding that this recipe is so finicky and exacting that it would be near impossible to make it as part of a dinner served all at once). 

I started with the truffle chips.  Unlike 'Tasting of potatoes,' truffle chips do *not* sound like something we would have at a holiday meal.  They were surprisingly easy to prepare, but at the same time, had some issues with the cooking.

First I shaped a potato into something resembling an oval (look at how many scraps I had trying to get there!):

Then I thinly sliced potatoes and a truffle using my Japanese mandoline (and my new 'cut-proof gloves' - a worthy $15 investment if, like me, you need fingers to work), and laid a truffle between two potato slices on a buttered-salted sheet.  Notice how the ones on the right are sliced much thicker.  If you want the chips to cook in normal amounts of time, make them as absolutely thin as you can.

And, like an hour later, truffle chips!  They weren't as crispy as I imagine they should have been.  Were I to make them again (and I think i'm supposed to for 'Chips and Dip'), I would cook them in the over until they were really "stuck" then try deep drying them.  Not that this is guaranteed to work, but it would take a lot less time than the HOUR they spent backing (with me examining them every 10 minutes saying '.... still not chip-looking, hopefully more time will do it.'

Extreme close-up!

The truffle chips were definitely the most time consuming step.  Next I (gently) boiled some potatoes, put them through the tamis, and then basically created an emulsion with ungodly amounts of cream and butter.  Best mashed potatoes ever.

Finally, I cut what felt like a million fingerling-type potatoes into tiny pieces, blanched, then cooked with some truffle bits, truffle stock, and brunoise until it got thick.  Well, thick-ish.  It said to blanch the potatoes for 3 minutes (an insanely short time, but it makes sense when they are all fingernail-sized), then to add vinegar/stock/etc, and reduce.  I think it should have reduced longer, but I didn't want to spoil the potatoes or have them break, so we went with 'not-quite-thick' potato-topping-stuff.

See?  Looks a little runny.

But it tasted delicious; earthy and rich.  I really liked it.  Not loved, though.  I think that maybe, at heart, i'm just not a huge fan of truffles (blasphemy in the foodie world, i'm sure).  It's funny, because I love mushrooms, but I just feel like truffles are overwhelming.  I thought maybe it was just a white truffle oil thing - because that stuff IS overwhelming - but it applies to black winter truffles too.  Still, the potato-emulsification was awesomeness, something that I am going to repeat (but never after a workout, because, dude! all the stirring hurt my arms).

Staff Lasagna and Dressing

In addition to the gazpacho, I brought some lasagna along to whatever family gathering where I though lots of people would eat it (i'm thinking Father's Day, but not positive).  Despite being the "staff meal," it still required a lot more work than *I* put into an everyday meal!

 Mis - look at all those ingredients!

Now, part of the extensive work involved had to do with making my own tomato sauce.  To be honest, i'm not sure if I had ever done this before (there isn't much of a point, since marina affects me more than any other tomato product aside from ketchup).

First up, I cut little x's and blanched a trillion tomatoes (notice how I didn't bother taking the stickers off?  It was because I knew I had to peel them, so why bother!)

There are no peeled tomato pictures because my hands were burning.  My sister recently told me she broke out in hives from eating half a slice of tomato.  I know she breaks out in hives from touching ketchup (something hard for her to avoid being a waitress; I've avoided touching ketchup since hearing this).  I'm pretty sure the burning hands were related to the whole allergy thing, which means its getting worse.  Boo!

Burning hands aside, I cut them into chunks.

Next, I sweat some onions down with some tomato paste.  It smelled heavenly.

Then, I tossed all of the peeled, seeded, chopped tomatoes into the mix, and cooked those down until it was sauce.  It took a long time to get something that smelled right - like 1 1/2 hours.  This may have been faster if I could have tasted it, though, since its a lot easier to adjust seasoning with tastebuds than, say, your nose.

While the sauce was cooking, I stirred some eggs and ricotta together.  I've made a lot of lasagna (mostly with white sauce instead of marinara), but i've never added eggs before.  I think that i'm going to use this in future lasagnas, since it made the ricotta a lot easier to spread evenly (plus, i'm pretty sure it held better once it was cooked).

Finally, lasagna!  Noodles, sauce, ricotta mix, and oodles of mozzerella - the way lasagna should be.

Because the sauce took so much longer than I guestimated, I was really in a rush and forgot to take a picture of it done.  Even worse (or better, says my body), we had two sets of plans, so we ran out before people had started eating -- so neither me or the hubby got to try it!  I heard it was delicious.  

Oh, yeah, what else... I made salad dressing and brought salad.

Here are the ingredients...

But nothing beyond that, whoops.  It was standard salad dressing - blend everything, add oil very slowly to emulsify.  I'm pretty sure the vitamix made fast dressing out of it.  It was good, but nothing to write home about.

Foie (Done Well) With Apples and Black Truffles

As opposed to 'well done.'  My biggest fear when I was reading the directions was burning it and wasting a $100 piece of meat.  (Is liver meat, even if it comes from poultry?  I just don't know).  A gigantic piece of meat that felt like the fake wax fruit my grandma has in her "fruit bowl."  Not a fan of how foie gras feels.

So imagine my debate about the 'picking out the veins' thing.  See, The French Laundry Cookbook has this whole set of instructions about soaking it, cutting it down the center, following veins with a small knife, not being afraid of really digging them out because foie is like play-doh and it all comes together at the end.

But these instructions are with a different foie recipe.  It's not at all clear whether you are supposed to go through all of these hoops when you cook it in other ways.  I looked at it.  Thought about it.  And decided that it's probably best if I did it that way.  If anyone knows any better, please tell me.

Elaborate pre-step #1: Soak it in milk.  For like an hour.  And more than once.  But the time you are done, the foie resembled slightly soggy wax fruit.

Elaborate step #2: deveining.  This is way way too messy to even contemplate photographing.

Elaborate step #3: put it back together.  I really REALLY butchered the foie trying to get veins out (this is definitely not my forte).  So after salting and peppering the foie, I wrapped it as tight as I could in some saran wrap.  Then I wrapped it the other way.  And the other way again.  A roll of saran wrap later... i'm left hoping that it really does stick back together like promised.

So, you know the apples and truffles thing?  Couldn't get any truffle.  Unlike the last time I needed them and just was too cheap to go and buy them, this time I had the promise of a truffle.  I had someone promise to set one aside for me.  I had that someone leave work, apparently with the truffle not set aside for me.  Then I had someone else sell my truffle.  After discovering that I wouldn't have a Bristol Farms truffle after all (thanks a bunch!), and knowing that I didn't have a way to get one in time, I just decided to substitute an onion.  Because clearly onions = truffles, right?  (You don't need to answer that)

I basically just diced/sliced this all up and made a type of relish with it.  People loved it.  It was rather ugly, so I didn't take any pictures.

Time to cook the foie.  I don't think I can portray how nervous I was.  I mean, i've never eaten or even SEEN a whole lobe of foie, so I had no idea what it was supposed to look like (except for the picture in the book).  And, again, $100 chunk of meat.  I cut a little piece off, and melted down in the pan (pretty much all fat)....

Oh, yeah, wait: I made some little dry brioche croutons first.

Now, back to the foie.  I unwrapped it.  It stayed together.  I scored it.  It still stayed together.   It was fantastic to score, since the scores stayed so nicely.  Maybe this stuff really IS like play doh!

Then I got the pan really really smoking hot, and slid it in.  I bided my time.  i was patient.  And when I flipped it over.... SUCCESS!!!!

Seriously, check out that gorgeous, gorgeous piece of foie.  I cooked it more on the second side, slid it onto a platter, and brought it out.  Forgot to take a final picture, but I really really think this will do.

So, how was it?  Good.  Not quite as squicky as the chicken liver toast my law school roomate made me try at ABC Kitchen (which tasted good, I just couldn't move past the texture).  The texture here was luxurious, smooth, rich.  It was good.  Rich, oh so rich, that I could only finish maybe 2 toast points.  And I was constantly a little squicked out by what I was eating.  But, luckily, my husband and two other (male) guests just inhaled the rest.  Thank goodness none of the $100 piece of meat went to waste!

Hearts of Palm with Puree of Marrow Beans

I had never had a heart of palm before this.  I was a little nervous about this (with my two picky eaters)... but when my bro-in-law said 'Hearts of Palm?  I frickin' LOVE hearts of palm,' I realized this was good to go.

Unanticipated?  He didn't like BEANS.  And neither does his fiancee.  How is that even possible, to not like beans?  I mean, aren't they like, a staple?  One of the few things that you can keep dried or canned, and can really find a way to incorporate into anything?  I mean, maybe its me, but... how can you not like something that you can eat with breakfast (breakfast burritos with black beans is a favorite), lunch (cold in salads or hot in soups), dinner (cassoulet, stews, anything mexican)???  I just don't get it.

This was a surprisingly multi-stepped meal, from what it looked like on the page.  First up: mushroom stock.  It was supposed to be truffle-infused mushroom stock, but I couldn't find any truffles locally (and I didn't remember to order one), so it was plain ol' 'shrooms.


Mis:

I blanched everything, diced it - 

Then cooked it all together and added water.  At least I assume I added water at some point, since it was stock.

Like all stocks, I strained it, strained it again, strained it again.  You had to be extra careful with not dumping the whole thing through, since there was a lot of dirt/icky stuff on the bottom.  

Next up: beans!

I soaked the beans for a long time (I don't remember how long, but it was like twice as long as the instructions said).

Then I simmer the beans, again for a very long time, with the aromatics.


Hearts of palm:

I had never worked with fresh hearts of palm before, and was totally surprised at how soft they were from the outside.  If I didn't know better (having gotten them from Specialty Produce, best place ever), I would think they were cooked already.  But, knowing they were raw, I cooked them more.

In the meantime, i got started on the filling: weighed the brioche (luckily I didn't need a lot, since me/angry toddler had totally ripped into the amazing Bread & Cie brioche when I bought it on friday morning)

Mis for the filling:

I processed the bread until it was crumbs:

Then added the mascarpone, salt, and pepper, and processed it more.  I finished by drizzling the truffle oil into the mixture.

By this point, the hearts of palm were cooked and cooled, so I set about cutting them:

Then hollowed them out.  The hollowing-out process sounded like it was going to be really difficult, but I found that my fingers (and fingernails) could actually poke the centers out pretty easily)

I picked the best out, then using a ziploc baggie and pastry tip, filled them (then leveled them off with an offset knife).

A few quick tomato diamonds and herbs for flavor...

Then it was time to cook the hearts of palm!  Breaded in panko, then sauteed on either end... I wish I could eat ALL my food this way!

(not pictured: the quick sauce I made with the stock, cooked beans, hearts of palm, herbs, the tomato diamonds, and more white truffle oil, or the chive oil that I already had in my fridge)

Assembled!

It was pretty good, especially the hearts of palm/beans/mushroom mix, but I didn't love the overwhelming sense of truffle oil.  Maybe it would have been better if I had the truffles that were supposed to be in the bean mix/stock.  I think that i'm just not a fan.  I love mushrooms, I love truffles, but truffle oil just seems.. fake... compared to truffles.  In short: a lot of work for something that was 'eh'... not staying on the permanent list.  You know, that list i'll make in 5 years, after i've cooked through all of Keller, when I will totally remember making this.

Salad of Haricot Vert, Tomato, and Chive

After making this, all I can say is... I'm in love with tomato tartare.  Seriously, this was so unexpectedly amazing (I mean, how good can cold green beans and tomatoes be?), I was almost ready to trade my husband in for the ability to eat the whole thing.  Instead, I settled with the measly little bite of amazing tomato tartare.

Not only was this super tasty, it was rather easy.  I started with some roasted tomato petals (conveniently left over from the blini), balsamic, shallot, and chives

Chopped all up and combined... making "tomato tartare."

Next, green beans:

I trimmed, cut, blanched the green beans

Then plunged into ice water, where they sat until I was ready to plate.

Not pictured: right before serving, I whisked the heck out of some cream (and maybe creme fraiche?  Its been a while), and tossed the green beans in.  Because they were cold, it actually helped the whipped cream stay together.

Plating: a little chive oil, tomato, green beans, and dental floss... I mean frisee... with a little tomato powder down the side.

The result?  Nutritious AND delicious!  Seriously, its hard to believe vegetables can taste so good.  This makes me want to go eat some green beans (preferably tossed in cream) right this second, even though its only 8am.  Weird, yes.  But oh-so-good!

Fava Bean Agnolotti with Curry Emulsion

The sweet potato agnolotti was one of the most delicious things i've made from The French Laundry Cookbook so far.  Given this, i've had high expectations for the remaining agnolotti recipes.  This did not disappoint.

First, let me mention: shelling fava beans is a gigantic pain in the you-know-what (i've been trying to curb my language, since toddler now repeats lots and lots of words.  The best when I told my husband about a dream where I was married to someone else, and I was cheating on that person with him, and it was "going on right under his nose" - and toddler points to his nose and yells "NOSE" then giggles.  Maybe you had to be there.)

What was I saying again?  Oh, yeah, fava beans.  You have to shell them once.  Then you have to peel this second skin off.  I got really really annoyed by how long this was taking, so I roped husband into helping.  This plus watching David Borneaz on my t.v. while the neverending shelling went on and on and on and on made the whole thing less painful.

Then I blanched the beans, pureed them with some mascarpone, bread crumbs, and a little stock in my food processor.

Pasta-rolling was significantly less eventful than my ravioli, thank goodness.  And the puree was finer than the agnolotti.  Both of which contributed to prettier-looking agnolotti.

See??  I could totally be the agnolotti-pincher at TFL.  This is probably all I am qualified to handle, but baby steps.

Curry-emulsion time.  It was pretty simple - toast the curry powder...


Add cream (and some other stuff from the looks of it?), and let simmer a bit

Then all done! 

They look a little sad and deflated... i'm thinking I need to make a thicker line for the filling next time.  They were yummy - light and refreshing, even with the curry sauce.  Amazingly, one of my guests could taste the mascarpone (well, he was like 'this has some sort of creamed-cheese in it, doesn't it?? - close enough in my book).  Husband was disappointed with the curry flavor.  It was admittedly a very delicate curry flavor, and he said that it "wasn't what he expected" from smelling the sauce.  I actually agree with that, but I still really liked it.