A Little Clarification

Recently I was inspired by a friend to pick up my copy of the French Laundry Cookbook and actually use it. There’s a pretty doable recipe for brioche (a delicious, rich bread with loads of eggs and butter) as well as for homemade potato chips. I wanted to bake the brioche and use it for a neighborhood grilled cheese party and I decided what the hell, let’s make the potato chips too! In Thomas Keller’s recipe the potatoes are sliced thin and fried in canola oil and an equal amount of clarified butter.

Butter isn’t just fat; it contains milk solids as well. The milk solids are what make butter burn at high temperatures; remove them and you raise the smoke point. To do this, you gently heat the butter to melt it, skim off the foam that rises to the top, and then ladle off the clear butter on top. The milk solids are on the bottom of your pan and need to stay there. Take your time; tip the saucepan when needed to facilitate the job and voilá! You have clarified butter. Note: one pound of butter will yield 1 ½ cups of clarified butter.

To slice the potatoes paper thin I used my mandoline; a good v-slicer would work fine as long as it’s adjustable. I used small, different colored potatoes and left the skins on. When using a mandoline I have found that it is much easier to slice potatoes if I don’t press down too hard. A gentle hand will allow the potatoes to glide over the blade with no trouble. But pay attention! I once advised a friend that drinking wine while slicing might cause her to lose a finger and she opted out of buying a mandoline. Just as well, I guess!

So let’s make chips: heat 1 ½ cups each canola oil and clarified butter to 300 degrees (I use a candy thermometer) in a saucepan. Meanwhile, slice your potatoes. When the oil reaches temperature, quickly drop potato slices in the oil one at a time so they stay separate. When the chips reach the desired color, fish them out (I use a spider) and lay them on paper towels. Quickly add more potato slices and repeat the process until all your chips are cooked. Season with salt and pepper and eat! They are delicious.

Since the brioche recipe is so easy and works so well and the potato chips were a snap to make, I will probably delve further into the cookbook that used to scare me so much. I’ll let you know.

Feeling Croquettish

I am a big fan of Top Chef and watch, ok dvr and watch later, without fail. During the recent season of Top Chef All Stars there was an episode set at Rao’s, a home style Italian restaurant in Manhattan where you can’t get a table. Ever. Unless you know someone who will let you use their standing reservation. So I was reminded that I’ve owned Rao’s cookbook for years (their roasted red peppers are brilliant) and hadn’t used it in quite some time. My turn to host our foodie group was coming up so I decided we would have a home style Italian dinner a la Rao’s. I love to take my time planning a menu; it’s really a sensual activity perusing recipes and ideas, daydreaming about how they will all come together.

Rather than pasta with marinara or a risotto as a side dish I decided the potato croquettes looked intriguing and delicious and decided to go with them. I must admit I have little experience with potato croquettes; I can’t really remember if I have previously eaten them, but I probably have. Cooking them was an entirely new experience so I was a little nervous about it but decided to forge ahead. They have to be deep fried, a style I seldom use for various reasons, so I don’t own a fryer. However, a heavy duty saucepan and a spider took over the fryer duties. I like grapeseed oil for frying because of its high smoke point and neutral taste. It’s also easier for me to find and cheaper to buy than peanut oil. I really like to use panko (Japanese bread crumbs) for coating instead of the usual bread crumbs. The texture is much more interesting, with a crispy coating and tender, cheesy inside, so this is really a hybrid dish. Italian food is incredibly popular in Japan so I feel way cool about it!

Potato Croquettes

1 tb plus 4 cups grapeseed or canola oil
1/2  cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped prosciutto
1 pound all-purpose potatoes, cooked and mashed with a ricer
3 large egg yolks
½ pound fresh mozzarella, finely chopped
¼ pound freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tb finely minced Italian parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups panko crumbs
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
3 whole eggs

Heat 1 tb oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Saute onion for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Placed mashed potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Add onions and prosciutto and mix together well with a wood spoon.

Beat in egg yolks, cheeses and parsley. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Use your hands to shape potato mixture into 12 logs. It helps to refrigerate the mixture for half an hour or so first before trying to shape the croquettes. I also like to weigh the mixture so they’re all the same size.

You will need 3 wide shallow bowls for breading your croquettes: one with the panko (seasoned with salt and pepper), one with the flour and the third with the eggs, whisked well.

Gently dredge each log in the flour. Then dip into the eggs and then roll in the panko, coating the croquettes well.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a fryer if you have one, or in a saucepan, to 365 degrees. I lowered 3 logs into the oil at a time; while they were cooking I quickly coated the next three. Pull them out of the oil after they turn medium golden brown and drain on paper towels. Serve while still hot.

For more, I recommend that you buy the Rao’s Cookbook by Frank Pellegrino - if you like home style Italian. And the stories aren’t so bad either.

I Say Tomato – With Garlic and Onions

The best tomatoes come from our summer gardens and from the farmer’s market. They deserve to be eaten fresh, preferably still warm from the sun, with perhaps a drizzle of olive oil and a little salt and pepper. However, summer doesn’t last and I don’t buy tomatoes from the grocery store; except when I want to make roasted tomatoes. Then I buy pints of pear or cherry tomatoes and doll them up with garlic and other savories. And recently I have added panko for an additional textural dimension.

The original recipe is from Chef Gordon Hamersley’s Bistro Cooking at Home, which I highly recommend that you add to your library (if you like French bistro style food). The steps outlined are how I execute this dish, which is a little different than from the original. The recipe below has been doubled because the dish tends to disappear and really didn’t serve 4. Try using balsamic vinegar instead of wine vinegar and the dish will come out sweeter. It’s great both ways. A few steps and you’re in heaven. Let me know how you love it.

Heavenly Garlicky Tomatoes
Serves 4 to 6

½ cup panko crumbs
1 tb unsalted butter
2 tb olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
8 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 pints cherry, pear or other mini tomatoes
2 tbs red wine vinegar or balsamic
1 tsp kosher salt
2+ pinches red pepper flakes
2+ pinches sugar
¼ cup toasted pine nuts, sprinkled with a little salt
4 fresh basil leaves, cut into chiffonade (roll up and cut into strips)

Melt butter in a medium fry pan and gently toast panko crumbs until light golden brown, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, heat oven to 350̊. Heat the olive oil in an oven-safe saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 7 minutes. Add the vinegar, salt, red pepper flakes and sugar. Put saucepan in the oven and roast tomatoes until very tender but not necessarily mushy, about 12 minutes.

Raise the oven temperature to 425̊. Add the pine nuts and continue to bake until juices from tomatoes have been released and reduced, 8 to 10 minutes, or to your preference. Spoon into a serving dish and sprinkle with salt, panko and basil. Serve hot or warm.