Roasted Pheasant with Parsnip Puree, Beet Greens, and "Grape Jus"

     Game birds can be hard to find but when you can get them it is a real treat. I  recently found a farm nearby that raises quail, pheasants, and chickens. Unfortunately the flavor of the farmed bird is not the same as the wild caught version and technically they are not game if they are not wild caught. BUT nonetheless they can be very tasty and if you think you dont like overly gamey meat then this could be a good in between for you. Personally I perfer a little gameyness. Pheasants originally come from Africa and are a close relative of the guinea hen. At any rate, many different types of fruit go well with game, typically dried fruit such as figs and wild boar, currants and quail, dried cherries with duck, blueberries and venison, etc. In fact, not to be overly fruity but I've found that you can find a fruit that pairs well with pretty much any type of meat - roasted pears go suprisingly well with steak, brown butter dates with pork, raisins with chicken - try it some time. Here I paired the grapes with the bird but the grapes were a bit tart so I dehydrated them a little in the oven at a low temp overnight to make "graisins"! The result was that the sugars caramelized and got more concentrated in the fruit and the end result was slightly sweeter and still juicy. 

The parsnip puree lends a creamy slightly starchy element to the dish and helps hold some of that delicious sauce. Then the beet greens lend some color and earthyness.
Pheasant does have a tendancy to dry out if not prepared properly so be wary of that. Here I brined the bird   to help it retain moisture and not dry out. Alternatively you could bard the bird by wraping it in bacon, reguardless you want to make sure not to overcook the poor thing and I would suggest serving it a mite pink just to make sure. Pheasants are generally the size of a small chicken and dont have quite as much meat. I'd say one is generally enough to feed two people.

For the Pheasant :

Brine :

   3cups water

   1/4 cup sea salt

   2 T succanat or organic brown sugar

   2 bay leaves

   4 sprigs of thyme

   2 cloves garlic

   ice to bring volume to 5 cups liquid

bring to a boil and simmer for 5 min, then cool with enough ice to bring volume to 5 cups. Brine overnight and then remove bird to a rack and place in the fridge to let the skin dry overnight.  I truss the bird before roasting which entails tying the wings in and the legs together because I think it helps the bird cook more evenly, but this isnt entirely necessary. To roast the bird preheat the oven to 425. Let the bird sit out of the fridge for 20-30 min to come up to temp. Rub the skin with olive oil, sea salt, and fresh cracked pepper. Stuff a few garlic cloves and thyme sprigs in the cavity, then pop it into the hot oven and let it sizzle for 20 min, then turn the oven down to 325 and cook for about another 30 min or until the juices run clear or until the temp reaches 150. Let rest for 20 min and carve.

For the Parsnip Puree:
   3 Large parsnips peeled and chopped
   Milk to cover
Place the parsnips in a sauce pot and barely cover with milk. Cover almost all the way with a lid and simmer until the parsnips are tender. Remove the parsnips to a blender leaving some of the liquid behind. Puree until smooth, you may need to add all of the milk.

For the beet greens
   1/2 lb baby beet greens washed well
   1 t olive oil
   sea salt and cracker pepper to taste
Simply get the olive oil hot and saute the greens until wilted, about 2-3 min.

For the sauce:
   3/4 cups grapes partially dehydrated ( left overnight in the oven at the lowest setting)
   splash of white wine to deglaze the pan the pheasant was cooked in
   brown bits and juices from the pan the pheasant was cooked in
   1 cup chicken stock
   1 T butter
Once the Pheasant is out of the oven you have about 20 min to get together your sauce while the bird is resting. Deglaze the pan with the wine and scrape up to brown bits, then transfer the juices to another pot so its easier to work with. Add the chicken stock and grapes and reduce by half, then whisk in the butter until incorporated and the sauce thickened slightly.

MMM, a nice change-up from the traditional roast chicken with mash potatoes and gravy (which of course is  fantastic in its own right). The grapes plump back up a bit while simmering in the sauce making each one a savory/sweet gusher upon bursting. enjoy.

Leg O Lamb with Mole and Butternut Squash

        Another Fall dish. Of course this one would be very good during winter as well. I spent the last 2 years in San Francisco where the weather never changed - it was always spring and 50 degrees; no seasons, no snow, no heat, very few leaves changing, very dull. Not that San Fran didnt have its good points, but that was something I really missed about living on the east coast, or as me and my friends like to call it "The Right Side" (not as in right in left but as in right and wrong hah). So, do I like the freezing cold? NO! BUT the changes in mood, visuals, activities, etc bring excitement, variety, and  frame of reference into your life.
         One of my goals here is to give inspiration for everyday dishes at home as well as dishes for special occasions - the goal is of course to always savor the meal and get nourishment from it; and everything I post is healthy for you in one way or another. SO, that being said, the beginner cook OR someone who is used to popping something in a micro-nuclear cooker may see some of these recipes as overly complicated, SO I will try to post a variety of simple AND a little more advanced recipes for everyone and every occasion. However, I will say that in order to make quality, healthy food there needs to be the addition of that secret ingredient L-O-V-E, and that takes time, you have to be willing to spend the time. It will be worth it in the end. Its the difference of cooking a frozen burger in the Nuke and having a well seasoned freshly ground grass-fed beef patty cooked med-rare over fire. The two arent even in the same galaxy! Point is, making good food takes time but with the proper knowledge, tools, and organization it can be simple and fun.
          On to the dish. This dish consist of three simple parts - The Leg of Lamb, which gets marinated and then grilled over wood,

The butternut squash which gets tossed in olive oil and seasonings and then roasted,

And the Mole which is an adaptation of from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall who, incidentally is one of my favorite food writers of all time. Mole can be made a number of different ways pretty much always includes peppers, nuts, chocolate, and lots of roasty toastiness. I strongly encourage you to check out any of Hugh's River Cottage books as they all are works of art and very informative and inspirational. Mole is a sauce that has a lot of ingredients but the end result is greater than the sum of its parts. As the sauce comes together, the ingredients are hard to pick out individually but all add to the greater good of the whole. 

 On to the Recipe.


For the Leg of Lamb
     One 3-5 lb leg of lamb (I broke down my own lamb and removed the lower part of the leg and shank)
      4 T champagne vinegar
      4 T olive oil
      4 cloves of garlic chopped
      1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
      1 tsp salt
      1 tsp sucanat or organic brown sugar
Combine ingredients and rub over lamb. Let sit 4 hrs or overnight. Soak a handful of woodchips for at least 30 min. I used Pecan chips as they go nicely with the nuttiness of the rest of the dish. Prepare the grill (preferable charcoal) to 500. Add the chips and grill the lamb with the lid closed and vent open so the lamb absorbs as much smoke as possible. Turn the lamb every 5-10 min to prevent from burning. After about 15-20 min and a nice dark brown char has occured on all sides, however the heat to 425 and roast an additional 30 min or until the middle has reached 130-135 degrees, remember the leg will continue to cook up about 5 degrees after it is removed from the grill. Let rest for 20-30 min and slice against the grain.

For the Butternut Squash
    3-4 butternut squashes peeled, seeded, and cut into half rings and circles
    2 T olive oil
    2 tsp salt or to taste
    2 tsp freshly ground black pepper or to taste
    1 tsp sucanat or organic brown sugar
    1 tsp paprika
Preheat oven to 425. Toss all ingredients together and spread out on 2 baking sheets making sure not to over crowd. Pop into the oven and roast until browned and tender, about 20 min.

For the Mole
   2 dried ancho chilis
   3 cayenne pepper
   2 red fresno peppers
   1 bell pepper
   1 poblano pepper
   3/4 cup sesame seeds
   1/3 cup cashews
   1/2 cup peanuts
   1/3 cup dried currants
   1/2 tsp coriander seeds
   1 pod star anise
   1/2 cinnamon stick
   1 tsp black pepper corns
   6 cloves  
   3 cloves garlic
   2 small onions chopped
   3 T sesame oil
   2-3 oz dark chocolate (70% or more)
   3-4 cups chicken stock

Rehydrate the dried chilis in boiling water for 20 min. Char the fresh peppers until blistered on all sides and then peel and seed. Toast the spices and nuts until they brown and pop. Add all ingredients except the chocolate, oil and stock into a blender and blend until smooth. Heat the oil in a sauce pot until very hot and pour in the sauce to "toast" it. Simmer for 10 min. When it starts to smell  very fragrant, add in the stock little by little to keep the sauce from thinning too much. Once it is the consistency you want add in the chocolate until just melted. Dont boil the sauce with the chocolate in it. You will have left over Mole but you will not be disappointed. Use it on pork, chicken, turkey, pheasant, etc.

Sauce looks a bit like poop but GEE-WILLAKERS is it divine! ENJOY.

Autumnal Fair

Ahh the seasonality of food. There are so many dishes and ingredients that really hit the spot during a certain season - the season they're available. And its no accident of course that we've come to associate these foods with the season because thats when they are available. In today, with the advent of globalization, factory farming, and freight shipping, you can get any food at any time of the year, albeit of suspect quality. Ever since the 50s we've gotten away from being restricted to using only whats in season. You can get tomatoes, peppers, and lemons in the winter no problem. I can't say its all bad because I am thankful that I can eat olives, mangos, and grapefruits for instance which don't grow around here, but there is something festive and comforting about creating a dish with seasonal ingredients that really strikes home and goes in tune with the smells, colors, sounds, and activities of autumnal weather. Another plus of cooking with seasonal ingredients is that it can almost guarantee freshness, especially if you get them from a farmers market. I encourage you to start buying direct from farms and/or farmers markets. Not because its hip but because it supports a good cause and its a better product for YOU. Think about it, you want to be able to go to the person direct if you have a problem with your food, and on the flip side if you have special request, you can develop a report with your farmers and they will be more than happy to accommodate. Buying direct also means less shipping and less packaging! Cutting out the middle man means cheaper prices and more information about where the food comes from and how it was raised/grown. If nothing else, going to an open air farmers market is so much more fulfilling an experience than shopping at the grocery store where everything is behind plastic with elevator music in the background and moms yelling at their little Jonny and Jonny crying because he cant get 3 candy-bars and having the workers not know where or what capers are and dealing with the cash register with the attitude chewing bubble gum asking if you want to sign up for such and such a card. whew!

This dish consists of chicken thighs, parsnip, apples, onion, and arugula but with the proper preparation, the sum of the parts meld together to make this a downright delicious, yet simple meal.  I always start with a whole bird (more on that in a later post), this is the deboned legnthigh as I like to call it. Its basically a flattened out piece of dark meat. The elements that make this dish really come to life besides the quality of the products are the fact that I brined the bird making it perfectly seasoned throughout and keeping it from drying out during cooking. In addition, using high heat and getting some nice caramelization on the root vegetables brings out those maillard reactions that taste so delicioso. The third little tid-bit in this dish that makes a huge difference is letting the skin of the bird air dry in the fridge uncovered on a rack for a day or two - this makes the skin cris-up quite nicely.

 Lastly , pretty much any dish benefits from adding a little acid to brighten things up a bit. The two different kinds of vinegar in the arugula garnish are the finishing touch that really brings the flavors together. 

RECIPE
Brine for the Chicken (whole bird jointed into 4 parts)
   3 cups water
   1 1/2 cups apple cider (preferrably unpasteurized)
   4 cloves of garlic crushed
   5 toasted coriander seeds
   3 bay leaves
   5-8 sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary
   5 allspice berries
   1/4 cup sea salt
   1 tbl sugar
      Bring all ingredients to a boil and then simmer for 5 min. Remove from heat and let cool in fridge. Alternitively, to save some time, you could start with half the water and then after the 5 minute simmer, add ice and the apple cider to bring the total volume of liquid to 4.5 cups. Let the chicken brine for 3 hrs and then wash and pat dry. Place chicken uncovered on a rack with a plate underneath so that air is allowed to flow around the pieces of chicken. Let dry overnight or up to 3 days. The chicken will not go bad in this state, the brine helps preserve it as well as the peticle (dry shiny layer) that is formed on the meat during this drying period. It will actually help keep flavor and moisture in and  bacteria out. As mentioned earlier, this will get the skin of your legnthigh very very crisp when seared properly. To cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 425, heat a tbl of olive oil in a cast iron or stainless skillet until the oil ripples. This indicates that it is hot enough to sear. Make sure to catch it before it smokes, as this will denature the oil. Press the chicken skin side down unto the pan and turn down the heat to medium. Let the chicken cook skin side down for most of the time until it starts to get very brown and crisp (about 5-10 min). If the skin starts to brown too much flip it over and finish in the oven. If you do it right you should be able to finish it in the oven skin side down - the top side will finish cooking from the ambient air in the oven. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before diggin in.

While your chicken is cooking have ready
    2 Apples cut into 1 in x 1 in chunks
    1 whole yellow onion cut into 12 chunks
    4 parsnips peeled and sliced into 1 in x 1/4 in pieces
    5 sprigs of thyme
Heat 2 tbl of olive oil in a pan big enough to fit the ingredients without crowding (alternatively do in batches if you dont have a big enough pan to accomodate all the ingredients). When the oil ripples, toss in the medly and when the outsides begin to brown toss in the oven to finish roasting. Remove when nice and brown and tender.

While the medly is roasting and the chicken is cris-up-ing, toss a handful of arugula with a drizzle of walnut oil, sea salt, champagne vinegar, and apple cider vinegar. I made a pan-jus out of chicken stock and raw butter but this is optional as I understand not everyone has those 2 items laying around (but its something to consider...). Serve the chicken thigh over the parsnip, apple, onion medly with the arugula scattered on top and wallow in the fruits of your labor and let your mind drift (alternatively you could talk to the person next to you).

WHY COOK?

The purpose of this blog has to be for ME

…

....because I don’t know if anyone will read it.

 But if they do then it is to inspire. Inspire people to cook, create, and enrich their lives. But why does one cook? For nourishment? Relaxation? Approval? Necessity? Passion? Philanthropy? Fullfillment? Maybe all the above. The fascinating thing about food is that it started as necessity and over the years has evolved into a hobby and an art form. The combinations and techniques are endless and unique to the individual. I like to think of cooking as an adventure - from envisioning the dish, sourcing the ingredients, creating the dish, and partaking of it. In this intensely hectic consumeristic world humans live in today we too often focus on all the wrong issues. Whether its time constraints, intimidation, space issues, money issues, I want to encourage people to return to the kitchen and express their creativity. The most important thing about cooking is that it should be enjoyable and relaxing. My hope is that I can inspire you to try some of my recipes and adapt them to your own tastes and have fun in the kitchen. It is in the art of preparing and eating a well designed meal, by yourself or with comrades, that can bring us back to our roots and take us to a special place of comfort, solace, and communion. To me, cooking and eating are among the most simple yet most profound feelings of pleasure and accomplishment; to share them with others can form some of the greatest bonds. 

Kitchen Adventure #1 - Lamb Rack with eggplant caviar

The inspiration for this dish came from the fact that I have damn near a whole lamb in my freezer (broken down into usable parts of course), and from the fact that eggplant is abundant at the local farmers markets this time of year. Eggplant and lemon are classic combinations with lamb and the beer braised cabbage and roasted cauliflower give texture and depth to the dish.

THE RECIPE
For the Lamb and Marinate:
    One lamb rack (trimmed of silver skin)
    1 cup soaked pecan wood chips
     2 garlic cloves micro-plained or pushed through a garlic press
     1/2 cup plain yogurt preferably greek
     1 sprig of rosemary chopped
     generous amounts of fresh ground pepper
     2 tsp salt
Mix all ingredients thoroughly and pour over lamb rack. Let marinated at least 4 hrs preferably overnight. Remove from marinate and prepare the grill (preferably charcoal) to 500 F. Grill until medium rare.

For the Eggplant Caviar
   2 medium size eggplant skin removed
   1 tsp fresh lemon juice
   1 T olive oil
   1/2 tsp smoked sea salt
   pinch of white pepper
   1 tsp chopped mint
   1 tsp chopped parsley
   1 small clove of garlic minced
Grill the eggplant until soft and tender. Combine with remaining ingredients and puree with an emersion blender or in food processor

For the Braised Cabbage
   1 small head of purple cabbage (1-2 lbs) shredded preferably with mandolin
   1 small white onion julienned
   2 T butter
   1 T dijon mustard  
   1 16 oz bottle of light larger
    2 tsp sea salt
   2 bay leaves
   1 tsp mustard seeds
   8 coriander seeds
   3 cloves
   3 allspice berries
   8 juniper berries
Toast spices until fragrant and wrap in a sachet (cheese cloth and butcher twine). Sweat out the onions in butter and then add the shredded cabbage and cook over med heat until slightly wilted. Add the beer, salt and sachet and simmer over low heat stirring occasionally for 20 min. Add dijon and removed sachet.

For the Cauliflower
   1 T olive oil
   1 small head of cauliflower cut into florets
   Salt and pepper to taste
   dash of paprika
Heat a pan big enough to fit all the cauliflower taking care not to over crowd the pan. If all you have is a small pan do in batches. Once the oil is hot add the florets flat side down and brown stirring only to prevent burning. Add more olive oil as necessary as the cauliflower will absorb a lot. Season with salt pepper and paprika.