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The recipes that follow are from my recently published cookbook, A Cook’s Table (co-authored with Todd Wernstrom). The recipes in the book are really a compendium of my many years in professional kitchens in my native Denmark, San Francisco and Miami at Two Chefs, my restaurant that has been serving dishes like those that follow for more than 30 years. All of the recipes employ classical French technique and many are among restaurant greatest hits. Many others are updates on the classics while still others touch on many other cuisines. All of them deliver lots of flavor. You will see that there are wine recommendations for each dish. The book has a very significant wine component that will make food and wine pairing easy (ordering info below).
Enjoy!
Potato Rösti, Osetra Caviar
Serves 6
Rösti originated in Switzerland, and while simple to make, it’s extremely rewarding when done correctly. The dish was probably created by mistake or with the idea of using already cooked potatoes, left over from a previous meal. The cooked potatoes are simply grated, shaped and fried. I like to add a little bacon and onion to the dish, and in this recipe, caviar as a luxurious garnish.
At first glance, you might say that this is just a potato pancake of sorts and hardly revolutionary. Depending on where you’re from, “potato pancake” can mean latkes, strata or galette. This is all true but I like rösti because the potato is cooked twice, where most other versions will start with raw potato, grated or cut thinly, then shaped and cooked.
Rosti:
2 lbs. Yukon Gold Potatoes, boiled or baked the day before in their peel, kept cold
1 small onion peeled
egg yolk (optional)
olive oil, lard or duck fat for cooking
Peel the cooked potatoes, then with a box grater, grate the potatoes and onion into a bowl. Mix with your hands, squeezing the mixture together into a ball of dough. If the dough seems dry, add an egg yolk or two. In a non-stick skillet add a generous amount of lard, duck fat or oil and bring to medium heat.
On a cutting board, divide the dough into 2-ounce balls, or use a small cookie cutter or ring mold to measure the balls out. Flatten the dough balls with a spatula or shape them in a ring mold (about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 1/8-inch thick). Using a spatula, arrange them in the skillet. Do not flip, touch or shake once the sauté is started. Allow them to sauté to a golden brown, then flip and brown on the reverse side.
Arrange them on a serving tray as an hors d’oeuvre or on a plate as a first course. Three per serving is perfect.
Garnish:
1 cup crème fraîche
1 cup finely chopped bacon, sautéed to a crisp, or sliced, crisped and chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped finely
1/4 cup parsley, chopped.
3 shallots peeled, chopped into a brunoise
I prefer Osetra when it comes to fish eggs. I find the species to be delicious as well as affordable but any good fish eggs will do. Let your budget be your guide.
On top of each rösti, place a dollop of crème fraîche, a small dollop of shallots, celery, then caviar and a sprinkle of parsley.
Kitchen Wisdom:
Season the rösti after they have been cooked. Doing so before will result in the salt pulling out moisture which can cause the rösti to crumble.
What to drink:
This is not only a rich dish, but starchy. Because of the bacon, I would lean toward any Champagne with lots of bottle age on it. The particular style, i.e., NV, Blanc de Blancs, etc., is less important than the aged notes that come with bottles that have been disgorged for at least two years—more is even better—which should nicely mimic the smoky and “oily” notes of the rosti. Rosé would work as well. Champagne’s inherent acidity can handle the fish eggs.
Dungeness Crab with Aïoli
Serves 4
I met Dungeness crab in San Francisco. It resembled some kind of prehistoric monster, but alive and caught just off the coast.
I was taught to treat it like any other crab, taking into account cooking time which would be dictated by the size of the animal. A typical preparation is to boil them, chill them, crack the claws and eat. It doesn’t get much more basic than that. As an accompaniment, some prefer melted butter, or maybe a dash of hot sauce. My favorite, however, is to scoop some fresh aïoli on the crab, a squeeze of lemon juice and enjoy the purity of simplicity.
Cook the crabs in court bouillon:
1 medium to large Dungeness crab
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
5 star anise pods
5 bay leaves
3 lemons, halved
1/4 cup salt
In a pot big enough to hold the crab, add enough water to cover the vegetables and spices, bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes in order for vegetables and spices to release their flavors.
Add the crab, bring back to a boil, let cook for 8-10 minutes. Remove crab from pot, let it drain and cool to room temperature, about an hour, then refrigerate. When cold, break off the legs, cut through the joints to make smaller pieces, then cut lengthwise to butterfly (kitchen shears make this job easy). Remove the meat, spoon on some aïoli and enjoy.
I like to make aïoli as traditional as possible. The sauce originates in the South of France but this one is made with potatoes, not egg yolks. The mustard, while optional, gives the sauce a real tanginess that acts as a bit of a counter to the richness of the crab and the potato and oil mixture.
Real aïoli:
3 Yukon Gold Potatoes (about 1 lb.)
5 garlic cloves with their skin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 rosemary sprig
1 thyme sprig
salt
black pepper
juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon mustard (optional)
1 cup olive oil
In a small roasting pan, add potatoes, garlic, herbs and olive oil. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes until potatoes are fork tender (garlic and potatoes should not brown). Let cool to room temperature.
Peel potatoes and garlic, and place in a mortar, add salt, and with the pestle, start mashing the potatoes together with the garlic. (Resist the urge to use a food processor as doing so will result in the potatoes being overworked and gummy.) When the consistency of a paste is achieved, add the lemon juice, pepper and mix well. Slowly pour in the olive oil until incorporated. The texture should be smooth, starchy, lemony and rich.
Kitchen Wisdom:
I like to roast the garlic, though many would use it raw. I like the creamy texture you get when roasting the garlic and potatoes. Also, doing this makes it easier to emulsify the oil because all of the ingredients are soft.
What to drink:
The solution to this pairing can be found in the last sentence of the recipe: “The texture should be smooth, starchy, lemony and rich.” There is a great deal of inherent richness in the dish—crab and aïoli—but the lemon and mustard call for a bit more restraint in your glass than a full-on toasty, brioche-like vintage or non-vintage blend. A basic—for Champagne anyway!—Blanc de Blancs with its freshening acidity would be a nice complement because it won’t be overwhelmed by the crab and will mimic the citric elements of the dish.
Chicken Fried Florida Lobster with Mustard Sabayon
Serves 4
One afternoon while flipping channels, I came across a cooking show. The presenter—I can’t recall who—was in the Mississippi Delta at an old and famous restaurant—that I also can’t recall the name of!—where time and tradition had ruled the menu for decades. There are, of course, many similar places all over the South and indeed everywhere where food has been cooked for people willing to pay for it, but what caught my eye was the old cast iron frying pan sizzling with fried lobster tails. Lobster is generally boiled, poached or broiled but never fried. I thought about how I would do a similar dish. Because the inspiration was Southern, I thought, why not chicken fry the lobster.
I like to use peanut oil when I deep fry. It adds a beautiful nutty flavor as well as allowing for high temperature before reaching its burning point. I also chose spiny lobster over Maine lobster, simply because of its more meaty texture. Maine lobster tails are more delicate and might not appreciate the rougher treatment of a deep fry. Florida lobsters, as spinies are called in South Florida where I have spent most of my career, are available fresh during a short seasonal event that beckons many non-professional fishers to the water. If you decide to go with Maine lobster, par boil the tails for a minute or two in order to firm up the meat.
4 spiny lobster tails (8-9 oz each) halved in their shells
Peanut oil for frying
For the flour mix for dredging the tails before frying, I choose to keep it simple. Flavors from the sauce and oil are plenty to enhance the beauty of the lobster meat.
Flour mix:
1 cup flour
1 cup corn starch
1 teaspoon of salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
2 egg whites
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk the egg whites to break them up but not to get them frothy. Let the lobster tails soak in the whites for a minute. Then dredge them in the flour mix. Drop them one by one into the preheated peanut oil and let fry for a couple of minutes until golden brown. Remove from oil and let them rest on a paper towel for a minute to drain.
Mustard sabayon:
6 egg yolks
1 cup dry Sherry
zest of lemon
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Sabayon is generally a sauce associated with dessert. Here, I like to leave the sweet out and use this preparation as a savory vehicle. Whisk to blend the yolks, Sherry, mustard, lemon zest and salt in a stainless-steel bowl. In a double boiler, whisk the ingredients constantly until they start thickening, 4-5 minutes or more until the sauce shows the appearance of being “cooked.” But be careful not to let the mixture scramble. Take off the heat as necessary. Remove bowl from the heat and place in an ice bath whisking the sauce until it is cold. Set aside.
In a different bowl whisk the cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold the sauces together. Adjust seasoning.
Kitchen Wisdom:
Try to reach a precise 325 when frying the lobster tails, and do not touch them once placed in the oil so a perfect crust develops. Leaving the shell on the lobster tail when frying may seem odd, but doing so will help prevent the meat from drying out in the same way that cooking shrimp in their shells protects the flesh.
What to drink:
There is a lot of richness here and while perhaps a Chardonnay or a Champagne could match up with it as equals, Sauvignon Blanc just isn’t wired that way. Your wine will be a palate refresher. Sancerre works well as would a citric, lean style from elsewhere. However, this is not the place to experiment with Kiwi SBs. They have just too much going on, and also don’t have the body to match up texture to texture.
Enjoy.
I hope I have inspired you to have a bit of fun, maybe challenge a dusty pot and pan to return to the stove. Otherwise, call 305-663-2100 for reservations.
Jan Jorgensen, Two Chefs Restaurant
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