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Braised Pheasant with Blue Cheese and Chard
Serves 6
As I have mentioned a few times, my upbringing in the culinary world allowed me to work with “real” game meats… Not farmed.. The hotel where my apprenticeship was served fell under the hunting grounds of “Valdemars castle”. A war hero From the 1600’s was the recipient of the residence, today the grounds must be maintained both agriculturally, but also it’s game population.
Pheasants, a part of the inhabitants, were frequent visitors in the kitchen of Hotel Troense.
And I spent many hours cleaning and cooking them when game season was on. It’s soon to be game season as I’m writing these words, therefore a little nostalgia must be allowed ….
A pheasant like all other game birds must be made cooking ready, therefore preserving it’s “game” qualities are very important. Feathers must be plugged, an incision in the rear allows for removal of all of the insides, and a gas burner/torch will remove the feather stubbs.
The “cleaned” bird should be browned with care, it’s skin is thin and vulnerable…
Obviously if one doesn’t have access to fresh shot pheasant, then try to buy/obtain from game butchers who might offer their products on-line.
Ingredients:
3 whole pheasants, cleaned and ready
½ cup melted duck fat
2 carrots
1 whole celery bulb
3 onions, peeled
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 cup blue cheese
2 vine ripe tomatoes
3 cup rich veal stock
bouquet garni
Cut carrots, celery and onion into a mirepoix* .
Heat a roasting pan large enough to host the birds and vegetables,
add the duck fat, brown the pheasants on all sides [breast, legs, spine}
Remove them from the roasting pan, add the mirepoix vegetables and brown them as well, add tomatoes, garlic and cook for 5 minutes, lay back in the pot the pheasant, add veal stock and bouquet garni, then add the gorgonzola.
Cover the pot with a lid or aluminum foil and let it simmer for 35 – 45 minutes, an oven will do the same , but then allow another 10 minutes of braising time.
After time is done the pheasant will reach the same style as a cooked chicken IE., legs/thighs are soft, the breasts are firm ETC.
Remove them from the braising pot, set them aside and let them rest for 30 – 45 minutes. Flip them.. and let the juices travel.
Get the pheasant ready for service.
Cut the birds in ½ , removing the back bone/spine .. Add the back bone to the braising liquid. Seperate the breast from the legs, leave the rib cage on the breast, trim them to make them ready for service, and keep them warm.
The sauce/braising liquid should be brought to a simmer, skim and soignee* the liquid.
Strain the braisings thru a chinois* and set aside in a pot, your sauce is now ready..
Braised Swiss Chard:
Swiss Chard… A meaty green is a green that can be used in big red wine dishes, You must, blanch the leaves ahead of time, in order to remove the bitterness associated with the green, wash the leaves and cut the thick ribbon out, chunk up the leaves and set aside, then blanch
3 lbs. of Swiss Chard leaves, cleaned and blanched*
1 cup of thickly sliced bacon, cut into cubes
1 onion, roughly diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
duck fat from the pheasant braisings/brownings
Render the bacon in the duck fat, in a roasting pan, add the onion along with the garlic, let all saute for 2 – 3 minutes then the blanched Swiss chard, mix and cook the ingredients for 4 – 5 minutes.
Place a leg and a breast of the pheasant on top of a pile of braised Swiss Chard, ladle the Gorgonzola gravy on top of each serving
Black Bean Soup with Braised Oxtail
Serves 6
Obviously the amount of time I have lived/spent in South Florida has exposed me to culture, rituals, foods, and how to cook oxtails.
My Nordic upbringing did not teach me about Latin culture and kitchen. Yes, I have cooked oxtails before I arrived in Miami, and maybe a bean or two found its way to my stove. But I think my first bean was red kidney beans, when making “Chili Con Carne” , this could very well be a spinoff of chili, except NOT spicy.
Oxtails:
See braised oxtail recipe with french fries, pg ?
Once cooked and the sauce has been soigneed* let the dish cool.
take a few oxtails and pick them from their meat, let the meat remain chunky like nuggets, do NOT shred the meat, in fact if some of the nuggets seem too big, use a knife to cut them in half.
Set aside, 3 cups of oxtail meat, and
2 cups of the oxtail sauce
Black Bean Soup:
A staple, in a Cuban household and culture, I have made it pureed, and not pureed, smooth and chunky, this recipe will not be traditional, and it might turn a few heads. It’s meant to be eaten as a soup, and served as such.
The flavors will be rich, and a good glass of Cabernet will assist..
3 cups of black beans soaked for 24 hours in cold water
1 bouquet garni*
rich chicken stock, enough to cover the beans, and then some
Remove the beans from the water, place them in a pot and cover them with rich chicken stock* . Cook them on medium heat until tender (NOT Al Dente) about 1.5 hours, remove the bouquet garni.
1 cup of diced carrots
1 cup of diced onions
1 cup of diced celery
6 cloves of garlic, minced
4 oz of diced pancetta
1 cup tomato concasse
olive oil
salt and fresh peppermill
pinch of fresh grated nutmeg
pinch of cumin
sherry drizzle
In a pot, heat the olive oil, add vegetables, garlic and pancetta and saute for 5 minutes on medium heat, add the beans and its cooking liquid.
Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, add the oxtail sauce, add more chicken stock if needed, filling should be ½ of liquid.
Add the oxtail meat and tomato concasse, bring soup to a simmer, soignee* the soup, adjust the flavor if needed. Ladle soup into serving bowls, drizzle a little Sherry over each serving.
Braised Portobello Mushroom with Gruyere Cheese melt
Serves 8
The dish is one of the dishes that I fondly remember from my first day’s working with a wood burning oven.
I first met the oven at my day’s @ Stars in San Francisco…
The idea of working an oven without any modern influences IE. temperature control thru thermometer.. But simply controlling the heat by managing a fire, and placing, rotating and flipping the dish/object at hand..Was at first very intimidating.
I quickly learned that more fire wood resulted in more heat, so the importance of managing a fire became more important than the actual cooking process.
A task/craft/process that has been the root of roasting, baking or where else an oven is needed for preparing foods. For thousands of years.
I do realize that most don’t have access to a wood burning oven. A wood fired grill will do good as well, with a lid covering the heat to create an oven concept.
Ingredients:
8 large portobello mushrooms
2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
2 cup veal stock
¼ cup EVOO*
¼ cup Balsamic vinegar
6 cloves of garlic
6 sprigs of thyme
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 bunch parsley stems
salt and pepper
Remove the stem, and scrape the beards out with a spoon, be careful not to break the mushroom cap, place the the caps in a roasting pan, spoon the olive oil onto the caps, then season with salt and pepper, pour in the veal stock and vinegar, add garlic and herbs.. Cover pan with aluminum foil and place inside grill and close lid, place inside wood oven or in a regular oven @ 350.
After about 8-10 minutes remove mushrooms from the oven, transfer them to a different roasting pan, divide the grated cheese inside each mushroom cap.
Strain the braising liquid in a small sauce pot/pan.. Bring to a simmer, skim the juice for impurities, and taste for salt and pepper.
Place the mushrooms back in the oven or grill, let the cheese melt and glaze a little..
Serve the mushrooms each in a serving bowl, spoon over the braising liquid.
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