FrogPrincesse

Braised brisket is delicious! I included details about my favorite recipe here on the "Cooking from Sunday Suppers at Lucques" thread. I would also love to see what other people are doing with brisket (there are already some great examples on this thread!).

There is a recipe that I make regularly now, it's the Braised Beef Brisket with Beluga Lentils. I had never heard about brisket until I moved to the US. I was always intrigued by it but had no idea what it tasted like. I don't even know how to say brisket in French (poitrine maybe?). Anyway, the recipe seemed simple enough so I decided to give it a go. I make it over 3 days but there is very little work involved each day. The brisket (with a layer of fat still on - she specifies to keep 1/2 in) is rubbed with a mixture of spices (including lots of black pepper, chile arbol, thyme, bay leaves, garlic) and left to marinate overnight. The next day, I brown the brisket (with the garlic and chiles set aside and added for the braise) in large Le Creuset pot. Then I cook the chopped vegetables in the same pot (carrots, celery, onions), deglaze with balsamic vinegar, add beef stock and beer (a stout such as Guinness works best), reduce the liquids, then finally add the brisket and transfer the covered pot into the oven to braise for 4-6 hours. The browned brisket with the liquids reducing The brisket after 5 hours Then the brisket is allowed to cool and transferred to the fridge. I store the sauce separately and defat at that point. To serve it, the brisket is sliced and reheated in a hot oven in the sauce. The slices are spread into a single layer in a baking dish, covered with the sauce, and reheated until slightly caramelized. This step is key as it transforms the meat and adds even more flavor. The rest of the sauce is reheated separately on the stove. She serves the brisket with lentils and I like to use Puy lentils. Her preparation is straight-forward with some onions, thyme, and chile arbol. She adds basil at the end (I use mint when I cannot find basil), which brightens up the flavors. I adopted this practice and every time I prepare lentils I make sure to use plenty of fresh herbs. If I eat the leftover lentils on their own, I like to add some red wine vinegar as well. (I love lentils.) I made the horseradish cream that is served on the side; it’s a simple mixture of crème fraiche and horseradish. She also includes a salsa verde as an accompaniment but I haven’t tried that one (talking about shortcuts!). Here is the plated dish.

Will, that recipe sounds wonderful. Just to make sure, is it this recipe: "Torchio with cauliflower, cavolo nero, currants and pine nuts"? It was not really on my radar screen but now that you mentioned it, I may have to try it soon! A lot of her recipes have multiple components that make the dish special and build a lot of flavor. The recipes work without them but are not quite as memorable that way.

To round up the salad recipes, there are others that I tried that I wanted to mention, even though I don't have any pictures. Barbara's apples and Asian pears with radicchio, mint and buttermilk dressing The Asian pears are a nice surprise because they look like apples at first until you start biting into them. The dressing was very good (although the yield was off - I would reduce quantities to 50% or less). Coleman Farm's treviso with Gorgonzola, walnuts and saba Radicchio/blue cheese/nuts is a classic combination. She uses an olive oil/lemon juice/shallot dressing. The saba which is drizzled on top is a wonderful addition which adds sweetness to balance the bitterness of the treviso. Dad's steakhouse salad: early girl tomatoes, red onion and Roquefort Heirloom tomato salad with burrata, torn croutons and opal basil The red wine vinegar/balsamic dressing she uses for these tomato salads really works. I never thought about using them together. I love highly acidic salad dressings but having the balsamic there helps bring out the sweetness in the tomatoes. Lobster chopped salad with fava beans, cherry tomatoes, avocado, corn and applewood-smoked bacon This is the real standout. It's a delicious salad that feels luxurious with the large quantities of lobster. I didn't use fava beans because I was having a hard time finding them (additionally I noticed that they were not included in the ingredient list, only the recipe title). When I made this salad last summer I used the best produce I could find together with some home-cured bacon. The corn is cooked in the bacon fat which adds another layer of flavor. Really wonderful. This is a good first course for dinner parties as most of the prep can be done in advance. It works well with a light main course (I served it with steamed clams).

mukki - I love tiki drinks so I will have to try this one. It looks great! A classic Martinez with the ratios from PDT: 1.5 oz each of Hayman's old tom gin and Dolin sweet vermouth, 0.25 maraschino, bitters (I used Angostura, the books calls for Boker's), twist (I substituted clementine for orange). Very enjoyable.

Crisp-skinned Chinook salmon with fresh peas and button mushrooms from my CSA, recipe from How to Pick a Peach by Russ Parsons. I am just glad I was able to obtain perfectly crisp skin with this recipe. It was very good - my 5-year old daughter called the skin "salmon chips".

I've indexed 4 books so far (Joy of Mixology, Boozehound, Sam Choy's Polynesian Kitchen, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails) and am entering my 5th one (Sippin' Safari). The cocktails books are easy because there are few ingredients to enter, and I can complete indexing within a week including proof-reading spending about 1 hour every night. Cooking books are a little more involved. I would say that they take about twice the amount of time. Of course this is for the average book; I can't imagine what it must have been to index books with thousands of recipes such as the Larousse Gastronomique! It's a good way to get to know your books better and I enjoy the process. The reward is great as I get to use my books much more often now.

My first thought as well. There is this recipe from Les Halles that I've always been meaning to try. Pâté de Lapin (page 94)

A cocktail created by Anthony Schmidt, The Ophelia, is featured in this month's issue of Southwest's Spirit Magazine. Article here.

A pastured chicken seasoned with lemon, garlic, rosemary, and roasted on the grill.

A couple of rogue/beta cocktails last night. The Start and Finish I am not sure I liked that one. I used 1/4 oz pastis instead of 1/2 oz absinthe because I don't have absinthe (and don't love it in large amounts). It was a little too "all over the place" for me, with strong - and not always harmonious - herbal flavors introduced by the vermouth, lillet, averna, with a strong anise finish. Burned popcorn This one is very good, with flavors from the flamed orange peels and aged rum playing well with the bourbon.

Love, love, love roasted bone marrow... Depending on the day, MIHO covers Carlsbad, Del Mar Heights, Rancho Bernardo, Sorrento Valley, UTC, Kearny Mesa, North Park, South Park, Mission Valley, and Downtown. Schedule here.

Great post Kouign Aman; it's good to see the good things that are happening in San Diego! There are lots of food trucks in San Diego these days. I'm a regular at MIHO (I talked about them in my foodblog here). I really like that the fact they are focused on local/seasonal ingredients. They expanded recently and added a second truck. Their menu is more streamlined now - they used to have only 3 or 4 items on the menu and change them every week; now they offer more options but don't change as often. I hope that the quality won't suffer too much from these changes. My husband just tried Mangia Mangia today and loved it. He had a classic meatball sandwich with nicely browned meatballs.

Thanks Linda! I am happy with the recipe. They come out a little thicker than the sweet crêpes (which is normal), but still quite thin. They have a great nutty flavor from the buckwheat. Let me know if you are having a problem seeing the online recipe; I can send it to you. I am sure that there are already some good tips on this thread. For me the key is to use a hot pan (I just use a large T-fal skillet); once you ladle the batter in the middle of the pan, you need to immediately tip the pan in all directions to spread the batter and form the crêpe, which should happen almost instantly (if not, the pan is not hot enough). That way the crêpes are never too thick. That's how my mom taught me to make them and it works great.

A good Averna cocktail from Jason Wilson's Boozehound: The Intercontinental. Cognac (1.5 oz), Averna (1 oz), maraschino (0.5 oz), orange zest. It would be a good dessert drink since it's a little on the sweet side and has chocolate undertones.

I like them in soups. Recently I used them for a cream of parsnip soup and a root vegetable soup to which they added a nice earthy flavor. I made a parsnip-potato puree that was very good. I also like roasted parsnips with little bit of honey and thyme.

Yesterday was La Chandeleur so I made crêpes. For savory crêpes, I use a batter that is half buckwheat half wheat. For sweet crêpes, I use a much lighter batter that is 100% wheat. I like to add a touch of orange blossom water to the sweet batter. Other than this minor modification, I use the recipes from The Country Cooking of France by Anne Willan (which are very traditional - see the end of this post for a link). The batters. The buckwheat batter (on the left) rests before it is further diluted. Breton buckwheat galettes (Galettes bretonnes au sarrasin) For the filling, we went traditional with a backyard egg from our friends, ham, and cheese. Crêpe with chocolate ganache. I also had one with plain crystallized sugar, which is actually my favorite. There is something about the light crunch of sugar that is irresistible. Galette recipe Crêpe recipe

Tonight I decided to try Janet's After School Special since I got a couple of Meyer lemons in my CSA. It's refreshing, but to be honest I am having a hard time with the Meyer lemons. To me they have a very pronounced bitter/resin taste and I don't get any of the acidity that I normally associate with lemons.

Did you check your grocery store? Mine carries demi-glace that I use in small quantities whenever a recipe calls for stock. Works great for sauces.

I've had the same bottle for a while now. I do keep it in the fridge. It's still very good although I don't have a new bottle to compare against.

325F (covered), and 400F for the last 15 min (uncovered)

I got a head of cabbage in my CSA so I decided to try the Braised Green Cabbage with Balsamic Vinegar. Prep time = less than 5 minutes (cut cabbage, chop onion, slice carrot, add stock & olive oil, s&p). Before: After 2 hours (with a drizzle of balsamic, and fleur de sel): I am not especially a fan of cabbage but this was really excellent and so easy to make.

A non-exhaustive list of San Diego chefs who tweet: @ChefBoBeau from BO-Beau Kitchen @chefchrispowell from Bali Hai @chefmccabe from Delicias @TreyFoshee from George's @urbansolace Matt Gordon @chefgschmidt formerly of Blanca

Bonal & Rye Recipe here.

Sure. So basically you sweat shallots in some butter and then add in the legs along with some Riesling and let simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or so. Drain and reduce the cooking liquid by half. Then, butter some ramekins and pipe in a mousse made of perch fish and place the frog meat inside, and cover with the mousse. Bake the mousselines in a bain marie at 400ºF for 15 minutes. Add some cream and butter to the reduced cooking liquid, and season to taste. Unmold the mousseline onto plates, surround with spinach cooked in butter, and pour the sauce on top and around. Top with some diced tomato and a sprig of chervil. It is a dish by Marc Haeberlin of L'Auberge de l'Ill. Thanks. That sounds and looks delightful.