eG Foodblog: Chris Amirault (2010) - Holidays in Rhode Island

[Shelby]

Here's my current kitchen timer, purchased without much research due to sudden need post-move:

This timer does the job that our old stove used to do, and it does it adequately. But as the Amazon reviews indicate, the OXO SoftWorks timer has some serious flaws, like a recessed display that's hard to read. Makes me think that someone out there has a really great timer suggestion....

You do, don't you?

I set my Blackberry alarm.

[Darcie B]

I believe what you're looking for is the Polder model 898. It's wearable and does count-up. The only thing I'm not sure of is how long it beeps. Most Polders do 30 seconds, I think.

It's cheaper at Amazon: Polder 898-90

I've got the black one.

So far mine has beeped until I turn it off.

Thanks a million! In my cart it goes! I don't think that was a eG friendly link, tho...and I don't know how to do that. Can someone please point me in the right direction?

[Chris Amirault]

Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms (filling of sauteed finely chopped mushroom stems, onion, and garlic with crumbled bacon, cream cheese, and parmesan).

Interesting. Ratios?

We are waiting for a Sears repairman (due on Thursday) to fix the drain line on our dishwasher. It would be a simple repair if I could access the darn thing. Unfortunately, the installer did not put a loop in the electric wiring long enough to pull out the dishwasher (and I’m a lousy electrician).

You might ask your installer to add a loop in the electric wiring long enough for your dishwasher to be easily accessed for service.

What a great idea! Being a lousy electrician too, I'll suggest it to the FIL.

Thanks a million! In my cart it goes! I don't think that was a eG friendly link, tho...and I don't know how to do that. Can someone please point me in the right direction?

Here's an eGullet-friendly link to it. If you click on that, anything you buy during that online session at Amazon will generate a donation at no cost to you!

[robirdstx]

Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms (filling of sauteed finely chopped mushroom stems, onion, and garlic with crumbled bacon, cream cheese, and parmesan).

Interesting. Ratios?

This is the recipe I use:

Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

4 - 6 strips of bacon

25 large mushrooms, stems removed

8 mushroom stems, finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated (divided use)

Heat skillet over medium heat and fry bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels and

crumble when cooled. Reserve bacon fat.

Wipe mushrooms clean and remove stems by twisting gently. Reserve and finely chop about 8 stems for next step. Finely chop onion and mince garlic.

Saute mushroom stems, onion and garlic in reserved bacon fat until tender. Drain off

excess fat.

Mix crumbled bacon and sauted vegetables with softened cream cheese and 3/4 cup

grated cheese until the mixture is workable.

Stuff each mushroom, sprinkle with remaining grated cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Turn the oven to broil and finish under broiler briefly, just until tops are golden.

Edited December 28, 2010 by robirdstx (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Here are some favorites from cocktail party classes we've taught:

• Sweet and spicy walnuts
  
• Tuna tapenade on crostini
  
• "Twice-baked" baby potatoes
  
• Corn (masa) cups with chicken in red sauce or chile verde
  
• Phyllo triangles filled with just about anything -- mushroom/roasted garlic/brie and ham and Gruyere were the most recent
  
• Beef roll-ups with mango filling
  
• Andouille puffs
  
• Toasted pita rounds with cucumbers and herbed yogurt cheese (kind of a deconstructed Tzatziki and pita)
  

The nuts, potatoes and beef would be gluten free, I'm pretty sure, and you can do the yogurt filling in cucumber boats without the pita. I'm not sure about the gluten content of corn.

For deviled egg variations, we've done a crab remoulade filling and Creole style.

Andouille puffs - do tell?

[TimS]

Chris,

As a lurker who also lives in RI (Narragansett), I really enjoyed following this thread. My own Christmas menu, not nearly as ambitious, got whittled to the basics since I came down with something Christmas Eve. Spent almost all time in bed since; reading this helped pass the time. Thanks for sharing.

[Chris Amirault]

Sorry to hear it, Tim. When you're out from under the weather, lets connect?

[TimS]

Sorry to hear it, Tim. When you're out from under the weather, lets connect?

Sounds good. Hope you're enjoying the weather!

[Chris Amirault]

Good morning.

Today we're unveiling a major project here at the eGullet Society: the index for the justifiably famous, and famously unwieldy, Sous Vide topic.

Along with our team of volunteers, I've been working on this for months, and we're presenting it to you for commentary in this beta topic. Whether you've been doing SV for years or don't know what the heck the fuss is about, I hope you'll go over to the topic and contribute your feedback there.

On January 1, we'll close the revised index as well as the original SV topic, so that we can lock in that information resource and start a new discussion for a new decade. Please take a moment to snoop around over there and let me know what you think!

[Chris Amirault]

Quick food update. Last night we had leftovers: broiled polenta (note to self: Silpats don't like the broiler for long stretches), daube, broccoli with vinaigrette, and Dorie Greenspan's 4 Star Bread Pudding. This morning, a cup of Diablo and a bowl of Raisin Bran, a product to which I have a complicated relationship; read this Daily Gullet piece from a few years ago for details.

And now, off to meet vice (Dave Viola) and start a chilly Rhody road trip. Brrr!

[Merridith]

I just confirmed plans with Dave Viola -- Society member vice above. We're going to give you a little tour of southern RI tomorrow. More on that later.

Meanwhile, here's the party food skinny. We have an annual Night Before New Years Eve party, and we have about 30 people coming. Drinks are pretty straightforward -- I'll get some interesting beer and wine and make a punch, probably Regents -- but food is trickier.

We have a friend who has celiac disease, and we want to be sure to have a nice array of gluten-free foods. Here are the other, rather random, thoughts I've had:

• No theme necessary.
  
• Must. Have. Gougeres.
  
• Use up a few items in the pantry/freezer, including homemade bacon, mustard, pancetta, preserved lemon, sausage, hot sauce, smoked salmon.
  
• Other seafood also possible (shrimp? oysters?).
  
• Must. Have. Deviled. Eggs.
  
• Finger food.
  
• I think I want to try making crackers for the first time this year. Thoughts?
  
• Do-ahead, as always, is preferred.
  
• No fryer or grill.
  
• Excellent broiler.
  
• A few Middle Eastern dips with raw vegetables -- baba ganoush & hummous, say -- are always good.
  
• Some reliably edible kid food is essential.
  

Your thoughts are requested!

I made some savory "cookies" this week - the recipe I picked up here and here. They were wonderful, easy to do ahead and very unusual. You have to put up a sign on the table to tell people they are not sweets. They freeze well and are great to take out of the freezer when you need a party snack in a hurry. Sorry, not gluten free.

[Chris Amirault]

Uploading pictures of our south coast trip, and wanted to share this snap of

... Dorie Greenspan's 4 Star Bread Pudding.

[Chris Amirault]

Dave and I started off our morning at one of the many independently owned and operated restaurants that are all over RI: Oatley's of North Kingstown:

It's hard to make out in the photo, but the center of the building includes a drive-through gap, where, when the weather is nice, you can get a few NY system weiners and a coffee milk without leaving your car.

Breakfast (#2 for me) was a great bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on an English muffin; Dave went with whole wheat toast. We split an order of jonnycakes that were only ok.

Fortified, we hit the road.

[Chris Amirault]

Then we drove south to South Kingstown, home of Matunuck Oyster Farm and Bar:

Perry Raso, the man behind the entire project, walked us through the basics of his operation (and, full disclosure, comped us the food):

Check out the google map here with satellite imaging on, and you can see the oyster lines in the salt pond that we saw out our window:

Perry has about 12 million oysters growing in there, which he ships all over the east coast. (Here's the math: ~100 lines; ~100 bags/line; ~1200 oysters/bag.)

They are part of a coop with 5 other area oyster farmers, whose products are usually available at the bar:

Today, however, the storm prevented us from sampling an array -- which, given the high quality of the oysters both raw and Rockefeller, was not a problem in the least. They were briny, slightly sweet, and meaty, just delicious:

[Chris Amirault]

On 1293483778' post='1777044, Chris Hennes said:

On 1293466808' post='1777007, Chris Amirault said:

I love yeasted waffles, which we rarely have here.

What recipe do you use? I had some fantastic yeasted waffles yesterday morning that I posted about in the Waffle topic.

Sorry this took so long: King Arthur Flour Cookbook.

[Chris Amirault]

Current party food list now includes:

bacon candy (request by a family member)

smoked & spiced nuts of some sort

tuna, olive, & preserved lemon tapenade on crostini (tx Matt & Janet)

deviled eggs (leaning Creole, though may have a few different ones)

some sort of vegetable crudité selection

salmon of some sort (mousse? smoked?)

Finally, we're going to create a tortilla station. As I mentioned, I have about 48 more pounds of corn to use, as well as a bunch of prepared ingredients (carnitas, hot sauces). They're kid and adult friendly and, as far as I can tell, fine for those with celiac disease.

We're still thinking though, so keep sending ideas my way.

[Dave the Cook]

deviled eggs (leaning Creole, though may have a few different ones)

For Thanksgiving, we ground up some andouille and cooked it off. Then we mixed the sausage, with some of the rendered fat, into the cooked yolks along with finely chopped scallion, mayo, and Creole mustard. We piped the mixture into the halved whites and garnished with something I've forgotten. They disappeared pretty quickly -- but then, that's what happens to pretty much any deviled egg.

[Chris Amirault]

Oh, I forgot the best part of my oyster farm information.

Virtually all oysters on the east coast come from one species: crassostrea virginica, or the American cupped oyster. However, oysters up and down the coast vary widely, due to seasons, temperature, location, depth, tide, and a host of other factors.

If that sounds like terroir, you're right, hence the name coined for these environmental and seasonal effects on oysters: merroir.

[JAZ]

Here are some favorites from cocktail party classes we've taught:

. . .

• Andouille puffs
  

Andouille puffs - do tell?

Kerry, they're really easy. Slice andouille sausage into 1/4-inch coins and saute briefly, just to render some of the fat. Let cool. Cut a sheet of puff pastry into 2-inch squares and place the squares into the cups of mini-muffin tins. Place a piece of sausage in the middle of each square, pressing down firmly. Bake at 400F for about 10 minutes, until the pastry is puffed up and golden brown. Top with a drizzle of creme fraiche mixed with honey mustard. Here's the complete recipe.

[onrushpam]

These ideas may not fit with the direction you're now headed, but you mentioned wanting to include some sort of seafood...

Two of our most popular "nosh" foods for company are steamed oysters and fried blue crab "cocktail claws".

I buy a half-bushel oysters and set up my steamer on the stove. (I have one of those double-duty big pots with a mostly-useless pasta insert and a steamer basket.) I steam as many as it will hold (just until they open), dump those out in a big bowl and do another bunch. It is a little labor intensive, but everybody loves them. We serve simply with some cocktail sauce and lemon/butter for dipping, but most people eat them straight up.

I dip the cocktail claws in a little pre-mixed fish breading from our local shop, then fry for just a minute or so. But, if you can't fry, you can forgo the breading and broil briefly in lemon/butter. (They are already cooked, so you really just want to warm them.)

Or, you could always just include some shrimp along with the tortillas/carnitas/etc. for shrimp tacos.

You have inpsired me to go in search of a tortilla press this week!

[Kerry Beal]

Here are some favorites from cocktail party classes we've taught:

. . .

• Andouille puffs
  

Andouille puffs - do tell?

Kerry, they're really easy. Slice andouille sausage into 1/4-inch coins and saute briefly, just to render some of the fat. Let cool. Cut a sheet of puff pastry into 2-inch squares and place the squares into the cups of mini-muffin tins. Place a piece of sausage in the middle of each square, pressing down firmly. Bake at 400F for about 10 minutes, until the pastry is puffed up and golden brown. Top with a drizzle of creme fraiche mixed with honey mustard. Here's the complete recipe.

Thank you Janet - just happen to have pretty much everything I need to make these.

[Merridith]

Sorry about that.

Here is the recipe for

FIG AND BLUE CHEESE SAVORY COOKIES

adapted from Food 52

Makes about 3 dozen

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

4 ounces mild blue cheese, crumbled

Ground black pepper

Fig preserves, about 3 Tablespoons

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2.Place the flour, butter, blue cheese and a few grinds of black pepper in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the dough just comes together and starts to form a ball.

3.Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to pull the dough together. Roll out to 1/8 inch thick with a floured rolling pin. Cut rounds out of the dough with a floured 1-inch cutter and transfer the rounds to the parchment-lined baking sheet. Alternatively, you can roll the dough into some 1" logs, put it in the fridge for a while and then cut slices 1/8 to 1/4 inches.

4.Using the back or a round half-teaspoon measure or your knuckle, make an indention in the top of each dough round. Place about ¼ teaspoon of fig preserves into each indention.

5.Bake the savories for 10 – 14 minutes, until the preserves are bubbling and the pastry is light golden on the bottom.

6.Let cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool.

7.You can make these a day ahead and keep them in two layers separated by waxed paper in an airtight container. They also freeze well and can be served after sitting at room temp for a short while.

AND here is the recipe for

CHEDDAR THUMBPRINTS

adapted from Food 52

makes about 48

12 ounces grated extra sharp cheddar cheese

4.5 ounces unsalted butter

1.5 cups all purpose flour

.5 cups toasted pecans, chopped finely

4 ounces hot pepper jelly, habanero jelly, or other onion jelly

1.Put cheese and butter in the bowl of your food processor and pulse a few times. Add flour and pulse until the mixture comes together and forms a ball. Remove from g bowl and form dough into a disk. Chill well. (Or freeze for an hour.)

2.Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment or Silpat sheets.

3.Remove dough from the refrigerator and break off 1 teaspoon sized pieces and form into little balls.

4.Roll the cookie ball around in the pecans and then place them about 1" apart on the baking sheet, smushing slightly so they dont roll around.

5.Slide the baking sheets into the oven for five minutes, remove them from the oven and poke a little indentation into each cookie with the end of a wooden spoon or a small dowel. Put a tiny spoonful of the jelly in the indentation.

6.Return the cookies back to the oven and bake until the tops are very lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

7.Cool on the sheet on a rack. These cookies will keep for three days. Store them in layers between wax paper. Can be frozen and served after a brief rest at room temperature.

Edited December 28, 2010 by Merridith (log)

[Dave the Cook]

. . .

I dip the cocktail claws in a little pre-mixed fish breading from our local shop, then fry for just a minute or so. But, if you can't fry, you can forgo the breading and broil briefly in lemon/butter. (They are already cooked, so you really just want to warm them.)

This is a typical snack when we're vacationing on the Florida panhandle -- quick, easy and good. Even easier and just as good is to marinate them in an appropriate vinaigrette (go easy on the acid).

[Shelby]

Ohhhhhhh Chris, if only you could pm me some oysters. I literally just drooled.

[janeer]

I took this shot of the gourgeres as a test, but they didn't make it to the serving platter. Great recipe: easy to make and quite forgiving. I used another ziplok kludge for these guys, as we lack a pastry bag. Definitely going to make these again and again.

The onion soup depended on a beef stock with a lot of gelatin, which, along with the onions, had a lot of body. I combined the Culinaria and Robuchon recipes, adding a bit of flour toward the end to the golden onions. And, thanks to a bunch of second-hand ramekins, the presentation was pretty spectacular:

At about this time Bebe started realizing that this meal was not going to be Annie's shells, and, to enable the other seven of us to get through the meal in a leisurely fashion, we broke out the Frosted Mini-Wheats:

The stuffed onions were excellent. I don't think that the creme fraiche was necessary, and it slid off the slippery onion slope. But no matter, as it's an easy and tasty course:

Forwent the chestnuts on the duck ham salad, which was great:

Because of the ice cream mishap, we ran short of eggs, and so I resuscitated the polenta, much to my mother-in-law's happiness. The daube, as always, was wonderful:

Finally, the tart - which would have benefited from more tart valencia oranges:

Just catching up after the blizzard in NYC--beautiful photos, especially the soup and salad, thank you for taking the time out of your holiday dinner