Backyard Buddha’s Hand
Sweet and Sour Chicken with Carrot Fennel Salad
White Miso Soup with Crimini, Scallion, Sesame
Beef and Vegetable Stew (with secret peas)
Slow braised beef with parsnips, potatoes, carrots and peas. Chicken and vegetable stocks. Finished with créme fraiche, parsley and shallot breadcrumbs.
Mariscos Tostada, Frisée, Créme Fraîche, Pinquito Bean Puree
Fried corn tortilla, re-fried borracho beans, créme fraiche, vinaigrette dressed frisée. Tuna, scallop, shrimp and avocado. And, I cut it in half. That didn’t help with the flavor, just to make it look cool.
Beans are much cooler than people give them credit for. Especially, beans with beer.
Chicken Confit, Cauliflower, Leek, Chive Oil
Poach chicken thigh in shallot oil until you hear the quiet weeping of a Frenchmen.
Minced Chive, blended in oil, then briefly heated to set the color. Chill in ice bath, strain.
Poaching the chicken leg-thigh usually takes 1 1/2 hours (250 oven, garlic, bay, thyme). But, depending on the sensitivity of the Frenchmen, this could be as soon as 20 minutes (the after effects of the Petrarchian sonnet cycle probably has his emotions right at the surface). Pull, reserve oil. Pan fry to crisp skin. Cover with fried shallot and breadcrumbs.
Why the ISI Whip can’t get you all the way home: oil as green as the envy of those not invited to dinner.