Alineaphile

LAMB, In Cubism (Part 3)

December 15, 2011

LAMB, In Cubism – Alinea Restaurant cookbook recipe, pages 188-191. Continued from LAMB, In Cubism (Part 2)
By Martin S. Lindsay December 15, 2011

A cubist feast of Mediterranean flavors, lamb, mint, eggplant, yogurt, lemon and exotic spices. Continued from the Alinea Restaurant recipe for LAMB, In Cubism (Part 2)

Day Three — The Bolero Climax

By the time all was said and done and the slow dance was over, the food turned out deliciously amazing. It had all the flavors of a Greek or Moroccan meal on one plate! Each way you took a bite — mixing the many flavors — was different. We ended up having enough for several meals, and our dining experience was different each time!

Assembling the Garnishes

They day before, we spent making the eight puddings to be used on the base of this dish. Today was much easier, assembling the various garnishes. There are ten or so.

Braised Mustard Seeds
Mise en place:

I combined the ingredients in a medium saucepan and brought to a boil.

I simmered for 5 minutes, but the mix went dry. I ended up adding about 50g more water than was specified in the recipe. Then removed the pan from the heat and covered, to let the seeds plump up.

Ingredients
Brown and yellow mustard seed
Water
White wine vinegar
C&H cane sugar
Morton’s kosher salt, to taste

Eggplant Seeds
The day before, I had reserved some eggplant seeds in small clumps resembling caviar, so I got them out of the fridge and reserved to our prep area. We’ll need just a small amount for garnish.

Ingredients
Eggplant, seeds reserved

Chili Rings
I had a few red chilis left in the freezer, and although they were a bit shrivelly, I used one anyway. One jalapeño will provide plenty of garnish for us tonight. I sliced it into thin rings and reserved to our prep area.

Ingredients
Red jalapeño chili

Preserved Meyer Lemon
The very first recipe I made for this project — way back when — was for preserved Meyer lemon. I checked in my freezer, and they were still there, and doing just fine! So I took a quarter-lemon out and cut a good-sized piece of zest. I sliced it into thin slivers, or batons, about 0.75 inches long, and reserved to our prep area.

Ingredients
Preserved Meyer lemon

Pomegranate Seeds
I opened up a pomegranate and reserved some of the seeds to our prep area.

Ingredients
Pomegranate, seeds reserved

Chive Tips
I cut off the pointy tips on some fresh chives, in 0.75-inch lengths, and reserved in cold water in our prep area.

Ingredients
Bunch fresh chives

Saffron
I reserved a bunch of saffron threads to our prep area.

Ingredients
Saffron threads

Mint Tips
I had previously reserved the small leaves from our mint the day before, so I fetched them from the fridge to our prep area.

Ingredients
Sprigs of small mint leaves

Fennel Fronds
The recipe calls for micro bronze fennel sprouts, but I could not find any, so I used fennel frond tips instead.

Ingredients
Tips of small fennel fronds

Braised mustard seeds, Dijon mustard, chili rings, preserved Meyer lemon batons, chive tips, saffron threads, fenugreek sprouts, mint leaves, eggplant caviar, fennel tips, and pomegranate seeds.

Prepping the Lamb

I took out one rillette roll from the fridge and quickly sliced it into medallions. I did not want the heat from my fingers or the room temp to melt them. One rolI will make 6-8 pieces, depending on how thick you slice it. I dredged the rillettes in flour, egg and panko, and set them near the cast-iron skillet — ready for frying.

Then I fetched the lamb loin noisette from the fridge. Here’s the setup on the line:

To Assemble and Serve

We assembled all of our mise in the prep area, and at the last minute brought out the eight frozen sheets of pudding. Some hold up better over time, others melt very quickly. You’ll notice that the date purée is the lumpiest on the final plating. That’s because it was the quickest to thaw…

Champagne in-hand, I’m ready to do this!

I started by using a palette knife to spread out a square of Dijon mustard, then applied squares of the eight puddings randomly on our flat CB2 serving platters.

I had trouble with the date purée, as it melted the fastest! Rather than waiting for it to re-freeze, we conferred, said something along the lines of “frack it,” and smoothed the son-of-a-bitch out to a reasonably square shape. Maybe I can hide it with some garnish?

Then I fired up the skillet and seared the whole rolled lamb noisette until brown, took it off the heat to rest before removing the string and slicing it up.

Added more canola oil to the skillet and fried the breaded lamb rillettes. I drained them on paper towels. Now I was ready to plate…

Now I was ready to plate the meat and add the final garnishes. I placed two medallions of lamb on top of the ugly-ass date purée. Then with a quarter-teaspoon, I added a small pile of braised mustard seed. And with tweezers some eggplant seed caviar, a chili ring with preserved Meyer lemon baton, some pomegranate seeds and a chive tip. Topped with some saffron threads, fenugreek sprouts, fennel fronds, and a mint tip on the corner of the plate. The added a lamb rillette. Voila!

The frozen puddings had started to thaw as soon as we retrieved them from the freezer. By the time plating was done, they had melted considerably, but retained their square shapes. A touch with a creme brulée torch was all that was needed to melt the last of them. Then it was time to eat!

Ingredients
Canola oil
Dijon mustard

Equipment
Pretty much everything I have in the kitchen

Serveware
Flat serving platters, from CB2

Yields: About eight servings per lamb loin, with lots of date purée and frozen puddings left over. If you do the whole saddle of lamb (with two loins and two rillette rolls) and full pudding recipes, you’ll easily have enough for 16 servings.

Above, cubsim vs. abstract expressionism.

Alternate Servings
The second time I plated this, I added some roasted garlic and a spicy cucumber salad to the garnishes. I thought they would complement the other Mediterranean flavors…

Posted in Recipes, Summer | 2 Comments

LAMB, In Cubism (Part 2)

December 5, 2011

LAMB, In Cubism – Alinea Restaurant cookbook recipe, pages 188-191. Continued from LAMB, In Cubism (Part 1)

A cubist feast of Mediterranean flavors, lamb, mint, eggplant, yogurt, lemon and exotic spices. Continued from the Alinea Restaurant recipe for LAMB, In Cubism (Part 1)

Day Two — Pudding Paranoia

So we spent a total of twelve hours in the kitchen prepping these components. There are eight gels, purées and puddings to contend with in this recipe.

At one point, we found it necessary to leave stickies on everything to keep track of “what was what” in all their various stages of completion.

1. Eggplant Purée
Mise en place:

I cut some eggplants in half, lengthwise, removing the ends. Then scored the cut surfaces, and set them on a bed of salt and sugar.

You’ve probably seen this requirement before in recipes: sprinkle the eggplant with salt first. This draws out some of their moisture, and helps prepare them for cooking, so they don’t turn to mush later.

Rinsed them off, cut them up, and placed the eggplant in sous vide bags with oil. Sealed them up with my FoodSaver vacuum sealer.

Cooked en sous vide for 1.5 hours at 185°F.

After that, I removed the bags and plunged in an ice water bath to cool. Then removed the eggplant. It was soft, but did not fall apart. Excellent…

Then I separated small clumps of seeds and reserved them as “eggplant caviar” for garnish later.

The flesh AND skin will be ground up for the purée. Using the skin will give the purée some color.

I blended the eggplant with some of its cooking liquid, until smooth. The longer you blend it, the easier it will be to strain.

I strained it into a bowl, added some sherry vinegar and gelatin.

Then I was ready to squeegee the purée into a flat sheet.

The Squeegee Setup

It’s kinda like pulling prints in silkscreening. From top left: I set up a squeegee area using Scotch foam tape. Cut acetate sheets to fit half-sheet pans. Used a little water on the countertop to anchor the acetate sheet. Then sprayed the sheet with PAM non-stick coating. Poured the purée out on one end, and used a squeegee to draw it out into a smooth, flat sheet. Used a small spatula to pry it up off the counter and put the acetate sheet (with purée) onto a prepared tray. And popped it in the freezer…

Ingredients
Fresh eggplant
Morton’s kosher salt
C&H cane sugar
Star Brand extra virgin olive oil
Sherry vinegar
Fresh thyme
Rousselot silver gelatin

Thank You Ettore Steccone!

All this squeegeeing made me think about the thing. Where did it come from? Who invented it? Although I did not really use the official product, I used the technology to help draw the various puddings and purées into sheets. In 1936, window washer Ettore Steccone patented his version of the modern window wiper. He called it the “New Deal” Ettore Squeegee. And to this day, it’s manufactured by his company. I’m sure he never would have thought his invention would have gone on to see such a wildly varying application — pulling puddings for dinner!

Eggplant Seeds
Taking the reserved eggplant seeds and cores from above, I removed the seeds from any remaining eggplant flesh. I tried to get just the seeds in strips, so they resembled eggplant “caviar.” Then reserved in a plastic container.

Ingredients
Reserved eggplant seeds, from above

My Post-modern Pantry

2. Date Purée
I made a peppercorn sachet using a teabag. You can use cheesecloth tied with kitchen twine, like a bouquet garni. I used a tea pouch that’s made for loose teas, and folds closed like a plastic sandwich bag. (They’re quick and easy!) Then I pitted the Medjool dates. Mise en place:

I combined the pitted dates, lamb stock (reserved from the previous day), water, sherry vinegar and pepper in a medium saucepan and heated them to a boil. I simmered until the dates absorbed the liquid and fell apart to the touch of a fork. The liquid boiled down to less than half its original height in the pan…

I removed the peppercorn sachet, transferred the mix to my Oster blender, added the olive oil, and blended until smooth. The Alinea cookbook says it should form stiff peaks. Mine was a little runnier than that, but I pressed on.

I squeegeed the date purée into a flat layer on a sheet of acetate, as above. Then quickly moved it to the freezer.

Ingredients
Dried Medjool dates, pitted
Lamb stock, reserved from day one
Water
Sherry vinegar
Star Brand extra-virgin olive oil
Morton’s kosher salt, to taste

3. Saffron and Goat’s Milk Pudding
Mise en place:

Mise-en-place for saffron-goat-milk pudding

I love using saffron. This recipe will be used in something again, to be sure…

I combined the goat milk, sugar, saffron threads and a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan and brought to a boil, simmered a bit, then removed from the heat to steep for an hour or so while we frantically juggled the other pudding recipes. After awhile I strained the saffron-infused goat milk into my Oster blender.

I blended while slowly adding the Ultra-Tex 3. I had to add more that was specified in the recipe to get ‘small peaks’.

I squeegee-ed the saffron-goat-milk pudding into a flat layer on a sheet of acetate, as above. Then quickly moved it to the freezer.

Ingredients
Meyenberg whole goat milk, from Whole Foods
Saffron threads
C&H cane sugar
Morton’s kosher salt, to taste
Ultra-Tex 3, from LeSanctuaire

4. Lemon Purée
Mise en place:

I added the quartered lemons to the blender with some simple syrup, grape seed oil, a touch of salt, and blended until it was smooth. Needed a bit more oil (my blender isn’t as strong as a Vita-Prep, so I always end up adding a little more liquid to get the desired shear). Then strained out the solids…

I squeegee-ed the lemon purée into a flat layer on a sheet of acetate, as above. Then quickly moved it to the freezer.

Ingredients
Meyer lemon
Simple syrup
Grape seed oil
Morton’s kosher salt, to taste

5. Yogurt Pudding
Another relatively easy one, this recipe needed a slight adjustment for the quantity of thickener. Mise en place:

I combined some plain Greek yogurt, sugar and just a touch of salt in my Oster blender, then let ‘er rip. I slowly added Ultra-Tex 3 to thicken. I needed more than specified in the recipe to get it to form stiff peaks. Then strained it onto an acetate sheet in my ‘pudding prep area’.

I squeegee-ed the yogurt pudding into a flat layer on a sheet of acetate, as above. Then quickly moved it to the freezer.

Ingredients
Plain yogurt
C&H cane sugar
Ultra-Tex 3, from LeSanctuaire
Morton’s kosher salt, to taste

6. Mint Pudding
I must say, having bunches and bunches of fresh mint in the kitchen smells wonderful. We took several bunches and separated the stems from the leaves. And reserved some small leaves in ice water for garnish.

I brought a large pot of water to a boil and blanched the mint leaves — just soft enough so they would blend really easily. Then plunged them into an ice water bath.

Mise en place:

Then I added the blanched mint leaves, some ice water, simple syrup and a touch of salt to my blender and puréed the hell out of them. After several minutes, I reduced the speed and slowly added some Ultra-Tex 3 to thicken. Then strained onto an acetate sheet.

I squeegee-ed the mint pudding into a flat layer on a sheet of acetate, as above. Then quickly moved it to the freezer.

Ingredients
Fresh mint leaves, stems removed
Ice water
Simple syrup
Ultra-Tex 3, from LeSanctuaire
Morton’s kosher salt, to taste

7. Pomegranate Pudding
Mise en place:

This was an easy one! I poured some pomegranate juice into my Oster blender, turned it on, and slowly added in some Utra-Tex 3.

The liquid started to thicken up, but I had to add more Utra-Tex than specified for it to reach an acceptably thick state. (Thick enough to stop spinning in the blender. It never formed stiff peaks.)

I squeegee-ed the pomegranate pudding into a flat layer on a sheet of acetate, as above. I used up my small half-sheet trays, and run out of cardboard to support the sheets. Quick thinking required! What did I have to support the pudding sheets? Let’s get out some old LPs — they’d do in a pinch!

So I grabbed an old Elvis record, plopped on the acetate sheet, and quickly moved it to the freezer.

Ingredients
Pomegranate juice
Ultra-Tex 3, from LeSanctuaire

8. Pine Nut Pudding – Continued
After the pine nut milk had steeped overnight, I removed the infusion from the fridge. I strained out the pine nuts and reserved for later use. (I made a really good pesto with the leftover mint from the mint purée component recipe.) Then I brought the pine nut-infused milk to a boil with some agar agar, strained it into a shallow container and let set up to harden.

After it had set up into a firm gel (in about two hours, refrigerated), I cut it up and blended. I had to add just a little milk to get the right consistency.

I squeegee-ed the pine nut pudding into a flat layer on a sheet of acetate, as above. Got another LP for a backing board, and quickly moved it to the freezer.

Ingredients
Pine nuts, toasted
Alta-Dena whole milk
C&H cane sugar
Pine nut oil
Agar agar
Morton’s kosher salt, to taste

Damn, we need more room in the freezer!

To Be Continued…

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Duck Press

November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

I received a package in the mail yesterday. It was an antique cast-iron sausage press. I will use this to make the Caneton Rouennais a la Presse recipe from Next Restaurant’s menu, Paris 1906 – Escoffier at the Ritz.