Dinner date: June 7, 2008
Menu: Pan-roasted Squab with Morel Mushrooms and English Pea Ravioli
Wine: Kalamar Syrah, 2002
I walk through Pike Place Market about three times a week. The Market is Seattle’s main tourist attraction for people who are afraid of heights. It’s relatively small (9 acres) and starts at the west end of Pike Street. It’s 3 1/2 blocks long overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront between 1st Avenue on the east and Western/Elliott Avenues on the west.
The Market, the most famous of the city’s 12 farmers markets, opened on August 17, 1907. Credit goes to Seattle City Councilman Thomas Revelle who felt the citizens were paying too much for onions and wanted a market for farmers to sell directly to consumers. Since then it has become the oldest continually operated public farmer’s market in the U.S.
There are nearly 200 year-round commercial businesses here including seven high-booth (booths open year round) produce stalls; a handmade cheese shop; three wine shops and a Washington State wine tasting room; four fish mongers, one throwing fish at 30 mph; eight shops focusing on bakery items; some guy offering free hugs; many stalls selling honey, flowers, jams and jellies, and nuts; Mexican, Italian, and Asian groceries; 18 restaurants or booths offering breakfast, 47 offering lunch, and 25 offering dinner; surprisingly only four coffee shops, one of which is the original Starbucks; and the first Sur la Table.
Add to this 120 farmers registered to rent space by the day and 240 registered street performers and musicians (not all playing at once), and you have a very diverse landscape.
If you check out the early morning scene around 6 A.M. you’ll find vendors setting up their booths, others wheeling in carts filled with their goods from storage, and some hosing down the sidewalks. The fish mongers shovel crushed ice into their bins. Usually the air is crisp at this hour regardless of what the calendar says. There’s not much pedestrian traffic but you’ll see lots of trucks filling the brick-paved Place with the day’s delivery. The homeless are still huddled under their blankets in the entryways of store fronts. The staging is noisy with the trucks beeping as they back up and empty produce crates being tossed into the street. Conversation among the vendors is lively and quite colorful.
The afternoon scene, 11 A.M through 6 P.M. is in direct contrast to the morning. The remainder of the Market’s open hours belong to the tourists who outnumber the locals by 19 to 1. This is my own personal guesstimate but with 10 million people touring the Market annually, I’d say my ratio is low. Tourists in this part of town are easy to spot:
· They take pictures of their people in front of the clock above the ‘fish throwing place’, which is in front of Rachel the Pig. If they look like they’re open to the idea I’ll offer to take the picture for them so everyone is in it.
· They gather around the ‘fish throwing place’ and watch fish being thrown at 30 mph. Note this: fish weren’t meant to be thrown at 30 mph.
· They set their umbrellas down and have their children’s picture taken on Rachel the Pig. The extremely large piggy bank helps provide services for low-income folks who live and work in the Market and downtown Seattle. Consider taking a picture of the kids making a donation.
· They study their maps and look in all directions (including up) while trying to get their bearings. Take note: to find SAM (Seattle Art Museum) look south down 1st Avenue for the strip club marquee in pink neon (Lusty Lady); SAM is across the street from it. I call your attention to this marquee because the sign always has a humorous message to draw customers in. From See our Women of Mass Distraction posted early in 2003 to Now Showing. Everything! Look and laugh.
· They have their picture taken in front of Starbucks.
· They drive the car through the Place. I don’t understand this one but people will waste 30 minutes to drive 3 1/2 blocks. The Place is filled with pedestrians, with vendors wheeling carts from one side to the other, with pedestrians, with trucks bringing in afternoon deliveries, and WITH PEDESTRIANS. Sidewalks in this tiny world are optional and are usually reserved for street musicians or for entering and leaving shops. The best way to get a ‘feel’ for the Market is walk through it. You can’t hear, smell, taste, or touch the things that are happening around you when you are in a car with the windows rolled up, and you all have the windows rolled up. You can’t see much from your car so park it and enjoy the walk. Know that you can only drive through the Place as fast as the pedestrian in front of you. In addition, you can’t see it but three cars in front of you is a guy who is trolling for a parking space. He is stopped for 5 minutes waiting for a spot that looks like it’s going to become available. It won’t. He moves on and finds another spot 30 feet farther up, and he waits. This is the true cause of why the 3 1/2 block auto tour lasts 30 minutes.
The late night scene, after 8 P.M., the Market quiets down as the vendors closed up shop at 6 P.M. Some are gone 5 minutes after close, others—like the fish mongers—can be seen hosing down the walkways hours after close. Crushed ice covers the sewer drains. Most of the people walking through the Market are going to a bar or restaurant. The homeless begin to return to the store front entryways to bed down for the night.
The Market offers quite a few sit-down restaurants. Our favorite places to dine inside the Market include Maximilien Bistro, Place Pigalle (both French), Il Bistro (Italian), and Matt’s in the Market (American). Maximilien Bistro and Place Pigalle offer very good food with an even better view of Puget Sound. If it’s a warm day in the summer Kriste and I will spend time on the deck at Maximilien and indulge on the happy-hour menu items and gaze out at the shipments coming in from overseas. Outside and within walking distance of the Market you might find us at Entre Nous, Le Pichet (both French), or Union (American).
Beginning in June and running through October the Market hosts events to support the local farmers and chefs. Organic Wednesdays began June 4 for organic farmers to bring in their goods and offer the best in seasonal, organic produce. Farm Fridays began yesterday for farmers to come in, some from as far Eastern Washington (other side of the Cascades), and sell their freshly picked produce.
Summer Sundays will begin tomorrow to showcase some of the city’s best chefs. This year’s list includes Bruce Naftaly from Le Gourmand, Jim Drohman from Le Pichet, Daisley C. Gordon from Campagne, and last year’s James Beard Foundation Award winner for Best Chef Northwest: John Sundstrom of Lark.
So on Tuesday I’m on my way to Don and Joe’s Meats. Don Jr. took on ownership after his father passed away and his Uncle Joe retired. This is my butcher of choice and, until recently, the only butcher in the Market. Besides the usual proteins of beef, lamb, chicken, and pork, I’ve also bought lamb tongue and liver, beef sausage and hanger steaks, pork fat and neck bones, veal tongue, hind shanks, and bones, and today… squab.
Squab is a lean and rich-tasting farm-raised game bird (if there such a thing). In fact, a squab is a young pigeon (Fr. pigeonneau), but squab sounds a bit more appetizing. It’s size is usually between 14 and 18 ounces. Even though they are small, they are known for thick breasts and tender, red meat. As with a chicken from a butcher, you’ll usually get the heart, liver and sometimes the lungs, too. The squab I purchased weighed 1 pound (As Purchased) and cost $13 each. After deboning, they weighed 9 ounces each giving a yield of 56 percent, which is the “Edible Portion”.
As I was on my way to Don and Joe’s Meats, I walked past Corner Produce. I saw morels. During a quick discussion with the merchant I learn that this year’s harvest is near its end. The morel season is very short and dependent on the weather. The price is still a hefty $29.99 a pound. I take a look to ensure these are true morels, which have the stem and cap seamlessly attached to each other. Fake morels aren’t attached like that, and more importantly they contain antibuse, a chemical that causes a really bad reaction when you consume it with alcohol.
Even true morels have this chemical, which is why they require to be completely cooked through.
I buy six morels because Kriste doesn’t like mushrooms. Usually I try to persuade her and change her way of thinking but at this price I’ll let it slide.
The Plan
In the world of food parings, gaminess and earthiness go very well together. It is the gaminess of squab and the earthiness of mushrooms that bring tonight’s dinner together.
For the morels I check Henri Babinsky’s, better known as Ali-Bab, Gastronomie Pratique. I have a French-language edition of his book published in 1907. And as best as my high school French can figure out his recipe (Morilles au jus) calls for washing them, cutting them in half and sautéing them in butter with some lemon juice, salt and pepper and cook for 30 minutes while adding meat juices of the main dish. Finish with an egg yolk and serve hot. C’est excellent!
Now to decide on a vegetable. As I search my cookbook collection I find that morels and asparagus go very well together. Balthazar, Turbot with Morels and Asparagus; L’Atelier of Alain Ducasse, Sylvain Portay’s Roast Asparagus Parmesan with Steamed Morels au naturel and Poached Egg; and The Paris Cookbook by Patricia Wells – Asparagus, Morels, and Asparagus Cream have tempting ideas. This last recipe is also described in a French-language edition cookbook of hers, Recettes des marchés et restaurants de Paris. Joël Robuchon in his narrative, La Cuisine de Joël Robuchon, states that morels and asparagus are the perfect combination.
Asparagus isn’t floating my boat today so I move on.
Morels and peas go very well together, as shown in Saveur Cooks Authentic French Ragoût of Peas and Morels. Le Bonne Cuisine has a recipe for Squab with Green Peas (Pigeons aux Petits Pois) and Paul Bocous In Your Kitchen has a recipe of the same name.
I settle on a recipe source by Chef Ron Siegel. You might remember him as the first American chef to beat an Iron Chef (Hiroyuki Sakai) on Food Network’s Iron Chef television program. The primary source for tonight’s recipe is Pan seared squab breast, English pea ravioli with morel mushroom, pea tendrils and squab jus. This recipe comes from San Francisco Cuisine 2001, a magazine Kriste and I picked up on our March 2001 vacation to Napa Valley. A trip that included three nights of dining at Chez Panisse, La Toque, and The French Laundry. C’est excellent!
The Wine
The wine for tonight is Kalamar Syrah, 2002. As if this needs to be disclosed, Kriste used to work with the wife of the owner/winemaker, Mark Kalamar. I was introduced to Kalamar wine by our 
friend Jean with the 2000 Merlot. It was good. Very good. When I asked about purchasing some I was told he was sold out. Since then I’ve added 4 cases to my cellar, not a bad representation considering that I have around 180 bottles of Washington state wines and Kalamar Winery has made up 25 percent of that in less than 7 years. Mark has two varietals to date: Merlot and Syrah. Sadly, the last Syrah vintage for Kalamar Winery is the 2003. Mark has moved on to Sangiovese.
The 2002 Washington state vintage was another in a growing list of consecutive years with great produce hauled in at the end of the season. Eastern Washington is known for its long, warm-to-hot, sunny days and cool nights. The grapes for Kalamar’s 2002 Syrah come from Yakima Valley where they are harvested by hand from Pleasant Vineyard near Prosser. They are trucked to Kalamar Winery at Bonney Lake where they were fermented for eight days in open-top fermentation tanks. After pressing they were aged in French and American oak barrels for 23 months.
Equipment Needed That Has Not Been Previously Mentioned
There really isn’t a need for special equipment for tonight’s dinner with the exception of a wired skimmer called a spider. This is a wire-mesh skimmer at the end of a long handle. They come in many sizes and can have a fine-wire with the wires close together or a course-wire with the wires far apart. You often see this in Chinese restaurants with the cook using it to stir or remove the contents of a wok. Tonight I used it to gently remove the ravioli from a pot filled with water.
Perhaps one other item to note is a thing called a landing pan. This is a chefs term for nothing more than a small cookie sheet to place an item during preparation. Cookbooks will say ‘a plate.’ I don’t like using a plate at home because usually the item on the plate will have to be refrigerated. A plate is round and that wastes a lot of space. A small cookie sheet-like item is rectangular and is efficient in the space it uses. Since there are just two of us I prefer using the little pan that comes with our toaster oven. I have three of them and they measure 7″ x 10″ and they fit perfectly, side-by-side, in our refrigerator.
Tonight’s Dinner
To start my Saturday night dinner, I began with a brine like I do all my poultry dishes. This one started on Thursday, June 05. A brine is a strong water-salt solution used to pickle or preserve foods. This is different from a cure, which is something that has been dried with an abundance of salt for the purpose of preserving foods. This is how the definition was for hundreds of years.
Today a brine is used to bring flavor to the item being brined as well as giving it a juicy, moist, and tender characteristic. My brines always consist of water, salt, and sugar. Brines work by moving the salt and sugar from the water through the protein via osmosis. This creates an equilibrium between the two. Salt goes in and impurities come out. After 24 hours you’ll notice that the brine has a pink hue to it. This is the blood and other impurities that were in the protein that have now been forced out. This is something you wont’ eat. This is good.
Brine a chicken and cook it side-by-side with a chicken that hasn’t been brined and you’ll always make an effort to brine a chicken.
I always use a ratio of 16 parts water to 1 part salt. In culinary school I was told that this is the consistency of ocean/sea water. But later I found that not all oceans/seas have the same quantity of salt. On average, and it depends on the ocean/sea and if you’re analyzing the surface or farther down, seawater is about 3.5 percent salt. I once read in a book that the Mediterranean Sea has the highest ratio of salt to water, but I can’t find my source. The 16:1 ratio means that this brine is about 6.25 percent salt. Quite a bit more than seawater.
To the brine add a bit of sugar. It takes a bit of the ‘brined edge’ off the proteins. In fact, this is the simplest and most functional brine. 16 parts water: 1 part salt and a bit (1 tablespoon?) of sugar. Works every time. This is a dinner for two so the brine solution only needs to be 2 quarts.
To add complexity, make a brine with the things that have an affinity with the item being brined. The things that go well with the item when it is served also go well with the item when it is brined. Allspice berries, juniper berries, garlic, rosemary, and thyme are ingredients that highlight the gaminess of squab. Therefore, these items go in my brine and here’s the ‘recipe’.
1 quart water
2 ounces salt
1 tsp sugar
10 whole black peppercorns
2 whole allspice berries
5 whole juniper berries
2 whole bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large rosemary stem
2 thyme stems
1 cup milk
3 cups water
Bring to a boil; remove from heat and let cool to about 150°F. Add one cup of nonfat milk and 3 cups tap water. Place in the refrigerator to chill overnight. Friday morning I’ll pick up the squab and let it brine for about 30 hours. After that period of time the brining solution will be pink. This is the blood and other impurities that are pulled from the protein. This is a good sign.
Remove the squab from the brine, pat dry and add a bit more salt inside and out. Return it to the refrigerator on a landing pan for a few hours. Place it on the counter about 30 minutes before preparing it.
As I mentioned, things that go well with the item when it is served on a plate go well with the item when it’s in the brine. For example, when brining a chicken, turkey, or cornish hen make a poultry seasoning sachet using the following fresh herbs and add it to the brine:
· thyme
· sage
· marjoram
· rosemary
Then add a couple of whole black peppercorns and freshly grated nutmeg. Boil, cool, chill, and then add your protein to this brine for a day.
For pork add garlic, rosemary, and sage. Instead of sugar try apple juice or apple cider.
Start with the squab by rinsing them under cold water and placing them on several layers of paper towels on the cutting board. Remove the giblets (liver and heart, some might even have the lungs), from inside the squab and place on the landing pan. Pat the squab dry with the paper towels.
Note: deboning a squab is the same as deboning a chicken, the carcass is basically the same with the same joints (points of separation) being the same as a chicken.
Using the poultry shears cut the neck and wing tips away from the bird. Place in the pot for the squab stock. Using the boning knife, trim away excess skin from the neck area. Make two slits along the breast bone, one on each side. Starting on one side slice down the breast bone along the ribcage down to the backbone. Find the joint between the wing and the breast and cut through that. Continue slicing along the backbone to the tail end along the thigh. Hold the thigh in your hand, lift up the squab, and snap the thigh joint out of the socket. Cut the remaining meat attached to the carcass and separate the breast/wing/thigh portion from the carcass. Repeat with the other side. Place the two portions on a landing pan and the carcass in the 1/2 sheet pan. Repeat with any remaining birds. Place landing pan in the refrigerator.
Make a squab stock by roasting the bones in the oven for 30 minutes at 350°F. Turn the bones over and roast another 30 minutes. Fill a pot with water, add the squab bones and quickly bring to the boiling point. Reduce to a simmer and cook for one hour. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for another hour. Strain the stock into a bowl and rinse the pot with water. Strain the stock back into the pot and simmer to reduce the stock down to 1/2 cup. Add giblet purée to the reduced stock.
Cook the giblets, by preheating a skillet and adding enough canola oil to the skillet to coat the bottom. Add the giblets and sauté for about four minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add water to deglaze the skillet and reduce the liquid to a syrup consistency. Place the giblets in a small food processor fitted with a chopping blade. Process for about 20 seconds. Remove the cover and scrape down the sides using a rubber spatula. Repeat until the giblets are smooth. Any chunks will not make it through the tamis so make it creamy.
Place tamis inside bowl and pour the giblets onto the tamis screen. Using a plastic bench scraper force the giblets through the tamis. Most of the giblet purée will stick to the bottom of the screen. Scrape the contents of that side into the bowl. Scrap into a smaller bowl and place in the refrigerator.
For the peas, shell them by breaking them in half and running your thumb through the inside of the shell to force them into a bowl. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil, add 1/4 cup salt, and add peas to the water. Meanwhile, fill a bowl with cold water and add ice to it. Boil the peas for about 5 minutes. Cover it with a lid to keep the boil rolling. Remove one from the pot and bite into it. It should be soft with no resistance. Pour peas through a strainer and then place the strainer in the ice bath for 1 minute. Put the peas in a food processor fitted with a chopping blade. Process for about 20 seconds. Remove the cover and scrape down the sides using a rubber spatula. Repeat until the peas are smooth. Any chunks will not make it through the tamis so make it creamy. Add vegetable stock, a tablespoon at a time, if necessary to get the creamy consistency.
Drain ice water from bowl and wipe dry. Place tamis inside bowl and pour the peas onto the tamis screen. Using a plastic bench scraper force the peas through the tamis. Most of the peas will stick to the bottom of the screen. Scrape the contents of that side into the bowl. Add mascarpone cheese to the bowl and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. To heighten the flavor of the peas, add 1 or 2 drops of mint sauce. You don’t want to taste the mint; if you taste it, you’ve added too much. Scrape the peas into the plastic bag and store in the refrigerator.
Now for the morels. Several sources, from Escoffier to Joël Robuchon recommend soaking morel mushrooms in water to remove dirt particles. This is welcomed advice as it’s probably the only mushroom that has this recommendation. Soak any other mushroom in water and it 
becomes bland and watery. For soaking morels, it’s worth it to take this advice a bit further by replacing the water with a weak vegetable stock. The mushrooms are going to absorb the liquid so it might as well be an agreeable one rather than something that’s going to dilute the flavor of this $30 a pound fungi. A 30-minute soak, with an occasional shaking of the bowl, should be sufficient. Discard the weak vegetable stock, gently squeeze the mushrooms, and put them on paper towels and gently roll around to absorb excess liquid.
Developing this dinner is going to be a complex operation. Therefore, the pasta will come from won ton wrappers. Purists may cringe but serving ravioli using these wrappers has never been outed by a guest in my household. The texture and flavor difference between the ‘true’ pasta and won ton wrappers is negligible when prepared in water. The brand I use lists for its ingredients: flour, water, salt, and oil. Use a beaten egg to act as glue for the sheets and you have the same pasta ingredients in every bite.
Fill a pot with 1/2 gallon of water and bring the water to 180°F. Put two paper towels on counter, place eight won ton wrappers on paper towels. Cut a small hole in the corner of the plastic bag filled with the pea mixture. Pipe the pea mixture into the center of the eight wrappers. Brush the edges of the wrappers with the egg wash. Top each with another won ton wrapper and press down using your finger or the dry bottom of a glass. Any moisture on your fingers or glass will make the ravioli stick, possibly tearing it.
Leave ravioli on the paper towels. Add it to the pot about 1/2 way through cooking the squab.
Cooking the squab, arrange the shelving in the oven so the top shelf is about 8 inches from the top. Preheat oven to 400°F. Preheat a skillet, add clarified butter and swirl the skillet. Add the squab, skin side down, and cook about two minutes. The squab should wiggle when you shake the skillet. If they don’t, use a metal spatula and slowly slide it between the squab and skillet; try not to tear the skin. Turn the squab over. Place the skillet in the oven and cook for about 8 to 9 minutes. At the four minute mark add the ravioli to the pot of water simmering at 180°F.
Simmer the ravioli at the four minute mark. Add the ravioli, one at a time, to the pot of water simmering at 180°F. Gently swirl the water to keep the ravioli from sticking to each other or the bottom of the pot.
Cooking the morels, preheat a skillet and add Madeira and clarified butter to the skillet and then add the morel mushrooms. Sauté for three or four minutes and add shallots; season with salt and pepper. Continue with the sauté for another two minutes. Using a fine mesh strainer (chinois) strain the squab sauce into the skillet. Adjust the heat to keep the sauce from boiling.
The sauce will be a strong vegetable stock taken from the freezer, seasoned and flavored with parsley stems, chervil, tarragon, chives, thyme, lavender, and savory. This is also known as Herbs de Provence.
The salad tonight is an easy romaine salad with a creamy-thick dressing. Last week I mentioned how salad greens determine the salad dressing and vice versa. Romaine is sturdy leaf able to withstand the heaviest of salad dressings. The dressing tonight will be 2 parts sour cream, 1 part mayonnaise, 1/2 part red onion, and 1/4 part bleu cheese. Vinaigrettes are not appropriate for this type of leaf.
Prepare the greens using the awe and shock method. Gently wash the greens in warm water, about 115°F, in a salad spinner. This removes the dirt and helps relax the cell structure much in the same way you relax in a hot tub. It’s soothing and relaxing—awe. Now take this colander with the greens still in it and place it in an ice bath. This cold makes the green’s cell structure rigid and stiff, much in the same way you jump out of that hot tub and make snow angels in the snow—shock. The crunch in the greens is now set. Spin the greens dry and store them in the refrigerator until ready to use.
MEP
The bullet-point Mis en Place (pronounced MEEz ahn plahs) for this dinner is as follows.
Set up the equipment on the stove:
· Skillet for squab heart, liver and lungs, and sauté. Use same skillet for morels sauté.
· Pot for squab stock
· 1/2 sheet pan for roasting the squab bones
· Pot with lid for ravioli
Set up the equipment on the counter:
Squab
· Cutting board
· Poultry shears
· Boning knife
· Landing pan
· Small bowl for giblets
· Small food processor for giblets
Morels
· Small bowl
Ravioli
· Strainer Food processor
· Large bowl for peas, ice water bath and tamis
· Rubber spatula
· Tamis
· Plastic bench scraper
· Plastic bag
· small bowl for egg wash
· brush
Recipe
The following steps are listed in the order taken to prepare the meal as described above, not in the typical order of protein first or first course served is the first course listed.
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Brine the squab…
Season the squab…
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for 1 day.
inside and out.
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Preparing the squab: 1/2 squab per person for dainty presentation
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Prepare the squab… |
rinse, remove giblets, and debone. Preheat oven to 350°F.
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Make the squab stock: about 4 hours total time.
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Roasted squab bones
1 quart water 1 large onion, chopped 1 large carrot, chopped 1 tomato, chopped 2 bay leaves 2 thyme sprigs 5 whole black peppercorns
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Roast the bones.
Make and strain stock.
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Prepare the giblets: heart, liver, and lungs
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Preheat a skillet…
Giblets from squab Salt and pepper 1/2 cup water
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in the usual manner.
Sauté giblets; add water to deglaze the skillet and process in a food processor. Press through tamis; add to stock.
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Preparing the Green Salad: Use 2 ounces greens per serving.
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Prepare salad greens…
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using awe and shock method. Hold in refrigerator.
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Preparing the morels: Use 3 or 4 large morels per person
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Rinse the morels…
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in cool running water, soak in a weak vegetable stock for 30 minutes.
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Continuing with the ravioli stuffing: 1 ounce mascarpone cheese per person
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Boil peas…
Mascarpone cheese Salt and Pepper to taste 1-2 drops of mint sauce
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in pot, strain, purée in food processor, run through the tamis into bowl.
Add mascarpone cheese and mix. Season with salt and pepper. Add mint sauce. Scrape the peas into the plastic bag and store in the refrigerator.
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Continuing with the ravioli: use 8 wrappers to make 4 ravioli per person
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won ton wrappers pea filling egg wash
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Bring pot of water to 180°F. Squeeze pea mixture onto wrappers, brush with egg wash, top with wrapper, press down and add them to the pot about 1/2 way through cooking the squab.
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Continuing with the salad…
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Dress greens
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Combine greens with dressing. Serve and relax. |
Continuing with the squab
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Prepare oven…
1 tbsp clarified butter squab
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Preheat oven to 400°F. Sauté squab in clarified butter for two minutes, skin side down. Place in oven and cook for 8 to 9 minutes. At the four minute mark add the ravioli to the pot of water simmering at 180°F.
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Continuing with the ravioli…
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Simmer the ravioli…
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at the four minute mark add the ravioli, one at a time, to the pot of water simmering at 180°F.
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Continuing with the morels…
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1 tbsp Madeira morel mushrooms shallots salt and pepper 1/2 cup squab stock
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Add Madeira to a hot skillet and add morels and clarified butter. Sauté with other ingredients. Using a chinois, strain the squab sauce into the skillet. Adjust the heat to keep the sauce from boiling.
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Final preparation…
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for the squab…
for the mushrooms… 2 tbsp butter 1 squeeze of lemon juice
for the ravioli…
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remove squab from the oven and let it rest for three or four minutes. Turn oven off and place the plates in the oven, leave door ajar.
take the skillet off the heat and add butter. Swirl the skillet to incorporate the butter into the sauce. Don’t let it separate. If it does, add a couple drops of cold water. Add lemon juice and swirl the skillet again. Taste the sauce and make any final seasoning adjustments.
place a couple of paper towels on the counter. You’ll remove the ravioli with a spider and tap it gently on the paper towels to absorb the excess liquid.
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Plating, be careful… the plates are hot.
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start with the ravioli…
continue with the mushrooms and sauce…
finish with the squab
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using the spider to remove the ravioli. Tap the spider on some paper towels to help absorb the water. Place four ravioli in each plate.
Spoon mushrooms and sauce over the ravioli.
Top with the squab. |
Analysis and Notes
We opened the wine at 4 P.M. and let it stand straight up until the salad was served at 4:30 when we poured our first glasses. It had a very youthful purplish hue. The bottle lasted 1 hour and 50 minutes. Not bad for a $30 wine. What follows is a timeline of what and when each new component was detected.
4:30 at first approach the wine shows deep chocolate and coffee T
4:30 Kriste’s first comment is about the anise and a spicy characteristic B
4:35 pepper and blackberry T
4:35 plum, cedar, and tobacco B
4:40 licorice seems to come out because of the cheese in the salad B
4:45 nutty and black olive B
4:50 black olive and eucalyptus T
5:10 Kriste picks up black cherry T
5:15 dinner is served and we immediately notice a gamey transition in the wine T
5:25 a hint of raisin B
5:35 toast and vanilla from the French and American oak barrels used to age the wine B
6:00 I get the black cherry Kriste tasted 50 minutes earlier T
6:10 walnut skins starting to dry out the back of the tongue T
6:20 the tannins start to dominate the wine as the fruit fades
B: bouquet
T: taste
All-in-all I’d say this was a really nice dinner.
Until next Saturday… boja, boja.
Photos by me and I’m not a photographer.
Here are a few items of note about the ingredients. Unless otherwise specified:
· Salt is always Kosher
· Olive oil is always extra-virgin
· Eggs are always large
· Butter is always unsalted
· Pepper is always freshly ground
References
Patricia Trifari, San Francisco Cuisine 2001, San Francisco, San Francisco Cuisine, 2001
Ali-Bab, Gastronomie pratique, Paris: Ernest Flammarion Editeur, 1st ed., 1907
James Peterson, Glorious French Food, Hoboken, NJ, Wiley 1st ed., 2002
Jerald W. Chesser, CEC, CCE, Art and Science of Culinary Preparation, St. Augustine, FL, The Educational Institute of the American Culinary Federation, Inc., 1992
Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn, Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing, New York City, W. W. Norton and Company, 2005
Molly Stevens, All About Braising, New York City, W. W. Norton & Company, 2004
Web Sites
Don and Joe’s Meats Note: They don’t ship their products
Restaurants
Wine
I could not be more impressed by your blog. Period.
Keep it up and I ‘ll check back.
Rma
Comment by Robert — June 18, 2008 @ 6:41 pm