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This week’s Weekly Menu is a little abbreviated. No worries, it’s still all the food and all the pictures, but maybe a little less commentary. That’s because as we dive into the holiday season, I’m trying to get ahead on a few things. Things like the Thanksgiving menu you’ll see next week, and a trio of not-quite-really-menu-menus that are coming up in the next few weeks. Those will be editions dedicated to burgers, drinks, and soups - and that’s keeping me a little busier this week - and it’s also a reason to share The Weekly Menu so others can enjoy those menus too.
No on to the real stuff.
It's no secret that I like French food. It's probably the cuisine that I've cooked the most of in this newsletter. For our everyday dinners, I cook a lot of Mexican food, a lot of Korean food, a lot of things with sort of generically Asian flavors. For many special meals – I end up right back at the French classics.
Some of that’s because We’ve enjoyed our time in France. Some of that’s because – yeah, I admit – there are some food things I can be a little snobby about. But really, what I really love about a lot of classic French preparations is that they’re not snobby. They’re country dishes and workingman’s foods that were elevated by reputation. The great dishes of French cuisine didn’t simply magically appear in the kitchen of some 3 star Parisian palace of gastronomy. They evolved in farmhouse kitchens and were codified in modest brasseries and bistros.
Yes, over the years some of those preparations have grown complex. Some are time consuming. A lot of them just require a little pre-planning and a long rest in the fridge.
This week’s menu is built up around one of those. The pre-planning and the time in the fridge. And some wine.
So that’s pretty darned French.
Very Extremely Simple Salad
This is essentially the simplest salad I make. It’s also the salad I make most frequently. It’s fast, it’s easy, and it’s as delicious with an omelet at breakfast as with a hearty stew at night. The best part is that it’s just a simple dressing and simple greens – which means it really does go with anything. It’s best with arugula, but any slightly bitter green will work well.
8 oz baby arugula
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp champagne vinegar
½ tsp cool water
¼ tsp smooth Dijon mustard
1 tsp microplaned or very finely minced shallot
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp black pepper
In a large, non-reactive bowl, mix the shallot, mustard, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
Allow this mixture to sit for 5 minutes.
Add ½ tsp water.
Whisk in 1 tbsp olive oil.
Toss with greens and serve immediately.
Mushroom Soup
If you don’t like mushrooms, then this obviously isn’t for you. In fact, if you’re even hesitant about mushrooms this isn’t for you because this soup is all about mushrooms. Mushrooms to the exclusion of everything else. It’s just a few aromatics, and mushrooms.
I’ve made five different mushrooms soups in the past few weeks. That’s because Kate said she wanted mushroom soup. It turns out she wanted a very specific mushroom soup, and my prior attempts did not live up to that expectation. This one did. There's almost nothing to it. It really is just mushrooms, simple stock with some aromatics, and a simple roux. But the flavor all comes from the unique combination of hearty mushrooms and a dark roux. The roux boosts the umami, and adds a caramelly back note, even a very slight bitterness, that really enhances the lushness of the mushrooms.
8 oz assorted wild/gourmet mushrooms
4 cups beef, dark chicken, or vegetable stock
1 small shallot.
1 sprig thyme
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp AP flour
1 oz sherry
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp ground white pepper
Peel, trim, and finely mince the shallot.
Clean and slice the mushrooms.
Pick the thyme (remove the leaves from the stem and discard the stem.)
Add 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp AP four to a thick bottomed pot over medium heat.
Cook, stirring frequently, until the flour is deeply browned – almost chocolate in color.
Remove the roux (flour/fat mixture) from the pan.
Add the second tbsp of butter.
Add the mushrooms, salt, and minced shallot to the butter and cook until the shallots are beginning to color.
Deglaze the pan with sherry, using a scraping up any browned bits.
Add the stock, the roux, the thyme and return to a simmer.
Simmer for at least 20 minutes.
Keep warm until service.
Gratin of Swiss Chard
The sometimes struggle with what vegetable dishes to prepare with some richer foods. I inevitably come back to using braising greens. They hold up. The problem is, I like to find ways to make them richer: Add bacon. Cook them with sausage. Or in this case, bathe them in cream and garlic.
It sort of defeats the purpose of choosing a hearty bitter vegetable to stand up to the rich main course, but the end result is really delicious – and that’s what really matters. Right? Please tell me I’m right.
1 bunch swiss chard
½ cup heavy cream
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
½ cup breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp melted unsalted butter
pinch of nutmeg
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Prepare a large pot of heavily salted boiling water and an ice bath.
Trim, and quickly blanch the chard by immersing in boiling water for 30 seconds, then shocking in the ice bath.
Squeeze out as much water as possible, then chop the chard into bite sized pieces.
Peel, trim, and mince or microplane the garlic.
Mix the chard, heavy cream, garlic, salt, and pepper, and spread evenly in an ovenproof gratin pan or small casserole.
Mix the breadcrumbs and butter with a fork, working to eliminate any lumps.
Spread the breadcrumbs over the cream and greens mixture.
Bake at 400°F until the breadcrumbs are browned and the greens mixture is bubbling – about 10-15 minutes.
Pan Roasted Rosemary Potatoes
I’ve made some variation of these several times in the past. The main difference here, other than the rosemary, is that we’ll steam small potatoes in their own moisture before upping the heat to crisp them. That technique yields exquisitely creamy tender potatoes with a crisp exterior. Tossing them in highly aromatic rosemary just makes them that much better.
1-2 lbs small yellow potatoes
1 tbsp loosely packed rosemary leaf
2 tbsp clarified butter
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
Clean the potatoes and slice in half.
Add 2 tbsp clarified butter to a lidded pan over medium heat.
Add the potatoes, salt, and black pepper.
Stir well to coat the potatoes with butter, then reduce heat to low and cover.
Cook covered for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
Increase the heat to medium high, and cook, stirring or tossing, until the potatoes are browned.
Add the rosemary and cook 1 minute.
Serve hot.
Coq au Vin
I love Coq au Vin, and not just because I like wine. I like the color, a deep purple that stains the meat. I love the flavor, the pungent sweet and sour combination that comes from wine and onions and a long slow cook. It feels exotic, even if it originally was a way to make an almost unpalatable ingredient … palatable.
Coq au Vin was developed as a way to tame the strong flavor and tough flesh of its namesake – and old rooster. Roosters, fortunately or not, are sort of hard to come by in your average market or grocery -though a specialty poulterer may be able to track one down for you.
So, this recipe calls for a chicken. Just a chicken. A whole one – because while you can make it using parts, or an already cut up chicken, it’s more economical to cut it up ourselves and it means you can use the backbone to add some extra chicken flavor to the dish.
1 3.5-4.5 lb chicken
1 750 ml bottle dry red wine
2 cups chicken stock
2 large shallots
6 sprigs thyme
1 medium carrot
1 large stalk celery
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground star anise/fennel
1 pinch grated nutmeg
1 pinch ground ginger
Peel, trim, and quarter 1 shallot.
Cut the chicken into 5 pieces (breast/wing, leg/thigh, backbone)
Season the chicken well with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken, the quartered shallot, salt, pepper, thyme, and the red wine in a zip top bag or container sized to hold the chicken in a manner that it can be completely submerged in the wine.)
Refrigerate at least 12 hours, and up to 36 hours.
Preheat your oven to 300°F.
Transfer the chicken and marinade to a dutch oven, or other deep, ovenproof pot.
Add the stock, spices, carrot, and celery.
Bring to simmer, and transfer to the oven to cook uncovered.
Cook uncovered for 2 hours.
Remove the pot from the oven.
Remove the chicken and other solids.
Discard the celery, carrot, and the backbone.
Peel, trim, and slice the remaining shallot.
Add to the liquid in the pan and reduce to ~2 cups of liquid.
Return the chicken to warm through.
Serve hot garnished with additional herbs.
Ile Flottante
This is one of those very fancy desserts that’s not actually at all very fancy. A pile of meringue floating on a sea of custard sounds like something from Alice in Wonderland or a Roald Dahl book.
But really it’s just eggs and sugar.
And magic.
Sort of.
Meringue has always seemed sort of magical to me. Whipped cream I understand – sure by whipping it and incorporating air, you’ve changed the texture, but the thing – the cream – still seems sort of the same. Meringue seems like an entirely different thing – like the essentially egginess of the once clear whites has been bashed out of existence and an entirely other – pillowy soft white sticky sweet clouds of wonder – has been slipped in without us noticing.
This recipe makes a sticky meringue that you can top as you please. Some recipes call for a caramel sauce and bright red dyed candied almonds.
I like some sour cherries and pistachios – both because those are staple ingredients in our pantry, and because they’re colorful, brightly flavored, and no dyed bright red.
4 eggs, separated
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp dried cherries
2 tbsp crushed pistachios
¼ tsp cream of tartar
Crack and separate white and yolks the eggs.
Add the milk and cream to a heavy bottomed pot over low heat.
In a heat proof bowl whisk together the eggs and 1 cup of granulated sugar.
Bring the milk to a simmer and immediately remove from the heat.
Temper the egg mixture: While whisking vigorously, slowly ladle 1/3 of the milk/cream mixture into the egg yolks.
While whisking, pour the egg/cream/milk mixture you’ve just created back into the remaining milk/cream.
Return the pot to the heat.
Stirring constantly and scraping the sides and bottom of the pan – ideally with a silicone spatula – cook until the mixture thickens enough to coat a spoon.
Remove from the heat, and allow to cool to room temperature.
Pour through a strainer (to remove any lumps) into a lidded container and refrigerate until chilled.
Preheat your oven to 250°F.
In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar and whisk or process until soft peaks form.
Whisk the remaining ½ cup of sugar into the egg whites and whisk until a smooth, glossy meringue mixture has formed.
Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.
Spoon 4 even piles of meringue onto the sheet.
Bake at 250° for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
To serve:
Slice the cherries into thin strips.
Chop the pistachios
Pour a layer of custard sauce into a bowl.
Float a meringue on top of the custard.
Top with sliced dried cherries and pistachios.