the three friends of winter

The Three Friends of Winter
a dessert

serves 6

winter: kasu amazake

This is a variation of amazake that introduces yeast via the kasu (sake lees), aligning it with Chinese jiuniang. Traditionally made with glutinous rice, it can be made with any variety (I like using fragrant jasmine and basmati). Served warm and flavored with yuzu zest, it is sweet, wonderfully aromatic, and mildly alcoholic— an adult version of rice pudding.

rice                                1/2 cup              90g
water                           1 cup 235g
kasu                               2 Tblspns          35g
koji                              1 cup                  180g
microplaned yuzu zest 2 tsps 4g

Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the rice, stir, cover pan, and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes or until tender.
Sterilize a bowl, a spoon, and a 1-qt glass jar with boiling water. When the rice is cooked, transfer it to the bowl and cool to 55C/130F. Crumble the kasu over the rice, add the koji, and toss mixture with the spoon until well blended. Transfer mixture to jar and cover. Incubate in a water bath at 55-60C/130-140F for 2-3 days, gently shaking the jar every 6-8 hours. After 24 hours, the kasu amazake should be mildly sweet and smell yeasty. It will continue to get sweeter and headier— remove from water bath when it reaches a pleasing flavor and aroma. If not serving within a few hours, stop fermentation by placing the jar in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes and store in refrigerator for up to a week.
To serve, gently warm the kasu amazake and stir in the yuzu zest.

Bamboo: candied black sesame

When black sesame paste is cooked in sugar syrup and brought to the firm ball stage, the oil and solids create a product with the texture of brittle fudge. Here, young bamboo shoots are first impregnated with the light syrup, then coated with the reduced syrup and left to dry.

black sesame paste               2 Tblsps                 40g
hot water                                           1/4 cup                 60g
sugar                                 1 cup                     200g
liquid glucose                                     1 Tblsp                21g
18 young bamboo shoots

Pour the hot water over the sesame paste in a saucepan and whisk to dissolve. Add the sugar and glucose, stir to combine. Cook over high heat to 104C/220F. Remove from heat and add the bamboo shoots to the hot syrup, submerging them. Cover pan and set aside for at least 6 hours at room temperture. Remove shoots from pan and set on a rack to dry. Return pan to high heat and cook the syrup to 121C/250F. Remove from heat and, using a fork, carefully dip each bamboo shoot in the thick syrup to evenly coat, then place on a sheet of parchment to dry. If syrup begins to harden, rewarm gently until fluid before proceeding.
Candied bamboo shoots can be kept in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Pine: genoise, meringue

Both the cake and meringue are made with pine infused sugar. To heighten the flavor, a drop of pine essential oil was used in the syrup that moistens the genoise, and in the meringue. When buying essential oils for culinary purposes, look for 100% pure therapeutic grade.

pine sugar

sugar 1 cup 200g
pine needles 1/4 oz 12g

Place the sugar and pine needles in a blender and blend on high speed for 2-3 minutes until pulverized. Let stand 5 minutes and blend again for 1 minute. Sift the sugar through a medium sieve to remove pine chaff. Sift again through a fine sieve to remove small particles.

pine genoise

sifted cake flour 1/3 cup              44g
cornstarch 5 Tblsps              37.5g
eggs 4 whole                200g
pine sugar 1/2 cup              100g
cream of tartar                  1/4 tsp               .75g

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9" cake pan. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour with the cornstarch. With an electric mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar on high speed for about 5 minutes, or until thick, fluffy, and about tripled in volume. Sift half of the flour mixture over the eggs and fold in with a spatula. Repeat with the remainder of the flour mixture. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites just until foamy. Sprinkle on the cream of tartar and continue whipping to stiff peaks. Fold the whites into the batter, then pour into prepared cake pan and level off the top. Place in the oven immediately and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the top springs back when pressed, or a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before turning out of pan to finish cooling.

pine yuzu syrup

pine sugar 2 Tblsps              25g
water                                  1/4 cup              59g
yuzu juice                          2 tsps                  10g
pine essential oil               1 drop

Bring the sugar and water to a full rolling boil. Remove from heat, cover and let cool. Stir in the yuzu juice and essential oil. Evenly drizzle all of the syrup over the cake.

pine meringue

egg whites                          1/4 cup 60g
cream of tartar 1/4 tsp              .75g
pine sugar                          4 oz                  115g
pine essential oil 1 drop

In an electric mixer, beat the whites on medium speed until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating on medium while gradually adding the sugar. When approximately 1/2 of the sugar has been added, raise the speed to high and gradually add the remaining sugar until meringue is stiff and glossy. Remove a heaping spoonful (about 1/4 cup) of the meringue to a small bowl and fold in the drop of essential oil until well incorporated. Return the meringue to the mixing bowl and beat for 1 minute.Transfer the meringue to a piping bag fitted with #7 (small round) tip. Pipe long lines of meringue onto a silicone sheet. Bake in a 93C/200F oven for 1 hour, then turn off oven. Let meringues sit in oven until they release easily. To make 'pine needles' run the blade of a thin, offset spatula under each line of meringue— they will break off in short segments. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Plum: umeboshi puree, preserved ume

umeboshi plum puree

When making fruit purees, I like to freeze the fruit for a day or longer before processing. The freeze/thaw cycle releases flavorful juice by rupturing cell walls, allowing better control of solids:liquids ratio. It also allows the skins and pits to be easily removed. For this sweet/salty puree, I used deep red elephant heart plums and umeboshi (ume fermented in salt, then dried).
Ultratex is a tapioca-derived modified food starch that has the ability to thicken without applying heat. I used it here to tighten the puree, while retaining the fresh fruit flavor.

juice from frozen and thawed plums                  105g
solids from frozen and thawed plums                  80g
umeboshi, pitted                                              22g
yogurt                                                              50g
honey                                                              30g
ultratex 8 8g

Place all of the ingredients except for the ultratex in a high speed blender and blend until smooth. With motor running on medium, drop the ultratex into the center vortex and continue blending until thickened. Transfer puree to a squeeze bottle.

ume leaves

Ume, aka Japanese plums, are not a type of plum, but a distinct species in the subgenus Prunus that include plum and apricot. Even when ripe, they are at least twice as acidic as plums. Although fresh ume are difficult to find in the US, Kanjyuku Ume No Mi (preserved plum produced by Choya foods) can be found in markets like Mitsuwa that specialize in Japanese ingredients. Essentially, they are ume preserved in sugar, but they are unlike any candied fruit I've ever tasted: crunchy, gelatinous, barely sweet, fragrant, puckery, and addictive.

5 preserved ume

Cut each ume into 8 wedges, removing the flesh from the pit. Trim the underside of each 'leaf' so that it sits flat on the plate.

To assemble dish

Place a 7.5cm/3" ring mold in the center of a warmed serving plate. Spoon approximately 3 Tblsps on warm kasu amazake in the center of ring mold and spread in an even layer with the back of the spoon. Lift mold off of plate. Trim the candied bamboo shoots to 7.5cm/3" in length and arrange 3 on top of the kasu amazake. Break the cake apart into small, irregular pieces and arrange 3 pieces at the base of bamboo shoots. Scatter some of the pine meringue needles over the top of cake. Arrange 6 of the ume wedges around the base of the cake to resemble bamboo leaves. Pipe clusters of 5-dot circles on either side of candied bamboo to resemble plum blossoms and single dots to resemble buds. Repeat with remaining plates.

faux bois cookies

When tender vegetation succumbs to killing frosts, it's the trees that lend interest to the winter landscape. And after the bounty of summer fades into fond memories, the trees grace our holiday tables with good things to eat.

Trees are so ubiquitous that it's easy to take them for granted, but just try to imagine life without them. Our houses would have a different character and our hearths would be cold. Cooking, as we know it, would have deviated from its path and taken the course of history and the progress of man along with it.

But trees are more than wood— they enrich our catalog of flavor. Without the things we harvest from trees there would be no sweet reduced sap to pour over our pancakes. Chewing gum may have never been invented. We would not know the comfort of apple pie or the aroma of a ripe peach. Our pantries would be destitute of sweet, oily nuts and our spice racks would lack the warmth of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and sweet bay. Winter, the bleakest season, would be unbearable without the spark of citrus.

So while we rejoice in our holiday hams and roasts and vegetables and grains, and all of the splendid things from pastures and fields, let us not forget to consider the trees and celebrate their bounty.

BISCUITS DE BOIS

These no-bake cookies are redolent of chocolate, chestnut, and bourbon. Bittersweet and boozy, they are decidedly adult treats. They were inspired by faux bois cement sculptures from the 19th century. Easy to make with these whimsical cookie cutters, they can alternately be made by cutting the dough freehand (or with a template) into branch shapes and pressing the surface with the tine of a fork to resemble bark. Make the dough well in advance to allow the flavors to mellow.

bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 4 oz 113g
cocoa powder 3 Tblsp             11g
chestnut flour 3/8 cup            170g
egg white 1 large             40g
superfine sugar 2 Tblsp             26g
unsalted butter, softened 3.5 Tblsp          48g
bourbon 1.5 Tblsp          12g

Pulse the chocolate, cocoa powder, and chestnut flour in a food processor until the chocolate is the texture of sand.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the egg white with the whisk attachment until it forms soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar while continuing to whip until stiff peaks form. Add the bourbon and whisk to incorporate. Remove the whisk and attach the paddle. Sprinkle the chocolate mixture over the meringue and beat on low for 1 minute. Add the soft butter to the crumbly mixture in the bowl and beat on low for 1-2 minutes, until a malleable dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and age in the refrigerator for at least 2 days and up to 1 week.
Roll out the dough to 1cm/3/8” thickness. Cut out branch shapes and press woodgrain into top. Set out on a rack to dry for a few hours.
Makes about 1 dozen cookies.

PINE PALETTES

The base of these cookies are sables flavored with spruce-infused sugar. The best flavor comes from the tender young tips that appear in spring— winter tips have a woodier flavor that is best extracted by pulverizing in sugar.
The spruce sugar is used again in the icing to anchor the woodgrained chocolate veneers.

Spruce sables:
sugar                                              1 cup 200g
spruce tips                                      .28 oz                      8g
unsalted butter, softened 1 stick                      114g
flour                                              1 1/2 cups              190g
salt                                                  1/8 tsp                   .84g

Place the sugar and spruce tips in a blender and blend on high speed for 2-3 minutes until sugar is pulverized. Let stand 5 minutes and blend again for 1 minute. Sift the sugar through a medium sieve to remove spruce chaff. Sift again through a fine sieve to remove small particles. Measure out 1/2 cup/80g of spruce sugar and place in a mixing bowl. Reserve the remaining sugar for icing.
Add the butter and salt to the sugar in the bowl and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes until creamy. Gradually add the flour while beating on low speed until it is absorbed. Transfer dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, wrap tightly and chill for at least 2 hours.
Roll out dough into a large rectangle 1/4"/6mm thick. Using a straight edge and a pastry wheel, cut dough into eighteen 1 1/2" x 2 1/2"/4cm x 6.5cm rectangles. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake in a preheated 350F/176C oven for 8 mins, or until cookies are baked through but still pale in color. Let cool.

Chocolate veneer:
dark chocolate, melted                                  3 oz                          85g
white chocolate, melted                                  4 oz                          113.5g
milk chocolate, melted                                  2 oz                             56.5g

Drop about 1 Tablespoon of dark chocolate on a sheet of acetate and spread thinly into a 3"/7.5cm band with an offset spatula. Place a woodgraining tool at the top of the band and slowly drag it through the chocolate while rocking it back and forth. Transfer the acetate onto a baking sheet and refrigerate until chocolate hardens. Blend the white chocolate with the milk chocolate until uniform in color. Remove the acetate from the refrigerator and let temper at room temperature for a few minutes. Spoon some of the white/milk chocolate mixture over the dark chocolate and spread evenly in a thin layer until woodgrain is completely covered. Return to refrigerator until hardened. Carefully peel woodgrained bands from acetate and set aside. Repeat 4 more times until you have completed 5 bands.
Cut the bands into 18 rectangles that are slightly smaller than the cookies using a straight edge and a knife that has been heated over a flame or in hot water.

Spruce icing:
reserved spruce sugar                                  6 Tblsps                      60g
unsalted butter, softened                              4 tsps                          21g
milk                                                              1 Tblsp                      18g

Cream the butter with the sugar, then blend in the milk.

To finish cookies: Spread a thin layer of icing on the center of each cookie. Top with a chocolate veneer, pressing gently to adhere.

Makes 18 cookies.

LOG SLICES

These cookies are made with 3 distinct batches of dough, flavored with products from 4 trees: acorn meal from White Oak (Quercus alba), maple sugar and syrup from Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), mesquite flour from bean pods of the Mesquite tree (Prosopis), and ground pecans from the Pecan tree (Carya illinoinensis). Maple products and pecans are widely available, acorn meal can be found online or in Korean markets, and mesquite flour is found in health food shops.

Oak sapwood:
flour 2 cups 252g
acorn meal                                       1/2 cup                  66g
baking soda                                      1/2 tsp                   2.5g
salt                                                  1/8 tsp                     .84g
unsalted butter, softened                  1 1/2 sticks 170g
sugar 2/3 cup                  120g
egg                                                  1 large 50g

Maple heartwood:
flour 2 1/2 cups              338g
baking soda                                    1/2 tsp                  2.5g
salt                                                  1/8 tsp                     .84g
unsalted butter, softened       1 1/2 sticks 170g
maple sugar 2/3 cup                  120g
egg 1 large 50g

Mesquite bark:
flour                                            3/4 cups 100g
mesquite flour      1/2 cup    70g
baking soda                                      1/4 tsp 1.25g
salt                                                  pinch pinch
unsalted butter, softened 3/4 stick 85g
dark brown sugar 1/3 cup 52g
egg yolk   1 large 18g

finely chopped or ground pecans: 1 cup 90g
egg wash: 1 egg, lightly beaten

For each of the 3 doughs: In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Beat the butter with the sugar in a mixer bowl with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes on medium speed until light and creamy. Add the egg and continue beating until incorporated. Turn the speed to low and gradually add the dry ingredients in large spoonfuls until it is all absorbed and a malleable dough forms. For the Mesquite dough, stop beating while mixture is still crumbly. Tranfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Wrap the Oak and Maple doughs tightly in plastic. Chill all 3 doughs for at least 2 hours.
To form cookies: Cut off 1/4 of the Maple dough and roll into a cylinder that is 3/4"/2cm diameter x 6" /15.5cm long. Cut off slightly less than 1/3 of the Oak dough and roll out into a rectangle that is roughly 6" x 5" x 3/8" thick (1.5cm x 13cm x 1cm). Transfer dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and trim one of the long edges so that it is straight. Brush the surface of the dough with the egg wash (glue) and place Maple cylinder along the straight edge. Using the plastic wrap to guide the dough evenly, roll the Oak dough around the Maple cylinder, pressing firmly, until it is completely wrapped, then trim the edge where they meet. The dough will crack as it bends, this is to be expected. Lay the flat of your palms on the center of the log and roll back and forth, exerting even pressure, moving hands slowly from the center of the log to the edges, until the outer layer of dough is smooth and the log has grown about 1"/2.5cm in length, and decreased slightly in diameter. Repeat the wrapping and rolling of each layer with remaining dough, alternating between the Maple and the Oak, and eggwashing between each, until the log is comprised of 6 layers and measures about 8"/20.5cm in length and about 2 1/2"/6.5cm in diameter.
Scatter the crumbly Mesquite dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and pat into an 8" x 6"/20.5cm x 15.5cm rectangle. Brush the surface with eggwash and place the log along one of the long edges. Use the plastic wrap to completely encase the log with the Mesquite dough, pressing firmly to adhere, then repeat the rolling motion to form a compact log. Scatter the ground pecans on work surface and roll the log over them to irregularly coat the surface. Trim the ends of the log, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours until firm.
To bake cookies: Slice the log 3/8"/1cm thick, rolling the log between slices to help it maintain its shape. Lay the slices out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350 F/176C oven for 8-10 minutes.
Makes about 30 cookies.

INCENSE TREE

The dough for these stacked cookie sandwiches is fragrant with orange zest and spices that are harvested from different parts of trees: cinnamon (the inner bark of Cinnamomum verum), star anise (the fruit of Illicium verum), nutmeg (the seed of Myristica fragrans), cloves (the dried flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum), and allspice (the dried unripe fruit of Pimenta dioica).
The buttercream filling is flavored with frankincense, the dried tree sap from Boswellia sacra. Frankincense can be found in Middle Eastern markets or online— look for milky white tears, free of debris.

Spice dough:
flour                                          3 cups                      405g
baking powder                          1/2 tsp                  2.5g
salt                                              1/2 tsp                  3.2g
ground cinnamon                          1 1/2 tsp                  4.5g
ground star anise                      1 tsp                      3g
ground nutmeg                          1 tsp 3g
ground cloves                              1/2 tsp                     1.5g
ground allspice                          1/2 tsp                  1.5g
unsalted butter, softened              11 oz                       312g
sugar                                          1/2 cup                  95g
muscavado sugar                       1/2 cup                  83g
egg                                          1 large                  50g
microplaned orange zest              2 tsp                      5g

Frankincense buttercream:
water                                      1/2 cup 120g
frankincense tears                      1 1/2 Tblsp          17g
sugar                                          1/2 cup               100g
egg whites                              3 large                  90g
cream of tartar                          1/4 tsp                  .80g
unsalted butter, room temp          1/2 lb                  226g
lemon juice                              1 tsp                      15g

24 karat gold leaf (optional)

To make cookies: In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients with the spices. Beat the butter with the sugar in a mixer bowl with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes on medium speed until light and creamy. Add the egg and orange zest and continue beating until incorporated. Turn the speed to low and gradually add the dry ingredients in large spoonfuls until it is all absorbed and a malleable dough forms. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
Roll the dough out to 1/4"/6mm thickness. With a set of 11 round cutters that graduate in size from 3/4"/2cm to 3 5/8"/9.25cm, cut 22 rounds by using each cutter twice. Place the cookie rounds on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake in a preheated 350F/176C oven for 6-8 minutes for the smaller cookies and 8-10 minutes for the larger ones. Allow to cool.
To make the frosting: place the water and frankincense tears in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover pan and set aside for 10 minutes to infuse. Strain through a fine sieve. Rinse saucepan and return 1/4 cup/65g of the strained frankincense water to it. Pour the sugar into the center of the pan, stir gently to wet the sugar and set over medium-high heat. When sugar melts and syrup begins to reach 200F/ 93C, turn the heat to lowest setting.
In an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until stiff peaks begin to form. Turn the mixer speed to low, return to the syrup and turn the heat up to high. Bring the syrup to 248F/120C (firm-ball stage) and immediately remove from heat. With the mixer still on low, slowly pour about 1/2 of the hot syrup down the side of the mixing bowl directly into the egg whites but avoiding the whisk. Turn mixer to high and beat for 30 seconds. Return mixer speed to low and slowly add the remaining syrup to the meringue in the same manner. Turn the speed back to high and beat for 2 minutes. Allow the meringue to cool completely before proceeding.
When meringue has cooled, add the butter, 1 Tblsp at a time, while beating on medium speed. If at any time it appears to have seperated, turn the speed to high and beat until it becomes creamy again. When al of the butter is incorporated, turn the mixer to low and beat in the lemon juice. Scrape buttercream into a pastry bag fitted with a #12 (7mm) round tip.
To finish tree: Line up the cookie rounds into 11 pairs and pipe the buttercream onto the bottom rounds all the way to the edges. Lightly press the top rounds onto the buttercream to form 11 cookie sandwiches. Stack the cookies on serving plate, starting with the largest and graduating to smallest, using a small dot of buttercream between each cookie to hold them together. If using gold leaf, press the tip of a small, damp brush on a corner of a leaf and pull to tear randomly. With the piece of gold leaf still attached to the tip of brush, transfer to cookie tree, pressing on a section of exposed buttercream to adhere. Continue until desired effect is achieved.

elderflower

I once found elder growing on our property. I came upon the single straggy specimen while clearing a patch of the hillside to plant fruit trees. It was struggling in the dense overgrowth and I had hoped that its new situation of light and air would help it along. But the following summer, and the one after, when our lives filled with other priorities, the wild reclaimed the orchard and swallowed up the elder.

After that, I considered cultivating elder on a more hospitable part of the yard— there are many ornamental hybrids with unique characteristics for the home gardener and elder enthusiast. For now, I'm happy to harvest flowers and berries from the naturalized specimens that grow abundantly along the roadsides of Northwestern Connecticut.

For most of the year, elder's dark green foliage blends in with the understory and is hard to spot. But there's a two to three week window, just after the last of the June strawberry harvest and just as the first blueberries ripen in July, when elder bursts into bloom, and elderflowers become like beacons to bees and foragers alike. That's when I stop to pick flowers from the dozens of mature trees that I pass on my daily travels, leaving enough behind to return for ripe berries in late September.

Elderflowers have a musky honey aroma that is both fruity and floral. Picked early in the morning (when most flowers have a heightened scent), they smell to me of muscat grapes. That may be why I like my elderflower cocktail with moscato wine instead of champagne, and certainly what inspired this bavaroise, served with St Germaine-glazed blueberries and honeycomb candy.

elderflower ambrosia

Ambrosia often refers to an orange and coconut concotion, but can also be used to describe something that is particularly delicious and nectar-like— a fitting description for this dessert.

elderflower moscato bavaroise

250g moscato
60g sugar
2 egg yolks
40g St Germaine
60g creme fraiche
1 sheet gelatin, softened in cold water
200g heavy cream, chilled and whipped to soft peaks

Cook the moscato and sugar to 100C/212F. Whisk together the yolks, St Germaine, and creme fraiche. Slowly drizzle the hot syrup into the yolk mixture while whisking, then transfer to saucepan and cook over medium low heat until bubbly and thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in the drained gelatin until dissolved. Cool to room temperature, then fold in the whipped cream. Pour mixture onto a parchment lined sheetpan and spread to an even thickness of 2.5cm/1". Chill for 2-3 hours, until set.

elderflower white chocolate shards

100g white chocolate, melted
2.5g freshly picked elderflower blossoms, plus more for garnish

Spread the white chocolate on parchment or silicone in a thin, even layer. When it has cooled, but not yet solidified, sprinkle blossoms over top of chocolate, pressing lightly to adhere. Chill until chocolate can be peeled from parchment and broken into shards. To preserve the color/integrity of the blossoms: do not freeze or assemble more than 30 minutes in advance of service.

St Germaine glazed blueberries

65g St Germaine
25g unsalted butter
150g blueberries

Bring the St Germaine to a simmer and whisk in the butter. When the mixture returns to a simmer, add the blueberries. Toss well to coat berries and continue cooking over gentle heat for a minute or two, just until they are warmed through. Keep warm until ready to serve.

honeycomb candy (see recipe here), broken into shards

To serve: Using a long, offset spatula, and a single motion, cut and scoop up a 2.5cm/1" wide slice of the bavaroise. Drop onto a serving plate, right of center. Embed upright shards of the elderflower white chocolate alternately with the honeycomb candy. Sprinkle the blueberries to the left and over the top of the bavaroise, then drizzle some of the glaze over the top of berries. Garnish with a sprinkle of fresh elderflower blossoms.

garlic mustard

As long as we've lived here, there has been garlic mustard in the woods at the back of our property. Over the years, I've watched it creep down the hillside and flirt with the backyard. I've managed to keep them apart because they can be terribly invasive, although their compact colonies don't bother me as much as pokeweed or knotweed.

I don't know how long I can keep them at bay. In the battle of the weeds, I just might let garlic mustard win.

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is a hardy biennial in the Brassicaceae family that grows to three feet in height. All parts of the plant are edible. The leaves are tender and mild, almost sweet, and taste of both garlic and mustard due to flavonoids that are enjoyed by humans, but despised by insects and herbivores— an efficacious trait that guarantees its proliferation.

Next to onions, garlic is the most used allium in my kitchen, though it's not a regular in my vegetable garden. That's because it needs to go in the ground in the fall when I'm more concerned with harvesting than planting. I did remember to plant a handful of cloves last September and recently dug up some immature heads. The baby-toe-sized cloves are tender and their translucent skins have not yet turned papery. When poached in milk, they become incredibly sweet and mild— a rare treat that only a vampire could resist.

Milk-poaching garlic always reminds me of brandade, a requisite step in making the salted cod and potato emulsion. The garlic-infused milk is used to poach the cod, which is infinitely better when salted just prior to cooking.

I piped the brandade from a parchment paper cone, using the exact same motion to fashion bite-size cones from garlic mustard leaves. A tiny smear of brandade on the underside of the outer leaf edge glues the cone together. Fried potatoes sticks were inserted into the cone before the brandade was piped in, because fried potatoes with [garlic and cod] pureed potatoes are doubly delicious!

brandade

Brandade is traditionally served as a dip or spread for bread. Other fish such as halibut, haddock, pollock, and hake can be substituted for the cod. Strong, oily fish like mackerel, herring, and sardines makes an assertive brandade that stands up well to pickled and brined condiments. In any case, the fish should be salted the day before. The salting process could go on for up to 24 hours, but I prefer the flavor and texture of 6-8 hours. I also prefer to use Yukon Gold potatoes over more traditional white as the don't get pasty when mechanically pureed.

400g cod (or other fish) fillet
kosher or sea salt

Sread a 1.25cm/1/2" thick layer of salt in the bottom of a shallow, non-reactive dish that is just large enough to hold the fish. Lay the fish fillet on top of the salt and completely cover with another 1.25cm/1/2" thick layer of salt. Cover dish loosely and refrigerate for 6-8 hours. Remove fish from salt and rinse thoroughly under cold running water. Pat dry. Cut fish into 2.5cm/1" pieces and allow to sit at room temperature while proceeding with recipe.

200g Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2.5cm/1" dice

Drop the potatoes into a pot of lightly salted boiling water and cook until very tender. Drain and keep warm.

600g whole milk
35g shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
10 black peppercorns
4 bay leaves
3 sprigs of thyme
12g garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

Place all ingredients except garlic into a large saucepan and bring to a bare simmer. Continue simmering (don't allow milk to boil), tightly covered, for 8 minutes. Strain through a sieve. Discard solids and return milk to saucepan. Add garlic and simmer for 4 minutes. Add fish to pan and simmer for 2 minutes (temp should be at about 80C/144F). Tightly cover pan and remove from heat. Let sit for 5 minutes or until fish is thoroughly cooked and flakes easily.

50g extra virgin olive oil

Lift the warm fish and garlic slices from the milk with a slotted spoon and place in the bowl of a food processor along with the olive oil. Process for in short bursts, sraping down sides, until a smooth paste is formed. Add about 1/3 of the milk and process for 30 seconds. Add the warm potatoes and process until smooth, adding more milk (as needed) in a stream through the feed tube until the mixture is smooth and the consistency of mayonnaise.

citrus in eight courses

Last month, I invited a group of friends to my house for dinner. There was no real occassion for it except that I had a rare weekend off and I wanted to cook a proper meal in my kitchen. Also, my refrigerator was bursting with beautiful citrus that needed to be celebrated.

I planned the meal with the same approach that I would take for a client: taking into account food preferences, what was fresh and available, limitations of time, space, and equipment. The major difference with this meal was that I had the luxury of time to document it by recording recipes and photographing the preparations and presentations.

I thought that I would share the meal with you here in a series of posts, but they grew unwieldy and dragged on forever. Lucky for us, there are more space efficient and visually appealing options for sharing documents. Enjoy.

http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v2/IssuuReader.swf

Open publication – Free publishing – More chef

beet roses

If asked, I'd say that the rose is my favorite flower, but my husband knows better than to bring any home today. It's not that roses on Valentine's Day is a cliché… something so classic and eternally beautiful can never be that. I guess my objection is the mass-marketed, factory-farmed, ridiculously-priced aspect. Yet, as symbols of love and romance, they are undeniable. So, while there will be no long-stemmed, hothouse-forced, All-American Beauties in my house today, there will still be roses!

bull's blood beet chips on Couer de Bray (cow)

candy cane beet chips on Bonne Bouche (goat)

microwave beet chips

beets
1 quart water
1 Tblsp kosher salt
olive oil in a mister bottle

Slice the beets thinly on a mandolin so that they are slightly thicker than a credit card. (If your beets are round and you wish to make roses by embedding them in cheese, they will need to be tapered on one end like a rose petal.)
Add the salt to the water (yes, it's a lot of salt, but neccessary for proper dehydration) and bring to a boil. Drop in about a dozen beet slices at a time and boil for about 3 minutes, (adding more water to maintain the level or it will become too salty as it evaporates) or until they become flexible. Remove beets with a slotted spoon and spread out on paper towels. Blot the tops dry with additional towels. Transfer slices to a sheet of parchment paper on a flat, microwave-proof dish in a single layer. Spray the tops lightly with olive oil. Flip them over and mist again. Place beets in microwave and cook on high power for 1-2 minutes, depending on the wattage of your microwave (run a trail with a few beets to confirm the time— they should become crisp within a minute of removing them from oven). Repeat with remaining beets. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

salmon pumpernickel leek

A variation of the previous dish with salmon sausage, chocolate rye pumpernickel (in pudding form), micro leeks, and oca.

pumpernickel pudding

50g charred leeks, cooked through
30g pumpernickel bread, trimmed of crusts and crumbled
50g kefir
35g water
20g beer
2g salt
15g neutral oil

Place all of the ingredients except the oil in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Slowly drizzle in the oil with the motor running. If necessary, add more oil to thicken, or water to thin. Adjust seasoning.

Oca (Oxalis tuberosa) is a species of oxalis that has long been cultivated in the Andes, where it is the second most popular tuber next to the potato, and more recently in New Zealand. Unlike common oxalis (wood sorrel), oca forms prolific fleshy tubers that can be eaten raw or cooked. In its raw form, they are crisp and moderatly acidic, like an apple without the sugar.

Oca contains fairly high concentrations of oxalates, an organic acid that can lead to kidney stones. Because the oxalates are found mostly in the skin, they can be diminished by peeling, cooking, or by exposing the tubers to direct sunlight for several hours.

Cultivating oca requires a long growing season. To get a headstart, they were sprouted in a bright, moist environment. And now that they're off to a good start they'll go directly into pots, where they'll live until the ground warms up. By late autumn, I hope to have a new crop of these delicious nuggets.

salmon sausage

Sausages need a casing.

That conclusion was reached while considering a naked and unappealing cylinder of poached salmon paste. It might've been acceptable had it not been about to be presented as a sausage.

Clearly, it needed a casing. The casing needed to be vegetarian. And with service quickly approaching, it needed to be fast.

Looking at vegetables to encase the sausage, there were two ways to go about it: wrapping or stuffing. Stuffing into a seamless casing was aesthetically preferable, but short of whitling a long, thin tube from a vegetable, there were no quick or easy alternatives that I could think of.

Wrapping, by far, offered the most doable options. Blanched leaves were considered, but rejected for their unwanted color and opacity. Translucent paper-thin sheets (which would have required breaking out the mad knife skillz) of potato, cucumber, zucchini, or daikon seemed the way to go, until a simpler technique involving leeks sprung to mind. The technique, as learned from a chef long ago was as follows:

Trim the top and roots off of a long, fat leek. Cut halfway through the leeks lengthwise and dislodge the outer layers. Blanch, shock, and lay the leek sheets flat. Pipe the filling on the leek sheet, roll tightly around filling to encase, tie ends with string, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and poach in barely simmering water.

With the leeks trimmed, I made the first cut. It wasn't until I began seperating the layers that I realized my folly: I was making a sheet to avoid making a tube, yet I had cut through a tube to make a sheet.

And that's how the most perfect vegetable casing that Nature could provide had almost eluded me.

salmon sausage

These sausages are a great way to use up trimmings. The flecks of smoked salmon give it a more dimensional flavor, as would the addition of fresh herbs, dried spice, grated aromatics, etc. They can be served hot, cold, or finished in a pan with butter.

2 leeks
500g salmon, cut into chunks and well chilled
130g cold cream cheese, cut into chunks
4g salt
70g smoked salmon, minced and chilled

casings: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Trim the root end off of the leeks and cut the tops where they begin to seperate and turn green. Drop the leeks into the boiling water and remove after 3 minutes. Using a dishtowel, pull the outer layer of the hot leeks up and over the tops until they're free. If they don't slide off easily, return to the boiling water for another minute or two. Repeat until you have enough casings to hold the filling, about 6- 8, depending on their width and length.
filling: Place the salmon in the bowl of a food processor. Process in short bursts, scraping bowl 2-3 times, until reduced to a smooth paste. Distribute the cream cheese and salt over the top of paste and process again in short bursts, until the cream cheese is no longer distinguishable. Scrape paste into a bowl and fold in the smoked salmon mince.
stuffing: Slide a leek casing over the extension tube of a sausage stuffer, taking care to not tear the leek. Feed the paste through until it fills about 1" of the end of the casing (enough to release air pocket), then tie filled end with string. Continue feeding paste until casing is filled. Remove from tube and tie open end with string. If sausage stuffer is not available, fill casings by piping filling through a pastry bag fitted with a long, wide tip. Or, do it old school (like my mother still does), by forcing the filling with thumbs through a funnel fitted into one end of the casing.
cooking: Drop tied sausages into a 50C water bath and cook for 20 minutes (no bag needed).

pepper cookies

It just isn't Christmas until I've tasted that first warm bite of spice cookies. Gingerbread, gingersnaps, lebkuchen, speculaas, hermits— I love them all!

As their names imply, pfeffernusse, pepparkakor, and piparkakut are spice cookies that are set apart from the rest by the inclusion of pepper. But if you're expecting the fragrant, tingling burn of piperine, you might be disappointed as even the oldest recipes for these cookies contain only small amounts of pepper, whose flavor is overshadowed by other pungent spices.

Don't get me wrong— I still enjoy these cookies— it's just that they don't quite live up to the promise of their name. And since it was their name that captured my imagination in the first place, it was high time to re-imagine what a pepper cookie can be.

clockwise from top left: long pepper (Piper longum), pink peppercorns (Schinus terebinthifolius), black peppercorns (Piper nigrum), sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum piperitum), grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta), green peppercorns (immature Piper nigrum), center: chile tepin (Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum)

pepper cookies
makes about 5 dozen 2" cookies

Chocolate rye malt is used in the production of dark beers and can be purchased from beer brewing suppliers. It gives these cookies a pleasant bitter edge, deep roasted aroma, and darker color. If unavailable, substitute equal amount of wheat or rye flour that has been slowly roasted in a low oven to a dark chocolate color.

spice blend: 6 black peppercorns, 5 green peppercorns, 8 pink peppercorns, 1/4 tsp sichuan pepper, 1/4 tsp grains of paradise, 1/2 of a long pepper, 3 chile tepin, 4" piece of cinnamon stick, 4 whole cloves, 2 cardamom pods, 8 coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp coarse salt

Place all ingredients in a spice blender and grind to a fine powder. Sift ground spices through a fine sieve and re-grind any coarse pieces.

245g (2 cups) flour
14g (3 Tblsps) finely ground chocolate rye malt, or dark toasted flour
2.5g (1/2 tsp) baking powder
1.25g (1/4 tsp) baking soda
85g (3 oz) unsalted butter, softened
150g (5.25 oz) muscavado or dk brown sugar
1 egg
7g microplaned fresh galangal root, or ginger root

Place the ground spice mixture in a bowl with the flour, chocolate rye malt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk until well blended. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until lightened. Add the egg and galangal and mix until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until a dough forms. Wrap dough in plastic wrap or place in an airtight container and age in refrigerator for 2 days to allow flavors to bloom and mellow.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 176C/350F. Roll out dough to .63 cm/ 1/4" thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake for 10-12 minutes. When cool, dust with confectioners sugar.

(ground and whole) chocolate malted rye berries

cornu copiae

The symbolism of the cornucopia as a font of abundance is attributed to classic mythology, most notably to the goat Amalthea, who was Zeus' foster mother and nursemaid. The story goes that young Zeus, after breaking off one of Amalthea's horn, atoned for the accident by endowing it with his divine power to provide, in an endless supply, any fruit that she desired. As fantastical as the myth may be, at its core is a loving compensation of nourishment, and a promise of an eternal feast.

gingersnap pecan ✢ pumpkin pie mousse ✢ chocolate

pumpkin pie mousse

120g cream cheese, softened
120g pumpkin puree
20g sugar
1g cinnamon
.75g ground ginger
.50g ground nutmeg
200g cold heavy cream

Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, sugar and spices and beat until well blended. Stir in heavy cream until mixture is smooth. Pour into a .5 Liter iSi whip canister and charge with 1 N2O cartridge. Invert canister and shake vigorously. Chill for 30 minutes before dispensing.

In this season of gratitude and feasting, may your horn always overflow with plenty.