Smoked Salmon, Quail Eggs, and Endive

Recipe: Smoked Salmon, Quail Eggs, and Endive
Page: 91
Date Cooked: October 25, 2012

The combination of potatoes, smoked salmon, and eggs is pretty typical. This recipe just ups the ante, particularly with the use of quail eggs and endive. Jonathan Waxman mentions a few locations to get quail eggs, such as Chinese supermarkets or a specialty store like D'Artagnan (http://www.dartagnan.com/). While D'Artagnan is great for many products, my advice to you is to definitely go to the Chinese supermarkets if you can. A pack of 15 quail eggs will cost you almost $9.00 from a specialty store. Yet a pack of 10 quail eggs at the Chinese supermarket cost only $1.50. A price differential you just can't beat.

Ingredients: Red potatoes, unsalted butter, salt, pepper, lemon, rice wine vinegar, olive oil, Belgian endive, smoked salmon, quail eggs, and dill

I washed the potatoes and cut them into wedges. I put butter in a skillet to melt, added the potatoes, seasoned them with salt and pepper, and put the skillet in the oven for the potatoes to roast.

Roasting potatoes

In the meantime, I prepped the vinaigrette. I juiced the lemon in a bowl, added rice wine vinegar, and whisked in the olive oil till the vinaigrette emulsified.

Making the vinaigrette 

I cut the bottom ends of the endive and arranged the spears around the plate. I spooned some of the vinaigrette onto the endive spears and placed the salmon on top of the endive. I tossed the roasted potatoes in the remaining vinaigrette and added the potatoes to the plate.

Assembling the salad

Then it was on to frying the quail eggs. I fried them in a pan with some butter, just until the yolks set.

Frying quail eggs

I placed the fried quail eggs on top of the salad and served immediately.

Smoked Salmon, Quail Eggs, and Endive

The salad was good. The salmon really shined and I enjoyed the tartness of the vinaigrette. I also have grown to appreciate potatoes in a salad, something Jonathan Waxman has done before (Warm Dandelion, Bacon, and Potato Salad). Furthermore, the quail eggs did have a different taste and texture when compared to chicken eggs.

The most time consuming aspect of this recipe for me was handling the quail eggs. The small size of the egg makes it a bit tricky. But after a few eggs, I seemed to have gotten the trick.

Overall, it was a great salad. However, I'm not sure I would go to the hassle of using the specialty ingredients if I played with these flavor profiles in the future. Perhaps a different type of lettuce would be fine and a chicken's egg would also be suitable.

Enjoy!

Lamb T-Bones and Eggplant

Recipe: Lamb T-Bones and Eggplant
Page: 185
Date Cooked: October 22, 2012

This recipe follows a pretty common pairing - lamb and eggplant. And if it's not broke, why fix it? Furthermore, the recipe includes additional typical ingredients paired with lamb - eggplant and red wine. I may be getting to the punchline early, but the recipe is simple and ingredients really get a chance to sing.

Ingredients: Onion, garlic, Zinfandel, olive oil, lamb T-bones, parsley, rosemary, eggplant, Kosher salt, and black pepper

I sliced the onion and smashed the garlic. I put Zinfandel, olive oil, and garlic in a large bowl and mixed it together. I added the lamb t-bones to the bowl and turned to coat with the marinade. I sprinkled the onion, a few sprigs of parsley and rosemary to the bowl. I let the lamb marinate for 3 hours in the fridge, turning the lamb twice.

Marinating the lamb

I prepped the grill. I cut the eggplant in half, coated it with olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Prepping the eggplant

I grilled the eggplant halves, cut side down for a few minutes. While the eggplant remained on the grill, I patted the lamb t-bones dry and seasoned them with salt and pepper. I then turned the eggplant over on the grill and added the lamb t-bones. After a few minutes, I turned the t-bones over. The t-bones cooked until medium-rare.

Eggplant and lamb t-bones on the grill

I removed the eggplant and lamb t-bones off the grill. I let the lamb rest for a few minutes and then plated. I placed an eggplant half and two lamb t-bones (they were small) on a plate.

Lamb T-Bones and Eggplant

Simple. Simple. Simple. The seasoning was really just salt and pepper, and it worked. The eggplant was great and I loved the beautiful grill marks. The lamb t-bones were cooked to perfection - perfectly medium-rare, tender, and juicy. Like I said at the start of this post, this recipe was really about the pureness of the ingredients. I enjoyed it thoroughly!

Enjoy!

P.S. I cannot believe it, this is my 100th recipe!!! Only 15 more to go!!!

BBQ Chicken and Grilled Asparagus

Recipe: BBQ Chicken and Grilled Asparagus
Page: 150
Date Cooked: October 14, 2012

The ingredients for this recipe were quite simple. Also, it felt like a healthy meal. Or at least in Jonathan Waxman terms, fairly healthy. I enjoyed Jonathan Waxman's recipe for Perfect Roast Chicken so I was excited about bbq-ing a whole chicken as well.

Ingredients: Chicken, Kosher salt, pepper, green beans, olive oil, asparagus, new potatoes, red wine vinegar, frisee lettuce, and unsalted butter

First, I prepared my charcoal grill. I then proceeded to butterfly the chicken and rubbed it with salt and pepper. I snapped the tough parts of the asparagus stalks. I also cleaned the potatoes. I placed the chicken skin side down on the grill and arranged the potatoes and asparagus around it. I covered the grill and let it cook.

Prep for the grill

In the meantime, I brought a pot of salted water to a boil. I topped and tailed the green beans and then cooked them in the boiling water for a few minutes. Once cooked, I tossed the green beans with some olive oil.

Cooking the green beans

I removed the asparagus from the grill and turned the potatoes. I mixed together the red wine vinegar and oil. I seasoned the vinaigrette with salt and pepper. I tossed the beans and frisee with the vinaigrette. I also tossed the asparagus with some butter and seasoned them with salt and pepper.

Left: Grilled asparagus tossed in butter
Right: Green beans and frisee salad

I pulled the chicken and potatoes off the grill as well.

BBQ chicken and potatoes

I then got ready to plate. I cut the chicken into pieces. I placed the bean and frisee salad on a plate, topped it with a piece of chicken. Finally, I set some potatoes and asparagus on the plate as well.

BBQ Chicken and Grilled Asparagus

The chicken was delicious - cooked perfectly and had this great grill flavor. The vinaigrette in the frisee and green bean salad provided the acidity for the meal. And the buttered asparagus gave some fat to the dish. But really, I thought it felt balanced and very all-American. I definitely will be bbq-ing a whole chicken again! It was almost too easy - butterfly the chicken, place it on the grill - skin-side down, and let it cook. All in all, simple and yummy.

Enjoy!

Grilled Rabbit with Roasted Tomato Salsa

Recipe: Grilled Rabbit with Roasted Tomato Salsa
Page: 194
Date Cooked: September 28, 2012

I'm not sure how popular rabbit cooking is for the home cook or perhaps it's a regional thing. However, it is safe to say I hadn't cooked rabbit prior to this recipe. I had to special order the rabbit from my grocer (I later found out that the Amish families at the farmers market sometimes have it), waited a week for it to arrive, and was quite excited for this recipe.

Shallots, garlic, rose wine, olive oil, rosemary sprigs, rabbit, plum tomatoes, Kosher salt, black pepper, and unsalted butter

The recipe called for the rabbit to marinate for 12-48 hours. Accordingly, upon getting the rabbit (already cut into pieces by my butcher) I went right to marinating. I sliced some shallots and peeled half a garlic head's worth of cloves. I combined the wine, the shallots, garlic, olive oil, and rosemary in a large bowl. I added the rabbit pieces, covered with plastic, and let it marinate in the fridge.

Rabbit in the marinade

Two days later, I resumed the recipe. I cut the tomatoes in half, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, topped them with the rest of the garlic, some more shallots, minced rosemary, and olive oil. I placed the pan of tomatoes in the oven to roast. Upon removing the tomatoes from the oven, I transferred the contents to a bowl, and crushed the tomatoes with a wooden spoon.

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Then it was time to grill the rabbit. I removed the rabbit from the marinade, rubbed the rabbit pieces with olive oil, and seasoned it with salt and pepper. I placed the rabbit on the grill and let it cook for about 20 minutes - 10 minutes on each side.

Grilling the rabbit

In the meantime, I heated some olive oil in a pan, added the garlic and shallots from the marinade, and sauteed until they became brown. I then poured in the reserved marinade, additional wine, and let the it boil. I strained the wine mixture into another saucepan and reduced it to about a cup. I finished the wine reduction with some butter.

Making the wine sauce

Then it was time to plate. Jonathan Waxman suggests serving the rabbit with buttered fettuccine. I happened to have made fettuccine earlier that week and this was a perfect use of it. I placed some fettuccine on a plate, added the rabbit, spooned the wine sauce over the rabbit, and garnished it with the tomato salsa.

Grilled Rabbit with Roasted Tomato Salsa

This was such a fun recipe to make; and when you look at it, it didn't take too much work. The most time intensive part was the marinating and heck you don't have to do anything while it marinates. But the flavors are so complex. I loved the gaminess of the rabbit and it definitely had that wonderful grill flavor. The wine sauce was delicious and it added a bit of sweetness and fat to the dish. The roasted tomato salsa was incredibly flavorful, I could have just eaten the salsa on its own. As a result of each component being great, the dish as a whole was soo freaking good. It was without a doubt restaurant quality material!

Enjoy!