The power of reduction – sweetbreads with fingerling potatoes, fresh English peas, asparagus and pearl onions with sherry beef jus

Aside from making the bouillabaisse on Monday, I was also busy making beef stock and poaching and pressing sweetbreads for dinner on Tuesday. 

Over the weekend Erin and I went to the Carrboro Farmer’s Market and saw only one stand with fresh peas – a definite highlight of spring for both of us (up there with with ramps, young and tender asparagus and the smell of honeysuckle).

English Peas

 

For the record, just over 3 pounds of peas (still in the pod) nets 1 pint when all’s said and done:

Peas ready to eat

 

To cook them, bring a large pot of very salted water to a boil and blanch until they’re just cooked through, remove and place in an ice bath.

For the other components of the meal I had to: cook the fingerling potatoes which I’d sliced on the bias (place in a pot with cold water, salt, some thyme sprigs, a couple of bay leaves and a small handful of black peppercorn, bring to a boil then check for doneness.  When done, place in an ice bath.); blanch the asparagus (use the same water and ice bath as the peas, then cut on the bias); roast the pearl onions (just barely slice both ends of the onion off, place on a sheet tray, drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper, then place in an oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes, until soft, wait until cooled then peel); and make the sauce.

Mis en place (clockwise from upper left) - sweetbreads, fingerling potatoes, pearl onions, peas, sherry beef jus, seasoned flour for dredging, asparagus)

For the sauce, I brought all the beef stock I’d made the previous day to a boil with about a cup and a half two two cups of sherry (veal stock also works wonderfully but I didn’t feel like jumping through hoops to get my hands on veal bones).  Keep reducing throughout the day, straining every time you move it to a smaller pot, and make sure to skim it throughout the day.  When it comes to the right consistency remove from heat and season, then cool.  My 8 quarts or so yielded about a cup and a half of finished sauce.

Here’s how gelatinous the sauce should be when it’s cold:

Sherry beef jus (cold)

 

To finish the dish, heat a pan with vegetable oil and a little butter, place the fingerlings in the pan, season.  Once the potatoes just start to brown, flip them over and add the pearl onions (I did 4 per person), then add the asparagus and peas (you just need to reheat these since they’ve already been cooked).  Keep warm.

To cook the sweetbreads, heat a pan over high heat, add a generous amount of vegetable oil and a little butter.  Coat the sweetbreads in seasoned flour, then place in the pan.  Once they are golden brown, flip with a spoon or tongs and cook the other side until golden brown.  Remove from pan and place on paper towel to drain.

Here’s what the final dish ended up looking like:

Finished dish

Sauteed Sweetbreads with Sherry-Mustard Butter

 

Last night I completed the sweetbreads by making them according to the recipe from Susan Spicer’s Crescent City Cooking.

After poaching them in half water/half milk and some sweated mirepoix, I pressed them between two sheet pans for about 8 hours before I cleaned them, though you could certainly press overnight if you had the time (I didn’t).

Aside from the sweetbreads the only other unique ingredient needed is creole mustard, which I was able to find pretty easily.

I also added sauteed oyster mushrooms to the dish – I’m sure asaparagus and/or pearl onions would go quite nicely as well.  I was going to sprinkle with a little bit of chive only to realize that it had gone bad in my fridge.  I really don’t think it would have made too much of a difference though.

All in all this is a solid recipe that I strongly recommend.  It’s a great introduction to sweetbreads and not a very difficult recipe to do at home at all.

I love new menu day

Yesterday afternoon I had to go to work for a couple of hours to help prep for the new menu that came out. 

As a result I got some pretty good stuff – 2 packs of sweetbreads and a quart of sauce Robert.  At the moment I’m blanching/poaching one pack of the sweetbreads for dinner tonight (I’m doing the recipe from Susan Spicer’s cookbook, which we had on our last night in Chicago at our friend Brian’s house). 

I currently have no plans for the sauce Robert and other pack of sweetbreads, but am sure I’ll be able to figure something out in the coming weeks.

A rare saturday night off

Yesterday was Erin’s birthday and I was able to get the night off.  We ended up going out to eat which was nice, instead of me cooking a meal at home on my night off.

On Friday night I found out that the restaurant is closed the week of Thanksgiving and that the week off is paid.  I’m pretty excited about that and am thinking of things I might do during the week off.

Also on Friday night we discovered that the part-time line cook can’t handle dealing with sweetbreads.  I had him peel the membrane off of them (once they’d already been blanched), and he foolishly admitted to me that he gagged several times during the process.  I made sure to pass this information on to everyone, so guess what his new job is? 

I’m not sure what we’re doing today (on my real day off), though I know later today I’ll be braising the beef bourgignon that’s marinating in the fridge.  Tomorrow I plan on voting, if anything just to show my utter contempt for the options we have.

Blackbird – July 9, 2008

For my birthday Erin took me to Blackbird, a well known and well respected restaurant on Randolph street just west of the loop.

I’ve always been hesitant to eat at Blackbird.  It always seemed like a scenester sort of restaurant to me.  As we walked by Avec (Blackbird’s sister restaurant just next door), my fears were heightened even further.  And the cold indifference of the hostess at Blackbird was equally as troubling.

Once we sat down though all worries disappeared.  Our server was competent, allowing us to enjoy our cocktails in full before we placed our order.

And when it came to ordering our meal, he was certainly more than accomodating.  My experiences with the appetizer, entree, dessert model of dining have left me a bit disenchanted.  The appetizer is almost always the best thing you eat, the entree seems to last forever, and I never make it to dessert because the entree is always way too big.

So in response to this, Erin and I set out to make our own tasting menu, albeit much cheaper.  We ordered five appetizers, asked the server to course them out, and then ordered glasses of wine to pair (roughly).  The server even one upped our expectations and had the kitchen plate everything on two plates (for the most part).

Our first course was chilled cuttlefish with jicama, snow peas, cardamom cream and fried chocolate.  The cuttlefish was treated like pasta noodles and overall this was a great summertime dish.  I was skeptical of the fried chocolate, but it was so mild that it worked especially with the cardamom cream and added a nice crunch along with the jicama.

The second course was seared Maine diver sea scallops with black trumpet mushrooms, fava beans, fried chicken skin remoulade and pumpernickle.  Again, this was a very nice, light dish, great for the summertime.  The scallops were cooked perfectly; the fried chicken skin remoulade was perplexing, but paired well with the sweetness of the scallops.

For the first two courses we enjoyed a glass of Riesling, which paired exceptionally well with the cuttlefish.

Our third and fourth courses were presented together, mainly because our server thought that they worked that way.  Their website has changed and I can’t quite recall all the accoutrements, but the two proteins were sweetbreads with a rye waffle with figs and foie gras.  The foie gras course was fairly simple and presented a fairly large portion (I thought).  And I finally got my sweetbreads in for the week, just a few days late.

The wine I paired for the sweetbreads was a pinot noir.  I was hoping that the foie gras course was going to be presented separately so we could have a sauternes, but that wasn’t the case (it didn’t pair nearly as well with the pinot noir).

The last savory course we had was a charcuterie plate of mole country pate and smoked eel rillette, with green almonds, cucumber, haricots verts and sesame brittle.  The pate contained ample amounts of diced foie gras in it, the eel rillette was delicious, and the sesame brittle offered a nice sweet contrast to the richness of the meats.

For dessert we had roasted pineapple with brioche ice cream, hibiscus and puffed ‘cinnamon toast’.  The dessert was really good, but the star of the plate was the brioche ice cream – I just wish that there was more of it on the plate.

Overall we had a great experience and I’m glad we were able to eat at Blackbird before we were able to leave Chicago.  In the same price range though are North Pond and 160 Blue, both of which I would actually recommend over Blackbird, despite all its awards.

As for the whole scenester thing, it didn’t seem too bad, though there were some pretty huge (and purchased) boobs on display.  In no way would I go there on a weekend or recommend anyone to do so.  I imagine it would be insufferable. 

And lastly I’ve read that the restaurant is loud.  I thought the volume was at a good level, mostly in part because you’re seated so close to other people that you don’t want them listening in to your conversation.  And just like rock and roll, if it’s too loud, then you’re too old.