The True Gen

Does anyone remember history--does anyone know anything about China, Cuba, Russia, communism? Doesnt anyone read anymore .

Finally, someone says something worth reading.

Article by Charles Krauthammer. Finally. Someone says something.

Lapin a la Moutarde

Rabbit in Mustard Sauce

I almost never like to post a picture of the meal I have just cooked, but this one was a total chance recipe and it came out great. It is not exactly like I have had it in parts of France and even by good French chefs in America; it was more rustic and I liked it better because of that.

I bought a whole rabbit (about 2lbs) and cut it up into serviceable pieces. Legs come off easily without cutting bone, and I split ribs and cut tenderloin off. Then I patted dry with paper towel, salted and peppered and dusted lightly in flour.

I set that aside and prepared other parts of dinner:

Small white boiler onions (about 8-10), peeled with ends clipped, placed into iron pan with butter, 1/2C White Wine, salt, pepper, and bouquet (thyme, parsley, and some rosemary). I let this cook on medium low covered for about 50 minutes, turning onions frequently.

Also cooked up mushrooms on side. I de-stemmed button mushrooms, put handful into paper towel and ringed them dry--did this until they were all wrung. Then heated tbls olive oil and tbls butter in pan till butter foam subsided, added mushrooms and tbls chopped shallots, thyme, salt pepper. Cooked until nice and browned. Set aside.

Roasted Potatoes: clean and cube new potatoes. Put in bowl with salt pepper, olive oil, thyme, rosemary and half chopped leek. Douse potatoes and place on oven pan--cook at 425-450 for 30-45 minutes until browned.

Back to Rabbit:
Chop leek, smash and chop 6 cloves garlic, chop shallot. Set all aside.

Add tbls bacon fat (or butter) to skillet and heat. Add leeks and garlic. Let soften and brown. Remove, Add more fat/oil and brown rabbit pieces. Dont crowd pan, and let crisp nicely without cooking too long. Remove each piece as its done to replace with uncooked piece. Once they're all browned, add shallot to hot pan, cook one minute and add 1/2 cup white wine, tbls butter. reduce by half. As the rabbit sits on its own, I spread some mustard over each piece and let it soak while doing other sides.

After shallot and wine cooked down, add 1 C. or so chicken stock, a little more wine, 2 tbls dijon mustard, 2 tbls moutarde a l'ancienne (with seeds), two sprigs chopped tarragon, salt pepper. Let cook thoroughly, add mushrooms and rabbit pieces. Let this cook about 30-40 minutes simmering covered. Turn Rabbit at least twice while cooking. After Rabbit is done, remove and reduce liquid. Add onions and degalze the brasied onion skillet with a little more wine and add that to mustard sauce as well. Mix thoroughly and add heavy cream. Not too much but enough. Taste as you go. Then add rabbit, let warm and set for a minute.

Serve with potatoes and smooth red wine. We had a Pic St Loup from Languedoc, and though it was a weak wine by itself, the mustard sauce brought it out very well.

Strawberry Liqueur and Chicken Salad

These are two things I have been meaning to post recently, and happened to think of at the same time tonight. I dont think they go really well together, although I am sure some schmo out there can figure some combination that gets him off.

Strawberry Liqueur:
This is about the easiest of the liqueurs I have been trying lately. Get 16 oz strawberries, clean em and chop em in half into a jar. Fill jar 3/4 with vodka, 1/4 with water and 2 cups sugar. Let sit for 3-4 weeks. Drink over ice. Easy.

I am currently experimenting with peach, cherry, and various other fruit liqueurs made from bought liquor. More soon. Anyone in Hudson Valley or up north want to send down 3 lbs of Macintosh apples, I'll make some apple brandy for holidays.

As for Chicken Salad, this comes from left-over chicken from Julia Childs' Poulet Roti. It is the best damn roast chicken I have ever had and if you follow her directions it comes out perfect everytime--except one thing--if you tilt chicken cavity and let juices run out toward end of cooking and there are still little drops (only little drops) of pink juice running out, then take it out of oven and set on plate covered for 20 minutes. It will be perfect.

As for Chicken Salad, I took off the remaining meat from bird (after two days of eating chicken), chopped up and put in bowl. We added tbls Mayo, tbls Ancien Moutarde, and the remaining gravy from chicken (gravy was made from leftover liquid--minus fat--reduced with shallot and cup chicken stock and vegetables). I think what made this chicken salad so good was the gravy flavor and added vegetables from roast chicken. If your chicken salad is too dry add more mayo. I shouldnt have to say that.

St Teresa of Avila

St. Teresa of Avila,
We pray today in little ways
In castle rooms and through
Doorways where silkworms
Eat darkness, dreams find
All manner of thing shall be well.

Beef Harvest Stew

This is my first invented Beef Stew. I saw Rump Roast on sale tonight, so went with 3.5 lbs of it. For the rest, 5 onions, two shallots, two heads garlic, 2 cups beef broth, 1 october fest beer (or any amber), bacon, spices.

The key to this dish (as all beef dishes) is in the browning process. This was complicated. Cubed beef and doused in flour, salt, pepper. On the side I crushed 4 cloves garlic (maybe 6 depending on size). Then heated bacon fat (saved from all those mornings of crispy bacon) and half slice of bacon in skillet until very hot (I used a total of half pack bacon). Added several cubes of beef (but not crowding pan). After one side was browned, I added a tsp of crushed garlic to pan and kept turning beef cubes until all browned. The bacon would get crispy, and I would remove if almost burned--adding another half-slice after removed. The beef was browned nicely and the garlic would be almost black, and I would remove beef and garlic, leaving bacon grease in pan for next few pieces of beef. Then I added more bacon to make more grease, added beef, garlic and browned. I repeated this step until all the beef was browned. I had a few slices of bacon left when I was done, so I cooked that with remaining garlic until browned and deglazed pan with glob red wine and little butter. After alcohol cooked off, I set that aside.

Then in pot, I heated 1-2tbls butter and more bacon grease. Add 5 sliced onions and let cook until mostly soft. Added bacon/wine/garlic deglazed stuff from skillet into onions and let cook 2 more minutes. I made sure that onions had released significant amount of liquid and then added beef on top of onions. Let sit for 2 minutes crushing 6-8 more cloves garlic on top of beef. I made up bouquet garni (five sprigs thyme, three sprigs oregano, 3 leaves sage, one sprig rosemary, bay leaf, and parsley). Added two cans beef stock, bouquet, salt, pepper, two cloves, chopped shallot, three garlic cloves mushed, two tbls brown sugar and bottle of beer. Let bring to boil and reduced to simmer for three hours.

After two hours, I added sauteed mushroom quarters. These were quartered mushrooms, sauteed in 2 tbls butter and a little olive oil, salt, pepper. Sauteed until browned. Added to stew after 2.5 hours.

In skillet mushrooms were browned in, I added a few ladels full of liquid from stew. Then added tbls butter and shallot and 2 tbls flour. I whisked this on medium heat until thoroughly mixed (almost like a roux, but without long-term browning). Added this to stew and cooked through. Total cooking time was 3 hours.

I served over sliced sweet potatoes browned in butter and brown sugar. Perfect October meal.

An American Carol

Just saw An American Carol. I enjoy upside down humor, something that turns the world around. I love Marx Brothers and Family Guy. I hate most modern comedy based on sarcasm, self-deprecatory asides, and seemingly witty retorts. I hate modern sitcoms--except maybe King of Queens and that other one with the fat guy who sells toilets and the skinny wife. An American Carol is certainly wonky, certainly slapstick, and certainly hilarious.

I don't know if it was the suicide nun-bombers, the college demonstrators, the ACLU lawyer zombies, or just all of it, it hit right at everything. It showed that ordinary people dont have to live in New York and Washington, and dont have to talk like them either.

Speaking of talking...
After reading all the comments tonight regarding last night's debate, the only thing I read over and over was how Sarah Palin was too folksy and its not time for a folksy person in charge. First of all, how the hell can the democratic party claim to be anti-prejudiced, open-minded and have the nerve to judge Palin because she talks like where she comes from. This is a large country, and I am getting the feeling people in New York City and Washington think New York and Washington are the USA--that anyone else talking differently, using different idioms, mannerisms, even winking--gee, when did that become such a crime--are un-American. They have it dead wrong--America is the nation it is because of the places and the individuality of the places people really come from. Why would we want someone to hide their identity in order to sound like some general voice, no place, no background person? This is 1925 and Mencken Monkey Missionaries all over again--remember they called Southerners Backwards Bible Bigots. Yeah, same people nowadays, those Monkey Missionaries--only now it's global warming, smoking bans, talk-radio, telling the truth, etc...just a different style of clothing. Same boring ideas. Did anyone else notice that moment in the debate when Gwen Ifill actually said to Biden how he had said and believed in this and this and what he thought now--and then she added--well, at least you used to say that...did anyone catch that--how even Gwen Ifill saw through Biden's double-speak, Biden's walking hypocrisies, Biden as living contradiction. I just hope we learn before the election exactly how much stuff he has plagiarized this time.

Back to the movie--it was good. Go see it. It was refreshing to see other people standing up for things--especially when the microphones in this country have been hogged by a party of defeat.

Catfish with Cajun Mushroom Sauce

I invented this dish tonight. We bought three catfish fillets caught within the last day in the Atchafalaya Basin. They are pink and firm and good clean fillets.

I rub them in cajun spice--Konriko is best, but if you dont have it or cannot get it, pepper, salt, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and paprika will be a fine mix.

I crushed three cloves garlic and heated oil in skillet. let garlic cook a little and added catfish fillets. let sear on both sides.

Removed and put 1/2 cup red wine in pan. Let reduce half. Added 1-2 tbls butter. Added sliced mushrooms. Cooked mushrooms until mostly done. Added Catfish into pan and covered until done. The mushrooms released enough liquid to add to sauce, so I did reduce a little at the end. Serve over rice (or your favorite Zatarain's).