Lamb Bacon

I first experienced the wonder that is lamb bacon at Resto, a Belgian restaurant in Manhattan. The dish was called Lamb Belly with Snap & English Peas, Tendrils, Leaves, Goat Cheese.

From the first bite, I was smitten.

Combining the intense, delicious flavor of lamb with the salty, crispy goodness of bacon, the lamb belly was a revelation. I couldn't believe I hadn't experienced this product before.

Six months later, I had my next encounter with the smoky seductress. This time the belly arrived nestled amidst bacon's common confidants, lettuce and tomato as part of a gourmet BLT. While many plates coming out of Boqueria's kitchen are memorable dishes, this was one of the all-time greatest sandwiches I've ever had the pleasure to eat (and I don't even like raw tomato slices!). It was balanced and perfect in all the ways that a great BLT is, but had the added pizazz of lamb flavor to up the ante that much more.

Boqueria's Beauties

By this time I was hooked. I had to have more lamb bacon, to experiment with this wonderful ingredient on my own, and to share the fantastic flavor with my friends.

There was just one little problem with my plan.

I couldn't find any.

I called specialty stores, emailed meat purveyors, and even wrote to various farms around the country. Nobody, and I mean, nobody, sold lamb bacon.

After about a dozen attempts, I gave up. It seemed that there was no lamb belly to be had.

A few months later, I had the pleasure of attending the launch party for the new daily food digest, Tasting Table. In between hobnobbing with various food bloggers and encountering the legendary Jean-Georges himself, I met the proprietors of said newsletter.

For some reason the conversation ended up turning to lamb bacon, and low and behold, the gentlemen told me that the following day's e-mail would contain the answers to my search.

The next morning, after frantically refreshing my inbox for a couple of hours, the e-mail arrived.

Lamb belly was now being sold at Williamsburg butcher shoppe, Marlow and Daughters. I immediately made plans to go.

The answer to my prayers

After a scrumptious lunch with my roommates at Peter Luger, I made my way over to this new meat market and plunked down a cool $5 for 1/3 of a pound of lamb pancetta. While not exactly lamb bacon (pancetta is cured, but not smoked), I figured it would do the trick.

The trick I hoped that the pancetta could perform was to add balance and flavor to a salad I was making that evening.

I decided that I’d roast the paper thin rounds of pancetta until they were crisp sheets and then crumble the warm results over a salad.

The other cast members included peppery baby watercress, sour and acidic blood orange segments, and shaved red onion. The salad was topped with Annie's garlic studded Green Goddess dressing.

Baby Watercress, Lamb Pancetta, Blood Orange, Red Onion, Green Goddess

The lamb bacon was not only able to hold its own against these pungent ingredients, but it actually served to tie them all together.

The bacon fat was cut by the acid from the blood orange and the pancetta’s crispy texture gave spunk and flavor to the watercress. Red onion added its own sweet and spicy flavor, while the dressing both lubricated and flavored each ingredient well. When all the ingredients were eaten in one bite, the salad was a perfect expression of the type of dishes that I love to make; big, bold flavors that play well with one another.

Unfortunately, between the salad and pre-meal snacking (a good chef always tastes his food before serving it), I used up all the pancetta on this one dish.

Don’t worry though. 

Even if it means another trek to Williamsburg, where there is lamb bacon, I’ll be there.

Big Apple Block Party Fast Passes and Schoolgirls

I won't delay you from clicking on these links any longer than I have to.

There are two things you need to know A.S.A.P.

1) Big Apple Block Party Fast Passes are now on sale

2) Park Avenue Winter, one of my favorite restaurants in the city, is doing this (via Eater):

"Attention UES parents, creepy old men, and ladies willing do anything for a free meal. Feast your eyes on this little ol' Dealfeed from Park Avenue Winter: "Park Avenue Winter will make its small-screen debut on The CW’s Gossip Girl on Monday, March 16. The ingénue restaurant is celebrating its star turn with a special offer for March 16-20: girls of any age in a school uniform will be treated to dinner with Park Avenue’s compliments." "Girls" over 21 get two rounds on the house. "

Park Avenue Winter
100 East 63rd Street at Park Avenue, 212-644-1900.


Now go make yourselves a reservation!

A Tasting You Can Afford

Your humble host bring news of another fantastic New York event.

Last year's Village Voice Choice Eats

While there are plenty of tastings around the city, usually for the benefit of one charitable organization or another, the great majority of them are incredibly expensive or lack variety. 

The event I bring to your attention this evening has an extensive, eclectic lineup of some of New York's best restaurants, many of which are from uncharted territories (a.k.a. the outer boroughs).  

This delicious lineup is hand picked for you by none other than famed Village Voice critic Robert Sietsema.  Known for his strong opinions and love of "underdog" restaurants, Sietsema uses this forum to champion his favorite places around town and get patrons to experience unique and wonderful world cuisines.

Robert Sietsema is crazy..... (about great food)

Per the press release, there will be over 50 restaurants from all five boroughs in attendance, nearly double the number that were at the first edition of this now annual event last March.

I'm still waiting for a Jamaican restaurant named "The Jerk Store"

Best of all, all of this deliciousness, plus three hours of open bar, can be experienced by yourself for the very, very reasonable price of $35.  Oh, and did I mention that the profits benefit Slow Food NYC, an organization near and dear to my heart?

If you don't have plans for March 31, 2009, I hope to see you there.

Get your tickets soon as they sell out quickly.

Enjoy.

TONIGHT - ONE NIGHT ONLY! Tongue Test!

Sorry for the late notice, but, if you've got an extra quarter-Benjamin lying around, you can attend what promises to be a pretty fantastic event. See below:

Tongue Test

Thursday, 2/12 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Food chemistry guru Harold McGee and taste expert Linda Bartoshuk discuss the science behind flavor at this interactive tasting ($25). Attendees will sample various foods, including the sense-beguiling miracle fruit. New York Academy of Sciences, 250 Greenwich St. (at Barclay St.), 40th floor; nyas.org

Enjoy!

You're doing it all wrong...

Chowhound, a valuable resource for regionally based dining advice has added a new video on demand section with some very interesting and informative shorts.

The videos give very specific and valuable bits of advice regarding their chosen topics from people who really know their crafts.

That's Mr. Carmellini to you...

When I found out that one of my favorite chefs, Andrew Carmellini, was getting in on the (lights, camera) action, I knew that this was a series to take seriously.  Here's a link to the home page and to my favorites of the bunch:

How to sauce pasta

How to pour sparkling wine

How to cut and serve cheese

Enjoy.

People Like Food

Happy new year!

It's been way, way too long and I'm sorry for the delay.  I have plenty of fun things to discuss this year and I'm looking forward to a delicious 2009.

To get things started, I thought I'd post this fascinating article from The Onion.

Who knew?

PEOPLE LIKE FOOD

These days it's hard to get people to agree on things. Some people like wearing shorts all the time, but other people think you always have to dress up nice. Some people like movies with cartoons in them, but other people only like watching real people. How do you find a middle ground? You don't. It's impossible. But, there's one thing I've found where I think we can all agree: food. People like food.

Now before you argue against my statement, think about it for a second. Everyone I've ever talked to likes food. My mother likes food. My brother likes food. My stepdad likes food even more than my mom. The president likes food, too, probably. I've never eaten with him, but I can picture him sitting at a table eating a big bowl of macaroni and cheese right now. Homeless people ask me for money all the time just so they can buy food. It seems to me that food's pretty popular.

And, when you really think about it, there's a lot to like about food. It tastes good and it's good to eat. That's all I can think of for now, but those two things alone make me like food. Furthermore, I just thought of something else: Food is probably the healthiest and best thing to put in your mouth. You can ask a doctor about that.

And, so, thus, people like food.

There's one big argument against people liking food that I'm going to rebut right now. "What about picky eaters? They don't like food." I must admit that part of that statement is true. Some picky eaters don't like every food that's available, but just because you don't like one food doesn't mean you don't like any food at all.

Still don't believe me? Here's an example that will quiet any naysayers. During dinner one evening, my friend Dale refused to eat asparagus, so I thought to myself, "Does he not like food?" But a few minutes later I looked over and he was eating some baked chicken. So, if he likes chicken, and chicken is food, then he must like food. See? Picky eaters like food, too.

That was just one of many examples of how people like food.

There's food out there for everyone. Hamburgers is one good example. But even if you don't like hamburgers, there are a number of other foods to consider: spaghetti, chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, cereal, bacon, pancakes, pot pie, and dairy. Some people like food you don't even have to cook, like Starbursts or cheese and crackers. And there is also cold food, liquid food, soft food, hard food, and jelly-filled food. I'm positive that if you look hard enough you will find one food that you like.

I bet you like pizza.

People like food so much that they find time to eat it in between eating it. That's why we have snacks—little foods that taste good that you can eat whenever you want. The snack aisles in supermarkets are very big and have lots of choices. That's because supermarkets learned a long time ago that people like food enough to buy it. They know it, I know it, and you can know it too if you just listen.

Now, granted, I don't know the statistics, but I bet something like 98 percent of people eat food every day. It's got to be really high, because all students and people with jobs have lunch breaks, and what else would they be doing? Even babies cry when they don't get food, which some might say is evidence that we are practically born to eat food. Maybe that's why people like food so much.

Here's a fact: Food has been around forever. Food was there when Marco Polo brought back food from Asia. Food was there during the first Thanksgiving. If you think about it, eating food is the one thing humans have always done. It's what makes us who we are. Without food, could we really even call ourselves human? We'd probably be pretty tired and hungry, or dead.

So in conclusion, if you don't want to be dead, it's time you wised up and accepted the reality that people like food. They just do, trust me. Thank you. 

BY JOSEPH BRUNEEL 
JANUARY 7, 2009 | ISSUE 45•02

Food For Thought

I write to you today to ask for your consideration.

No I'm not up for an Academy Award.

I'm asking for your consideration of an issue near and dear to my heart. That issue is agricultural policy in the United States. 

Since Richard Nixon's administration, the United States has been manipulating farming through various incentives provided to both industrial and independent farmers.  While I'm all for efficiency and understand economies of scale, these incentives have both destroyed natural food systems and created problems far beyond edible industry. Energy policy, the health care system and even national security are all significantly worse off because of the various Farm Bills that have been passed in the last 40 years.

But don't take my word for it.

And definitely don't take his word for it...

Author Michael Pollan is leading the charge to change our hypocritical, wasteful and damaging policies with well-written, fun (and frightening) to read books about the state of the American food system. Whether you just read one of the articles below or check out The Omnivore's Dilemma (or one of his other books) in it's entirety, I promise that you will be a significantly more informed food citizen.  We eat (at least) three times a day, yet most fail to consider where exactly that food is coming from and what the consequences of our food choices are.  After exploring Mr. Pollan's writings, you will appreciate the impact of the choices that we make, every time we exchange money for food.

Your Reading List

The Omnivore's Dilemma - (Introduction and First Chapter)

The Futures of Food

Unhappy Meals

Farmer in Chief


After you've checked out this literature, I encourage you to sign this petition encouraging President-Elect Obama to appoint someone Pollan and other food luminaries support to the position of Secretary of Agriculture.

He Already Loves Arugula...

I wouldn't bother writing if I didn't think it was vitally important to both our nation's future and your very own taste buds.  

Thank you for your consideration.

Don't Try This At Home...

You probably shouldn't try it at a restaurant either.

A reporter for ABC has embarked on an important journalistic endeavor; to record for future generations a series of eating contest menu items at various restaurants around the country.

The pinnacle of human achievement

If you're in the mood for a 50 pound burger (that's 200 1/4 pounders for you non-math folk), a 76 ounce steak with all the trimmings or 21 scoops of ice cream with toppings galore, read on.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/SmallBiz/Story?id=6353125&page=1

Don't say I didn't warn you...

Thanks to Mark for the tip.

Iron Chef - Bacon

After sampling a particularly delicious dish at Momofuku Ssam Bar featuring Benton's Bacon, I decided to see if I couldn't procure some of this superlative swine myself.  I checked out Mr. Allen Benton's website, and ordered myself four pounds of bacon and a pound of "Tennessee Proscuitto."  

The man and his hams

After a couple of shipping miscues (the UPS guy couldn't figure out what floor my company was on so he had it returned to Tennessee), and some e-mailing with Mr. Benton himself, I had the pungent, piggy product in my hands.  

Knowing how extraordinary this food was, I wanted to share it with my bacon loving friends and make it a truly memorable meal.  Thus, the idea for another iron chef challenge was born.  

One night, ten friends, five courses, all bacon.

For over two months I pondered what dishes would best show off the flavor and versatility of the Benton's bacon.  I solicited ideas from friends, poured over restaurant menus and scoured the Internet for recipes.

Finally I set the date, sent out the evite and started shopping.  Here's how it all went down:

For the first course, I served an amuse bouche brilliantly conceived by my friend Mark: Bacon Wrapped Bacon.

More than just a play on the simplicity of wrapping something in bacon to enhance its flavor, this amuse would be a warning shot, a bacon siren, that things were about to get heavy, in a good way.

To break up the monotony of so much Benton's bacon, I also bought a package of my favorite store supplied product, Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Bacon.  I cut each slice into thirds and made an equal armed cross out of one cut piece of each brand.  I alternated folding each slice back over the other, a bit of a bacon weave, until I ran out of bacon real estate and was left with what looks like a fat-streaked rose.  I put a wooden skewer through the middle to hold the creation's shape together and popped the 10 skewers in a 375 degree oven for 18 minutes.  When they emerged, they were crispy throughout and the excess fat had melted into a pool in the bottom of the grill pan that was my cooking vessel.  What was left was super crispy layers of phenomenally rich meat that really popped with flavor.  Everyone was moaning (from joy, I think) and palates were primed for the impending porcine party.  We also watched this video to get "in the mood."

Bacon, by any other name, would taste as sweet...

Thankfully these monsters were only one bite each as any more might have been asking for it.

Up next was a salad that I love making during the summer when peaches and nectarines are at their sweet peaks.  The dish consists of grilled peaches and/or nectarines, baby spinach leaves, crumbled candied pecans, dried cranberries, freshly cooked warm bacon bits and blue cheese dressing.  Without fresh peaches or nectarines at my disposal, I used a high quality jarred white peach that filled in decently well for its summer cousin.  This salad is always a hit and on this night, was a welcome bit of green in a dinner filled with heavier foods.

This course actually might have been healthy

For the third course, I had planned to cook up a batch of Bucati alla Amatriciana, my favorite Italian dish.  Consisting of diced red onion sauteed with pancetta, red chili flakes and tomato, it is a dish I serve quite often.  On this evening however, I didn't want to make a pasta as I feared noodles might fill my friends up with 2 courses yet to go.  Thus, I came up with the idea of turning this powerfully flavorful, yet simple sauce into a soup.  

To that end, I browned four slices of Benton's bacon over medium heat in my largest stock pot and removed them when they were cooked through.  To the melted fat which they left in their wake, I added three diced large red onions and a few pinches of red chili flakes and sauteed over medium-low heat.  After ten minutes, I dropped in two 35 oz. cans of San Marzano peeled tomatoes, sans the liquid they are canned with, and mashed them into the onions with a potato masher.  I popped the top on the pot, and let the mixture cook over low heat for 90 minutes.  

When the lid was removed, I returned the bacon to the party (after a rough chop) and let the mix simmer uncovered for another ten minutes.  After a little adjustment of seasoning with salt and pepper, the soup was ready to serve.  

I'm sorry Campbell's. but this was truly a soup that ate like a meal.  Hearty, warm, with a subversive kick from the chili flake, it was the kind of food I long for on a winter's evening.  The flavor was rich with bacon, but that richness was cut by the sweetness and acidity of the tomatoes and the natural sugar in the red onion.  It was my favorite creation of the evening and will be a staple for many NFL Sundays to come.

You're the inspiration... (sadly no one photographed the actual dish I made)

For our fourth plate of piggy goodness, I decided to have a little fun.  I wanted to showcase just how good this bacon was by offering it in very traditional ways.  To do that, I made a course I decided to call "Bacon All Day."  The plate consisted of three mini sandwiches, none of which was particularly novel.  I made a mini bacon egg and cheese biscuit, a hot peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich and a bacon cheeseburger slider that I augmented by adding bits of bacon inside the burger patty.

Three Little Pigs

These simple sandwiches were hopefully able to convey how different and delicious Allen Benton's bacon is than that typically consumed in these common sandwiches.  While I probably should have tried to go a little lighter (perhaps a BLT rather than the burger), I think the point was made.  Everyone had a different favorite, but all agreed that the star was shining brightly in its bacony glory.

For my last act, I took the suggestion of a good friend from high school who used to live in Los Angeles named Tristan.  In L.A., he told me, there was a restaurant famous for its bacon cheesecake, which consisted of of a layer of bacon slices set between the crust and cake on an otherwise standard cheesecake.

Being a lazy and poorly equipped baker, I ditched the idea to splurge for a spring-form pan and copy the cake to a T and decided instead to use the recipe as a jumping off point for my own creation.  

I purchased a frozen NY Style Cheesecake from Trader Joe's and let it sit out on the counter for four hours until the cake became malleable.  At that point, I sprinkled crumbled bits of extra crispy Niman Ranch Bacon (the Benton's is perhaps too flavorful for this application) and crushed honey graham crackers over the top of the cake.  I then kneaded the crumbs and crumbles into the cake until there were bits of both in every bite.  Next, I rolled the mixture into bite sized balls and stored them in the ice box until about 20 minutes before they were ready to serve, when I let them sit out on a counter to soften up.  My friends and I really enjoyed the classic mixture of sweet and salty, but it was my coworkers who were most impressed when I brought in left-overs to sample the following day.  Comments ranged from, it's not that bad to "it's almost better than sex."  I wish I were making this up.  I'm not.  

Now you can have your pudding while you eat your meat.

All in all, we went through about 60 slices of bacon that evening, each serving its own delicious purpose.  

Here's what bacon lover and attendee Victoria had to say:

"The meal was nothing but decadent and sinful.  Of course, I knew this going into it, so I prepared well with a pair of stretchy pants.  My favorites were the amuse bouche (bacon wrapped in bacon) and the bacon breakfast sandwich, which haunted me in my dreams last night. I think the high I was feeling from this meal caused me to say some lascivious things to Smith, so I'd like to make a public apology to my fiance."

Afterwards, I actually hurt all over. 

It was worth every last bite.

Recession Specials

If you haven't noticed, the economy is not doing so well.  One positive outcome of tough times tends to be unusual good deals, both in the stock market and in your super market.  

Restaurants have a particularly tough road ahead of them as dining out is one of the easiest forms of discretionary spending to curb.  To curb the curbing, many restaurants in New York are offering great deals to get you in the door.  Here's New York Magazine's list of some of New York City's best recession specials:

5 Ninth: $24 three-course lunch (one of the best dining deals in the meatpacking district).

21 Club: 3-course prix fixe menu at lunch for $35, and dinner $40 when seated by 6:30 p.m.

Abboccato: new selection of chiccetti (small plates for sharing); $26 three-course lunch on weekdays.

Allegretti: $28 three-course lunch.

Apiary: $35 three-course Sunday dinner, featuring options like pan-seared halibut with broccolini and spicy eggplant, and pumpkin crème brûlée.

Bacchus: $25 three-course dinner with plenty of options.

Bobo: Everything is $20 or less on the new den menu.

Café Loup: Nightly $28 three-course dinner.

Casa Havana: Recession Special breakfast includes two eggs, ham or bacon, French fries, toast, and coffee for twenty cents.

’Cesca: Half-price wine on Mondays; $31 three-course dinner before 6:30 on weekdays.

Chanterelle: Three-course lunch for $42, which includes tea or coffee and a tray of chocolate truffles.

Community Food & Juice: Burger and a beer for $15.

Craftsteak: The new bar menu features options like fried mac and cheese and crispy pork belly, all for $15 or less.

davidburke & donatella: $24.07 three-course lunch with shockingly luxurious dishes.

David Burke at Bloomingdale’s: $24.07 three-course dinner.

Demarchelier: Two-course dinner with wine for $26.

Dennis Foy: any appetizer and entrée for $27.

Dovetail: $38 three-course Sunday supper, featuring dishes like sweetbreads and duck goulash.

Eighty One: $42 two-course seasonal dinner all night on Sundays and from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Eleven Madison Park: $38 two-course lunch; new à la carte bar menu.

The EU: All entrée prices have been reduced by approximately $10.

Fiamma: $50 three-course dinner from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Fleur De Sel: $29 three-course lunch.

Gotham Bar and Grill: $31 three-course lunch; options include grilled steak.

Gramercy Tavern: $14 soup and sandwich in the Tavern room at lunch, options include a lobster roll and borscht.

Grayz: $27 three-course lunch.

Japonais: The Restaurant Week menu is still being served from 5 to 7 p.m. every night.

Jean Georges: $28 two-course lunch, plus free marshmallows (possibly the best deal in town?).

Johnny Utah’s: $19.95 three-course lunch; two-for-one drinks at lunch.

JoJo: $24.07 three-course lunch; $35 three-course dinner before 6:30 p.m. and after 9:30 p.m.

La Bonne Soupe: $23.95 three-course lunch and dinner.

La Petite Auberge: Four-course dinner with coffee for $28.

Le Cirque: $45 three-course lunch in the dining room; $28 two-course lunch in the café.

Megu: $55 three-course dinner.

The Mermaid Inn: The menu includes new wallet-friendly items such as a lobster po' boy.

Mia Dona: $24.07 three-course lunch (don't miss the bigoli); happy hour from 5-7 p.m.; 25 percent discount on gift cards worth $100 or more.

The Modern: Every bottle of wine in the Bar Room is now $50 or less.

Momofuku Ssäm Bar: $28 three-course lunch, features favorites like pork buns and spicy rice cakes.

Nougatine: $24.07 three-course lunch.

The Orchard: BYOB with no corkage fees every Sunday night.

Ouest: $34 three-course dinner before 6:30 p.m.

Pamplona: $15.95 two-course lunch; $21.95 three-course lunch; more shareable, wallet-friendly items at dinner.

Payard: $31 three-course lunch; $37 three-course dinner before 6:45 p.m.

Perry St: $24 two-course lunch; $35 three-course dinner before 6:30 and after 10 p.m.

Persimmon: $37 tasting menu.

The Smith: $12 burger and beer every Sunday night.

South Gate: $24.07 three-course lunch.

SushiSamba: $35 three-course dinner.

Tabla: $27 Autumn-inspired three-course lunch; $35 chef's three-course lunch.

Tailor: Enlarged bar menu now includes items like chicken-liver pâté; Monday night special of huitlacoche corn dogs with a beer for $12.

Tempo: $32 three-course dinner Sunday through Thursday; lots of options.

Union Square Cafe: Recently added 100 new bottles of wine under $75.

Vero Panini & Wine Bar: On Monday nights, order a glass of wine or a beer at the bar and receive a free panini.

Vong: $24.07 three-course lunch.

Wafels & Dinges: The price of the WMD (the Waffle of Mass Deliciousness, which includes unlimited toppings) has dropped to $6.

The Glory of Pumpkin Butter

To say that I’m a big Trader Joe’s fan would be an enormous understatement.

I shop there about twice a week, talk to friends and family about the wonders of their stores even more often and eat something procured from their shelves just about every day.

Of all the wonderful items they stock, there is one that I sing the praises of more often and more loudly than any other. That item is pumpkin butter.

Per Trader Joe’s flyer, “Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter doesn’t actually contain butter, but it does have a distinctively rich, butter-like consistency – partially attributable to its fruit pulp to sugar ratio, which is higher than that of jam or preserves.”

In other words, its creamy and rich, yet only contains 40 calories per serving (along with no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium, low sugar and a 1/5th of your daily vitamin A).

Besides consuming it straight out of the jar (which I do on occasion), I use pumpkin butter in a variety of conventional and unconventional ways to spruce up otherwise staid staples.

Just try to resist...

Some of the basic ways that pumpkin butter can be used include typical applications such as spread on toast, waffles or biscuits. The fruit flavor and thick texture elevate these everyday edibles into memorable breakfasts and snacks.

While I enjoy these standard uses immensely, what gets me really excited about this product is its versatility. Here are my three favorite ways I’ve used pumpkin butter to add something extraordinary to various dishes.

Pumpkin-Ginger Glazed Grilled Mahi-Mahi

A little bit of salt, pepper, and ground ginger rubbed on the mahi-mahi filet, a few minutes on the grill (or in a grill pan) and a dollop of pumpkin butter added on for the last 3 minutes of grilling to serve as a glaze, and you’ve got yourself a delicious and inventive sounding entrée with minimal effort. This combination also works great on grilled chicken breasts.

Right about now would be a good time to slather on some pumpkin butter

Pumpkin French Toast

As you made your mixture (eggs, vanilla, milk, salt, sugar) that you normally used to soak your bread in, toss in a tablespoon of pumpkin butter to add a little zing to the dish. A light spreading of pumpkin butter on the finished product also does that trick; double up if you dare…

Add it right to the batter

Pumpkin Sauce

After 30 seconds or so in the microwave, a pumpkin butter of lower viscosity will emerge and makes a great topping for vanilla ice cream, cheesecake, or your fingers.
Stir that microwaved pumpkin butter in with an equal volume of cream, and you’ve got yourself a pumpkin cream sauce that will marry wonderfully with the noodle of your choosing.

A photo of my pantry

I'm certain that there are many more ways to enjoy this fantastic product, and if you know of any, I'd love to hear about them.  

In the meantime, give these applications a shot.  I think you'll be quite happy with the results.

Howard's Salmon

I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to travel through Europe the summer after I graduated college.

I spent a couple weeks with my family in Italy, a month backpacking through London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Munich, Zurich, Barcelona and Paris with my close friend and his girlfriend and three weeks working at a sleep-away camp near Nantes in France.

My campers in Nantes

After the camp was over, I returned to Paris to live for a week at the house of my father’s best friend since childhood. That friend, Howard, had taken a similar post-graduation tour of Europe in the 1970’s. On that trip, he found a lovely woman in Paris, married her and never left.

While I could go on and on about the wonders of the food culture in France and the many simple culinary pleasures in which Parisians partake on a daily basis, I write today to discuss a recipe I learned not from any of the wonderful restaurants or pastry shops I patronized, but rather from the American living in Paris himself.

Come and get your love

The dish in question involves an incredibly popular fish, a highly underused kitchen appliance and perhaps the fewest number of ingredients and steps involved in any great recipe. Ever.

In contrast to the hundreds of types of mild, flaky, white fleshed fish swimming the world’s waterways, salmon are uniquely colored and flavored. Their bright pink flesh is bursting at the gills with natural oils that give the fish its famous flavor.

The broiler (that thing on the “ceiling” of your oven) is an often overlooked way of cooking that basically functions as an upside down grill. The heat descends directly from the flames and cooks the food sitting beneath it at a distance that can be controlled by the position of the oven rack.

In Howard’s Salmon recipe, the preparation is as follows:

Take a salmon fillet (preferably even in thickness), sprinkle kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper over the top and rub it into the flesh gently. That is all.

Salt, pepper and a little bit of love

Put the fillet on a baking sheet or in a cast iron pan (or anything that can take the direct heat) lined with aluminum foil and place your oven rack on the top level. Turn the broiler on the "high" setting and slide your pan underneath the flames so that the fillet is centered under the contraption, ideally about 4 inches from the flames.

4 inches from the broiler, give or take a few centimeters...

Next comes the most difficult step.

Watch it.

Just sit there, keeping your eye on the flesh, and watch the fish.

After about 5-7 minutes, the top of the fish will begin to brown. Turn the broiler to the “low” setting and wait until the top of the fish is a rich mahogany color. Right before its about to start burning, pull the fish out of the oven.

That’s it.

The natural oils in the fish rise to the top of the fillet as the heat rains down from the broiler. These oils interact with the flames and constructively fry the exterior of the salmon, giving it both a pleasantly crispy texture and rich flavor.

The oil also serves as a barrier to prevent the moisture from inside the fillet from escaping during the cooking process. The flesh will be tender and moist, yet cooked through perfectly to a medium done-ness.

Serve it immediately or park it in Tupperware to chill for up to three days before serving cold and you’ll enjoy some of the most simple, delicious salmon of your life.

When it's golden brown, its perfectly cooked

I like to serve the salmon with a homemade Dijon honey mustard dressing constructed as follows:

4 Tablespoons Hellman’s Mayonnaise (there’s no substitute for Hellman’s, trust me I’ve tried)
3 Tablespoons of any good Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons of honey
½ Teaspoon (each) of garlic powder, chile powder (I prefer ancho, but any will do), curry powder, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper

Mix to combine.

Enjoy.