Hangtown Fry

This omelet became famous in the gold rush era of Northern California. Legend has it being served to both miners striking it rich in the gold fields as well as a popular request for the last meal for men about to be hung. It is a rich dish, and I don't prepare it too often but it is one of my all time favorite omelets. I fill my omelet with oysters, fried in cornmeal and a little cheese, then top with a little spicy chili-garlic sauce and another fried oyster. A little chopped scallion is also nice. Traditionally bacon is also part of the mix, but that is entirely too rich for me.

For the oysters:

Dust the oysters (3 to 4 per person, depending on the size) with a half and half mixture of corn meal and flour spiced with a bit of salt and cayenne.

Shallow fry the oysters in a saute pan until they are crispy and brown, drain on toweling.

For the omelet:

I use three eggs per person whisked with one tablespoon of water (water makes a fluffier omelet or use milk for a richer omelet), season with a bit salt and pepper.

Prepare your omelet pan and add the eggs, stir the eggs briefly until semi-set. place the fried oysters in the center of the eggs and top with a small amount of cheese. Begin rolling the omelet and flip it onto a serving plate. Garnish with some chopped scallion, a teaspoon of hot chili garlic paste and top with another fried oyster. Really good with a glass of champagne for a celebration brunch.

Kitchen Conservatory Cooking Class

Another really terrific evening teaching a class at Kitchen Conservatory last night. I really do get to know alot of interesting people. I seem to do alot of talking at these classes, everyone is just so congenial. I started with the French Laundry's recipe for "Peas and Carrots". Almost any dish from that cookbook is challenging to say the least. Chef Thomas Keller's wit is on display here with this over the top dish. His idea of peas and carrots is this chive crepe filled with lobster and mascarpone, served with a sauce of ginger and carrot juice underneath and topped with a salad of pea shoots.

Next up were lamb chops with red currant-mustard buerre blanc served with pear-parsnip puree. Cognac, walnuts and chocolate filled the pie with cognac flavored whipped cream.

I took some liberties with the recipe as Chef Keller wrote it. For example to get 2 cups of carrot juice he starts with 3 pounds of carrots, put through a juicer-I purchased a good quality carrot juice from the health foods store. So of course I didn't have the carrot pulp to dehydrate, pulverize and turn into carrot dust to garnish the plate rims with. So I will present my mere mortal's interpretation of this food God's masterpiece.

Here are the steps, it could be done in a two day period.

1) Make the crepes

2) Make the lobster filling

3) Make the lobster glace and add to the filling

4) Make the carrot ginger emulsion

5) Make the pea shoot salad

6) Assemble the dish

Crepes

1 cup all purpose flour

Pinch of salt

3 large eggs

1 1/4 cup milk

4 tablespoons of melted butter

Place the ingredients in a blender and mix

Make the crepes in an 8" crepe pan, using about 2 ounces of batter per crepe

Place the crepes, presentation side down on parchment paper and cover until ready to assemble the crepes.

Lobster filling

1 pound cooked lobster meat-I used tails-chef keller used whole lobsters, but not the claw meat

1/4 cup chopped chives

1 tablespoon finely minced shallot

1 cup marscapone

1 tablespoon lobster glace-recipe follows)

Freshly ground pepper and salt to taste

Combine the ingredients and mix well

Lobster Glace

Lobster shells

carrots, onion, celery. parsley, bay leaf. thyme

3 to 4 cups of water

Simmer ingredients for at least 1 hour

Strain the stock and reduce the stock to 1 tablespoon-cool before adding to lobster filling

Carrot Ginger Emulsion

2 cups carrot juice

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1 carrot, grated

1/4 cup cream

3/4 pound butter, slightly softened

Freshly ground pepper and salt to taaste

Combine the juice, ginger, and grated carrot, simmer for ten minutes. Puree the mixture and return it to the sauce pan. Add the cream and reduce the mixture to about 1 cup. Slowly whisk in the butter a couple tablespoons at a time. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Pea Shoot Salad

1 cup pea shoots-I found them at an asian grocery store or you can sprout your own

Zest of one lemon

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

Freshly ground pepper and salt to taste

Make a dressing with the zest, juice, oil, salt, and pepper

Wash and dry the shoots.

Toss the shoots with the dressing and let marinate 1/2 hour, drain before using.

To Assemble the dish:

Fill the the crepes with the lobster filling (about 1/4 cup per crepe), making a neat little package, lay seam side down on a buttered baking sheet. Brush the tops of the crepes with a little melted butter

Heat the crepes in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes

Ladle some sauce on the center of the plate, use the back of a spoon to spread the suce into a small circle. Place a heated crepe on the center of the sauce, and top the crepe with some pea shoot salad.

Champagne, Fried Oyster Tostados, and New Art

We acquired a new painting this weekend. It is titled "Woodlawn #5" by William Quinn. It was painted in 1979 by Mr. Quinn when he was a professor of art at Washington University. He now resides and paints in Europe. It is a compelling canvas in the post expressionist style with gorgeous explosive colors. We opened a bottle of sparkling wine and nibbled on oyster tostados as we got acquainted and decided to fall in love with each other.

Corn tortillas, cut into canape size, crisped in hot oil and lightly salted.

Remoulade slaw made with green and red cabbage dressed with remoulade dressing.

Oysters dredged in cornmeal and flour and fried until brown and crispy.

Remoulade
1/2 cup mayonaise

1/2 cup creole mustard

1/4 cup chili sauce

1 garlic clove

1 scallion

1 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Puree everything in the food processor.

Use some to dress the slaw, and reserve some to spoon on top of the oysters.

Garnish with sliced scallion and cilantro.

Spaghetti For Breakfast

This was Sunday morning's breakfast, a take on the Italian Carbonara. Traditionally the eggs are just scrambled into the hot noodles and cooked that way. I fried the eggs in the bacon drippings and placed them whole on top of the pasta which had been tossed with the cooked bacon and a little cream. It was really luscious, with the yolk making a rich eggy sauce. Unbelievably I had no parmesan cheese-can you imagine a chef's refrigerator without parmesan?-scandalous! Definitely add the cheese if you have it, if not, it is still a most satisfying breakfast.

1/2 pound cooked spaghetti, with a couple tablespoons of the cooking water reserved

4 rashers of bacon, cut into chunks and cooked until crisped, reserve the drippings

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 or 2 sage leaves, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

1/4 cup cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Place the cooked spaghetti in a sauce pan, add a couple tablespoons of pasta cooking water, add the cream.

Add the bacon to the cream.

Saute garlic and sage in the reserved bacon drippings, strain the drippings and return the drippings to the saute pan. Add the cooked garlic and sage to the spaghetti mixture.

Heat the spaghetti until it begins to simmer, turn off the heat and let the noodles steep while cooking the eggs. While the noodles steep they will absorb the cream.

Fry the eggs in the reserved bacon drippings, basting until the whites are set, but the yolk is still runny.

Place the pasta in shallow bowls and top with a fried eggs, top with salt, pepper, parsley, and parmesan cheese.

Weiner Schnitzel , Spaetzle, and Apple Fritter

I'll be running this special in the restaurant for the month of October. German food isn't at the top of the food trends, which all seem to be fixated on Italy and Spain at the moment, but they seem to always be welcome this time of year. For this dish I bread crumbed some tender veal cutlets and quickly sauteed them. I paired them with some Spatzle and sauced the dish with a reduction of hard apple cider, veal demi glace, and bacon. I added some apple fritters for fun.

The cutlets were from the leg, trimmed and lightly pounded, then dredged first in flour, then egg, and finally the bread crumbs. Let the breading set for 1/2 hour in the refrigerator. Saute quickly in a hot saute pan with a bit of oil.

The spaetzle are really easy as well.

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

Salt to taste and add couple gratings of fresh nutmeg

Mix up the ingredients and let them rest for 1/2 hour before pushing through the spaetzle cutter, a large holed colander will work if you do not have a spaetzle cutter. Just place the cutter or colander over boiling water and force the dough through the holes. When they float they are finished cooking. Remove them and hold for serving. When it's time to serve them just reheat with a bit of butter in a saute pan.

For the sauce:

4 rashers of bacon

2 tablespoons of flour

3 cups of hard apple cider

1 cup veal demi glace (can substitute rich chicken stock)

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce I chopped up four rashers of bacon and cooked them in a sauce pan, add 2 tablespoons of flour and make a roux. When the flour is cooked, add 3 cups hard apple cider and 1 cup veal demi glace (you could use a strong chicken stock if you don't have the demi-glace, but the sauce will not be as sumptuous). Cook and reduce for a few minutes. Flavor the sauce with a combination of cider vinegar and sugar to taste. I start with a 1/4 cup of each and taste. Add more sweet or tart to get the right balance for you.

Apple fritters:

For the apple fritters, I cored and sliced the apples, battered them in my beer batter (I substituted the hard cider for beer in that recipe) and deep fried them.

Baetje Farms Bloomsdale

Local farm cheeses are everywhere. I picked this goat's cheese up at Soulard's Farmer's Market last week. Baetje farms is located in Bloomsdale Mo. and the shape of the cheese is reminiscent of the hilly terrain of Bloomsdale. In actuality the cheese is inspired by Valencay, a French cheese that was originally made in a pyramid form until Napoleon, after a series of loses in Egypt stopped at the castle Valencay where the cheese was produced and lopped off the tops of the pyramids. Ever since then the cheese is made with a flattened top-in France and Missouri. The cheese is rolled in ash and salt before being aged. It is an American Cheese Association prize winner-I think it was second place, but I don't remember exactly. It is a lovely winner at that, with a creamy-buttery texture. Very mellow, slightly smokey and salty cheese.

Roti de Porc, poele (Casserole Roasted Pork)

Another Julia Child recipe. Since the "Julie /Julia" movie came out, Julia's book and recipes are on alot of people's minds lately, mine too it seems. Her recipes are so carefully written and explained, and the results from this one are so succulent and rich. This recipe uses the French technique of poele, which is simply a braised roast and translates as that all-American favorite from the 50's-casserole.

I marinated the roast over night in sherry wine with some chopped shallot, chopped garlic, bay leaf, thyme, parsley, black pepper and salt. Remove the roast from the marinade and dry before proceeding with the recipe.

Julia lists several vegetables that could be included. I used turnips, carrots, onion, and pears. Potatoes would also be good, of course, as would cabbage, parsnip, apple, sweet potato, or squash.

3 pound boneless pork roast

4 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, sliced

4 turnips, peeled and quartered

4 pears, cored and quartered

4 carrots, peeled and cut into larger chunks

1 flame proof casserole

1 1/2 cup wine, stock, or a mixture of both

Fresh herbs-I used bay, rosemary, and sage

Brown the pork in the butter

Add the vegetables and brown slightly

Add the wine and stock and herbs-Julia ties her up in an herb bouquet

Cover and bake in a 325 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Baste the roast every 1/2 hour.

Julia suggests you remove the roast when the temperature reaches 180 degrees. I removed the roast from the oven when the temperature hit 155 degrees, let it sit to rest for another ten minutes before carving and it was perfectly done.

Pear and Parsnip Puree

Here is a great little side dish for the changing season. My friend Richard Perry used to make this for his Eat Plan dinners-Hi Rich, if you're reading this. It is a really nice accompaniment to roast pork or chicken for the Fall.

2 pounds of parsnips, peeled and cut into 1" pieces

4 medium pears

2 tablespoons of honey

2 tablespoons melted butter

Salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste

1/4 cup cream

Blanch the parsnips for about 5 minutes

Peel, quarter and core the pears

Place the blanched parsnips in a baking dish

Add the pears, melted butter, honey, salt, pepper, and nutmeg

Toss the ingredients so that they are well mixed

Roasted the parsnip-pear mixture in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 25 to 30 minutes

Puree the mixture, adding the cream

Taste for seasoning and melt some additional butter accross the top-optional

Martha's Apple Blackberry Cake

Martha, like much in modern life these days-I'm thinking politics and recent presidents-is a polarising figure. In other words, you're either a fan or a hater, there is no middle ground. So I'm declaring my support for Martha. In my opinion, her magazine is more interesting and beautiful than Gourmet these days. I guess that means I have to start hating Gourmet-at least this month. This cake is from "Living" 's September issue. It is a very simple and appealing thing to throw together.

Granulated sugar for the pan

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 ounces unsalted butter melted for the cake,plus enought to grease the pan, plus 2 tablespoons more to dot the top of the cake just before it goes into the oven

3/4 cup brown sugar, plus 2 tablespoons to dot the top of the cake just before it goes into the oven

1/2 cup whole milk

2 large eggs

4 apples, peeled and sliced-Martha recommends McIntosh-I used Gala

1 pint black berries

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Optional whipped cream for serving

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 9" springform pan and dust with granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, milk, and eggs. Whisk the liquid mixture into the dry mixture.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Arrange the apple slices over the batter. Sprinkle with the blackberries, and gently press the fruit into the batter. Distribute the remaining 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, cinnamon and remaining two tablespoons of butter over the top of the fruit. Bake until the top is golden brown, the apples are tender, and a cake tester comes clean from the center. Let cool before unmolding.