May The Stars Light Your Way
On December 19, 2007, members of the Happy Mouth Supper Club, along with guests Julie, Terry, and Adam, dined at Zola’s in Covington. It was Ed’s month to pick, and we really enjoyed the convivial pub atomosphere of Zola’s. Comfortable, fun and unpretentious. The burgers…
-= Exported from BigOven =- Pork Braised With Celery Avgolemono Recipe By: Serving Size: 4 Cuisine: Main Ingredient: Categories: Greek -= Ingredients =- 3 pound Lean Shoulder ; Or Leg Of Pork 4 tablespoon Butter ; Or Margarine 1 Onion ; Finely Chopped Salt &…
The Summit Room at Midwest Culinary Institute
Sensational Wine Dinner
December 11, 2007
Chef Arthur Leech
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 marked the inaugural Wine Dinner at Midwest Culinary Institute at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. As part of the planning team, I worked with College administration, Samantha Smith (from E&J Gallo Winery) and Carmen Parks (formerly of Rondo’s restaurant) to organize this, the first of our monthly Wine Dinners. It was gratifying to see this event come to life, and to have it so well-attended (somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 people attended the event).
Chef Arthur Leech provided the following menu, paired with wines by Samantha Smith.
Hors d’Oeuvres
Barefoot Brut Champagne
Spicy Asian Pepper Seared Wild Caught Salmon with a fresh thyme lemon vinaigrette 
Martin Codax Albarino, 2006
Granny Smith Apple Chestnut Soup with Saffron Creme Fraiche 
Bridlewood Reserve Viognier, 2006
Duck Confit & Roasted Mushroom Potato Lasagna resting on sauteed baby spinach and raspberry braised beets 
MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir, 2006
&
Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley, 2004
Cheese Sampling of Brie, Compote, French Blue, and Manchego drizzled with Mission Fig Syrup 
Bridlewood Reserve Syrah, 2003
Peach, Apple, and Golden Raisin Rustic Tarts with moscato and honey reduction, creme anglaise 
Moscato, N.V.
The meal was neither too conservative nor too ‘wild’, which was appropriate for the first time. We, as a planning committee, needed to begin to understand our audience and where their tastes are.
I recently started reading Charcuterie & French Pork Cookery by Jane Grigson, originally published in 1967. It is both an interesting historical document and an excellent introduction to charcuterie. The recipes are classics and, while rather uncomplicated by today’s standards, still yield excellent results. I…
-= Exported from BigOven =- Bill Knapp’s Chicken Marinade This is a delightful marinade to dress up chicken. Recipe By: http://www.cooknchat.com/recipecards/miscella Serving Size: 0 Cuisine: American Main Ingredient: Soy Sauce Categories: Sauces -= Ingredients =- 1/2 cup Honey 1/2 cup Apple Juice 2 teaspoon Garlic…
-= Exported from BigOven =-
Duck Confit
Once esteemed as a preservation method, cooking and keeping duck in its rendered fat results in meltingly tender, moist, and extremely flavorful meat which can be used in a variety of simple preparations. Sear the duck legs in a hot skillet or shred the meat and add it to salads, or, perhaps best of all, make duck rillettes. Just remember the duck must be salted a day before you plan to cook it.
Recipe By: Tom Colichhio, Gramercy Tavern, NY
Serving Size: 4
Cuisine: French
Main Ingredient: Duck
Categories: Salads, Main Dish
-= Ingredients =-
3 tablespoons Salt
4 cloves Garlic ; smashed
1 each Shallot ; peeled and sliced
6 sprigs Thyme
to taste Black pepper ; coarsely ground
4 each duck legs with thighs
4 each duck wings ; trimmed
4 cups Duck fat ; (approximate)
-= Instructions =-
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of salt in the bottom of a dish or plastic container large enough to hold the duck pieces in a single layer. Evenly scatter half the garlic, shallots, and thyme in the container. Arrange the duck, skin-side up, over the salt mixture, then sprinkle with the remaining salt, garlic, shallots, and thyme and a little pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 days.
After 1-2 days, preheat the oven to 225°F. Melt the duck fat in a small saucepan. Brush the salt and seasonings off the duck.
Arrange the duck pieces in a single snug layer in a high-sided baking dish or ovenproof saucepan. Pour the melted fat over the duck (the duck pieces should be covered by fat) and place the confit in the oven. Cook the confit slowly at a very slow simmer — just an occasional bubble — until the duck is tender and can be easily pulled from the bone, 2-3 hours. Remove the confit from the oven. Cool and store the duck in the fat. (The confit will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks.)
NOTES: The duck fat can be strained, cooled, and reused.
This recipe for confit is vastly superior to a few others I’ve tried, which invariably have involved way too much salt — making the duck too tough and salty to eat in anything besides stews and cassoulet! This one is perfect and allows for use in salads and other dishes where the confit isn’t being “recooked”.
Good recipe for a salad involving the confit: Mesclun (preferably on the bitter side — add some arugula), (cold) blanched green beans, (cold) cooked French lentils (cook in salted chicken stock, perhaps with some onion bay leaf, and thyme, until just tender then cool), dried cherries in a sherry-shallot vinaigrette topped with warm shredded duck confit (about 1/2 leg per salad).
** This recipe can be pasted into BigOven without retyping. BigOven.com ID= 162167 **
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I am currently reading THE BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEAD by Kevin Brockmeier. The Publisher’s Weekly describes it as: Starred Review. A deadly virus has spread rapidly across Earth, effectively cutting off wildlife specialist Laura Byrd at her crippled Antarctica research station from the rest…