Duck-Fat Powder for Popcorn

THE perfect popcorn seasoning? At least it’s the best I’ve ever tasted.

It was finally cold enough to light a fire last weekend, and I love popcorn and hot chocolate by the fire. I had a quarter tub of rendered duck fat from D’Artagnan in the fridge and some tapioca maltodextrin in my pantry and thought, “Eureka! I can make duck-fat powder for my popcorn.” I decided to search online for some relevant recipes to get an idea of the ratio (since I was sitting in my office and didn’t feel like going to my cookbook shelf to check MC). Much to my chagrin, I found that Scott Heimendinger of Seattle Food Geek and MC's Director of Applied Research had posted a recipe for just that. I’m sure I must have seen his post in the past; and here I thought I had had a genius idea…

It’s a very quick and easy modernist cuisine technique with the addition of a tiny bit of cornstarch to prevent clumping and some popcorn salt. I popped 1/3 cup of popcorn in about 3 tablespoons of duck fat, then tossed it with the duck-fat powder. Oh my! It was so good, I may serve it at my next party. My husband skeptically deigned to try some; he went through the rest of the bowl like a wood-chipper. In fact, it was so wonderful, and since it used half of my small bag of tapioca maltodextrin, I immediately ordered a one pound tub of it to keep on hand.

WillPowder Tapioca Maltodextrin, 1-Pound Tubs: Grocery & Gourmet Food ASIN: B00250U9BI

Modernist Cuisine | Tomato Spheres with Basil Oil

For my first shot at spherification, I thought I'd try the summery take on familiar Insalata Caprese with Tomato Water with Basil Oil served in mozzarella cups. I originally wanted to try to make balsamic caviar, but decided that would be too ambitious for a first attempt.
No centrifuge at my house. Luckily found a pointer to McMaster-Carr 100 micron filter bags somewhere in the egullet forums a few weeks ago. The output is not clear as in the centrifuged version, but at least I get to try it.


Tomato water made from my BIL's homegrown tomatoes


Basil Oil

The day before  I used Algin and Calcic from the

Experimental Kit Texturas, 150 Grams (Limited Time Offer- While Supplies Last 15% Off): Grocery & Gourmet Food

for the tomato water and bath, and made the basil oil. I planned to use a 2 1/4 tsp. yeast measuring spoon for the spheres (wanted a bit smaller bite than 1 tablespoon), and molded Ciliegine mozzarella cut in half and softened in hot water on the back of it to hold the spheres for service.

Mise   Tomato water, measuring spoon, small syringe for trial with 18g needle containing basil oil, Calcic bath is out of photo to left, and water rinses to right. Slotted spoon is in my hand as I forgot to put it down to take the photo.
I made 4 miserable looking blobs – none decent enough to even try to inject the basil oil -  then quietly gave up and quickly put everything away in the refrigerator. Time to step back and relax. Company expected soon for the 4th, don’t push it.

On vacation this week, quiet day at home, time to try again.
 
Not very spherical but the basil inclusion is fairly nice and round.


Much better, though the basil oil is wonky. I almost like it better this way, doesn't look so much like an eyeball.
I'll practice a bit more when my husband gets home this evening so he can try one.

Oooh-Mommy :) Bacon Jam thanks to Foodie with Family

Through many convoluted steps, I found this recipe for Bacon Jam on Foodie with Family’s site (via Ruhlman.com, The Perfect Pantry.com…)

The recipe started with 3 pounds of bacon; as my husband says “any recipe that starts with a pound of bacon must be good”, I thought this must be extra special.


First you cut the bacon into bits and crisp it.


One could almost stop right here and be happy.


Then caramelize a bunch of onions in the bacon fat.


Add garlic cloves, smashed and peeled; cider vinegar; packed brown sugar (light or dark; I prefer light); pure maple syrup; and brewed strong coffee.


Reduce to a spreadable mixture with an immersion blender and store in a sterilized quart Mason jar.
Umami (Oooh-Mommy) Jam!

Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppadew Peppers

I only recently heard about Peppadew peppers (though they’ve been around for several years), so when I saw them at Martin’s Wine Cellar, I had to give them a try. I thought they would be good stuffed with goat cheese. I’ve made a goat cheese spread before with a bit of butter blended in to make it spreadable, but decided to try a bit of Colatura (a wonderful essence of anchovies I also only recently heard about).

 

I drained the peppadews in a sieve, blended about a tablespoon of the colatura into the softened goat cheese, and stuffed the peppers.

 

I placed them under the broiler until the cheese was warm and bubbly, and the peppers charred just a bit. Wow, it was hard to share half of them with my husband. They are addictive – sweet peppers with just a bit of heat – tangy goat cheese with that extra bit of umami from the colatura. I ordered a case of the peppadew peppers so we can have them often. I may even be able to part with some for guests.

“Pesto” Marathon

I somehow stumbled onto the book Very Pesto on Amazon and noticed in the editorial and customer reviews that it included recipes for “pesto” using many herbs other than basil. As I’m a bit behind on my basil crop and most of the other herbs in my EarthBoxes are growing so exuberantly, I thought trying these recipes would be a great excuse to prune back the over-achievers.

 

Sage and parsley. Too bad my parsley wasn’t a bit larger. It is used as a filler with some of the stronger herbs so they don’t overpower the pesto and I didn’t have enough to make the tarragon or thyme pesto.

 

Oregano and cilantro.

 

Tarragon and basil. I was able to cut enough basil before taking this photo to make one batch of classic basil pesto.

 

Chervil and thyme.

 

Washed basil, sage and others drying.

 

Two portions of parsley for the sage and oregano recipes, cilantro and oregano. The Oxo salad spinner was a great help washing all the herbs.

 

Garlic for the various recipes, lime zest for the cilantro pesto, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano for the classic basil pesto. I toasted the pine nuts in the microwave; I’m much less likely to burn them than when I try to do it in the oven.

 

 

I grated the P-R in the food processor and portioned it out by weight (about 1 0z. for each 1/3 cup) called for in the recipe. Since I only needed 2 tbsp. of Romano for the basil pesto, I used a microplane to grate it.

 

 

I didn’t plan ahead well enough to make my own bread so I bought a baguette at Whole Foods to make crostini. My husband stole one end and ate it with spreadable butter while I was making a red pepper tapenade to serve with the pesto.

 

I feel rich! All that lovely pesto. And all those abundant herbs are put to great use.

 

My husband and I had a smorgasbord of pestos, the red pepper tapenade, salami, goat cheese, gruyere and emmental cheese for dinner.

Egg & Herb Ricotta Ravioli

I was trying to think of some way to use up some leftover ricotta and decided to make egg yolk ravioli again. I adapted the filling from this delicious days days post.

 

And I’ve been looking forward to using the new ravioli mold my husband got for me.

 

Giant sage leaves (my herbs love their EarthBoxes), oregano, a little thyme, Parmigianino Reggiano, ricotta, nutmeg, extra virgin olive oil, pepper & salt for the filling.

 

I love this attachment for the microplane grater.

 

And this mini chopper my mother found for me at a garage sale.

 

It works well when you need herbs very finely and evenly chopped.

 

Ready to mix all the filling ingredients together.

 

I put this in the refrigerator to let the flavors meld while I made the pasta dough.

 

While surfing for egg yolk ravioli variations, I found a great post on total food processor pasta dough (no kneading) and was anxious to try it. The instructions may look overwhelming, but the actual method is easy and the detailed instructions are to help insure success and troubleshoot any problems. I found a similar post here – the instructions aren’t as detailed, but there are some helpful photos of the stages involved to show you what to expect.

 

 

Either the instructions were very good, or I’m very lucky. The dough was wonderful to work with on my first attempt. Not too sticky, not too dry.

 

No cracks, easy to handle with minimal flour.

 

Unfortunately, I put in a little too much of the filling trying to make a nice nest for the yolks. I tore the back, right “sling” while pushing the filling low enough to leave room for the yolk and the yolk slipped out the side.

 

I managed to retrieve the yolk from the counter by moistening the spoonula and my fingers with egg white and easing the yolk up onto the spoonula. As the ravioli with the yolks are so rich, I decided to only use eight. I put a sprinkle of P-R on each yolk to protect it while adding the top layer of dough. I used a pastry brush to paint some reserved egg white beaten with a bit of water to seal the dough.

 

I was afraid to push too hard with the rolling pin and risk disrupting the yolks so I sealed the dough by pressing along the seams and cutting them apart with a knife run along the cutting ridges.

 

One of the yolked raviola blew apart when I flipped the form over – hence the smeared yolk on the parchment paper. I also discarded the one the rescued yolk had escaped from. (It’s best to start this recipe with lots of extra eggs.)

 

I cut up some odd pieces of my pancetta-style bacon into near-lardons.

 

While cooking the bacon I made beurre noisette.

 

Then I fried some small sage leaves in the bacon fat for garnish.

 

Served with the beurre noisette, bacon, fried sage and a sprinkle of P-R. I wish I had thought to cut into one  and photograph it before my husband and I ate all of them. Oh well, it looked a lot like my first egg yolk ravioli:

 

I had enough filling and pasta left over to use the other, smaller form that my husband also got for me.

 

No yolks this time. I will freeze these for another day.

 

I love the little rolling pin that came with this form.