Penne and Ham

Upon arrival in Hobe sound on Christmas Day we enjoyed a dinner of Baked Ham and
asparagus with Frank Mansell and his girlfriend Sandy Taylor. Frank’s faithful chef Kreta has loosened her grip on the kitchen just enough to allow me the honor of preparing the occasional meal for my children. On the second day after Christmas I was allowed access to make pasta for Whittier as she wasn’t invited to dinner at The Yacht club due to the rules, you must be 10 to dine there for regular dinner service, Whittie's just 9.

The dish we chose was a holiday take on pasta Carbonnara, this recipe calls for baked ham instead of prosciutto or bacon. Based on what was in the pantry we also made it with penne, generally the choice would be fettuccine or some other noodle.

½ box penne pasta
2 whole eggs, beat in a bowl until they begin to foam
1 cup half & half
¼ cup grated parmesan
½ cup chicken stock
3 tablespoons olive oil
¼ small white onion diced fine
1 garlic clove diced fine
½ cup baked ham diced fine
1 bunch pencil thin asparagus

Start by bringing 1 quart of water to a boil and salt it to taste, when it’s at a rolling boil, add the penne and cook for 5 minutes.

As the pasta cooks start a sautee pan on medium heat and add the onions and garlic along with olive oil. As they begin to simmer place the asparagus in the pan and turn until its coated then add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and continue cooking for 1 minute then remove to plates.

Now add the half & half to the sautee pan, followed by the eggs, stir until incorporated and then turn flame to low. Now stir until it begins to thicken, at this point the pasta is ready to drain and add to the egg mixture, follow with ham and then cheese stirring all along. When the sauce begins to tighten up remove and plate.

Kitchens in Charlie Palmer’s newest restaurant at Dallas’s newest hotel The Joule are large and shiny, designed to serve tables in Charlie’s dining room and the hotels luxurious rooms and banquet facilities. They'll even provide meals to all employees in the hotel and the restaurant, a big job that requires precision almost 24 hours a day.

My contribution was to provide an extra set of hands, in return I was able to see how a new venture of Charlie’s takes flight, the hotels rooms were not yet open, the dining room was only in its third day of service when I arrived and after a weekend of friends and family they opened for business quietly with no promotion and very little word of mouth. An intentional move that was designed to allow the team time to work out any opening kinks before the Dallas fine dining community starts to put the service under a microscope.

The executive chef, Scott Romano is a confident young man who’s worked for Charlie since starting his career 11 years ago. I first met him at the James Beard house in 1998, we were on Charlie’s team when he served a $30,000. Diner party along with Daniel Bolude and Charlie Trotter. More recently I interviewed Scott for my 2004 article Kitchen doors New York. At that time he was the chef at Charlie’s casual price fix concept Kitchen 82 on Manhattan’s upper west side. Since that time he’s run the kitchen at Charlie’s catering facility Astra in the D & B building in Los Angeles. With enough energy to rise at 9am and work until midnight 7 shifts a week he’s the perfect man for the job, stern when he needs to be and a leader with enthusiasm for excellent food Scott made my time in Charlie’s kitchen memorable.

The dishes that caught my attention includes a sashimi salad with celery leaf, frizza and shallots topped with thin slices of raw white tuna and slivers of capicola in a rice wine vinaigrette. I spent my first day preparing the angolatti pasta filled with herbed Ricotta cheese and mascarpone, once on the plate it’s finished with grated Parmesan and lightly fried shitake mushrooms.

Apple Sauce

Christmas is in the air on Dunemere lane, this Saturday after breakfast the Ambrose family set out to find a tree and by days end the chosen one was standing in the eastern most corner of our family room. The tree stands just over 7 feet tall, a balsam fir, it smells like Christmas and after a few hours of family time (and a few slices of yesterdays pizza) it looks like Christmas.

In the kitchen we had a project, teachers gifts. This year’s recipe calls for applesauce delivered in glass jars with personalized cards. The apples came from the Milk Pail in Watermill. I wanted a red and green effect and with a suggestion from Anne Halsey the Milk Pail’s owner I found a food mill at The Little Kitchen and we used it to mill cooked Fuji apples their skins left on. Anne explained that if you wish to have red apple sauce leave the skins of sweet red apples on as you cook, puree them and you’ll have red applesauce. In preparation for an upcoming dinner party at The Little Kitchen I decided to use Wolffer apple wine as the liquid/acid addition. To add the hint of green we sliced a dozen Granny Smith apples and cooked them the same way however as they came off the stove top (15 minutes) we layered the red puree with the green chunks apple sauce and everyone agreed it looked like Christmas and it tasted fresh and sweet.

12 ½ liter jars w/ rubber seals and lockable glass lids
12 Fuji apples
12 Granny Smith apples
1 bottle (750ml) Wolffer big apple wine
3 cups white sugar’
2 tablespoons cinnamon

This recipe requires timing not only for the 2 elements of the apple sauce but the jars as well. They must be cleaned with hot water and soap and rinsed well, then they should be boiled in a large/ deep pan and filled with hot sauce immediately. Today we did 3 at a time. Once filled the rims are wiped clean and lids locked down tight then they go back into the boiling water bath for five minutes or until the water returns to a full boil. As they come out of the water the goal is to cool them as fast as possible. It was 31 degrees outside today so we put the jars on the patio dining table for 20 minutes and then into the frezzer for and hour and a half, then just as they began to freeze they went into the fridge.

For dinner we purchased 2 4 lb chickens at Iocona, stuffed them with sliced tangerines, dusted them with salt and George Washington’s seasoning and roasted them for ½ hour.
Then the chickens came out of the 400 stove, added 4 peeled and sliced carrots with 6 cloves garlic and 10 peeled shallots, covered all with aluminum foil and returned to the oven for 40 minutes. Served with frozen sweet peas in white wine and butter served over white rice.

London Broil Steak

Family dinner on 96th street last night was splendid. On Jessica’s request I prepared a London Broil steak with thin cut French Fries and toasted garlic broccoli, for Lyman Pinenut crusted Tilapia with tangerine sauce. In the middle of the table a roasted spaghetti Squash with sautéed red pepper and onions.

The steak sauce was intended to replicate a sauce that we tried at Haru while out celebrating Whittier’s birthday last weekend. It was a wine and soy reduction that finished the steak and then for garnish they topped the steak with thinly cut crisp French fries. Last night the sauce was made with 1 cup of beef stock, 1 cup of ver jus, ½ cup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon ginger powder, ½ tablespoon garlic powder. Combine all in a sauce pan and reduce. Do this in advance of dinner service and warm to finish the plate.

The steak was seasoned with salt for 20 minutes before cooking in a grill pan, 3 minutes per side at high heat then removed and set aside to rest for 10 minutes, the steaks were mid rare. For the broccoli all the tops were cut into large bite size pieces and the stems were peeled and cut to size 1 large head, garlic sliced thin 3 cloves. In a hot skillet add 4 tablespoons olive oil, the garlic then stir until it begins to brown, add the broccoli and stir continuously until it begins to soften remove to the plate, For the fries use 1 large baking potato skinned and sliced thin by hand or with a mandoline. Bring a pan of vegetable oil 3 inches deep to 375 on a high flame and then add 1/3 of the potato at a time stir until they begin to brown, transfer to a paper towel and repeat. To plate slice the steak, spoon the sauce over the steak and then top with French fries.

For the fish (you can use any white fish) coat the fish with egg white followed by a coating of crushed pine nuts, set the fillet into a hot non stick pan over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Cook each side for about 2 minutes or until golden brown, remove to a plate w/ broccoli and then wipe the pan clean return it to the heat and add the sauce. For the sauce, in advance clean 2 tangerines, removing the skin and seeds then in a bowl combine the tangerines with 3 tablespoons olive oil and 3 tablespoons verjus.
Add this to the warm pan and stir over medium heat until it reduces by half, pour over the fish and serve.