Before I get to a year in review post of any sort – which I may or may not – a look back at some of my (and some guests’) favorite dishes of last month.
I had several “Instagram inspirations” this month, looking over different dishes I’ve seen online and though that the ideas were interesting. This one comes from Ester restaurant in Sydney, a dish that was simply described as “potato pasta / egg yolk / anchovy / garlic chives“. I went with a raviolo, made with a classic semolina pasta. The filling was mashed potato seasoned with a whole lot of garlic and parsley, and then topped with an egg yolk. For the “sauce”, I bathed it in a sort of bagna cauda – olive oil and butter with garlic, anchovy, and Italian fish sauce, plus a bit of parsley sprinkled over the top.
Served with Callejón del Crimen Sangiovese Rosé 2023
One of my personal favorites, hand-rolled strozzapreti with a parsley tinged dough that’s half semolina, half all-purpose flour, and no egg. I poach chicken breasts in chicken stock, cool and shred them. The sauce is made from thin sliced leeks and garlic with merquen chili flakes cooked down slowly in olive oil for about 20 minutes. Then it’s finished with some of the chicken poaching liquid, a splash of cream, some lemon juice, and a soft, fresh goat cheese. Tossed together with the chicken and the pasta and a good dose of freshly cracked black pepper.
Served with Lagarde Rosé Pinot Noir 2022
When one comes into possession of duck hearts… what does one do? My initial thought was to do some sort of riff on duck heart anticuchos, like the dish I had at Contraste in Lima recently. And I decided on something just inspired by anticuchos, but went… pasta. So, how to incorporate corn, potatoes, and the spices? I went with stradette, a Piemontese pasta made from a mix of polenta, semolina, and white flour. I simmered the duck hearts in salted water for about 30 minutes to tenderize them and remove any impurities. Then I finely diced them along with garlic, carrot, celery, red onion, and potato. All of that was sautéed in olive oil for ten minutes with cumin and oregano. Then I added aji panca paste, a little tomato paste and some white miso for extra umami; deglazed it all with brown rice vinegar, tossed it with the pasta, pecorino romano, and cilantro. Notes of anticucho fused with a little Italian and Japanese.
Same wine as the previous pasta, the Lagarde Rosé Pinot Noir 2022.
Here’s another one with an Instagram inspiration. It came from a dish described as “Poulet a la Moutarde, King Oyster Mushrooms, Pink Peppercorns, Pickled Mustard Seeds, Thyme“, which the poster had apparently had at restaurant Greta Solomon’s, near Toronto. Although I didn’t have more than the description to go on, I basically stuck fairly close, I think, to the idea, and while not nearly as tweezer fussy, in fact, no tweezers involved, pretty much went with the same presentation.
Here, I sous vided chicken breasts in olive oil, thyme, mustard seeds, pink and green peppercorns to a solid medium. I made a veloute based sauce with chili-mustard and a local Atuel cheese (no idea if the original had cheese in the sauce, but I like cheese and mustard sauces). Sautéed shallots, deglazed with white wine, added butter and flour to make a roux, added chicken stock, a splash of cream, chili mustard, and the cheesee, and cooked to thicken. Sautéed sliced king oyster mushrooms. Made pickled mustard seeds. And, presented it as above, garnished with thyme leaves and crushed pink and green peppercorns.
Accompanied by Mosquita Muerta “Cordero con Piel de Lobo” 2023, a 100% Cabernet sauvignon from one of my favorite boutique wineries.
A couple of years ago I was experimenting around with different types of gnocchi for our monthly Argentine tradition of serving them on the 29th. I made some delightful taro root gnocchi based on a dish that a restaurant I quite like in São Paulo had recently added to their menu – going on nothing more than the menu description. Taro root is out of season, and basically I made a very similar dish using sweet potato, and spiking up the garnish a bit. So, sweet potato gnocchi seasoned with white pepper and nutmeg; a cilantro infused bechamel sauce; and a sauté of chopped brazil nuts, kale, and shishito peppers.
I must have gotten stuck in the back of my mind on that Lagarde Pinot Noir rosé, because here it is again – three weeks out of five last month! It is really good.
And, a fun, and tasty, cheesecake experiment. It was inspired by our local dessert, the vigilante, the story of which I delved into over a decade ago. Cookie crust, but then the filling is made using a tangy, double cream, Port Salut cheese, flavored with lemon zest and juice, and crystallized ginger. It’s topped with cubes of quince paste, and sunflower seeds that are caramelized in spiced maple syrup. Underneath, a bittersweet carob syrup. This one got mixed reactions from guests – some of them loved it, others seemed to find it odd – just not quite as light and creamy as a standard cream cheese, or ricotta, based cheesecake.
Polished this off with Trumpeter Malbec Fortificado Reserve 2020, a port style Malbec dessert wine.
And that, my friends, was the December round-up.
Should I do a 2023 in review? I’ve mixed thoughts on that. Everyone does it… does that mean I should?
