Potatoes – Two Fat Bellies

Fun with Foie Gras – Part 2

virginia — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 21:59:57 +0000

As you may remember, Josh got me an entire lobe of foie gras for our anniversary/Valentine’s Day. We portioned it out into slices and froze it for future use. These days, it’s still pretty rare for us to have an obligation-free Saturday to ourselves, especially with a baby that demands every little bit of our attention. So when the opportunity came up for us to spend our day in leisure, we jumped at the chance to cook up some more foie gras. I was particularly inspired by our foie gras-filled trip to Quebec City/Montreal, so I was excited to taste the preparation that Josh whipped up.

The first time he cooked foie gras for me, Josh just simply seared the slices with oil, salt, and pepper, and then deglazed the pan with aged balsamic vinegar. It was tasty, but he wanted to try making a different kind of sauce for this occasion. Basing the ingredients on this recipe, after searing the foie gras and reserving the excess fat, he added minced garlic and shallots, and then deglazed the pan with balsamic vinegar and port wine. Learning from our previous experience, he did not add oil to the pan before searing the foie gras, which made the slices less greasy, but no less rich than before.

The end result was fantastic – a luscious slice of foie gras with a delicately crispy exterior and a creamy interior that just melted in my mouth. The port wine and balsamic added both sweetness and acidity to cut through the fat, while the garlic and shallots helped round out the umami flavor and provided a little texture to the sauce.

Seared foie gras with port wine, balsamic, garlic, and shallot reduction

Since we were unable to use the reserved fat that came off the foie gras the first time we made it, we decided to use this batch immediately. We tossed the fat with diced potatoes and roasted them in the oven. However, this meant that we had to wait a while for the potatoes to cook through to serve with our main course. In the interim, we snacked on some prosciutto and crenshaw melon topped with balsamic syrup. We saw the crenshaw melon while we were shopping at Fairway, and Josh couldn’t resist trying it out. The flesh looks like canteloupe but the flavor is actually closer to honeydew. It was sweet but I thought that the aftertaste was slightly too acidic for my preference.

Slices of crenshaw melon with prosciutto and balsamic syrup

For our main course, Josh cooked up a gorgeous steak au poivre with lots of crushed peppercorns forming a nice crust on the meat. The sauce was made with cognac and cream – always a great combination. The foie gras fat-flavored roasted potatoes weren’t actually as flavorful as I had hoped, but you can’t go too wrong with crispy roasted potatoes. To cut through all the fatty and rich foods, we had an arugula salad on the side dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

Steak au poivre with foie gras fat roasted potatoes and arugula salad

For dessert, Josh made a Grand Marnier souffle. His specialty is actually chocolate souffle, but he felt like experimenting with Grand Marnier for a change. Unfortunately we got a bit distracted with changing/feeding the baby while the souffles were in the oven, and the top ended up browning a little more than we would have liked. Nothing a little creme anglaise couldn’t cover up though. Once we got past the burnt top, the inside of the souffle was soft and fluffy. We could really taste the Grand Marnier, which gave it a little boozy kick at the end.

Grand Marnier souffle with creme anglaise

All in all, another great meal, mostly prepared by Josh. I was on baby duty while he handled the majority of the prep and cooking. In all fairness, I was responsible for a lot of the clean-up afterward (and he does make quite a mess when he cooks), but it was well worth it!

CSA Week #22 (Last Share of the Season!)

virginia — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:16:09 +0000

Sadly, today is the last day of our CSA share for the season. We decided not to do the winter share so we will have to wait until next summer before we can join the CSA again. This was our first year trying it out, and it was definitely a great experience for us. Even though the produce got a bit overwhelming at times, we definitely tried our best not to let anything go to waste.

This week we got our biggest distribution of the season, probably because it was the last share. Our vegetable share contents included:

Winter Squash – 1 each
Brussels Sprouts – 1 each
Radishes – 5 each
Potatoes – 1 lb
Cooking Greens – 1 lb
Bok Choy – 1 each
Cabbage – 1 each
Carrots – 1 1/2 lbs
Onions – 1 lb
Beets – 1 lb
Celery – 1 each

Bok choy, beets, onions, brussels sprouts, celery, carrots, radishes, cabbage, kale, squash, potatoes

I’m excited about the winter squash, which was butternut this time. I might just roast it, or make some butternut squash soup. I was also happy to see bok choy again, since it was always one of my favorites during the season. Everything else looked great as well, and we definitely have enough vegetables to last us for the next few weeks.

Any guesses what our fruit share contained? That’s right, MORE apples! This week the contents included:

Fuji Apples – 4 3/4 lbs
Jonagold Apples – 4 3/4 lbs

Fuji and jonagold apples

The entire bottom shelf of our refrigerator is just packed with apples right now. Some are getting a bit bruised and soggy so I’m going to turn them into a huge batch of applesauce. With the rest, I foresee a few pies and tarts, and maybe a crumble or two. I’m complaining about the amount of apples now, but when we finally do get through them, I know I’ll feel a bit sad.

Joining the CSA was really a great decision for us. We got to try out vegetables that we ordinarily would not have picked up from the supermarket, and it was nice to have fresh produce on hand weekly. Cost-wise, the share was very reasonably priced per week, though you have to pay the total at the beginning of the season. The vegetables and fruits we got more than covered the cost, especially when we saw how pricey certain items were at the local Greenmarkets. We will absolutely join a CSA again next year, and we hope we’ve inspired some of you to check out a CSA as well.

P.S. No worries about CSA posts withdrawal, I’ve still got plenty of recipes to write about. Thanks for reading!

CSA Week #21

virginia — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:01:56 +0000

Oy vey, what a day. Josh and I were supposed to meet up to get our CSA share together at 5:30 but I got stuck at work so he had to go by himself this week. Not a big deal, except that he got there so late they ran out of leeks! Darn, I had already been planning on making a potato leek soup this week. Oh well. This week our vegetable share included:

Potatoes – 1/2 lb
Greens – 1 lb
Radishes – 5 each
Green Tomatoes – 1 lb
Turnips – 3 each
Brussels Sprouts – 1 each

Turnips, radishes, brussels sprouts, kale, green tomatoes, potatoes

The potatoes we got were absolutely covered in mud, but apparently that’s how they stay preserved. Interesting, but super messy. The green tomatoes look like the heirloom variety and I plan on making fried green tomatoes. The brussels sprouts look absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to eat them. For the greens, Josh picked up purple kale, which will of course be made into chips.

For the fruit share, we got apples, apples, and more apples. The share contents included:

Macoun Apples – 5 lbs
Empires Apples – 5 lbs

Apples, apples, and more apples

I really need to do something with the apples in our fridge, and applesauce looks like the best bet. Claire also recommended a bunch of recipes to us, which I might try out this weekend. I think next week is our last week of CSA, and I’m absolutely devastated!