World's Greatest Fried Chicken

We recently purchased a deep fryer, breaking down after years of healthy-eating objections.  I've used it a couple of times so far and I must say it really is handy.  It's great to have so much more control over the oil temperature, along with the added benefit of being inherintly safer than a pot of scorching hot oil on the stovetop.  I've made some terrific french fries and potato chips with it, but I felt it was time to try something a little more complicated.  I settled on Buttermilk Fried Chicken, from Thomas Keller's "Ad Hoc" cookbook.  According to Keller, if there is a better recipe for fried chicken he hasn't tried it, which is good enough for me.

First to find a suitable chicken.  I've been buying whole chickens from Maple and Ewe Farm for a little over a year and I'm convinced it's the best chicken in Nova Scotia.  The chickens are lovingly raised outdoors in the Annapolis Valley, foraging for their food and eating a chicken's natural diet of grubs, worms and seeds.  I buy them from LeRoy Little of Highview Farms, who sells his product at the old Halifax Farmer's Market. 

The first step is to cut the bird into it's 10 pieces (two backs, two drumsticks, four half breasts and two wings).  This was the first time I had ever cut up a whole chicken, and it made me feel pretty dumb for buying just breasts or drumsticks for all those years.  Teach yourself to cut up a whole chicken and you'll save yourself a lot of money over the years by not paying someone else to do it for you.

The next step is to brine the chicken.

Even the recipes from this cookbook, which are intended to be informal, casual cooking, are still more complicated than most.  This chicken brine, for instance; simply salt and water isn't good enough, this one calls for lemons, bay leaves, honey, garlic, peppercorns, thyme and parsley.  I guess my definition of casual differs from Thomas Keller's.

Once the chicken is brined, it's time for the buttermilk batter.  

The chicken pieces are first dredged in seasoned flour, then dipped in buttermilk, then dredged a second time in the seasoned flour, then into the deep fryer.

The recipe says to fry the chicken 11 to 12 minutes, but I found it very subject to the size of the pieces.  My instant read thermometer came in handy, since it's really tricky to gauge whether the chicken is fully cooked in this preparation.  I ended up frying my chicken more like 16 minutes per piece.

The finished product, Thomas Keller's Buttermilk Fried Chicken.

The verdict?  Unbelievably good.  Having only eaten the Colonel's fried chicken up to this point, I had no idea that fried chicken could be so delicious.  You'd better buy a deep fryer.

Leek Potato Oyster Soup

During the fall and winter I often find myself craving homey foods like stews and soups. Or perhaps the reason we eat this way is more predicated on the fact that during this time of the year vegetable options are limited and much of what we can find locally are root vegetables. I prefer to think that it is something that I long for and we'll stick with that. So back to it, there is something very comforting in such foods, but this mid December I wanted something a little different and Fergus Henderson had just that something...leek potato oyster soup.

Off to the Halifax historic farmer's market on Saturday morning with my list. Hutten's Family Farms for leeks, potatoes and onions and Indian Point Mussels for the briny juicy oysters. This dish was extremely simple to prepare, using very basic ingredients that when combined together resulted in a delicious and very filling soup.

Chop 4 potatoes, slice one onion, 6 or 7 leeks and 5 cloves of garlic. Toss all but the potatoes into a heavy bottomed pot with 7 tablespoons of butter and allow them to sweat on a low heat.

I love using Henderson's recipes for a number of reasons, the challenge and sometimes great results, but also for his style of writing. He writes of food with such respect, giving it life, no other cookbook we have in our home is written in this manner and it always leaves me feeling grateful. In Henderson's words, once the leeks, onions and garlic start 'giving' add potatoes and cook for 8 minutes and then add stock and bring to a gentil boil.

I used fish stock as we have plenty in the freezer from our fall and winter shares in Off the Hook. Tossing all those fish heads was not something I could bring myself to do, it just seemed wrong, wasteful and disrespectful when we could turn it into something that we could later use. Making stock is effortless and a good way to use those food scrapes that may not have any other use. For those of you that think it's too much effort, bullocks....more effort is required in going to the grocery store and waiting in line to buy it. If you don't have fish stock, chicken stock is a great second option.

While the vegetable mixture fills your kitchen with a wonderful aroma, it's time to start shucking those oysters. This is by far the most challenging aspect of the dish. Rinse the oysters and use a tea towel to protect your hand while opening. Do be careful with that oyster shucker, otherwise you may NOT be enjoying your soup, but off to the doctor's office for stitches muttering a few choice words.

Reserve the briny juices from the oysters to add to the soup.

Once the potatoes are soft, toss the mixture into a blender and puree. Return pureed mixture to the pot and add salt and pepper to taste, mix in the oyster brine, plate (or in this case bowl) and top with a couple of fresh juicy oysters.

Enjoy!

Lamb Tongues

That's right.  Lamb tongues.   But first, a bit of background.

It was the spring of 2009 and Kelly and I were spending a couple of days in London en route to Wales.  It's impossible to pick a restaurant in a city like London, but there was one chef's cooking I really wanted to try, based initially (and entirely) on a 2006 episode of Anthony Bourdain's "A Cook's Tour".   Bourdain would go on to state, in his introduction to this chef's 2004 cookbook, that this is his favorite chef and his favorite restaurant in the world.  The place?  St. John.  And needing no introduction, the chef in question is Fergus Henderson.  Any time you see something other than chicken breast, scallops or filet mignon on a menu (the beef cheeks at the Brooklyn Warehouse, for instance), you can thank Fergus Henderson.  The champion of using all parts of an animal, not just what is (usually incorrectly) considered the choicest cuts.  Nose to Tail eating.

Our lunch that day at St. John was an inspiration.  We ate pigeon.  Gulls eggs.  Eel scratchin's.  And none other than Fergus Henderson himself was seated at the table next to ours!

Fast forward to today.  Among the many farmer's market purveyors we have established relationships with, one of our favorites is Bill Wood of Wood 'N Hart Farm.  The lamb that Bill sells is (in my opinion) the best there is.  Considering the province's best chef's serve his lamb in their restaurants means I'm not alone in my assessment.  I once prepared a rack of lamb from Wood 'N Hart that approached perfection.  It was cooked to a beautiful, blushing rare (more luck than skill) and served with a homemade mint sauce with mint from the garden, following a recipe from my Grandmother in Wales.  Where they know a thing or two about lamb.  The entire dish was prepared with only six ingredients, and that includes the salt & pepper.  The dish was all about the lamb, and the lamb was incredible.

Lamb Tongues

We enjoy the challenge and the respect for the animal inherit in "nose to tail" cooking, and regularly buy lamb heart and kidney from Bill.  One morning he handed us a small plastic bag filled with lamb tongues.  Having no clue on how to prepare lamb tongue, I turned to the only cookbook in the house I could count on for a preparation: Fergus Henderson's "The Whole Beast".

Here are the lamb tongues, washed and ready.

The first step is to gently simmer the tongues in chicken stock with some garlic and aromatic herbs for about 2 hours.

Next, remove the tongues from the stock, allow to cool slightly, then peel.

Once that's done, the tongues are halfed and added to some shallots (sauteed in duck fat), some beets (cooked in the same stock as the tongue), and some bacon.

The dish is finished with a sprinkle of a little sherry vinegar.  I served it on top of mashed potato.

The tongue was really quite easy to prepare.  The texture is a little like liver, but more firm.  This dish was absolutely delicious and will definitely be made again.  And to think that lamb tongues are usually thrown in the garbage!

NOV 2012 Update:

By popular (ie one) request the complete recipe, shamelessly copied verbatim from Fergus Henderson's "The Whole Beast", which I highly recommend.

6 lambs tongues (rinsed well in cold water)
7 cups chicken stock
1 head of garlic, separated & peeled
a bundle of fresh thyme & parsley pulled together
6 young turnips w/ green tops kept (I used beets)
2 dollops duck fat
16 shallots, peeled & left whole
1-1/4 pound piece of bacon, cut into chunks
Salt & pepper
Sherry or red wine vinegar

Cover tongues in a pot with the stock.  Add garlic and herbs, bring to a boil then simmer for 2 hours.  Remove tongues and allow to cool until handle-able, then peel.  While doing this cook the turnips in the stock.

When cooked remove turnips and return tongues to the stock.

In an ovenproof frying pan brown the shallots in some duck fat.  Then pop into oven (375 F) for 15 mins, making sure they don't burn.  Remove tongues from stock and slice lengthwise.  In a frying pan heat some duck fat, fry the bacon and add the tongues and turnips, allow to colour then add the shallots and a splash of the stock to half-cover the pans contents.  Let this start to boil, add greens & season with salt & pepper, then cover pan and simmer for 2 mins.  Remove ingredients with a slotted spoon to the serving plate then ladle some of the pan liquid over top.  Just before serving sprinkle with a little vinegar.

Off the Hook - Pt. II

With the first season of Off the Hook officially over, I thought I would share what I found to be my favorite haddock preparation after weeks of trying different recipes.  What follows is deceptively simple, fast and fiendishly good.

Sherwood St. Haddock

Ultra-fresh haddock
Butter (unsalted)
More butter
Capers
Kosher salt & pepper (throw that table salt out already!)
White flour

Wash & dry the haddock fillets.  Season both sides with salt, and let stand for about 5 mins or so to let the salt penetrate into the flesh.  Over medium heat, melt a couple tablespoons of the butter until it foams.  Dredge the fillets in the flour, shaking off the excess, and place in the pan.  Cook for a couple of minutes, until the bottom is starting to brown.  Flip and cook the other side for a couple of minutes.  Give the fish your undivided attention because it is really, really easy to overcook the fish.  Keep checking the inside by gently separating the flesh, the moment it's cooked through take it out.  Remove the fish and cover while you prepare the sauce.  Add a couple more tablespoons of butter to the pan and melt, scraping up all of the nice brown bits on the bottom of the pan.  Continually stir while you let the butter cook until it just starts to brown (this won't take long).  Add a tablespoon of capers to the pan, along with another tablespoon of the caper brine.  Wisk it in to combine and then serve the fish, topping the fillets with the sauce (this sauce, in case you were wondering, is buerre noisette, or brown butter).

Serve with your favorite vegetables on the side (I chose braised local cucumber in the picture).

You couldn't prepare a box of kraft dinner in this amount of time.

Off The Hook!

We are half-share shareholders in the inaugural season of "Off The Hook", Atlantic Canada's first community supported fishery (CSF).  Off The Hook is a cooperative that connects it's shareholders directly with several families of fisherman in Digby, Nova Scotia.  Their catch is sustainably caught hook and line groundfish, and every week we receive our "share", usually about six pounds of haddock.  The quality of the fish is incredible - the boats typically come in on a Wednesday evening or Thursday morning and we pick up the fish Thursday afternoon in downtown Halifax.  Bracingly fresh, this is the best quality haddock a retail customer can get their hands on. 

Our weekly share.

Being whole forces you to learn how to fillet a fish.  How is it we've never done this before?

And being whole also means you get the heads and bones for making stock.  Try as you may you can't find fish heads at any of the grocers or fishmongers in the HRM (which makes me wonder if they really are filleting any of that fish you see on ice in the display case?)

Nothing like having loads of homemade stock in the freezer.  Makes for an amazing fish chowder.

Having six pounds of fresh fish to deal with every week requires a little creativity.  I'm sure on week one of Off The Hook there were plenty of households around Halifax enjoying some beautifully and simply prepared haddock fillets, sauteed in butter with a little salt & pepper.  But by week three, you start looking for different and interesting ways to use your fish.  Some of the more adventurous preparations to date at our house:

Ceviche

We've made ceviche twice now, and each time it gets better.  Marinate the haddock (first seasoned with salt) in enough lime juice to cover it for a couple of hours, then use your imagination and what's on hand.  This one was prepared with valley peaches, mango and jalapeno, cherry tomatoes and cilantro from the garden.

Black and White Sesame-Crusted Tuna Haddock with Miso Broth and Noodles

My interpretation of Chef Michael Howell's (Tempest) Black and White Sesame-Crusted Tuna with Miso Broth and Noodles, substituting haddock and pine mushroom as the Asian corner store was out of enoki.  This turned out really, really nicely.  (Recipe is from Michael Howell's cookbook "atlantic seafood", buy it now!  It's fantastic!)

Tom Yum

Several batches of Tom Yum soup have been prepared using the haddock stock and whatever flesh we can pick off the bones after making the stock.  Absolutely delicious and ridiculously easy.  Make sure you find an authentic recipe and don't omit the kaffir lime leaves (you can get them at Pete's Frootique).

Salt & Vinegar Crusted Haddock

Haddock in a crust of salt and vinegar potato chips, as recommended by a co-worker and fellow foodie.  Not as much of that tasty salt and vinegar flavour made it through to the finished dish as I would have liked, but it was still interesting and quite good.

There you have it.  In supporting Off The Hook:

• you're supporting local fisherman who believe in sustainable fishing practices
• the fisherman receive a much better price for their catch as it's not being sold to a middle man for processing 
• you're paying about the same as what you'd pay for haddock fillets at the grocery store
• you're eating fish so fresh you'd have to catch it yourself to be any fresher

The second season of Off The Hook starts Sept 23.

www.offthehookcsf.ca

Rillettes

In our exploration of cooking and experimenting with food, the one conclusion we repeatedly come to is - dishes that have the simplest preparations are often the best. We've been fortunate to have dined at a number of fine restaurants and the most memorable foods tend to be the one you would least expect. Rob Feenie's pea soup at Lumiere, Thomas Keller's salmon rillettes at Bouchon and Fergus Henderson's gulls eggs at St. John are just a few that come to mind. The next time you dine out and are left with a lasting impression of a wonderful creation, challenge yourself to recreate it at home; you may be patting yourself on the back. I shall pass on what I believe to be an excellent piece of advice from Fergus Henderson, 'do not be afraid of cooking as your ingredients will know and misbehave.' Have fun with experimenting with food!

Another of those unforgettable dishes for me was a pork and duck fat rillettes which I've had the pleasure to enjoy a number of times at Salade de Fruits Cafe in Vancouver. If you haven't been, I do highly recommend should you be living in or visting Vancouver. Cash only! Rillettes, the name itself is intimidating, is an incredible dish that should be anything but. It's definitely old school, in the words of Anthony Bourdain, and I would have to agree. Having no Salade de Fruits Cafe or any other restaurant in Halifax that served this dish, I was pushed to my own devices and can now enjoy rillettes whenever I feel like it, provided I plan 3 to 4 days in advance. Patience for this dish is essential, but oh so worth it!

I turned to our cookbooks and found a recipe in Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles. If you don't own this already, it is recommended. And apparently it wasn't that I didn't look hard enough in this city for rillettes, according to Bourdain, it is tragically hard to find. A true shame!

Rillettes necessities:

2 lbs good quality pork belly

1 lb good quality pork shoulder (do not buy from grocery store, you will be disappointed, speaking from experience)

3 sprigs of thyme

1 sprig of parsley

1 bay leave

4 cups of water

salt and pepper

fat pork

duck fat

Remove the rind from the pork belly without discarding too much of the fat and cut into 2 inch pieces.

Cut the pork shoulder same size as pork belly.

Place all the pork in a heavy bottomed pot.

Pour 4 cups of cold water over the pork pieces and toss in the bouquet garni (thyme, parsley and bay leave) wrapped in cheesecloth if you have, otherwise simply tie with a piece of string. Turn the stove on very low, place lid on pot allowing for moisture to escape and let simmer for 6 hours. Did I mention patience?

After 6 hours, remove pork from pot along with 3 tablespoons of the remaining liquids and let cool. Add 1 tsp of salt and pepper to taste and using 2 forks pull apart into very small stringy pieces.

Mix in 1 heaping tablespoon of duck fat.

Place in jars topped with a piece of salt pork. Cover with lids or plastic wrap and place in fridge for 3 to 4 days. This is by far the most difficult thing in preparing this dish...the waiting.

Patience.

3 to 4 days later enjoy with crosstinis, cornichions and picked onions.

Thanks Anthony Bourdain in helping me find a solution to my rillettes dilema!

Pea Soup

Before it's decline and eventual demise, we had the good fortune to dine at Vancouver's Lumiere, consistently listed among the country's top restaurants (Editor's note: since leaving Vancouver, Lumiere has re-opened with chef Daniel Boulud at the helm.) We enjoyed the multi-course chef's tasting menu, and one of those courses (I think there were 14 in total) changed the course of my life. It was so incredibly good, that while eating it I couldn't prevent myself from involuntarily smiling. It was mind blowing, a revalation. It left such an impression on me that even now I struggle to put into words it's effect. The dish? Pea soup.

Suffice it to say, this was no ordinary pea soup. But one of the (many) things that stunned me about the dish was that it truly was "ordinary", in the sense that the dish really was just peas. The chef had taken the humble vegetable and prepared it in such a way as to intensify, amplify and heighten it's flavours. That the dish had such a profound impact on my life is a testament to the skill and talent of the chef, Rob Feenie.

Summer being well underway in Nova Scotia, we just picked about a pound of fresh peas from our garden. I knew immediately what I would be doing with them.

The first challenge was to find a receipe. For this I turned to another chef, one who's cooking is, arguably, among the best in the world - Thomas Keller. In his French Laundry cookbook (which you should own, if you don't already), there is a preparation for "Puree of English Pea Soup with White Truffle Oil and Parmesan Crisps", which I knew would be equal to the challenge of creating my homage to Rob Feenie's dish. And it's always fun to cook from the French Laundry cookbook. This is my adaption of the French Laundry dish.

Sherwood St. Pea Soup

1 lb peas (shelled)

4 l water (for blanching), plus more for soup

1/3 c sugar

1/2 c kosher salt

Vegetable stock

Basil oil

Kosher salt and white pepper

Parmesan crisps (recipe follows)

Step 1 - Obtain Product

These were our peas, picked mere hours before cooking. Do not dare prepare this dish with peas from the grocery store. These should be sourced from a farmer's market or (preferrably) a backyard garden (your neighbour's if not your own). If you don't have the freshest, best quality peas you can possibly lay your hands on, don't waste your time.

Step 2 - Big Pot Blanching

Thomas Keller devotes a separate section in his cookbook just to blanching vegetables. I did my best to keep up. The peas were first chilled in ice water, then cooked in the 4 litres of water with the salt and sugar (about 8 to 10 mins), followed by a dunk into ice water. According to the cookbook, this will help the peas retain their colour.

Step 3 - Puree

Not owning a food processor, I used my blender and it worked fine.

The pea puree was a vivid, vibrant green, just like Thomas Keller said it would be. The photo, depressingly, does it no justice.

Stage 4 - Strain, Strain, Strain!

I added some homemade chicken stock (sorry Mr. Keller, no vegetable stock on hand) and water, blended again, then strained through a fine seive. I only strained it once, not the dozen or so times Thomas K would undoubtably strain his. Add enough stock and / or water to achieve the consistency you like.

The final mixture looked a little like this.

Step 5 - Season

Pretty simple. This dish is, after all, all about the peas.

Step 6 - Parmesan Crisps

I love these little bastards. Follow Thomas Keller's advice and make a couple extra, as you will want to eat them.

Finely grated parmesan goes into the oven (preheated to 325F)...

... and 8 mins later delicious crisps come out. Don't try this at home without a silpat sheet.

Step 7 - Basil Oil

The receipe calls for white truffle oil, which I don't have in the pantry and sadly probably couldn't find in Halifax if I tried. So, I picked fresh basil from the garden and made a basil oil instead. I'm not sure that peas and basil is a classic pairing, but they're both in season and what the hell I like basil.

Step 8 - Plate it Up

There you have it. My nod to Rob Feenie's pea soup, made with Nova Scotia ingredients.

Garrison Stout Chocolate Cake

Dessert is not something we indulge in on a regular basis, but every now and then it's a must! We have our favourites; creme brule and strawberry & rhubarb fool topped with chocolate mint and I'm sure you have yours. Chocolate cake has never been high on my list, that is, until recently. I suspect the reason for not liking this dessert, loved by so many, was simply due to having been deprived of a good chocolate cake made from scratch. Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines...I love you Mom, but I think I'll pass.

This cake is not just a chocolate cake, but rather a chocolate STOUT cake. It came about through love, not of chocolate, but of a Vancouver Island raised lad who loves his beer. His recent quest to sample all the local beers of Halifax and rate them, in a search for the best Canadian microbrewed beer, was the inspiration. I needed a delectable birthday cake; trying to top a cake made by a friend, a trained pastry chef, is no small feat. I had big shoes to fill! The beer diary poured ideas my way and with the aid of the Internet a chocolate cake was taking shape. I found what I thought to be a recipe worthy of undertaking and made my way to the local microbreweries. I needed the perfect secret ingredient!

One of the many wonderful things about Halifax is that we are blessed with a great selection of micro-brewed local beer. I scouted the options at Propellor, Granite Brewery and The Garrison and settled on the The Garrison Martello Stout, a heavily roasted malt beer with a big bold flavour. This was the perfect ingredient for the Halifax Stout Chocolate Birthday Cake.

The all important stout...

Cake necessities:

2 cups Garrison Martello Stout (or stout of choice...I may try Pumphouse Scotch Ale next time)

2 cups unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

4 cups all purpose flour

4 cups sugar

1 tbsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 large eggs (free range)

1 1/3 cups sour cream

Icing necessities:

1 L whipping cream

1 package of Jello powder crystals (I opted for vanilla)

Step 1:

Warm beer and butter together and let cool.

Step 2:

After mixing together all other ingredients into cooled butter beer using a Kitchen Aid mixer, I had a whole lot of yummy chocolate cake mix. Do try your best to refrain from dipping your finger in the batter, although if you succumb to the devine chocolate temptation don't worry, you have enough batter for 3 layers...you won't miss a layer if you indulge in multi dipping, but please do wash your hands every time before taking the plunge.

Step 3:

Divide the batter into 3 pans, 2 if you are experiencing a chocolate buzz and realise you don't have enough for 3 pans. Having made this cake several times I now stick with 2 layers and use the extra batter for cup cakes; they freeze well and make for quick easy desserts.

Step 4:

Bake for 40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the centre comes out clean. You know the drill.

One layer of cake.

The cupcake.

Step 5:

Let cool then ice with the mixed whipping cream and vanilla Jello crystals and enjoy.

This chocolate stout cake is extremely moist and will leave you wanting more. I recommend cutting in thin slices to serve. As the cake is rather large for 2 people, I froze the remaining cake in individual slices which makes for a quick yummy dessert without all the hassle.

Dockside Chili Squid

Since moving from Vancouver, we have been spoiling ourselves on the wonderful seafood that is available in Nova Scotia. There is a brewpub in Vancouver's Granville Island, the Dockside, which serves an incredible appetizer known as "Chili Squid". It was a Sunday summer tradition for many years to head down to the Dockside patio and feast on Chili Squid and their fantastic microbrew beer, just the thing to chase off a Saturday night hangover and get started on a Monday morning one.

I have been toiling for some time now trying to recreate that dish. What I have come up with is a bit of a departure from the original, but I actually prefer it more! I have adapted this recipe from Wandee Young's Simply Thai cookbook, which you should buy if you don't already own it, if only for the Pad Thai recipe. But back to the squid...

SQUID

This is what was left of a couple of nice, fresh squid, after cleaning them and cutting them up.

The best recipes seem always to be the simplest, and this is no exception.

HALIFAX PATIO CHILI SQUID

10 oz squid

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp chopped garlic

2 tbsp fish sauce

3 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tsp chili-garlic sauce

1 tsp chili paste

2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh mint

2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh cilantro

Canola oil for deep frying

Salt and pepper

Flour for dredging

Mix the sugar, lime juice, garlic and everything bottled in a bowl.

Dredge the squid in flour, salt & pepper just before deep frying. Be sure to dry it really well, or you'll end up tossing the squid in glue.

Deep fry the squid, working in small batches if you are using a shallow pan like me. Why does everything seem to be improved upon by deep frying?

Don't cook the squid very long, 60 seconds maybe? Depends on the temperature of your oil. Use your judgement. Once cooked, toss the squid with the sauce in a work bowl.

Then plate it, topping with the fresh herbs.

Simple, easy, and really, really good. I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do. And if you find yourself on the patio of the Dockside, be sure to order the Chili Squid and a pint of Jamaican Lager. You just might not return to the maritimes!