Tag Archive for 'confit'

Japanese Style Broast Duck

Published
by
marc
on August 24, 2008
in Duck, Japanese and Uncategorized
. 5 Comments

Okay, this is admittedly a terrible name. I always cringe when I see any recipe that starts with “Japanese style” (replace Japanese with any country). It tells me that the creator either didn’t feel confident enough in the authenticity of the dish to give it its proper name, or they were just too lazy to come up with a better name for their new dish (which doesn’t bode well for the recipe). In this case it’s more the later than the former, but this one is tasty, I promise!

What the hell is a broast you ask? Well it’s a rather un-witty name I came up with for half braising / half roasting something. As it turns out, it’s also a trademarked technique of pressure frying chicken, but I’m too tired to think of a better name, so until someone posts a comment with a better name, this dish is forever blighted with its rather unoriginal trademark infringing name.

So how did it come to be? I had 4 duck legs sitting in the freezer waiting to be turned into confit, but I just wasn’t in the mood to do a real confit, so I started thinking of other ways I could cook this. One of my favourite Japanese dishes is Buta Kakuni (braised pork belly); it’s a great way to prepare fatty cuts of meat and duck legs squarly fit in that category.

One of the best parts of duck though is having crisp skin, and several hours of braising aren’t exactly conducive to that end. Braising then broiling won’t work because the skin would absorb too much moisture, and I could always braise and deep fry it, but I really didn’t feel like using up a quart of oil for 4 legs. So how could I make the the meat moist and fall-off-the-bone tender while having crisp golden brown skin? Broasting!

Broasting starts off with a quick browning under the broiler, then with just enough liquid to braise the meat half of the duck, it goes in the oven allowing the skin half to slowly roast, unimpeded by liquid. It finishes up with a few quick minutes under the broiler to make sure that the skin is nice and crisp.

It worked! The meat was tender and moist, with a thin layer of creamy melt-in-your-mouth fat, topped with a crisp layer of skin. It’s similar in flavour to its more porky cousin, but but the roasting intensifies the flavours of the dashi and soy sauce creating a slightly sweet glaze on top.
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Summer Veggie Stew

Published
by
marc
on June 28, 2008
in Soups & Stews, Vegan, Vegetable and Vegetarian
. 7 Comments

I almost hate calling this a stew because it doesn’t really do it justice. There’s no liquid added, so any sauce that develops comes out of the veggies, melding together and caramelizing in the pan to make a wonderfully hardy “stew”.

Its great on pasta, but I think it’s even better scooped up with soft flatbreads like a pita or naan.

For this batch I used some incredibly tender young summer squash along with sweet grape tomatoes, spring onions and fresh peas, but you could really use just about any mix of just-picked farmers market produce. For the seasoning I went with a home made Herbes de Provence mixture of fresh rosemary, lavender, sage and bay leaves, but it’s also great with sumac, lemon rind, and harissa.

While I included measurements below, they’re just guidelines. The idea here is to get the fewest pans, plates and utensils dirty, so do what feels right, taste it then adjust the seasonings until you’re happy.
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Ramp kimchi & Ramp confit

Published
by
marc
on April 29, 2008
in Pickle, Spring, Vegan, Vegetable and Vegetarian
. 12 Comments

So this weekend we made another trip north to pick ramps. This time we brought home a grocery bag brimming with these delightful members of the onion family (they’re sweet and have a flavor somewhere between leeks and garlic). The reason for this large harvest is that L had the brilliant idea of making ramp kimchi, and I wanted to make a ramp confit.

Kimchi, for those unfamiliar, is a fiery Korean side-dish that’s pickled in a potent mix of chili powder and garlic. The specifics and vegetables vary by region and season, but Korean families take pride in the number of urns of kimchi they prepare per year. Prior to winter, families would gather to pickle the last of fall’s vegetables to last them through the cold months until spring.

Confit on the other hand traces its roots to France before refrigeration where meats like duck and goose were cooked in their own fat to preserve them. The word is derived from the verb “confire” which quite literally means “to preserve” and can refer to fruits or vegetables as well as meat.

If you haven’t guessed by now, the common thread here is 2 ways to preserve these perishable gems so they last more than a few days. I figured it would be fun to employ methods coming from 2 continents, and the results were fantastic!

While ramps are a vegetable that aren’t available in Korea, they work perfectly for kimchi because of their strong (though not overpowering) garlic flavor. The long leaves are well suited for wrapping around a slice of steamed pork, or a bit of rice and the flavors just burst with spicy goodness in your mouth.

The confit on the other hand roasts the ramps in an ample amount of olive oil, rounding out the flavor and intensifying the sweetness. The olive oil it’s cooked in is redolent with ramp’s leeky garlicy aroma and is marvelous on pizza dough or bread.
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Ratatouille

Published
by
marc
on March 25, 2008
in Dinner, Side and Vegetable
. 0 Comments

Ratatouille

I know I’m about a year late to the party, but I have a new found love for this dish after seeing the movie. I even serve this with my bright and sunny lemon linguine.

Movie references aside, this is a relatively simple dish that does a great job showcasing the flavors of the fresh vegetables. When tomatoes aren’t in season I like using cherry tomatoes as they are pretty sweet no matter what time of year. In a pinch a can of good stewed tomatoes (like Pomi) will do just fine.

Just make sure the squash and eggplant are fresh as both tend to get bitter when they’ve been sitting around for a while. I’ve also been thinking this should work with winter squashes like butternut and acorn.

Traditionally this dish is supposed to be a stew, but I’ve come somewhere between the original and Thomas Keller’s Confit Byaldi with my own interpretation. Basically I put tomato confit between layers of veggies and throw it in the oven.

1 Tbs + 1 tsp olive oil
1 large spring onion sliced thin
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 Tbs tomato paste
3-4 ripe tomatoes peeled, seeded & chopped (or 1 pint of cherry tomatoes sliced in half)
kosher salt & pepper to taste

1 tsp kosher salt
2 Japanese or 1 Italian eggplant sliced thin (1/8″)
1 medium zucchini’s sliced thin (1/8″)
1 medium yellow squash sliced thin (1/8″)
leaves from a couple sprigs of thyme
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil

Sprinkle the sliced eggplant with 1 tsp of salt and toss to coat. Let stand for about 20 minutes to release some of the water in the eggplant.

Saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil until the onions are nice and caramelized. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and cook until the tomatoes are soft.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Stack a few pieces of eggplant on paper towels and squeeze out excess water. Repeat with the rest of the eggplant.

Toss the eggplant, squash, thyme and pepper with enough olive oil to lightly coat each slice (should be shiny but not greasy).

Layering veggies for ratatouilleIn a baking dish (about 8″ x 8″) put down an even layer of sliced vegetables then cover with tomato confit. Repeat twice more, ending with the tomato confit.

Cover with parchment paper and bake for about 45 minutes or until the vegetables are soft but not mushy.

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