Brandade is something that I ate for the first time at Craigie on Main in Cambridge, MA – served in a small ball that had been lightly fried and served on top of squid ink aioli.  Ok, so that was my introduction to the stuff – and obviously I didn’t set out to replicate that dish.  Instead I wanted to learn a more rustic style of brandade, so I turned to a recipe from a great restaurant up in Portland Maine called Caiola’s in the West End.

Caiola’s brandade was easy to make and delicious.  I really liked the idea of keeping some of the ingredients more course and less of a puree.  The salt cod is actually really delicious, adding a subtle but present fishiness that’s not overpowering, but instead comforting and delicious.  I added a bit of both lemon and orange zest, which added a really nice freshness.  This stuff is pretty rich and delicious, a good go to for any appetizer, but especially in the winter.  Here’s what to do:

• 1 medium fillet of Salt Cod (around 3/4 lb.) – soaked in cold water for 24 hours at least, changing the water multiple times.  Once soaked, drain and dry and reserve.
• 2 lb potatoes – Yukon golds or fingerlings work here – peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/4 extra virgin olive oil + 1-2 Tbsp.
• 1/2 white onion – large dice
• 1 tsp. orange zest (more to your taste)
• 1 tsp. lemon zest (more to your taste)
• 1 clove fresh garlic – finely minced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cured black (pitted) olives to finish
• Bread for crostini – sourdough baguette or even focaccia work well

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Start with the salt cod.  Once it’s drained, add it to a pan of water and bring the water to a boil.  Cook the cod in the water for 15 minutes or so, or until it nicely flakes apart.  Remove the cod from the water with a slotted spoon, dry, then add the cod to a food processor and gently pulse until the cod is mostly broken apart.  I decided to leave some larger pieces in the cod and it was really good!!  But it’s totally up to you.

Once the cod is done, add some salt to the water, then add the potatoes to the pan and cook those until they’re cooked through – 10-15 minutes.  Remove the potatoes from the water and rice or mash them in a separate bowl.  Add the riced potatoes to the cod mixture and mix together gently.

In a separate pan, add the 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil and then the onion and gently saute until soft but not browned.  Remove the onion and add it to the potatoes and cod.  Then add the 1/4 cup of olive oil to the hot pan and warm it until it’s fairly hot, then add it to the cod and mix.  Finally, add the cream to the heated pan (make sure the pan is over low heat) and heat it gently before adding it to the code mixture.

Finish by mixing in the garlic and zests, then taste the mixture and adjust seasoning as necessary.  Once you’re happy with it, place the brandade in an oven proof dish and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the top begins to brown and the middle is hot and bubbly.  Toast the bread and arrange on the plate.  Finish the brandade with the olives and a little more zest and serve with the toasts!

Go ahead, say it: “Vichyssoise” – sounds fancy and French, I know – but for a fancy sounding soup, this one is perhaps the simplest recipe we’ve posted yet. When making Vichyssoise, there are basically 4 ingredients – if you don’t count the salt and pepper (white pepper in this case), plus the cooking process is really easy too.

The soup is best served chilled in my opinion, but you can also serve it hot, but I’d omit the cream/milk in that case.  Another note on the soup is to puree it in your blender for a few minutes to ensure that you make it really smooth, giving it a really silky texture.  The starch in the potatoes will aid this process, but you’ll like the results for sure.  It’s one of those soups that you can make restaurant quality texture wise without much work at all.

Another great aspect of this soup is that it’s perfect for spring.  I like to make it with the first local new potatoes that you get at the market.  Leeks are also a good spring vegetable, and the combination is best served by this soup in my opinion.  Of course, I’d also highly recommend a homemade chicken broth if you have one available, but store bought is ok too, just make sure that it’s a low sodium broth.  Here’s how simple it can be:

• Around 6-8 medium sized new potatoes (the ones with the red skin) – Peeled and quartered
• 2 large or 3 medium leeks – white and light green parts only – trimmed, washed and cut into half/quarter moon shapes
• 1 quart (~4 cups) chicken stock
• 1/4 cup light cream or 1/2 cup whole milk (optional and I recommend NOT using if you’re serving the soup hot)
• 1 clove garlic – lightly crushed and peeled (optional)
• Salt to taste
• Small dash of white pepper (1/2 tsp. but you can approximate)
• Croutons – Crouton recipe here or here with Aimee’s Caesar Salad Recipe (optional)

Again, a totally easy preparation.  Start with peeling and chopping the potatoes. Heat the stock in a heavy bottomed pot until almost boiling, then add a few pinches of salt.  Add the potatoes and chopped leeks to the stock.  Add the garlic clove as well and let the mixture come to a boil.  Cook over medium/low heat for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender but not complete mush.

While the soup ingredients are cooking, prepare the croutons at this point to serve with the finished soup (see the other posts liked to above!!!).

Remove the garlic clove (or leave it if you want your soup garlicky).  Transfer the mixture to your blender and puree for 3-5 minutes, or until very smooth (taste it, you’ll know what I mean).  Add the white pepper and adjust the seasoning as necessary.  If you’re serving the soup hot, go ahead and plate it now and top with a few croutons.  If you’re serving it chilled (I recommend it!!), place the soup in the freezer or fridge until cold, then serve.  Top with croutons and enjoy!

This one takes barely anytime at all.  In fact, that’s really why I’m posting it here.  We’ve both been feeling somewhat beat after getting home from work, so cooking is often the last thing we want to do.  Then we watched Food, Inc. and that attitude got flipped around.  It prompted us to start getting a Boston Organics box from the seemingly great organization here in town.  We’ve been very impressed overall with the quality of the fruit and vegetables, but we end up with almost more that we can use.  This week was our second week getting the green box and in it were some beautiful baby potatoes from Maine which I wanted to use before the weekend.  So potato salad – yeah that happened.  Totally simple, and really good.

The potato salad that I make is rather French – it’s somewhat creamy, but light at the same time.  I use a little bit of mayo, but more creme fraiche, dijon, lemon and vinegar.  The secret though?  Cut your warm potatoes up into pieces and let them soak up some wine, stock and lemon juice before you add the rest of the dressing.  Here’s the method I used, which I think you’ll find easy and simple tasting:

• 15 small red new or fingerling potatoes (around 1.5 lb.) – washed and left whole
• 1 medium red onion – very finely diced

• 2 Tbsp. homemade or Hellman’s mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp. creme fraiche
• 2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 3 Tbsp. decent dry white wine
• 3 Tbsp. chicken stock
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon (meyer’s if available)
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. Tabasco sauce
• Good grind of black pepper
• Decent amount of salt
• 3 Scallions – sliced VERY thin along a bias

Ok, so the obvious part of this recipe is to cook the potatoes.  Start with a large pot of boiling water and add and good amount salt. Add the potatoes, and of you’re using larger sized potatoes, half or quarter them – especially if they’re really big. Boil them for around 15-20 minutes, or until you can stick them with a fork, pull them out of the water and the fall off the fork after a second or two.

At this point, gently drain the potatoes in a strainer or sieve and add them to another bowl to let cool.  As soon as they’re cool enough to touch, quarter the potatoes or try to cut them into similar sizes as consistently as possible.  Immediately add them to a bowl and add the wine and chicken stock and mix to incorporate.  Add the onions and let stand and let the potatoes soak up the liquids while you make the dressing.

For the dressing, start with the mustard, mayonnaise and creme fraiche and mix together in a small bowl.  Add in the Worcesteshire sauce, vinegar and Tabasco and stir together to combine.  Season with a little salt and black pepper.  Next, while whisking or stirring with a fork, add in the oil to emulsify the rest of the dressing.  Finish with the lemon juice, taste and adjust your seasonings as you like them.

Once you’ve let the potatoes sit and soak for at least 20 minutes, mix in the dressing and stir to combine.  Finish with the scallions and serve immediately or store in your fridge for up to 5 days.

As our array of Thanksgiving recipes continues, I thought it was necessary to include a potato recipe.  I have to confess, however, that I am not crazy about mashed potatoes, which I know is almost sacrilegious in this country.  Mashed potatoes are probably the most popular side for all dishes uniquely American, including fried chicken and meat loaf, and, most importantly, roast turkey!  Something about the texture of mashed potatoes doesn’t do it for me.  Make patties out of them and fry them up, and then we have a different story!  To me, potatoes just taste the best when they have been given a chance to caramelize.

For a holiday like Thanksgiving, when calories don’t count and plates are never big enough, potatoes au gratin are the perfect accompaniment.  The thin layers of potatoes and onions turn a wonderful golden color, surrounded with bubbling bechamel and cheese.  In this recipe, the thyme and Gruyere cheese make the dish wonderfully savory and aromatic.  The minute people walk in the door, the smells alone will make them happy to be there.

The nice thing about this recipe is that it is easy enough to make that you don’t have to wait for a holiday.  If you own a mandolin, which is a wonderfully useful kitchen tool, making this dish is probably easier than making mashed potatoes because there is no peeling involved.  The result is also more elegant.  And don’t worry – as far as I am concerned, you can still make a crater in the top for gravy!

The recipe below is to serve six people.  For thanksgiving, it is likely that you will want to double or triple this recipe.  Just allow for one potato per one and a half people, and adjust the rest of the quantities as necessary.

Ingredients:

• 4 large Yukon gold potatoes
• 2 yellow onions
• 5 sprigs of fresh thyme (+ some for finishing the dish)
• 1 cup of grated Gruyere cheese
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 3 tablespoons of flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 tsp. of ground nutmeg (preferably freshly grated)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Using a mandolin, thinly slice the potatoes.  Peel the onions and thinly slice those as well.  If you don’t have a mandolin, use a slicer attachment on your food processor.  You can also just cut the potatoes and onions thinly with a knife, but if you do this, shave one side of the potato off first so that it sits flat on the board while you cut it. Layer a greased baking dish with one layer of potatoes, one layer of onions, another layer of potatoes, another layer of onions, and one final layer of potatoes. Set baking dish aside.

Next, make the bechamel sauce.  In a saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat until it melts.  Add the flour and stir for one minute until a paste forms and the flour becomes a very light golden color.  This will ensure that the raw flour flavor is cooked out.  Add the cream, the leaves from the thyme sprigs, the nutmeg, and salt and pepper.  Stir over medium heat until the cream thickens, about four or five minutes.  The bechamel will continue to thicken as it bakes in the oven.

Pour the bechamel sauce over the layered onions and potatoes.  Top with the grated Gruyere cheese and a few pats of butter.  Bake in the oven for about forty minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when you insert a knife and the bechamel and cheese are bubbly and golden brown.  Cool for about ten minutes before serving.

Cooking with my step-brother Paul is always a treat. He and I look at cooking the same way at times…”what do you have around? Alright, lets do it.” Of course, he’s a much better, more practiced chef, but the point is the same: once you have the confidence and a working understanding of what you got at hand, you can make anything taste good.

Couple weeks ago we got together for a “quick” dinner and some time with the ‘ol Cold River Vodka. I went to the Whole Foods down the road and wondered for a while running the options over in my head. Grabbed a few yams, some green beans (Cali isn’t too far away!), a head of kale, carrots, and some lovely looking beets. I knew Paul had some elk steaks waiting in his freezer, the rest would just come together.

We got the stuff out on the table, cracked a beer and started going for it. Paul quickly made a stuffing out of apples and some frozen corn he had left over. If you’ve never stuffed and rolled a steak (flank steak works great), then read on!

We decided to bake the beets for a kale-carrot-beet salad. I got to work on the yams, deciding to cube them and roast them as well. The green beans would be salt and peppered, drizzled with olive oil and roasted as well (thanks Mom!). Paul opened up a bottle of apple cider and put that in a pot to reduce for a nice syrup to top the stuffed elk steaks.

For the stuffing, Paul cut up a couple pieces of old bread and toasted them up. Fine dice an apple or two, throw in some corn, a little fine diced celery and onion, salt and pepper to taste. I think I saw him throw in some rosemary, a little olive oil, and some garlic. As with any stuffing, the moisture level is crucial. Since we weren’t “stuffing” this into a bird, but rather rolling it up in an elk steak…we made it a little wetter. You can achieve that with a little oil, some chicken, beef, or veg stock. The apples and corn will also give off some water, be sure to take all that into account.

Don’t laugh. The hammer was washed before and after, it sure did the job! After trimming up the steaks a bit, Paul lightly pounded the elk steaks to thin them out and get more surface area. With fresh, lean meat like that it goes pretty quick. The elk steaks were a gift from a friend around the holidays, the buck was shot the first week of November in northern Colorado. Paul had brought a tenderloin from the same animal to Thanksgiving at the Ben Hame, searing it and finishing it with a blackberry demi. I knew it was going to be good this time around too.

Once you have the steak ready, stuff it! Using cooking twine or skewers you can roll the steak around the stuffing and either bake it, sear it, or roast it. We decided to sear the steak, then bake it. You’ll want to heat up a skillet, THEN add the oil, and sear each side of the meat. Be careful with how hot the pan is, you can easily splash oil up or start a fire with the water or blood from the meat.

Once you have the steaks seared, you will want to bake them for about 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees. This all depends on the size of the steak, the thickness, and how much stuffing you have in. Get out your thermometer and give it an occasional poke, you’re looking for 140 degrees inside the roll.

Take your beets and wrap them in tinfoil. You can bake them like that for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. You’ll know they are ready when they feel “ripe” and the skin easily slides off with your thumb…careful, they’re hot!

For the yams, I cubed them and seasoned with a variety of warm flavors. Drizzles of molasses, agave nectar, and a bit of maple syrup. A light dusting of cinnamon, a touch of nutmeg, some black pepper and salt. Bake like that for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. You’ll want to pull them and turn over at some point for equal distribution of goodness.

Sam Wolfe at the Alta Lodge prepares yams this way for pork, beef tenderloin, or even smoked salmon…they are always a hit.

The salad is so key in any meal. I love kale after eating it everyday in Cali the last two years. Beets always scared me as a kid coming out of the can around Thanksgiving, their blood red color spooked me. Now I can’t imagine a world without them. I like to saute them in a little oil and garlic, cool and then put on a salad. We baked them this time around, quickly sauteed the kale in some olive oil (if you cook it too much it looses its crispness and apparently destroys all the nutrients stored up in its stock and dark green leaf). You know beets, carrots, and kale are good for you based simply on how vivid their colors are. The carrots, beets, and kale were all sauteed in this salad, then left to cool and reassembled. Awesome combo of flavors and texture.

Not the best pic, but here is the meal! The beans were roasted with salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil for 10-15 minutes at most (again, 350 degrees).

Pile the yams up in the middle, lay the beans across one side, sliced and stuffed elk steak on the other side, drizzle the reduced cider across the whole meal. Yummy town.

Hope this meal inspires some new ideas. Roll up that piece of steak with some “stuffing”, grab the yams next time instead of potatoes, grab a head of kale and savor its leafy greenness. Another idea for rolled up steaks is to take a cheap, tender flank steak and make a stuffing of roasted portabellos, fresh basil, chevre, Parmesan, bread crumbs, and roasted tomatoes.

Winter is a great season for warm flavors, give a couple of these ideas a shot next time if the spirit moves ya!

Here’s some more Elk and rolled steak ideas:

• Kitchen Parade – Elk Meatloaf
• Mark Bittman – Matambre: Stuffed, Rolled Flank Steak
• Cuisine Capers – Braciole – Rolled Steak Italian Style

I’ve always thought that the potato was a great vegetable.  It’s nutritious, easy to grow, and can be prepared many ways.  If I were to compare it to a vehicle, it would most resemble a ski bum’s Subaru:  road tested, well decorated, and sturdy.  You may have seen an example of one basking in the muddy parking lot of a ski area or tooling down the mountain for some apres beers, its back window an off white due to many miles of travel on dirty, salty back roads, flaunting some ski stickers or funky bumper adornments like antlers or macrame (for those living in crunchier areas).

With that image in mind, and an idea for some apres ski food that might not fit into the traditional mold, I’d like to contribute a recipe for some mashed potatoes that have some extra ingredients that are sure to help you warm up after a long day of shredding the gnar (for non skiier’s, “gnar” refers to “gnar gnar pow pow” or “gnarly powder” or “great conditions” -Editor).

I grew up in Buffalo, and while there isn’t much in the way of skiing there, people have instead adopted a healthy enthusiasm for food that might not be the most heart friendly, but is very delicious, especially when gearing up for some skiing (700 ft. of vert!), or more appropriately, attending a Bills game.  I am speaking about wings, or as many know them “Buffalo Wings.”  You may ask what wings and mashed potatoes have in common, and I have the answer: blue cheese.  I find that adding a generous serving of blue cheese to mashed potatoes, in addition to at least a head of roasted garlic (depending on how many people are being served), makes the dish more exciting, more stimulating to the taste buds, and definitely more interesting.  Without further ado, here is the recipe:

3 to 4 lbs. of potatoes  - I usually go for a mix of new (red) potatoes and Yukon Gold’s, with no real favor given to one type or the other – basically, I just pick out what looks good at the market and take a few more of one depending how I’m feeling that day.

1/3 stick of butter (maybe more) cut into chunks
2 cups of heavy cream
some freshly ground pepper to taste
salt to taste
1 full head of garlic
olive oil as needed
four ounces of blue cheese crumbles

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

To start, take the head of garlic and cut the top bit off so that a large majority of the cloves are exposed.  Grab a sheet of aluminum foil, place the garlic in the center, and wrap the sides of the foil around the garlic, leaving the top of the wrap open.  Drizzle about two table spoons of olive oil over the top of the garlic, making sure that the oil soaks into the garlic.  Scrunch up the top ends of the foil around the garlic and toss the whole thing in the oven for about 30 minutes, making sure that the garlic is standing upright.  While the garlic is roasting, you can prepare and boil the potatoes.

Begin by cutting the potatoes into small chunks – roughly the size of those big, two-toned erasers that you used in grade school.  I like to leave the skin on, as I feel that it adds a nice flavor to the dish, but you can skin ‘em if you wish (just do that before you cut the taters into chunks).

Toss the chunks of potatoes into a pot of lightly salted water and bring to a boil.  This could take a while, depending on the amount of potatoes that you use.   You’ll know when the potatoes are finished when they easily slide off the tines of a fork stuck in them.  Turn off the heat if they’re done.

Check on the garlic – you want it to take on a carmel color, but avoid letting it get too dark brown.  If it is ready, take it out of the oven and let it cool off.  Once cooled, take it out of the foil and remove the cloves with a fork or your fingers.  This can be messy because of the olive oil, but it smells great and if you’re brave and no one is looking, you can pop one of the cloves in your mouth and sample the goods.

The next step would be to drain the liquid from the potatoes.  Make sure to reserve about 2 or 3 cups of the liquid – you might need it to add to the potatoes to facilitate the mashing process.  Begin to mash the potatoes in the pot they were cooked in, and add the butter chunks.  If the mashing is a bit tough, add some of the reserved boiling liquid, as it will help the situation quite a bit and add a little more flavor.  Once the mixture is pretty smooth, slowly pour in the cream as you mash.  Add the garlic cloves and mash some more.  Finally, add the blue cheese.  At this point the potatoes should still be very warm and can be served.   Salt and pepper to taste, or leave out the spices and chow down!

Serves about 10 people (fewer if everybody has been slaying the pow and is HUNGRY).

When I move away from places I’ve lived, one of the things I always miss the most is my favorite restaurants.  When I moved away from the Bay Area earlier this year, I knew there were going to be countless places that Aimee and I were going to miss.  One of those places is one of the first restaurants we ever ate at while living with Russ up in the hills above UC Berkeley: Rick and Ann’s.

Perched just below the majestic Claremont Hotel off of Ashby Ave., Rick and Ann’s is a Berkeley institution.  Aimee and I would always really want to go there on weekend morning for breakfast, but were normally turned away by the typical hour waits and lines out the door.  Here and there though we got lucky and got a spot.

Who doesn’t love hash?  Chop a bunch of vegetables and meat, throw them into a pan, add a few eggs and presto, you got yourself an awesome breakfast (or dinner in this case).  This ‘Yukon Gold Plate’ that I’ve tried to re-create here is a classic example of the combination of sweet and savory flavors.  The apples and sweet potatoes married to the peppers, onions and fennel – combined with the poached egg yolk make this a truly luxurious breakfast.

At Rick and Ann’s, you’ll find this dish vegetarian, however I decided to add some sausage, but you can definitely omit that if you wish.  I was also making this in the late fall/early winter months, so corn was completely out of the question.  I instead added some mushrooms and fennel, but you can really go whatever direction you want with this.  This dish makes a great breakfast, but also served us very well as dinner (who doesn’t love ‘breakfast for dinner’?).

Ingredients for the Hash:

• 1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes (Garnett Yams are the best for this dish) – Cut into small 1/2″ cubes
• 3 Yukon gold potatoes – Cut into small cubes (1/2″)
• 1 medium bulb of fennel – End and stalks removed and sliced thin (reserve some of the fronds)
• 1 white onion – Sliced thin
• 3-4 cloves of garlic – diced
• 1 large apple – Cored and cut into small 1/2″ cubes
• 1/2 cup Crimini mushrooms – cubed off
• 1 large red bell pepper – Diced
• Sweet Italian pork sausage or chicken sausage of your liking (OPTIONAL) – Casings removed
• 6-7 stalks of thyme – Leaves removed
• 5-6 leaves of sage – Finely chopped
• Scallions – Sliced very thinly
• 2-3 Tbsp. butter

• 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 2 eggs per person (so 8 total)
• Large splash of white vinegar

First of all, prepare a pot of boiling water to blanch the potatoes in.  Then go about chopping your vegetables.  You can really make your veg as big or small as you want, but I like making them pretty small so that I can get as diverse a group as possible onto each fork full.

Over medium heat, add your butter and olive oil to a heavy bottomed skillet.  Add in the onion and fennel and salt and cook slowly until they begin to caramelize – around 7-10 minutes (you can cook them while you prepare the rest of your vegetables).  Once the pot of water is boiling, add both types of potato to the water and blanch until cook most of the way, but not completely (they will finish cooking in the pan with the rest of the ingredients).

Once the potatoes are done, drain them and then fill up the pot again with water an a good splash of white vinegar to poach the eggs in.  You want to be sure that you’re using a heavy pot (dutch ovens are perfect) and only fill up the pot with about 3″ of water.  Bring this pot of liquid to a boil and then turn the heat to the lowest setting on your stove.

Next, add the garlic, peppers, mushrooms, thyme and sage and a little more salt to the pan with the onions and fennel and continue to cook, mixing the ingredients together.  Make a empty circle in the pan and put in the sausage (if using) and break it apart with your wooden spoon.  Once the sausage is cooked, add in the apple and cook for another 2-3 minutes and then add the potatoes back to the party.

At this point, all of the ingredients should be in the pan cooking together.  You want to mix them well and then let them sit over the heat for a few minutes to give them a little color.  Add some pepper and adjust the salt if you need to here as well.

To poach the eggs, crack each individual egg one by one into a small bowl and gently plop it into the water/vinegar mixture you heated before.  The egg should stay together and begin to poach.  If it’s not poaching, you can increase the heat again.  You want the water to be very hot, but not at a rolling boil.  Once the egg is done (it will become fairly white but the yolk will still be runny) remove it very gently with a slotted spoon being careful not to break the yolks.  Repeat until you have enough eggs to serve your party.

Plate 2 eggs on top of a pile of the hash, salt the eggs and top with you diced scallions.  Serve with toast too if you want.

Serves 4

Here are some other awesome looking hash recipes you should try!

What We’re Eating: Sweet & Purple Peruvian Potato Hash (Beautiful!)
Eating Out Loud: Quick & Simple Sweet Potato Hash
Suite 101: Sweet Potato Hash with Fennel Salmon
Simply Recipes: Ham and Potato Hash