Roasted Marrow Bones with Parsley Salad

This is one of those decadent dishes you shouldn't make very often, but it is SO good. Invite a few friends who don't value their hearts much to help eat it.

8 beef or veal marrow bone halves (with the cut along the axis), 3 to 4 inches long, roughly 3 lbs
2 C roughly chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/2 C sweet onion, thinly sliced
2 T capers, chopped
3 T extra virgin olive oil
~2 T fresh lemon juice
Coarse sea salt to taste

At least 8 1/2-inch-thick slices of crusty bread, toasted (try not to over toast, you want crunch, but also some chewiness. Think bruschetta, not crostini, and the rub down with a garlic clove might not be a bad idea.)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put bones, cut side up, on foil-lined baking sheet or in ovenproof skillet. Cook until marrow is soft and has begun to separate from the bone, about 15 minutes. (Stop when the marrow is soft and spreadable but not liquifying and running out)

2. Meanwhile, combine parsley, onion and capers in small bowl. Just before bones are ready, whisk together olive oil and lemon juice and drizzle dressing over parsley mixture until leaves are just coated. Put roasted bones, parsley salad, salt and toast on a large plate. To serve, scoop out marrow, spread on toast, sprinkle with salt and top with parsley salad.

Glace de Viande

This one is a beast to make, but it will make 3-4 servings of the base for some of the best sauces you'll ever taste. This is, essentially, a stock that's cooked down until the natural gelatin thickens the sauce, but you'll have to make the stock yourself as store bought stuff doesn't have the gelatin or the depth of flavor that you need. You'll also need a big soup pot to hold everything.

Ingredients:
8 lbs beef bones, a mix of marrow bones and joint ends (you don't want the typical soup bones that are a little chunk of bone with a bunch of meat around it)
1 lb onion, rough chopped
1 lb carrots, rough chopped
1/2 lb celery, rough chopped
8-10 sprigs parsley
1 bay leaf
15-20 peppercorns
3 cloves garlic
1 t dried thyme

Instructions:
Roast the bones in a 400 degree oven for 3 hours. Add the onions, celery and carrot plus 2 cups of cold water to the roasting pan (carefully, there may be some splattering from the hot fat in the pan) with the bones and return to the oven for another hour.

Transfer all of the bones and veggies to a soup pot as well as all the juices and anything you can scrap off the pan, add the rest of the ingredients and add enough water to cover everything by an inch or two. Simmer for 8 hours, adding water occasionally if needed, and skimming off any scum that floats to the surface.

Kill the heat and strain out all the veggies, bones, and other solids and pitch them, then chill it down in the fridge to solidify the fat so it can be easily removed. Now take the stock and bring it to a high boil for three hours or so until the volume is reduced to about a pint.

The finished glace de viande can then be turned into specific sauces: add in the drippings from a roasted chicken, some poached garlic, and a few tablespoons of butter and you have a sauce for the chicken; use some burgundy to deglaze the pan after cooking some steaks, then add in the glace and a couple tablespoons of butter and you have bordelaise sauce for the steak. Leftover glace de viande freezes well.

Roast Leg of Lamb with Couscous

One of my classics for large groups and special occasions: leg of lamb cooked in the middle eastern style and served with couscous.

Leg of lamb, preferably bone in
A bottle of red wine (a good merlot or another fruity wine)
A large onion, quartered and slivered
4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
several tablespoons dried mint
Salt and pepper to taste
Couscous


1. Rub the lamb down with the garlic, mint, and salt, and allow to sit for 15 minutes.
2. Place the lamb in a baking dish, add the onions, and pour the entire bottle of wine on the lamb.
3. Cover and marinate for at least a day, turning several times.
4. Preheat an oven to 350 F, and bake the lamb, covered, till medium rare; an internal temperature of 130-140 F depending on how you like it (I typically aim for 130-135 F assuming it'll end up medium rare after resting).
5. Remove the pan and allow to rest before removing the lamb from the pool of marinade and drippings.
6. Use the heated marinade and drippings (as well as the onions and miscellaneous meaty bits) as the liquid when making the couscous (add in some stock if you don't have quite enough liquid.
7. Serve the lamb on couscous with a side of labna (labneh, or however it's spelled in your local middle eastern market) or toum. If you can't find labna you can make it by tossing plain yogurt in a few layers of cheese cloth and hanging it until it reaches the consistency of cream cheese.

Sundried tomato spread

Another simple spread suitable for parties or just as a snack.

Blend together:
6 oil packed sun dried tomato halves
1/4 C goat cheese
2 T marscarpone (or cream cheese)
1 T fresh sage (chopped)

Olive spread

A quick spread for crackers or toast, perfect for parties.

Blend together:
1/2 C pitted black olives (good ones, NOT canned)
2 t olive oil
2 t balsamic vinegar
1 head roasted garlic
1 T Italian parsley (chopped)
1/4 t black pepper

Thai Red Curry Paste, Type 2

A lighter Thai red curry paste suitable for chicken and fish.


1 t coriander, ground
10-20 (or to taste) red chiles, preferably Thai
1/2 t cumin
4 shallots or green onions
2 lemon grass stalks, chopped, woody part discarded, or 6 T frozen shredded lemon grass
1/2 t black pepper, ground
2 cloves garlic
4 cilantro roots, or handful of leaves and stems
1 T galangal or ginger, grated
1 t tumeric
1/2 t shrimp paste
1 t salt
2 T vegetable oil
pinch cinnamon (optional)
2 kaffir lime leaves (optional)

Combine all in a food processor.


This curry paste doesn't keep quite as well as the red curry paste 1, but makes far less of it. This version is also much lighter in flavor so it won't completely kill fish or chicken.

Thai Red Curry Paste, type 1

A rich version of Thai red curry paste most suited to beef and game.

2 T coriander, ground
6-12 (or to taste) red chiles, preferably Thai
1 t cumin, ground
1 T paprika
1-2 t decorticated green cardamom, ground
1/2 t nutmeg, ground
zest of one orange
1/4 t cloves, ground
1/2 t cinnamon
1 stalk lemon grass finely chopped (if you don't chop it the food processor will have a hard time), discarding woody part of base, alternatively, 3 T frozen shredded lemon grass
1.5 T sugar
4 cloves garlic
1/2 t salt
2 cm galangal or ginger, peeled and grated
4 shallots or green onions
3 T shrimp paste
3-4 T lime juice
2 T vegetable oil

Combine all in a food processor.


This stuff is salty enough that it'll keep for a long time in the fridge, but makes enough that you should plan on freezing some. This particular version is best suited to richer meats like beef or game; a lighter version more suitable for chicken or fish is under Red Curry Paste 2.

Chinese Sausage

Round two of the end of the year sausage making is a first attempt at a Chinese inspired sausage:
2.5-3 lbs pork shoulder (add in some salt pork if the shoulder is too lean)
1/4 C soy sauce
2 T shaoxing wine
salt to taste
1-2 shallots
1 T sugar
1.5 T black bean paste
1 T sesame
1 t liquid smoke
2 T grated ginger
2-3 cloves garlic
Hot peppers to taste
8-10 dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated
1 t pepper
2-3 t schezwan pepper corn, ground
3/4 t insta cure
salt to taste

Grind the pork, shallot, garlic, mushrooms, and chiles together. Mix in the rest of the ingredients, then stuff in to casings.

Thai Sausage

So the end of the year apparently means it's time to make sausage. The first of the sausage varieties is a Thai red curry sausage:

1 kg pork shoulder (add in some salt pork if it's too lean)
1/2 C coconut milk
2-3 T grated ginger
4 garlic cloves
4 shallots
Thai chiles to taste
2 t salt
1 t MSG
1/2 t insta cure
1/2 t ground pepper
4 T homemade red curry paste (type 1, suitable for meat)

Grind the meat, shallots, garlic, and chiles, then mix in the rest of the ingredients. Stuff in to casings.

Indian chicken alpha

This was just a first attempt at this one, but it turned out well enough for an alpha version to warrant posting. I'll probably end up playing with it, but I doubt I'll make too many changes.

1-2 t black mustard seeds
10 cloves
5 green cardamoms
bay leaf
1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken thigh, trimmed and in bite size pieces.
salt
pepper
1 onion, sliced
8-10 cloves garlic (in two batches)
oil
half cup cream
1.5 T grated ginger
2 C chicken stock
Corn starch to thicken
handful dried chiles
cayenne to desired heat

Crackle mustard, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf, and chiles in oil. Saute onion, half of garlic, and ginger. Saute chicken for a few minutes. Add chicken stock, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Make a slurry with corn starch and use to thicken. Add the rest of the garlic and simmer for a minute or two. Kill the heat and add the cream; serve with rice.