Peaches are the new shellfish

At least they were on Sunday July 6th, when the purveyors at the Fulton fish market told us that there was no way that the shellfish we wanted to cook would still be alive come Sunday afternoon. Then they proceed to tell you not to eat any seafood anywhere in NYC, unless it is frozen, dried or canned on Sunday because it most definitely is a week old. So the Creole style seafood boil/bake was quickly converted into a peach smorgasbord.

Since this wasn’t a proper sit down dinner, it got good and messy; real messy. We ate, drank and danced our way into another Monday morning much longer than many expected and in between we succeeded in sweating our asses off while accomplishing a few feats that were though silly/impossible by the naysayers.

Some of the less dangerous attempts we made were a beautiful Tomato and Peach Salad (this was the impetuous for the whole switch to peaches by QV), a sous vide pork loin with crisp kale and confitted baby onions, cous cous with peaches, nuts and love and stuff squash blossoms. (These fine gentlemen are seen double teaming the blossoms)

Some of the more dangerous dishes were involved pickling peaches in all sorts of diabolical ways. In one form the results were pickled then caramelized peaches and burrata, and yes it was delightful.

© 2008 Cassidy DuHon www.duhonphotography.com

I am convinced that sous viding is the best way of cooking meat. Thomas Keller and Nathan M, both have books coming out on the subject in the next year and they are both worth purchasing as the two 4kg pork loins that we cooked to 53C were perfect. A quick blast in the deep fryer to give them a nice maillard crust and gentle slice and we were off to the races.

The big debate for the night was whether or not to trim the fat off the back of the loins before they were seared and sous vide since the heat and time wouldn’t be high/long enough to properly make it dissolve. Here you can see the nice fat cap that was said to be delicious by one or more foreigners who were in attendance.

Here we are in final dressing.

Wine reduction, onions, kale, copper platter and an amp that I had to drive to pick up in Elmira when I was living in Boston, in a Cadillac that was quickly letting me know that its final days were upon us. Table cloth by the genus

This was the star of the night.

These peach halves were poached in a pickling broth based on balsamic vinegar and a ton of sugar. They were spiced with Baliesian long peppers, cloves (just one I am sorry), garlic, red onions and a wee touch of coriander and dill. The flesh held the sweetness well and the bright spice and acid from the pickling made the peaches balanced well. They were then super chilled just before freezing and then caramelized with clarified butter (I know gratuitous) by Parcé to create a nice crisp on the round top. The pickling liquid was reduced by 70% (which subsequently burned the eyes of everyone in the kitchen for the better part of an hour) and then emulsified with xanthan gum to give it a nice stickiness. The burrata was slightly warmed and torn apart, throw in the center and sprinkled with basil. Easily delightful, and worth trying for those of you who are afraid to pickle sweet things give this a shot.

Sunday June 22^nd, 2008

This adventure into displaced products came together in very little time thanks to the amazing amount of traffic that day. Most of this meal was and exploration of infusing flavors into water and condensing that flavor into the service.

Menu

Savory Coconut Fritters

Housemade Tortellini in Brodo

Cauliflower Steak, Sweet Pea Puree

Smoked Lamb and Tagliatelle Salad

Meringues

This menu was written & executed with Mark Low and we were very excited and blessed to have the amazing Betsy Balog from Osteria La Spiga working with us and captaining the pastry duties for the evening. Special thanks would also like to be paid Sunny Bang, the new executive chef at The Williamsburg Café and good friend, who was one of the inspirations for the Cauliflower Steak that we cooked this night. Please try his version of this dish when the restaurant opens on July 4^th.

These beautiful photos were taken by Cassidy DuHon

Savory Coconut Fritters

The rice fritters were made risotto style, softened with a lemongrass and ginger stock and folded with diced shrimp. They were rolled into balls and coated with panko and coconut before being fried. The whole shrimp were dusted with a Thai spice blend and served with rocket. The rocket was dressed with a yuzu and sriracha and was thickened a little and left for people to dip the balls in.

Housemade Tortellini in Brodo

Saying house made is a little unnecessary and redundant, but everyone in the house chipped in a helped with this.

This was my attempt at try to recreate a classic Italian dish with a different flavor structure.

The tortellini were made with smoked flour and eggs and stuffed with a black eyed pea and sheep’s milk cheese puree. The broth was a sweetened Serrano ham stock and it was topped with sautéed chiffonade of collard greens that had been spiced with hot sauce. I think that the bent flavor structure was very successful and it remind some of the people at dinner and I that black eyed peas are fantastic.

Cauliflower Steak, Sweet Pea Puree

I believe this dish was originated with Charlie Trotter, but that is just hersay because I have never seen his recipe or really know anything about how he prepared, or served dish other to say that peas were originally broccoli.

That being said the dish was further filtered through the mind of my friend Sunny Bang as accompaniment for Brook Trout at The Williamsburg Café. To me though the idea of having the cauliflower be the center of attention and main purpose of the dish really was missing from both preparations.

To give the cauliflower a soft center texture it was  sous vided in with some seasoning and then give it a crisp outer texture it was finished in a pan with clarified oregano butter. The Pea puree was made with frozen (their density and flavor is perfect for pureeing and reducing) and fresh sugar snap peas, onion and cooked in a sweet basil stock. The little bit of red pepper was give as color contrast and to give  fresh crisp taste and texture to the dish.

Smoked Lamb and Tagliatelle Salad

This although it doesn’t seem like with the lamb chop was not the entrée, it was a salad course for after the cauliflower.

The lamb was smoked with apple wood and oregano and then sous vided with butter and herbs to 52C. It was then finished with the same Oregano butted to lightly caramelize the outside.

The Tagliatelle was not pasta but actually long strips of cucumber, daikon and omelet noodles cut into thin strips. I unpeeled the vegetables in the Japanese style of Katsuramuki and then cut them into long noodles. The omelets were made with a touch of cream and smoked salt and cooked super thin and then chilled. The salad was dressed with a cherry tomato and oregano vinaigrette.

Meringues

Here Betsy presents her hazelnut and chocolate meringue topped with fresh whip cream and strawberries. It was light, fluffy and amazingly simple to make but difficult to eat without getting at least a little messy. Thank you again for coming buy on your vacation to cook in my kitchen.