Caramelized Onion & Anchovy Tart

This is my dead-simple take on the classic Provençal onion tart, pissaladière, which is so uncomplicated in itself that I feel bad about nixing one of the main ingredients in making it palatable for personal consumption. However, I just ... cannot ... do ... olives. It's a major flaw, I know. I get the essential element of brininess from chopped capers, but feel free to be traditional and scatter cured olives about the tart if that's your thing. A slice of this makes for a perfect summer lunch or dinner, paired with crisp greens and a funky Berliner weiss.

In making caramelized onions, I have found the easiest route is to throw a bunch of sliced onions with butter, oil and seasonings in a cast iron pan and caramelize them at 350, stirring every 15, 20 minutes or so, until they're that lovely deep brown and of jammy consistency, about an hour or two. Plan on cutting up more onions than what the recipe calls for - you'll want more of them hanging around, trust me.

Caramelized Onion & Anchovy Tart
Makes 6-8 servings

*1 cup caramelized onions, about 4 onions' worth
*1/2 teaspoon thyme leaves
*1 tin anchovies (use as many as you want, I nearly clear the tin out)
*1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
*1 teaspoon capers, chopped

Preheat the oven to 400. When the puff pastry has thawed, roll it out a few times and put on a lightly cornmeal-dusted baking sheet. Score a thin border around the sheet and spread the onions around inside. Garnish with as many anchovies as you'd like, and rain down some thyme leaves (fresh is preferable but I used dried) over top. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry has risen and is golden brown. Garnish with chopped capers.

Steak Au (Sichuan) Poivre

Everyone has their favorite steak prep method, and mine happens to be au poivre. That addictive peppery crust just cannot be beat. I tend to overload my peppercorn mix with Sichuan peppercorns, which add a fun tingle and exotic flicker to the classic dish. I also tend to deglaze the pan with whatever stout I'm swigging, which is not a particularly Sichuanese tradition (or even a French one) so if you'd prefer to stick with the usual bourbon, cognac or brandy etc, that's fine. This latest occasion I happened to be drinking Bell's Cherry Stout, which made for an exceptionally tasty deglazer!

Sichuan Steak Au Poivre
Makes 2 servings

*1 well-marbled strip steak cut about an inch thick, around 10 oz
*2 tablespoons Sichuan peppercorns + 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
*Kosher salt
*1 teaspoon chili oil or EVOO
*2 tablespoons butter at room temperature, divided

*1 tablespoon finely minced shallot
*3 tablespoons stout beer (or bourbon)
*1/2 cup beef stock - I boil down a cup of beef stock until it is reduced by half
*1 scant teaspoon light soy sauce

About 30 minutes before you are ready to cook the steak, take it out of the fridge to temper the meat. Trim the steak if necessary and cut into two pieces. Coarsely crack the peppercorns. Sprinkle each side of the steaks with salt, then press each side into the cracked peppercorns, encrusting the steaks lightly or heavily as you prefer.

Heat the butter in a cast iron skillet over high heat and drizzle with the oil. When the surface is hot, lay the peppered steaks in. Sear for about 2 minutes per side; press with your finger to test for the springiness that indicates rare and then cook to your desired doneness and transfer to a warm platter, tenting loosely with foil.

Lower heat to the other side of the dial, take the skillet off the heat and add the shallots to the pan. Saute briefly, scraping at the drippings with a wooden spoon, and put the skillet back over the burner. Add the stout to deglaze, then add the stock and soy sauce. Adjusting the heat, bring the liquid back to a boil and cook to thicken the sauce, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning. Finally, add the last tablespoon of butter, swirling it around in the pan until it melts and incorporates, then spoon the sauce over the steaks.

Peppercorn Ice Cream

Whenever my husband and I go to  Han Dynasty, one of our favorite local restaurants, we always delight in an array of fiery noodles and meats all soaking in incarnadine slicks of chili oil, but there's no closer, unfortunately - save the requisite fortune cookies that come with the bill. I searched around and came up with the perfect dessert to cap a delicious Sichuanese meal:  Peppercorn ice cream, adapted from a David Lebovitz recipe. If you don't have Sichuan peppercorns on hand, just up the black peppercorn quantity a bit (or experiment with other peppercorns!). It makes for a dreamy scoop...decadently rich and piquant. Enjoy!

Peppercorn Ice Cream
Makes about 2 cups

*1/2 cup whole milk
*1/3 cup sugar
*Pinch salt
*1 tablespoon black peppercorns, coarsely cracked
*1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns, coarsely cracked
*1 cup heavy cream, divided
*3 large egg yolks

Warm the milk, sugar, salt, peppercorns, and half of the cream in a saucepan. Cover, remove from heat, and let steep at room temperature for about 45 minutes to an hour, and then strain out the peppercorns. Rewarm it over medium heat. Meanwhile, pour the remaining 1/2 cup cream into a good-sized bowl set in an ice bath and put a mesh strainer on top. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then pour it all back into the saucepan.

Stir constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the utensil. Just make sure the mixture doesn't boil! When it's done, pour the custard through the strainer, into the cream. Stir the mixture over the ice bath until it is cool.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the fridge, then freeze it in your ice cream maker for about 15-18 minutes or until properly frozen. Working with a smaller amount such as this, it usually takes less time to freeze than the manufacturer states. Pop it in an appropriate container to ripen in the freezer for at least an hour or two longer.

The Bakers At Red Lion

 

If your weekend travels take you down the bucolic backroads where Kennett Square and West Chester rub elbows, then you've probably seen these bright French flags fluttering in the breeze and the friendly sign inviting you inside with promises of fresh-baked bread. If you've stopped, then you're a convert and I'm preaching to the choir...but if you haven't yet tasted the wares from the Bakers at Red Lion, I urge you, IMPEL you, to do so at the earliest weekend convenience.

Two mature ladies, one bespeckled in adorable Ben Franklinesque frames, got together and purchased the lovely home on the corner of Doe Run and Folly Hill, and then in their retirement decided to put their esteemed baking talents to good use and crank out loaves for the local folk at their leisure. This weekend hobby has gone on for years and years and they have built up a considerable following, yours truly included. They bake the 4 dollar French loaves per the sign, but they also bake smaller French loaves, little boules cracked open with a pat of butter slipped inside (my favorite), brownies, cheesebread, and more. All cranked out over the most quaint-looking stove by the bespeckled Miss, who usually has a batch going when you stop in during the A.M. The smell wafting through the air in the charming kitchen beyond the door marked "open" is divine, truly one of the greatest scents ever to pass by the nostril's vibrissae. Prices range from a dollar to the aforementioned boules 'n brownies to six or seven for specialty loaves, and payment is by the honor system and deposited into a coffee can on the table. Check 'em out on Fridays and Saturdays (and maybe Sundays? I work on Sundays, so never have the luxury of driving down then).

The Kennett/West Chester border is dotted with a number of other such glittering gems, which I'll surely note in posts to come. I adore this area and am happy to share its wonders with others! If you the reader know of any other special nooks in this neck o' the woods, do let the secret slip.

 

Buckwheat-Bock Crêpes with Mushrooms

I've made a gazillion different crêpe batter variations in my lifetime, but I keep returning to this buckwheat-bock recipe that I adapted from the cooking section in a BeerAdvocate magazine a number of years ago, because it makes such a damn good tender and flavorful crêpe. I stuffed these particular ones with a mushroom mix, but there is no end to what you can stuff yours with.

Buckwheat-Bock Crêpes
Makes a lot. 12-15? 
 

*2 eggs, whisked
*3/4 cup bock beer (Troegs' doppelbock, Troegenator, or Victory's St Victorious are excellent. Yuengling's bock isn't too shabby either)
*1/2 cup milk
*1/3 cup buckwheat flour

*2/3 cup all-purpose flour
*3 tbsp melted butter
*A pinch salt

Combine the crêpe batter ingredients and blitz in a blender for 10 seconds or so. Pop it in the fridge for at least an hour or two to settle. To make the crêpes, heat a shallow non-stick skillet with sloping sides over medium, and as the pan grows hotter, give it a quick sheen of butter (I take a stick, unwrap it slightly, and gloss the pan all over with the butt of the butterlog). Using a 1/4 measuring cup, scoop a scant 1/4 cup of batter and with one hand on the panhandle, gently pour it into the middle of the pan, rotating the pan as you pour to evenly coat the bottom with the batter. Let it sit untouched for about a minute. You'll start to see the sides of the crêpe begin to pull away from the pan. Take a very flexible rubber spatula around the sides and under to ensure better flipping. Flipping can be done in different ways: If you're special, you'll manage the wrist-flick method. My preferred method for flipping is to carefully grab one of the edges that is pulling away from the pan and curling in slightly, and flip it over with my fingers. You can use a spatula, but these are delicate discs and prone to tearing!

Let it cook another oh, 30 seconds or so before removing it from the pan. Fair warning, your first crêpe will be a disaster, and serves only to set the stage for the rest to come. For some reason, the pan is -perfectly- prepped the second that first one comes off. Stack 'em and cover with aluminum foil as you go along, or recruit someone else to doctor them for you as you keep flipping 'em out.

Mushroom filling

*Olive oil
*1 small shallot, minced
*1/2 lb mixed mushrooms (I used shiitake and hen-of-the-woods [awww])
*2 cloves of garlic, somewhere between chopped and minced
*A handful of walnuts, chopped into small pieces
*S&P
*A dash of red pepper flakes
*Herb butter (Smash a tablespoon of minced herbs (thyme, rosemary & parsley, I did) into a couple tablespoons of softened butter with a fork)
*A slice of lemon

Remove the stems and wipe your mushrooms off with a damp paper towel; slice. In a wide pan, heat a bit of oil over medium and then add the shallots. Sprinkle with salt and saute a couple minutes before adding the mushrooms, making sure that they are not too crowded in the pan. Cook for a couple minutes, then add the garlic, chile pepper flakes, and some shakes of salt and pepper. Saute gently another 3 or 4 minutes. Add a knob of the herb butter, a spritz of lemon juice and the walnuts, and toss well.




Not a full 1/2 lb. If I cook mushrooms in this house, I eat them alone.

To assemble the crêpes, I take a pat of the herb butter and melt it on the crepe when its cooking in its final stage in the pan, take it out, and then fill it with a couple spoonfuls of the mushroom mix. Feel free to grate some cheese over top (gruyère is a great choice) and add anything else you'd like. Fold and gobble it down.