Black Garlic And Red Miso Soup With Enoki, Shitaki, BokChoy And Scallions

Black Garlic and Red Miso are relatively recent discoveries for this cook. Anyway, this flavor pairing worked great!

From gastronomic guesswork

The broth was rendered with 6 cups water, 1 lb of beef short ribs, 6 tablespoons of red miso, 1 bulb of black garlic, and a dash of black pepper. After pressure cooking this for 25 minutes at 15 psi, I discarded the beef remnants, added 6 sliced shitaki mushrooms, and 3 baby bok choy. This was finished with enoki mushrooms and thinly sliced small green onion (scallions). Worked great as a complement to this small plate. Black garlic is an emerging great ingredient, and red miso is something that I can't wait to play with again. Delicious broth!

Casarecce Pasta with San Marzano, Pan Roasted Garlic, Capers & Cannellini

Kudos to Whole Foods for introducing a stellar private label pasta, all organic to boot and Italian in origin to put a cherry on top. Great pasta, with a very simple sauce. The Thrice Reduced technique reappears here. The capers were nothing fancy, just the citric acid variety under the 365 Brand; San Marzano tomatoes from Italy (still cheap, worth more than you pay). The garlic was pan roasted inside the skin to keep if from burning.

From gastronomic guesswork

The garlic was brought to a sizzle in 1/4 cup olive oil, then gently cooked for 20 minutes on low heat. The cloves were removed, drained of oil, and then peeled. The San Marzano were added to the garlic oil with half a small bottle of drained capers and reduced twice, incorporating a cup of water following reduction. After the second reduction, the roasted garlic was chopped and added to the sauce, then the sauce was again reduced after adjusting the seasoning with kosher salt. After the third reduction, a can of drained / rinsed cannellini beans was added with a 1/2 cup of water for a fourth reduction. This topped the Whole Foods organic casarecce pasta.

From gastronomic guesswork

Totally minimalist flavor profile, not putanesca, but evoking some of the same familiar flavors.

Hambone Soup with Braised Pineapple and Hickory Smoked Ham

Pineapple and Ham go really well together, DUH. Ok maybe a little better herein than that canadian bacon and pineapple pizza you turn your nose up at. After Easter we had a leftover hambone so time for some soup. Used the pressure cooker to render a broth incoporating cloves, celery and carrots. The pineapple was braised with cinnamon sticks and star anise and enough water to partially coat. The hickory smoked ham was obtained inauspiciously from the local superstore grocery megamarket.

From gastronomic guesswork

Pork Chops with White Pepper, Sage, and Alderwood Smoked Salt

A reinterpretation of a personal classic. Same preparation as the classic, just finish with fresh ground white pepper and that wondrous alderwood smoked salt - plain and simple good eats.

From gastronomic guesswork

Avery's Samael's

A good friend of mine recommend this beer after I was gushing over Three Philosopher's ... WHOA, this is on my short list for the best beers made.

From gastronomic guesswork

I've been pondering the question "who's the best" among three great local Colorado craft beer makers in Avery, Left Hand, and Oskar Blue's (the three best in Colorado, and thereby probably top 10 in the country since Colorado is so prolific among the micro brewing states). I've decided this doesn't matter, all three are of such unimpeachable character and singular vision that naming "the best microbrewery in Colorado" would be pointless as each one deserves admiration at elevation.

Back to Samael's, it's brutally wonderful, an assault of oak and turbinado sugar ale on the senses. Crazy good, not marketed as a smoked ale, but thrashes just about all of them at their own game. Rating: 98 pts.

Grilled Beef Shortrib Cutlets Marinated in Tamari, Black Garlic, Red Chile & Red Wine Vinegar

Rich, that's the first thing you need to know about this ... like lardo-rich, but yummy if you've got a savory palate and are willing to skip a few meals before / after enjoying something like this.

From gastronomic guesswork

Using 1/4" thick slices of choice / prime beef short rib cutlets, marinate in a mix of 1/4 cup tamari, 2 tablespoons redwine vinegar, 4 cloves of black garlic, 2 Chinese red chiles (dried), and 1/3 cup water. Marinate for 1-2 hours at room temperature then grill at 450F-500F flipping once and searing for 4-5 minutes a side. The fat content allows you to cook these to well done and retain plenty of moisture. These were voraciously devoured by just about everyone in the family, it's like eating ribs, just discard the fatty / bone-laden half and seek out the leaner meat. I can only imagine what eating Kobe beef in a Japanese steakhouse is like, but I think this is a decent occidental substitute.

Belgian Waffles Perfected

Belgian Waffles are a creature comfort, they sound fancy, but they couldn't be more simple to get right. I adapted my recipe based on the one in On Cooking, the place I always look when I want to know the RIGHT WAY to do a dish that's deeply entrenched in our culinary history - On Cooking is incomparable in it's breadth for someone seeking to become a competent chef. My version uses better and more butter, and adds a cinnamon note.

From gastronomic guesswork

This recipe employs some great ingredients, cultured butter and Sri Lankan Cassia to put a point on it. The preparation starts by mixing 9 oz flour, 1 1/2 tbsp aluminum free baking powder, 2 1/2 oz granulated sugar, 1 tsp salt and a small dash of the ground cassia (any cinnamon will work here, you want it to be in the background so exercise restraint, the finished product should not reveal a cinnamon flavor in the fore-palate). Separately, beat 3 organic brown eggs, incorporate 4 oz of melted cultured unsalted butter (plugra or just regular organic butter is a good substitute), 12 oz of warm lowfat milk (HAH, after that 84% butterfat cultured butter, just use whatever milk you have on hand, the fat content is immaterial), and 1 tsp of high quality pure vanilla extract. Combine the dry and wet ingredients with a whisk to form the batter. After that, use a preheated waffle iron, cooking until just past golden brown. The waffles will be so moist you really don't need butter, just a dash of powdered sugar finishes this classic perfectly.

While we call this "Belgian", the classification I've made is French for simplicity since the two culinary styles are so intertwined, despite Beligium being known for beer and France being known for wine.

Parmigiano & Meyer Lemon Soup with Peppered Hangar Steak

Che buon'idea! Not a perfect interpretation of a dish I had at Cafe Juanita in Seattle last summer as wagyu beef is pretty scarce around these parts, but damn close to perfect nonetheless.

From gastronomic guesswork

1/2-3/4lb parmigiano rinds
7-9 cups water (eventually reduced to 4-5 cups)
1/2 lb hangar steak (cut into ribbons 1 1/2" to 2" long by 1/8" thick)
strained juice of 6 meyer lemons
black pepper (fresh ground)
salt TT
2 scallions (finely sliced)

The parmigiano broth was made with the rinds and water by pressure cooking for 40 minutes at 15 psi. The meyer lemon and salt ratio was adjusted until a great harmony was found between the richness of the parmigiano and the sweet acid of the meyer lemon juice; crazy to watch salt at work here, you shouldn't taste the salt at all, but it really unifies these two flavors. The steak ribbons were liberally seasoned with fresh ground black pepper (fine ground), quickly seared on high heat in grapeseed oil (copper pan) to rare doneness (constantly tossing), and completed their cooking at the table in the soup. I'm adopting this one as a personal classic at this point, but the idea is all Chef Holly Smith's.

Flageolot Beans in Lamb Shank Jus

More pressure cooking, once for the lamb broth, again for the beans.

From gastronomic guesswork

1 lamb shank
6 cups water
4 springs rosemary (fresh)
2 large shallots (minced)
6 cloves garlic (minced)
1 cup flageolet beans (dried)
salt TT

Pressure cook on high (15 psi) the lamb shank and 6 cups of water for 25 minutes (high heat to assume the pressure, low to maintain it with a little stream of steam coming out regularly). Depressurize and add the other ingredients, return to high pressure and cook for 8-9 minutes. A classic French flavor pairing between the lamb and flageolet. Plate with a few strips of trimmed meat from the shank.

Fava Bean in Sage Prosciutto Broth with Crispy Prosciutto

Finally bit the bullet and bought a pressure cooker, and now I'm asking myself why did I freaking wait this long. These things are incredible!

From gastronomic guesswork

In 20 minutes I made a perfect prosciutto broth, something that would normally take 2-3 hours. So much time and energy saved, a very GREEN investment I must say.

From gastronomic guesswork

With a 3/4 lb prosciutto hock I added 6 cups water, put the cooker on high until it reached 15 psi, then reduced heat to low for 20 minutes. At this point I depressurized using the gradual method (rapid depressurizing involves opening the valve like here, but then also running cold water over the lid and sides, however I'm discerning this approach is only useful for delicate things like veggies). The broth will have reduced by maybe a cup. I then added 1 cup dried fava beans, 6-8 fresh sage leaves, and chopped up the prosciutto hock remnant after trimming off the fat. Half the prosciutto bits were slowly crisped in a little olive oil over medium low heat. The other half went back in with the favas. The favas were pressure cooked for 12 minutes, then plated with a little bit of the broth and the crispy prosciutto.

It's worth noting that I researched the pressure cookers out there a bit, finally choosing the Fagor Duo Combi. The pan has an aluminum clad base and is heavy / seamingly well made, manufactured in Spain. The set is an absolute steal on Amazon at ~$110 (two pans, pressure lid, glass lid, steamer basket. Though not All-Clad, these are still pretty good pans when not pressure cooking. I also looked at the Kuhn Rikon, but was turned off by the hefty price tags ($200+ a pan) and they just didn't seem to be as well put together. Anyone else have an opinion on pressure cookers?

Veal Osso Bucco with Meyer Lemon Gremolada

A classic Milanese dish.

From gastronomic guesswork

1 white onion (fine chop)
1 clove of garlic
1 medium carrot (strips with a peeler)
2 celery stalks (fine chop)
1 can of tomato paste
1 quart brown veal stock
1 bay leaf (dried)
4-6 sprigs of fresh thyme

gremolata / gremolada
zest of 2 meyery lemons
1/2 cup of chopped Italian parsley
2 cloves of garlic (minced)

Season the veal shank with salt and pepper, dredge in flour, brown in olive oil over medium high heat, then braise with the vegetables and stock for 2 hours at 350F, turning and basting every 20 minutes. Finish with the gremolada for the last 5 minutes. If you're patient, you can reduce the braising liquid for 20 minutes over medium heat until it takes on a brick to slightly brown hue, like an old wine.

Round 3 at Bones Restaurant in Denver

Hit bones for a quick lunch before a meeting downtown last week; the staff was very accommodating of my eat and run schedule. I sampled the Udon with Braised Pork and Poached Egg (delicious, totally reasonable price), and accompanied that with the White Miso Braised Shortrib Eggrolls (nuanced and refined, strange adjectives for an eggroll, but very enjoyable). The eggrolls rotate weekly is my best guess, this one is a keeper. I got in and out in 25 minutes, satiated but not weighed down, and ready for the challenging meeting that followed.

The Lobster Ramen is still my favorite main, and the bone marrow is fav starter, but the Udon will be a regular in the rotation on future visits.

Plugra Mounted Potato Quenelles

What happens when you think, "I wonder how much butter it takes to super-saturate a potato?". I didn't quite answer that question, but when my wife asked about how much butter and cream was in the potatoes, I said, "you don't want to know". There's a reason why I made little quenelles here, the dish was decadent, guilty, and might make a cardiologist wince.

From gastronomic guesswork

The preparation involved 6 medium yukon gold potatoes, boiled to fork tender, smashed, and then mounted over very low heat with progressive amounts of plugra butter. I mounted with a whisk, and as the potatoes became tacky upon incorporation of the butter, I'd remove from heat briefly, add a touch of cream and more butter. Avoid over whipping the potatoes or you'll end up with glue; you're going for slightly tacky. Season with salt and pepper. Great on their own in a steakhouse indulgent sort of way, but I'd like to try these in an onion broth or maybe in a French onion bisque.

Oh yah, apparently 6 medium yukon golds can take on 1/2 a pound of plugra butter and a cup of heavy cream no problem. Don't blame me for this silliness, I learned the technique from watching classically trained French chefs. Last thing, you really don't taste the butter, but the flavor of potatoes melts in your mouth so you know something is up.

Round 2 at Bones Restaurant in Denver

Revisited this Bonanno modish goody, it did not disappoint. My wife detests the smell of bone marrow, as did our waiter in this case, but I was undeterred by the qualms of the uninitiated bone suckers. Yah, this isn't for everyone, but high pleasure is to be had here by the adventurous food geek. Seriously, I become like Homer Simpson drooling over a box of donuts when I anticipate the hedonistic satisfaction that a couple bones and some grilled bread provide. The precise preparation and seasoning make this starter something worth seeking out. If Bourdain wants it for his last meal, it has to be enticing to the gastronaut. Hey epicures, get out of the house and come to zeal in this simple pleasure.

My wife enjoyed the, now quickly becoming infamous, Lobster Ramen with White Miso noodle bowl, preceded by the suckling pig steamed buns with hoison sauce. I tried the duck confit noodle bowl with plum sauce (a special now supposed gone from the menu). Good, but distinctly good due to the confit, not that interesting from a flavor pairing standpoint as the duck is pronounced in this dish; makes me again think the Asian Fusion tag for classifying this place is misplaced. It's eclectic to be sure, and this bowl was good, not in the same class as the Lobster, but good - I'll opt for the pork on the next visit. Don't be deterred here, round 3 is already scheduled, as is round 4 ... not too many times I can remember I planned to eat at the same place (some 20+ miles from my home) in a single month.