This dish was inspired by something I saw during the Bocuse d'Or (big fancy chef competition in France) on Food TV in early '01. I saw some chef playing around with making a packet of zucchini strips around some sort of filling. I had no idea how the strips were made, what the filling was, nor if the packet was destined for further baking/steaming/whatever, but I thought the concept was a very neat one.
I played around in the kitchen and came up with the following recipe. It was really lovely to look at, and tasted just wonderful. I think the concept could be extended to using a filling of crabmeat, or perhaps even a salmon mousse.
Get a pot of unsalted water to a slow boil. Fill a large bowl with ice water.
PREPARATION:
Using a *very* sharp vegetable peeler, or a *very* sharp, thin knife, carefully cut the squash lengthwise into thin strips. The strips should be no more than 1/8th inch thick -- and closer to 1/16th inch is preferrable. You need at least 24 strips; a couple extra are good in case one strip breaks. I guess a mandoline would be the perfect tool for this, but I don't have one...
Carefully transfer the strips into the boiling water and cook until they are pliable. Carefully remove and transfer to the ice water. When completely cool, transfer to a lint-free cloth to dry.
Slice the carrots into thin coins and steam for 3 - 5 minutes until soft. Be careful not to overcook to the point where they lose their bright orange color. Transfer to the ice water until cool, then process through a food mill or mash well with a fork. You want a puree with some good texture left in it, but no chunks. Season the puree with some rice vinegar and salt. The flavor should be somewhat sharp because it will be balanced out by the other filling.
Mix together the avacado and ricotta into a smooth paste. Season well with white pepper.
Mix together the raspberry vinegar, oil, mustard, salt, black pepper and rosemary to make a dressing.
ASSEMBLY:
Working on plastic wrap or a Silpat sheet, lay out three zuke strips side by side, slightly overlapping. I used the somewhat narrower strips from the outside of the zuke as the middle strips. Lay another three strips with the ends slighly overlapping the first set. Lay another three strips perpendicular to the first, starting at the seam where the two groups of three meet, then but three more strips together below those, forming a cross or '+'.
Here's some ASCII art which might clarify things.
Two groups of three strips, slightly overlapping:
-------------------------------------- | | | -------------------------------------- | | | -------------------------------------- | | | --------------------------------------
Six more strips, now forming a cross:
|----|----|----|
| | | |
-----------| | | |-----------
| | | | | |
-----------| | | |-----------
| |----|----|----| |
-----------| | | |-----------
| | | | | |
-----------| | | |-----------
| | | |
|____|____|____|
Repeat this to make a second cross.
Spread the avacado mix on the center of each cross in the square area where the strips intersect. Carefully spread the carrot puree on top of the avacado mix.
Now gently fold the zucchini strips up and over the fillings, making a square purse around the filling. You can use a thin spatula or knife to lift the strips up, or pull the plastic wrap sheet up and around if you did your assembly on plastic wrap.
Use a spatula, GENTLY pick up the purse and invert it onto the serving plate. Give the dressing a quick mix and drizzle a bit over the top. Garnish with a branch of rosemary.
NOTE:
I've also made this just using the avacado paste and some crabmeat as the filling. I then moulded the carrot purree into quenelles using two spoons and placing a quenelle or two on top of each purse. The purses were served in shallow bowls with a bit of tomato water around them.
Sautee the garlic in the olive oil until fragrent and just turning golden. Add the drained artichoke hearts and sautee for a couple minutes. Scrape into a blender and add the tofu. Add cayenne sauce, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Start blending the mix, adding just enough olive oil to get things mixing well. Check seasonings and serve with crackers or pita bread. This would also make a very nice addition to a pita sandwich...
Fricos are made by spreading grated cheese in a skillet over medium heat, adding a bit of filling if you like and covering with more cheese, then carefully flipping the crisp over to brown the other side. Unfortunately, I can't remember the exact cheese called for in the recipe. Maybe Maureen Fant or someone else will jump in with the right stuff. Lidia described it as a young cow's milk cheese, suggesting young Asiago as a substitute. I had neither the origional cheese nor Asiago, so I used Fontina, something Mario had said was an acceptable substitute. (Would have used it anyway... <g>) In the direction of sheer heresy, I'd bet Jarlsburg, Emmenthaler or possibly even young Gouda would make a great non-authentic substitution.
We made a filling of sauteed onions, potatoes and crab from Lidia's book for these fricos and were pretty dang pleased with it. Lidia writes that all fricos fillings start with the sauteed onion/potato mix then add other things to that base. She also wrote about a tasty-sounding filling with mushrooms which will probably be the next variation of these I try...
BTW, leftovers make a great snack the next day.
Start with the filling first. Scrub the two potatoes clean
and boil in water for 25 minutes until cooked. Don't overcook
-- they should still be somewhat firm. Let cool enough to handle,
then peel and slice into 1/4" thick slices.
Sautee the onion in the olive oil for a few minutes until soft and transluscent, then add the potatoes. Cook, carefully turning the potato slices, until golden on both sides. Remove from heat and stir in the crab meat and chives. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Careful with the salt -- the cheese will probably be quite salty enough!
To cook the fricos, heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat until a shred of cheese melts 2 - 3 seconds after hitting the pan. Spread 1/8th of the grated cheese in the skillet, then carefully spread 1/4 of the filling in a smooth layer. Top with another 1/8th of the cheese.
Keep an eye on the crisp as it cooks. When the cheese starts to firm up a bit on the bottom, carefully shake the skillet to loosen the crisp, gently using a thin spatula as needed to completely free the crisp from the pan. A fair amount of grease will exude from the cheese as it cooks. (Cheese? Lowfat? This will cure THAT misconception!)
When the bottom is a nice golden-brown color, flip the crisp over and cook the other side. I slid the crisp on to a thin plate, drained the fat from the skillet, inverted the skillet over the plate and flipped the two right side up. I then spent several minutes trying to get the damned plate out of the skillet. What the hell, it was half a good idea.
The goal cooking these crisps is to get the outside just golden and solid enough to hold together, while leaving a bit of soft cheese in the middle. The fontina I used may have been a bit too soft because it was fairly cooked through when it was finally solid enough to flip over.
Keep the cooked frico warm in an oven while you cook the other one. Slice into wedges and devour.
Form into patties and sautee in a hot skillet for 3 - 5 minutes per side.
You may have to scrape out the breadcrumbs in between batches lest you end up with a blackened, smoking mess.
Serve them with sauce and grated cheese.
I got the ancho and chipotle chili powders from Penzey's --- they're wonderful spices!
In a large dutch oven over medium-high heat, brown the meats in
the olive oil. You may need to do this in batches to get a good carmelization
on the meat. Remove the meats to a platter along with any juices.
Sautee the onion for a few minutes until wilted. Return the meats
to the pot with the onions and add all the chili powders, cumin, cinammon,
cocoa powder, salt and black pepper. Sautee for another few minutes,
stirring constantly. Add the remaining ingredients, cover and simmer
for three hours.
Serve with cheese, diced onions, sour cream and avacados -- and beer!
Slice the duck breast or chicken meat into thin strips. Combine half of the the soy sauce, half the cornstarch, sesame oil, pepper, sherry and sugar in a small bowl and stir well. Add the meat and marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Drain and rinse the tree fungus, lily buds and mushrooms. Trim the stems from the mushrooms and slice into thin strips.
Using a soup pot or wok, heat the stock to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Add the tree fungus, lily buds and mushrooms. In a small bowl, stir together the vinegar, chili oil and remaining soy and cornstarch. Add to the stock and stir well. Add in the meat with it's marinade. Swirl in the beaten egg, stirring to form ribbons.
Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with the sliced green onions. Serve immediately.
The color of this soup is brilliant orange and it looks terrific. I'm also thinking of making a small batch of this and carefully ladling it into a bowl with cream of celery soup. The orange/green colors ought to look fantastic!
We popped open a bottle of a lovely Loire sparkling wine from Gratien & Meyer. I like pairing soups and bubbly wines just for the textural pairing. This wine has a nice balace of fruit and toasty/yeasty flavors, plus pretty high acidity. I thought the acidity would be tamed down somewhat by the soup, but it seemed to be accentuated a bit. The great fruit came out nicely, though and the finish seemed to be stretched out by the soup. The matchup wasn't a great one, but it was fairly nice.
The soup is moderately spicy, but hearty enough that it would pair up with many reds. Rhones and Zinfandel come to mind, but I was leery of my wimpy palate as far as alcohol and spices are concerned.
Instead of wine I had a simple wheat beer from my favorite producer hereabouts: Herrnbrau. The match was a good one, but I think a bock or even doublebock would have worked even better. With the heavy beans, this soup would seem to work better with a heavier beer. Perhaps stout or porter? My experience with those styles is zilch. :(
We had this with a slice of toasted potato-caraway bread and a salad. Quite a nice meal!