FAST & EASY FOR HOLIDAY EXHAUSTION

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FAST & EASY FOR HOLIDAY EXHAUSTION

“We live in an age when pizza gets to your home before the police,” but even faster is a bottle of champagne and your own fast and easy food.

Ham and Champagne

There is nothing easier than opening a bottle of champagne (if it isn’t, there is always YouTube) and serving sliced Spanish ham that you buy ready to be plated. And if not Spanish then some Italian Culatello from Parma. And both are my favorite accompaniments to champagne.

When to drink it is answered by Lily Bollinger. Elizabeth Law de Lauriston Bourbers, known as “Lily,” had married Jacques Bollinger and taken over the management of the firm when he died in 1941. She was at her best as a travelling ambassador for the house of Bollinger, and she was in London one day in 1961 to declare and present her 1955 vintage and gave this to a local newspaper.

“I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad.

Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone.

When I have company, I consider it obligatory.

I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and I drink it when I am.

Otherwise, I never touch it – unless I’m thirsty.”

I wish I had said that and, several times, have.

Grilled Blue Cheese Toasts with Tomato Relish

In January you may have had enough shopping, so the ingredients are probably already in your kitchen. The tomatoes are the best Italian canned ones, the capers are ones you have drained, rinsed and stored in a jar with olive oil and fresh herbs and keep in the refrigerator, the walnuts and bread are from the freezer. And if you don’t want the blue cheese toasts, add chopped garlic to the tomato relish and toss with hot pasta, as below.

If you have any relish left over it will keep in the refrigerator for a day and can also be used on almost any pasta or toasted English muffins painted in extra virgin olive oil. As a safety net, if the cheese sits too long under the broiler and becomes a bit hard, just chop up the toasts, put the pieces in the bowl with the sauce, let sit 5 or 10 minutes, and serve warm or cool as a gazpacho type soup.

Serves 4

1 cup             tomatoes, skinned, chopped

¼ cup           capers

¼ cup           flat leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon   grated lemon zest

¼ cup           extra virgin olive oil

2 pinches     sea salt

½ teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

1 cup           blue cheese

1                  egg white

1/3 cup        walnut pieces

4 slices         rustic white bread, cut ½-inch thick

Preheat the broiler on high for five minutes.

To make the relish, mix the first 7 ingredients in a bowl. Taste the mix and correct the seasoning if necessary. Put the cheese, egg white, and walnuts in a food processor and puree for 1 minute.

Broil the bread slices on each side for 1 minute. Then spread the cheese equally on one side of the 4 slices and broil, cheese side up, for 2 minutes or until the cheese is heated through.

Put the slices of cheese toast on warm plates and spoon the sauce over.

Leftover Vegetables Soup

I am always pleasantly surprised to find out that almost all cooked vegetables mix well for a soup, no matter how they have been cooked. Everything from mashed or gratin potatoes, to green and white beans, to carrots in butter or olive oil, to a chiffonade of mixed greens. This is a soup that is more delicious than the little work it takes makes it seem. And as a safety net, if the soup is too thick (from the mashed potatoes) or too rich (from the potato cream gratin), add more water or stock. Water instead of stock gives a fresher taste to the vegetables, the stock a richer one.

Serves 4-6

2 cups          leftover cooked vegetables

2 cups          chicken stock or water

1 cup           half and half

                    salt

                    freshly ground white pepper

Put the vegetables in a food processor with the stock or water and grind until in 1/8-inch pieces.

Put the vegetables in a saucepan with the half and half, bring to a simmer. Take off the heat, season, and serve.

Warm Red Cabbage Salad

I first prepared this salad in 1979 at Sam Francisco’s Balboa Café which I had taken over for an update and redo. It was a popular success beyond my wildest dreams, especially because I thought at the time that cabbage and duck fat would be the last two things to capture the taste buds and imaginations of barfly Californians. Then for years there were people who wouldn’t come to the restaurants without a promise that the cabbage salad was available. Sublime versions include chopped shallots and using walnut oil or rendered duck fat instead of bacon fat. Or add duck skin cracklings on top of the salad.

The procedure for a warm or “wilted” salad is the same whatever the ingredients: mix the salad, seasonings, and acid beforehand, then pour over the hot oil or fat, toss, and serve.

Serves:  4-6

1                             medium red cabbage

8 slices                   bacon or pancetta

8 ounces                log of goat cheese

1bunch                  scallions

1 clove garlic         peeled, cut in half

¼ Cup                    bacon fat

2 tablespoons         red wine or sherry vinegar or sherry vinegar

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

8                             Slices baguette or country-style bread

Cut the cabbage in half through the root end. Cut out the core from each half. Turn the halves cut side down and slice crosswise into 1/8-inch pieces.

Lay the bacon out flat on a rack and bake or grill until crisp. Remove the bacon, saving the rendered fat, and when the bacon is cool enough to handle, cut into 1-inch lengths. Keep warm.

Slice the goat cheese into half-inch rounds and roll the edges in the scallions.

Heat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the bread slices on a sheet pan for 10 minutes. When the bread is cool enough to handle, rub the croutons with the garlic.

Put the cabbage in a bowl. Add the vinegar and the salt and pepper and toss the cabbage thoroughly.

Heat the bacon fat in a pan and put the cabbage in it. Toss quickly but thoroughly for 10 seconds then add the bacon and toss again for another 10 seconds. Check for seasonings.

Serve immediately on warm plates with the croutons.

Anchovy Butter and a Baked Potato

One of my favorite things to do with anchovy fillets is make anchovy butter. It is so easy, takes 5 minutes, and keeps well in the fridge or freezer. Even though it's only 3 or 4 ingredients (because depending on the batch of anchovies you have, it may not even need extra salt), it's one of the most flavorful "compound" butters that can be added to any protein, vegetable, or piece of bread.

My favorite way to serve it is as I do here, generously heaped into a baked potato hot out of the oven.

Yields 1 cup of Anchovy Butter, enough to top at least 4 baked potatoes.

1 cup            unsalted butter

12                salted anchovy fillets, cleaned & rinsed

2 cups          loosely packed basil leaves

1 pinch         kosher salt as needed

4                  large russet potatoes

Extra virgin olive oil

Fresh ground black pepper

Using a food processor, pulse all the butter, anchovy fillets, and basil leaves until smooth. Taste and add a pinch of salt if needed (it may not be needed, depending on the saltiness of the anchovies you are using). Remove the anchovy butter from the food processor and set aside or refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 400.

Place the potato on a baking sheet and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until very tender when squeezed or pierced with a fork. Remove the potatoes from the oven. Slice the potato open at the top lengthwise. Top with a generous heap of the anchovy butter.

Drizzle each potato with extra virgin olive oil, and top each with several grinds of black pepper. Serve immediately.

Grilled Chicken Minute Steak

This chicken ‘steak’ was one of the most successful café-style dishes in all my restaurants. The inspiration came from my steak Diane lunch as a child on trans-Atlantic crossings aboard the S.S United States. I chose it off the menu every day as much for the table-side theatrical flaming as the delicious flavors. For a great account of land-based Steak Diane at Los Angeles’ memorable Perino’s restaurant, see Gail Monaghan’s beautiful book, The Entrees, a hymn to the somewhat forgotten classic main dishes that should never have been left behind.

Paillard is what this chicken steak recipe was called in Jeremiah Tower’s New American Classics, since it refers to the French classic thinly sliced or pounded piece of meat or poultry that cooks very quickly either grilled or sautéed. I have changed “paillard” to “chicken steak” for current usage. It does not have to be chicken, but could be veal, lamb, venison, pheasant, duck, wild boar and so on, using any cut of meat that will benefit from tenderizing, or unevenly shaped cuts like chicken breasts in which the ends of dissimilar thickness cook at different rates. 

I so much love the taste of ancho chili that in the original recipe the chicken was marinated in ancho chili oil and, when cooked, was served with an ancho chili butter on top, French Fries, and lime wedges. The butter melts all over the chicken and flows into the French fries, adding a whole new dimension to them. Use any of the Simple or Compound Butters because a wet sauce placed on the chicken might make it soggy.

The whole dish takes minutes to finish, and the chicken steaks can be prepared in advance. Make sure that the plastic you use is good quality and odorless, or the chicken will taste exactly as the cheap plastic. If you are going to put the chicken steaks in the marinade right after you pound them, you can use grease-proof or wax paper. But using paper too far in advance will result in soggy paper sticking to the chicken. If you have only small breast pieces, pound out two per person for a main course and put them both on the large oval plate.

Here is how beautiful it can look with tomatoes, fennel and olives, if you don’t want all that butter.

Photo Avec Eric

Grilled Chicken paillard with Ancho Chili Butter

Various garnishes are suitable with chicken paillard, but at the Santa Fe Bar & Grill it was usually served with grilled vegetables for French fries. The best vegetables to grill are fennel, red bell peppers, summer squashes, eggplant, and mushrooms. The vegetables are parboiled, drained, marinated in olive oil and herbs, then grilled over a moderate charcoal fire.

2 large                    chicken breasts, skinned, boned

5 tablespoons        ancho chili powder

¼ cup                     olive oil

6 ounces                unsalted butter

1 teaspoon             salt

8 wedges               lime or lemon

Serves 4

Put the chicken pieces between 2 pieces of heavy plastic and pound with the side of a cleaver until 3/8 to ¼ inch thick. Mix 2 tablespoons of the chili powder and the oil in a pan just large enough to hold the paillards in one layer. Add the paillards and marinate for 3 hours, turning occasionally.

Make the ancho butter by mixing well 3 tablespoons chili powder with the butter and salt. Let stand for 2 hours to develop its flavors. If the butter is in the refrigerator, be sure to remove it to let it soften and whisk it to get the right serving texture.

Cook the paillards on a hot griddle, sauté pan or charcoal grill for 2 minutes on each side. Serve with the ancho butter on top and garnish with lime or lemon wedges.

Black Pepper Hamburger Steak in Mustard Sauce

Everything is in the cupboard except the ground beef. And here is a good time to use the fanciest sea salt and most exotic black peppercorns that you have. With so few ingredients, quality really counts.

Photo Anna Chwistek

Serves 2

2 tablespoons         black peppercorns

1 pound                 chopped sirloin steak

1 tablespoon          canola or peanut oil

¼ cup                     cream

2 tablespoons         Dijon mustard

                              sea salt or fleur de sel

Crush or grind the peppercorns coarsely. Sieve to separate the pieces and the dust (reserve the dust for other cooking). Spread the cracked pepper evenly on a plate.

Form the steak into patties 2 inches thick. Then press them down into the pepper to coat each side.

Heat the oil in a seasoned skillet or a nonstick pan and put the burgers in the pan.  Salt the side not cooking. Cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes each side for medium rare, salting the other side when it is turned. When they are cooked, take them out and keep warm.

Wipe the fat out of the pan with paper towels and add the cream and mustard. Heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Pour the sauce onto hot plates and place a hamburger steak on top.

If you overcook the steaks and they are well done, chop them up and add to the sauce.  Pour over some boiled noodles that you had in the freezer or cupboard, and you have ground beef Stroganoff.

10-Minute Strawberry Shortcake

The pound cake and berry puree are in the freezer, the sugared orange peel and the alcohol in the cupboard. 

Serves 4

1-pint                      strawberries, hulled, sliced 1/8-inch thick

8 slices                   pound cake, cut ¼-inch thick

½ cup                     raspberry puree

½ cup                     whipping cream

2 tablespoons         sugared orange peel, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons         butter

2 tablespoons         berry flavored white alcohol or Kirsch

Toss the berries in the berry puree with a pinch of salt.

Whip the cream with the alcohol. 

Slice the pound cake, toast, and butter it. 

Put some of the whipped cream flavored with the berry liqueur on one piece of cake, then half the sliced strawberries, then pour a little more of the raspberry puree on top and around. Place the remaining cake on top of each shortcake, then add the remaining berries, then the remaining cream and puree, and then sprinkle with chopped sugared orange peel.

If at the last moment you realize there is not enough berry puree in the freezer, you do have red currant jelly. Even more magic because it revives winter berries. You don’t have berry liqueur, then use rum or sherry.

The photo below shows another look, this one with rose petals and crème anglaise. If you can buy the meringue, then this is it.