Oui, Chef

Fennel, Stilton and Walnut Smashed Potatoes

To be honest our favorite mashed potatoes are Joel Robuchon's famous pommes puree, silky smooth and very rich in butter. They are a little slice of heaven on earth, but they are a bit of work, what with having to pass them multiple times through a tamis, and the lengthy process of whisking in the butter and milk.  They are also a very refined spud dish, and to me, feel most at home as an accompaniment to an elegant meal like a flaky fish filet, some seared scallops, or as Robuchon often serves them, with  tiny, meltingly tender lamb rib chops. 

On an evening when you are serving something a little less refined, like a big old rib-eye, or some beef or pork ribs, why not swing way over to the other end of things, and make a smashed potato with a more rustic texture, and maybe even a little crunch. This dish is an amalgam of some of our favorite flavors, and is perfect with roast chicken, a nice thick steak, or even a braised lamb shank. Smash it all together in a big pot just before serving for a dish quite unlike any other mashed potatoes you've ever had.  This smash was inspired by some fabulously chunky potatoes I had at "Olives" once.

We like the stilton mixed into the potatoes so that it melts a little, spreading its pungent, salty tang throughout the dish.  If some in your gang don't care for blue cheese, feel free to pass it on the side, allowing individuals to sprinkle it over the finished dish if they wish.

Recipe:

Fennel, Stilton and Walnut Smashed Potatoes

by: Steve Dunn

(Print Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 pounds red skinned or yukon gold potatoes
• 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1 bulb fennel, roasted
• 1 cup creme fraiche
• 4 ounces stilton cheese, crumbled
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 bunch chives, finely minced for garnish
• kosher salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat your oven to 425℉ .

Wash, core and roughly chop the bulb of fennel. Toss into a bowl with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour onto a baking sheet and place into the oven. Roast for 20-25 minutes, until the fennel is nicely caramelized and has softened. Remove from the oven and reserve.

Cook the potatoes in their jackets in boiling, salted water until cooked through. Drain them, then return them to the pan and smash them while heating over a low flame to help remove some residual moisture.

With the potatoes still on low heat, add the butter and stir to incorporate, then add the creme fraiche, fennel, toasted walnuts, and season with salt and pepper.

Place in a warmed bowl, top with crumbled stilton and chives, and serve.

Serves 8

Chorizo and Spinach Frittata

Making a frittata, much like a fried rice, is a great way to use up all the left-overs in your fridge.  Pick a few main ingredients that will define your flavor profile, and then feel free to toss in little remnants of past meals that are hanging on, begging not to become a science experiment in the back of your refrigerator.

The dish is endlessly versatile, can be tossed together in minutes, is great hot or cold, travels well, can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  As long as you like eggs, it is a nearly perfect food.  I've even thought of making a large one each Sunday, strictly for use throughout the coming week.  A slice is great re-heated for a quick breakfast, can be a healthy addition to a school lunch, and a satisfying meal on the fly with a quick salad as you race between appointments on your evening schedule.

Roasted Halibut with Tomato - Shallot Salsa

This is one of my favorite kind of recipes to cook with the kids.  It offers a healthy and beautiful dish, that because of it's component parts, can be modified when plated to satisfy almost anyone's tastes.  It can be a struggle with kids, trying to bend the family menus to suit everyone.  You lean too much to the kid's tastes and you eat nothing but mac and cheese, to the adults, and you end up with frustrated kids that won't eat their dinner because its too much of a reach for their young taste buds.  The magic of this dish is in the salsa that can be served over the fish for the more adventurous, on the side of the plate for those willing to at least try it, or be eliminated entirely for the younger kids who won't even give it a chance.  One meal, and three ways of serving it that can satisfy almost any member of the family.

Duck Fat Potatoes

Living in France for two years ultimately offered great culinary awakenings not just for me, but also for my kids, and they now look back fondly on all of the culinary "firsts" they enjoyed while living there.  That said, I am fairly certain that I was the most hated person on the planet in the days just following our expatriation (remember, we were moving there so that I could go to culinary school), because the culture shock for them was immediate and intense. The kids’ first few weeks in-country were predictably awful (gastronomically speaking), as they were forced to change their diets literally overnight.  Gone were chicken fingers and Velveeta Mac and Cheese, american burgers and dogs, and most breakfast cereals they were accustomed to. 

We had lived there only a couple of days when Arthas hit the wall.  We were buying lunch from a little concession at the entrance to the famed “Catacombs” of Paris.  He ordered a hamburger, expecting no doubt, “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun.  Instead, he was handed a fairly suspect patty served on a day old baguette, topped with some WICKED STINKY cheese, and a runny fried egg.  I can still see the poor kid banging his head on the side of the kiosk while fighting back his tears.

Thankfully, within just a few weeks, things started looking up for Arthas on the food front.  It all began turning around for him when we dined at “Le Relais de l’Entrecote” just off of Boulevard Saint-Germain.  “Le Relais” is a restaurant that serves just one dish, but they do it exceedingly well.  If you happen to be in Paris, and are in the mood for Steak-Frites, then “Le Relais” is your place.  The meal there is served in two stages, each filling your plate with perfectly cooked, sliced steak slathered in a fabulous butter-herb sauce (the subject of endless chat-room banter, and the recipe for which appears to be a more closely held secret than that for Coca-Cola!), and a huge pile of golden, crispy fries.  Arthas had just cleaned his plate when the waitress came back around with seconds of everything, the fries fresh from the kitchen, and his fate was sealed.  He was so smitten with the frites, that from that day forward, he would devote considerable energies to searching out the best potato dishes on the planet, a quest that keeps him busy to this day. 

Our time in Paris would present him with two more contenders for the title.

"My Meal" aka Pork Cutlet Milanese

Each of the kids has a favorite meal that they regularly ask for, but none of the others do so with the frequency, and tenacity of Boris.

HEY DAD, WHAT’S FOR DINNER? 

Not sure, buddy.  Today is market day...I’ll see what looks good.

CAN WE HAVE "MY MEAL"? 

Uh...didn’t we just have your meal?

NO, IT’S BEEN AWHILE SINCE WE’VE HAD MY MEAL.  YOU MUST BE THINKING ABOUT ARTHAS......WE JUST HAD HIS MEAL.

Hmmmm....

REALLY DAD, ITS BEEN LIKE FOREVER SINCE WE’VE HAD MY MEAL.

Forever?  Don’t you think you’re exaggerating just a bit, buddy?

ARTHAS, GRID, PEYTON, AND MUPPET ALWAYS GET THEIR MEALS.  WHEN IS IT GOING TO BE MY TURN? 

Huh?

YOU LOVE THEM MORE THAN ME, DON’T YOU?

Don’t be silly.......hey, are you tracking all these meals on a calendar or something?

DUH....OF COURSE I DO.  IT’S THE ONLY WAY I CAN GUARANTEE THAT I DON’T GET SHAFTED BY YOUR WHOLE MEAL SELECTION PROCESS.  I HAVE TO SAY THAT YOUR CURRENT METHOD SEEMS SERIOUSLY INDIFFERENT TO MY NEEDS!

You're kidding right? 

Don't tell me....you suspect that a vast right-wing conspiracy is at work, plotting to continually deny you your favorite meal.

HEY, I'M JUST CALLING IT LIKE I SEE IT.

You, my young Padawan, are a nut-bag!

And so it was that we came to have Boris’ meal the other night.  The rarely made, most often ignored, and practically forgotten, Pork Cutlet Milanese.

Steak Frites with Sauce Bérnaise

OK, I know what you’re thinking....”sauce bérnaise” sounds way too scary, fussy, and time consuming for you to EVER contemplate cooking, let alone with your kids.  I get it, and I used to think that too, until I was taught how to make it while at Le Cordon Bleu.  The fact is, sauce bérnaise is really quite simple to make, hardly takes any time at all, and is such a perfect complement to grilled steak, that once you’ve made it, you’re going to weep like a baby thinking about how every steak you have ever made in the past was just a shadow of what it could have been had you only known how to craft the magical bérnaise.  

Really, I’m not kidding.

Now, this is not a meal that I recommend you reach for every week (as much as you might want to), because between the fries and the bérnaise it is a real artery menace.  But, once you get some confidence with the sauce , and get your timing down for the fries, it is a meal that is totally doable on a weeknight, and mastering a classic French sauce is a great confidence builder for a novice cook.