Almond Rochers

I need to go to Tartine to see if the bakery actually makes them better than these homemade ones. I find that hard to believe since the ones that we made at Walter's were incredible! Walter's friend Emory joined us this Wednesday to show us his technique to making the almond rochers. He used an adapted recipe from the Tartine recipe book.

Ingredients:

1 cup (4oz) sliced almonds

1 cup (4oz) confectioner's (powdered) sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large egg whites, at room temperature

Salt

Directions:

* Pre-heat oven to 350

* In oven, toast almonds on baking sheet. Let cool to room temperature. Crush with hands.

* Mix egg whites and sugar. Add vanilla extract and pinch of salt.

* Over double boiler, stir mixture until warm.

* In mixer, beat until mixture has stiff peaks. When you lift the mixer, it should be viscous and stick to the mixer blades, not dripping off.

* Stir in almonds. Put it in a pastry bag. Or go ghetto and use a big ziplock bag, snipping one of the corners.

* Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

* To create each rocher, place opening of pastry bag close to sheet and squeeze. Do not lift immediately as merinque oozes out. Instead let it build a foundation, about 2-3 inches in diameter. Continue squeezing as you lift, so that the rocher is shaped like a cone about as tall as it is wide.

* Bake until outside looks dry and starts to crack.

* Let cool before serving.

Napa Cabbage with Sichuan Peppercorn

This was perhaps the easiest dish to prepare since it was just a quick stir-fry of Napa cabbage and some peppers. Beware of the amount of peppercorns you put in - I didn't really count out the number of pepper corns I threw into the pan, and that made the whole kitchen crew start to sneeze from the peppery-ness. :-D This was a nice side dish to contrast with the beef short ribs and the salmon. Walter's recipe below.

Ingredients:

1 Napa cabbage (chopped into roughly 2 inch squares)

8 Sichuan peppercorns

1-2 dried red pepper

Directions:

* Heat pan or wok to high. Add oil. Stir-fry sichuan peppercorns and dried red pepper.

* Stir-fry cabbage for a minute or so. You may need to do this in batches. It's important the wok stay hot.

* Salt to taste.

Pan-seared Salmon Fillets with Garlic and Basil

I really enjoyed the crispy skin on the salmon once you take it off the stove. Walter says that you need to really pat down the salmon with paper towel and make sure that the fish is nice and dry before you start to pan-sear it. It doesn't look like much in this picture (due to our poor presentation skills), but it's a dish with a nice flavor without requiring too many ingredients. Check out Walter's recipe below.

Ingredients:

1/2 - 1 lb. Salmon fillet (try to find with even thickness

Garlic (minced)

Basil leafs (cleaned and dried)

Salt (preferably kosher)

Directions:

* Scale the skin and clean. Briefly (1-2 seconds) soak it in rice wine or white wine.

* Pat salmon dry. Then wrap fillet in paper towel skin-side up for several minutes.

* Cut into 1.5 inch slices (perpendicular to the direction of the spine)

* Sprinkle salt and wrap in paper towel again. It's important the skin be dry.

* Heat pan to medium high. When hot, add oil, garlic, and basil. After about 30 seconds, add salmon skin side up. After a few minutes, when the bottom is golden brown, turn over so skin is on bottom for a few more minutes.

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Baby Carrots

This was a delicious meal in itself. I love that it's a one-pot recipe; all you need to do is pop the ingredients into the Dutch oven (or a regular pot would do), let it simmer away on the stove for a couple of hours, and you're set. I'll be trying this recipe sometime soon - pure comfort food! Recipe below is from our Head Chef Walter.

Ingredients:

6-8 beef short ribs (cut as ribs, not flanken style)

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 red onion

1 garlic bulb

soy sauce

black pepper

1 lb. baby carrots

Directions:

* Dry rub ribs with black pepper

* Put ribs bone-side up in a pot large enough so that each rib is on the bottom of the pot.

* Add sugar on top of ribs.

* Cut onion into big chunks about an inch on each side and throw in pot.

* Smash garlic cloves with flat side of cleaver and throw in pot

* Add soy sauce so that there's a thin layer of liquid. About 1/4 inch. Add a splash of water.

* Heat to a simmer. Liquid should rise from juice of onion.

* After about an hour, turn ribs so that all sides get an even coat. Check liquid level. Add a splash of soy sauce.

* After about another half hour to hour, add carrots. Then, continue cooking for another 30 minutes.

* Enjoy!

"New Asian" Cuisine

This week, we were at Walter's to cook some of his favorite dishes. He had already made a batch of the Braised Beef Short Ribs with Baby Carrots ahead of time since that dish required a few more hours on the stove than the others, but some of us did get to start up another batch just to try out the "recipe". (I put that in quotes since Walter actually didn't have recipes on hand at the time, and we were really just asking him for instructions with each step. He gave them to me post dinner though, so I'll be posting those shortly!) The Pan-Seared Salmon Fillets with Garlic and Basil were surprisingly easy to prepare, and we may have put a bit more peppercorn than was necessary into the Napa Cabbage with Sichuan Peppercorn dish - as it was being stir-fried, most of us started sneezing! :-) For dessert, we made Almond Rochers from the Tartine recipe book - they were delicious!

Thanks for coming, everyone. It was great meeting up with some people I hadn't seen in more than 5 years, people I hadn't met before, and people I've seen more regularly. What an awesome mix of people for the Dinner Meet! Hope everyone had a great time, and I'll look forward to seeing you at the next one! Also, a big thank you to Walter for hosting!