I love this new flavor profile with the beer and pretzel spaghetti. If you remember the first one I did (here) it was a more traditional flavor pairing with spicy mustard and beer braised bratwurst. I found this combination to work even better. I really love this flavored pasta and look forward to hearing what others think of it once Ariccia opens it’s doors next month. Stay tuned.
Beer & Pretzel Spaghetti
Chile Glazed Shrimp, Sriracha Cream, Mint
Those of you who have never had the privilege of eating perfectly cooked scrambled eggs, may just over look this post because you don’t know what you are missing. Lots of people associate scrambled eggs with being over cooked with the texture of rubber, but for those who have had them cooked properly know how amazing they can be. A few years ago I dined at Joel Robuchon @ the Mansions and one of the 16 courses we had was asparagus 3 ways. This was one of the moments where you’re like holy shit what kind of scrambled eggs have I been eating over the past years. I had this dish almost 3 years ago and I still remember it to this day. To achieve a professional-standard creamy scrambled eggs you have to cook them in a bain-marie, involving nearly half an hour of vigilant stirring. Very time consuming. By contrast cooking them to the same level of quality by sous vide simply requires a gentle cooking on a low heat and an occasional massaging of the bag with your hands to scramble the eggs. Just another reason why sous vide cooking needs and should be adopted by home cooks.
Recipe (adapted from Heston Blumenthal)
Serves 2
6 Large Eggs
25g Whole Milk
20g Heavy Cream
pinch of salt
20g Unsalted butter, melted
20g Brown Butter
1oz Caviar (optional)
Preparation:
Pre-Heat the water-bath to 75c
In a bowl, blend the eggs, milk, cream and salt with a hand blender or a whisk, then stir in the melted butter.
Divide the egg mixture in half and pour into two sous-vide bags. Seal under full pressure. For those that do not have a chamber vacuum (I don’t) you can use your regular food sealer. Pulse it to remove as much air as possible without sucking the liquid into the machine and seal.
Place the bags in the water bath and allow to cook for 15 minutes, massaging the eggs every 3-5 minutes. Mine took about 20 minutes but I think it was due to still having air in the bag. They are done when you can see the eggs starting to slightly come together.
To serve, remove the scrambled eggs from the bags and top with caviar and a drizzle of brown butter. Enjoy the best scrambled eggs you will ever have.
Here is my pasta extruder in action. This machine will produce 35lbs in one hour.
Bigoli drying under the fan.
The finished dish was my take on a summer BBQ
Smoked Paprika & Chile Arbol Bigoli
applewood smoked pork shoulder, BBQ jus, cornbread crumble
On Saturday Stephanie and I had the pleasure of attending a private book signing for Mr. Robuchons latest book ‘Best of Robuchon’. The book signing was held in the SkyLofts at MGM Grand. A great a event with champagne, wine, and small bites of some of Mr. Robuchons signature dishes. After the signing we were invited to dine at Joel Robuchon @ the Mansions. This is going to be our last trip to Las Vegas for awhile as we are going to be working 24/7 getting Ariccia open and running smoothly. What better way to celebrate then 16 courses at JR!
Bread Cart
French Butter & Spanish Olive Oil
I could eat this morning, noon, and night. Nothing better than amazing bread, butter, and olive oil.
L’Asperge Blanche
Une panna cotta recouverte d’une symphonie de gaspacho aux couleurs de sabon
white asparagus panna cotta with seasonal gazpacho
Le Foie Gras
Duo mele d’artichaut violet en salade aux copeaux de parmigiano reggiano
Foie gras and violet artichoke salad with parmesan shavings
Le Caviar
Des fines graines de couscous iode, un veloute de mais glace tremblotant aux croutons dores, tartare de saumon aux jeunes pousses de shiso
Maki of thin couscous, chilled corn veloute with croutons, salmon tartar with shiso sprouts
La Grenouille
La cuisse en fritot a la puree aillee et au coulis de persil
Crispy frog leg, garlic and parsley coulis
Le Saint-Jacques
La noix poelee etuvee de jeunes poireaux et jus au curry vert
Seared scallop with young leek in green curry
Les Crustaces
La langoustine truffee et cuite en ravioli, medaillon de langouste grille et sabayon virtuel aux aromates, l’oursin en <<chaud-froid>> anise aux sucs d’agrumes
Truffled langoustine ravioli, grilled spiny lobster in herb sabayon “chaud-froid” of sea urchin of fennel potato puree with anise citrus
Les Petit Pois
En symphonie soyeuse au foie gras a l’huile d’argan
Delicate green pea cream with foie gras and argan oil
Le Bar
Aux jeunes premices dans un jus de barigoule
Sea bass and spring vegetables cooked in cocotte, barigoule jus
Le Boeuf
La noix d’entrecote emincee aux condiments et petites coeurs de palmiers
Beef rib eye with condiment and baby palm hearts
Le Soja
Les pousses cuites comme un risotto aux zestes de citron vert et ciboulette
Risotto of soybean sprouts, lime and chives
Wines for the night.
La Fraise
Creme <<Madame>>a la chartreuse verte rafraichie d’un sorbet aux herbs
Green chartreuse <<eggnog>> layered with strawberries, fresh herb sorbet
Tea Service Cart
La Noisette
Glacee et chocolatee, parfait <<Arabica>> sur un bricelet au beurre noisette
Coffee parfait wrapped in a caramel-cookie crunch, hazelnut foam and chocolate ice cream
Le Moka- Le The
Escortes de mignardises
Yes we got one of each.
Here is a new dish that I came up with today. I had been watching the video from Del Posto Restaurant in NYC for their dish Bigoli con L’Anatra & Goose Liver. Check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McoBfXD3axQ I was hoping to have my bigoli die in time for this pasta but the damn thing is still on back order. The cherry spaghetti itself was good but it still needs some work. I was hoping for a stronger flavor and for it to be a dark red color but it wasn’t quite what I wanted it. I have an idea on how to get the results I want so round 2 will be happening soon. However, I felt the dish as a whole was very flavorful and balanced.
Dark Cherry Spaghetti
Duck Ragu, Duck Skin, Foie Gras
I have been wanting to make porchetta di testa for awhile now. I finally decided to go for it last week. I followed Chef Chris Cosentino video and recipe on the process. Video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nByH6yPWYj8.
Pig Head
After removing the meat from the head, roast the skull in the oven to make a rich flavorful stock.
Pig face
Tuck the fat part of the tongue under the snout. Fold ears through the eye holes. Season heavily with salt, and spices. Place in fridge over night.
All tied up
Vacuumed sealed and ready for it’s 14hr water bath at 87.5c
14# pig head just fits inside the sous vide supreme. After its finished cooking submerge in ice bath and let cool. Place in fridge for 1day to let fat congeal and for porchetta to set.
Remove from bag and carefully peal gelatin and fat away. After you get as much off as you can with your hands, rinse under water and pat dry. You are now ready to slice. This is something that needs to be sliced very thin so a slicer is much needed but it can be done by hand.
The finished results were good but not where I want them to be. I’m going to give it another try in the next few weeks with a new plan of attack. After deboning I am going to brine the meat overnight in a pork brine. I will then season it more heavily than this time, roll and tie and let it sit in the fridge for two days before finally cooking it sous vide at 87.5c for 14hrs. I think that the brine and longer dry cure is going to help build the intense flavors you want and expect from a porchetta.
We received two new pasta dies for our Rosito Bisani extruder the other day, lasagna sheets and penne. The lasagna die was a little confusing at first. Lets just say that we made a nice hand torn pasta dish with the scraps. Once I figured out you could change the thickness of the sheets it turned out great results. This is going to be an essential die for production of lasagna sheets & pappardelle. Below is a dish we came up with after we figured out what we were doing.
Last month I received my pasta extruder for Ariccia. I have been playing around with it a lot figuring out the right ratios for each pasta shape and just learning the in’s and out’s of the machine. I have the traditional pasta recipes down so I thought it was time to experiment with some new flavor combinations. The first one I had to try was ‘Beer & Pretzel’.
The pasta required a little more hydration than the traditional pastas I’ve made, which I think is due to the ‘pretzel flour’. The results were amazing. The pasta had strong nutty caramel notes on the nose. The smell permeated throughout the kitchen even before the pasta was cooked.
Here is the composed dish.
Beer & Pretzel Spaghetti
SoNo Hong Kong Habanero Mustard Cream, Beer Braised Bratwurst
This pasta and dish was a surprisingly huge success and I might have just come up with a new signature dish. Gastro Bits received a sample of the pasta and you can check out his review here http://www.gastrobits.com/2012/03/beer-pretzel-pasta-ariccia-clobbered.html. Stay tuned for new flavors coming in the next few weeks.
When mentioning to people that I’m opening an Italian market, at least a quarter of the people ask if we are going to carry a gluten free fresh pasta. Up until recently I wasn’t sure. I wanted to make sure the quality of product was at the same level as my traditional pastas. After a few test batches I came up with a great result. This pasta is made from a custom blend of dry ingredients, mixed with fresh eggs and a little bit of water resulting in a very similar product as my traditional pastas. I think my gluten free customers are going to be very happy with the results and to finally have a fresh pasta option that doesn’t make them miss gluten.
Freshly extruded gluten free pasta drying
Gluten free pasta, basil pesto, sun dried tomatoes, parmigiano reggiano
