Boys of Cooking

Category: Winter

  • Braised Chicken with Mushrooms

    Braised Chicken with Mushrooms

    This is a complete reworking of a recipe that started out with rabbit meat and cooked in the oven for hours. Years ago, I started cooking this recipe using chicken meat but only recently did I realize how perfect it is for the pressure cooker. It’s much faster, simpler and every bit as tasty. In…

  • Andouille Sausage with Black-Eyed Peas

    In a 6-quart (or larger) pressure cooker, heat 1+ TBL oil. (Don’t use less, as it keeps the beans from foaming and causing problems later on.) Saute 1 medium onion, diced, until soft. Add 1 cup dry, rinsed black-eyed peas, 1 minced stalk celery, 1 diced large red pepper, 1 minced jalapeno pepper, 1 minced…

  • Root Soup

    This started out as potato soup originally, and it’s morphed into a much more interesting dish. Peel and cut up 2-4 potatoes, 4-5 parsley roots, 3 carrots and 2 leeks. place in pot and cover with water. Add 2 tsp salt and bring to a boil; reduce to a strong simmer. Skim any starchy foam…

  • Candied Pomelo Peel

    This is sweet from the honey, but retains a nice bitter edge. It’s simple and delicious. And it’s really fast to make. Pomelos usually show up in the market at the height of winter. They look like really big grapefruit, sometimes having a slight pear-like shape. Skins range from yellow to yellow-green. Find a pomelo…

  • Preserved Lemons

    Cut 6 Meyer lemons as follows: quarter them (almost) going from just below one end almost down to the other. The lemon will remain intact, but if you squeeze it by pressing the two ends towards each other, some juice will ooze out and the segments will be accessible. Using ¼ cup kosher salt total,…

  • Celery Root Saute

    Peel 2 celery roots, trimming as needed to clean. Slice thinly across the root to make even slices and then cut these cross-wise to make julienne. (The safe way to do this is to cut the root lengthwise and then work with each half to make the thin slices.) Set the julienne aside. Despite what…

  • Fennel-Mussel Soup

    Wash off and debeard 2 pounds of mussels, discarding any dead ones. While wet, put them in a covered pot and cook on medium-high heat until they have opened; discard any that remain closed. Remove meat from all but 12 of the mussels, reserving the meat and the 12 fully-intact mussels. Strain liquid through a…

  • Magret de Canard

    Magret de Canard

    Score the skin side in ½-inch diamonds, only cutting into the fat layer and not into the meat. Make a mixture of 1 tsp kosher salt and ½ tsp ground black or green pepper. Rub the generously all over the magret. Preheat the oven to 450º F and as it nears the desired temperature heat…

  • Clam Soup

    Heat some oil in a large pot. Add 2 TBL finely minced garlic. Cook briefly, add 6 anchovies, mashing them as they cook. Add 1 cup white wine, 4 cups canned tomatoes with paste/pulp, 2 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp dried basil, ½ cup chopped parsley (fresh), 1 tsp dried red pepper flakes. Taste it…

  • Sauteed Fennel with Pernod

    Trim fennel bulb, cutting off bottom end of bulb. Slice vertically into thin slices. Saute in olive oil on high heat. Let brown, but not burn. You may want to cover it to accelerate the cooking. Toss in some Pernod, stir quickly and serve hot.