Easter Dinner

Easter is a holiday that means a lot to most people.  For me, it's another good reason to make some special dishes.  Here's the menu for tonight.

Pheasant
If you ever have the opportunity to try real wild pheasant breasts, indulge in the pleasure.  When properly prepared, pheasant is rich, slightly gamy and  tender, yet toothsome.  This is a simple way of producing an excellent bird.
3 lbs Pheasant Breasts (boneless and skinless)
   Brine
   1 gallon Water
   1 can Coke
   1 tablespoon whole Allspice, cracked
   1 teaspoon Coriander Seed, cracked
   1 tablespoon Juniper Berries, lightly crushed
   3/4 cup Table Salt
   Combine all ingredients, and stir until the salt is dissolved.  Add the pheasant.  Soak over night.  Rinse thoroughly, and pat dry with a paper towel.

2 tablespoons Bacon Fat
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 cup slices Mushrooms
3-4 tablespoons of Bourbon Whiskey

Heat the bacon fat to melting in a heavy skillet on high heat.  Lay one layer of breasts into the fat.  Add salt and pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes (or until slightly seared), then flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Remove and repeat with the next layer, etc.

Reduce the heat to medium.  To the remaining fat and drippings, add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt.  Cook until the mushrooms begin to soften.  Reduce the heat to low and add the breasts back in.  Add the whiskey, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes.  DO NOT boil.  This will toughen the tender meat.  You won't like it.

Cream of Sour Dock

Acorn Squash Risotto
1 Acorn Squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch "cubes"
1 Onion, chopped
1/4 cup Unsalted Butter
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup Unsalted Butter (yes, again.  Not a typo)
1 3/4 cup Arborio Rice
6 cups Chicken Stock, heated to near boiling
Pepper to taste
1/4 Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 teaspoon ground Turmeric
1/4 teaspoon grated Nutmeg

In a very large saucepan (remember--it's going to hold ALL of these ingredients) melt the butter on medium heat.  Add the onion and squash.  Add salt.  Saute until the onion turns translucent.  Remove the squash and onion from the pan with a slotted spoon.  Add more butter and  the rice.  Stir for 7-10 minutes, constantly, until the rice starts to turn brown and starts to smell a little nutty.  Add the squash and onion back in. 

Here's the hard part.  Patience.  After constant stirring for 10 minutes, you get to stir some more.  Add 1 ladle of chicken stock.  Stir until it is completely absorbed.  Add another ladle-full and stir.  Repeat and repeat until all the stock is absorbed.  It will take time but it is worth your effort. 

Stir in the pepper, cheese, turmeric and nutmeg.  Remove from the heat and serve while hot and creamy.

Bread

Lemon Mousse
1/2 cup Lemon Juice (about 2 large lemons or 3 regular lemons)
Zest of the Lemons
1 tablespoon unflavored Gelatin
4 large Eggs, separated
1/4 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Whipping Cream

In one bowl, combine the lemon juice and the gelatin.  Let stand for 10 minutes to let the gelatin bloom. 

In another bowl combine the lemon zest, sugar and the egg yolks.  Stir until fluffy and creamy and lemony. 

After the 10 minutes is up, heat the lemon juice and gelatin in a double boiler.  Be gentle.  Go slow.  When the gelatin is completely dissolved, and the juice is heated and aromatic, slowly pour it into the egg yolk mixture, stirring quickly.  Return to the double boiler and reheat it slowly until it STARTS to thicken.  Remove from the heat and put it in the refrigerator to start cooling.

Whip the cream and fold into the lemon mixture.  Then whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold it into the cream and lemon mixture.  Spoon into glasses for serving and let chill for a few hours.  Top with sweetened whipped cream.  Light and refreshing!

The All-American Diet: Not Quite a Love Story

I visited my doctor recently. "High cholesterol."  Now this isn't anything new.  I have tested high before and my family has tradition of gluttony: a tradition so rich and deeply fried that I firmly believe that it and it alone contributed to the girth of my family tree.  So, when I asked how high, he said, "Really high. Too high. If 'too high' was a number, you'd be that plus a lot more." So I asked him what the number was, and he was dismayed by my response: "That's great! That's a lot better than last time!"  My grandparents lived to old ages in spite of their culinary (and other) habits, my parents are doing well and I feel strong as a horse.  Honestly, I think of myself as a 17 year old--at least until I start working out.  Then I feel every day of my 41 and 3/4 years.

I share these traits to a greater or lesser degree with nearly every American, so it's by no surprise that the FDA has proposed restaurants post calorie counts on their menus.  Now, before we have the good/bad discussion, lets look at a few of the socioeconomic and dietary factors that contribute to American health concerns. 

Most recent health studies that show up in the popular media focus on childhood and adolescent nutrition.  The Department of Health and Human Services states that adolescents who are obese have an increased risk developing all sorts of problems, from the obvious horrors of diabetes and heart disease to subtle yet pervasive problems like asthma, orthopedic distress and depression.  In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control, diabetes causes more deaths in the US than the better research-funded breast cancer, prostate cancer or colon cancer.   Lack of exercise, eating away from home and little variety in diet appear to be the main contributors to childhood obesity.  Unfortunately, based on an article the science journal Nature, the children most at risk also have the least hope changing their circumstances.

Wow.  What a depressing paragraph. 

Fortunately, recent movies such as Fast Food Nation, Super Size Me and Food, Inc have increased our awareness of the dangers we face.  (Judge them for what they are: sensationalistic yet provocative.)  Activists like Michelle Obama and Jamie Oliver are working around the clock to find solutions. 

So given what I just laid out, it seems natural that there should be calorie counts on menus.  But I see another economic catastrophe coming.  Restaurants will give up changing their menus.  No daily specials.  No seasonal variations.  The recipes will have to be tested and tirelessly maintained.  And sadly, as has already been proven by posting nutritional information on candy bars and soda, people who want to consume junky food will consume it regardless of nutritional value.  If I'm right, we'll see less variation of restaurant food and no real reform of food and eating habits.  Pity.

On the bright side, simple home cooking could increase.  And I'm looking for another doctor--one who is less judgemental.

For something simple tonight, try: 

Bread, Redux

This is a simple recipe for a hearty loaf with a dense crumb.
1 1/4 lbs of Bread Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
1/4 cup Sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
1/2 cup Warm Water (to proof the yeast)
2/3 stick of Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup Milk, plus up to 3 tablespoons more, as needed

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and wait for it to froth up.  Combine the dry ingredients in a heavy bowl.  Mix in the yeast mixture, butter and 1/2 cup of milk.  Stir into a shaggy mass.  Add the remaining milk a tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together as a dry rough mass. 

Lightly dust a workspace and start kneading.  Knead until the dough comes together as a smooth ball. 

Let it rise for an hour or until it's doubled in size.  Punch it down until it's almost back to its original size.  Shape it into whatever shape you want to bake it, and place it on a cookie sheet or in a loaf pan.  Heat the oven to 400 degrees and let the loaf rise again.  When the oven comes to temperature, bake the bread for 30 minutes.  Remove it from the oven and take it off the cookie sheet or out of the pan, as appropriate.  Put it on a cooling rack to stop cooking as fast possible.  

It's going to smell incredible, and if you are like me, you'll want to cut into it immediately.  Don't!  Let it rest for for an hour to cool. 

For variation, replace the milk with beer, coffee, beef broth or even diluted wine or whiskey.