Mes amis!

Today we are celebrating the filbert in several different ways. Filberts are an alternate name for hazelnuts. The Oregon Hazelnut Industry Office suggests that the name filbert was introduced in America by early French settlers possibly derived from St. Philibert whose feast day was August 20, around the time that the nuts are harvested. Another possibility is that the name derives from “full beard” as it has a husk that fully covers the nut. Hazelnut was the name adopted in England and filbert and hazelnut can be used interchangeably.

Our base for two hazelnut recipes will be a hazelnut paste from Rose Levy Beranbaum. This paste will flavor our homemade Nutella ice cream and form the cookie crust for Rose’s hazelnut torte. There is a fair amount of work needed to make the paste, but you’ll be rewarded with a surplus (even if making both of these deserts). The extra can go to topping the ice cream or any sweet treat you’ve got going.

Hazelnut Paste

3 cups water

1/4 cup baking soda

1 1/2 cups hazenuts

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbs hazelnut oil (or canola)

Set the oven to 350 and boil three cups of water in a larger saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda. Add the hazelnuts and set the pan back on the heat. Boil for 3 minutes and test a nut by running it under cold water and seeing if the skin slips off easily. If not, boil for another few minutes. Ladle the spoons out of the pan and into a bowl with cool water. Start rubbing! I won’t lie, this next step is somewhat tedious. Using a kitchen towel, rub each nut so that the skin comes off. Rinse the finished nuts and spread them our on a baking pan. Toast in the oven for 20 minutes, shaking the pan a few times during the cooking.

Next, set a silicone mat on a baking sheet. Pour the toasted hazelnuts on top.

Then, add the sugar and 1/3 cup of water together in a small saucepan. Heat until the mixture starts to caramelize into a deep amber (370 on the thermometer). Pour the caramel over the nuts and let it all harden and cool. Break the praline apart and place in a food processor. Add 2 tablespoons of hazelnut oil and puree until smooth. I couldn’t get it super smooth or paste-y (the food processor started to smoke, so I stopped).

Homemade Nutella Ice Cream

1 1/2 cup of hazelnut paste (above)

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

4 oz milk chocolate

5 egg yolks

1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Warm the milk with 1 cup of the cream, sugar and salt in a saucepan. In a separate pan, heat the other cup of cream until just simmering. Add the chocolate and remove from heat. Stir together until smooth. Set aside. Separate the eggs and whisk the yolks. Add a little of the warmed milk mixture to the eggs, whisk, repeat, then add the eggs to the saucepan and bring to medium heat. Stir until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Set a strainer over the melted chocolate and pour the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture. Mix and add 1 cup of the hazelnut paste and the vanilla. Chill overnight. The next day, mix the ice cream base according to your ice cream maker instructions. When scooping the finished ice cream into its freezer container, sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of the paste. Sprinkle with some left over hazelnut paste! Enjoy!

 

 

Mes Gentilhommes!

We have emerged (finalment) from the month of Nivôse and are diving headlong into Pluvôise, Rainy Month. For the sake of the mission of this particular blog, I must say I am glad. Mineral month was exciting in a “there’s literally nothing I can think of to make for Bitumen Day,” but I’m glad to say adieu to it for a year. Pluvôise offers us actual vegetation again! It begins with the spurge-laurel, moss, butcher’s broom and the snowdrop flower (which flowers in winter). Today, 5 Pluvôise is Bull Day and I am celebrating the bull by making another oxtail dish. I’ve chosen a hearty oxtail ragu with gnocchi that simmers for a whole afternoon and fills the house with lovely smells on a rainy day.

Oxtail Ragu (makes a double recipe)

1 – 2 lbs of oxtail

1/4 cup flour

2 tsp crushed black pepper

2 tbs salt

2 tbs olive oil

1 large onion

2 large carrots

2 celery stalks

1 head of garlic

1 sprig of rosemary

1 cup red wine

2 cans of 28 oz peeled tomatoes

First, chop the onion, carrots, celery, garlic and rosemary. Then, mix the flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Toss the oxtails in the flour mixture. Heat the olive oil in a large pot and brown the oxtails on all sides. Remove the oxtails and reserve. Add add the onion, carrots, celery, rosemary and garlic to the same pot. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes. While they cook, open the cans of tomatoes and pour into a large bowl. Squeeze the full tomatoes so most of the juice is extracted and discard the pulp. This tip is thanks to Tony Danza – it will make your sauce less bitter. Add the wine, tomatoes and some salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Return the oxtails to the pot and add water so that the meat is covered. Simmer and cook partially covered until the meat falls from the bone of the oxtail, about 4 hours. Let it cool and then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day when you are ready to eat, take the ragu out of the fridge and skim the fat from the surface. Warm on the stove until heated through and remove the oxtails. Bring the sauce to a low boil and cook until reduced and thickened, 10 minutes. Take the meat off the bones, shred, and add back to the pot. Remove two cups of the ragu and freeze for another rainy day! Serve with gnocchi or pasta.

 

Mes amis,

The days of Nivôse have proven to be fairly difficult to pair with food. We’ve skipped over coal, bitumen (asphalt tar), sulfur and dog. Which brings us to lava, 6 Nivôse. To celebrate the 8 new acres of land created by lava flows in Hawaii and the swarms of earthquakes at Mt. Saint Helen’s, I present: molten lava cakes.

Individual Lava Cakes 

6 ounces semisweet chocolate

6 tbs butter

1/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder, sifted

4 large egg whites

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

2 tablespoons sugar

Heat oven to 400. First, start beating the egg whites and cream of tartar in an electric mixer until soft peaks form. While the eggs are beating, melt the butter in a medium sauce pan. Once melted, add the chocolate and heat until just melted. Mix in the cocoa powder. To the egg whites, add the sugar gradually. While the chocolate mixture cools, butter and sugar six ramekins or a muffin pan. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and then pour into the prepared ramekens. Cook for 7 to 8 minutes and then remove from oven and let cool for 3 minutes. Run a knife around the edges and invert onto a serving plate. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

 

 

To celebrate olive day of Frimaire (and close out the month) I decided to get a jump start on a black eyed pea recipe for Gregorian New Year’s. I found a recipe that also uses olives – the vegetable we are celebrating on 29 Frimaire. Wikipedia has a couple of possible explanations for the superstition, including one that I’m choosing to believe: the beans swell considerably when cooked, symbolizing prosperity. None of this relates to olives, I know.

Black Eyed Peas with Olives 

1 head of garlic

1 medium onion, chopped

1 small fennel bulb, chopped

1 lemon, zested and juiced

3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 bay leaves

2 cups black eyed peas

1/4 cup feta

4 sprigs of basil

1 cup castelvetrano olives, chopped

1 large bunch of kale

couple slices of hearty bread

First, soak the beans overnight, or for a few hours prior to cooking. Peel and smash the garlic. In a large Dutch oven, heat 4 teaspoons of olive oil at medium. Cook the garlic for about 5 minutes, until golden brown. Add the onion and fennel and some salt. Cook for about 10 minutes and then add the lemon zest, 3/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. In about 3 minutes, add the bay leaves, beans, a teaspoon of salt and 8 cups of water. Bring to a simmer and then partially cover the pot. Cook at a simmer for an hour, or until the beans are tender.

Add the basil and the olives and then add the kale and cook for 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice and salt to taste. Remove the bay leaves.