Starches

On the second day of classes this week we continues with starches, we made:

Mushroom Ragout
Polenta
Spaetzle
Rice Pilaf
Steamed Rice

MUSHROOM RAGOUT

3 oz bacon, diced
1 tbs garlic, minced
1 tbs shallot, minced
4 oz leeks, julienne
6 oz pearl onion, peeled
¾ tsp fresh thyme, chopped
12 oz wild mushrooms, mixed
½ c white wine
2 c veal demi-glace (reduction)
4 plum tomatoes, concassé
Salt and pepper TT

1. Sauté the mushrooms. Remove from pan and set aside for later use.

2. Add bacon to the pan and cook until reduced and crisp – Remove the bacon and set aside with the mushrooms

3. Add the garlic, shallots, leeks, onions, and thyme and sweat until tender

4. Deglaze the pan with the wine and cook au sec

5. Add the demi glace and reduce to the desired consistency, approx 15 min

6. Add the tomato concassé, cooked mushrooms and cooked bacon and simmer a min or so to allow the flavors to come together. Adjust the seasonings

NOTES: This dish is delicious! You can put this over pasta or rice. We made fresh pasta for this. Our table did a twisted or spiraled pasta (picture below).

PROBLEM: I unfortunately undercooked this pasta a tad bit.

SOLUTION to this problem would be to put the pasta and the ragout into an individual casserole dish, top with cheese and bake it a bit… then it can be made to order.

freshly hand rolled pasta.

POLENTA

polenta cooking

2 tsp shallots, chopped
Whole butter, as needed
3 c milk
3 c water
6 oz (wt) cornmeal, course for polenta yellow or white
Salt and pepper TT

1. Sauté the shallots in 1 tbl butter for 30 sec add milk, water, and bring to a boil

2. Slowly add the cornmeal while stirring constantly to prevent lumps, and then simmer for 30 minutes. Until polenta grains are creamy and tender. Season with salt and pepper

3. Scrape polenta into buttered non- aluminum dish; spread evenly with spatula that has been dipped in water. Refrigerate until well chilled

4. To serve, unmold polenta and cut into shapes. Sauté or grill, or sprinkle with cheese and heat under broiler.

NOTES/OBSERVATIONS: Polenta is sort of like cream of wheat. When cutting it you can cut it with a string to get precise shapes. Polenta would be good as a base for the Mushroom Ragout as well. Really you could do a million things polenta. Dessert polenta, fried polenta even Polenta Pizza! Anything you can think of!

SPAETZLE

3 eggs
1 c water
¾ # AP flour
¼ tsp salt
1 pinch nutmeg, freshly grated
2 oz clarified butter
2 tsp fresh parsley, minced
Salt and pepper TT

1. Whisk egg to blend. Add warm water and whisk well. Add flour, salt and nutmeg. Mix by hand until well blended. Should be smooth, gooey paste. Cover and refrigerate 30 min

2. Place batter in a spaetzle maker, colander or perforated half hotel pan suspended over a large pot of boiling water. Work the batter through the holes using a rubber spatula. Batter should drop into the boiling water. Reduce water temp to a simmer

3. Cook the dumplings in water until they float to the surface about 3-4 min. If done, remove and shock in ice water

4. Toss gently heated butter and adjust seasonings. Finish with finely minced parsley.

This was cool to make – the dough is very gooey. I found it easier to push the dough through the colander with my hand – wear a glove though it gets pretty messy!

Instead of garnishing this with parsley – my partner and I decided to make a dessert Spaetzle – we mixed in butter and cinnamon and sugar. It was REALLY GOOD!

STEAMED RICE (makes 4 cups cooked rice)

2 C Jasmine rice, washed 2-3 times
2 C cold water

1. Measure rice, add plenty water and wash the rice with your hands. Then drain and repeat until the water runs clear

2. Place rice in saucepot, add the cold water and salt over med high heat bring to a simmer, cover and turn down heat. Simmer until rice has absorbed all the liquid

3. Test by tasting in a few places. If cooked and tender fluff, recover and allow to steam a few more min. If not tender, add more water and cook another minute or two , and test again.

Normally when cooking rice the rule is use a ratio of 2:1. 2 cups liquid to 1 cup rice.. however this recipe said to do equal parts - one table in class did do it this way and it worked - I did not see or taste their rice but i am guess it turns out a little more moist - So if you like your rice on the moist side - TRY IT!

RICE PILAF (makes 4 cups cooked rice)

1 ½ tsp clarified butter
1 ½ tsp olive oil
2 oz onion, fine dice
1 bay leaf
2 c long grain rice (jasmine)
1 ½ c chicken stock
1 ½ c water
Salt TT

1. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy sauce pan

2. Add the onion and bay leave, and sauté until the onion is tender, but not browned

3. Add the rice and stir to coat it completely with the hot fat. Don’t allow rice to brown

4. Pour in the stock and water and season with salt

5. Cover the pot slightly and leave on a very slow simmer for 16 min. do not stir until you have checked that rice is tender. If its tender then fluff it, cover, set aside to steam for 10 min. Add more water if necessary if not cooked yet.

6. Fluff the rice with a fork. Remove bay leaf

FUN RICE FACTS: Wild rice is grown in Minnesota. White rice is stripped of ALL nutrients – EAT BROWN RICE! Brown rice has a nutty flavor and usually takes longer to cook.

The left side is Jasmine Rice, on the right is Arborio rice - used to make Risotto.