Big Sur Bakery Cookbook - Michelle Wojtowicz [90]
Cut the avocado in half with a knife. Remove the pit, and scoop each half from the skin with a large spoon in one swoop. Cut each half into quarters, and season them with salt and pepper.
Gently toss the mâche in a bowl with the parsley, chives, scallions, and shallots. Add the citrus segments and add just enough dressing to lightly coat the mâche and the fruit, about ¼ cup. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Arrange the salad on a platter, and garnish with the avocado quarters.
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Chicken Soup
Chicken soup is no joke. Its healing properties have been recorded since ancient times…or at least since before Campbell’s hit the supermarkets. Whenever we feel under the weather, we treat ourselves to this soup, which incorporates elements from a bunch of different recipes in this book. You can tailor the soup to your taste by adding or subtracting different vegetables or by adding barley, noodles, or rice. (Cook the starches separately and add them right before serving.)
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INGREDIENTS
1 roasted chicken
1 cup fingerling potato confit
2 tablespoons rice bran oil or canola oil
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 cup cooked chanterelles
1 cup long-cooked greens
3 quarts chicken stock
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons minced chives
3 whole scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
¼ cup grated Parmesan
8 basil toasts
Serves 8, with plenty of leftovers
Pick the meat off the roasted chicken and discard the skin and bones. Cut the confit potatoes into ¼-inch coins, and set them aside.
Heat a large pot over medium-low heat and drizzle the oil into it. Add the onions, carrots, and celery, and sweat until the onions are translucent and the other vegetables are slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add the fingerling potatoes, chicken, chanterelles, and long-cooked greens. Cover with the chicken stock, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until all the flavors begin to meld together. Right before serving, stir in the parsley, chives, and scallions.
Transfer the soup to a serving tureen or individual soup bowls. Serve sprinkled with the grated Parmesan and accompanied by the basil toasts.
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Spicy Fresh Calamari
When we first moved to Big Sur, fishermen friends used to drop off five-gallon buckets of fresh squid from Monterey Bay as a gift to Phil. This was a mixed blessing: we love squid, but man, cleaning them takes time. Once they’re cleaned, though, they can cook up in minutes, and we think it’s worth the effort. This recipe yields the tenderest of calamari.
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INGREDIENTS
3 pounds fresh squid, or 2 pounds cleaned squid (not frozen!)
1 cup tomato sauce
¼ cup chicken stock
Hot red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
4 tablespoons rice bran oil or canola oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley
Serves 4
Cut each squid in half, right above the tentacles and below the eyes. (Don’t use a wooden cutting board—or any other material that will stain—just in case you break the ink sacs.) Working with the tentacle halves, squeeze out the beaks (they look like hard, dark pearls) and set aside the tentacles. For the other halves, use the flat side of a knife to scrape off the external skin and wings, leaving behind just the white tubes of flesh. Then slice open each tube and scrape its interior to remove the entrails, making sure not to miss the clear piece of cartilage inside. You should be left with clean rectangles of white flesh. Score what used to be the outside of the squid with tightly spaced diagonal lines (these lines will help make the squid curl when