Charcuterie_ The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing - Michael Ruhlman [127]
1 medium eggplant (11⁄2 pounds/675 grams)
1 zucchini (8 ounces/225 grams), cut into 1⁄2-inch/1-centimeter disks
1 yellow squash (8 ounces/225 grams), cut into 1⁄2-inch/1-centimeter disks
4 ounces/100 grams mushrooms, quartered
2 large vine-ripened tomatoes (about 14 ounces/400 grams), cored, quartered, and seeded
1⁄2 cup/125 milliliters extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 red bell pepper (6 ounces/160 grams)
1 yellow bell pepper (6 ounces/160 grams)
1 cup/140 grams diced onion
1 teaspoon/6 grams minced garlic
1 cup/200 grams Niçoise or Kalamata olives, pitted
2 tablespoons/30 milliliters balsamic vinegar
1⁄2 cup/50 grams fresh basil chiffonade (slivered)
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F./190 degrees C.
2. Poke holes in the eggplant with a fork, and place on a small baking sheet. Roast until soft, about 40 minutes. Set aside to cool. Turn the oven up to 400 degrees F./200 degrees C.
3. Toss the zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, and tomatoes with 1⁄4 cup/60 milliliters of the olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and spread on a baking sheet. Roast until soft and golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool, then finely chop and set aside.
4. Meanwhile, grill or broil the bell peppers, turning frequently, until blackened all over. Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let cool. Then peel, seed, and dice.
5. In a small sauté pan, sauté the onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons/30 milliliters olive oil until soft but not browned; set aside.
6. Peel the skin from the roasted eggplant. Place the olives in a food processor and puree. Add the eggplant, then the onion-garlic mixture, and puree until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl. Fold in the diced roasted peppers, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, remaining olive oil, and the basil. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Store, covered, in the refrigerator until ready to use, or for up to a week. Serve at room temperature.
Yield: 1 quart/1 liter
SIMPLE RILLETTES FROM CONFIT
Once you have made confit—be it duck, goose, or pork—these rillettes can be prepared in ten minutes, and they’re fantastic, probably better in fact than classical rillettes, because the meat is cooked not in stock but rather in fat. If you’re going to the trouble of making confit in fact, it’s always a good idea to make more than you need so you can then have some rillettes on hand. Sealed with fat and covered with plastic wrap, then aluminum foil (fat likes the dark), they’ll keep for a month or longer in the refrigerator. They also freeze well (as do most high-fat items), well-wrapped, for up to three months.
This method can be used with any meat confit and it is easily doubled. It’s an excellent use for confited duck breast, which tends to be a little drier than the leg, and benefits from the added fat.
8 ounces/225 grams confit meat
1⁄4 cup/60 milliliters confit fat, or as needed
1⁄4 cup/60 milliliters confit jelly (see pages 256–257), or as needed
Freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt if needed
1. Tear the meat into chunks, discarding any skin if you’re using duck, and place in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the fat and confit jelly, and season with pepper. Mix on high speed until the fat is evenly distributed and the meat is shredded and creamy looking. The rillettes should be very moist and spreadable. If the mixture seems too stiff, add more fat and/or jelly, or stock, and mix to incorporate. Taste for seasoning; the jelly is very salty, so be cautious with salt.
2. Transfer to ramekins and refrigerate. Once chilled, you can seal the ramekins with additional fat, or, because there’s plenty of fat in them already, simply spread a good Dijon mustard over the top.
3. Serve at room temperature, with thin slices of toasted baguette.
Yield: Six 2-ounce/50-gram ramekins
Vegetable Confit
Restaurant menus