Michael Symon's Live to Cook_ Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen - Michael Symon [73]
Serves 8 as a starter or 4 as a main course
2 tablespoons canola oil
Braised Pork Belly, cut into 8 equal 1 by 1-inch pieces
8 ounces haloumi cheese, cut into 24 pieces each about ¼ inch thick
1 cup Red Wine Vinaigrette with all optional ingredients included
2 tablespoons finely sliced scallion, white and green parts
8 ounces red seedless watermelon, cut into 16 1-inch cubes
Heat the oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the pork belly and cook to crisp the exteriors and heat the insides, about 4 minutes in all. Remove to a paper towel to drain.
Add the cheese to the pan and sauté to crisp one side, about a minute.
Combine the vinaigrette and the scallion in a mixing bowl. Add the pork belly, cheese, and watermelon to the vinaigrette and gently toss to coat.
Set a piece of cheese in the center of each plate. Arrange the watermelon and pork belly on top. Spoon a tablespoon of the vinaigrette over each serving.
FRISÉE WITH CRISPY PORK BELLY “CROUTONS”
This of course is a play on the traditional bistro dish, frisée and lardon salad. The “croutons” are cut from braised pork belly and deep-fried, which allows them to develop an amazingly crispy exterior while remaining tender and succulent within.
Serves 8
Canola oil, for deep-frying
Braised Pork Belly, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups frisée
¼ cup pickled red onions
¼ cup Sherry Vinaigrette
Kosher salt
8 poached eggs, optional
Pour enough oil into a large pot so that the oil comes 3 inches up the sides. Heat the oil to 375°F.
Deep-fry the pork belly “croutons” until crispy on the outside and hot and tender inside, about 4 minutes.
While the pork belly cooks, combine the frisée, onions, and vinaigrette in a mixing bowl and toss to combine. Season with salt.
When the pork belly is done, scoop it from the oil, allow to drain on paper towels, and then add to the frisée. Toss the salad and divide evenly among eight plates. If you like, top with a poached egg.
The Power of the Cookbook
I love a cookbook for how it makes me feel. Great cookbooks convey the passion of the author and change the way you think about food. They broaden your appreciation for this profession and they deepen your own love and passion for cooking. These are a handful of my favorite cookbooks, books that have been most meaningful to me as a cook, and I can’t recommend them enough. In no particular order:
The French Laundry Cookbook, by Thomas Keller: I think a lot of people bought this because they were just plain curious about what Thomas Keller was doing out in Yountville, California; but for me, the great power of this book is not about the food or the recipes or the gorgeous photography. This book is important to me because it was the first cookbook that explicitly showed one man’s absolute drive toward perfection. Until I read this book I believed that it was skill that made a chef great; but here I realized how driven you must be. We all work really hard, but Keller goes beyond anything I’d ever seen before.
The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, by Judy Rodgers: I love this book for Judy’s absolute passion for food, her pure love of food, the way she writes about handling food, preparing food. A lot of chefs cook that same way and have written books, but why don’t those books make you feel this passion? You read her recipes, the power of her descriptions, the thoughtfulness of her observations about food that can only come from a powerful love of food, and her joy comes through on every page.
The Art of Eating, by M. F. K. Fisher: I read this shortly after leaving culinary school, and it was a thrill to discover a book that is all about a passion for eating! Every chef I know becomes a chef in part because he or she loves to eat. I love to eat, and here is a whole book describing the glories of eating. It makes you hungry.
The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating, by Fergus Henderson: This British chef took a segment of cooking