Michael Symon's Live to Cook_ Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen - Michael Symon [74]
White Heat, by Marco Pierre White: This book, beloved in the chef world maybe more than any other, was the first to capture the sheer energy that’s in a kitchen. No one had ever seen this before in a book. And it shows how temperamental chefs can be. I’m not like that—really!—but after the book came out in 1992, whenever I would lose my temper, my partner, Doug Petkovic, would say, “Easy, White Heat.” This book shows everybody what so many cooks love about their kitchens and their work.
CONFITED DUCK WITH PICKLED CHERRY SAUCE AND BRAISED ENDIVE
I love fat but it’s got to be well balanced; this Lola signature dish has the perfect balance between sweet, tart, bitter, and rich. The key elements of this dish are made ahead, so this is easy to complete just before serving.
Serves 8
8 legs Duck Confit, at room temperature
1 cup Pickled Cherries, strained, with 1 cup of their juice reserved
2 cups Chicken Stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 bunch of watercress
Braised Endive with Citrus
Preheat the oven to 300°F.
Heat a large ovenproof sauté pan (or two) over medium heat. Arrange the duck legs skin side down in the pan and crisp the skin for 3 to 4 minutes. Flip them and place in the oven for 5 minutes to heat through.
Meanwhile, combine the cherries, juice, and stock in a nonreactive saucepan over medium heat and simmer to reduce by half. With the liquid at a low simmer, whisk in the butter.
To serve, arrange the endive in the center of each plate and top with a duck leg. Spoon the sauce on top and garnish with watercress.
YIA YIA’S SUNDAY SAUCE
ROASTED LEG OF LAMB WITH TZATZIKI SAUCE
ITALIAN BRAISED BEEF WITH ROOT VEGETABLES
MOM’S LASAGNA
“CLEVELAND-STYLE” CLAMBAKE
LIZZIE’S ROASTED CHICKEN WITH SALSA VERDE
TURKEY
ROASTED RACK OF PORK WITH GRILLED PEACHES AND CHESTNUT HONEY VINAIGRETTE
PORK CHEEK CHILI
SPLIT PEA SOUP WITH BACON, HAM HOCK, AND SPARE RIBS
I could have folded these recipes into the other entrée sections but to do so would be to ignore one of the most fundamental facts of my life, the power of family, and one of my deepest convictions, that life is better when we sit down and share a meal together. We are all busy. With more dual income families and single parent families than ever, and with kids’ time scheduled to the hilt, family meals may be decreasing. But I urge you, if you don’t already, find at least one day a week when you and your family sit down to a meal together. I was lucky enough to do this most nights throughout my childhood and the dinner table is where I learned a lot of lessons. There’s something about the dinner table that changes the way people act. We’re a passionate family so there were plenty of disputes and raised voices when I was growing up, but I don’t ever recall a raised voice at the dinner table, not once, unless it was a happy one. And I got punished plenty as a kid, but I was never yelled at at the dinner table. The dinner table was a special place, a safe haven, absolute comfort.
The following dishes are all big straightforward ones that remind me of childhood and family. They are meant to be served “family style,” from platters and boards and pots. These are meals that are meant to be shared with a crowd, which are the best kind of meals there are.
Family
On February 11, 1998, reviewing the reservation list for that night at Lola, I noticed a 212 area code on a confirmation number. This was odd; we never had out-of-town phone numbers in our book. I’d been called by an editor of Food & Wine magazine several weeks earlier who’d asked me to fax a menu and we had talked a little about the food at Lola. It was good that they were paying attention to restaurants in flyover