Tag: Ad Hoc at Home

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buttermilk biscuits

Biscuits are tasty.
No need for a lame boxed brand.
Butter, flour, salt.

Oh flaky layers,
with your comforting embrace.
Pastry of my dreams.

So good with collards,
eggs, cheese, meat, jam, and honey.
So good all the time.

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Buttermilk Biscuits, adapted from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 lb (two sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1 tablespoon pieces and very cold
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, very cold

Preheat your oven to 425° F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a food processor, plus flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda together until combined. Add the butter and pulse until the butter has been chopping into pea-sized pieces. Turn into a large bowl.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and pour in the buttermilk. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Don’t over mix, you don’t want tough biscuits. Turn the dough onto a counter and pat into a 3/4″ thick rectangle. Cut into 12 or 16 pieces using a pizza cutter, and place immediately in a hot oven. (Do not wait to bake them!  You’ll cry later at the rocks surrounded by pools of burnt butter you pull from the oven. If you must wait, put them in the freezer). I chose square biscuits because I did not want to waste any of that delicious, buttery dough, but you could also use a round cookie cutter. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm.

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—Emily and Jordan

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trout with creamed corn

Shall we talk some more about fish?

Butterflied trout really are a perfect fish. Tender, mild meat, no pesky bones or guts to get in your way because the fishmonger took care of that for you, affordable and sustainably harvested. Plus, for something that cooks in about 10 minutes, they still manage to look quite impressive. I’m of the mind that whole fish are always impressive. You?

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And, now that July is here and summer is in full swing, it is time for everyone to get on this creamed corn. Originally from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home, we’ve made a few tweaks so it pairs a bit better with the fish and eliminates some of TK’s meticulous technique. This creamed corn is good, really good. If you’ve only ever had creamed corn from a can, this is an entirely different world. One you want to live in. Forever.

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Now go get yourself some summer corn, a few fish and make this gorgeous dinner in 30 minutes. I’ve already done it twice. The recipe below serves four, so cut it in half if you’re cooking for two. While the corn makes good leftovers, the same can’t really be said about the trout.

Creamed Corn
4 ears fresh corn, cut off the cob
2 tablespoons butter
1 lemon, zested and juiced
3/4 cup cream
1 tiny pinch of cayenne
2 tablespoons chives, minced
salt, pepper

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Cut the corn off the cob. Scrape the cob with the back of a knife to get the rest of the corn flesh. In a heavy saute pan over medium-low heat, combine the fresh corn, butter and lemon juice. Cook the corn for 5 – 7 minutes. Season with salt.

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Add the lemon zest and cayenne. Add the cream and cook for another 10 – 12 minutes, until the cream sauce has thickened. While the corn is cooking with the cream, cook the fish. Check for seasoning,  add a little pepper and the chives. Serve fish with a bed of creamed corn underneath it.

Butterflied Trout with Lemon Butter Sauce
2 – ~1lb butterflied trout (I think half a trout per person is good, but it depends on their size)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 – 4 cloves garlic confit (if you don’t have any on hand, just skip it)
1 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper

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Season the inside and outside of the trout with salt. In a large saute pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic confit and smoosh the cloves a bit.

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When the butter and oil mixture is hot, add the trout. Put it in the pan skin side down, spread flat. Cook for 7 – 10 minutes, basting the top occasionally with the butter. Because the fish is thin, you don’t need to flip it.  This way the skin gets super crispy, but the fish doesn’t dry out. Just before serving, squeeze a lemon over the fish and add some freshly ground pepper. Serve on top of a bed of creamed corn with a salad or alternatively with roasted summer squash and potatoes anna.

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herb-crusted rack of lamb and potatoes anna

I made this dish for Jordan’s birthday, which was over two months ago (!!!) making this post terribly delayed and me a horrendous blogger. But, lamb is always good, so why not share. This lamb turns out beautifully. The crust is delicious and compliments the perfectly medium rare and oh so tender lamb. For us, this is a special occasion dish—rack of lamb is pricey. But when you love food like Jordan loves food, birthday splurges are in order.

Don’t be scared off by the anchovies in the recipe. They compliment the slight gaminess of lamb and don’t add a fishy taste.

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Herb-Crusted Lamb Chops, adapted from Ad Hoc at Home
1 frenched 8-bone rack of lamb
kosher salt and pepper
canola oil
4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2 cloves garlic confit
3 anchovy fillets (rinsed and patted dry)
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 1/2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsely, finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped

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Score the fat covering the lamb in a 1/2 inch crosshatch pattern with the tip of a sharp knife. Take care to not cut into the meat. Season the rack of lamb on all sides with salt and pepper.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and position one oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Line a roasting pan or baking sheet with foil and set a cooling rack in the center.  Heat some canola oil in a large pan over medium heat. Put the lamb fat side down and sear until golden brown. Transfer the lamb to the cooling rack fat side up.

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Combine mustard and honey in a small bowl; set aside. Combine butter, garlic and anchovies in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Transfer the puree into a medium bowl and add the bread crumbs and herbs. Stir until just combined.

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Brush the fat side of the lamb with the mustard mixture. Spread the bread crumbs evenly over the lamb, pressing gently to adhere the crumbs.  Put the lamb in the oven with the meat side toward the back and cook for 25-35 minutes. The internal temperature should reach 128 degrees. Let the racks rest in a warm place for 15 – 20 minutes for medium rare lamb. Carve into two bone chops and serve.

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Potatoes Anna
1 pound yukon gold potatoes, peeled
4 tablespoons butter, cut into thin slivers
salt

I’m not really sure why these are called potatoes anna, but that is what Jordan calls them and so that is what we’ll call them here. They are his favorite way to eat potatoes and for good reason. Crispy and soft at the same time and oh so buttery—perfection in a side dish.

Butter a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Peel and slice the potatoes unto 1/4-inch thick slices. I use a mandolin to make this faster and easier.  Arrange the potatoes in rows, slightly overlapping. Scatter thinly sliced pats of butter over the potatoes and season liberally with salt. Bake 35 – 45 minutes in a 425 degree oven, until parts of the potatoes are crispy and golden brown. Serve with roasted meats, sautéed fish, a fried egg, whatever protein you can get your hands on.

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-Emily

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garlic confit, the key to sautéed greens

This right here is how to make any leafy green more palatable. Before garlic confit, I was a very reluctant eater of cooked leafy greens. I’d pretty much avoided them since childhood—terrifying brick of spinach microwaved directly from the freezer, anyone?—and only occasionally ate them as an adult because I know they’re good for me. But since our discovery of garlic confit, I’ll happily eat them alongside any main course.

Garlic confit has all the delicious flavor of garlic without the harsh bite. It’s ridiculously easy to make and delicious in pretty much anything – vegetables, pasta, mashed potatoes, spread on bread.  Do yourself a favor, make a big batch, keep it in your fridge and bust it out anytime you’ve got a bunch of kale, spinach, chard, or mustard greens languishing. Because of our CSA, we usually have several bunches of greens on hand and make this once or twice a week.

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Garlic Confit, from Ad Hoc at Home
2 heads of garlic, peeled
1 cup flavorless oil, like grapeseed or safflower

Peel the cloves of garlic and put them in a small saucepan. Cover completely with oil, about 1 cup. Turn the heat on to very low and let the garlic simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of the cloves. When the cloves are soft, it’s done. Pour garlic and garlic oil into a glass jar and store in the fridge.

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Sauteed Greens with Garlic Confit
4 cups leafy greens and stems (this will cook down significantly)
several cloves of garlic confit and its oil
salt and pepper
1/2 lemon, juiced

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Put several cloves of garlic and some of the oil in a large saute pan. Turn the heat to medium. Add your greens and let the begin to wilt, about 2 minutes. Once they’ve released some of their water and shrunken some, use tongs to stir them around. Cook another 2 minutes and turn the heat off. Season well with salt and pepper, finish with a squeeze of lemon.

-Emily

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summer vegetable gratin

Like I mentioned earlier this week, we’ve just begun to receive summer’s bounty in our CSA. A while back we noticed this recipe for a summer vegetable gratin in Ad Hoc at Home and flagged it for later on. Now that the appropriate veggies are in season, we were able to enjoy it!

Summer Vegetable Gratin, from Ad Hoc at Home
2 medium zucchini, sliced
2 small eggplant, sliced
3 medium tomatoes, sliced
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/2 T plus 1/2 t fresh thyme
1/4 cup olive oil
salt, pepper
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko)

Heat an over to 350 degrees. Saute the onion and garlic over medium low heat in some olive oil for about 20 minutes, until translucent. Add the 1/2 T thyme. Slice the other veggies into 1/4 inch thick slices. Toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour the sautéed onions into a baking dish.

Top with the zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes, overlapping each slice slightly. I kept mine in cute little rows, but you’re welcome to mix them and spread them in an even layer. Mix the cheese, breadcrumbs and remaining 1/2 t thyme together. Sprinkle that mixture on top of the veggies and drizzle with a little more olive oil.

Bake for 35 – 45 minutes, until the veggies are tender and the top is browned.


This gratin is tasty, and blessedly lighter than most other gratins. I really enjoyed the zucchini and tomatoes. Sadly, I am still not a huge eggplant fan, even when it is covered in breadcrumbs and cheese. Jordan was valiant and ate all of my eggplant so I didn’t have to feel guilty about wasting food. Isn’t he a stud!

-Emily

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little birds

Emily and I wanted to do something a little special (and very delicious) for a recent dinner party.  After nearly endless debate and hours scanning the pages of our cookbooks, we settled roast cornish hens from Ad Hoc at Home.  These succulent little chickens are slathered and stuffed with gremolata butter.  It couldn’t possibly be bad.

Roasted Game Hens with Gremolata Butter, from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home.

For the gremolata butter
1 t black peppercorns
finely rated zest of 2 lemons
2 garlic cloves, grated or minced
12 T (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 T lemon juice
2 T  finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 T kosher salt

Grind the pepper in a mortar and pestle, add the lemon zest and garlic, and mash to a paste.  Stir pepper mixture and butter together in a medium bowl followed by the lemon juice.  Stir in the parsley and salt.

Yummmmm.  You could do anything with this and it will turn out amazing.  But, we chose to put it all over little birds.

For the hens
4 cornish game hens
duck fat (you can use canola oil if you’d like)
6 garlic cloves, smashed, skin left on
1 bunch thyme
fleur de sel (any sea salt will do)

Remove the neck and innards if they are still intact.  Rinse the birds inside and out then dry them thoroughly with a paper towel.  Then remove the wish bone.

Next, insert your fingers between the skin and the meat, starting at the end of the cavity.  Work your way down the breasts and repeat for the thighs.  Once the skin is loosened, insert about .5 T of the gremolata butter under each thigh and about 1 T under each breast.  Truss the birds and let them stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes.  While they rest, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Brush the birds with melted duck fat (or canola oil if you’re using that) and season with sea salt.  Don’t go crazy with the salt here because there is a healthy does of it in the butter already.  Place the birds on their backs in a single layer on a roasting pan and evenly scatter the garlic and thyme around the birds.   Put the birds in the oven for about 25 or 30 minutes, until the internal temperature of the thigh is 160 degrees.  Let rest on a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes then either serve them whole, halved, or quartered.

conclusions:
This was a delightful, tasty meal and those little birds made it feel special.  The gremolata butter is great and I can think of a dozen things to do with it.  The first being this same recipe, but with normal sized chickens.  This is my only complaint with the recipe; the birds are so small that they only take 25 to 30 minutes to cook, which is not nearly enough time for the skin to get brown and crispy.  Next time, I’ll be making this recipe with a four pound chicken and giving it 50-60 minutes in the oven (reducing the temperature to 350 after 10 or 15 minutes, of course).  I’ll let you guys know how it turns out.

-Jordan

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leek bread pudding

One of our favorite things is a nice loaf of fresh sourdough.  Another one of our favorite things is how versatile the leftover bread is when it gets stale.   Normally we just make toast with it, but I was inspired by Thomas Keller’s leek bread pudding from Ad Hoc at Home.  My sister and her boyfriend Kyle gave Emily and me this book as a gift.  After my sister confessed to reading the entire thing, she turned to page 213 and informed me that I must make this beautiful side dish.  The recipe calls for brioche and serves twelve, so I made a few minor changes.  With about half of an Acme sourdough batard leftover and leeks from our CSA box, I got to work.

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Slice the leeks and clean them in a bowl of cold water; the grit will fall to the bottom and the leeks will float.  When you’re confident that they are grit-free, add them to a dry saute pan over medium-high heat.  Season and stir until they release liquid (it won’t be much), then lower the heat to low, add about two tablespoons of butter, and stir to create an emulsion.  Cover and stir occasionally until the leeks are very soft.  Once they are done, taste and season with salt and pepper.

While the leeks are getting soft and sweet, cut your bread into one inch cubes and place in the oven and brown on both sides.  When the bread is toasted and the leeks are done, mix the two in a bowl and add a tablespoon of chopped chives and a teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves.

Now that you’ve got your bread and your leeks, you need some pudding, right?  Kinda.  It’s a custard and while that sounds difficult, it’s actually really easy.  Whisk together one egg, one cup of whole milk, and one cup of cream.  Add a very small pinch of nutmeg and a generous pinch (maybe a half teaspoon) of salt and some fresh pepper.  That’s it.

Next, you need some cheese for extra decadence.  The recipe calls for comté or emmentaler, but any semi-soft, flavorful cheese will work.  I had some cave-aged emmentaler on hand, so I used that.  I shredded it all and got about half a cup.  Butter an appropriately sized baking dish (I used a medium sized, round casserole) and put about a third of the cheese on the bottom.  Then place about half of the bread mixture and top with another third of the cheese.  Then add the last of the bread and pour in the custard until there’s about half an inch of bread poking out of the top; you can push the bread into the custard a little bit if it looks like there’s not enough custard.  Here, the recipe says to let the bread pudding sit to absorb the custard for about 15 minutes, but Emily and I don’t really like a super gooey texture, so I just topped it with the rest of the cheese and threw it in the oven.  Bake until the center has set up and the top is browned, about 45-60 minutes.

Conclusions:

It was very tasty, you don’t have to be very precise with it, you can switch thing out if you need to, and it make a great side dish.  The cookbook says it can be a main course, but that seems like a bit much.  It would be fantastic with any hearty fall or winter meal, but it may overshadow the main course.  As a matter of fact, I can’t remember what we ate this with.  I guess that means it was a winner, right?

-Jordan

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baking therapy: brownies

I came home from work today and really wanted to bake. And when the mood strikes … I’m thankful I have an above average supply of butter on hand.

Jordan and I have also been hitting the Ad Hoc at Home cookbook pretty hard lately. Thomas Keller works magic in the kitchen and this cookbook compiles his family style recipes.  Thanks Liz and Kyle for this awesome book!

Brownies, from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home
Note: Below are the measurements for the whole recipe. I halved the recipe because I didn’t think it was wise for Jordan and I to eat an entire tray of brownies in two days (the recommended period of freshness).
3/4 c flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t kosher salt
3/4 lb unsalted butter, cut into 1 T pieces
3 eggs
1/2 t vanilla paste or extract (I used extract, although vanilla paste sounds awesome)
6 oz 61% – 64% chocolate, chopped into chip-sized pieces (I used some Scharffen-Berger I had laying around from a previous dessert)

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9″ x 9″ baking dish (I used a loaf pan because I halved the recipe).

Sift together flour, cocoa powder and salt.

Melt half the butter in a small saucepan. Pour the melted butter over the cold butter. Stir to melt the butter. There will be some butter chunks. These are awesome.

In a mixer, mix eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add in 1/3 of dry ingredients alternating with 1/3 of the butter. Continue with remaining dry mixture and butter. Last, add in chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared dish and bake for 40 – 45 minutes, until the center when poked with a tester has just a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Cool in the pan until a bit warmer than room temperature.

Invert and cut into pieces. Dust the tops with powered sugar before serving.

Conclusions: Quite good, but more of a cake-like texture then a brownie texture. The little gooey bits of dark chocolate definitely made the dessert!

Still searching for a brownie recipe!

-Emily