© Constantine William Spyrou
When I really want to get exciting new ideas for a recipe, one thing I like to do is go to the fridge. I'll pick one ingredient in the fridge and try to make a dish that gives that flavor a primary role. Tonight, that ingredient was apple juice.
Apple juice has a clean, crisp, and refreshing flavor that balances out between tartness and sweetness. To make its flavor shine in a dish, I decided to pair it with a protein that goes extremely well with fruit - duck. To help it accentuate the flavors of apple juice, the duck is going to be seasoned with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and fennel seed. These are all spices that are commonly mulled with apple juice to make a warm and tasty cider.
Backing up the flavor of the apple and giving the dish more body is a white wine reduction that utilizes the apple juice. A lot of white whines have apple-like notes in their flavor profile, which means that they will complement the apple juice perfectly in the reduction.
Finishing off the dish is a potato latke made with onion and apple to add the extra level of apple flavor while providing some texture contrast to the rich, meaty duck. Together, these three components - the duck, latke, and reduction - should bring out the natural flavors of apple and accentuate duck to bring it to the next level!
Recipe is for one portion.
For the Duck and Reduction:
1 6-8 oz duck breast
Salt and pepper to season
1/4 ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground toasted fennel seed
1 cup apple juice
1/2 cup Gruner Veltliner Wine (this is the best white wine for this dish. Other wines that work include Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, or Chenin Blanc.)
For the latke:
1/4 pound peeled Russett potatoes, grated
1/4 cup minced white onion
1/4 cup diced skinned apple (Granny Smith and Gala apples work best for this because they take cooking well and go well with onion)
1/2 egg, beaten
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Salt and pepper to season
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Add the apple juice and white wine to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and let reduce by about half.
2. While the reduction is working, score the duck breast skin through to the fat layer and rub the fennel, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt and pepper throughout the duck. Be sure to rub it on the meat side of the duck as well.
3. Place the duck, skin side down, into a dry pan on low heat. Let the fat render down as the duck slowly heats up.
4. As the duck fat is melting, combine your latke ingredients and form into a single pancake. Set aside to be ready for frying.
5. Once a lot of the fat has rendered out, turn up the heat in the pan and let both sides color. Once both the skin and meat are colored well, place the duck and pan into a 375 degree oven for about 8-10 minutes.
6. Once the duck comes out of the oven, take it out of the pan and let it rest. Keep the duck fat in the pan, and place it on a medium-high heat. Add the latke to the pan, and cook for a minute on each side until golden brown.
7. Plate the dish by placing the latke on the bottom, then cut the rested duck into thick slices and drizzle the apple juice-white wine reduction over the duck.
This dish really goes for the apple flavor through the latke and reduction as the main supporting flavor to the duck. Backed up by a great white wine to flavor and the cider-like spices of the duck, the flavors will mingle in an exciting new way.
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
NEW RECIPE: Coconut-Lime "Panna Cotta"
© Constantine William Spyrou
One of my favorite desserts has to be the panna cotta. It is luxurious, rich, and extremely versatile. The milk and cream base can take on any flavor you choose to put into it, whether it be brandy, rum, chocolate, espresso, raspberry... Being able to be extremely creative with panna cotta makes it extremely exciting.
This recipe, however, is not the traditional panna cotta. This is a vegan version of the dish. Utilizing coconut cream, coconut milk, and a seaweed gelatin-like protein called agar-agar, this dish has the same silky texture as a panna cotta, but with a strong coconut flavor. This will be cut back by the use of lime zest to brighten up the dish, making it a tropical treat!
Recipe serves two.
Ingredients:
1 cup coconut cream
3/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon agar agar
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Add your coconut milk, coconut cream, and sugar to a sauce pan and bring up to a gentle boil, stirring to ensure the milk and cream don't burn and the sugar melts.
2. When it has melted, stir in your agar agar, lime juice, and lime zest.
3. Once the agar agar has dissolved, take the mixture off of the heat and pour directly into your mold of choice. This then needs to go into the fridge for about 3-4 hours to chill and set before serving.
This a light and refreshing, yet luxuriously creamy vegan dessert. For those of you going vegan, this panna cotta is perfect for you! You can also try using rum, fruit, or coffee instead of lime in your panna cotta! Remember how versatile this dish can be, even when infused with so much coconut.
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
One of my favorite desserts has to be the panna cotta. It is luxurious, rich, and extremely versatile. The milk and cream base can take on any flavor you choose to put into it, whether it be brandy, rum, chocolate, espresso, raspberry... Being able to be extremely creative with panna cotta makes it extremely exciting.
This recipe, however, is not the traditional panna cotta. This is a vegan version of the dish. Utilizing coconut cream, coconut milk, and a seaweed gelatin-like protein called agar-agar, this dish has the same silky texture as a panna cotta, but with a strong coconut flavor. This will be cut back by the use of lime zest to brighten up the dish, making it a tropical treat!
Recipe serves two.
Ingredients:
1 cup coconut cream
3/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon agar agar
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Add your coconut milk, coconut cream, and sugar to a sauce pan and bring up to a gentle boil, stirring to ensure the milk and cream don't burn and the sugar melts.
2. When it has melted, stir in your agar agar, lime juice, and lime zest.
3. Once the agar agar has dissolved, take the mixture off of the heat and pour directly into your mold of choice. This then needs to go into the fridge for about 3-4 hours to chill and set before serving.
This a light and refreshing, yet luxuriously creamy vegan dessert. For those of you going vegan, this panna cotta is perfect for you! You can also try using rum, fruit, or coffee instead of lime in your panna cotta! Remember how versatile this dish can be, even when infused with so much coconut.
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
Thursday, March 27, 2014
NEW RECIPE: Cilantro Basa Soup
© Constantine William Spyrou
Oh, man, it has been way too long since I made a recipe. The business of school (and a dying laptop) have been hampering me from getting recipes up for the past month, but now I'm back and ready to do a lot more! This is actually a recipe I came up with a few weeks ago, but just haven't gotten around to posting up here.
The goal of this dish was to make a dish that could bring out the flavor of cilantro as much as possible. Not just in the freshness of the leaves, but also through the warmth of its seeds (better known as coriander) and the flavor of the stems. Combining this balance together meant I needed a very mild dish to back up the cilantro and let it take center stage.
I chose to use soup as the vehicle because its quick to make and is extremely versatile in flavor. Soups can be mild, like chicken noodle soup or minestrone, or bold in flavor, such as with chili. This paritcular dish is going to resemble a Vietnamese pho, but have a little more complexity flavor and some fusion notes.
To go with the cilantro, I chose basa, which is an extremely mild fish I got acquainted with in the dining commons last year. Combining this with a homemade vegetable stock and infusing some mild flavors into the stock should help create a complex backdrop to bring cilantro to the forefront of the dish.
Recipe serves up to 4 people.
For the Vegetable Stock:
1 white onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 cups cilantro stems
1/2 cup lemongrass, chopped
1/4 black peppercorns, uncracked (to keep the flavor from overpowering the cilantro)
Salt to taste
For the Soup:
1 pound basa fish filets, sliced into 4 ounce portions (If you can't get basa, other mild fish like pollock or cod work great for this)
Salt and ground coriander seed to season the fish
2 cups enoki mushrooms
2 cups fresh cilantro leaves, unchopped
1/4 cup banana peppers, diced
Juice of 1 lime
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Prepare the vegetable stock by filling a 6-7 quart pot about three-fourths of the way up with water. Add in your vegetables, garlic, cilantro stems, lemongrass, and black peppercorns. Bring the mixture to a boil, and let cook for about 40 minutes. Strain the stock once it is done, then return to the heat and let it get hot again to serve.
2. Lightly season your filets of basa fish with salt and coriander. Add some vegetable oil (any other neutral-flavored oil works here) to a frying pan on medium heat. Cook the basa filets for 2 minutes on each side. Set aside once cooked, taking care not to break up the fish.
3. In 4 serving bowls, place a bunch of enoki mushrooms and some of the banana peppers on the bottom. Add a couple of ladles of the stock into the bowls, then add in about a fourth of the juice from your lime into each bowl. Place the fish over the broth, and finish off by garnish the plate with plenty of cilantro leaves.
This dish gives you the ability to taste cilantro in three different ways - from the richness of the stock, the deep aromaticity from the fish, and the freshness of the leaves. Tasting the balance between these three will definitely be something to enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
Oh, man, it has been way too long since I made a recipe. The business of school (and a dying laptop) have been hampering me from getting recipes up for the past month, but now I'm back and ready to do a lot more! This is actually a recipe I came up with a few weeks ago, but just haven't gotten around to posting up here.
The goal of this dish was to make a dish that could bring out the flavor of cilantro as much as possible. Not just in the freshness of the leaves, but also through the warmth of its seeds (better known as coriander) and the flavor of the stems. Combining this balance together meant I needed a very mild dish to back up the cilantro and let it take center stage.
I chose to use soup as the vehicle because its quick to make and is extremely versatile in flavor. Soups can be mild, like chicken noodle soup or minestrone, or bold in flavor, such as with chili. This paritcular dish is going to resemble a Vietnamese pho, but have a little more complexity flavor and some fusion notes.
To go with the cilantro, I chose basa, which is an extremely mild fish I got acquainted with in the dining commons last year. Combining this with a homemade vegetable stock and infusing some mild flavors into the stock should help create a complex backdrop to bring cilantro to the forefront of the dish.
Recipe serves up to 4 people.
For the Vegetable Stock:
1 white onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 cups cilantro stems
1/2 cup lemongrass, chopped
1/4 black peppercorns, uncracked (to keep the flavor from overpowering the cilantro)
Salt to taste
For the Soup:
1 pound basa fish filets, sliced into 4 ounce portions (If you can't get basa, other mild fish like pollock or cod work great for this)
Salt and ground coriander seed to season the fish
2 cups enoki mushrooms
2 cups fresh cilantro leaves, unchopped
1/4 cup banana peppers, diced
Juice of 1 lime
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Prepare the vegetable stock by filling a 6-7 quart pot about three-fourths of the way up with water. Add in your vegetables, garlic, cilantro stems, lemongrass, and black peppercorns. Bring the mixture to a boil, and let cook for about 40 minutes. Strain the stock once it is done, then return to the heat and let it get hot again to serve.
2. Lightly season your filets of basa fish with salt and coriander. Add some vegetable oil (any other neutral-flavored oil works here) to a frying pan on medium heat. Cook the basa filets for 2 minutes on each side. Set aside once cooked, taking care not to break up the fish.
3. In 4 serving bowls, place a bunch of enoki mushrooms and some of the banana peppers on the bottom. Add a couple of ladles of the stock into the bowls, then add in about a fourth of the juice from your lime into each bowl. Place the fish over the broth, and finish off by garnish the plate with plenty of cilantro leaves.
This dish gives you the ability to taste cilantro in three different ways - from the richness of the stock, the deep aromaticity from the fish, and the freshness of the leaves. Tasting the balance between these three will definitely be something to enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
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