After Cracklin Cornbread recipe, more comfort food for grey days from Heritage (Artisan Books, October 2014) by Sean Brock.

Slow-Cooked Rib Eye with Potato Confit and Green Garlic–Parsley Butter

Serves 6

I know, I know, meat and potatoes . . . so avant-garde. But sometimes one exceptional meal at home with loved ones can be just as special as a twenty-course tasting menu at a grand restaurant.
Slow-cooking is a technique that lends itself well to a large cut like the rib eye. The secret is twofold: get a good sear on the meat before placing it in the oven, and arrange it so that the delicious fat cap slowly bastes the meat as it cooks.
Such a decadent cut of meat topped with a flavorful pat of butter deserves a sinful side dish, and this potato confit certainly fills the bill. It can be made well in advance and stored in the fridge. In fact, the longer it sits, the better it tastes; the potatoes just continue to soak up all that tasty and delicious fat.

Green Garlic–Parsley Butter

2 cups chopped green garlic (green and white parts)
1 pound unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 cup minced shallots
Grated zest of ½ lemon (use a Microplane)
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons anchovy paste

Rib Eye

1 center-cut bone-in rib-eye roast (about 7.5 pounds), deckle and fat cap left on
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Canola oil
15 thyme sprigs
15 rosemary sprigs
1 garlic bulb, cut in half
5 cups Heirloom Potato Confit

For the green garlic–parsley butter:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Make an ice bath in a bowl with equal parts ice and water. Put the green garlic in a strainer and submerge it in the boiling water for 7 seconds, then remove and submerge it in the ice bath until completely cold. Remove from the ice bath, shake off the excess water, then drain and dry on paper towels.

2. Put the green garlic in a blender and blend on high until smooth, about 5 minutes; add a splash of water as needed to keep the blade running smoothly.

3. Combine the garlic puree, butter, parsley, shallots, lemon zest, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and anchovy paste in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until thoroughly blended, about 2 minutes. Divide the butter in half and put each portion on a sheet of plastic wrap. Roll each one into a log and wrap tightly in the plastic. Place in the freezer and freeze until solid.

For the rib eye:

4. Preheat the oven to 250°F. Place a rack in a roasting pan.

5. Liberally season the beef with salt and pepper. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. When the skillet is hot, add ¼ inch of canola oil. When the oil begins to smoke, add the beef fat side down and sear until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Repeat on all sides. Remove from the heat.

6. Cover the rack in the roasting pan with the thyme, rosemary, and garlic. Place the beef on the herbs and garlic bulb halves, fat side up. Put the pan in the oven and roast the beef for about 2 hours and 45 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 125°F. Remove the pan from the oven and let the beef rest for 25 to 30 minutes before carving it. Baste the beef with the pan juices several times as it rests. Remove the green garlic butter from the freezer 1 hour before serving.

To complete:

7. Carve the rib eye into 6 slices and arrange on warmed plates. Top each slice with a ½-inch-thick disk of room-temperature- green garlic butter and serve with the potato confit.

Note:

This recipe makes more green garlic–parsley butter than you will need for the rib eye, but it can be frozen, tightly wrapped, for up to 1 month and used in other dishes.

(*Excerpted from Heritage by Sean Brock -Artisan Books, Copyright © 2014- Photographs by Peter Frank Edwards)

A salami even vegetarians can enjoy from Sweet Things, Chocolates, Candies, Caramels & Marshmallows to Make & Give (Kyle Books, October 2014) by Annie Rigg.

Chocolate Salami

This Chocolate Salami, also called Salame al Cioccolato or Salame de Chocolate, is traditionally either an Italian or Portuguese recipe, depending on where your allegiance lies. The fruit and nuts are interchangeable subject to your tastes and what treasures you have stashed in your pantry.

Makes 2 salami and serves 20

1⁄3 cup golden raisins
½ cup dried figs, chopped into raisin-sized pieces
2 tablespoons dark rum or amaretto
11/4 cups mixed nuts (pistachios, blanched almonds, and hazelnuts)
7oz dark chocolate, chopped
3oz unsalted butter
1⁄3 cup superfine sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
6oz plain cookies (such as amaretti or graham crackers)
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

Store:
Chocolate Salami will keep for up to 1 week, well wrapped and in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Put the golden raisins and figs in a medium bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the rum or amaretto, mix well, and leave to soak while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Put all of the nuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 4 minutes until lightly golden. Allow the nuts to cool slightly and then roughly chop.

Combine the chocolate and butter in a medium-sized heatproof bowl and melt over a pan of barely simmering water, taking care not to allow the bottom of the bowl to come into contact with the water. Stir until smooth. Meanwhile, in another bowl, whisk together the superfine sugar, brown sugar, whole egg, and egg yolk until smooth and thoroughly combined. Add to the chocolate and butter mixture and mix well. Stirring frequently, continue to cook over the pan of water until the
sugar has dissolved, the mixture is silky smooth and hot to the touch, and the eggs are cooked—this will take about 4–5 minutes.

Meanwhile put the cookies in a freezer bag and crush using a rolling pin until the pieces are slightly larger than the golden raisins. Sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of rum. Add the nuts and cookies to the dried fruit. Add to the chocolate mixture and stir with a rubber spatula to thoroughly combine. Leave at room temperature to cool and thicken slightly.

Take two large sheets of parchment paper and divide the mixture evenly between them, spreading it into a log. Roll the paper up and over the mixture, twisting the ends to seal and to pack the mixture into a tight sausage shape. Chill overnight.

Remove the salami from the fridge and unwrap from the paper. Spread the confectioner’s sugar on a baking sheet and roll each salami in the sugar to coat completely. Using a sharp knife, cut the salami into slices to serve.

(* Recipe reproduced with permission from Sweet Things, Chocolates, Candies, Caramels & Marshmallows to Make & Give -Kyle Books, October 2014- by Annie Rigg)

It's about right time for Sunday cocktail hour and here's Zetter Martini recipe from  A Boat, a Whale & a Walrus, Menus and Stories (Sasquatch Books, September 2014) by Renee Erickson.

Serve Boquerones Toasts with Grated Horseradish and Ikura Topping from same book as an amuse gueule.

Zetter Martini

Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes

Makes 1

A few steps from the famed Zetter Hotel in London’s Clerkenwell neighborhood is the Zetter Townhouse, a quirky Georgian inn with a foyer cocktail bar that’s part antiques museum, part library, and wacky from top to bottom. It’s the only place I’ve ever seen a taxidermied cat gussied up in a blue frock, and perhaps the only place that serves icy vermouth- and sherry-tinged martinis in bulbous little cups with a pot of fried olives.

When I visited the Townhouse with Curtis Steiner, we knew instantly that the recipe needed to come home with us.

This is my kind of martini—and honestly, there aren’t many—but I have a weak spot for both sherry and vermouth. I also like a very cold, fresh martini; I think that’s best achieved mixing each drink individually, so this recipe makes just one. Multiply it to match your crowd (and its drinking habits).

2½ ounces gin, such as Voyager, Bombay Sapphire, or Big Gin; or vodka, such as Stoli
½ ounce Dolin dry vermouth
1 anchovy-stuffed olive
1 (2-by-½ -inch) strip preserved lemon peel
¼ ounce Manzanilla sherry

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the gin, vermouth, and sherry, and stir well with a long spoon. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with the olive and lemon peel.

(*(c)2014 By Renee Erickson with Jess Thomson. All rights reserved. Excerpted from A Boat, a Whale & a Walrus: Menus and Stories by permission of Sasquatch Books. Photography by Jim Henkens)

Chocolatier Christmas Log, Praline, Crepes Dentelles in Dark Chocolate Robe, Almonds Too

Buche de Noel gets chocolate maker treatment thanks to Henri Le Roux!

Serves 5

(* Image from Henri Le Roux Facebook page)

'Make cornbread, not war' with this cracklin recipe from Heritage (Artisan Books, October 2014) by Sean Brock.

Cracklin’ Cornbread

Makes one 9-inch round loaf

My favorite ball cap, made by Billy Reid, has a patch on the front that reads “Make Cornbread, Not War.” I’m drawn to it because cornbread is a sacred thing in the South, almost a way of life. But cornbread, like barbeque, can be the subject of great debate among Southerners. Flour or no flour? Sugar or no sugar? Is there an egg involved? All are legitimate questions.

When we opened Husk, I knew that we had to serve cornbread. I also knew that there is a lot of bad
cornbread out there in the restaurant world, usually cooked before service and reheated, or held in a warming drawer. I won’t touch that stuff because, yes, I am a cornbread snob. My cornbread has no flour and no sugar.
It has the tang of good buttermilk and a little smoke from Allan Benton’s smokehouse bacon. You’ve got to cook the cornbread just before you want to eat it, in a black skillet, with plenty of smoking-hot grease. That is the secret to a golden, crunchy exterior. Use very high heat, so hot that the batter screeches as it hits the pan.
It’s a deceptively simple process, but practice makes perfect, which may be why many Southerners make cornbread every single day.

4 ounces bacon, preferably Benton’s
2 cups cornmeal, preferably Anson Mills Antebellum Coarse Yellow Cornmeal
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1½ cups whole-milk buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Put a 9-inch cast-iron skillet in the oven to preheat for at least 10 minutes.

2. Run the bacon through a meat grinder or very finely mince it. Put the bacon in a skillet large enough to hold it in one layer and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently so that it doesn’t burn, until the fat is rendered and the bits of bacon are crispy, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the bits of bacon to a paper towel to drain, reserving the fat. You need 5 tablespoons bacon fat for this recipe.

3. Combine the cornmeal, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and bits of bacon in a medium bowl. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat and combine the remaining 4 tablespoons fat, the buttermilk, and egg in a small bowl. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just to combine; do not overmix.

4. Move the skillet from the oven to the stove, placing it over high heat. Add the reserved tablespoon of bacon fat and swirl to coat the skillet. Pour in the batter, distributing it evenly. It should sizzle.

5. Bake the cornbread for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm from the skillet.

(*Excerpted from Heritage by Sean Brock -Artisan Books, Copyright © 2014- Photographs by Peter Frank Edwards)

Tradition and modernity co-exhist in Tokyo as a second look at Japan, Light and Shadows in the land of the Rising Sun (White Star Publishers, 2011) by Iago Corraza and Greta Ropa shows.

Zany lofts that 'purports to maintain an active mind' according to the book notes.

Tradition with tea houses whose street signs invite dwellers in.

Travel, culture and gift ideas for Tokyo Thursdays # 300

(* Excerpted from 'Japan, Light and Shadows in the land of the Rising Sun' by Iago Corraza and Greta Ropa- White Star Publishers, 2011)

Holly Branches!

Here's the Ilex Holiday Wreath in 4 Steps and 5 Photos from The Wreath Recipe (Artisan Books, 2014) by Studio Choo Florists Alethea Harampolis and Jill Rizzo.

Finished piece first, then step by step instructions 

Ilex Recipe 3: Wreath

Ingredients:

4 ilex branches
2 redwood branches
3 holly branches

Materials:

Honeysuckle wreath frame
Medium-gauge wire

Directions:

1- Start with a loosely woven honeysuckle wreath frame.

2- Tuck in three ilex branches on the top left side of the frame.

3- Place the redwood branches facing in opposite directions on the bottom of the wreath and wire in place.
Tuck the remaining ilex branch into the bottom of the wreath on the right side.

4- Tuck the holly branches into the bottom of the wreath so that they arc out in different directions.

You can judge this book by its cover

(* Excerpted from The Wreath Recipe Book by Alethea Harampolis and Jill Rizzo -Artisan Books, Copyright © 2014- Photographs by Paige Green)

Beautiful Inside, if you like to give or receive Crafty Christmas Gifts, here's a book for you: The Life of a Bowerbird Creating Beautiful Interiors with the Things You Collect (Harper Design, October 2012) by Sibella Court...

For example, handblown glass with a festive touch (above).

If your decorating taste is a bit more adventurous, try a Bone Collection...

If you are in New South Wales (Australia) you might have had the added peasure of joining Sibella for December 6th opening of The Society Inc holiday fleamarket...

(* Snapshot taken from pages of  'The Life of a Bowerbird' by Sibella Court- Harper Design, Fall 2012 - original photo by Chris Court)

Sometimes you need domino players around to test and approve your latest ice-cream batch as was case with this Cuban vanilla ice-cream re-created by Suzy Batlle at Azucar! Ice Cream Company and one of the recipes in The Cuban Table (St Martin's Press, October 2014) by Hungry Sofia Ana Sofia Pelaez...

Cuban Vanilla Ice Cream, Mantecado

Makes 1 quart

While the lineup at the ¡Azucar! Ice Cream Company always includes classic Cuban ice cream
flavors such as guava, mamey, and coconut, Suzy Battle received endless requests for mantecado—a rich vanilla ice cream she’d only ever heard about. Suzy invited the domino players permanently perched across the street from her Little Havana shop to test the recipe until she got it right. She generously shared the results with me adapted for small homemade batches.

For the custard

6 large egg yolks
1 cup whole milk
1 cup sugar
1½ teaspoons unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch ground cinnamon
Pinch ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons sugar

One 12-ounce can evaporated milk, chilled

To prepare the custard, combine the egg yolks, whole milk, 1 cup sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a food processor or blender and pulse until well blended. Pass the milk mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a 3- to 4-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the custard covers the back of a wooden spoon, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Chill the custard at least 2 hours or overnight.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Gradually add the remaining 5 tablespoons sugar and beat on medium speed until it forms stiff peaks, about 5 minutes. Add the chilled evaporated milk and continue to beat until it thickens slightly, 2 to 3 additional minutes. Stir in the prepared custard and mix until well blended.

Process in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions, 15 to 20 minutes.

Freeze until ready to serve

(* Recipe reproduced with permission from The Cuban Table -St Martin's Press, October 2014- by Ana Sofia Pelaez, Photographs by Ellen Silverman)

Local Dough starts with Local Flour with the likes of Joan's Gluten Free, plus Farmer Ground, and Hudson Valley Harvest...

Captured at my local Whole Foods...