Last night Servet came by for dinner and games night. I was heavily influenced by the Inspector Bruno books I am reading, and by what I had ordered from D'Artagnan. I ordered rabbit legs. I have made rabbit once or twice before and found it to be delicious and lean....ergo, let's add cream!
I used a Patricia Wells recipe from her Bistro book, Cafe Des Federations' Rabbit with Mustard Sauce. To go with it, I made a potato and celeriac layered dish with cream, haricot verte with onions and slivered almonds, a salad (which no one touched), and a cheese course for dessert, supplied by my neighbor who run Brooklyn Larder.
The rabbit was delicious and oh so tender. I took longer than the recipe stated, but I but it in the oven, covered, to braise for about 2 hours. Everything was so tasty. I recommend this recipe highly. It worked splendidly with the chicken thighs as well. Everyone went silent around the table....too busy eating to chat!
I also made some stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer. After cleaning the mushroom, I chopped finely the stems along with a small onion and 3 cloves of garlic. In a sauce pan, I heated up some butter mixed with olive oil and sauted the onion and chopped mushroom stems along with some salt, red pepper flakes and some black pepper. When they had given off their water and had reduced that a bit, I then added the garlic. For a binder, I used panko bread crumbs and enough oil to moisten them up so they would hold together. For added umami, I added a handful of grated parmesan. Tasted and adjusted.
For the caps, I put them on a rimmed baking sheet into the oven without stuffing for 3 minutes per side. I took them out of the oven, allowed to cool a bit until I could handle them, and then stuffed them and returned to the oven for about 15-20 minutes.
There was extra stuffing, which I used to top the casserole.
Up front, I am an impatient cook. I can not just walk away and let things brown by themselves, I know I shouldn't poke and bother thing that are browning, but I can't help myself. I browned the rabbit legs and I knew that there would not be enough so I augmented it with 4 chicken thighs. They came bone in with skin, which I stripped off and then rendered out the fat and saved the crisped skin to chop and sprinkle on the potato casserole.
What I learned, while the whole grain mustard looks interesting, the seeds separate out and burn, so used a smooth dijon mustard which in turn will adhere to the rabbit/chicken much better. Use that whole bottle of wine, you heard me, a whole bottle of dry white wine. I used a sauvignon blanc and it worked beautifully. I drank a Picpoul with dinner, a little lower in alcohol and a bit of a fizz.
Potato and Celery Root Casserole with Cream
5-6 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced in 1/8" slices (use a mandolin)
1 large celery root, pared and chunked up and sliced in 1/8" slices, use the damn mandolin
1 medium onion, sliced into rings, again on the mandolin
4 large red tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
salt pepper
1 pint heavy cream
grated parmesan cheese
Method
1. To peel tomatoes, bring a sauce pan of salted water to a boil and get a bowl of ice water ready. Cut a small "X" on the bottoms of the tomatoes, and put into the boiling water for about 1 - 2 minutes. Remove and immediately put into the ice water. When they have cooled down, gently peel off the skin using a paring knife and your fingers. (Save the water you boiled and use it to blanch the green beans later.)
2. Cut tomatoes in half and squeeze over the sink or trash. Using your finger pry out the remaining seeds and set aside until all tomatoes are seeded. Chop into a 1/2" dice. (If all of this is too much, then use canned tomatoes, but drain them and reserve liquid to mix with cream.) Hold in a small bowl
3. Slice the potatoes and celery root and put into a large bowl of salted water. Slice the onion and hold on the side in another small bowl.
4. To assemble the casserole, butter a casserole dish (I used a 9 x 12) and layer first potatoes slices, overlapping in 2 layers followed by 2 layers of the celery root. Top that with salt and pepper and half the onion slices. Layer potatoes and celery root again, and top with the tomatoes, salt and pepper, layer potatoes, onions, celery root in a final layer with potatoes or celery at the top of the casserole. Gently pour in a pint of heavy cream and if you used canned tomatoes, mix the cream with the juice from the tomatoes. Salt and pepper the top and top with grated parmesan cheese. Cover with a piece of foil. Put into a 350° F oven for about 1 hour or so, potatoes should be soft when casserole is pierced with a fork. Remove foil and let brown in the oven for another 10-15 minutes. I will help to put the casserole in a rimmed baking pan in case it boils over. Allow to cool slightly before serving and top with chopped crisped chicken skin.
Note: If you don't want to bake it this long, then parboil both the potatoes and celery root and layer with the slightly cooked vegetables.
Haricot Verte with Onions, Almonds, and Reduced Stock
1.5 lbs trimmed haricot verte, blanched and shocked in ice water
1 c slivered almonds
1/2 small onion thinly sliced, since the mandolin is out, use it!
2 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped fine
1/2 c rich chicken stock
olive oil or butter
salt and pepper
Method
1. In a large frying pan, dry toast the almonds until they color slightly and are crisp. DO NOT BURN!
Empty into a bowl and hold aside.
2. In the same pan, heat some oil and saute the onions until they are golden in color and starting to brown. Add garlic and cook for about 1 - 2 minutes until quite fragrant, but not colored. Add all of the stock and reduce that by half in the pan.
3. Add beans and cook until they are crisp-tender and no longer taste raw. Cook to coat all the beans in a rich sauce that clings nicely to the beans. Top with toasted almonds.
