Winter Tasting

We're getting to that time of the year (and we still have months to go) which taxes our ability to put fresh and local ingredients on the table. We're having to get creative with storage vegetables, winter greens, and items from the pantry.

Sopa de Ajo, Chorizo, Chorizo Oil

Stuffed Mussels, Chickpea Salad, Safrron Aïoli

Brussels Sprouts Salad

Scallop, Sweet Potato Purée, Black Truffle Beurre Blanc

Five Spice-Orange Pupusa Stuffed with Duck Confit, Curtido

Ballotine of Quail Stuffed with Pork/Pistachios/Cranberries

Rabbit Bourguignon, Broccoli Raab, Rabbit Demi

Venison and Cavolo Nero, Five-Spice Black Vinegar Sauce

Risotto of Thai Purple Rice, Coconut, Persimmon

Persimmons

Persimmon season is over with now, but we had a great run with them this winter. I find their flavor irresistible: a mix of mango, peach, and apricot. Seriously, what is not to like about that?

There are roughly two types of persimmons on the market, ones that I call sour and sweet, though I think the technical terms are astringent and non-astringent. You'll see these on the market as Hachiya and Fuyu respectively.

Sour persimmons are roughly spherical and commercial varieties grow to about the size of a cricket ball. Our native persimmons here in Virginia are much smaller, smaller than a golf ball, and are most assuredly of the astringent type as I found out as a gradeschooler! They are a pretty rough go until they have had a lot of frost and become dead ripe—I'm talking about turn-your-mouth-inside-out tannic! Once ripe though, they're pretty good if you can keep the wild turkeys off of them. I know that I ate enough of them when foraging about the woods of our property in Albemarle County, Virginia as a kid.

The other kind, the sweet variety, is what you see in the photo above, a flattened sphere in the traditional tomato shape. Because the sour Hachiya types have to be dead ripe, they tend to have very soft flesh like a plum, which doesn't lend itself to dicing or slicing. In this regard, I like the sweet Fuyu types better for the restaurant because I can do more with them. Here's a photo of a salad of sliced Fuyus with Mâche and Goat Cheese.

Late next fall and next winter, when you see persimmons in your market, take some home. Both kinds are delicious; just make sure that the Hachiyas are fully ripe before you tuck into them. If you've never had a persimmon before, you're in for a real treat.

I leave you with a recipe for persimmon salsa from my forthcoming book.

Persimmon Salsa

4 Fuyu persimmons, about 1 ¼ pounds (500g)
1 bunch (about 10) green onions, sliced into rings
½ small red onion, finely minced
½ bunch cilantro, minced
1 serrano chile, finely minced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 pinch salt
juice of one lime
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all the ingredients well and let stand for a few minutes before serving. Feel free to substitute any chiles you like: habañeros are particularly good in this recipe. Yields a bit less than a quart (1 liter) of salsa.

Where Have All the Good Eaters Gone?

I'm feeling really happy about getting slammed last night for the first time in months, but also feeling a little depressed at the same time. This past week, I put a lot of effort into designing dishes that you can't get just anywhere else, but customers largely ignored those dishes this weekend, going for safer options, things that they already know that they like. Where's the spirit of dining adventure?

Food Arts publishes a semi-regular column called "Hits and Flops" which details chefs' dishes that really took off and those that really didn't. Here's my weekend list of those that went nowhere.

Terrine of Local Lamb Flavored with Pistachios, Dried Cranberries, and Marsala

It's no secret that I love to make charcuterie and this terrine was particularly nice, studded with veal tongue, and enriched with rabbit liver. And the plate doesn't look too bad either, does it?

Gravlax of Steelhead Trout on Scottish Oat Cake with Sour Cream Drizzle and Capers

I had an extra side of Steelhead, so I decided to do it gravlax-style, cured with white pepper, dill, sugar, and salt. And it turned out great: the texture is finer and silkier than Salmon. Thinking back to foods that I like to eat with a glass of Scotch, I just had to make a Scottish oat cake to go under the rosette of Steelhead.

Grilled, Teriyaki-Glazed King Oyster Mushrooms

These big meaty King Oysters were just calling out to me, "Grill Me!" So, I did, and with sushi and more specifically unagi on the brain, I made a teriyaki glaze for these mushrooms. So good!

Mâche and Persimmon Salad with Goat Cheese and Toasted Hazelnuts

This is quite possibly one of the most striking salads that I have designed (though I can see it in the spring time with Johnny Jump Ups mixed in with the mâche). It's also extremely tasty, but way too weird for local tastes.

Prosciutto-Wrapped, Goat Cheese-Stuffed Loin of Rabbit

This dish was really slow to move, but we finally sold through it last night. You like goat cheese and chicken breasts don't you? You love ham on everything. Then why not the same treatment for rabbit? As delicious as it was striking on the plate, this dish was a tough sell with customers. The legs went into the gratin that accompanied the loin. Everyone who ate this dish loved it, but it deserves to sell better.

Just where have all the good eaters gone?