Precious in Pink: Pickled Quail's Egg in Beet Juice

Pickled eggs seem so nice and ol' timey. I imagine some turn-of-the-century saloons where they were available at almost every bar. They're so easy to make. Its just a matter of hard boiling and then soaking them in a brine. My brother-in-law, Jason, always has a jar of them in the fridge, and they do make a great snack; all that protein can really fill you up!


Pickled quails eggs, as garnish for the appetizer course from our Polynesian Meal.

Tiny things are always so precious. You could fit 3 or 4 quails egg inside the shell of an average chicken's so of course, its hard not to adore them. Don't judge them by their size though, although small, once cooked, these eggs are surprisingly tough. Their egg whites are not as soft as their larger counterparts which gives for a surprising texture when bursting into the center and finding a soft, delicate yolk. They are a bit exotic in our culture, but quite common in various Asian cuisines, so are not impossible to find pickled if not fresh in Chinese, Korean or Thai grocery stores.



So lets pull out our cauldron, and with a little of toil, toil, boil and bubble, we'll mix together 1 part exotic, to two parts precious, a pinch of ol' timey, and a bit of beet blood for pizzaz and we'll concoct the perfect pickled quails eggs!

(oh come on, I don't mean blood- its beet juice. Sheesh!)

PICKLED QUAIL EGGS

• 3 dozen fresh Quail eggs, or 2 cans of preserved eggs*
• 4-5 medium sized beets, washed and quartered
• 2 c. vinegar (white wine, cider, rice, or any mixture of these)
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• bay leaves
• black peppercorn
• whole cloves
• fresh mint
• 1 clean quart jar with lid

* I suggest getting fresh, as the canned eggs are a bit rubbery. However, the longer fresh eggs sit in a brine, the more they will become a bit rubbery as well. They are best eaten within two weeks. However if you plan to store yours for a while, it doesn't matter if you start out with canned or fresh.

Make beet juice. We'll add beet juice to the brine to give added flavor but most importantly a nice purple color. Clean and wash your beets. You don't have to skin them if you don't want just get all the yuck off. Quarter and place in a pot with water covering about 1" above beets. Cover, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Allow to cook for about 30 minutes, until you see dark red liquid. Drain and reserve 2 c. of juice for your brine.



While beets are cooking, we'll prepare the eggs. If you're using canned eggs, you can skip to step 4. If using fresh eggs, we'll need to hard boil them. Place a cloth napkin or towel at the bottom of a pot, place the fresh eggs on the cloth and fill the pot with water. Place the pot on a the stove. Cover and bring to a rolling boil. Once boiling, remove the pot from heat. Let sit for 5 minutes with pot still covered. While its sitting, prepare a bowl of ice water. Take eggs from hot water, and place into the ice water until they cool. This will make peeling them easier. Because they are so small, its easy to damage them while peeling. Peel eggs and set aside.



Create your brine. In your cualdron, I mean in a pot, mix all ingredients, including the beet blood, ahem...juice, but excluding the eye of newt. Ok, joke taken too far now! Excluding the eggs, put everying into a pot and bring to a boil. If you have a pickling spice mix, feel free to use that instead of the whole spices I listed above. Once the brine is boiling, remove from heat.



Assemble your jar of pickles. Place your eggs in your quart jar. Pour the hot brine over the eggs, whole spices and all. Fill jar with as much of the brine as possible, place lid on jar and allow to sit. Once cool, you can add in some fresh mint if you want and place in the refridgerator.



Your pickled eggs will be at full potency in about a week and will remain good indefinitely if kept chilled.

How To Roast A Leg of Goat and Be Awesome!

Goat is a bit exotic. If you want to impress people. Exotic always works. So, roast a leg of goat and you'll be awesome. Guaranteed. That's a Forkable promise. You can also go off about how difficult it is to make goat and how its often tough, and then when people bite into the moist juicy meat this recipe will easily provide you, everyone's brains will explode. Maybe that should be the title of this post: How To Make Everyone's Brains Explode with Goat. Hmmm Anyway, onto the recipe.

If at any point during this recipe you ask Why? - here's your answer.
_________________________________________________________

Roasted Leg of Goat

a 4-5 lb leg of goat, bone and all

seeds from a large mature papaya

1-2 Tbs kosher salt

2-3 large onions for roasting

-for the marinade-

20 limes, juiced

1 c. rum

1 c. white wine

2 c. olive oil

1/4 c. brown sugar

2-3 large beets

-for the dry rub

2 Tbs dry ginger

2 Tbs cumin

1 Tbs coriander

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. kosher salt

1 Tbs sumac

chopped fresh mint

head of garlic

fresh ginger knuckle- 2" or so.

1) Go out and purchase a fresh leg of young goat from your butcher.

The night before you serve:

2) Trim the roast. The roast may be covered by a hard white surface tissue. If so, you'll want to trim this off. I found this to be a bit difficult, but just do your best to remove as much as possible without hacking apart the roast. Put your fingers underneath the tissue and see if you can work it away from the flesh and cut it off that way. Trim off any extra fat deposits. Reserve for later.



3) Rub smashed seeds and salt on the leg to prepare it for the marinade. Take your papaya and cut in half. Take the seeds from half the fruit and using the flat end your knife, smash them until you can see the white insides. Mix with a few tablespoons of salt and rub over your meat. Chill while you make your marinade.



4) Assemble your marinade. Freshly squeeze your limes. Mix lime juice together with your rum, wine, olive oil and brown sugar. Place your leg roast in your roaster and pour the marinade over the leg. Wash and peel your beets, slice and place the slices in the marinade with a few slices on top of the roast.



5) Cover the roaster with cellophane and chill overnight. Check your roast every few hours to flip over. You don't need to get out of bed in the middle of the night. Relax. It'll be ok, just don't forget to flip it at least once or twice. Now, go have a drink. You need it.

The Day You Serve:

6) Figure out what time dinner is and schedule cooktime. Once you have dinner time scheduled, figure out the timing of your meat. It will take about 3 hours with the dry rub, 20 min. or so on the bbq and ~90 minutes in the oven. It will be fine to sit for up to an hour after removing from the oven and still be warm. You'll want to get the dry rub on your meal about 5-6 hours before dinner time.

7) Remove the leg from your marinade. Reserve about 4 c. of the marinade for later.

8) Insert your lardoons. Wait, what are lardoons? Well, I can see you didn't read my previous goat article. That's okay. I forgive you. Lardoons are just a fancy way of referring to the fat we trimmed off earlier. Take your roast, and make a few deep incisions into the meat- an inch or so. Stuff these incisions with any trimmed fat as well as a garlic clove and a thin slice of fresh ginger each.



9) Get your dry rub on. Mix your ingredients for the dry rub. Feel free to edit or substitute any of the seasonings on my dry rub. Its not that important, just the salt, sugar and some spice. Take the seeds from the second half of the papaya and smash them the same way you did above. Mix the seeds in with the dry ingredients. They will bind the spices together into a paste. Smear that stuff all over the meat. This is always my favorite part!! Wrap it up in cellophone and chill in the fridge.

10) Heat up the grill. 30-45 minutes before you're ready to start this roast off, get your grill fired up. Figure out your timing based on your grill. We have a very small smokey joe which takes forever! But you may have a fancy stainless BBQ with burners, sinks and an attached swiveling lazy boy. If so, recline back and press the fire button on your remote control.



11) Preheat Oven. While you're messing with the grill, have the ol' ball and chain preheat the oven to 325. If you don't have an ol' ball and chain, do it yourself, dummy!



12) Grill it! Once that fire is HOT: get that roast on there, face down first. We're grilling it first to sear it, so only give each side about 10 minutes, more or less until the surface is blackened.

13) Roast it! Have the roaster ready to go at the side of the grill. Fill the roaster with 2-3 large onions quartered to rest the roast on so the meat doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan while its in the oven. Once the meat is done on the BBQ, insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the meat and get that pup into the oven. Keep an eye on the thermometer. Once it gets to 130 degrees, probably after 90 minutes or so, remove from the oven.



14) Let it rest! After it comes out of the oven, tent it by taking a sheet of aluminum foil and loosely folding it over the top of the leg roast. Let it sit for about 20 minutes. While it sits, you'll notice it will go up to about 140 degrees, which is EXACTLY what we want. Nice- medium rare!



15) Carve it. I wish I could give you better instructions on how to carve, but I can't. I suck at this! I'm told the only way to learn is to practice, so I'll just have to keep at it. Its sort of depressing to make such a beautiful food item and then hack it apart, but oh well. Here's a guide to carving a leg of lamb which may help you. I wish you luck.

Eat it sucka! This of course is always the easiest part. Hopefully you have some people to eat it with. Make sure you tell them how long and hard you worked on this thing. Well, I hope it wasn't actually hard, but make them think it was. Its great when people drool all over you with compliments. Suck it up. You've earned it. You just made a goat! Ha!



-PS- Don't you dare throw that bone away! Stick it in your freezer to save for stock. There's another long hard winter in front of you and you'll need some broth. I guarantee it.

Duck Boobylicious: Broiled Duck Breasts with Fig Miso Glaze

For a holiday meal deserving a special treat, there's nothing like duck boobs! Ha ha ha. I mean, ahem, duck breasts, of which I had 2 plump specimens in my freezer saved for such an occasion. They had actually been in the freezer for a bit too long and I was starting to worry they might be going bad. Cooking them up gave me a fancy meal free of any guilt of letting such a delicacy die the slow death of freezer burn.


Our Easter dinner of broiled duck breasts sided with rosemary roasted potatoes and lemon steamed broccoli.

I've never had good luck preparing duck before, usually overcooking it into duck leather. At $11.99 a lb, I wanted to make sure my duck turned out! When thinking about the preparation options, I decided to brine the breasts to help the meat retain as much juice as possible. A quick hot cooking method like broiling or sauteing is a good way to sear the outside of the meat and seal the juices in. Broiling with a glaze would infuse rich flavors as well as give a sweet caramelized exterior. I had my method; I just needed my ingredients.


The jar of fig paste on left was sealed with a layer of wax. How old timey!

Whenever I go on a food shopping adventure, I always like to treat myself to one or two exotic treats like the Duck Breasts I got on a visit to Mitsuwa. Easter dinner is a perfect excuse to go whole hog so I pulled out all my fancy ingredients. For the brine I needed an acidic base which immediately put me to mind of the persimmon vinegar I got on my last visit to Chicago Foods. The fig paste from Al Khayam would provide a rich tart base for the glaze. On to the prep.

Broiled Duck Breasts with a Fig Miso Glaze
approx. 1 hour of total cook and prep time with 3-4 hours for brine

• 2 4 oz. duck breasts

Brine:

• 1 c. vinegar
• 1 c. orange juice
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbs brown sugar

Glaze:

• 1/2 c. fig paste
• 2 tsp miso
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 Tbs persimmon vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame seed oil
• 1/4 tsp wasabi powder
• 1/4 tsp brown sugar

Duck in the brine.

Similar to red wine vinegar, the persimmon vinegar had a very deep tart flavor, so I mixed some orange juice with the brine to sweeten the flavors. I let the duck soak submerged in the brine for 3-4 hours in the fridge.


On left, the breasts after the brine, patted dry with salt and pepper. On right, the breasts on a makeshift rack after the first 4 minutes under the broiler.

I'd never made duck breasts alone before, so I wasn't sure the proper time broiling. I did a quick google search and just clicked on the appropriate first recipe I saw which could give me a rough idea of times. The recipe states:

1. Pat duck breasts dry and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper.
2. Remove rack of a broiler pan, then add 1 cup water to broiler pan and replace rack. Preheat broiler with pan 5 to 6 inches from heat.
3. Broil duck breasts, skin sides down, 4 minutes
4. Turn over and broil until thermometer inserted horizontally into center of a breast registers 130°F (see cooks' note, below), 8 to 10 minutes more for medium-rare.

The info given for the temp the breast should read on the thermometer was very helpful. To insert my glaze into the recipe above, I proceeded with steps 1-3 and added the glaze to the top of the breasts after flipping over and placed the back in the oven to finish broiling for the last 8 minutes.

Though my duck breasts were half the size as the ones listed in that particular recipe, by following the first steps along with the temp guide lines, I was able to make sure my Duck breasts were plump, juicy and delicious.



The rich fatty meat was complimented by the deep sweet and tart flavor of the fig mixed with the vinegar and miso with an extra little kickass taste of wasabi. Sided with roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli with lemon and black caraway. The quack was loud but our bite wasn't vicious and that dinner I was cookin was duck boobylicious!

What Do You Do With Pierna De Pollo? I Dunno. Enchiladas?

I found it at the bottom of my freezer, all red and wrapped up in cellophane but I don't remember buying it: a package of pierna de pollo. To preface, I don't speak Spanish well. Once in Ecuador when trying to ask the bus driver to turn down the loud music, I actually asked if he could make the big music more tranquil. Using my same genius at language, I assumed "pierna" had something to do with the red seasoning rub coating the chicken. (Yes, I do know "pollo").


Browning the chicken to prepare for braising.

I was thinking I could quickly saute the meat for fajitas but after defrosting, I realized I had a bunch of chicken hind quarters which where oddly sliced in half long ways. With lots of bones to deal with, I wasn't going to be able to quickly saute anything. I scrapped my quick plan and decided to braise the chicken in a bottle of white wine left over from a party.



An hour or so later, I had a pot of braised chicken legs in a greasy wine broth, but not exactly sure where I was going from here. I figured whatever the "pierna" seasoning was, had also cooked into the broth, so it was too good to dump. It would have to be part of the dish. I was thinking a soup maybe, but after a long winter I am SO F**ing SICK of soup I can't take it anymore. Next in my mind: make a sauce for enchiladas. So I did. Here's how.



Chicken Enchiladas with Wine Sauce

• 2lbs chicken, browned
• 1 bottle of white wine
• 1 large onion cut into 1" slices
• 2 Tbs tomato paste
• 1 tsp corn starch
• hot sauce
• 1 green pepper sliced
• 1 red pepper sliced
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese 1 8 oz. bag
  
• 1 package corn tortillas

After braising the chicken and onion in wine (about an 60-90 minutes at 350 degrees), strip the meat from the bones. My meat was not as moist and tender as I would've liked so I cut it into smaller chunks to make it easier to eat.

Next make the sauce. I separated half of the broth out to use to make a side dish of rice. With the remaining broth, heat until just boiling and stir in tomato paste which will help temper the tart wine flavor with its sweetness. Remove 1/2 cup or so of the wine broth and stir in the corn starch quickly so it doesn't chunk up. Mix the milky liquid back into the broth stirring to avoid lumps. As liquid gently boils it will begin to thicken into a nice sauce, about 5 minutes or so. Add hot sauce to taste.

Saute green and red pepper over medium heat until softened about 5 minutes or so.

Assemble the enchiladas by stuffing the tortillas with the braised chicken, sauted peppers, and a bit of cheddar cheese (1 cup or half the bag).



Stuff the tortillas tight into an oven safe pan. Pour the sauce over the tortillas and bake for 20 minutes at 350. Sprinkle the remaining half of cheese on top and place back into the oven for a couple minutes until the cheese is nice and melted.


Chicken Enchiladas served with white rice cooked in wine broth with coconut milk and black pepper.

This was a weird take on enchiladas as the sauce was more tart then spicy, but they were just as satisfying. I really liked the cheddar with the wine sauce. Alcohol and cheese, who would have thunk?

I kept wondering what was in the "pierna" seasoning? Well, thanks to the internet, I realize the red rub was probably some adobo seasoning because pierna de pollo directly translates to "chicken leg". Ha ha. I guess I should have paid more attention in Spanish class. Oh well you know what happens when you "ass-u-me".

Asian Miso Risotto with Avocado

I hate making risotto; it's a pain in the ass. I know there is probably some secret to it, but for me, it always involves an hour at least standing in front of a stove, stirring rice. Its just boring and my inpatient nature wants to pull it from the burner before its completely done.



To cut out all the fuss, I often make a microwave risotto by reheating pre-made rice with vinegar and miso then mixing in a fresh avocado to create a creamy vegan sauce. Its been a while since I tried to make risotto the proper way, so I decided to try the authentic technique with these Asian ingredients to see if all the hassle is worth the fuss and to test if it can hold up to my quick microwave method. Here is the recipe I made for the taste off.

Miso Risotto with Mushrooms and Avocado

• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1-2 c. mushrooms
• 1/2 tsp powdered mustard
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 2 c. short grained sushi rice
• 1/4 c. white wine
• 4-6 c. vegetable stock
• 1/2 - 1 c. rice vinegar
• 1-2 Tbs miso paste
• 1 large ripe avocado

In a large sauce pan, saute onions in olive oil until translucent.

Add spices and mushrooms, and saute until mushrooms are soft but not totally cooked (5 minutes or so).

Separate mushrooms out and set aside.

Add rice to onions and saute until rice becomes partially translucent (7 minutes or so). Keep stirring rice while it sautes. While sauteing, microwave wine for 30 seconds to heat.



After 7 minutes or so, and rice is partially translucent, reduce heat to low and add heated wine. The wine is heated so it doesn't shock the rice (or so I am told). Allow to cook until the wine is completely evaporated while stirring rice to keep it from burning to the bottom of the pot.

Add a cup of stock to the rice, and stir allowing it to cook into rice. Continue to add a cup of stock to the mixture as the liquid cooks into the rice. After the third cup of stock, add 1/2 c. rice vinegar along with 1 Tbs of miso and stir in.



When rice is feeling soft, taste to see if the rice is completely cooked. If not, add more stock and for gods sake, keep stirring. Once rice tastes nice and soft, add avocado and stir until fully mixed. You can now rest your aching arm. Season to taste and serve. Finally.

I served the risotto with roasted eggplant discs. Small sheets of nori made wonderful wrappers.



This dish was so wonderfully creamy and smooth, it leaves my microwave "risotto" far in its wake. The constant stirring weaves the flavors together while the rice slowly cooks. While absolutely irritating, it is worth the time. But only when you have the time. Otherwise, you can just heat up a bowl of pre-made rice, with vinegar, miso and soy, stir in an avocado until creamy and eat within 5 minutes. I just had some and it was OK.

Scotch Eggs: A How To

"In a quest for foods which pair well with whiskey, I have become obsessed with the Scotch Egg. Concentric spheres of protein and fat form the cradle in which within my stomach, hardwood-aged corn liquor will rest." -From Scotch eggs, an ode

I love how this lyrical quote from Ira's blog, Being Totally Sweet In Chicago, is talking about how eating meat wrapped eggs is a great way to prevent a hangover. Its like lace curtains in the trailer. But these meat wrapped eggs made the perfect snack for the whiskey tasting Ira hosted here at the house last night. It was awesome! Ira got a bunch of people to bring tons of whiskey for me to drink, and he made all the food. I could get used to this!



I came home from work yesterday to an aproned Ira, hard at work in the kitchen. He had been busy researching scotch egg recipes, and was actively putting his knowledge to the test. Here's the recipe he came up with:

Ira's Scotch Eggs

• 1 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1/4 c. fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 small onion, grated
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp powdered sage
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne
• 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp salt
• 8 hard boiled eggs
• 1/2 c. flour
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 1 c. bread crumbs

Mix pork with herbs and spices.



Rolling out a patty of the spiced sausage, wrap around hard boiled egg.



Roll sausage wrapped eggs in flour, then egg, and finally in the bread crumbs.



Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.



They were successful at absorbing lots of alcohol because today I feel great. And, they were yummers!



**Notes: The eggs needed a bit of salt. I added in the recipe above some salt to the sausage. I might roll the egg in a bit of salt before I wrap in the sausage in an attempt to salt the egg a bit. I also think wrapping the eggs in bacon or prosciutto would be a great addition.