Happy Holidays, Breakaway Cooks!

Christmas this year is oddly peaceful for us — having a newborn means you don’t have to do *anything*! No one expects any meals or much socializing … it’s pretty much Daphneluv, 24/7!

So a quick note of thanks to this cool community we have here. It’s a pure pleasure for me to write this blog, and I look forward to another year of good cooking with you all. Next year should be a banner one, I hope: we’ll roll out the video series, and I hope to have the Breakaway Vegetarian Cook ready by late spring/early summer. As many of you know, it’s going to be a digital book, complete with video sections, lots of great photography, and deep links to writing I’ve done over the years. We’re also rolling out a facelift for the entire website, including a new section we’re calling “gifts and gear” — a webstore with all kinds of products I’m enamored with and use on a near-daily basis. And, most importantly….. we’ll be documenting Daphne’s growth into hypercuteness! I can’t wait till I can start feeding her solid food………..

Happy holidays!

Umeboshi Duck With Persimmon

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I think duck legs have to be one of the greatest bargains around. Eight bucks or so will buy you four delectable pieces of ducky heaven that keep on giving: you can render some of the fat for later use (potatoes fried in duck fat are one of life’s truly great pleasures), you get four wonderful entrees, and you can make a meaty, smoky stock with the bones. My method: place them in a large claypot or other earthen vessel and gently roast in a low-heat (275) oven for about 30 minutes, to render the fat. Pour it off into a clean jar for later use — you should get quite a bit (at least a small jam jar’s worth).

Heavily season with salt and pepper, put them back in the oven, and turn up the heat to 350, where they will roast for another 30 to 40 minutes. Check to see how brown they are; they may need a little more time. They should look pretty well done, with some visible separation of meat and bone. And finally, crank it way up to 45o for as long as it takes (typically 10 to 15 minutes) to get the skin supercrisp and well-browned, near black. During this last stage, pit and finely chop a few umeboshi, and smear it on the duck when it’s finally done. The piquancy of the umeboshi played against the superrich fat of the duck is one of the world’s greatest combos.

I thought about serving the legs with rice, but then, the giant pile of fuyu persimmon caught my eye: what if I just chopped up the persimmon in lieu of the rice? Some of the fat from the duck would drizzle down into the fruit, making the perfect dressing! It was lovely, served with some pickled fennel,  superkraut, and avocado.

Does anyone else cook duck legs? If so, how?

Buddhacello

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Our sweet neighbor Julia welcomed Daphne into the world with a gorgeous Buddha’s hand citron. My interpretation of this generous event is thus: make a delicious limoncello-like Italian cordial with it and propose a bottleful of toasts! This is my first foray into citruscello land, but I have it on good faith that it couldn’t be simpler: zest about a quarter-cup of zest from citrus of choice, let it steep in good-quality vodka for two weeks, then add sweetener of choice, along with some water, and freeze.  If I like the buddhacello results, it won’t be long till kaffiracello, yuzucello, et cetera! I almost never drink hard booze — wine with meals and beer on a hot day keep my liver with plenty to do — but this is more like a tiny hit of boozy dessert than a slam ‘em shot of something hard … besides, they will make cool little xmas gifts in smaller bottles. Will post the results in a month or so.

I’m feeling pretty sleep-deprived these days, so not a lot of adventurous cooking. Hugely grateful to friends who are dropping off bags of both ingredients and cooked food. Even still, I feel there’s always time for a good, proper breakfast, heated-up leftovers for lunch, and simple dinners with lots of greens. Desserts, too, are in high demand. Not my forte or natural inclination, yet I’m enjoying making them — different tapiocas are showing up with regular frequency, so I hope to work up  a post on tapioca experiments soon.

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Guest Post: Healthy Persimmon Crêpes

I’m very happy to present the first guest post, from the talented photographer, blogger, and nutritionist Emiko Taki, while I tend to the fulltime job of feeding and caring for Delia and Daphne. I’m delighted that Emiko is part of this community. You can see some of  work at her blog,  KitchenEm.

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By Emiko Taki

This is very similar to the Persimmons Grand Marnier in The Breakaway Cook, but was made rather spontaneously. Recently, I was working on a recipe involving lots of egg whites/meringue, and hated to waste all the egg yolks that were piling up in my poor neglected rice bowl.

So I decided to make some crêpes. But I didn’t want them to be another anonymous number on a crêpes shop menu.

One recipe I consulted called for a quarter-cup of melted butter — a half stick.  Now,  I do realize that butter is often essential for many, many desserts, but do I really need, or want, that much butter in my crêpes? I decided to replace the butter with some 1% milk, and added some cardamom and cinnamon to spice up the batter. (The nutritionist in me can’t help but say: people often mistake the percentage on the milk carton for the amount of fat, but it’s actually fat percent measured in weight. So, whole milk is about 50% fat and 2% milk is about 33% fat.)

The crêpes looked and tasted pretty good, much better than I expected. But then what? Do I dress them up by adding a blob of whipped cream and smearing on some chocolate fudge? That would totally defeat the purpose of making it low fat. I looked around the kitchen and found a few persimmons that I got from my colleague, still not quite so Persimmon-orange, and not ready to be eaten fresh just yet. Fantastic! I sliced it thinly, simmered in a little water, and  finished with a little bit of sugar and bourbon. That’s when I thought of Eric’s book and there it was! Okay, my version is cheap – not quite the Grand Marnier, but it tasted great. I’m not too fond of overly syrupy, sugary desserts, yet the crêpes & persimmons just by themselves were a bit too dry; I added a tablespoon of Greek yogurt, which rounded it out perfectly.

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Happy Thanksgiving, Breakaway Cooks!

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I think everyone can guess what we’re most thankful for this year . . . .

It’s incredible how important food has become, even more so than before — eating well means Delia’s happier and healthier, which in turn means Daphne is, too. Even one “off” meal of takeout seems to start a somewhat negative cycle, only to be corrected by something whole and homemade and whipped up with love. I did manage to slather a bird with mole (thinned with pickled fennel brine) and stuck it in a large cast-iron chicken fryer. It’s roasting away right now and is filling the house with great smells.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! We’ve got enough love floating around here to sate the planet!

Daphne Camille Gower — Irasshai!

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We interrupt this regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you the breaking news of the arrival of Ms. Daphne Camille Gower, who parachuted into the world on November 18,  all 3.3 delicious kilograms of her. Her father, a certain breakaway cook, managed to talk the OBGYN into letting him deliver/catch her and place her on the chest of her heroic, epidural-free mother, Ms. Delia van der Plas, to the great delight of everyone present.  Ms. Daphne and her parents, who are getting used to the life without the precious commodity known as sleep, are now home, eating all the food prepared weeks before her arrival.

Her father is resisting, often quite mightily, the urge to drizzle a few drops of pomegranate molasses on her mother’s breasts to give her a direct foretaste of what is to come! He is also being kept wildly busier than he imagined, and is still accepting ideas/submissions for guest posts that can run in this space during these next few weeks. Ms. Daphne will likely make semi-regular appearances here; if you have any bubbly around, perhaps the collective CLINK of the glasses will reach her unbearably cute ears. Ms. Daphne gratefully accepts all well-wishers.

:^)

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The Coolest Umeboshi Poem in the World

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All the Difficult Hours and Minutes

by Jane Hirshfield

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Persimmons and Chicken Broth? Oh Yes!

Who knew that hachiya persimmon goop and chicken broth went so well together? I got a huge box of on-the-edge hachiyas at the farmers’ market for just a few dollars, and spent about an hour dealing with them: separating the goop from the skins and tops, sieving it, and placing it it one-quart freezer bags for later use, long after persimmon season is over.  I couldn’t help but toss a few cups of it in the blender with some chicken stock I had just made, just for fun, along with plenty of salt and pepper. Oh yes, did it work! Here’s what I added to the soup pot:

• chicken stock/persimmon mixture

• zucchini slices

• cooked potato slices

• cooked rice noodles

• matcha salt

• chives

It yields a broth that’s light and vibrant and tangy, yet slightly creamy. It feels preposterously healthy while eating it, and long afterward.

Is anyone doing anything interesting with persimmon goop? I’m also making oatmeal with it: milk, water, persimmon goop, crystallized ginger, currants, cinnamon, dried apricots.  What else?

How to Make “Japanese” Bacon

Here’s a clip from the new Vook. I’ll have a lot more video to upload in the coming months, so I’m hoping everyone likes this direction. Feedback is hugely appreciated! Btw, there’s nothing inherently Japanese about this dish, other than the cut of meat — sukiyaki cut, which is quite hard to find in mainstream markets — and possibly the addition of minced ginger. Whatever its origin, it’s really, really tasty.

The New Cookvook! The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen on the Iphone and the Web

It’s finally up! Late last spring I inked a deal with the Vook people to produce a breakaway “cookvook” — a redo of the Breakaway Japanese Kitchen with video. Vook has garnered lots of press of late, so I’m really happy to be the first food foray in their lineup.

Lots of people have written me over the years, asking when a new edition of the BJK will be out. I’m happy to say: this vook is a rather breakaway version of the book! There’s definitely something nice about actually seeing the recipes being put together — it’s a very different experience from a regular book.  I hope everyone here will check it out. And: buying a copy would also help me defray some of the costs of keeping this site up and running — treat yourself and help me at the same time!

Check it out at Vook’s main site. And ask questions here, please! I’m happy to chat about all aspects of it.