For Your Food Only

Every year for Thanksgiving we close the restaurant to the public and invite our close friends and family over for dinner. Thanksgiving is -my favorite holiday and one of my favorite days of the year. I cook all day in the restaurant’s kitchen (alone?)and it feels so great. This year I started around ten thirty in the morning by –heating up the ovens for the turkey which had been brining for twenty hours. After rinsing the turkey thoroughly and patting it dry, I put into the cavity of the bird a few cut oranges, lemons , sage, lemon verbena, star anise, coriander, salt, cracked pepper and olive oil. Then I rubbed the outside of the turkey with a mixture of chopped rosemary, lemon verbena, salt, ground pepper and olive oil and placed the turkey on a bed of quartered onions, oranges, lemons, rosemary and a mix of olive oil and butter. The turkey was then placed into the oven to roast at 400 degrees for about 2 1/2 hours. Every fifteen minutes or so I would brush a liquid sage-garlic butter on the skin. I let my turkey rest for about 2 hours before slicing it. In order to serve the turkey warm with the other accoutrements I flash heated it in the oven at 375degrees for about 3 minutes.

But before the turkey was served there was a cocktail/hors d’oeuvres hour. We served fresh Heart of Palm Salad (so much more delicious than the canned stuff!) topped with Alaskan King Crab, an assortment of Rover’s house cured meats including our own bresola and salami ,and Rover’s house cured salmon accented by a cucumber salad and domestic white sturgeon caviar. I made a “cocktail du Jour” using

pomegranate, huckleberry and cranberry juice with the guest’s choice of vodka or gin. We poured a Taittinger Champagne followed by a Chablis grand cru and finally a Bordeaux 1994 la Conseillante.

To accompany the turkey I roasted a big pan of root vegetables including parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, carrots, and rosemary. I also roasted some fingerling potatoes in olive oil and finished them with some butter. There was a celery root mash and a sweet and sour puree of quince to accompany the turkey, my take on the more traditional mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Using the drippings from the turkey roasting pan, I made a gravy of reduced wine and poultry stock finished with butter.

Kathy, my lovely wife, made her famous wild rice pilaf which she cooks every year, and a fabulous pecan pie. My sister in law Lynn also contributed by bringing a wonderful tart. What a feast we had!

It was so wonderful to be able to gather around the table with good friends and family. I hope your thanksgiving was also delicious!

Just about two weeks ago I purchased six live roosters from a friend of ours. She had adopted the six roosters unaware of how much of a nuisance they would become to her flock of chickens. Needless to say the minute she asked me if I knew what to do with them, I jumped on the opportunity to bring a bird directly from the coop to the pot. My only requirement was that upon delivery the roosters be alive. I wanted to teach my interns, cooks, and line cooks the practice of dressing an animal for cooking.

After killing the roosters, pulling off all of the feathers, and butchering them, we started working on three different preparations.

For the first preparation, the classic “Coq au Vin,” I choose three roosters that we butchered into eight pieces. Each breast was still on the bone and cut in half so that we ended up with 4 pieces, and each thigh was cut in half so that you ended up with four pieces as well. Then we put these pieces into a red wine marinade following the tradition of “Coq au Vin”. For The Chef in the Hat twist you were waiting for, I served the stew with freshly made pasta that soaked up the fantastic gravy/sauce. This soul warming dish brought back fabulous memories of Nantes (my hometown) in the winter, and my dear mother tending the stew on the hearth.

The second preparation, a delicate poaching, incorporated the breast and thighs on the bones (but not the entire carcass) of two roosters. The poaching liquid was a fine poultry stock made ahead. The stock was brought to a boil first and then immediately reduced to a simmer. The meat was then added to the simmering stock and poached for about an hour and a half (the stock never returned to a boil). After the meat was cooked it was taken out of the stock. The stock was cooled rapidly and used later in a velvety poultry consommé. Before serving the meat was removed from the bones, sliced thin and added to the very hot consommé with farro. The flavors were very hearty yet delicate, especially after a sprinkling of fleur de sel over the white flesh of the meat.

The third preparation was another French classic, “Coq en Croute De Sel “ also know as “ Rooster in Salt Crust”. I simply filled the cavities of the rooster with a mixture of citrus and rosemary and padded the outside of the bird with a salt mixture. Baked in the oven for about one and a half hours, it came out absolutely gorgeous, with a beautiful citrus aroma. The last time I used this method was twenty nine years ago when I still lived in France. I was quite pleased with the results and I think Branden really loved that one. Contrary to what one might think, it was not salty at all. I am now motivated to keep practicing this method until I perfect it.

After all of this experimentation Tori was shocked at how tender the meat became especially in the Coq au Vin. Adam was very intrigued with the salt crust and Andrew was just amazed at the whole thing. I cannot wait to get in more roosters so that I can continue practicing with a meat that is quite rare in Seattle.

 

 

This is my first blog (so I am bit nervous) and I would like to write about FOOD and all it’s accoutrements. I think that in todays world, food is one thing that still keep people together at one time or another, having to share a table or a platter and to converse with one another. The time anyone spends in the kitchen, especially with someone else, is mostly incredible time of laughter working, drinking and cooking together. Followed of course by a meal around a table, and that is why food is so incredible to me. The most random gathering of people will happen with food. It is the tool of peace used around the world, even when language is a barriere.
I have a huge respect for farmers who bring us the best the earth as to offer by growing, fishing and gathering all these wonderful foods with such care and passion you can taste it as it comes into your kitchen. Over the following blog, I will try to introduce some of these incredible human beings and their gatherings. I will try to put some pictures and recipes and would love your feedback on all of it. Of course I will also try to keep you inform on what’s happening in my restaurant. So as a starter, I copied below, the intro to our November E-News letter that we send to our customers. I have also put a few blog connections, like lara at cook & eat (fantastic blogger), and a review about Rover’s on the source. Until next time I welcome your comments and remember, Keep on Cooking and Eating!

The Chef In The Hat!!!

http://blog.nwsource.com/entertainment/restaurants/blog/ou-est-le-boeuf-rovers-course

www.cookandeat.com

http://www.chow.com

www.chocolateand zucchini.com

www.rovers-seattle.com

November E-News letter

Bonjour Gourmand!

Fall is here! The kitchen in our home is filled with the sweet and floral scent of the quince we picked from the tree only a week ago. The apples and the pears are full of natural sugar and are finding their ways into the lunch sack and into gelees served with apple tart at the restaurant.

This is the harvest season, signaling the beginning of the holidays with thanksgiving and the busy month of December just around the corner. It’s time to plan menus, create shopping list and organize cooking schedules are been written on calendars, it’s going to be the best holiday season ever!

Here are a few ideas to avoid strong panic time during the holiday season. First have a clear idea of the menus, if it is the first time you are making a certain recipe, read it and understand it thoroughly. Make a good shopping list after checking your pantry and create a cooking schedule that will allow plenty of time for preparation ahead of time. For example If you want to make a butternut squash soup for your starter make it a day or two prior this will leave you free for last minute preparation and cooking the day of the dinner. Make the dessert in the morning (or even the day before) and prepare all your dough and stocks prior to the day of the event. Remember your friends came to your house to celebrate with you. If there is still work to do when your friends arrive, give them simple tasks so that they can keep you company in the kitchen.

When invited to a holiday hors d’oeuvres and cocktail party, bring a dish you are very familiar with (so that you have a better chance of creating a successful dish) that is easy to eat. One of my favorite is an interesting platter of assorted olives, cheeses and bread, which is guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser or an assortment of cured meats garnished with mustard, gerkins and some sweet and sour fruit compote. Keep it fun for yourself and have a ball in the kitchen.

The Chef in The Hat!!!

Recipe of the Month

Kusshi Oysters with Leeks and Caviar Sabayon
This dish makes a great starter for any holiday party this time of the year.

12 small kusshi oysters in the shell
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup Champagne
2 small leeks, white part only, split, cleaned, and very thinly sliced
Salt
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 ounce white sturgeon caviar

Garnish
Fennel fronds

Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with about 1 inch of rock salt.

Shuck the oysters. Discard the top shells and carefully cut the adductor muscle that attaches each oyster to its bottom shell. Pour the nectar from each oyster into a small dish; reserve the nectar. Set the oysters, in their shells, on the prepared baking sheet, nestling them gently into the salt so they sit evenly.
Put the cream and oyster nectar in a small skillet over medium-high heat and boil to reduce by half, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.
Put 1/2 cup of the Champagne in a small skillet with the leeks and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat just until the leeks are tender and the Champagne is fully reduced, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Whisk together the egg yolks and the remaining 1/4 cup of the Champagne in the top of a double boiler or in a stainless steel bowl set over a pan of simmering, not boiling, water. Whisk the mixture until frothy and doubled in volume, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the reduced cream with the melted butter and continue whisking until fluffy and thickened, and a ribbon of the mixture holds on the surface for a few seconds when the whisk is lifted, 3 to 5 minutes longer. Take the pan from the heat and gently fold in the caviar.
Bake the oysters just until warmed, but not cooked through, about 2 minutes. Take the oysters from the oven and turn on the broiler. Top the oysters with an even layer of the leeks, then spoon the sabayon evenly over and broil until the sabayon is lightly browned, about 1 minute.
To serve, make a bed of rock salt on individual plates (you can reuse the salt from the baking sheet but it will be hot, so use a large spoon to transfer it) and arrange 3 oysters on each plate, in a spoke pattern. Add a tuft of fennel to the center of the plate for garnish and serve right away.

Makes 4 servings

From Rover’s: Recipes from Seattle’s Chef in The Hat!!! ™
Published by Ten Speed Press © 2005

Scot’s Wine of the Month

Domaine Servin’s Montée de Tonnerre touches upon the nuances that we love about Chablis. The wine is clean, crisp and very elegant. I find hints of wet stone, mineral and a little kiss of the sun drench fruit. Citrus drives the nose as pear and apple complete the palette. The wine follows through and lingers on like the heart in a new love. This wine pairs well with fish, crab & lobster, cheese, a warm afternoon, and perfect for a lady in her favorite cocktail dress.

Wine Director
Scot Smith

From the Kitchen with Adam

With fall in full swing we are looking forward to many new products from our local farmers. We are seeing many vegetables like beets, parsnips, turnips, carrot and a variety of fingerling potatoes. Celery root, leek and chard are finding there way on the menu. All mushroom foragers are bringing in beautiful King Boletus, Golden Chanterelle, Hedgehog, Saffron Milk Caps and occasionally, my favorite, Matsutake mushrooms.

The kitchen has started to warm up the menu with items like duck confit, braised oxtail and venison tenderloin. Braised rainbow chard, fennel confit and also a variety of squash are being prepared into different dishes like warm butternut squash soup with herbed goat cheese caillé, spiced French pumpkin tartlet with crème fraîche and candied spaghetti squash with foie gras and apple wine gastrique.
Most recently we have had great responses from our customers with Alaskan Spot Prawns and Scallops. The sea urchin we are getting is sweeter by the day, thanks to our purveyor Tak San. Halibut and Salmon are still on the menu, but will be fading away by the end of this month.

Adam Hoffman
Chef de Cuisine

Kathy’s Floral Arrangement of the Month

For this fall season, a great way to add color inside the house, is, of course flowers. Chrysanthemums are the most common cut flowers for the fall season and today there are many wonderful different varieties to choose from. My favorite “mums” this season are the ones with the lime green centers. I particularly like the orange variety and the deep purple variety. For a bright and colorful bouquet, start with stems of the deep purple smokebush, then add the orange and deep purple mums along with some bright lime green “kermit” mums and you will have long lasting fall color that is both modern and traditional.

On the Radio

Tune in to “In The Kitchen with Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau” every Saturday from 4:00PM - 7:00PM on News Radio 710 KIRO AM. Don’t forget to check out the show’s recipe of the week and to email us during the show orcall in at 877 710 KIRO (5476).

Rover’s Cookbook

Over 100 recipes, inspired writing, and beautiful photographs are featured in an awe-inspiring cookbook. Each copy you purchase, for yourself or a friend, may be signed and personalized by Chef Thierry Rautureau.

$40 plus tax and shipping. Hardcover.
Call (206) 325-7442 to order.

Gift Certificates

Rover’s gift certificates are a welcome gift for Birthdays, Anniversaries, Holiday Celebrations or any other special occasion.

Call (206) 325-7442 to order.
Or email jennifer@rovers-seattle.com