Food thought for the day
Mar. 12th, 2009 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
strange_raptorsTonight we had potato dauphinoise for dinner, as well as the remaining chicken bits and some hastily bought broccoli (to try to claim some semblance of "health"). I think dauphinoise might be my very favourite dish, certainly it's my favourite way to cook potatoes. Although that doesn't mean I'd want to eat it every day ... it's far too rich for that. The first time I cooked dauphinoise I was in my early teens, whilst I was reading through Delia Smith's epic "How to Cook". Her recipe uses half milk, half double cream, and takes a good two to two and a half hours to cook. Nowadays I tend to use Nigel Slater's guidelines (in his "Appetite" book), which cooks more quickly and uses entirely double cream. My past and present housemates have a tendency to look away in disgust, or pretend not to see, when I'm making dauphinoise - I think they're happier not knowing the ratio of cream to potato.
Anyway, there are an assortment of nice things you can do to dauphinoise, if you have got bored of the standard version. One thing that Nigel Slater suggests is smoked mackerel. We, as a house, tried this a few months ago, and although it sounds reasonably odd (mackerel is a very oily fish, and dauphinoise is already high in fat) the smoky flavour of the fish really lifts the dish. When we had it, we had a plain salad of young spinach leaves, which helped to clear the palate. Another flavour that works well is pancetta, for similar reasons. Garlic, of course, works very well; I suspect smoked garlic would work even better. (Note to self: Must buy smoked garlic when I next get the chance.) I have heard tell of adding nutmeg, but normally when I'm in a dauphinoise mood I want something deep and rich, and somehow I associate nutmeg with lighter things. Still, one to try someday.
Yesterday we had one of our fallback suppers: fried chicken and mashed potato. I've spoken about fried chicken before, on a wintery day last year, but it really is a lovely dish - just the thing for a night (or day) spent indoors. The fried chicken recipe we tend to use is, again, courtesy of Nigel Slater - fried pieces in garlic and lemon and thyme. The skin tends to go very crisp (if you can wait that long) and is an absolute joy to eat.
Anyway, there are an assortment of nice things you can do to dauphinoise, if you have got bored of the standard version. One thing that Nigel Slater suggests is smoked mackerel. We, as a house, tried this a few months ago, and although it sounds reasonably odd (mackerel is a very oily fish, and dauphinoise is already high in fat) the smoky flavour of the fish really lifts the dish. When we had it, we had a plain salad of young spinach leaves, which helped to clear the palate. Another flavour that works well is pancetta, for similar reasons. Garlic, of course, works very well; I suspect smoked garlic would work even better. (Note to self: Must buy smoked garlic when I next get the chance.) I have heard tell of adding nutmeg, but normally when I'm in a dauphinoise mood I want something deep and rich, and somehow I associate nutmeg with lighter things. Still, one to try someday.
Yesterday we had one of our fallback suppers: fried chicken and mashed potato. I've spoken about fried chicken before, on a wintery day last year, but it really is a lovely dish - just the thing for a night (or day) spent indoors. The fried chicken recipe we tend to use is, again, courtesy of Nigel Slater - fried pieces in garlic and lemon and thyme. The skin tends to go very crisp (if you can wait that long) and is an absolute joy to eat.
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Date: Mar. 13th, 2009 12:16 pm (UTC)Pancetta and dauphinoise sounds so amazing that it may go beyond awesome into the realm of perilous.
Your post did rather remind me of this article;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4682508.stm