Alinea at Home: Pear, Eucalyptus, Oil and Black Pepper

So it's been a really long time since I've made one of these posts.  Needless to say, I've been really busy and this project kind of got put on the back burner. 

The start of the dish, sauvignon blanc, water, sugar, lemon and pears.  The lemon juice was mixed with a bit of water and was used to keep the pears from browning once they were cut. 

I took a spoon to the pear and took a sort of semicircle out of it, and then from there I took a smaller spoon and hollowed out the middle.  The water, wine and sugar were combined and the cut pears were simmered in the mixture for a few minutes until cooked through. 

The start of the eucalyptus portion of the meal.  The first step was to make the eucalyptus infused water.  This takes, water (of course) sugar, salt and eucalyptus leaves (the internets is a wonderful wonderful place).

So the whole mixture was put in a pan and simmered.  Once the liquid reached a simmer I killed the heat and let it steep for about an hour.

Who wants eucalyptus flavored jello?  I know I do, so here's how you make it.  You take the eucalyptus flavored water and heat it up a bit and then mix it with a sheet of gelatin.

So this is a little trick that I'd like to think Alinea is famous for, but I suspect that the origin at this point is probably truly lost as any place that does molecular  gastronomy is doing at some point during their meals now.  The trick is layering gels.  Now this instance is not so crazy as the gels being layered are the same flavor.  But there are dishes in this cookbook where 3 or 4 different gels are to be layered on top of one another.  Stay tuned for that episode, coming at somepoint in the future.  I took a portion of the eucalyptus flavored liquid that had been studded with the gelatin.  I poured a bit of it in a dish and then into the fridge to completely set.

Once the first layer had set, I put the pears in and filled it with the rest of the gelatin, and then back into the fridge to set up.

The ingredients for the final prep, the completely set pears in jello, black pepper and in my case truffle oil (because I was out of olive oil). 

The classic Alinea plating of a single bit on a fork.  I really liked this dish, the pear was naturally delicious, the jello didn't really stick to the pear so I didn't get much of it in this bit and the pepper added just the right amount of spice.

Jalapeno Beef with Cheese Polenta and Tortilla Chile Sauce

So time to change it up a little bit.  Simple only gets you so far in life and especially in your kitchen.  While not as simple as other recent meals I've made this isn't so stupidly complicated that it can't be made mid-week.

  

Here is everything you need for the tortilla chile sauce.  Crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, salt, olive oil, pepper, lemon, garlic, corn tortilla, dried chile and onion.

I chopped the onions and tore the chile fried them off in a bit of oil until the onions were cooked all the way through.

Once the onions were cooked the tomatoes and chicken broth were added to the mix.  I let that simmer for a bit and then it was added to a blender.

Now that the chile sauce was complete it was time to start on the cheesy polenta.  Polenta is really easy, water, cornmeal, salt and monterey jack cheese.

So to make the polenta I brought the water to the simmer and then added the cornmeal.  I let that mixture simmer for a little bit until thick and then I mixed in the cheese until melted.

Now its time for the beef portion of the evening.  Nothing fancy here, salt, pepper, chili powder, sugar, sirloin steak and jalapenos.  I cubed the steak and seasoned it with some of the salt and pepper. 

The beef was seared off in a bit of oil.

Here is the completed beef.  Once the beef was cooked I cleaned out the pan a bit and added the meat back to the pan, dusted them with the sugar and chili powder and added the sliced jalapenos to finish cooking.

The final plate.  If I must say so myself I'm pretty damn proud of that plating, it's definitely one of my better efforts in recent weeks.  Oh yeah, the food was delicious as well.

Glazed Salmon with Spicy Tomato Relish

As you can probably guess from the title this was another pretty simple dish that I made earlier this week.  So why don't we just cut to the chase.

The start of the glaze.  Sherry vinegar, dijon mustard, honey, and ancho chile powder.  All of the ingredients got mixed together and heated up.  Once in the pan I let the mixture reduce until somewhat syrupy.

The final result for the glaze.

The start of the relish.  Salt, pepper, olive oil, red wine vinegar, tomato, red pepper flakes, onion and parsley.  The veggies were chopped and combined with the spices and the vinegar and oil for the relish. 

Then we have this beautiful piece of heaven.  A wonderful piece of wild fresh caught salmon.  That I first seasoned with salt and pepper then coated with a bit of the glaze before it hit the grill.

I grilled the fish for about 2 minutes per side while periodically glazing the salmon and this was the finished product.  I love my new grill couldn't get those grill marks with the old one.

The final plate.  I sauced it with a bit of the extra glaze.  This dish was delicious and would definitely recommend that you try it sometime. 

CHicken Hash with Butternut Squash and Kale

Another simple dish for a weeknight meal during a crazy busy time.  Thankfully, over the next two weeks only two events on the calendar and they are both one night deals here locally.  Anyway, on to the food.

The first ingredients up were the butternut squash and kale.  The squash needed to cook for a few minutes in boiling water and then once the squash was done, I added the kale.  The kale cooked in the residual heat of the water.

While the squash and kale were cooking I prepped the rest of the ingredients which included, onions, chicken thighs, sage, dijon mustard, maple syrup, dried cranberries, chicken broth and olive oil.

I heated some of the olive oil and sauteed off some the chicken.

Once the chicken was cooked most of the way through I added the onions to cook them off.

Once the onion was cooked, I added the cooked squash and kale along with the cranberries and a combination of chicken broth and maple syrup.

I reduced down the liquid down a little bit before serving and plating it up.  I'll be honest, this was an average meal. 

Molasses Glazed Pork with Gravy, Sage Dressing Muffins and Apple Salsa

Each issue of Cuisine Magazine starts out with the major recipe for the issue, and honestly, it's the dish I probably look forward to making the most often.  This issue's recipe was an elaborate meal which included a pork loin roast that was glazed with molasses and served with gravy made from the pan drippings, a dressing and a little bit of fruit topping.

I had to improvise a bit with some things in this recipe, however, it worked out beautifully.  The first improvisation was with how I cooked the pork.  The key to any good gravy is the vegetable base.  For this one it included onions, carrots, celery and garlic.  The recipe called for the the pork and vegetables to be roasted off together for about 90 minutes.  Because I couldn't find the type of pork loin called for in the recipe I actually roasted the veggies by themselves for about 30 minutes.

With the veggies prepped and cut, they went into a roasting pan with some olive oil and salt and pepper.

While the vegetables for the pork were roasting I started the prep for the dressing.  Really pretty simple dressing, sage, parsley, celery, onion, salt and pepper.  This was the flavoring for the dressing I had already prepped the bread portion of the evening.

I sauteed off the onions and celery with some salt and pepper in a bit of oil.  Once the onions and celery were cooked the sage and parsley went in for a few minutes.

The cooked onions, celery and herbs were mixed together with the bread and went into a ramekin to be baked in the oven until golden brown and delicious.

The stuff for the glaze, molasses which you probably expected from the name of the dish.  But the surprise ingredient, currant jelly.

Next up was the apple salsa garnish.  Braeburn apple, more of the current jelly, salt, lemon, parsley and a bit of butter.

All the prep now done, I seasoned the pork with salt and pepper and then seared it off.  This is the pork having completed the initial cooking process. From here the pork went on top of the veggies that had been pre-roasted in the oven.

While the pork was in the oven I made the apple salsa.  I diced up the apple and sauteed it off in some of the butter.

After the apple had cooked down the rest of the salsa ingredients went in where the jelly and sugar and lemon juice made a bit of syrup.

The porok was in the oven for about 30 minutes and was basted with some of the molasses-currant glaze every ten minutes or so.  The pork was covered in some tin foil and I allowed it to rest while I finished the rest of the meal.

The first step in the homestretch of the meal is the gravy.  The gravy needed, tomato paste, bay leaves, sherry, chicken broth, apple juice pepper corns and butter.

So I took the roasting pan where the veggies and pork cooked and added the tomato paste and let it sautee some and then deglazed the pan with the chicken broth and sherry.  The whole mixture reduced for a bit before the bay leaves and peppercorns were added.  The final step was to melt some butter into the sauce to finish.

The final plate.  Given that I didn't have the center cut pork loin and was totally winging how long to cook the pork I was so happy when it came out with that perfect pink hugh.  Pretty sure this dish would win major accolades on cooking competitions if I do say so myself.

Grilled Tuna and Mole Sauce

Another relatively simple dish for busy times.  Granted, this isn't a meal that you can make on a whim, but with planning can certainly be an easy weeknight meal.

The first step was to start on the mole sauce.  The first portion included corn tortillas, three kinds of dried chiles, chicken broth, almonds, roasted garlic and onion.

I heated some oil in a pan and fried off the chiles and corn tortillas until the tortillas were a bit crisp and you could start to smell the chiles.

Once the tortillas and chiles were done in went some onions until they just started to turn golden around the edges.

Then I added the garlic and let that go  until I could smell the garlic.

Once the onions and garlic were done I toasted off the almonds.

All the sauteed ingredients went into a blender along with the broth until it was smooth.

The second part of the mole sauce includes tomatoes, raisins, chocolate, cloves, cinnamon, maple syrup and the chile, onion mixture from the previous pictures.

This is where this dish becomes not so weeknight.  The chile/onion mixtures went into a sauce pan along with the tomatoes and raisins and simmered for about 90 minutes.

This is what the mixture looked like after it had cooked down and was ready for the addition of the chocolate, and spices.

Once I added the chocolate and spices to the mole sauce the sauce needed to simmer for an additional 15 minutes so I prepped the tuna for the grill.  Really basic here, tuna, salt pepper.  That's it.

Once seasoned I cooked it on the grill for about 90 seconds to 2 minutes per side.

The mole sauce is now complete.

The final plate.  I decided at the last second to sprinkle some cilantro over the top.  This was really really good.  Like I said, s