Salt to Taste

When people were asking about this class "Salt to Taste", the first thing asked was if I was going to use a lot of salt. Salt to Taste is not about salt. It's about basic cooking techniques. The most basic skills we need in the kitchen are strewn throughout this book. It teaches recipes that are so stripped down and encourages you to built and experiment with it.
Here is what we started with.


The Escarole Soup is really simple. Stock was brought to a simmer, escarole was added along with Parmesan and seasoning, and done. Escarole is a great green to have cooked or in a salad. Sort of like in between butter lettuce and romaine. It has a nice crunch and a very mild bitterness sometimes. Very clean, refreshing and a great light started. I loved that it was very quick to make. The key is a good rich chicken stock. We were chatting while we ate this on ways we can build on this recipe. Whisking in some egg like a Stracciatella was one idea. Another was adding in tortellini or ravioli would work as well. Other vegetables or legumes.
I don't have a picture because I forgot. Sorry. All you have to imagine is wilted escarole in a broth. Easy.

Next was another starter recipe. The most basic of tomato sauce with spaghetti. Onions, garlic, pepper flakes and cherry tomatoes. No other liquid was added. The cherry tomatoes slowly cooked and released all their juices. After about 10 minutes, the cherry tomatoes created their on sauce. Meanwhile we chopped up some parsley, lemon zest and garlic to make a gremolata.
The Spaghetti was tossed with the sauce and the gremolata sprinkled on top. I have to admit, I was a bit generous with the pepper flakes. But the good thing was the gremolata cut the spice with the fresh parsley and lemon. A quick pasta that like the soup, was simple to make, few ingredients cooked the right way, and satisfying.

The Main was a bit more complicated compared to the first 2 courses. In the past, I've had a lot of bad luck with braised duck legs in class. The recipes NEVER tell you to cook them long enough. Case and point with this recipe. Maybe it's the duck legs we get here, but they never cook in the time the recipe says. These legs are cooked in wine, stock, aromatic vegetables, and olives. It's important to sear the legs first and brown the skin to give it some colour. They were submerged in the liquid and braised in the oven. The recipe said a total of 1 1/2 hours at 325. But if I had not put the temperature up, they would still be like rubber. The legs came out JUST done. I think it could have used another 30 minutes at least, but due to time constraints, we had to take it out. Luckily they were tender enough and everyone enjoyed them.
We served it with some simply sauteed rapini with garlic. A classic Italian preparation that is a great way to cook rapini. The rapini is blanched in salted water for a couple minutes then shocked in cold water. Garlic is then browned in olive oil and the rapini is added to warm up. This was a bed for the braised duck leg. The flavours were definitely there. The rick duck with the sauce was amazing. A great alternative to confit, as duck legs usually are. The green vegetables were a perfect match as they made the dish as a whole more fresh and light.
I would recommend if you like confit duck but don't want to confit at home, attempt to braise them in wine and stock. But whatever recipe you follow, allow more time to cook. Take it from me.

The final dish was dessert. I read the recipe and I knew something was wrong with it right away. But I decided to make it anyways because 1) there are not a lot to choose from in the dessert department and 2) I wanted to see if it I was right in thinking it wouldn't work.
I was right, it didn't work.
This Panna Cotta is simply cream, buttermilk, sugar, and gelatin. The author mentioned infusing it with a multiple of things, so I opted for chocolate. Everything was heated in a pot and poured into small ramekins. Set to chill in the fridge for a few ours and it should be done. This was not the case. The recipe called for a mere 1 tsp of gelatin for 3 cups of liquid. No way would it set with that little gelatin. I had even put in a bit more gelatin to try to compensate. I didn't want to make this and not have it work so no one would have dessert. But even when I put 50% more gelatin in it, it still didn't set totally. It was still runny. So this recipe is a dud. It totally doesn't work.
Also, one customer mentioned it was a bit too buttermilky for his liking. I could definitely smell the buttermilk. So if you're not a buttermilk fan, the recipe said to forgo it and add all cream. So I think the next time I make Panna Cotta, the recipe will not be from this book.

The recipes we started off were very promising. The simplicity and bared down ingredients made them typical Italian style cooking. But the duck legs and desserts would not work for people using the book for the first time. So it's a 50/50 chance that the recipe will work for you. I think I'll have to try a couple more things out of this book to give it another chance. I like the concept of the book. Trying to teach home cooks is a noble cause, but when recipes don't all work, you might give them a complex!

Next Class: How to Roast a Lamb