I didn't really intend to do any book reviews on this blog, but ad hoc at home turned out to be so unbelievably amazing that I had to share. I know that there are already dozens of reviews for this book on the web, but one more won't hurt, right? Past experiences with Thomas Keller's recipes have been mixed. Okay, maybe mixed isn't exactly fair, unless I qualify and admit that "mixed" refers to my willingness to try his recipes, not the results of his recipes.
A few years ago, in a fit of insanity, A and I picked up a copy of The French Laundry Cookbook hoping that it might help us experience a little bit of Keller in our own kitchen. We cracked open the book... to discover that Keller's recipe for lamb comes with instructions for how to butcher the beast yourself! Yeah... right. I live in a small Hoboken apartment, not on a country farm with a tanning room. I managed to make one recipe out of the book - the fresh pasta. The results could not have been better, but it pretty much confirmed that I would likely not be cooking much else from that cookbook, as the pasta was one of the only recipes that didn't call for odd ingredients or overly complicated cooking techniques. Needless to say, A and I should have done our research before shelling out the cash for the book.
When ad hoc arrived on my doorstep, courtesy of our LA friends, I expected more of the same. More Thomas Keller... more impossible recipes. Boy, was I wrong. He promised accessibility and he delivered. I think that with ad hoc, Keller demonstrates that he understands the home cooks that dine in his restaurants. The recipes in this book seem tailored for foodies who fuss about ingredient quality and are eager to cook delicious food at home without having to purchase a sous vide machine. For every dish in the book, Keller provides instructions for the dish overall, as well as recipes for any "prepared ingredient", such as bread crumbs or herb sachets, so that each and every dish can be made from scratch, starting with raw ingredients.
A and I spent a few moments flipping perusing the recipes on Friday and decided that this would be a Thomas Keller weekend, selecting a number of recipes to sample over the next few days. On Saturday night, we started with wild cod en persillade, served over asparagus and tomato-bacon stew. Persillade sounded scary at first, until we saw that it was a fancy way to say parsley and bread crumbs. On Sunday, we settled on lentil and sweet potato soup, monkfish, and creamed leeks.
Once of the things that I learned from the weekend's cooking extravaganza, is that just about everything tastes better when cooked in rendered pork fat. While Keller's creative use of fresh produce does result in healthy recipes, I think that the quantities of bacon called for may cancel out some of the benefits. Following his recipes will certainly lead to a varied, vitamin rich diet... though at the price of a coronary. Man, did it taste good though.
Needless to say, I think these were some of the most delicious meals that A and I have ever cooked. Fish - perfect. Veg - perfect. Is Thomas Keller a genious or is pork fat just really freaking good? Probably both. For the cod, Keller recommended a quick sear on the stove followed by a brief pan roast. Who knew that the humble cod could rival sea bass for flavor? The smoky bacon flavor gave the asparagus and tomato-bacon stew a certain je ne sais quoi only found in the best restaurants.
The leek soup was actually my favorite and will become a go to recipe for our household in the future. Simple to prepare, the first 3/4s of the recipe can be prepared up to two weeks in advance, making it an excellent option for busy weeknights, while the soup itself is pretty enough for dinner parties. A garnish of more bacon (of course) and cilantro finished off each bowl.
The monkfish and leeks over romesco sauce turned out to be A's favorite of the weekend. The monkfish is pan fried with garlic and rosemary in a generous helping of butter. The rosemary was actually my favorite part of this dish. The frying makes it crispy enough to eat almost like a potato chip.
The romanesco sauce recipe yielded a tremendous amount of extra sauce... which A and I turned into pizza on Monday night! Yum.
Pizza recipe after the jump! I'm not sharing any other recipes because you really should just go and buy the book.
Recipe
1/2 cup romesco sauce from ad hoc at home
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
handful of chives
mahon cheese, thinly sliced
5 cremini mushrooms, sliced
parmesan cheese
pizza dough
corn meal
Place pizza stone on the bottom rack of your oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Allow the oven to heat for about 45 minutes to ensure that the stone is evenly heated. If you don't have a pizza stone, just pre-heat the oven. You can use a sheet pan to cook your pizza.
Spread your pizza dough out into a thin round on a peel that has been liberally covered with corn meal. The corn meal keeps the pizza from sticking to the peel. Put two tablespoons of romesco sauce in the center of the dough and spread into a thin layer that covers all but the edges of the dough. Place slices of mahon over the dough in a single layer so that they nearly cover all but the edges of the dough. Sprinkle the tops of the pizza with mushrooms, red onion, chives and parmesan. Slide the pizza off the peel onto the baking stone (or onto a cookie sheet) in the oven. Cook pizza for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges of the crust turn golden and the cheese begins to carmelize. Remove from the oven and allow the pizza to rest for a few moments before slicing and serving.
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