February 24th, 2009 by Trevett

The Week Ahead
This is the last week for cassoulet.  This year’s cassoulet was subsidized by our good friends Todd and Sarah Wetzel of Hi-View Gardens.  Last summer, they kept showing up at our door with pounds upon pounds of extremely ripe, slightly blemished heirloom tomatoes which we slowly cooked down, passed through a food mill and then baked slowly in the oven for hours until it became thick like tomato paste to be used this winter in our cassoulet.  Because I never actually asked for the tomatoes, they refused payment and asked only for one meal in return.  While we could continue to make excellent cassoulet with canned tomatoes (which we did last year, and will probably do again in the future) it just seems right to call it quits for cassoulet this year as the conserva runs out.  For the best head lettuce in the world, you can visit Todd and Sarah Wetzel this summer at the Wilkinsburg farmer’s market or join their lettuce CSA.

Farmed arctic char from Iceland will be a regular menu item for a while.  This is supposedly one of the most sustainable farm-raised fishes on the planet (though who knows about the carbon footprint involved in shipping it from Iceland).  Even better, it tastes really good and is relatively inexpensive which means we can offer a really great tasting, healthy fish on the menu for under twenty dollars.  If you try it, don’t push aside the crispy skin – it is the best part of the fish.  Towards the end of the week, we may have some fancier fish in addition to the char, depending on what is available. 

We’re supposed to get two Niman Ranch strip loins on Tuesday, which means we’ll have strip steaks through Friday unless we’re abnormally busy.  Look for flat iron steaks the following week.

Making do with lettuce from far away
I woke up from a nap last Sunday afternoon craving Caesar salad and socialization.  A trip to the grocery store ensued, good friends and family were invited over and cocktails were made.  Leftovers were popped in the oven.  Bagged romaine hearts from gosh-knows-where were cut up, washed and spun dry.  Kids were glued to Scooby Doo on the VCR (yes, the VCR).  Anchovies were chopped (Sarah the vegetarian was a good sport and allowed it), raw eggs were cracked, Parmesan grated, lemons were squeezed and garlic was minced.  All was tossed together and it was awesome.  In the whirlwind that is this restaurant family’s life, the only parties that work are the ones that fall into place at the last minute when the stars align perfectly.  Such is the story of the Caesar salad too; that is, if the story is true that Caesar Cardini invented the salad after his Tijuana restaurant was running low on food and he tossed together what remaining ingredients he had left.  If life is a salad, make mine a Caesar with extra anchovies.

Our sous chef, Little Johnny Shaver, claims his Mom is famous for her Caesar salad and I believe it. She is a valued customer of Legume, whose opinion I value greatly. When Mrs. Shaver likes something, it stays on the menu a while.  If she doesn’t, it comes off.  Though I’ve never eaten her food, I expect it is really good because of how Little Johnny Shaver speaks of the way he ate growing up.  We’ll try to get her recipe – tweak it or not – and serve it for a while, as we continue to learn how to make good salads with lettuce from far away.    

February 21st, 2009 by Trevett

The Week Ahead
Chicken consommé with tortellini is one of those wonderful dishes we started making when business got slow last fall and I needed a way to keep my cooks busy.  It is an example of the type of cooking that is more likely to be found in an upscale, chef-run kitchen than at your local neighborhood bistro.   It’s also one of those things that most professional cooks get to do only once in their career—usually during culinary school—as not many restaurants in the US make a real consommé anymore because of the labor and expense involved.  It is truly one of the best soups we’ve made at Legume, and is one that the cooks are extremely proud of.   We plan to have this on the menu on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. 

For seafood lovers, Mahi Mahi and Arctic Char will be on the menu at the beginning of the week.  We hope to be able to offer black bass for the weekend if it is available.  Mussels should be available all week long. 

Banana cream pie will be stepping aside for a week or so while banana cake with caramel buttercream takes the stage.  Also, look for the espresso-soaked Turkish figs to make an appearance again soon.  We served the Turkish figs with the panna cotta last year but I think it would be good with some sweetened homemade ricotta too — maybe with some whole wheat crepes and honey.  Stay tuned.  Nathan’s Lemon Cake is a keeper for a while.
For vegetarians we will have homemade ricotta, Swiss chard and mushroom-filled cannelloni with pecorino béchamel this week in addition to several vegetarian appetizers.  If that sounds tempting to the carnivores out there, we’ll be offering this dish with an optional homemade spicy fennel sausage starting on Wednesday.

February 9th, 2009 by Trevett

Looking Ahead
We fell a little behind in promoting our next farm dinner, which is February 22nd and features lamb from Jamison Farm.  This will be our second dinner with the Jamisons, and the cooks are all excited for the opportunity to cook for them.  It is a pleasure to cook for the people who provide us with great quality food, and we always learn something in the process. 

The menu will feature entirely different cuts than those used in last year’s lamb dinner.  This year’s menu is the culmination of a year-long effort to learn how to cook more parts of the animal (but unfortunately does not include any offal).  The menu will feature a lamb and hominy soup with Mexican seasonings (based on a traditional Posole Rojo usually made with pork [see below]), frisee salad with lamb bacon, fresh ricotta and Turkish apricots; lamb chops with parsley sauce and Carolina gold rice grits; and sheep’s milk yogurt panna cotta with Kistaco brandied peaches. 

It is hard for me to articulate just how important Jamison lamb is to Legume. Jamison lamb is one of the cornerstones of our menu; it is something that we know will be outstanding every time we serve it.  As an eating experience, I would rank it right up there with fish caught and cooked on the same day, a fresh garden tomato picked at its peak of ripeness, or a biscuit moments out of the oven with melted butter.   It is so rare for a chef to find something this beautiful so readily available and it is one of the reasons Legume is a loyal customer of the Jamisons.

If you are interested in making a reservation, click here or give us a call.

This week:
It’s no secret these days that the restaurant business is slow.  The good news is that it’s an opportunity for us cooks to expand our culinary horizons in the kitchen.  Though the slow business does not bode well for our finances, we feel pretty excited about the direction the food is going in.  The nice thing about not being busy all the time is that we have the time to develop new dishes, explore new ingredients, and cook dishes that are a bit more challenging.  While the cooks work just as hard when it is slow as when it is busy, the difference right now is that more energy than usual is being channeled into creative work than rote production work.  Amen.

I am very excited for the posole rojo, which is a Mexican pork and hominy stew that I’ve wanted to make since moving back from San Diego.  Special thanks go to the butcher at Cunningham Meat who was willing to risk his saw blades by splitting open the head so that the brain could be scooped out.  If the idea of eating a soup made from a pig’s head is disconcerting, remember that it is all meat and bones – much like a shank or a bone-in shoulder roast.  And if you don’t like hominy, this isn’t the stuff from the can (which I happen to like a lot too).  This soup is made with dried corn, whole dried chiles, freshly ground spices and fresh stock.  It is a reminder that even in the winter when great local produce is not available, it is still very possible to cook exciting food with a very direct connection to the earth.

The new desserts we presented last week were met with enthusiasm by our regular customers, who were thankful to have some new options.  The banana cream pie has been the most popular.  For this dessert, I am indebted to Sarah’s and my favorite bakery in the world, Tartine, for the idea of putting chocolate and caramel into the pie.  While it’s not their exact recipe, I never would have come up with that myself.  Also, I am thankful to Michele who sent me the Nathan’s Lemon Cake recipe which I used to make frequently at her amazing pastry shop in La Jolla California.  I remember how she used to get bucket upon bucket of free, organic meyer lemons donated to her from friends and neighbors’ back yards, and what a burden it was to have them taking up so much space in the tiny walk in cooler.  What I would do now for a supply of free meyer lemons! 

Making this recipe takes me back in time – before I had kids and a business to run, when my most important duty in life was baking cakes and tarts (though at the time life felt just as complicated as it does now).  I remember Michele’s insistence on making sure the icing was made before the cakes were baked, to be spread onto the cakes soon after their emancipation from the oven so that it would soak into the cakes while they were still warm.  Another thing Michele instilled in me was the importance of not overcooking cake.  One or two minutes too much and it is ruined.  In the garbage.  Start cracking eggs again.  It is impossible for me now to bake any dessert without the thought that Michele is watching over me.  Until the cakes are out of the oven, I am thinking of her and Anne Marie, Jennifer, Celeste, Nathan and Buddy (RIP) – friends and companions on this weird, sometimes painful but more often joyful path of learning how to make food together.  I owe Michele an enormous debt for the opportunity to bake with a true artist, and I hope I am doing the recipe justice.