The One and Olney

 fig. a:  tending the garden

I think it's safe to say that we, here at "...an endless banquet," have a certain affection for the late Richard Olney.  We never had the pleasure of meeting him, sadly, but we've developed quite a relationship with him through his books--they just contain so much character, so much passion, so much savoir-faire, not to mention a philosophy of life that we'd like to think we share.  From The French Menu Cookbook (voted #1 cookbook of all time (!) by the Observer Food Monthly in 2010) and Simple French Food, to mass-market ventures like his The Good Cook series for Time/Life Books and his Provence:  The Beautiful Cookbook, we never cease to be amazed by their enthusiasm and their erudition. Plus, he lived such a life--a life that brought him into contact with luminaries in the fields of literature, film, and art, a life of bohemianism and gastronomy, of total dedication to the culinary arts and the "divine alchemy" of wine.  And then there's his status as godfather to both the Californian cuisine of Chez Panisse and the natural wine connoisseurship of Kermit Lynch.

Alice Waters has written that she remembers every detail of her first visit to Olney's Provençal home in Solliès-Toucas:  the olive trees, the cicadas, the wild herbs, Olney's ever-so-casual gardening attire ("Richard received us wearing nothing but an open shirt, his skimpy bathing suit, a kitchen towel at his waist, and a pair of worn espadrilles."), and his ever-present Gauloise.  What stuck with her the most, however, was the memory of a "spectacular salad" that Olney served that day, "full of Provençal greens that were new to me--rocket, anise, hyssop--with perfectly tender green beans and bright nasturtium flowers tossed in, and dressed with the vinegar he makes himself from the ends of bottles of great wines."  Simple French food, indeed.

Sometimes we imagine ourselves arriving at Solliès-Toucas to dine on one of Olney's legendary meals (which were known to induce "a kind of ecstatic paralysis"), drink deeply, converse long into the night, and dance until dawn.

 fig. b:  "fireplace at Solliès"

Other times, we fantasize about Olney's phenomenal kitchen with its hand-built hearth and its copper pots.

 fig. c:  the good cook does wine

Then there are times when we dream about discussing and practicing "the art of intelligent choice" with Olney.

Not only have we been known to dedicate special meals to Olney, but we often base decisions upon whether we think "Richard" would approve or not, especially when it comes time to throwing a party.

Well, it's time to celebrate the one and only Richard Olney once again.  Now's the time.  It's the height of harvest season, and many of the vegetables, fruits, and herbs that Olney adored are at their peak.

As you may know, Michelle and Seth have dedicated the month of September at FoodLab to Olney's beloved Provence.  You may also know that their frequent partner in crime, Theo Diamantis, of Oenopole, is something of a specialist when it comes to the wines of Provence, the southern Rhône, and Corsica, including Olney's beloved Bandols.  Are you starting to catch my drift?  Good, because next Tuesday, September 25, the third floor of the Sociéte des Arts Technologiques will be the site another phenomenal FoodLab/Oenopole co-production:  an Homage to Richard Olney.

The menu has been devised, the wines have been selected, and Michelle will only say that the evening promises to be "grandiose."  (Details to follow...)  So you won't have to resort to desperate measures.

fig. d:  desperate measures

Unlike some of Michelle's past collaborations, there'll be no fixed seatings for this particular menu and no reservations will be taken.  In other words, you'll be able to show up at any time between 5pm and 10pm, and you'll be able to order as little or as lot as you like, but, remember, this is a one night only affair.

An Homage to Richard Olney
FoodLab
Sociéte des Arts Technologiques
1201 St-Laurent Blvd
September 25, 2012
5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
(you can find the Facebook page for this event here, if you're into that kind of thing, but I'm pretty sure "Richard" would be disdainful of your dependence on the social media*)

aj

* Ha, ha...

Bon Hiver

fig. a: winter in Alsace

Talk about a supergroup! The good people at FoodLab have teamed up with the good people at Oenopole and the result is an inspired combination of wine & warmth that they're calling French Winter.

On the food tip:

French onion soup - 6$
Roasted Cornish game hen with embeurré de choux and apple stuffing - 12$
Salad with apples and walnuts - 6$
Potatoes boulangère - 7$
Marinated housemade goat's cheese - 8$
and for dessert
Far breton - 7$

On the wine tip:

Crémant du Jura 2008, Julien Labet 2009 - 6$
Bourgogne rouge, Hautes-Côtes de Beaune, Naudin-Ferrand 2009 - 10,50$
Gewürztraminer sec, Schueller 2007 - 7,50$
Sauternes, Roumieu-Lacoste 2009 - 11,50$

And on the tasting menu tip:

Cornish game hen, salad, cheese, and Far breton
+
all four wines (yes, all four, including the Sauternes)
=
$65

(Mon dieu! Just writing about this menu has made me so hungry and so incredibly thirsty...)

French Winter begins tomorrow, Wednesday, January 25th, and it lasts through Saturday, February 4.

FoodLab
Société des arts technologiques
1201, Boulevard St-Laurent
Montreal, QC

For more information, write to foodlab@sat.qc.ca

aj

Oh, yes, it's l'Eighties Night...

...what a night!

fig. a: Frankie says...

Some of you Eighties Revivalists out there are probably too young to actually remember the 1980s, but it wasn't all oversized slogan t-shirts and Wayfarers, fluorescents and Body Glove, underwear-as-outerwear and Sperry Top-Siders.

Sure, the '80s had some of this,

fig. b: slippery people

this,

fig. c: into the groovey

and this.

fig. d: power, corruption, & lies

But that's not all there was.

They entertained like this,

fig. e: luau!

they drank like this,*

fig. f: Campari!

and they partied like this.**

fig. g: Parrrr-tyyyy!

But what about the haute cuisine of the Eighties? What was that like? Can you even imagine an era before sous-vide, before the widespread use of liquid nitrogen?

Well, if you're having a hard time visualizing such a cuisine, now's your chance to experience it firsthand.

You see, this coming Monday, May the 23rd, Restaurant Laloux will be presenting a very special occasion in celebration of their 25th anniversary: Eighties Night! They will be welcoming special guest chef Stelio Perombelon (Les Cons Servent, Pullman) to Laloux for one night only to collaborate on an Eighties-themed menu inspired by the year 1986, the year that Laloux opened for business.***

What's in store?

to begin with, three types of canapés:

-tomates cerises antiboise, sablé et crème à l'oseille (cherry tomatoes stuffed with tuna, capers, and tarragon mayonnaise and served on a sablé)

-accras d'esturgeon fumé (smoked sturgeon accras)

-tartelettes de foie de lapin, brunoise à la crème d'ail (rabbit liver tartlets served with a garlic cream-laced brunoise)

first service: salade de crevettes nordiques, mousseline d'avocat, paris crus et huile de noix (nordic shrimp salad, avocado mousseline, raw Parisian mushrooms, and walnut oil)

second service: gougeonettes de doré, flan de courgettes, abricots secs et beurre de liquoreux (pickerel gougeonettes, zucchini flan, dried apricots with Condrieu butter)

third service: pigeonneau, crème fevettes, chanterelles, tartines d'abats au vert, pommes dauphines (squab, purée of fresh peas, chanterelles, giblets-topped brioche with herbed breadcrumbs, potatoes dauphine)

and, to close, a selection of three desserts by Michelle:

-citrons givrées, salade d'agrumes, sabayon (meringue-topped lemons stuffed with lemon sorbet, cirtus fruit salad, sabayon)

-éclairs au chocoat blanc et rhubarbe (white chocolate and rhubarb éclairs)

-crêpes Suzette (um, crêpes Suzette)

All this, plus service that wouldn't be out of place in an episode of Dynasty (please! no cat fights, though!).

1980s prices, too:**** the whole extravagant affair will only set you back $65.

Intrigued? Act fast, places are limited!

fig. h: ...Laloux

Restaurant Laloux, 250 ave. des Pins, 287-9127

aj

* Yes, that is Kelly "Weird Science/The Woman in Red" LeBrock, and, yes, she is wearing Valentino.

** In fact, they're the ones that first coined the usage of "party" as a verb.

*** Chef Perombelon has a baby face, but he claims to be old enough to have been trained in the mysteries of 1980s French cuisine. He's also one of the most talented chefs in Montreal, and a good friend of Team Laloux.

**** Adjusted for inflation, of course.

Coq au vin

Good God, this was a good meal!

I'd been wanting to make an authentic Coq au vin for over a year. It was all part of a sudden desire to revisit some of the classic dishes from my childhood that swept over me in the fall of 2004. I can't actually remember any specific occasions when I had Coq au vin as a young lad, but, along with Coquilles St. Jacques, Lobster Thermidor, and Beef Wellington, it was nevertheless one of the dishes that attained quasi-mythical status in my mind during those years. There was something about their names and the way people around me (parents, grandparents, etc.) talked about them.

A few weeks ago, my parents and I were once again reminiscing about Julia Child, mourning her loss, and discussing her impact. Soon afterwards I thought again about making Coq au vin and Child's recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, vol. 1 seemed like the only appropriate place to turn. When we finally got around to serving this meal about 2 weeks ago now, we toasted Julia and her legacy, and I've since thought of the meal as our Julia Child Memorial Meal.

Child's recipe worked like a charm. Every step made perfect sense and achieved the desired result, and I especially enjoyed the effect flambéing with cognac had on the chicken, but the way the beurre manié transformed the sauce was truly a thing of beauty. An already impressive wine-based sauce developed a depth of character that was almost hard to believe, and like so many other classics of French cuisine, the ingredients were rather simple, it was the way they were combined that elevated them.

We used a young, 3-lb + chicken, but I talked to the counterwoman at Vito about the meal I was going to be making as she was ringing me through and she recommended that the next time I order a slightly more mature bird, or, even better, a capon (appropriately enough). She insisted that the meat on such birds would hold up to the stewing better and that the meat would be even more flavorful. After all, like most other stews, a recipe like Coq au vin was first conceived as a way of tenderizing meat that may have needed it. Next time--and, I guarantee you, that won't be long--I'll try her advice.

I didn't make any significant changes to Child's recipe--why would I?--although the method I used for the bacon (see below) was slightly different than the method she recommended. Otherwise, I followed her recipe very closely. I used a nice, full-bodied French Burgundy as my cooking wine. The rest of the ingredients were very reasonable, so I splurged a little on the wine. You can use "cooking wine" for a recipe like this, but there's no question that the flavors are going to be richer if you use a decent wine (one you can actually drink, one that actually tastes good).

This recipe made enough to feed 4 people generously on two occasions. The first time I served it, I served it with mashed potatoes, bread, salad, and an even nicer bottle of French Burgundy than the bottle I used to make the Coq au vin. On Day 2 I served it with a gratin Dauphinois, braised carrots, a salad, and a Brouilly, and the flavors of the stew, as well as the combination it was served with, might have very well surpassed Day 1.

If you don't own Mastering the Art of French Cooking you really should think about it (and if you sniff around like we did, you can find very nice hardbound editions at a very reasonable price at some of your better secondhand bookstores, like we did), but until then, here's Julia Child's Coq au vin recipe:

Coq au vin

3-4 oz chunk of lean bacon, or pre-cut lardons
2 tbsp butter
2 1/2 - 3 lb frying chicken, cut into sections
1/2 tsp salt + more salt to taste
1/8 tsp pepper + more pepper to taste
1/4 cup cognac
3 cups young, full-bodied red wine
1 - 2 cups brown chicken stock
1/2 tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1/4 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
*12 - 24 brown-braised onions (recipe follows)
**1/2 lb sauteed mushrooms (recipe follows)
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp softened butter
several sprigs fresh parsley

Remove the rind and cut the bacon into lardons (1/4" x 1" long rectangles). Sauté the bacon slowly in hot butter until it is very lightly browned. Remove to a side dish.

Dry the chicken thoroughly. Brown it in the hot fat in a stove-proof casserole.

Season the chicken. Return the bacon to the casserole or pot with the chicken. Cover and cook slowly for 10 minutes, turning the chicken once.

Uncover, and pour in the cognac. Averting your face, ignite the cognac with a lighted match. Shake the casserole back and forth for several seconds until the flames subside.

Pour the wine into the casserole. Add just enough stock or bouillon to cover the chicken. Stir in the tomato paste, garlic, and herbs. Bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 - 30 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and cooked through. Remove the chicken to a side dish.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms (instructions follow).

Also, pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Simmer the chicken cooking liquied in the casserole for a minute or two, skimming off fat. Then raise the heat and boil rapidly, reducing the liquid to about 2 1/4 cups. Adjust the seasoning. Remove the reduced cooking liquid from the heat, then discard the bay leaf.

Blend the butter and flour together into a smooth paste. What Child calls beurre manié. Beat the paste into the hot liquid with a wire whisk. Bring to a simmer, stirring all the while, and simmer for 1-2 minutes. The sauce will thicken up nicely and it "should be thick enough to coat a spoon lightly" when it's done.

Arrange the chicken in the casserole, place the mushrooms and onion around it, and baste with the sauce.

Place the casserole in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes.

Serve warm from the casserole with a vegetable side or two, crusty bread, butter, a salad, and a nice bottle of red wine.

*Brown-Braised Onions

18-24 peeled white onions, about 1" in diameter
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup of red wine
salt and pepper to taste
1 medium herb bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, 1/2 bay leaf, and 1/4 tsp thyme)

Heat the butter and oil in a 9- to 10-inch enameled skillet. When they begin to bubble, add the onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling the onions around so that they brown evenly as possible and being careful not to break their skins.

Pour in the wine, season to taste, and add the herb bouquet. Cover and simmer slowly for 40-50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but retain their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove the herb bouquet.

**Sautéed Mushrooms

2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
1/2 lb small fresh mushrooms, washed, dried, and left whole

Place a 10-inch enameled skillet over high heat with the butter and oil. When the butter foam has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add the mushrooms. Toss and shake the pan for 4 to 5 minutes. During their sauté the mushrooms will at first absorb the fat. In 2 to 3 minutes the fat will reappear on their surface, and the mushrooms will begin to brown. As soon as they have browned lightly, remove from heat.

Bon appétit!

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, vol. 1 is now available in a 40th anniversary edition. It is published by Knopf.

Special thanks to Convivium for providing the source material for the illustration above.

aj