Stuffed Poussin

Every Sunday morning, we make a point of heading down to the Dupont Circle farmer's market. This is not one of those farmer's markets where you also have importers or non-locals. It is exclusively local farmers (and one fisherman and his wife). Over the four years we've lived in this area, we've been fortunate to get to know some of the vendors, and have our regular stops at specific times of year.

This weekend the greens are coming out in a big way, from frissee to mustard greens and kale, as well as beautiful spring garlic and French breakfast radishes. We had an entire Whole Foods cloth bag filled with only green things. However, this weekend I made a bee-line for our friends at Eco-Friendly Foods. I knew from experience that right about now they should start having some fresh poultry, and boy was I right! They had lovely fresh poussins, as well as our favorite fresh-made rabbit sausage.

I decided to cook the poussins last night, and was rewarded when I stuffed them with milk-soaked bread, fresh sage, mushrooms (shitake and baby bella), and ricotta salata, baking them surrounded by more mushrooms and pancetta.


Accompanied by the 2004 Revelation Red, and a salad of fresh spring greens, it was a taste of spring but warm and toasty to go with our unseasonably cold day (it was a high of just under 50-degrees, and normally it should be about 60-degrees!).

Cured Meat Heaven

As a child, I was not exposed to anything like traditional Italian, whether it be antipasti or real homemade pasta. It was however, my first food love (see my first post), and the first food that I attempted to cook. Granted, my culinary skills have developed extensively since my first attempt at Fettuccine Carbonara in the early-90s, and I can make a mean Marinara or even some lovely stuff from the Silver Spoon cookbook. However, my skills are nothing compared to the skill required to make the king of all antipasti, the beautiful, delicious, salty, fatty, fantastic cured meats that are among the best things that a great Italian meal can offer.

One of my favorite local joints here in Washington, DC for really good Italian antipasti is 2 Amy's. I have a weakness for their woodfired pizza, but on Saturday afternoon it was all about the antipasti. They have a truly remarkable collection, from cannellini beans with grated botarga, to three different kinds of salted anchovies in olive oil, or a wonderful selection of olives. However, my personal favorite is their "grande piatto di salume:"

This cured meat lover's dream includes: proscuitto san daniele, proscuitto americano la quercia, jamon di serrano, speck, bresaola, boar cacciatorini, lardo, capicola, and lomo. It is a ridiculous quantity of lovely cured meats, but well worth the fat content. Each meat has a unique texture and flavor, from the salty gaminess of the boar cacciatorini, to the silky soft and luscious lardo, no two bites are the same. Paired with ample quantities of good Italian red wine (in this case a 2005 De Angelis Lacrima Christi del Vesuvio from Campania), our meal was a three hour feast not to be soon forgotten.

My First True French Sauce

It was a pretty dreary cold day, and I had these incredible lamb chops. Acquired from the local organic butcher, they started as a rack, and were beautifully frenched by the staff into 6 chops. Sometimes you obtain these wonderful ingredients and you just know you need to make something fantastic to justify the quality.

So I dove in with my first attempt at a traditional French sauce, a jus lie (defined in the New Professional Chef as "a thickened sauce made from stock...[can be] used as a replacement for the classic grand sauce, demi-glace"). Yes, I could have made a demi-glace, but I thought I should start small. The sauce went well, for a first attempt.

I used my newly created jus lie to make a secondary garlic sauce for my simply broiled lamb chops. The secondary sauce, involving wine, tomato concasse, and garlic cloves poached multiple times, turned out really well, and was the right color and texture. I count my first traditional French sauce a resounding success.


Paired with some simple salted boiled potatoes and the amazing, luscious, 2001 Nicolis Amarone della Valpolicella, I never wanted to leave the table.