Camberville Cuisine

So my friend Jimmy hosts pseudo-Iron Chef dinners every once in awhile – pick an ingredient, bring a dish with it being a primary component. This week’s ingredient: maple syrup. I modified my baked brie recipe to have a maple-apple-pecan filling, and it came out LEGEN … wait for it … DARY. (Er, perhaps I’m mainlining a little too much How I Met Your Mother these days? Oh well.) It’s been awhile since I posted a recipe, hasn’t it?

Maple Baked Brie

1 sheet frozen puff pastry
1 apple, diced
1/2 cup pecans or nuts of choice, chopped
~1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp butter
1 egg
2 tbsp water
1 wheel brie

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350F. Pull out your sheet of puff pastry and set it out to thaw. While it’s defrosting, melt the butter on the stove in a small pan (big enough to hold the apple and pecan, eventually). Chop up your apple and pecan, then add it and the maple syrup to the pan, and simmer until the syrup has reduced and it looks like an actual filling. In a separate bowl, make an egg wash by beating the egg, then adding the water and continuing to beat until it is incorporated. By then, your puff pastry should be thawed; unfold it gently, and set it on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.

Using a piece of floss, slice open your brie crosswise, then set aside the top half. Set the bottom half of the brie atop the unfolded puff pastry, then spread the filling atop the brie. Top with the top half of the brie, then fold the puff pastry around the brie, trimming and shaping the pastry in whatever way makes it fit all around. Brush the pastry with the egg wash, then pop it in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Dig in.

Craigie Street Bistrot, which has been mentioned many times in these pages, is having a tip-to-tail “Whole Hog” dinner tonight. I am so excited!

Here, have a menu:

Whole Hog Dinner

Amuse Bouche: “les Cochonailles”

First Course – choice of

Fresh Wellfleet Clams: green garlic, cuttlefish, CSB guanciale, Chinese sausage consommé
Slow-Cooled Organic Australian Hiramasa: fromage de tête, jicama, purple mustard

Second Course – choice of

Crispy Confit of Quebec Porcelet: mousserons mushrooms, asparagus, foie gras jus
Braised Berkshire Pork Cheeks: crushed fava beans, pickled peanuts, radishes, ramp kimchee

Third Course – choice of

Coriander and Ginger-Cured Vermont Organic Pork Belly: boudin noir, French white asparagus, Vidalia onion, rhubarb-hibiscus purée
Three Pig-Stuffed Vermont Organic Quail: berebere spice, fiddleheads, thistle purée
Pied de Cochon Farci (for two people): morel mushrooms, faro verde

Dessert – choice of

Taza Chocolate and Olive Oil Mousse
Champagne Mango and Rhubarb Crisp: Macadamia topping

All of this is going to be delicious, of course, but I’m particularly happy to see the amazing chocolate mousse we had at second Seder on the menu. Olive oil in chocolate mousse. Who *knew*?!

So last year, after ages of dithering, I finally got a TiVo. Life was great, shows were recorded with me barely having to think about it, hooray for automation! Except the enclosed hard drive was too small to keep around all the shows I wanted to watch and re-watch. So Steve and I struck a bargain: he’d upgrade my TiVo, and I’d take him out for sushi. Good sushi. Like at the new, hip branch of Oishii.

- asparagus maki with cucumber and bonito flakes, topped with torched toro, spicy mayo, and jalapeno
- tuna maki with cucumber, tobiko, and mustard
- seared hamachi maki with tobiko and sudachi (a small Japanese citrus fruit; I wonder if it’s related to the Filipino kalamansi?)
- spicy scallop futo maki
- lobster tempura maki, done kinuta-style, laced with what I think was demerara sugar?
- chu-toro, which given the prices I’ve seen for toro sashimi, was a pretty damn good bargain (so fresh, so melt-in-your-mouth, I almost went for a second round of this instead of dessert!)
- green tea creme brulee (nothing special, but that didn’t prevent us from polishing the plate ;) )

Boy howdy, will we return!

I also ducked out to IHOP with Jess last weekend to cure some late-night munchies, and the waiter, upon my request for “lots and lots of whipped cream” to go atop my chocolate-chip pancakes, brought the entire can to the table. He earned a nice tip. ;)

Oishii Boston. 1166 Washington Street, Boston. 617.482.8868. IHOP. 1850 Soldiers Field Road, Brighton. 617.787.0533.