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Date Posted: 21:38:35 12/27/02 Fri
Author: Sola
Subject: TAMARISK - My Favorite Christian Kitchen "Wizzard"

Greetings Tamarisk my brother in Christ and fellow kitchen scientist. Have you been turning out any more special meals this Winter like your famous Chicken Cordon Bleu? This is a wonderful time for shopping at the specialty stores and various small markets in our town. Everyone is indoors entertaining, so the shelves are stocked with some unusual items that are cause for creative license in the kitchen laboratory. Mr Sola and I enjoy our shopping excursions together. He pushes the cart and I buy out the store � LOL! It is easy for me to get carried away with all the enticing once a year, and/or, seasonal items that are freshly displayed to tempt my creative cooking juices. I like the seasonal produce of Winter for a change of pace. Even had a messy pomegranate the other day. Pomegranates make me think of the Temple decorations. They are an interesting fruit. Made my fingers purple, wore purple clothes to camouflage my dribbles. It was sweet and good. Hadn�t had one in years. The persimmons I revisited? Well, they had not improved since my last tasting.

In the markets, squashes, yams, roots and tubers, heavier, heartier, fare. Slightly sweeter, more savory foods, and piquant offerings to compliment the climate. Dishes that would also seem to be too heavy to serve in the heat of Summer months.

At our favorite small market recently my roving eye was captivated by some cellophane wrapped dried fruits in individual packages: cranberries, tart cherries, etc. Pretty! Both had a small sugar content to bide off some of the fruits natural �pucker power.� I bought one of each and thought I might incorporate them into some future savoury stuffing for�.say, butter-flied pork chops, or Cornish hen stuffing, or�???? They were pretty and turned out to be tasty as well.

I bought a fresh organic Pheasant from Canada. Why? Who knows? It was different and looked good. May have prepared one in my life and didn�t remember what I did too it, OR with it! One of them thar wild hairs I gets now and thens � LOL! I have prepared goose, duck and similar boids. After I bought it thus had committed myself to it, I sort of lost interest and didn�t know what to do with it so I half heartedly threw together some stuffing not certain if it would be good. Here is the recipe:

~~ PHEASANT STUFFING ~~
1 large Fugi apple � cored, peeled, sliced in 8 sections then sliced � inch thick
1 12 oz. package Dole pitted prunes (checking to be sure no fragments are present)
� Cup soft dried Tart Cherries (the texture of a moist prune, somewhat)
� Cup soft dried Cranberries
� Cup Italian Flat Leaf Parsley very coarse chop (NO curly parsley the taste is different)
� teaspoon Morton and Bassett Herbs de Province
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon Lawry�s Seasoned Salt
� teaspoon ground white pepper
1 small bulb garlic separated, unpeeled (will NOT taste garlicky! Promise) � approx. 9 cloves tossed WHOLE unpeeled in mixture and removed or put on bread when served.
_____________________________
1- 1 � Tablespoons Calvados Apple Brandy (it is not sweet. Had some from making pate one time) regular brandy is fine. The taste in non-existent in dressing. Just a nice touch.
__________________________________________
Toss all ingredients except the brandy in a mixing bowl to blend. After it is mixed well, Drizzle Calvados evenly over mixture and mix well again. It will be dry. Mix occasionally gently. Allow to rest for 15-30 minutes while the pheasant (or Cornish hens) are washed, dried, and their cavity is salted with Lawry�s Seasoned Salt, or sea salt. Pack filling into bird�s cavity tightly. Heap excess on top and fill back flap.

Here is the trick: It was baked in a ROMERTOPF clay pot with a lid.
http://fantes.com/romertopf.htm
The clay pot is soaked in water for an hour before using. The stuffed 3 � pound pheasant was placed in the dried clay pot, basted with unsalted butter, sprinkled lightly with seasoned salt, covered with a soaked clay lid that was dried with paper towels, and cooked in a pre-heated oven for 90 minutes at 425 degrees. Without lifting the lid for the full time. NOTE: Things cooked this method will enhance the herbs and seasoning more that ordinary cooking, so use a lighter touch than usual with seasoning.

Here is what we had with it:

Chilled Field greens: Baby hot house tinder lettuces, romaine hearts, baby spinach, carrot curls, fresh dill weed, garlic chives, cilantro leaves, and paper thin daikon radish slices - topped with roasted/peeled hot house tomatoe we get from Holland this season in most markets. Close to home-grown in taste.

Creamy Walnut Tarragon Vinaigrette: Made with a white wine and herbal vinegar reduction in which the heaping spoon of Morton and Bassett whole tarragon leaves were revived towards the final moments. The two vinegars I used were home made fresh herb scented with added Juniper berries and red arbol chilies that I keep refrigerated and always have marinating on hand. To that was added five drops of honey to balance the tartness without making it sweet, milled pepper, seasoned salt, pinch Lawry�s garlic powder, five drops of tamari sauce, scant shake of Old Bay seasoning, and a tablespoon of dried egg whites. � Whisk to frothy � to that mixture; fresh walnut oil was drizzled as it was whisked and incorporated, then finished with cold pressed canola oil so the walnut flavour does not become too cloying if used alone. It is a thick pour able, slightly walnut flavoured wonderfully balanced dressing!

We have been getting these delicious tiny yams that are about 5� long and less than 2� across. I washed and buttered the skin, and pierced two each for Pappa and I; baked in their skins during the last 35 minutes of the pheasant�s oven time. They are great plain. We serve them with a small pat of butter.

Also was plain wild rice cooked in sea-salted water with the pheasant�s neck added to the cooking broth - just one pat of butter before plating it. I am able to buy the wild rice fresh in bulk for less than $4.00 per pound, so we have it frequently as a grain with fish, pork, or fowl.

I steamed an al dente vegetable medley of broccoli flower-ettes, yellow diagonally sliced yellow crook neck squash, and a spoon of coarsely grated carrot on top at the last second. (green, yellow, white, and orange)

I had a glass of white Burgundy (Macon Villages Chameroy), Mr. Sola Power had red Bordeaux (Medoc). Then we had sun tea, and finished with hot Assam tea.

Needless to say, leftovers at the Sola household take on a new meaning. We always have lots left over. Nice to graze the next day.

Well when I threw the boid together I didn�t know what it would turn out to be. My heart wasn�t in it. OH MAN! What a treat! Remember that cartoon with �doggy yummies� in the 60�s? The dog would eat his treat and say �UMMMM-UM! UMMMMMMM-UM!!!� and he would levitate? Well we almost levitated in the Sola household�snort. Our pup, the Yorkie sits in her bed that we place on top of a dining chair that Pappa draws up beside me at the table so the family eats together. We eat. She watches. She�s a good girl. She just has big eyes, but knows the second she gets rambunctious, or begs � she�s a floor puppy! It has proven to be a good learning tool over the years. She is a very good girl. She hates the floor. The floor is for �..dogs. LOL!

It was such a different and nice combination of Winter flavours. The cherries, prunes and herbs were savory and piquant without being sweet (per se), that blended perfectly with the veggies and wild rice. The good part, the Romertopf makes its own demi-glace in the bottom of the pan. VOILA!! No messing with roux or arrowroot, or more pans. It was drizzled on the carved pheasant and rice. The only thing we lacked were canned crab apples which would have made a pretty garnish.

So pleased with the outcome of the meal.

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