Cooking Off the Clock: Recipes from My Downtime [A Cookbook]

by Elizabeth Falkner

Overview

A wide-ranging collection of recipes for home cooks from celebrated chef, restaurant owner, and pastry pioneer Elizabeth Falkner.

Peek inside the off-hours culinary mind of one of America’s top chefs with Cooking Off the Clock, an irreverent, eclectic, and downright delicious assemblage of reinvented classics and soon-to-be favorites. Celebrity chef and pastry pioneer Elizabeth Falkner brings her cooking inspiration to a range of satisfying full meals and quick snacks, and along the way gives pointers on how to think like a chef, even if you haven’t spent the day on the line cooking for crowds. You’ll find recipe ideas for any occasion: for a quiet night in, the Winter Squash Soup with Apple Butter Toast; for your next impromptu cocktail party, the Ham and Biscuit Sliders with Hot Pepper Jam; for the ultimate late-night snack, Sausage and Fennel Pizza; and to finish it off, the desserts that Elizabeth is known for, like Bourbon Pecan Pie Milkshake. With Falkner’s imaginative approach to classic comfort food and stories about her process for creating new recipes, Cooking Off the Clock will transform the way you cook.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607742098
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	08/28/2012
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	874,111
File size:	24 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

ELIZABETH FALKNER is the founding chef and former owner of Citizen Cake and Orson in San Francisco.  She was a finalist and runner-up on The Next Iron Chef in 2011, competed on Top Chef Masters, and has judged Top Chef Masters and Top Chef. Elizabeth was the first American to win first place in the Classic Italian division of the World Pizza Championship in Naples in May 2012, was Bon Appétit’s pastry chef of the year in 2006, and was a nominee for James Beard pastry chef of the year in 2005. Her first book, Demolition Desserts, was published in 2007. Her new restaurant, Krescendo, an Italian restaurant and pizzeria in Brooklyn, NY is slated to open in fall 2012.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction
 
     I cook Professionally, for the rush and for fun, and I cook to relax and take care of myself. When I come home after working at the restaurants all day and night, I am hungry and have the energy for more. That may sound strange because I am surrounded by food all the time, but it’s true. I love cooking in competition also, which is a sort of ultimate test of cooking in a specific time frame and pulling out the best cook and performer I can be under the lights, camera, and pressure.

     People always think that while you are cooking, you must be eating, but that’s not what  really happens. As a chef, I constantly taste while I am cooking at work and when I come home I am needing balance and am hungry for dinner, playtime, and downtime. Cooking and entertaining is how I enjoy making people happy, as well as nurturing them when they are at the table  at the restaurant or at a dinner party. I want the same kind of satisfaction at the end of a day or on an off day. Also, running around the restaurant all night is a serious body-warping workout that can be physically and mentally exhausting. I have my dogs to come home to and I work out a lot, mixing it up with yoga, kickboxing, boxing, and Korean swordfighting. My days and nights are in constant motion so, when I get home or have a day off to cook for my friends, I’m ready to eat. And, believe it or not, I’m excited to cook, too.

     Cooking all day and working with my crews and cooking at events are fun and it’s my job, but when I cook at home, it is usually about relaxing and preparing something without the pressures in the restaurants. I make things that don’t take much time or effort, and if I am craving something that does take a little more time, such as Beef Stroganoff (page 144) I will start preparing it while I cook something else that I am definitely going to eat sooner, such as Grilled Pork Chop (page 139). You’ll recognize some of these recipes as classics, but with unexpected nuances or twists, because analyzing and reinventing a dish is exactly what I do as a chef.

     Often I come home from work and despite my good intentions, I really don’t have much in the way of fabulous ingredients on hand. I might have a few cans of things and a stash of good spices and luckily a few pots of cooking herbs on the patio. Here’s where I must rely on my creativity and palate to come up with something satisfying and delicious. I find this an exercise in humility to let the ingredients speak for themselves, and I just have to pay attention. Sometimes these are the best recipes, and I have included many of them in this book.

     The first chapter of this book offers recipes for my favorite condiments, including a great steak sauce, an endlessly useful tomato sauce, and a creamy horseradish sauce to wake up meat, plus basics like simple chicken and beef stocks, crunchy bread crumbs, and the best ways to cook eggs—coddled to hard-boiled to deviled. All are great additions that add layers of flavors to the recipes throughout the book. For most of these condiments, though, if making your own just seems like too much work, you can substitute store-bought. For example, you just cannot deal with making stock, buy cartons of chicken, beef, or vegetable broth.

     In this book, I’ll show you how to stock your pantry, plan a little for more efficient cooking, shop for great ingredients and be inspired by them, think about combinations, and prepare delicious dishes. When I go to the market for myself, I try to think about what I am craving that week. I might buy whatever produce looks good at the time, pick out some meat or poultry and keep them in the freezer, and grab a few basic pantry ingredients, like garlic, potatoes, herbs, cheese, canned tomatoes, ginger, olives, and things that if you have on hand, just make it easier to come home and whip something up. I have written most of the recipes to serve two to four. However, I am often just cooking for myself or maybe another person or two, so cutting the recipe in half or in quarters should be easy to do here as well as doubling it to serve six to eight.

     Typically, I go through phases when I get obsessed about reinterpreting a classic dish in a new and great way, or using as many tomatoes as possible at their seasonal peak. Or it’s an obsession with a regional cuisine or a technique I really want to master. This usually spills into making it both at work and at home. This sort of challenge is almost a game for me, in a way, because it’s how I keep food ideas coming. My home kitchen becomes my laboratory. From there, I might interpret those ideas for the restaurants.
 
 
Grilled Pork Chop with  Sautéed Apples and Onion Rings
 
There are rubs (dry) and there are brines (wet). I love brining pork and chicken to make them juicy and flavorful. But brining is a slow process because the meat must sit in the brine for hours to overnight. If I am cooking late and didn’t think about it the day before, I will do a nice rub on the meat to give it special flavor—and that’s what I’ve done here. Pork chops go with so many accompaniments, but I do love them paired with the acidity of apples or an applesauce and the bite of spicy greens. I like onion rings, in all their variety. Here is a buttermilk recipe, but you can substitute the beer batter from Curried Fish and Chips (page 154).

My other favorite accompaniment to pork chops is the spicy Korean pickled vegetable Kimchee (page 20) tossed with some fresh fruit such as peaches or plums.
 
Serves 2

Pork Chops
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
4 whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika)
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
2 bone-in, center-cut pork chops (10 to  12 ounces each)
1 tablespoon olive oil, if needed for the pan

Sauteéed Apples
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 whole star anise
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons brandy
Salt
 
Onion Rings
3 cups canola oil, for frying
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large yellow onion, cut into 1/2-inch rings and separated
 
Spicy greens like mizuna or arugula, for serving
 
 
For the pork, grind the fennel, cloves, pimentón, peppercorns, salt, and sugar in a spice grinder and rub all over the pork chops. Set aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature.

Preheat the grill on high or heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat on the stove and preheat the oven to 375˚F. (Add the 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan if cooking on the stove.)

Cook the pork on one side for 4 to 5 minutes on the grill or on the stove. Turn over and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes on the grill; if cooking on the stove, flip the chop in the pan, transfer the pan to the oven, and bake for 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside to rest for 5 minutes.

For the apples, in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat, combine the sugar, water, and a drop of the lemon juice. Cook until the sugar caramelizes to golden brown; turn off the heat and add the apple slices and star anise. Return the pan to medium-high heat and stir in the butter and the remaining lemon juice. Saute, stirring, for 2 minutes; add the brandy in the last minute of cooking with a pinch of salt. Simmer briefly to burn off the alcohol and thicken the caramel. Set aside.
For the onion rings, in a wide and shallow pot bring 2 cups of the canola oil to 360˚F on a deep-fat thermometer.

Combine the flour, cornstarch, the 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a few grinds of pepper in a bowl. Pour the buttermilk into a shallow dish or bowl. Dip the onion rings in the flour mixture to dredge, shaking off any excess. Dip in the buttermilk to coat, and then back in the flour mixture. Shake off the excess flour.

Working in batches, fry the rings until light golden brown, about 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.

To serve, divide the apples between 2 plates and place a pork chop on top. Top with the onion rings and garnish with the greens.

Table of Contents

Introduction 
Chapter 1 Condiments and Basics 
Chapter 2 Salads in 3-D  
Chapter 3 Serious Soups  
Chapter 4 Snack Attack + Cocktails  
Chapter 5 Pizza, Girl Meets Grill 
Chapter 6 Contains Starch: Pasta, Noodles, Grains, and Rice  
Chapter 7 The main course  
Chapter 8 Sidekicks And Supporting Dishes  
Chapter 9 Desserts for dreaming  
 
Index  
Acknowledgments

Editorial Reviews

Celebrity chef, restaurant owner, and dessert queen Elizabeth Falkner focuses on savory dishes in her new cookbook (her first book Demolition Desserts was published in 2007 and showcased her contemporary sweets). Falkner, who has appeared on television shows Top Chef Masters and The Next Iron Chef, is no stranger to stressful kitchen situations. In her latest work she takes a low-key, laid-back approach, showing readers what goes on in her own personal kitchen after work. "When I cook at home, it is usually about relaxing and preparing something without the pressures in the restaurants," she explains. "I make things that don't take much time or effort." She begins with instructions on how to properly stock your pantry, and also lists useful tools and equipment. What follows are simple, classic recipes for almost everything, including condiments, salads, soups, pizza, noodles, main courses, and, naturally, desserts, all with an artistic twist. Chinese chicken salad is made with plum-ginger vinaigrette. Spring pea soup with mint is garnished with sheep's milk yogurt. In her " Snack Attack" chapter, Faulkner includes ham and biscuit sliders with hot pepper jam, and for main courses, there are simple but delicious recipes for rib-eye on the grill and curried fish and chips. Some dishes require a little more work than the average home cook may be wish, but most are straightforward and accessible—and all are exciting and appetizing. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

This sophisticated collection will please passionate, unhurried cooks.”
–Library Journal 6/15/12

“Elizabeth is one of the most creative chefs I know. She always has a great idea ready to go.”
–Nancy Oakes, chef and author of Boulevard: The Cookbook

From the Publisher

Falkner (Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desserts), whom readers will recognize from Top Chef Masters and Iron Chef America, shares the dishes she makes at home, like a refined Corn Soup topped with cocoa nibs, Pork Tenderloin Schnitzel with Plum Gastrique, and Cheddar Streusel Topped Apple Pie. Many recipes incorporate advanced techniques; for instance, a chicken salad requires readers to infuse homemade stock with aromatics and reduce it into a sauce. Consequently, readers should budget plenty of downtime for cooking. VERDICT Organized by course (e.g., "Serious Soups." "Snack Attack," "Pizza," and "Girl Meets Grill"), this sophisticated collection will please passionate, unhurried cooks.

Library Journal