HOME & LIVING
B2 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2022
Easy investments pay huge dividends of fl avor
for this recipe, and Meyer
lemons, in season, are
ideal. I fi t 10 Meyer lemons
into a 38-ounce jar.
By DANIEL NEMAN
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
For dinner last night, I
whipped up a simple little
shrimp dish. And then
I made it a simple little
exceptional shrimp dish.
The basics were shrimp,
white wine, onion, garlic,
mushrooms and lemon
juice, all cooked in a mix-
ture of olive oil and butter.
The exception was pre-
served lemon.
Suddenly, an ordi-
nary weeknight meal (OK,
maybe not an ordinary
weeknight meal) was ele-
vated to Olympian heights.
Each little piece of pre-
served lemon was like a
mini hand grenade of bright
fl avor giving a special pop
to the more subdued shrimp.
I could only make it
because I had a fresh jar
of preserved lemons in the
fridge.
They were easy to make,
and it didn’t take much
time at all. It cost me less
than fi ve bucks, all told
— it’s just lemons and salt
— and now I have a game-
changing condiment to add
to seafood, chicken, vege-
tarian dishes and even red
meat (in the right recipes)
for the next six months to a
year.
What I’m talking about
here is what economists call
ROI: Return on investment.
A small culinary investment
yields big culinary returns.
And it wasn’t just the
preserved lemons. When I
said I sautéed the shrimp
and other ingredients
in a mixture of olive oil
and butter, what I really
meant was a mixture of
olive oil and ghee. Ghee is
butter with the milk solids
removed, so you can get it
quite hot — say, for stir-
frying shrimp — without it
burning.
It’s easy to make. Simply
melt butter gently and pour
most of it into a jar. The
milk solids are the white
bits at the bottom; stop
pouring before they go into
Stephanie S. Cordle/St. Louis Post-Dispatch-TNS
Preserved lemons can exceed your expectations.
the jar as well.
It doesn’t even have to
be refrigerated, because the
milk solids are the part that
can spoil. It takes maybe
fi ve minutes to make, and
the investment pays deli-
cious dividends for months
to come.
Two days before I made
the shrimp, I made a dish
of braised sirloin tips,
which I served on bas-
mati rice. Once again, the
hearty braised beef was
praiseworthy — I praised
myself for making it — and
notable.
And then I made it man-
ifestly special with the addi-
tion of a single wedge of
demi-glace.
I had made the demi-
glace a couple of months
earlier, keeping it in the
freezer and parsimoniously
doling it out ever since,
whenever I wanted to send a
meal into the exosphere.
I am more frugal with
my demi-glace because,
frankly, the investment in
both time and money is
considerably higher than
with preserved lemons or
ghee. But the payoff is far
greater, too.
Demi-glace is easy to
make, but it consumes a lot
of time. Basically, you roast
veal bones and then simmer
them slowly in a very large
amount of water, along with
a few aromatics for extra
fl avor. The next day — it’s
a two-day recipe — you
simmer the liquid for more
hours and hours until it has
reduced and concentrated
its fl avor from about eight
quarts or more all the way
down to a quart and a half.
It’s a quart and a half of
pure gold. I cut mine into 12
wedges — it has so much
natural gelatin in it that you
can cut it once it cools —
and freeze them until the
time comes to take a dish
that is already good and
turn it into something truly
spectacular.
It is the best return on
investment that I know.
PRESERVED
LEMONS
1. Wash lemons. Cut off the
stem, if attached. Slice lengthwise
from the other end of the lemon,
stopping about 1-inch from the
bottom; then make another
downward slice, so you’ve incised
the lemon with an X shape.
2. Pack coarse salt into the lem-
on where you made the incisions.
Don’t be skimpy with the salt: use
about 1 tablespoon per lemon.
3. Put the salt-fi lled lemons
in a clean, large glass jar with a
tight-fi tting lid. Add a few corian-
der seeds, a bay leaf, a dried chili
and a cinnamon stick if you want,
or a combination of any of them.
Press the lemons very fi rmly in the
jar to get the juices fl owing. Cover
and let stand overnight.
4. The next day do the same,
pressing the lemons down,
encouraging them to release
more juice as they start to soften.
Repeat for 2 to 3 days until the
lemons are completely covered
with liquid. If necessary, add fresh-
ly squeezed lemon juice to cover
them completely.
5. Store for 1 month, until the
preserved lemons are soft. At this
point they are ready to be used.
Use or keep preserved lemons
in the refrigerator for at least 6
months. Rinse before using to
remove excess salt.
6. To use, remove lemons from
the liquid and rinse. Split in half
and scrape out the pulp. Slice the
lemon peels into thin strips or cut
into small dices. You may wish to
press the pulp through a sieve
to obtain the juice, which can be
used for fl avoring as well. Discard
the pulp.
— Recipe from David Lebovitz
DEMI-GLACE
Yield: 12 servings
Yield: varies
Lemons (see note)
Salt, preferably coarse
1 bay leaf, optional
1/2 teaspoon coriander
seeds, optional
1 dried chili, optional
1 cinnamon stick, optional
Note: Smaller lemons are best
10 pounds veal bones, or
equal parts veal, beef
and chicken bones
1 pound carrots, washed and
unpeeled, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 1/2 pounds unpeeled onions,
cut into 1-inch pieces
3 large ripe tomatoes,
coarsely chopped
1 large leek, cut lengthwise in half
3 celery ribs, cut in pieces
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
Note: Veal bones can be
purchased from some butcher
shops (grocery store butchers
often cannot get them). They
may need to be pre-ordered.
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Place the pieces of bone in a large
roasting pan and brown in the
oven for 1 1/2 hours, turning once,
halfway through. Add carrots and
onions to the bones, and continue
roasting 30 more minutes.
2. Using a slotted spoon,
remove the bones and vegetables
from the roasting pan and transfer
to a large stock pot (at least 12
quarts). Pour out and discard the
accumulated fat in the roasting
pan. Add water to the roasting
pan about 1/2-inch deep, bring to
a boil and use a metal spatula to
scrape up the brown bits from the
bottom of the pan and melt the
solidifi ed juices.
3. Add this liquid to the stock
pot and fi ll it with water. Slowly
bring to a boil; then reduce heat
to a low simmer with just a few
bubbles breaking the surface at
any time. If your heating element
is too hot for a low simmer, move
the stock pot so it only covers
a part of the heating element.
Simmer for 1 hour, using a strainer
or spoon to remove the foam that
rises to the surface.
4. Add the tomatoes, leeks,
celery, bay leaves, thyme and
peppercorns. Bring to a boil again,
then reduce temperature to a low
simmer. Simmer for a generous 10
hours. As the liquid evaporates,
periodically add water to keep it
at about the same level.
5. Using a chinoise or a fi ne-
mesh sieve, strain out the bones
and vegetables. Place the stock in
a clean pot and boil down until it
reduces to 1 1/2 quarts (6 cups) of
liquid. Let cool, then pour into a
bowl and refrigerate overnight.
6. Skim all fat off the top, then
remove gelled demi-glace from
bowl. Slice into 12 wedges (each
will be 1/2 cup). Wrap each wedge
with plastic wrap, place all in a
sealable plastic bag and store in
freezer for up to 1 year.
Making snacks — for dinner
By BEN MIMS
Los Angeles Times
Cooking a meal is great,
but have you assembled
a bunch of your favorite
things on a plate and called
that a meal instead? Of
course you have, because
everyone does this. (And
I’m not talking about those
over-the-top charcuterie
boards or “adult Lunch-
ables” that are fun to gawk
at). No one does it as mas-
terfully as Lukas Volger,
who takes compiling snacks
for a meal to a high art. As
a friend of Volger’s, I’ve
witnessed fi rsthand his
lavish snack platters. They
may seem casually thrown
together but they’re any-
thing but.
Slices of meat, some
cheese, a mustard or jam
is there, sure, but so are
delicately dressed vege-
tables, crunchy nut mixes
or warm olive-marinated
beans — Volger takes
composing snack platters
to a whole new level. So
it’s no surprise that he’s
written the book on the sub-
ject: “Snacks for Dinner”
(Harper Wave, 2022).
His book contains all his
wisdom and experience for
how to compose a winning
platter, made with crunchy,
fresh and nutritious snacks
in mind, not just a pile of
meat and cheese like those
charcuterie boards.
Crudités sit next to
toasted bread, a lentil-car-
rot-date salad and fresh
boiled eggs in one platter,
while another pairs the raw
crunchy veggies with fresh
ricotta, fried chickpeas and
bowls of gazpacho made
with watermelon. Blanched
spring asparagus, mari-
nated in a mustard vinai-
grette, are superb to keep
in the fridge for when the
snacking urge takes over.
Set a few spears on a plate,
add some cheese, toasted
sourdough and a bowl of
olives or beans, and you’ll
soon get the hang of Volg-
er’s brilliance.
ORANGE AND
MUSTARD-
MARINATED
ASPARAGUS
Time: 30 minutes
Yields: Serves 4 to 6
By Lukas Volger
I remember what a revelation
it was to my mom when she
learned to cook asparagus for just
4 minutes. (She’d set a timer —
the 4 minutes was sacrosanct.)
As a kid, she dreaded seeing it on
her plate because it was always
cooked to stringy, pale-green
mush. But when just tender, and
not at all mushy, and vibrantly
green, it’s such a pleasing, juicy
vegetable. Cooked this way, it’s
always been one of my favorites.
This method of marinating is one
I particularly like for super-fresh,
springtime asparagus, but even in
the off -season, it does wonders to
make it interesting and delicious
when it’s not exactly at its peak.
You’ll cook it immediately, shock
in cold water, then combine with
this zesty marinade. The hot,
sweet mustard gives the mari-
nade distinction — I love it with
my Stovetop Maple-Ale Mustard
(see recipe below) — but you
can use Dijon or any other hot or
horseradish mustard if that’s what
you’ve got on hand. — Lukas
Volger
1 pound asparagus spears
1 orange
2 teaspoons sweet hot mustard,
such as Stovetop Maple-
Ale Mustard (see recipe
below), or Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves,
or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1. Remove the woody ends of
the asparagus by bending them
in half and letting the ends snap
off . Compost the tough ends or
reserve them for another use.
Wash the asparagus thoroughly
by swishing it around in a bowl of
water — grit can often be trapped
in the tips and little petals along
the sides. Set aside the asparagus,
rinse out the bowl and prepare an
ice bath.
2. In a pot (or a saucepan that’s
wide enough for the asparagus
to lie fl at), add about a 1/2 inch of
water and bring to a simmer. Fit
the pot with a steamer insert, then
add the asparagus and cook until
just tender — 2 to 3 minutes for
skinny spears and 3 to 5 minutes
for larger ones. Avoid overcooking
them. Transfer to the ice bath to
halt the cooking, then drain and
blot dry with a kitchen towel.
3. To prepare the dressing,
zest the orange and add to a
mixing bowl, then squeeze in 2
tablespoons of its juice. Add the
mustard, thyme leaves and salt
and whisk to combine. Whisk in
the oil in a steady stream. Add the
asparagus, stir to coat, and then
store in an airtight container in the
fridge for up to 4 days.
STOVETOP
MAPLE-ALE
MUSTARD
1/4 cup mustard powder
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown ale
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1. In a wide, heat-safe bowl, stir
together the mustard powder and
vinegar. Let stand for at least 30
minutes and up to an hour. Pour
the beer into a tall measuring glass
to allow some of the carbonation
to burn off while the mustard pow-
der hydrates. Add the beer, maple
syrup, egg yolks and salt to the
mustard and whisk until smooth.
2. Fill a saucepan with about
an inch of water and bring to a
simmer. Create a double boiler sit-
uation by placing the bowl directly
over the saucepan, allowing the
steam generated by the water to
heat the bowl beneath it. Make
sure that the bottom of the bowl
does not touch the water — if it
does, simply pour out some of
the water. Cook the mustard over
the simmering water, scraping
the sides and bottom of the bowl
often with a fl exible spatula, until
HarperCollins Publishers-TNS
“Snacks for Dinner,” by Lukas Volger.
thickened to the consistency of
hollandaise sauce, about 15 min-
utes. Remove from the heat and
transfer the mustard to a container
or jar. Allow to cool, then store in
the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks in
an airtight container.
— Reprinted by permission
from “Snacks For Dinner” by Lukas
Volger (Harper Wave, 2022).
M ICHAEL
541-786-8463
M. Curtiss PN-7077A CCB# 183649
A C ERTIFIED M ASTER A RBORIST
When your computer is in despair
OUTSTANDING
COMPUTER REPAIR
Fast and Reliable
MOBILE COMPUTER SUPPORT
DALE BOGARDUS 541-297-5831
215 Elm Street La Grande • (541) 963-5440
northwestfurnitureandmattress.com