I’ve been itching to post about this since the weekend, but alas this was an extra busy week at Cookin’ School with projects to be done, midterms to be taken and a large number of cranky old people to be herded about on tours.
On Sunday I went to the local farmers’ market and splashed out on a small package (two pieces) of venison tenderloin from a local deer farm. It was $15 well spent ($7.50 well spent, actually, since the second piece is in the freezer). I used the same Gordon Ramsay recipe that I used a couple weeks ago on the rib-eye and the results were equally delicious, served with barely-blanched broccoli and a pilaf of teff, mushrooms and onion.
I will post more about my love of teff one of these days, but if you don’t know it, go get yourself some and play around with it. I think it may be my favorite grain, though quinoa is certainly up there, partly because it’s so much fun to say aloud.
KEEN-WAH!
The only problem with the venison was that I was so worried about overcooking it that I seriously undercooked it. The center was raw and still a little cold. Still delicious, though.
Wiley agrees.
I also got another quarter-pound of scallops - the guys at the supermarket with the best fish around here just love me, because I’m picky and demand to know where the fish came from and smell everything before I buy and then, in the end, I usually get a quarter-pound of one thing and that’s it.
This time I dusted the scallops in a blend of 1 part kosher salt to two parts Chinese five spice powder and served them on a bed of stir-fried baby bok choy and mushrooms. I think the flavor of the scallops this time round was even better than last week’s pimenton scallop experiment, but I undercooked them – a developing theme for the weekend.
Still delicious, though, and Wiley agrees.
The venison smelled so good that I ate it before I remembered to take a picture (oh well) but I’ll be repeating the recipe soon. Very soon.
The most exciting part of the weekend, however, is what the subject line refers to. The farmers’ market also had duck and pheasant eggs for sale, though they were pretty pricey. I was excited because I’ve read in my British food mags how chefs prize duck eggs and pheasant eggs because of the more colorful yolk and richer taste.
Let us begin the experiment...
Here is a shot with the duck egg at 12 o’clock, the pheasant egg at 4 o’clock and a plain ol’ chicken egg at 8 o’clock. Actually, it’s an organic local egg from a free-range chicken, which I think may have skewed the results.
Crack! Left to right, it’s pheasant, chicken and duck. That’s a lotta duck yolk right there. I’m also disturbed by how yellow and cloudy the white of my chicken egg is, but as neither Wiley (who gets an egg now and then as a breakfast treat) nor I have signs of food poisoning, it can’t be that bad.
For this first experiment, I decided to rip off, who else, Gordon Ramsay. He did a starter with watercress soup and a poached egg in the center. I made a super easy (and super delicious) spring pea soup with bergamot and thyme from my garden, then set about poaching the eggs. Here is the result, before trimming, again left to right, pheasant, chicken and duck.
Obviously the duck egg held its shape the best, though that could have been my fault as the water was boiling a little too aggressively for the teeny pheasant egg.
Here are the three finished plates for comparison:
Again, it’s pheasant, chicken and duck, left to right. I think the duck egg shape was nicest, but the pheasant size was best proportionately, since one doesn’t really want a big honkin’ egg taking up the whole bowl of one’s soup.
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