Many basic cooking techniques are becoming anachronisms as consumers shop for prepared or partly prepared foods instead of raw ingredients, and as restaurant chefs and home cooks grill or saute nearly everything that comes into the kitchen. So before the final bubbles burst, I want to call your attention to boiling, a technique that can be used for considerably more than reheating food encased in a waterproof bag.
Liquid at a full boil can cook (or blanch) vegetables, or be reduced to become a stock or sauce. Turned down to a simmer, it will ensure tender meat, fish and poultry. Move slightly below a simmer to find my favorite stage, poaching. Here’s how.
Once the liquid has reached a boil, seek a modest level of heat that produces soft bubbles here and there on the surface that rest a few moments before popping. The poaching liquid’s gentle heat massages the food and gradually cooks it. In time, poached eggs, chicken breasts or fruit emerge from this bath soft and succulent.
With spring officially upon us, I thought a recipe for poaching vegetables in court bouillon (flavored water) might come in handy over the next few months. The recipe that follows comes from “James Beard’s Theory & Practice of Good Cooking.” As this is a direct reprint of Beard’s recipe for vegetables a la Grecque, the order is somewhat unusual. It is advisable to read through the recipe before beginning.
JAMES BEARD’S VEGETABLES A LA GRECQUE
“As the vegetables are eaten cold, rather than hot, they can be made in quantity and kept in the refrigerator in containers, to be brought out when you want a simple first course or cold vegetables for a summer buffet. Serve the different vegetables in the small serving dishes called raviers, or in flat pottery or glass dishes. A sprinkling of chopped fresh parsley or, if you like the flavor, chopped fresh coriander, makes a pleasant garnish.”
Court bouillon:
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup dry white wine or vermouth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 or 2 cloves garlic, peeled
Dash of hot pepper sauce, Tabasco preferred
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, tarragon, oregano, basil; or 1 teaspoon each dried
1. Select from the following vegetables: Young, tender green beans, wax beans, whole green onions or tiny white onions, small and firm mushroom caps, whole or halved leeks, halved or quartered fennel bulbs, fingers or cubes of eggplant, small and firm zucchini halved or thickly sliced, halved celery hearts, buds of broccoli or cauliflower, tiny young carrots, tiny pattypan squash, artichoke bottoms, or trimmed and quartered artichokes with choke removed.
2. Do not simmer vegetables together, as they will have different cooking times. Cook your selections separately.
3. Put the court bouillon ingredients in a large, shallow pan or deep skillet, then add a cleaned, trimmed vegetable and just enough water barely to cover. The court bouillon is sufficient for 1 pound of green beans or carrots, or 1 large eggplant, cubed, or 8 artichoke bottoms or a dozen mushroom caps.
4. Bring the liquid to a boil very slowly over medium heat, then reduce the heat and poach until the vegetable is just crisply tender when pierced with a fork or the point of a small sharp knife. Do not overcook. Remove from the heat, taste the liquid for seasoning and add salt, if needed; then let the vegetable cool in the liquid. When cool, transfer to a refrigerator container or serving dish. Strain the poaching liquid and use again for other vegetables. If necessary, add more water.
–From “James Beard’s Theory & Practice of Good Cooking”
