It’s not uncommon for cooks and chefs to be obsessed with condiments. One of my cook friends who lives alone keeps nothing at all in her fridge except for a myriad of condiments, milk for coffee, and a bottle of wine. When I was working in NYC as a private chef and lived alone, that is what my fridge looked like, too. Now that I have a family, I actually do much more cooking at home than I ever did when I was single, so the contents of my fridge has become a bit more…rubenesque, if you will. There’s Lily’s personal cheese drawer as well as a continually rotating stock of proteins that we keep on hand for quick weeknight meals. There is a sourdough starter that takes up way too much room for its own good, but from where I stand is worth its weight in gold.  And of course we’re never without milk, juice, wine, or beer. But it’s our condiment collection that is…well, let’s just say it’s getting expansive. My husband and I have dueling mustard shelves. We have at least 7 different hot sauces at all times and so many pickled things, it’s not even funny. The thing is, though, you just never know when you’re going to need any particular one of them and, well, they’re part of the family. And now I’ve gone and done it — I’ve fallen in love with yet one more condiment that I know I will have trouble living without going forward. I have made the acquaintance of lemon confit.

This is all due to my recent attempt to use up all the Meyer lemons from the garden. I had already made a big batch of Moroccan-style preserved lemons, (one of my favorite things to throw into a dish of chicken braised with green olives!) and I really wanted to try something new and different with the remaining lemons.  They looked so pretty sitting on my kitchen counter, but I knew I should preserve their beautiful flavor so that we could enjoy them for days to come.

Though the concept of  lemon confit seemed quite similar to the preserved lemons, the small taste I had recently enjoyed on a sandwich at a restaurant had resonated with me in a unique way; I just couldn’t get them out of my mind.

And so I made my first batch of lemon confit, based on an amalgamation of a few different recipes I’d saved over the years. It’s so simple to prepare, you really don’t even need a recipe. It’s nothing more than thinly sliced lemons (rind and all) layered with salt, sugar, minced shallots, and garlic. You let it marinate in the fridge for a few days (in its own juices, which is where the “confit” part comes in), and then you strain off the juices, place the now very pliable lemon slices in nonreactive containers, and top them off with olive oil. That’s it! I am told it should keep in the fridge for about 1 1/2 months, but I doubt mine will last that long. I had two nice size jars a week ago and one is nearly already gone. I have put the slices on sandwiches with roast chicken breast, roasted red bell peppers, avocado and shaved red onion and, oh my. It was one of the quietest lunches my husband and I ever shared together. I also finely chopped a couple of the slices and used that as the basis of a lemon vinaigrette; it was delicious over simple salad greens with roasted beets and crumbled feta. I doubt I’ll have any trouble figuring out what to do with the remaining confit. The taste is so fresh, so subtle, and yet so in-your-face at the same time, it’s hard to describe. The texture is firm and yet velvety. If you love the bright flavor of lemons and the briny quality of olives and capers, I suspect you might like to try lemon confit, too.

In hindsight, I think slicing the lemons on a mandolin or an electric slicer, if available, would give you the best results. Slicing whole lemons by hand using a regular knife produces somewhat irregular slices, even though they are forgiving and still worked just fine.

You probably already know that my backyard garden is a frequent source of inspiration for me and today is no exception: I have kumquats on the brain because my little kumquat tree that has been in the ground only 3 years is in full fruiting glory! The tiny golden fruit are so pretty that it’s entirely possible I will not be able to remove them from the tree. So much pleasure can be found in the garden just watching things grow.

Interestingly enough, kumquats seem to be on a lot of people’s minds around our city right now. They are everywhere I turn! I’ve realized that this is in large part due to our local Asian population and the upcoming celebration of the Chinese New Year (technically referred to as the Lunar New Year and also known as the “Tet” within the Vietnamese culture.) It turns out that the kumquat is one of the most important symbolic foods of the Chinese New Year. It is said to bring prosperity, and according to some, each part of the kumquat tree (leaves, flowers, new growth and fruit) is symbolic of different members of the family (grandparents, parents, children). Venture into any Asian market right about now and you will likely find a small forest of impeccably manicured kumquat trees available for purchase. These are sure to be scooped up and transported to homes, where they are prominently displayed for guests to admire during this most festive holiday.

My friend and colleague here at the office, Stacey Meyer, has big plans for a Chinese New Year-inspired dinner party next week and tomorrow she will be posting a blog entitled The Year of the Dragon. If you check it out you will be able to read about her menu and some of the other symbolic foods that she’ll be serving her guests. I wonder how she will work kumquats into her dinner?

If I find that I am able to take the fruit off of my tree, I’m considering several different options to showcase my harvest. The first is a recipe from Farm to Fork for Emeril’s Whole Roasted Duck with Candied Kumquats that I remember loving when we tested it in our test kitchen. Definitely dinner party worthy. I’ve also been eyeing up a recipe for kumquats soaked in rum…sounds like a good excuse to have a little nip or two after dinner, maybe even served over a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. For you bakers out there, I’ve come across lots of recipes using chopped fresh kumquats in muffins and other quick breads, too.

Gong hei fat choy: Congratulations and prosper!

One of the wonderful things about having a backyard garden is when all the stars align and you find yourself with a windfall harvest. Doesn’t matter what it happens to be, it’s always an exciting moment, especially if you’re a weekend-only or after-hours gardener who gets to the garden when you can and, consequently, might have had a few neglectful moments. So much is dependent on Mother Nature — some seasons are good; some not so much.

This year we were surprised by a couple of extra-hardy “volunteer” tomato plants that reared their heads just as our fall garden got going. They arose from the seeds of tomatoes from weathered summer vines that had been turned back into the garden. My husband and I both marveled at how beautiful, disease-free, and prolific these plants have been. We have watched as they’ve far surpassed our other fall plantings, lustily dreaming of what we’d do with the tomatoes if allowed to ripen. It has become a race between winter weather conditions and the tomato plants fulfilling their mission. So, when the first hard freeze was forecast for our area earlier this week, we were sad to have to pull the unripe green tomatoes from their vines. We were pretty sure we had hit the Green Tomato Jackpot, if there is such a thing, but imagine our surprise when we weighed our harvest and discovered that we had nearly 18 pounds of perfect green tomatoes, mostly picked from one vine. Have a look at them here, filling every basket I own at home. They almost don’t even look real.

So now the million dollar question is just what to do with all these beauties! My first thought goes to crisp, fried green tomatoes topped with shrimp remoulade. Unfortunately this doesn’t exactly fall into the “light and cleansing” mantra I’ve been whispering to myself since New Year resolutions were made. Too bad! But I’ve been thinking about green tomato pickles, chutney, chow chow, and picallili…these are all very delicious and wonderful condiments that can be used in a myriad of ways.  I just love any of these garnishing a plate of comforting red beans and rice. A friend’s mom loves to put green tomato pickles on her black eyed peas and fried catfish. We southerners love our pickles on the table for just about any occasion. Talk about a nice addition to a cheese plate, too.

So, canning –  here I come! While other folks will be at the game this weekend, cheering on our beloved Saints, this will be my at-home project. In case you happen to find yourself in the same situation, here’s a wonderful recipe from Emeril’s recent cookbook, Farm to Fork.

Green Tomato Picallili

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, from Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh, Harper Studio Publisher, New York, 2010, copyright MSLO, Inc., all rights reserved

• 3 pounds green tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 4 medium onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups distilled white vinegar
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tablespoon whole yellow mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1. In a large glass bowl, or other nonreactive container, layer the diced tomatoes and the onions, sprinkling the kosher salt between the layers. You should have used all of the salt by the time you have finished layering the tomatoes and onions. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
2. Drain the tomatoes and onions, and rinse them briefly under cool running water. Place them in a large enameled or other nonreactive saucepan, add all the remaining ingredients, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the vegetables are very tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and discard the cinnamon sticks. Spoon the relish into hot sterilized jars, and attach the lids and rings. Process the jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Remove them  from the hot water bath and set them aside to cool.
4. Store the jars in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year. (Any jars that do not seal should be refrigerated promptly and enjoyed within 2 months.)

2 1/2 quarts

“I will eat only salad.” Or so I thought earlier this week, after days of indulging in wonderfully rich holiday meals and libations. I felt certain that it would be salad only or nothing at all well into the Mardi Gras season.

But fast forward to today and I find myself excitedly planning my New Year’s Eve celebration. Salad will have to wait. Fireworks are being purchased, some of my husband’s wild ducks from a hunting trip earlier this fall have been pulled from the freezer, and a container of plump Gulf oysters are resting in the fridge. Gumbo made from a holiday turkey carcass is underway, and all is right with the world. Such is the life in Southeast Louisiana.

The tiny wild duck breasts will be wrapped around slices of fresh jalapeno and a sliver of cream cheese before being wrapped in bacon and quickly grilled while we all sit around an open fire. This is an old hunter’s recipe that often graces grills down this way. (The remaining duck carcasses will be roasted and then simmered to make a rich stock for the next gumbo!)

I had been planning to make a simple oyster stew with the oysters — it’s been on my mind lately. But now that a gumbo is in the works, I’m thinking about a garlicky oyster pan roast like the one they do at Mosca’s…Or maybe chargrilling the oysters with butter, garlic, and cheese (a la Drago’s)? Either dish would provide a great reason for pulling out a loaf of crusty French bread for sopping up buttery, garlicky juices. This year our Gulf oysters are super briny and delicious; talk about a real reason to celebrate after all they’ve been through as of late.

If oysters are on your mind, too, here is a recipe to help get the first weekend of the New Year going in the right direction!

Oyster Pan Roast

Recipe from Charlotte’s Table, Ecco Press, 1998

• 8 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 bunches scallions, chopped
• 1 medium rib celery, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed between your fingers
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed between your fingers
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed between your fingers
• 4 dozen oysters, shucked and well-drained
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• Salt (this will depend on the saltiness of the oysters) and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Creole Seasoning, to taste
• 1/2 cup unseasoned fine dry breadcrumbs or toasted fresh breadcrumbs

1. Preheat the broiler.
2. In a large skillet or low-sided saucepan, melt the butter with the olive oil over low heat. Add the scallions, celery, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, and rosemary. Continue to cook over low heat until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the drained oysters and stir well to combine with the vegetables. When the oysters just begin to firm up (about 3 to 4 minutes), stir in the heavy cream and parsley and remove from the heat. Taste and season with salt, pepper, and Creole seasoning. Place the contents of the skillet in a shallow baking dish (or individual ramekins). Sprinkle a thin layer of breadcrumbs over all and broil 6 inches from the heat source, until the oysters are cooked through and breadcrumbs are lightly browned, usually 4 to 6 minutes.

Serves 8 as an appetizer

When it comes to little girls, or at least little girls like mine, you can never have anything too pink, too tiny, or too precious. Anything falling into one of those categories seems to elicit a smile. So when the December issue of Bon Appetit came out a few weeks back and I got a quick glimpse of the cover, I just knew that I had to make their Candy-Striped Peppermint Meringues for my daughter’s 7th birthday party. They’re pink, they’re tiny, and they’re oh, so precious. As a matter of fact, they are so precious that even this very full grown little girl (me) couldn’t resist them herself…

As a food professional who is responsible for coming up with new and fresh ideas daily, it’s not all that often that something jumps out at me with such gusto. Sure, we often find inspiration within the pages of magazines and on the menus of our favorite new haunts, but it’s rare that I see a recipe that I feel compelled to duplicate exactly as written, but such was the case with this one. And so, when preparing the food for Lily’s party, I pulled out my Bon Appetit and tried my hand at these little meringue cookies.

Of course the beauty of meringue is its pure simplicity. Sugar and egg whites. Period. The only things added to this basic formula for these are a pinch of salt, a smidgeon of peppermint extract, and a few drops of red food coloring. The instructions were foolproof, (I’m really not a baker at heart), and after just a few minutes of bonding with my mixer, this is what my baking sheet looked like going into the oven:

I cannot tell you how excited I was when I pulled these out a couple of hours later. It’s completely passive cooktime (put in oven, set timer, and forget about them. Really!) and even my husband, who is very much a guy’s guy and very much not into pink, was impressed. As a matter of fact he started rattling off a list of names of friends who he thought would enjoy some of these little gems for Christmas!

And speaking of Christmas, we’ve even made a batch of these for our Homebase Christmas party today…so the whole office will get to try them.

 Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays!

This morning we had visitors in our test kitchen: Jessie Lagasse-Swanson and Jilly Lagasse, two of Emeril’s daughters, were here with photographer Chris Granger. They were working on a few author photos for their upcoming cookbook, The Gluten Free Table: The Lagasse Girls Share Their Favorite Meals. Here they are smiling for the camera…Jessie is on the left, and Jilly is on the right.

As with any cookbook project, the closer it gets to the manuscript due date, the crazier it gets trying to get it all done, and these ladies are in the home stretch of a cookbook project they’ve been working hard at for a couple of years now. They are pretty impassioned about this project, and rightly so: both Jessie and Jilly have struggled with gluten intolerance for years. Growing up as daughters of a chef has given them an edge, though, since cooking is in their blood. They are both great cooks — and when faced with the challenge of changing their diets for improved health, they found that with a little creativity, they could still enjoy eating well while living gluten-free. Their cookbook, which includes over 100 gluten-free recipes, is their attempt to share some of their hard-earned knowledge with others who struggle with gluten intolerance and celiac disease. The book, which is  being published by Grand Central Publishing, is scheduled to be on bookshelves in October 2012.

Next month they will be photographing their recipes for the book with photographer Chris Granger, but for today, it’s a wrap!

Many of us feel the urge to lighten our menus a bit after the big Thanksgiving blowout of last week. Kind of get things under control a bit, if you know what I mean, as we head into the rest of the holiday season. As the indulgence of last week looms around our waistlines, it can seem a daunting task at first. But if you try to eat with the seasons, and if you’re lucky enough to have a fall garden coming into full swing, it’s really not all that hard to do. Cooler temperatures and lower humidity translate into good times for salad greens, cole crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts, root vegetables, and all manner of greens. Just what we need to help us get back on track and provide our bodies with the vitamins and minerals needed to fortify us through the winter months ahead.

My husband and I are newish to vegetable gardening and this year, our second attempt at a fall garden, has really surprised us. Without the screaming heat of the South Louisiana summer to contend with, even sporadic watering goes a long way. When the temperatures cooled off last week with the first near-frost, the haphazardly sown seeds dug down deep and really took off. Surprisingly, and seemingly overnight, we have lettuces gone wild (bronze arrow, rouge de grenobloise, arugula, mizuna, and red russian kale, to name a few), enough mustard greens to feed a small army, lacinato kale standing up like brave soldiers, radishes, beets, swiss chard, several heavily-laden volunteer tomato plants, and one very lonely (but still producing!) volunteer cucumber vine.  We’ve decided that we like this fall gardening stuff!

So earlier this week, when searching for a way to round out a meal of roasted wild ducks from one of Paul’s hunting ventures, a trip out back to the garden filled in the blanks. One lonely remaining jar of fig mostarda from a late summer canning venture called to me from the fridge, too, and found its way into an existing balsamic vinaigrette. Before you know it, the ducks were accompanied by a beautiful salad of mixed greens drizzled with fig vinaigrette, just enough cheese to make us think we were indulging, and a few toasted nuts for texture. Something rich and indulgent would also have been awesome with those ducks, (think rice and gravy, creamy polenta), but, as my boss would say, “oh, baby”, eating light never tasted so good!I didn’t really take notes when putting that fig vinaigrette together, but here is a simple fig vinaigrette recipe that we developed with Emeril for his upcoming sandwich cookbook that will be out next fall. If it sounds tempting to you, I suggest you try it with whatever type of fig preserves you have on hand, and feel free to adjust the balance by adding more vinegar or oil to taste. This vinaigrette works well with all sorts of roasted meats: duck, pork, chicken, and is nice on salads with salty cheeses such as feta, gorgonzola, or roquefort.

Fig Vinaigrette

• 4 tablespoons fig preserves (chop if whole figs)
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
• Pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. In a small bowl, combine the fig preserves and the balsamic vinegar. Whisk in the grapeseed oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Yield: about 1 cup

Growing citrus in Louisiana can be a tricky proposition: summertime brings leaf miners  (who absolutely adore the soft, tender new-growth leaves) as well as butterflies whose larvae can literally strip a small tree of all leaves within days. Winter freezes can kill small trees, or in the case of larger, well-established trees, do some pretty serious damage at minimum. Late spring hail storms can easily strip trees of blossoms, meaning no fruit will follow. And so on and so on. While this all just part of the natural rhythm of life and the challenges that each season brings, it is a truly joyous day when, for instance, the Meyer lemon tree you planted in your backyard nearly 4 years ago finally has fruit!

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You may have seen Stacey’s blog from a couple of months back showing some of the behind-the-scene moments from our photo shoot with Chef Emeril for his upcoming sandwich cookbook…but what you may not realize is how much remains to be done even after a photo shoot is technically “over”. Our very talented photographer, Steven Freeman, took over 2800 images during the 4 day photo shoot (do the math…we were very busy!) The hard part comes in trying to select only the best of the best so that we end up with around 80 beautiful, mouthwatering images for the book. Everyone weighs in on their favorite images: Emeril, our Culinary Team and Marketing department…by the time we make our final selections, the photos have become old friends. Behold my office wall, which currently holds just a few (!) of our latest round of selects:

After all the final selections have been made, photos are edited if necessary and are then ready for submission to the publisher. Recipes and other frontmatter (frontmatter is just a fancy word for introduction, table of contents, acknowledgment, dedication, and anything else that goes up front in a book) will accompany the photos and, looking ahead, after about 5 rounds of editing and almost an entire year later, the book should be out in bookstores for everyone to enjoy.

Finally! One of the first copies of Sizzling Skillets and Other One Pot Wonders has landed on my desk! This long awaited arrival of our latest cookbook project has me and my team reminiscing over some of our favorite dishes from the book. We couldn’t wait to try some of them again:  congee, kimchi-fried rice, jap chae, only to name a few. With the One Pot, Three Weeks promotional blogger party going on, we felt we had to join in on the cooking fun. Stacey has plans to make kimchi-fried rice tomorrow, but I happily spent time in the test kitchen today making our beloved congee.

A friend of mine turned me on to the Chinese rice soup known as congee (a.k.a. jook) several years ago. After introducing it to my colleagues here in the test kitchen, it quickly became one of the Emeril’s Culinary Team’s favorite go-to dishes. It is a comforting dish that is always well-received, especially when rainy and cool outside. In the simplest terms, it’s a thick rice soup made from long, slow simmering of rice in broth. We usually make a stock with pork and chicken, with hints of aromatic ginger, garlic, scallions, and cilantro. Here it is simmering away!

Once the broth is just right, it is strained, the meats are shredded for garnish, and then the rice is cooked low and slow in the broth until it literally falls apart. Here is the strained broth simmering with the rice. Sometimes I can’t resist adding a few additional pieces of ginger and scallions to make sure it’s extra flavorful. (Just make sure you remove these before serving.)

The finished soup is then garnished with the shredded meats, cilantro leaves, crispy garlic, crispy shallots, sliced scallions, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, and spicy sesame oil – all to taste. It’s one of those dishes that you can easily tailor to use what’s available. Today I used an already made pork stock and so the soup turned out a bit darker in color than the recipe created for Sizzling Skillets…but boy, was it good. The crispy shallots and crispy garlic can be purchased in Asian markets already prepared if you’re not up to frying at home. Friends and family love garnishing their own bowls to taste with just the right amounts of stuff so please, don’t even think of skipping the garnishes – they elevate this soup to something truly special.

Kitchen tip: The small Japanese mandolines work well for slicing the garlic and shallots to the same thickness, which makes a big difference when frying. This way all the pieces end up done more or less at the same time. Once you’ve done this a few times you’ll see how important this is!

This is just one of the test kitchen’s favorites from Sizzling Skillets and Other One Pot Wonders…on sale in bookstores next Tuesday or order online at emerils.com by clicking on https://www.emerilstore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=10CB116! If you want to see what some of the other bloggers have been cooking, check out my latest favorite blogger/photographer partnership at http://freshlybakedbyphotokitchen.blogspot.com/2011/09/emeril-lagasses-cookbook-sneak-peak_19.html and http://mangesmangi.blogspot.com/2011/09/one-pot-wonder-collaboration-with.html The photos are amazing!