The anatomy of a special

Early one morning at Katie’s, I walk into a cold kitchen. The autumn chill is creeping in through the windows
and the walls - this was built as a seasonal home, long ago and so was built with no thought of one day serving
as a restaurant in November.  Starting the coffee and turning on the lights I wake up along with the kitchen,
the oven and grill warm up and I turn the hood fan on before remembering that nowadays it’s just blowing
cold air and this place is cold enough. With that thought, I start to gather my ingredients for the daily special.

I find some Maple leaf duck breast, a half box of chanterelle mushrooms and yesterday’s fresh lobster which may
appear to be an oxymoron, but the lobster is steamed and picked, wonderful, but I have new lobster coming this afternoon
so why not spice up the special a bit. Duck lobster mushrooms - what could be better?

With my basics in place I start to develop the idea a little more, I start rummaging around the kitchen to see what else I can find. I have seven 5 pound bags of polenta downstairs and a sharp gruyere cheese in the fridge, why not a polenta? With mushrooms? And a little basil ….. But oh I see a bag full of rainbow chard and a box of fresh spinach. Strike that, reverse it ...(Willy wonka - my first love of food and art) - a polenta with gruyere basil and lobster! Ok! One component down. 

So with that, I now have my second piece being sautéed greens & mushrooms, rainbow chard, spinach and chantrelles - they love to be eaten with duck and I personally think the duck likes them as well. 

My sous chef had made an easy yet flavorful reduction of red wine and sugar - a gastric.
With that in mind I start with the same basic idea - a Grenache syrah mix and sugar - I add to that some crushed red pepper, pink peppercorns, a touch of balsamic and salt, and I place it on the stovetop in the back on a low flame to reduce.

Now that I have some things working, I grate the cheese and pull out the parmesan cheese to help balance the gruyere.  In a rondo and on high heat I sauté first shallots then garlic. When that gets a little color, I deglaze with white wine and add the cream and chicken stock. As it comes to a boil, I throw in the polenta and whisk and whisk and whisk.

As the consistency thickens, I add the lobster, the cheeses, a lot of butter, then salt & pepper to taste. Still whisking - like this polenta stole something from me - I smooth it out with alternating pours of cream and stock, it gets to that sweet spot and I add the chiffonade of basil and pour it all into a hotel pan to go into the oven for about 20 minutes just to help everything setup nice and tight.

The gastric is on the back burner reducing quietly, the duck breasts are waiting patiently and I think, what else would make this dish really come together, I need a crunch, another texture - there it is! A nut. How about toasted pinenuts with cayenne and salt - just that little touch of heat sprinkled on top? Perfect. So I grab a bowl and a couple cups of nuts, dash of olive oil, a sprinkle of cayenne pepper, salt and on a tray to brown in the oven five minutes and then toss, toss, toss. Another five done out and on the rack to cool.

The main component being the meat, of course, is duck, an often over looked meat, but one with just the right amount of gamey flavor and juicy lovely fat, and, as they say, fat is flavor. With that in mind I want to do as little as possible to this already delightful bird. Salt, black pepper a spoonful of chopped garlic and I let it rest on a tray to marinate and come to room temperature.  As I finish that, the buzzer goes off for the polenta and voila! Its firm and will hold its shape when I cut it. What that might be I’m not sure yet. It also seems that the Gastric is not reducing so quietly anymore.  Instead it has begun to sputter and plop to let me know it’s time to pay attention before it goes from thick and sweet to burned and in the sink waiting for the dishwasher to begrudgingly scrub its blackened bottom. I arrive just in time, stirring it around, it holds the back of a spoon and has a wonderful sweet tangy earthy flavor to it - just the right touch for duck. There was no need to worry. I add a touch more wine just to help keep its consistency while it cools off, when it does it will be poured into a squeeze bottle for service.

Okay, it’s time to brown the meat: large pan? Check, oil? Check. marinated breast? Check.….ok go - I add just a little more salt & pepper then five or so duck breasts in the pan at a time to give them plenty of room. 6-8 minutes on the fatty side first or until it gets that great brown caramel color, then flip them maybe another 3 minutes and I take them off to cool and rest for service, when we will take one and warm it to the right temperature for the order.

That is the bulk of the mise-en-place for this dish completed: Seared breast, polenta, gastric, pinenuts and greens. The dish is now deconstructed so that when service does start all these components are placed in two stations, and are assigned to those responsible - the nuts and the gastric go on the middle table that has all the garnishes and squeeze bottle sauces, the duck goes to the grill cook, and the polenta which I decided would look nice in circles is on the sauté station along with the greens and mushrooms.

Now the ticket comes in for a medium rare duck - bada bing bada boom - the duck goes in the oven first, the polenta with a touch of olive oil on a sizzle platter goes next and when those two are just about done, a sauté pan with a spoon full of shallots and a ½ spoon full of garlic starts off browning and then the mushrooms are added. Sauté, Sautè The chard is added next, along with the spinach and a touch of white wine just to steam the whole bunch down. Finish with salt & pepper, pull out the duck, slice it on a bias to get five or six nice oval medallions and then out comes the polenta on to the plate. The duck is carefully placed in a half moon around the front and the greens are bunched high up in the middle . The whole lot is drizzled with the gastric and topped with the pine nuts.

I shout, as nicely as possible…………….PICK UP !!!!

Katie's Cafe on Shore Road
261 Shore Road
Ogunquit, Maine 03907
207-641-2780

Open Monday thru Sunday from 5pm to Closing