Cooking and baking my way through marriage...and motherhood.

I do not generally worship at the altar of celebrity chefs.  Sure…I like Anthony Bourdain, Michael Symon, and Richard Blais.  I find their personalities, thoughts on food, and recipes to be refreshing and fun.  However, I just like them.  I would like to have a meal with them and pick their brains.

I have one exception to my celebrity chef ambivalence.

Thomas Keller.

I believe Thomas Keller is one of the most important and influential chefs to ever live.  Over the past 5 or so years, I have soaked up every article, interview, and book about him I can find.  To me, Thomas Keller is everything that is right about food.  In fact, I don’t know that I would call him a celebrity chef.  More like a chef that has become popular because he loves food and has changed the restaurant world.

Eating at The French Laundry remains #1 on my bucket list.  I imagine it would be an amazing experience that I would talk about for the rest of my life.  In my head, it is a restaurant unlike any other.  I’ve taken the cookbook out from the library a dozen times…never to attempt one of the recipes, but rather to read and stare.  It is unbelievable.

When the Bouchon cookbook ended up under my Christmas tree {thanks, Nathan!} I was thrilled.  Bouchon is more my cooking style.  It is French bistro cooking at its finest.  I can handle these recipes, and in the month I have owned it I have already attempted a few with great success – including this one.

Let me say this: Keller is a genius.  However, the Bouchon cookbook is perfect for the home cook who needs to impress people without being pretentious.  Keller has simplified some of the recipes and changed ingredients so the recipes in this cookbook are attainable.  He wants you to make these things.  This book is worth every cent of its $50.00 price tag.

Boer Sausage with Peppered Apples and Pureed Potatoes {slightly adapted from Bouchon}

Ingredients:

• 1 lb boer sausage {you probably won’t find this at your grocery store. I bought mine at a small local shop that specializes in local charcuterie.}
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 gala apples
• about 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 lbs cooking potatoes
• 8 oz unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup half & half

Directions:

for the sausage and apples

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

2. Cut the sausage into 6 sections.  Season with a little ground pepper.

3. Peel the apples, remove the seeds, and cut into 12 wedges per apple.

4. Toss the apples with ground pepper.

5. Pour 1/8 inch of vegetable oil into two large skillets.  Heat over medium-high heat.

6. When the oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium and add half of the sausage and half of the apples to each skillet.

7. Brown the sausages for 3-4 minutes on each side.  Turn the apples as they brown. {note: be careful with the sausage…it cooks very quickly}

8. When the sausage is browned, reduce the heat and cook another 1-2 minutes.

9. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

10. Transfer the sausage to the baking sheet and place in the oven to keep the sausage warm.

11. Transfer all of the apples to one skillet.  Continue to brown the apples until they are soft but not falling apart.

12. Once the apples are done put them in a bowl covered with aluminum foil to keep them warm until you are ready to serve them.

for the the pureed potatoes

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 2 inch pieces.

2.  Transfer the potatoes to a large pot and fill with cold water. The water should come about 1″ above the potatoes.

3.  Cook the potatoes on medium-high heat until they are soft and can be easily pierced with a fork.  About 20 minutes.

4. Cut the butter into very small slices.

5.  Put half of the butter in a blender.

6.  Drain the potatoes.

7.  Dump half of the potatoes into the blender.

8.  Blend the potatoes and butter on the puree setting until they are very smooth. {totally didn’t take a photo of this, but it should look kind of like baby food}

9. Transfer the pureed potatoes to a medium saucepan.

10. Repeat the blender process with the second half of the potatoes.  Transfer to the saucepan.

11. Heat the pureed potatoes on low heat.  Add the half & half very slowly while using a whisk to blend everything together for about 5 minutes.  The potatoes should have a consistency between mashed potatoes and baby food.

to serve

Serve the sausage, apples, and potatoes together.  If you are going for appearance stack the potatoes on the bottom topped with sausage and apples.  If you are like me and don’t really like your foods to touch, put them all next to each other nicely on a plate.

Grade: A++

Comments: Probably the best meal I have ever made.  I absolutely love the sausage and apples together.  I had never made boer sausage before, and I was happy to see it tastes way better than anything at the grocery store.  This is a must make dish.  It looks like a lot of work, but I assure you it isn’t hard.  This is one of those meals that will impress without stressing you out.

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