Snails Alive!

This week’s topics include another trip down Southern memory lane for the WF (fried chicken!), Grandma’s gravy, my favorite mashed potato method, mmmmm.... snails, a first time dish for the WF, and a review of Petite Maison in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Restaurant Review – Petite Maison, Scottsdale, AZ.  Recently the Red joined me on a business trip to Arizona and we met our friends R & S for dinner at a place of their choosing – a French restaurant called Petite Maison in Old Scottsdale, Arizona.  Before we met them, R actually asked me if I liked French food.  Uhh… yeah.  What part of aspiring Francophile was unclear?!

First, the setting.  This is a tiny French country restaurant in the desert.  I’m not going to lie.  The very idea seems a bit off.  But, lord knows I have an open mind about food and you can’t judge a book by its cover, so in we go.  

Check out the utter coziness of this place.  All wood interior, and I bet it doesn’t seat more than 25 people inside.  Great place to sit and enjoy a dinner the French way, which as near as I can tell means you need at least 2 hours to make it through dinner.

We order various appetizers, including a cheese plate (oh how I love the fromage) and, wait for it,…. Escargot.  Yep – snails.  Neither the Red nor R would join us for the delicate morsels (I can’t imagine why).  You know the Wannabe Foodie was on those snails like a rat on a cheeto.  They were divine.  Then again, anything cooked at high heat and drenched in butter and garlic has to be good. 

The Red ordered the Festons (seared sea scallops) and I ordered something I had never seen before – Joues de Veau.  Ok, WF, enough with the Frenchy McFrench crap.  What is Joes de Veau? 

Braised veal cheeks. 

Alright, before you get on your huffy bike and call down condemnation on me for eating veal, ..well..  Ok, you’ve got me.  There really is no good justification for eating veal, particularly once you learn how these animals are raised.

However, I had never seen these items on a menu.  Anywhere.  Halibut cheeks?  Absolutely.  Veal cheeks?  No.  I simply couldn’t resist the opportunity to try something completely new.  I mean, come on!  I’ve got a food blog, and you can only write so much about hillbilly comfort food!

The cheeks were one of the most succulent things I’ve had.  Imagine fall apart beef short ribs.  Now add in the buttery flavor of veal and a lot more tenderness.  Very nice.

The Red’s scallops were very tasty, but when I tried my first bite I leaned over and said “Did you notice that there’s sand in those?”  You really can’t overlook something like that.  The grittiness of sand as you chomp into something?  Not good.

Dessert?  They had what is probably my favorite dessert, if it’s done right.  Souffle de Grand Marnier.  A vanilla soufflé which they cut into at the table and pour a Grand Marnier cream sauce into.  This thing rose 3 inches off the soufflé dish and was probably 5 inches tall.  The Red and I shared one, which I washed down with some Courvoisier Cognac.  I swear.  I could eat a couple of these things all on my own.  Absolutely fabulous.

The Overall Review of Petite Maison?  All in all, pretty good French food for respectable prices.  Not “Oh my god” good (except for the soufflé), but pretty good.  I would recommend this place to friends and readers. 

The WF’s Continuing Theme of Hillbilly Comfort Food.  First, the backstory.  As I mentioned in prior blogs, I spent my early childhood (through elementary school) in the South.  How South, you say?  Jackson, Mississippi.  South enough for you?

I grew up watching the matriarchs of my family make various Southern staples.  One of these was pan fried buttermilk chicken.  I often revisit this dish at home, and it always brings a smile to my face.  I mean really – what kind of commie freak doesn’t love fried chicken?!

My recipe – I marinate the chicken in buttermilk for 10-24 hours.  This last time, I also threw in some lemon thyme and German thyme into the buttermilk.  I drain the chicken and season it with paprika, cayenne, granulated garlic, and sea salt.  I then dredge the chicken in plain old flour, and let it sit on a rack a few minutes before frying it.  The flour and the remaining buttermilk are more than enough to make a great crust.

I fry the chicken in my big ol’ cast iron in about a quarter inch of canola oil.  My grandma used shortening, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.  A quarter of an inch is about all you need.  Remember that you’re going to almost fill the pan up with chicken and you only want the bottom half of the chicken frying.  A quarter inch or so of oil is plenty.

A note on how hot the oil needs to be.  A lot of cooking shows and recipes insist that the oil needs to be an exact temperature.  I’m sure they’re right, but I never saw my Southern matriarchs using thermometers to check the oil temperature.  They would just drop some flour in the pan.  If it sizzles nicely, the oil’s hot enough.  It’s really not more complicated than that.

I fry the chicken about 6-8 minutes per side, or until it’s done.  I do, however, use an instant read thermometer to make sure the chicken is fully cooked.  I know Grandma didn’t need no stinkin’ thermometer, but I simply don’t have her mad fried chicken kung fu.  I’m trying, but I’m not there yet.

I served it with my Grandma’s pan gravy (yes, it’s made from scratch with a little of the oil and some drippings), sautéed fresh green beans, mashed red potatoes, and a fresh caprese salad that our neighbor brought over. 

The review?  This is truly awesome chicken and quintessential Southern pan fried chicken.  Lots of crunch and slightly salty.  I spent a lot of time with the gravy and it was about as good as I can make gravy.  You just can’t have fried chicken without a good gravy, and mashed potatoes.

A note on mashed potatoes.  I’ve tried them every way you can make them and I’ve settled into a simple recipe.  I boil whole or half red potatoes with cloves of garlic in salty water.  I like the reds because they hold up a lot better, and the boiled garlic gives a nice, mellow garlic flavor when it’s blended into the final dish. 

I run them in my standing mixer with butter, a little milk, kosher salt, and pepper, but I don’t blend them until they’re a uniform puree.  I leave lots of chunks, and it’s not overly creamy.  Just good, simple mashed potatoes.

I always make lots of mashed potatoes.  They are comfort food for the Red and never go to waste.

Happy cooking.

WF