Black Pepper Béchamel:
This is a basic sauce that complements the
dish, without distracting from the cheese
already in the dish. I like to add a little bit
extra black pepper to the seasoning, just to
add an additional something to the plate.
2 oz. Butter
2 oz. Flour
1 qt. Cream
Salt and Pepper
Make roux by combining the butter and
flour in a saucepan over low heat, whisking
constantly. You’re going for a light blonde
roux, we’re not making Gumbo here. Heat
Cream separately and add slowly, whisking
constantly. Season. Easy, right?
Butter-Fried Bread:
Cooking:
Boil some water. Drop your
buttons in and let them go until
they float. You might have to stir
a little bit, because every once
in a while, you’ll end up with a
rebel that wants to get stuck
to the bottom of the pan. After
they float for a minute or so, pull
them out and set them aside.
Next! More butter! They really
should call them Butter Buttons
at this point.
Melt some butter in a sauté pan
over medium-high heat. Drop a
tiny pinch of flour in the butter to
see if it’s hot enough to fry with.
In batches, fry them until they’re
golden brown on both sides.
There are regions of ND that serve cheese
buttons with only these, but I repurposed
them as a garnish/texture.
A fair amount of butter (the bread will soak
some up) Bread, cut into small pieces of
crumbles
Heat the butter, and sauté the bread in it over
medium-high heat until golden brown. They
should turn out crunchy on the outside, soft
and chewy on the inside. Texture, right?
The other two ingredients you’ll need are
fried diced onions, and bacon, sliced into tiny
pieces and rendered crispy. I trust you.
Assembly:
Go nuts. Traditionally, they’re this kind of
napkin fold, but I made them more like a
ravioli, rolling out two small sheets of dough,
putting the interior ingredients (bacon,
onions, cheese) on one, pressing the other
onto the top, then using a biscuit cutter to
make nice, round, buttons. As long as you
have ingredients inside dough, and they
aren’t going to leak out during the next two
steps, you’re doing it right.
Plating:
I’ve actually been asked this
question before: “You don’t
do smears of things, do you?”
Referring to smearing sauces
under or near food items. The
answer is yes. I do “do smears
of things”. As you can see
from the photo of the finished
plate. I smear the Béchamel
on the plate, and use it to keep
the Buttons from trying to get
away. I lean the Buttons on one
another, then garnish with some
of the Butter-Fried Bread and a
little bit of chopped parsley if I
want to green it up a little.
And with that,
I’m off again,
until next month.
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