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A dozen delights
A group of New England’s most renowned chefs offer their culinary take on the 12 days of Christmas

BY DAVID VALDES GREENWOOD

Who, where, why

WE CHOSE OUR 12 chefs — and their restaurants — because they’re some of the most renowned and recognized in New England. Here’s where to find them, and why you should pay them a visit.

Al Forno, Providence. One of Gourmet’s Top 50 American Restaurants and the International Tribune’s Number One Casual Restaurant in the world. Johanne Killeen and George Germon have a James Beard win and multiple nominations between them.

Arrows, Ogunquit, Maine. One of Gourmet’s Top 50 American Restaurants.

Clio, Boston. One of Gourmet’s Top 50 American Restaurants. Chef Ken Oringer is a James Beard Best Chef in the Northeast nominee and winner.

Empire, Providence. One of Condé Nast Traveler’s Best New Restaurants. Chefs Loren Falsone and Eric Moshier are Food & Wine Best New Chef Award winners.

Fore Street, Portland. Rated top New England restaurant in Gourmet's Top 50.

Mantra, Boston. The restaurant has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Travel & Leisure, and Food & Wine.

Metro, Cambridge. Chef Amanda Lydon is a Food & Wine Best New Chef and a James Beard Award nominee.

No. 9 Park, Boston. A Food & Wine Best New Restaurant and one of Travel & Leisure’s Top 50. Chef Barbara Lynch is a James Beard Award nominee.

Perdix, Jamaica Plain. Chef Tim Partridge has worked at two favorites, East Coast Grill and the Back Eddy.

Primo, Rockland, Maine. One of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants. Chef/owner Melissa Kelly is a former James Beard Award winner.

Radius, Boston. A Food & Wine Best New Restaurant and one of Gourmet’s Top 50 American Restaurants. Chef Michael Schlow is a Food & Wine Best New Chef and a James Beard Best Chef in the Northeast winner.

Raphael Bar Risto, Providence. Chef/owner Ralph Conte has received two invitations to cook at the James Beard House.

FOR MANY, CHRISTMAS is a secular holiday whose traditions are less about ancient beliefs than about celebrating the joys of the moment. The attendant spirit of giving is the good and noble part — though the actual exchange of gifts can be fraught with all the materialism of our consumerist age. Perhaps, then, the greatest presents are not objects but occasions: meals, in which the giver and the recipient both share in the pleasures of the gift.

In that spirit, we put out a call to chefs at 12 of New England’s most respected restaurants, and offered up a challenge. Their mission: recast "The Twelve Days of Christmas" as an ode to wonderful foods, instead of hard-to-procure objects. (You might, I suppose, be able to locate seven swans, but just where would you have them a-swimming at this time of year?) In the midst of the busy holiday season, agreeing to pair a particular day of the carol with an original recipe required a dollop of invention and more than a dash of willing spirit — two of the hallmarks of any good chef.

While living in a rural town on a Greek island, famed food writer Elizabeth David once cooked traditional Christmas pudding from scratch — a process that consumed several days and vast amounts of ingredients that had to be delivered by ship. None of the chefs we talked to needed to go quite that far, but the restraints of the 12 days did provoke some consternation.

Our group of amenable chefs reported gathering their crews for kitchen brainstorming sessions. The result is a smorgasbord of holiday cheer, from the very serious to the mightily whimsical. Whether you replicate these dishes at home for someone you love, or bring your beloved to these chefs’ restaurants to sample other delicacies, you’ll be celebrating the season in perfect fashion: creating shared memories to last well after the 12 days have passed.

A partridge in a pear tree

Tim Partridge, Perdix, 597 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, (617) 524-5995. In most movie versions of A Christmas Carol, there is a standard shot of that holiday waif, Tiny Tim, longingly pressing his face against the glass windows of a toy store. In Jamaica Plain, expectant diners on Centre Street have been known to do the same at Perdix. With only 20 seats, Tim Partridge’s mouthwatering and sophisticated version of a neighborhood café isn’t a high-volume, quick-turnover kind of place. But once you’ve tasted his blend of upscale treatments and home cooking, you’re unlikely to mind a bit of a wait — and you can see the progress of your table through the windows. (You can also see the dreamy desserts lined up in full view.)

Partridge — whose restaurant is eponymously named in Latin — has been tempting locals for years, first at the taste-bud-tingling East Coast Grill in Central Square, and then at Back Eddy, the consummate New England seafood shack. At Perdix, meats show up on the menu more often — beef short ribs, buttered club steak — but seafood remains a great arena for Partridge’s skill, from Bay State favorites to a special with a Portuguese pedigree.

Here, he keeps the partridge at home with her pears, for an elegant start to the 12 days.

Braised partridge with pears

2 partridges quartered

½ pound bacon strips

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 pears, diced small

8 cloves of garlic

2 onions, diced small

2 large carrots, diced small

4 stalks of celery, diced small

2 bay leaves

2 cups red wine

3 cups rich chicken stock

2 ounces butter

Salt and pepper, to taste

Wrap partridge parts with bacon and season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat oil in heavy-bottom pot; when hot, add pieces of the bird and cook until bacon browns. Turn pieces to brown evenly. When pieces are browned evenly, add diced vegetables, pear, and bay leaves. Reduce heat and cook until vegetables begin to caramelize and soften. Add red wine and reduce until almost dry. Add stock and reduce until approximately 1 cup of liquid remains. Remove partridge pieces and arrange on platter with warm buttered egg noodles. Add butter to reduced liquid and whisk until incorporated, pour over partridge and noodles, and garnish with fresh parsley leaves.

Two turtledoves

Amanda Lydon, Metro, 1815 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 354-3727. Of all the 12 Days gifts, a pair of turtledoves seems most synonymous with romance. Amanda Lydon, whose meals at Truc caused plenty of swooning in the South End, hasn’t forgotten lovers in her menu at Metro, the recently opened, bustling brasserie in Porter Square. Her dinner for two is a three-course feast intended to be savored by companions who remain focused on each other, left undistracted by having to choose each course separately.

Lydon’s gleaming new spot isn’t just for couples, of course. Famished grad students pop by for steak frites, hipsters rally ’round the Parisian bar for cocktails, and serious food lovers make pilgrimages to taste the fare of a former Food & Wine Best New Chef and a James Beard Award nominee. Having tied on an apron at Radius, Chez Henri, and No. 9 Park — with stops along the way in France and Italy — Lydon brings a wealth of experience to the new venture, the first she has opened as head chef. And you can see quiet confidence in the menu.

Her turtledoves are humble squabs, enriched with all the ingredients that the French love: lardons, red wine, and shallots. In this case, it’ll be your guests, not the birds, who are cooing.

Toasted squab with poached quince and bacon

2 quinces, peeled, halved, and cored

2 cups sweet white wine

¼ cup sugar

8 peppercorns

2 bay leaves

1 orange, with peel and pith removed, cut into cross sections

¼ cup white wine vinegar

Slice the quince into quarters, cover with the remaining ingredients, and cook over medium heat until the quince is tender, about 30 minutes. Set aside.

2 one-pound squabs, rinsed and well-dried (neck and giblets, if any, removed)

2 tablespoons olive oil

¼ pound thick-cut bacon, sliced into lardons

1 shallot, sliced into cross sections

2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

½ cup rich chicken stock

2 cups sturdy greens (mustard, spinach, or kale)

2 tablespoons cold butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Salt and pepper the squab breasts. Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat, add the oil, and sear the squabs, breast-side down, until golden (about two minutes). Turn the squabs, transfer to the oven, and cook an additional eight minutes. Remove the birds from the oven, remove them to a platter to keep warm, and drain any excess fat. Add the bacon and shallots to the pan, return to the heat and cook one minute. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar, then add the chicken stock when the vinegar has reduced almost completely. In a separate sauté pan, wilt the greens in two tablespoons water with salt and pepper, then cook until tender (about four minutes). To finish the birds, swirl the butter into the pan sauce, check the seasoning, and add the quince to warm through. Serve the squab over the pile of wilted greens and poached quince, with sauce drizzled over. Serves two.

Three French hens

Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier, Arrows, Berwick Road, Ogunquit, Maine, (207) 361-1100. Where I grew up in Maine, if you lived in one of the old farmhouses that dotted the country roads, you probably kept company with more than a few proud chickens who strutted and preened about the yard. At Arrows Restaurant in Ogunquit, Maine, you won’t see any fowl clucking about the property, but you might be deceived into thinking it’s a simple country home: an actual 18th-century farmhouse, with working herb and vegetable gardens blooming away in season. This serene setting is one of Gourmet’s Top 50 American Restaurants, and any hens you encounter are likely to be roasted in heavenly fashion, perhaps accompanied by some exotic ingredient from the chefs’ trips around the world.

Chef/owners Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier tested their skills at San Francisco’s acclaimed Stars, but it’s their own outpost that has drawn raves from Bon Appétit and Wine Spectator, and earned them a stunning 27-27-27 Zagat rating. Even more impressive, Arrows is tucked along a rural road in a Maine coastal town, not exactly on the beaten path for food magazines. But defying expectation comes naturally to Frasier and Gaier: in addition to raising the local food bar, they host regional dinners featuring food from the far corners of the globe.

Their version of French hens is ideal because the bird can be marinated in the morning, freeing up the cook for holiday shopping. Pair the chicken with roasted shallots, boiled new potatoes, and a tossed green salad, and people will think you’ve been working on dinner all day.

Arrows slow-marinated pressed chicken

1 large roasting chicken

1 bottle red wine

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

5 shallots, peeled and finely sliced

12 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and finely sliced

8 sprigs fresh thyme

4 sprigs fresh rosemary

4 sprigs sage

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Clean the chicken in cold water, dry with paper towels, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in a large stainless bowl, breast-side down, and press it down until the bird is flattened by a fifth to a sixth. Cover the bird with all the other ingredients and place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least six hours.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place the chicken breast-side up in a heavy roasting pan or casserole. Put the herbs into the cavity of the chicken, cover the chicken with the shallots and the garlic, and place one inch of liquid in the pan. Place the roasting pan in the oven for 10 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 350 and roast for another 45 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven, carve it, and serve at once.

Four calling birds

Melissa Kelly and Price Kushner, Primo, 2 South Main Street (Route 73), Rockland, Maine, (207) 596-0770. Unlike Boston, where traffic provides the soundtrack, the charming town of Rockland, Maine, enjoys a score provided by the music of calling birds. In traditional English lore, blackbirds, thrushes, larks, and sparrows were all well-suited for baking into a spiced holiday pie. You won’t find them on the menu at Primo, one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants last year, but all four species thrive in this mid-coastal area, where you just might hear their songs on your way to dinner.

Chef/owners Melissa Kelly and Price Kushner attended summer camp in this bucolic region as children, and have returned as adults to open a jewel of the Maine dining scene. Kelly is a James Beard Award winner for her labors at Old Chatham Sheepherding Company Inn (where Kushner was pastry chef), and has worked behind the stove at some of the nation’s most acclaimed institutions, including An American Place, Lulu, and Chez Panisse. Critics from Food & Wine, the New York Times, Gourmet and Travel & Leisure have made the drive up the coast to Rockland to discover Kelly’s Italian- and French-influenced take on rustic fare, and to sample Kushner’s inventive pastries.

Their calling bird of choice is pheasant, paired with homemade gnocchi for a one-dish meal.

Roast breast of pheasant with wild mushrooms and potato gnocchi in a parmesan broth

2 pheasants, legs and backbones removed

1 tablespoon butter

4 ounces chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

4 ounces black trumpet mushrooms (can use dried; if so, rehydrate in hot water)

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, lightly chopped

½ pound fresh spinach leaves, washed

2 cups chicken stock

3 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

3 large Yukon Gold potatoes (about 1½ pounds), baked

1 cup all-purpose flour

Freshly ground nutmeg, to taste

Salt and white pepper, to taste

To make the gnocchi, cut the potatoes in half and scoop the flesh. Push through a ricer (best before the potatoes have cooled). Sprinkle with salt and pepper, grated nutmeg, and half the flour. Gently start to knead, adding flour until the mixture forms a dough that is not too firm but not sticky. Cover and set aside for a few minutes. Meanwhile, place a pot of salted water on the stove to boil. In a bowl, make a bath of ice and cold water. Season and sear pheasant, and place in a 375-degree oven for 35 minutes.

While the pheasant is roasting, finish the gnocchi. Cut the dough into four pieces and roll into a rope shape. Cut this rope into ½-inch pieces, flouring if necessary. Drop the gnocchi into boiling water a handful at a time and cook two minutes or until they float to the surface. Scoop them out with a strainer and plunge them into an ice bath. Remove them from the ice and place them in a bowl, lightly oiling them with olive oil so they don’t stick.

When pheasant is done, remove from the pan and let rest on a carving board. Add butter and mushrooms to pan, then sauté over medium heat, scraping up any bits that may have stuck to pan. Add thyme, chicken stock and gnocchi, parmesan cheese, and spinach; adjust seasoning, and bring to a boil. De-bone the pheasant breast; divide the gnocchi, mushrooms, spinach, and broth between four plates, and place pheasant breast on top. Serves four.

Five golden rings

Loren Falsone and Eric Moshier, Empire, corner of Empire and Washington Streets, Providence, (401) 621-7911. Like politicians striving for the brass ring, New England chefs clamored for day five’s rings, but Loren Falsone and Eric Moshier of Providence’s Empire were the first to claim the prize — perhaps evidence of their passion for deep-frying. In the spirit of Julia Child, they make no apologies for indulging in the pleasures of well-deployed fat, and proudly jazz up an elegant dish with cornmeal-batter-dipped onion rings worth their weight in gold. Though Empire is similarly famous for its French fries, these are simply grace notes on a robust menu of regional Italian cuisine, a natural outgrowth of the chefs’ time in the kitchen of the storied Al Forno.

With Al Forno’s George Germon helping them, Falsone and Moshier transformed the historic Packard Building near the Trinity Repertory Theatre into a bright, simple room. The only adornments are a 12-foot mirror and plaster cherubs — cheeky relics of the neighborhood’s former gay bar and adult bookstore amid the elegance. That kind of juxtaposition is in keeping with the spirit of what Moshier calls "hyper-modern Italian cooking," which earned them both Food & Wine Best New Chef awards, and landed Empire on Condé Nast Traveler’s Best New Restaurants list.

A different kind of pairing — a "tempura" batter with Thai-style rice flour and the very Southern cornmeal and beer — yield the perfect all-American onion ring.

Five golden rings

Note: more beer or water may be added to loosen the "tempura."

At least 2 large Spanish onions, or as many as you like until the batter runs out, sliced into 1-inch-thick slices

1 pound rice flour, preferably Erawan brand from Thailand

4 tablespoons yellow cornmeal

½ cup ice-cold water

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

¼ cup golden ale or beer (or more as needed to make a cohesive batter)

In a deep-fat fryer or saucepan, which can hold four quarts of liquid, heat eight cups of peanut oil to 375 degrees. Slice the onions and soak in cold water in the refrigerator while making the tempura. In a large bowl, place the rice flour and cornmeal. Combine the ice-cold water, egg yolks, one teaspoon of the kosher salt, and beer as needed, and whisk with a wire whip into the dry ingredients.

Pull the onion rings out of the ice-cold water and pat dry. Put as many of the onion rings as will fit at a time into the fryer or saucepan with the batter; slather, and drop into the hot oil. For blotting, have ready plenty paper towels on a cookie sheet, baking tray, or large plate. Fry to a deep golden color, turning with a slotted spoon as necessary.

Pull up the deep-fryer basket or fish out the onion rings with a large wire skimmer, blot with paper towels, and liberally add kosher salt to taste. Repeat until the onion rings are all fried, keeping the finished rings warm while frying the rest. Serve as a childish side dish with any grown-up pork, chicken, or beef dish. They are especially brilliant with spicy mayonnaise or homemade ketchup. (Empire serves them with a duet of pork tenderloin, pounded and griddled into a paillard, and a griddled, brine-cured pork chop with homemade sauerkraut.)

Six geese a-laying

Barbara Lynch, No. 9 Park, 9 Park Street, Boston, (617) 742-9991. When Dickens’s reformed miser Scrooge bursts into the home of the Cratchits, he carries with him a prize turkey, intended to outshine the family’s humble roast goose. With that image ingrained in our collective consciousness, Americans do seem apt to favor any old Tom over the finest goose, despite the latter’s place in Christmas lore. (Remember: Christmas is coming, the goose — not a turkey — is getting fat.) But No. 9 Park’s Barbara Lynch knows just what to do with the classic bird, as befits a James Beard Award nominee whose restaurant was once named Boston’s Best New Restaurant by Food & Wine and has been included in Travel & Leisure’s Top 50.

With No. 9 Park’s elegantly chic décor and menu ingredients like foie gras, it might surprise you to know that Lynch can relate to the Cratchits. Raised in a South Boston housing project, she was first turned on to cooking in her Roxbury high school; she has never forgotten her roots, even as she rose through the ranks of Boston’s best kitchens, alongside Michaela Larson and Todd English, before a stint at Galleria Italiana. Her efforts on behalf of the South Boston Neighborhood House have earned her this year’s "Doc" Tynan Award — a recognition not of culinary skill but community contribution, another accomplishment to be savored.

Perhaps Lynch’s recipe will help the goose stage a comeback on local holiday tables.

Confit of goose with fig butter

1 whole goose

1 cup kosher salt

5 whole bay leaves

1 teaspoon dry thyme

1 pound dry figs

3 shallots, sliced

1 whole cinnamon stick

3 cups red wine

3 cups brandy

1 pound butter

Rendered goose fat

Combine the salt, bay leaves, and dry thyme in a food processor and mix until coarse. Remove the goose from the bones, keeping the halves intact. Rub the salt mixture onto the goose halves and set in a non-reactive pan overnight.

To make the butter: sweat the shallots in one tablespoon butter over medium-low heat for about four minutes. Add the dry figs, brandy, wine, and cinnamon, and cook over low heat until the figs are soft and the liquid is cooked down (about 25 minutes). Chill.

Add the softened butter to the chilled mixture and mix thoroughly. Rinse the goose halves and place them in a roasting pan; cover them with the rendered goose fat and cook at 250 degrees until the meat is tender (about two hours).

Slice the brioche and toast to golden brown. Spread the fig butter on the toasted brioche and top with the warm confit goose pieces.

If this recipe inspires you, call No. 9 Park for information about the upcoming lesson on "How to Cook a Goose," next in its cooking series.

Seven swans a-swimming

Ralph Conte, Raphael Bar Risto, 1 Cookson Place, Providence, (401) 421-4646. For many, the most beloved inhabitants of Boston’s Public Garden are its swans. Devoted mates at home on the water, they cast a spell on visitors from around the world.

For their human counterparts, you might well look to Providence’s Raphael Bar Risto, where you’ll find Ralph and Elisa Stufano Conte, who make their home on the ocean and have been devoted to food and each other for 20 years. (Sometimes Conte himself reels in the catch of the day.) From their humble first venture in Cranston to their stunning, design-award-winning Union Station place in Providence, they have attracted food-lovers from around the globe.

Ralph Conte’s antipasti, pasta, and pietanza have been praised in Wine Spectator, Travel & Leisure, Bon Appétit, and the New York Times, and earned him the honor of two invitations to cook at the James Beard House. Influenced by the traditions of his family’s ancestral home, Conte was experimenting with rustic ingredients long before the recent resurgence of peasant-style dishes. His expertise has made him a fixture in Italian-cooking magazines and a frequent guest teacher at the Italian Culinary Institute in New York.

For the holidays, Conte lets duck stand in for swans, with spices and a ruby-port sauce to set the romantic mood.

Seven-spice pan-seared duck breast with ruby-port-maple sauce

Marinade

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon ground cloves

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1 tablespoon turmeric

2 cups cabernet

1 cup olive oil

½ cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons black pepper

8 halves boneless duck breasts (skin on)

2 tablespoons butter

Combine marinade ingredients and rub all over the duck breasts. Place in a stainless-steel bowl or other non-reactive container, marinate three to four hours in the refrigerator, then remove breasts from the marinade. In a large sauté pan, melt the butter over high heat and sauté the breasts skin-side-down first. Turn when they’re a deep brown and continue sautéing until both sides are a deep brown. Baste with the marinade, transfer to a 400-degree-oven, and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, medium-rare to medium. Slice the breasts on the bias and serve with ruby-port-maple sauce, wild-rice pilaf, or boiled parsley potatoes, and edible orchard-and-haricot-vert salad. This dish goes well with pinot noir.

Ruby-port-maple sauce

2 tablespoon chopped garlic

2 tablespoon chopped shallots

2 ounces butter

1 quart ruby port

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1 quart veal demi-glace

Salt and pepper, to taste

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add garlic and shallots, and sauté until translucent. Add port and maple syrup, reduce by half. Add veal demi-glace and reduce approximately 15 minutes. Strain through a chinois or fine-mesh sieve. Season with salt and pepper.

Eight maids a-milking

Ken Oringer, Clio, 370 Comm Ave (in the Eliot Hotel), Boston, (617) 536-7200. There are maids at the Eliot Hotel, but they aren’t milking anything. These maids are turning down the fine linens for well-heeled guests and directing them downstairs to one of Boston’s most acclaimed restaurants. Nestled in a boutique hotel, Clio is as upscale as one might expect, but it’s anything but staid. The buzz — both in the restaurant and about it — makes it clear that this is a serious food destination in its own right. Voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by the Culinary Institute of America, chef Ken Oringer worked under Jean-Georges Vongerichten and made a name for himself with sojourns at River Café, Al Forno, Terra, Silks, and Tosca.

At Clio, he has entered the stratosphere of culinary recognition, with nods from food publications worldwide. After three years as a nominee for the James Beard Best Chef in the Northeast award, he finally won it in 2001. Not resting on his laurels, Oringer continues to travel throughout the US, Europe, and Asia to study food preparations and traditions. Lucky diners savor the vibrant results — like ceviche of Japanese octopus — that have landed Clio in Gourmet’s Top 50.

For his recipe, the milkmaids get a workout: they must yield a quart of heavy cream for this ethereal and decidedly upscale delight.

Celery-root mousseline with black-truffle fondue and bitter cocoa

Mousseline

2 pounds celery root

1 quart heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter, browned

4 shallots, sliced and sweated in butter

½ teaspoon lemon juice

Salt, pepper, and celery salt, to taste

Peel celery root and cut into large dices. Place in saucepan and cover with heavy cream. Season with salt, pepper, and celery salt. Cook until very soft. Drain, reserving the liquid. Purée in the blender with some liquid and shallots to the consistency of crème anglaise. Add brown butter and lemon juice. Put through a fine chinois and strain again. Put in an "espumas bottle" with a nitrous oxide canister (or any similar bottle unit intended for foaming), then pressurize.

Black-truffle fondue

1 gallon pig-foot stock

½ pound black truffles

4 ounces truffle juice

4 ounces butter

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons chopped black truffles

4 tablespoons chopped chives

Reduce stock to one quart. Grate black truffles on box grater and add to stock. Add truffle juice, butter, salt, and pepper. Blend until truffles are puréed. Set aside warm. To serve, put truffle fondue on the bottom of individual espresso cups, top each with celery-root mousseline, then dust with cocoa powder, chopped truffles, and chopped chives.

Nine ladies dancing

Johanne Killeen and George Germon, Al Forno, 577 South Main Street, Providence, (401) 273-9760; Café Louis, 234 Berkeley Street, Boston, (617) 266-4680. The dancing ladies of the Christmas carol trace their roots not to England, but to Italy — just like the holiday itself. The 12 days of Christmas roughly approximate Italy’s earlier pagan holiday of Jo Saturnalia, a time of festive family meals, gift-giving, and masked ladies dancing in the streets. One fabulous meal at Al Forno, the International Tribune’s Number One Casual Restaurant in the world, and you’ll be convinced that the best celebrations do indeed spring from Italy. The inventors of grilled pizza, and acclaimed for their oven-baked pasta dishes, Johanne Killeen and George Germon are to Italian cooking what Julia Child is to French — cultural interpreters, talented artists, and ardent defenders.

It’s impossible to list all their awards (a James Beard win and multiple nominations among them) or critical accolades (including Gourmet’s Top 50), but a few details paint the picture: the number of famed chefs who trained with them, the success of their book Cucina Simpatica: Robust Trattoria Cooking (HarperCollins, 1991), and the fact that they are routinely invited to teach cooking in Tuscany and Venice. Luckily, New Englanders are able to enjoy the couple’s creations nearby, at Al Forno in Providence, or at Café Louis at Louis Boston (with David Reynoso), which serves memorable dinners even after the boutique itself closes for the day.

Killeen and Germon offer ladies of the sea, fresh local scallops, with dancing salt for their rendition of the ninth day of Christmas.

Sea scallops in dancing salt dressed up for Christmas

6 baby red potatoes, sliced 1/16 inch thick, skin on

2 scant teaspoons sea salt or one scant tablespoon kosher salt

10 fresh sea scallops, dried thoroughly on paper towels

2 heaping tablespoons crème fraîche or sour cream

2 heaping tablespoons osetra, sevruga, or beluga caviar

1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Place the potatoes in a saucepan with cold water and cover. Bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are tender, five to seven minutes. Drain and keep warm.

Heat a nine-inch cast-iron skillet over your hottest flame. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the surface. After about three to four minutes, the heat will cause the salt to dance — or jump — in the pan. Gently place the scallops on the salt, leaving space around each scallop. Sear until small beads of moisture appear on the top of each scallop, two to three minutes. With tongs, turn the scallops onto portions of the skillet where the salt is undisturbed. Sear another two minutes or until you can see the translucency disappear as the scallops become opaque. Remove from the heat.

To serve, divide the potato slices on two warmed dinner plates. Surround the potatoes with the scallops. Top the potatoes with crème fraîche and then the caviar. Drizzle scallops with olive oil and serve right away. Serves two.

Ten lords a-leaping

Michael Schlow, Radius, 8 High Street, Boston, (617) 426-1234. Lords not only leap at the chance to dine at Radius, they line up for the privilege. Boston’s most sought-after tables are found in the former bank vault, which has been transformed with a kind of minimalist opulence (yes, it’s possible) into a haven for those possessed of lordly wealth — or those who merely save their pennies for the perfect meal. Brooklyn-born chef Michael Schlow garnered attention at top restaurants throughout Long Island, the Hamptons, and Manhattan before opening Radius in Boston to cheers of approval.

Winner of the Best Chef in the Northeast award from the James Beard Foundation, Schlow has twice been invited to cook at the Beard House, where he displayed intense tastes and vibrant presentation. With Food & Wine awards for Best New Chef and Best New Restaurant, and a Gourmet Top 50 slot, he has plenty to boast of, though his most iconic achievement may have been cooking dinner for Julia Child — an event as memorable as his recipes.

Below, his recipe for leapers, made in quite lordly fashion.

Frogs’ legs with spinach purée, Yukon Gold potatoes, and smoked bacon

12 "Frenched" extra-large frogs’ legs

4 tablespoons spinach purée (recipe follows)

1 Yukon Gold potato, blanched and diced small

½ teaspoon rendered smoked bacon, diced small

1 ounce shallots, diced

1 ounce julienned leeks

Pinch of rosemary

2 small pluches (leaves) of frisée

1 cup carrot juice, reduced to a syrup

Flour to dust frogs’ legs

Salt and pepper, to taste

Olive oil for sauté

Cut the very bottom of the frogs’ legs off so they will be able to stand upright on the cut end. Season the legs with salt and pepper. Dust with the flour and shake off excess. In a sauté pan, heat olive oil over moderate heat. Sauté frogs’ legs until golden brown, keep in a warm place, and reserve. Reheat the spinach purée. Make a small circle in the center of the plate. Heat the potato, smoked bacon, leeks, and shallots in olive oil, and season with salt, pepper, and pinch of rosemary. Spoon this mixture into the center of the spinach purée and top with a bit of the frisée. Stand six of the frogs’ legs around the circle and place a few drops of the carrot juice around the plate. Serves two.

Spinach purée

1 cup cleaned blanched spinach, squeezed of excess water

½ cup cleaned blanched Italian parsley, squeezed of excess water

3 tablespoons butter

Salt and white pepper

1 ounce water

Combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender and purée until smooth.

Eleven pipers piping

Thomas John, Mantra, 52 Temple Place, Boston, (617) 542-8111. The pipers piping in Thomas John’s boyhood weren’t bewigged English revelers, but part of the colorfully clad marching band that accompanies the Indian Air Force, in which his father was a wing commander. John grew up in Southern India, where his father eventually became a farmer, his mother tended a two-acre kitchen garden, and the future chef helped prepare the elaborate annual Onam feast for his family. After studying hotel cooking in Madras and Delhi, he eventually found himself at the Oberoi, one of Asia’s most acclaimed institutions, and contributed to Oberoi’s Food of India cookbook. Later, as executive chef at Le Méridien in Pune, he oversaw four restaurants at once.

When he arrived in Boston, he was unknown to many — but that didn’t last long. With Indian and Southeast Asian elements adding complexity to his French and American offerings, John brought an entirely new palate to the city. The Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Travel & Leisure, and Food & Wine all chimed in with their praise as a result — the perfect welcome for a chef far from home.

For the 11th day of Christmas, John steers away from spicy Asia and offers up this sweet confection of piping rich mousse on tiny macaroons.

Piped mocha mousse on petit macaroons

Macaroons

2/3 cup whole blanched almonds

¾ cup sugar

3 tablespoons egg whites

½ teaspoon almond extract

Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Grind almonds in a food processor until fine. Add egg whites and almond extract and process to paste. Fill mixture in a pastry bag; pipe 1½-inch round and about ½-inch high on the baking sheet, rest for a half-hour. Bake macaroons for 20 minutes in a preheated 300-degree oven. Cool. Peel each cookie from the sheet and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Mocha mousse

9 ounces Valrhona milk chocolate

4 teaspoons powdered instant coffee dissolved in ¼ cup water

1 ½ cups heavy cream

Place chocolate and coffee in a medium-size heat-proof bowl. Melt the chocolate mixture over a bowl of hot water. Stir till smooth. Remove chocolate from heat and let cool to 85 degrees. Whip cream to a soft peak stage. Fold carefully into chocolate mixture. Fill a pastry bag and squeeze the mixture onto each macaroon. Arrange petit macaroons on a platter and serve. Optional: decorate each with a piece of gold leaf. Makes 24 pastries.

Twelve drummers drumming

Sam Hayward, Fore Street, 288 Fore Street, Portland, Maine, (207) 775-2717. That steady drumbeat you hear is critical acclaim. It has been building up over Sam Hayward’s three-decade career in Maine’s culinary circles. But the praise has reached a crescendo over the last year, with Fore Street ranking highest of any restaurant in New England in Gourmet’s Top 50, followed by a lengthy profile in Saveur, not to mention a James Beard benefit dinner and praise from Wine Spectator magazine. Suddenly, the soft-spoken chef is finding his name on everyone’s lips.

It’s a well-earned vindication of Hayward’s quest to cultivate respect for Maine ingredients. Local farmers bring him their best produce and he employs a forager who seeks fiddleheads, leeks, and edible mushrooms throughout Northern New England. Of course, this being Maine, the seafood shines, but the state also provides a glowing vegetable cooler — filled with visible bounty — which makes up the true heart of the restaurant.

Hayward crowns our list with figgy pudding, perfect little drums with unassailable holiday credentials. Merry Christmas to all, indeed.

Individual fig-pudding drums with vanilla-cranberry sauce

Toffee

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

In a small saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the water. Boil rapidly to caramelize to a chestnut-brown color. Immediately remove from heat and swirl in the butter until completely smooth. Working quickly to prevent the toffee from hardening, pour about one tablespoon of the hot toffee into six six-ounce ovenproof ceramic or glass ramekins, tilt the ramekins to coat the bottoms and a little up the sides, and allow to cool to room temperature. (If any toffee remains, you may pour the excess onto a lightly buttered baking cookie pan and cool to use for another purpose.)

Puddings

8 whole dried figs, stems trimmed, diced into ¼-inch cubes

¼ cup hard cider (sweet cider may be substituted; reduce brown sugar in recipe by one tablespoon)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

8 tablespoons (one stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

½ teaspoon grated fresh gingerroot

3 tablespoons dark Jamaican rum

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 to 6 fresh ripe figs: Black Mission, Brown Turkey, or a combination (for the final assembly)

Toss diced figs with hard cider, cover tightly, and chill overnight. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt, and sift or toss with a wire whisk. Cream butter and sugar in electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs and egg yolk one at a time, beating until completely incorporated. Beat in vanilla extract, grated ginger, and rum. Gently fold flour mixture in three additions. Fold in figs and any unabsorbed cider.

Divide batter among the six toffee-lined ramekins. Place ramekins on a cookie sheet and place in upper third of preheated oven. Bake about 45 minutes, or until edges have shrunk back slightly from the ramekins. Cool 10 minutes. Run a knife around the insides of the ramekins and invert onto dessert plates. To serve, slice or quarter fresh ripe figs and put a few slices on each plate to accompany the puddings. Spoon warm cranberry-vanilla sauce around and over each pudding.

Cranberry-vanilla sauce

1 vanilla bean, preferably Tahitian

8 tablespoons (one stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup fresh cranberries

½ cup sugar

1 cup hard cider (or substitute sweet cider and reduce sugar by three tablespoons)

Split the vanilla bean and, using the back edge of a thin knife, scrape the moist dark sticky stuff (which are the seeds) out of the beans. Place the seeds on a clean cutting board, and mix the butter and vanilla seeds by "smearing them" together with a rubber spatula or palette knife. Place butter in a small bowl and set aside. In a non-reacting skillet, combine cranberries, sugar, and cider. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover.

Steam the berries for about five minutes. Remove the cover and pour the berry mixture into a wire sieve or strainer set over a non-reacting bowl. Press down the berries with the back of a spoon to squeeze out as much juice as you can. Discard the berries. Return the berry juices to the skillet, and, over medium heat, whisk in about four tablespoons of the vanilla butter, reserving the remainder for another purpose if desired. Serves six.

David Valdes Greenwood can be reached at valdesgreenwood@worldnet.att.net

Issue Date: December 13 - 20, 2001

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