Any Cockle-doodle-do: published 02/17/2011

“Theese is Francisco, I huv caught the roooster”. In my Imaginarium, I hear these words as a cryptic incantation for elaborate spy stories’ segue. In the real world, it was a voice mail to a good friend of mine I call “poodle”. Poodle lives in Golden Hill and has had a rooster and chickens running feral in his backyard for months. Until he sought the assistance of an immigrant associate, who left the aforementioned voice message, the clucks, poops and otherwise annoying occurrences that the fowl manifested had bothered his solace.

These chickens were once domesticated, escaped, and have learned to survive wild in our tumultuous climate. I believe that the practice of urban chicken farming is far more prevalent than most would think in the San Diego area. By my understanding of the zoning laws, one household may keep up to eight chickens (no roosters) in an urban setting as long as the coop and all other accoutrements are kept outside of 50’ from residences’ abodes. In my research, a woman called Shelly Stewart is doing it in University Heights and has a video on the youtube’s.

So why am I talking about keeping chickens? Aside from an amazing feat of sustainable urban living, they lay eggs. A package of indisputable nutrition and, ultimately, life. The egg of any species is an amazing packet of life fuel and acts as a philosophical tool to mankind; was it the chicken or the egg? The mother life of earth is considered the egg and there are many analogies between life sustenance and the origin of the egg as a symbol for creation.

For the chef, the egg is an amazing tool because of its whole ubiquity and individual compartmentalization with respect to use: A whole egg is coddled then placed on toast for my breakfast; while yolks and whites are easily separated by hand, due to the membranes that bind them together. Each component can be used independently in numerous kitchen recipes or combined in an almost infinitesimal amount of variations and ratios. The yolk alone (which is used in the included recipe) is paramount in pastry creams, ice creams and hollandaise-like sauces while the whites are reserved for meringues, soufflés and an otherwise lower cholesterol breakfasts.

Keeping your ears perked while enjoying your next breakfast or pastrycream, perhaps you’ll hear the cockle-doodle-do of an unzoned rooster from a guerilla chicken farmer right next door. Unlike my Poodle, let the sound bring joy, instead of disdain, that sustainable-urban farming is so close at hand.

Fresh berry tart with pastry cream:

I usually reserve this recipe for my annual Easter Brunch, but present it here because it fits the bill so well. You will want to use the freshest berries in the market.

For the pastry cream:

Over low heat in a saucepan bring 3 cups milk to just under the boiling point (scalded).

In a kitchen stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 12 large eggs on low speed until the membranes have been broken. Add in 1 ½ cups sugar and beat on med-high until thick and pale yellow (about 4 minutes). Reduce speed to low and add in ¼ cup cornstarch until combined. Keeping the speed on low, slowly add in (temper) the scalded milk. While the kitchen appliance stirs, rinse and clean the saucepan. Return the tempered yolk mixture to the saucepan and heat over medium low. Constantly stir the mixture with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom diligently until the mixture separates. DO NOT PANIC, swap to a whisk and beat the mixture until it comes to a thick-homogenous “pudding” consistency (about 2 minutes). Remove from the heat, stir in 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 teaspoons cognac, teaspoon pure vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons heavy cream. Push through a fine mesh sieve and chill.

For the tart shell:

I used to make my own pate brisee but have found that store bought raw pastry dough works just as well and leaves the kitchen without a fine layer of flour. I use a tart pan, with a removable bottom, that is approximately 13.5”l. x 4”w. This recipe will make two of these tarts.

Preheat the oven to 375°.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough to fit in the pan. The dough should fit about 1/4” above the rim without stretching or it will shrink. Butter some aluminum foil and fit it directly on the dough in the pan. Fill the aluminum with dried beans or rice to weight down the dough. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the aluminum weight and prick the bottom of the pastry shell over with a fork. Return to the oven and bake an additional 15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely before removing the finished pastry shell from the pan.

Cut 2 pints of strawberries in half or in quarter depending on their size.
Fill the tart shells with the pastry cream and line the perimeter with the cut strawberries. Fill in the inside with blueberries then top the center with bright red raspberries.