Those who know me well know that I am not a huge fan of reconstructed or molecular gastronomy. I hated my dinner at El Bulli so much that, much to my dining companions' enjoyment, I practically vibrated with rage throughout the meal. It therefore came as a bit of a shock to me that, while going through the recipes that I had saved online over the past couple of years, I found that I had saved the same Wylie Dufresne recipe on three separate occasions. I have always avoided his restaurants as I think of him as the American master of reconstructed food.
His recipe got me to thinking about my own potential take on savory tapioca and, since I was craving ham and redeye gravy, I decided to take that inspirational route. I was actually pretty happy with the dish though I recommend using medium sized tapioca pearls rather than the behemoths that I used.
This is a recipe for 2 people, rather than my usual 4.
1 ham steak
3/4 cup tapioca pearls
1 large tomato
1/2 cup strong coffee
1 Tbsp butter
2 tsps olive oil
6 cups of water
Salt and pepper to taste
Bring the water to a rolling boil in a large stockpot. Salt it as you would water for pasta.
While you are waiting for the water to boil, make the coffee and and grate the tomato into a bowl - you want the seeds, skin, juice and all except for the central core. Set aside.
Add the tapioca to the boiling water and cook, stirring from time to time or the starch in them will make them stick to the bottom of the pan, until al dente and nearly translucent. My jumbo pearls took 25 minutes to reach that point. My best suggestion is to start tasting a pearl every minute or so after hitting the 15 minute cooking mark.
Once the tapioca is cooked, drain it into a colander and run some cold water over it, stirring a couple of times, to remove the excess starch which will make it clump together. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. As soon as it sizzles, add the ham, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 4 minutes on each side until colored.
Remove the ham to a plate and pour the coffee into the pan. Heat it through, stirring constantly, scraping up any brown bits from cooking the ham that might have stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Once this is bubbling away, add the grated tomato and stir well. Adjust for seasoning.
As soon as this is bubbling away, add the tapioca. Stir constantly and cook until the tapioca is heated through and most of the liquid is absorbed and has thickened.
Add the butter and stir until melted.
place the ham in the center of the tapioca mixture to reheat, just a couple of minutes.
Serve the tapioca with the ham steak on the side.
Inspiration recipe, here.